Last night, the Minnesota Timberwolves blew out the Los Angeles Lakers 117-95 despite a relatively slow start to the game. As if losing by such a wide margin wasn’t bad enough, the Lakers fell at home, meaning they will have to win an away game to have a chance to win the series. This game came as a shock to many Lakers fans who had expected an easy matchup, including Shannon Sharpe, who, as he often does, predicted the Lakers to win in five.
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Ultimately, what doomed the Lakers was a threefold problem. First, no one outside of Luka Dončić showed up on offense. Second, the Timberwolves shot over 50% from three, getting absolutely everything to fall at an unprecedented rate even for their prolific shooting team. Third, and finally, when the Lakers went small to avoid exposing Jaxson Hayes to the matchups he was facing, they got bullied on the boards
Following the contest, Shannon Sharpe and Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson hosted Joe “Iso Joe” Johnson on an episode of Nightcap. The trio tried to find silver linings and adjustments for JJ Redick and the team to get back into their rhythm for game two.
“I smell trouble for the Lakers, man,” said Johnson. “We’ve seen the Timberwolves be in this position, knocking off teams, whether it was Phoenix, whether it was Denver… man, if you’ve got Naz Reid and [Jaden] McDaniels gonna shoot like that from three, you gonna be in trouble, it’s gonna be hard for you to win that game…” Reid, the reigning sixth man of the year, and McDaniels, a recent member of an All-Defensive team, both had excellent games, but they were games that both have been more than capable of in the past.
“This is the playoffs. This ain’t the regular season,” added Sharpe. “They didn’t match the intensity,” added Ocho, “Nobody played well on the Lakers offensively, outside of Luka… it was a bad game all around for the Lakers in general.”
The trio agreed that Monday’s game two has now become pivotal for the Lakers. A second loss at home would mean disastrous things for LA’s chances at advancing. According to Ochocinco, if they drop that game, they’re “gonna be in a heap of trouble.”
There have only ever been five teams to lose both home games to start a series and still come back to win and advance. The 1969 Lakers were the first to do so against the Warriors in the 1st round. The next time it happened was in 1994, when the Rockets came back after an 0-2 deficit against the Suns in the 2nd round. The other three times were the 2005 Mavs, 2017 Celtics, and 2021 Clippers.
Even with Luka Dončić and LeBron James, mounting a 0-2 comeback would be a hard task to accomplish for a team that has been many things, but never consistent.
