LeBron James Finally Breaks Silence on Losing to Timberwolves

"You unravel all of those emotions," James said, "and I've unraveled all of them in a sense of like, giving me space, going back, analytically seeing... what could I have done better, what could we have done better, thinking about individual matchups, thinking about their team versus our team, things... we could have [done] better, obviously I've come to grips with it now, with it being quite a few days after the fact, and watching a lot of the other series now and seeing how they unfold."

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Los Angeles's lack of rim protection was its obvious biggest issue, even if James didn't explicitly call that out. Team president Rob Pelinka did trade for Charlotte Hornets center Mark Williams, a solid lob threat center to pair with newly-acquired five-time All-NBA First Team guard Luka Doncic, but he ultimately rescinded the deal when Williams failed his physical.

Williams isn't a proven commodity as a defender, but would likely have at least intimidated four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert on the other end.

Head coach JJ Redick opted to limit the minutes of the team's preferred traditional centers, Jaxson Hayes and Maxi Kleber, going for a small-ball lineup that offered little resistance against Minnesota.

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"I've had all those emotions to the point where it's like, s---, we entered the season well, but like you said, when it comes to the postseason, matchups... sometimes [don't] determine how [good] of a regular season you had, it's the matchups," James told Nash. "We ran into a damn good matchup. A team that's been battle-tested, a team that's hungry, a team that [has] a lot of youth, but a lot of experience at the same time, and a... team that's trying to take the next step. And they were a worthy opponent for sure."

In the series, James averaged 25.4 points on .489/.357/.775 shooting splits, 9.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.8 blocks a night.

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