Truth be told, we came close to losing Game 2 in the 4th but the difference was that MIN missed the wide open looks they’ve been hitting in the other 3 games. It’s a problem..

FROM THE ABOVE ARTICLE:

The Lakers failed to win either of their two games in Minnesota against the Wolves over the weekend. Now they are heading home down 3-1 and one loss away from their season being over.

Each game is its own singular event, but one thing that’s been clear is that the Wolves have been the sharper team.

While it’s human nature to focus on the final quarter of a close game, especially when your coach makes zero substitutions in a half, during his postgame comments, head coach JJ Redick highlighted the Lakers’ errors in the first half as a factor in their Game 4 loss.

“I thought we played well enough in the first half with our first shot defense, we should have been up double figures,” Redick said. “Instead, we’re down. Some turnovers led to some baskets and then offensive rebounds just killed us in the first half.”

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

Zach Lowe thinks Luka Doncic needs to fight more defensively

“He’s just helpless defensively, off the ball too,” Lowe stated bluntly on his podcast about Luka Doncic.

“How about you put up a fight in like game one. And now you’re down 3-1 and you’re probably going home.”

The criticism highlights a weakness that has followed Doncic throughout his career but has been particularly exposed in this playoff series against the athletic Timberwolves.

Despite the Lakers’ defensive needs against Minnesota’s explosive offense, Doncic has struggled to provide resistance on that end.

Where’s the Luka magic as a playmaker

While Doncic poured in 38 points in Game 4, Lowe pointed to another concerning statistic that suggests the superstar isn’t having his typical impact as a playmaker.

“One interesting stat from this series is that Luka only has 20 assists in four games, which for him is not very many,” Lowe explained.

lol. Zach Lowe should look at some of the advanced stats a little more closely before popping off.

No other Laker has contested more shots than Luka (makes sense, they’re making him work on defense).

The Timberwolves are shooting the lowest FG% against Luka.

Those are the numbers, don’t much matter what the opinion’s around them are.

Don’t believe me? Want to keep the charade going? Cool but some stats don’t lie. 80 fouls called on the Lakers, 81 on the Timbereolves. Both teams have attempted exactly 69 free throws. The Lakers have taken 157 three pointers to the T’Wolves 139. The real difference is in the makes, despite shooting 18 fewer threes Minny has only made 4 fewer (53-57). They’ve committed way fewer turnovers, rebounded a lot better and are generally playing harder and with a focused force.

THATS the difference.