Perhaps in response to the big game of Anthony Edwards and feeling a feeling of despair, the Lakers coach, JJ Redick, made a big bet on Sunday.
It didn't pay.
Redick played the same five players all the second half of match 4 while the Los Angeles Lakers lacked gas and came across the Timberwolves 116-113, while Minnesota took a 3-1 lead in the series in the first round
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Edwards scored 43 points – 16 in the fourth quarter – and added nine rebounds and six assists, but it was Redick's decision which was perhaps the key factor.
Redick said the post-match, he had decided to subordinate anyone at halftime, keeping the range of five men from LeBron James, Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves, Dorian Finney-Smith and Rui Hachimura on the ground for the second half.
“We have certainly played well enough to win, and we have given the effort to win. It is not a thing planned to play five guys (for) a second half,” said Redick. “(I) asked them at the beginning of the fourth quarter, told them that we had two additional deadlines, if you need a sub-us, these guys.”
When he was asked if he was worried about offset his players, Redick said he trusted them to talk if they needed to go out. “Once you have somehow made this decision and they are all in it, you just have to trust them,” he said.
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As expected, the reaction to Redick's strategy was quite strong:
The Lakers opened the second half with a 14-0 race and appeased the Minnesota crowd. But the Timberwolves began to grow back, fed by a second stellar half of Edwards-and perhaps fatigue on the side of the Lakers. A large 3 or open of Naz Reid with four remaining minutes in the match passed the Minnesota in both points after the team followed up to 12 points at the end of the third quarter and entered the fourth drop of 10.
The Timberwolves drew a two possessions with two minutes to play after a huge and 1 Donte Divincenzo, but at 3 points of reaves and Finney-Smith withdrew the Lakers back. Then, in the last minute, Reaves walked the Timberwolves striker Jaden McDaniels for an opportunity and 1, winning his fifth fault while McDaniels converted the franc launch to give Minnesota an advance of 114-113.
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With less than 10 seconds to play, James slapped the ball from the hands of Edwards between what was initially deemed a turnover, leading to a challenge of Minnesota and a long review. An aerial video angle was clearly in contact with Edwards' wrist, which caused a fault. Edwards struck the two free throws, giving Timberwolves the advance of 116-113.
Reaves had a chance for a game 3, but he rebounded in the basket.
After the match, Redick selected Five, all said they agreed to stay so long, but that it was a “difficult” loss. Reaves said after the match that it was good to do “whatever the coach needed me” and that he had rested enough during the first half; Hachimura said he was “ready to play the whole game”, but admitted that the initial chemistry between the five of them had started to collapse towards the end.
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Finney-Smith added that he was also “always ready” but admitted that he did not think they would use this strategy for match 5.
“It was difficult, you know, but these are playoffs,” said Finney-Smith about the second half. “I don't think nobody wanted to get out of the game anyway. I don't think no one uses it as an excuse.”
And for James, the Lakers team leader said that he thought that the team's second half's time had more to do with the fact of not taking advantage of opportunities rather than getting tired. “I don't think fatigue has something to do with it,” he said. “It just lacks a few rush strokes.”
The Lakers have certainly had the opportunity to win, but what many will question is Redick's decision to set up the same five players for the second half. The lack of depth of the Lakers was always going to be a problem of this series, but Redick could not have been clearer on whom on his list in which he has confidence.
The Lakers participated in the Sunday competition a day of rest and are now a loss of elimination with things that certainly look disastrous. Match 5 is 10 p.m. HE Wednesday in Los Angeles.
