The first round of the 2025 NBA playoffs is nearing its conclusion. One shockingly one-sided series is the Timberwolves against the Lakers. Despite having LeBron James and Luka Doncic, Los Angeles were outplayed and outhustled a large majority of the series, which is why they lost 1-4 to Anthony Edwards and company. What was the sudden issue with the No. 3-seeded Purple and Gold? Shaquille O’Neal has the answer. The Lakers were ‘dawg-less’.
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Every great basketball team was filled with superstar-caliber players. The ones who are elite scorers, insane passers, iconic court generals, or the rare ones who succeeded in every aspect of the game.
Yet, history shows that NBA squads that had dedicated role players were the ones who took home rings. You need that one guy who can grab boards. You need another who can play ball-denying defense. For every Steph Curry, there should be a Dillon Brooks. For every Kevin Durant, there is a Joakim Noah.
The Diesel spoke about the Lakers’ lack of dominant role players on the latest edition of NBA on TNT.
“They don’t have any dawgs on their team,” claimed the four-time NBA champion.
“You got two great players on the team but where the dawgs at. I don’t see a lot of fight, I don’t see a lot of grit.” Shaq then ran through some of his old teammates who were certainly worthy of the Dawg status.
“Big Shot Bob, dawg. Rick Fox, dawg. All of the players that were with me were dawgs. I don’t see any dawgs on their team,” stated Shaq, who added moments later that he thinks the LeBron and Luka-led squad should just start preparing for the next season. “Might as well pack up and get ready for next year.”
Shaq sometimes speaks without proper context during his analysis, but he’s right on the money here. The Lakers bench has been largely absent this series and LeBron and Luka have been doing everything to try and keep LA in the fight. Austin Reaves has been a non-factor, a big drop off from his elite play during the season.
Of course, Shaq’s point does have legs to it as well. The Lakers don’t have that ‘umph’ factor that is difficult to put into words. The Wolves seem to possess this simply due to the differing personalities on either team.
ANT is having a career-defining performance in this opening round. He’s averaging 28 points per game on top of 6 rebounds and 5.5 assists. His 43-point outing was perhaps the greatest game of his career simply from a wholistic standpoint and how he had his fingerprints on nearly every possession.
While those stats are good, his intensity has been a real tone-setter for the series — and his teammates are responding in favor. Julius Randle is beating all the playoff allegations and providing a great spark for the Wolves offense. Naz Reid has dominated the paint and cut off any second chance opportunities for LA.
With the series on the line, the Lakers will have to dig down deep and find their dawgs. Otherwise all the headlines will read tomorrow is how poorly two of the game’s greats disappointed in their playoff debut together.
