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For all intents and purposes, the Los Angeles Lakers' hopes of winning this year's NBA championship will likely come down to Game 2 of their first-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, which takes place on Tuesday. They got slammed in Game 1 on Saturday by a final score of 117-95, and it is possible they got seriously exposed.
But there is another scenario where the Lakers match the Timberwolves' physicality and not only win Game 2 but possibly also expose some type of advantage they can take advantage of moving forward. For that to happen, they will have to start by rectifying these three issues they had in that Game 1 loss.
The Lakers' lack of a starting-caliber center, as well as their lack of even a legitimate backup center behind starter Jaxson Hayes, has made them vulnerable on the boards. In Game 1, they were outrebounded 44-38, and they gave up 11 offensive rebounds, which led to 23 second-chance points for Minnesota.
They may not have a single game in this series where they win the rebounding battle by a sizable margin. But they at least need to finish roughly even in that department and clamp down on Minnesota's second-chance points. In particular, Minnesota hurt the Lakers by getting numerous good looks at 3-pointers after grabbing offensive boards, which allowed it to go 21-of-42 from downtown.
The Lakers haven't played with much pace in recent weeks once they started to truly integrate Luka Doncic into their offense. But they need to play an up-tempo game, especially since they're significantly smaller than the Timberwolves.
In Game 1, they only scored six points on the break. Even worse, they gave up 25 fast-break points to the Timberwolves, even though they only committed a manageable 13 turnovers.
Playing at a fast pace would open things up for more Lakers players to contribute offensively and get good looks. On Saturday, they shot an awful 39.8% from the field and only mustered 15 assists.
Luka Doncic played an excellent game even though the Timberwolves hounded him defensively. He scored 37 points, with 16 of them coming in the first quarter, and shot 12-of-22 overall and 5-of-10 from 3-point range.
But LeBron James had just 19 points and went scoreless in the first quarter, while Austin Reaves scored 14 points in the third quarter but only mustered two points during the rest of the game. James needs to assert himself early and shoot better from the outside (he was just 1-of-5 from 3-point land), and Reaves needs to be his usual aggressive self.
Even worse, L.A.'s bench only contributed 13 points. When Dorian Finney-Smith and Gabe Vincent, who combined to go 2-of-8 and score six points, are hitting consistently from the outside, L.A. is a much better team.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Three keys for the Lakers in Game 2 vs the Timberwolves
Continue reading...
But there is another scenario where the Lakers match the Timberwolves' physicality and not only win Game 2 but possibly also expose some type of advantage they can take advantage of moving forward. For that to happen, they will have to start by rectifying these three issues they had in that Game 1 loss.
Rebounding
The Lakers' lack of a starting-caliber center, as well as their lack of even a legitimate backup center behind starter Jaxson Hayes, has made them vulnerable on the boards. In Game 1, they were outrebounded 44-38, and they gave up 11 offensive rebounds, which led to 23 second-chance points for Minnesota.
They may not have a single game in this series where they win the rebounding battle by a sizable margin. But they at least need to finish roughly even in that department and clamp down on Minnesota's second-chance points. In particular, Minnesota hurt the Lakers by getting numerous good looks at 3-pointers after grabbing offensive boards, which allowed it to go 21-of-42 from downtown.
Fast-break points
The Lakers haven't played with much pace in recent weeks once they started to truly integrate Luka Doncic into their offense. But they need to play an up-tempo game, especially since they're significantly smaller than the Timberwolves.
In Game 1, they only scored six points on the break. Even worse, they gave up 25 fast-break points to the Timberwolves, even though they only committed a manageable 13 turnovers.
Playing at a fast pace would open things up for more Lakers players to contribute offensively and get good looks. On Saturday, they shot an awful 39.8% from the field and only mustered 15 assists.
Offensive balance
Luka Doncic played an excellent game even though the Timberwolves hounded him defensively. He scored 37 points, with 16 of them coming in the first quarter, and shot 12-of-22 overall and 5-of-10 from 3-point range.
But LeBron James had just 19 points and went scoreless in the first quarter, while Austin Reaves scored 14 points in the third quarter but only mustered two points during the rest of the game. James needs to assert himself early and shoot better from the outside (he was just 1-of-5 from 3-point land), and Reaves needs to be his usual aggressive self.
Even worse, L.A.'s bench only contributed 13 points. When Dorian Finney-Smith and Gabe Vincent, who combined to go 2-of-8 and score six points, are hitting consistently from the outside, L.A. is a much better team.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Three keys for the Lakers in Game 2 vs the Timberwolves
Continue reading...
