The Los Angeles Lakers have been one of the most talked about teams this NBA season. They hired JJ Redick to be their new head coach, drafted Bronny James, and traded for Luka Doncic. And LeBron James is somehow still going strong at the age of 40. For all the attention the Lakers received, though, it wasn’t enough to save them against the Minnesota Timberwolves, who eliminated them last night in five games.
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The Lakers had no answer for the Wolves in this series. Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle were just too strong and too athletic for the Lakers’ abysmal defense to handle. Jaden McDaniels was outstanding in his two-way role. Minnesota even survived the worst outside shooting game in postseason history to close out the series last night thanks to Rudy Gobert, who dominated with 27 points and 24 rebounds.
Redick struggled to make adjustments against the bigger, stronger, faster Wolves all series long, opting instead to play his starters huge minutes and hoping that his lack of a bench wouldn’t cost him. News flash: It did.
Shannon Sharpe, who, ironically, had to eat his “Lakers in five” line after the Wolves prevailed in a gentleman’s sweep of their own, took Redick to task for being stubborn on last night’s episode of Nightcap. Sharpe criticized Redick for not using his bench more, but Chad Johnson wasn’t sure that was a fair criticique.
“You think about the rotation, you think about the bench, for the lack of production that they already have. Would the rotation even matter? All you have is Luka and LeBron,” Ocho remarked.
Continuing, Johnson said, “AR didn’t show up. Rui showed up tonight, but they’re so inconsistent game to game. Hell, it’s confusing JJ on what he needs to be able to do to even give them a chance to win when everybody’s playing so inconsistent.”
The hard truth is that the Wolves are simply a better team
Sharpe pointed out how Redick didn’t make a single substitution in the second half of Game 4 as proof of his stubbornness, but the reality is that there were no good options available. Jaxson Hayes has played himself out of the rotation entirely. Would his presence have changed anything? Not likely. Neither would more minutes for Gabe Vincent or Dalton Knecht.
Redick wasn’t stubborn; he was just trying to make the best of a bad situation. The Lakers are a flawed team, and honestly he did great work just to get them to 50 wins and the No. 3 seed in the West.
LA was favored by the Vegas oddsmakers to beat the Wolves when this series began, that much is true. It didn’t take long, though, to see that Minnesota was build much better for the postseason.
Sharpe will undoubtedly be back to crowing the Lakers in five before next season even starts, but if they have any hope of proving him right next time, they’ll need to make some major moves in the offseason. LeBron and Luka are a great foundation, but they’re a flawed pair of stars.
LeBron isn’t getting any younger. Luka can’t stop anybody. Asking the two of them to put the team on their backs and carry the Lakers through a series against a team as good as the Wolves — let alone four in a row to win an NBA title — is just asking too much.
Rob Pelinka recently got a promotion to Lakers president of basketball operations. In pulling off the Luka trade, he earned it, but he still has work to do to make this team a serious title contender. A rim-protecting center is an absolute must this offseason, as is finding an athletic wing that can D up and rebound.
The Lakers will be back, but Pelinka’s moves will determine how far they’ll be able to go.
