LeBron James drops playoff warning after Game 3 loss

MINNEAPOLIS – The Los Angeles Lakers are facing essentially a must-win situation following their 116-104 Game 3 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. With the prospect of facing a 3-1 deficit in the series, and a potential elimination game in Game 5, Game 4 becomes that much more magnified. And as Lakers star LeBron James put it, there is no room for mishaps during the playoffs.

Following their Lakers’ Game 3 loss to the Timberwolves, LeBron James spoke about the importance of minimizing mistakes, or else it could spell doom in the postseason.

“In the postseason, there is no room for error. In the regular season you’re able to make up for certain things. And of course in the regular season you can have a little bit of room for error,” James said. “Our team was constructed at one point where in the regular season we didn’t have that much room as well.”

“But in the postseason, obviously you’re not going to play a perfect game,” James continued. “But the more you make mistakes, on top of mistakes, on top of mistakes, things that can be controlled, it’s not gonna give you an opportunity to be in the best possible chance to win.”

Part of the things that can be controlled that James was speaking about was turnovers. The Lakers committed 19 turnovers in Game 3 that led to 28 points for the Timberwolves. The Lakers were called for three 24-second shot clock violations throughout the game.

“We got to control the controllables, and I don’t think we did that,” James said. “Obviously 19 turnovers on the road is not gonna be a good ingredient for winning. Giving up 30 points off those turnovers, they had 20-plus points in transition as well. We go to control the controllables, and if we do that we’ll give ourselves a chance to win.”

And in terms of the margin of error being slim to none in the postseason, that also includes health. Luka Doncic was under the weather for Game 3 and was clearly not able to play at the level he’s accustomed to. He toughed it out though and hit a few big shots in the fourth quarter, including a floater over Rudy Gobert that tied the game at 103.

But the Lakers can’t afford to have Doncic operating at less than 100 percent. While nobody is completely healthy in the playoffs, Doncic’s illness had a major effect on his overall production.

“Obviously with his illness, it impacts our team,” James said. “We understand what he brings to our team and what he’s done since his acquisition. So it definitely took a big blow for our team.”

The Lakers will square off against the Timberwolves in Game 4 on Sunday before the series shifts back to Los Angeles next week.