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The basketball gods have not yet given up on the Los Angeles Lakers. They’ve just raised the bar on the kind of heroics that are going to be required for the Lakers to pull off a miraculous championship run.

Right now, the Lakers’ only path to this year’s championship is to pull off a rare 1–3 comeback by beating the Timberwolves 3 straight playoff games, something that’s only been done 13 times and only once by the Lakers. However, the Lakers have two things going for them that give them a remote chance to beat the Wolves 3 straight games: LeBron, who pulled off a 1–3 comeback in the NBA Finals and home court in 2 of the 3 games left.

So while the basketball gods did not intervene to prevent the zebras from stealing Game 4 from the Lakers, they did leave the purple and gold with a challenging-but-not-impossible path to survive the first round of playoffs.
The key game is obviously Game 5 in Los Angeles on Wednesday night. The Lakers desperately need a wire-to-wire big win to restore their confidence and keep the series alive. Win that game, go 2–3, and everything changes.

The Lakers are then within one game of tying the series and regaining home court advantage. Yes, they do have to win Game 6 on Friday night in Minnesota but if they do, they suddenly turn the tables on the Wolves.
The series then returns to Los Angeles on Sunday tied 3–3 with the Lakers once again the favorite to move on. That’s the dramatic comeback ending the basketball gods are demanding this year from the Los Angeles Lakers.

So the good news is the Lakers still have a chance to win a championship but they will need to play much better on offense and defense than they played in the first four games. So let’s look at what the Lakers need to do.

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1. PLAY SMALL BALL

There is no question the Lakers best strategy in this series is to play small ball. JJ Redick probably should have benched Jaxson Hayes earlier as the spacing DFS provides makes the half court offense so much better.

2. SLOW GAME DOWN

Getting into a run-and-gun high scoring game against the Wolves is not going to be to the Lakers’ advantage. No live ball turnovers or leaking out to fast break. End every defensive possession with a rebound.

3. CUT DOWN ON FOULS

The Wolves are shooting 2 more free throws per game than the Lakers, a reversal over the regular season when L.A. averaged 2 more free throws per game than Minnesota. L.A. needs to defend with feet, not hands.

4. PLAY MORE PLAYERS

JJ’s big gamble on playing his Death Lineup the entire second half would have paid off big had it worked and they still have Wednesday to recover. Going forward, the Lakers need to play more players to avoid injuries.

5. SHOOT MORE THREES

The Lakers biggest differential so far in the Timberwolves series has been their +5.1 ppg in 3-point shooting differential. There is no other area where the Lakers can potentially improve their performance than threes.