The Los Angeles Lakers find themselves in a 3-1 series deficit to the Minnesota Timberwolves after dropping both Games 3 and 4 in close ones on the road.
Game 4, in particular, was frustrating as the Lakers led almost the whole way but gave it away at the end. A key play in that was in the final minute when the Lakers had the ball trailing by one.
Luka Doncic was bringing the ball up the court when he appeared to be tripped by Jaden McDaniels. He fell to the floor just before half court, but no whistle was blown so he was forced to call timeout. There was 17 on the shot clock at the time, so L.A. had just one second to get it across the line after the timeout and wound up turning it over. Anthony Edwards then made a pair of free throws and Austin Reaves missed a game-tying triple at the buzzer, resulting in the three-point loss.
If the foul had been called then Doncic would have went to the line with a chance to give the Lakers the lead. They also would have kept the timeout they had to burn.
After the game, Lakers head coach JJ Redick was understandably upset as he felt a foul should have been called, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Well let’s just start with Luka got tripped. That was a blatant trip, he doesn’t just fall on his own. We watched it, he gets tripped. So we should’ve been at the free throw line. That’s not an excuse for why we lost, but he got fouled and we had a chance to go up.”
Doncic also felt that he got tripped and the Lakers had to call a timeout as a result:
“I think I got tripped, for sure. We had to call timeout.”
The NBA released their daily Last Two-Minute Report on Monday and confirmed that Doncic was indeed fouled when he was tripped by McDaniels:
Not that it matters, but the L2M report confirmed that Luka Doncic was fouled by Jaden McDaniels on the trip. pic.twitter.com/MMgMtAzYwu
— Daniel Starkand (@DStarkand) April 28, 2025
This of course means nothing as they are not going to go back and replay the game. The Lakers still face a 3-1 series deficit and must win three straight to keep their season alive, starting with Game 5 at home on Wednesday night.
Regardless of how well the officials do though, the Lakers need to take it upon themselves to close out these contests as both Games 3 and 4 were there for the taking and they couldn’t get it done.
Rui Hachimura: Lakers must fix ‘little things’ late in games
As far as how the Lakers can be better late in games, Rui Hachimura believes it comes down to doing the little things.
“I think we’re right there, we just gotta fix little things and we have to execute. Those last five minutes, six minutes whatever that is we gotta be more focused mentally, physically. We gotta be stronger, we gotta make those shots. So yeah we’re right there, we just gotta fix those.”
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