Lakers Try To Survive Against Wolves

It’s Game 5 of the first round matchup between the Lakers and Timberwolves, and LA currently trails 3-1 in the series. Their season is on the line in tonight’s game. The Lakers had opportunities in both games on the road in Minnesota, but couldn’t close it out on either occasion and now will have to win three straight in order to advance to the next round.

Fatigue?

In the second half of Game 4, the Lakers opted to play the same lineup for the whole half. They were able to turn a 3 point deficit at the half into a double digit-lead, however they evidently ran out of gas down the stretch and couldn’t close the game. The Lakers suffered from numerous mistakes down the stretch, with turnovers and fouls in particular coming at bad moments. With it being an elimination game for LA, will JJ Redick opt to utilize his bench more, or will he play his starting 5 as much as possible even with the risk of fatigue?

Lack of Inside Presence

Before the series an obvious area of weakness for the Lakers was their lack of interior presence, especially defensively. So far in the series Minnesota has brutally exposed this weakness. Yet even with this glaring problem, Jaxson Hayes is only getting limited minutes. LA will need to find a solution to create more presence around the basket defensively if they want to have any chance of coming back in this series.