Lakers' fourth-quarter woes were historically bad

In Games 4 and 5, Luka Doncic and LeBron James shot a combined 4-of-18 in the fourth quarter. Remarkably, they were both outscored by Timberwolves sixth man Naz Reid across the five fourth quarters. 

The outcome was particularly shocking since the Lakers were one of the best clutch teams in the regular season. The Purple and Gold were 23-16 in games decided by five or fewer points in the final five minutes, routinely finding ways to close out nail-biting contests. It also helped that they had three proven closers in Doncic, James and Austin Reaves, making their postseason failures all the more shocking. 

JJ Redick refused to blame his players' offensive execution or effort in the fourth quarter, instead citing bad luck and the bigger Timberwolves' ability to collect offensive rebounds. 

"We executed great in the fourth quarter," Redick told reporters. "Missed shots at the rim, missed a bunch of threes, shot 12-for-52 for the series in the fourth quarter from three…We obviously put ourselves in a position to be in the game three times in the fourth quarter, and just came up short every time."

In Wednesday's Game 5, the Lakers were outscored 22-16 in the fourth but had plenty of good looks. Doncic missed a wide-open layup, and James missed two makeable shots in the final stretch. Again, Redick felt his players did their part in creating opportunities to score. 

"The offensive part of it in particular tonight, I mean, we missed wide open threes, we missed a couple of shots at the rim."

Many cited fatigue as a reason for James and Doncic's poor fourth-quarter performances, but the stars refused to make excuses. Even Reaves took accountability for letting his teammates down.