5 Things: Playoff Thud

Took me a couple days to get to an objective place on this series.  There was a lot the Lakers did right, plenty they did wrong, and some things you chalk up to bad luck.  All in all, only thing that matters is that the 2024-25 NBA season is done for the Los Angeles lakers and they can

Took me a couple days to get to an objective place on this series.  There was a lot the Lakers did right, plenty they did wrong, and some things you chalk up to bad luck.  All in all, only thing that matters is that the 2024-25 NBA season is done for the Los Angeles Lakers and they can only look on in envy and frustration as the playoffs continue without them. So let’s dig in to what did the Lakers in.

1. Cohesion, or lack thereof. Post Luka trade the Lakers went on a run that had them rocketing up the standings and ultimately paved the way to the #3 seed. This led to a mirage, of sorts. Our offense and defense looked great, for a stretch, and then injuries and the league catching up to what the Lakers were doing brought it back down to Earth. In the end, time was not the ally of the Lakers as when it came down to displaying elite execution, focus and determination we weren’t able to fall back on cohesion or chemistry to give us a little boost in the face of united and well-prepared Minnesota squad. The Coaching staff and players did as good a job as one could probably expect to fast track all of that but like any relationship that has worth you can’t speed up that process and expect great, consistent results. Everyone but Randle and DiVencenzo had been a T’Wolf for at least 2 seasons. At least everyone that had a real impact. That chemistry and trust was on full display in this series.
2. Ant Man outplayed LeBron and Luka. Down the stretch of games the Timberwolves knew and trusted that Anthony Edwards would have the ball in his hands and would make the right play. The Lakers faltered in the last 5 minutes while the Timberwolves held steady and executed. This theme played out in every single game except game 2 where Minnesota still got the shots they wanted and when, they just missed. Edwards was a force on both ends and had more than enough in the tank to close out every single game. Luka and LeBron, by comparison, looked tired and old (or both in LeBron’s case). Some of that came from a true lack of an elite supporting cast and some of that came from the elite defense the T’Wolves played but at the end of the day Anthony Edwards looked ready for the playoff primetime moments more than Luka and LeBron did. Coach Reddick touched on this topic in his season-ending comments about conditioning but that was bit overly simplistic to my taste, more on all of that in a bit, though.
3. Timberwolves had a team, we almost had a starting five. Depth was a massive issue in this series and the Lakers lacked it up and down the roster. With Gabe Vincent basically being a non-factor we only had Luka as a PG. Hayes played his was off the floor which left Finney-Smith to man the five against Gobert and the rebounding numbers there aren’t pretty as The French Rejection ran roughshod over the Lakers front court all series long. In 143 total minutes played Gobert grabbed 49 rebounds. By comparison, LeBron (who played 204) only grabbed 45 and the Timberwolves outrebounded us by 24 for the series. That’s actually a testament to the Lakers smaller players committing to rebounding because it could have been a lot worse. It’s hard to say what the Lakers could have changed up rotation-wise because so few players played a meaningful role and the onus of winning was put on Luka, LeBron and Austin Reaves. 8 players on the Timberwolves played 100+ minutes and only 5 Lakers played over a 100 and they all played a minimum of 170 (Dorian Finney-Smith). LeBron and Luka each played 204 and 208 minutes respectively. Only Edwards crakced 200 minutes for Minnesota. We simply were not deep enough or the coach didn’t trust enough for us to truly compete.
4. J.J. Reddick got out-coached. Whether it was his choice to play 5 guys for 24 straight NBA minutes, his lack of trust in his bench, or the predictable offense we ran the Lakers looked behind the 8 ball in almost every area of the game. Gone was almost any off-ball cuts/team movement or sets designed to generate lobs that had been a huge part of our offensive package in the regular season. Minny was ready for the open threes our defense was designed to allow, another issue with a regular season stratagem that not’s a good idea for the playoffs. Toss in him losing his cool on the court, in post game interviews and evidently in the locker room and you have a massive learning experience we can only hope he improves upon vastly next time. I think Coach Reddick did a fantastic job in the regular season. I’d give him a B+/A- for navigating the rigors of the 82 game grind, incorporating Luka, losing AD, and still managing the 3 seed. He was slow to adapt, made really bad “from the gut” calls (there really is no explanation or defense for playing LeBron James 24 straight NBA minutes, of course he’s not going to ask out…c’mon man…) and seemed a little over-whelmed, in general. The good news is he basically owned up to all of it in his season-ending comments by stating several times he needs to be better. He’s 100% right about that.
5. Health was huge. Minny looked relatively healthy. The Lakers did not. With the news coming out that Reaves was playing through a sprained left toe, LeBron being 40+ and nursing a sore groin, and Luka’s calves and overall shortened conditioning build up, the Lakers had a huge issue with having enough steam to play complete game. Vando never seemed to get his legs under him this season as he came back from surgeries on both feet and still ended up as one of our best rebounders on a per minute basis. Toss in the choice to play the same 5 guys for 24 straight minutes and not really even trying to use his bench and the Lakers were really in situation where they had to execute perfectly just to give themselves a real shot. Health is funny, though, hard to control or predict. Still, it was a huge factor in the Lakers early playoff exit.

Lots to think about for the Lakers. I think LeBron James miiiight opt out of his player option but I’m not 100% certain he will. If he does that opens up a TON of potential doors (depending on the amount, it certainly will not be for the vet minimum but it could maybe be as much as 5-10 million…maybe…?). The center position is a huge issue as is the back up guard positions, both of them. Dalton Knecht was a playoff non-factor on account of his defense and inability to hit a shot in meaningful minutes. Jordan Goodwin, too (the Lakers have a Team Option on him). We’ll get into the numbers of the offseason in a different post but the bottom line is the Lakers are going to have some money to play with, some team options to navigate (DFS has one, as well as LBJ) and a new superstar to build around. Should be fun to see what happens next.