Rui Hachimura had easily his best performance of the series with 23 points for the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4. However, despite the best efforts of himself and many others, the Lakers just didn’t have enough to hold on to victory, falling 116-113 to the Minnesota Timberwolves and now finding themselves down 3-1 in the series.
It is an extremely difficult hole to be in, but not an insurmountable deficit as teams have come back before. The question is whether the Lakers can be the latest team to pull it off and, more importantly, if they even believe it’s possible.
Hachimura certainly believes it is and is very confident the Lakers will take Game 5 and send the series back to Minnesota. The forward feels the Lakers are right there and just have to fix the little mistakes that have cost them so far, as seen on Spectrum SportsNet:
“Oh, we’re gonna get one, yeah we’re gonna get one. This is not done yet. We’re right there, we’re really right there, we just gotta fix little things. Of course, the fourth quarter is gonna be the problem for us so we gotta watch the film again. We just gotta execute. We gotta pay attention to calls, adjustments defensively and offensively. We gotta be locked in. Those little mistakes are gonna hurt us, so we gotta communicate well, we gotta be better on that side. The coaching, the players, everybody be on the same page. But I think, yeah we’re gonna get one.”
Hachimura continued on, feeling the Lakers have to be more focused, but maintains the confidence that they can do just that and get back in this series:
“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.”
The last team to come back from a 3-1 deficit was the Denver Nuggets, who actually did it in back-to-back series’ in 2020 inside the bubble. They rallied against the Utah Jazz in the first round and the Los Angeles Clippers in the second round before falling to the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. And of course, the most famous instance involved LeBron James leading the Cleveland Cavaliers back against the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals.
The odds aren’t great as only 13 teams have ever completed the comeback, but Hachimura clearly believes it is possible, as do the rest of the Lakers. It will simply be a matter of making it into a reality.
Austin Reaves: Lakers still have another day to fight
Following Game 4, all of the Lakers spoke confidently about this team’s ability to come back and that this series isn’t over yet. Austin Reaves made it clear that as long as the Lakers have the opportunity to get out on the court, they are not out of it and will continue to fight.
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