Luka Doncic gets real on Lakers’ minutes load in Game 4 loss vs. Timberwolves

MINNEAPOLIS – The Los Angeles Lakers are sitting where no NBA team wants to be in the playoffs. That’s staring down the wrong end of a 3-1 series deficit, which is where the Lakers stand following their 116-113 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 4. Head coach JJ Redick opted to go with major lineup changes in the second half, which Luka Doncic addressed after the game.

The first change was to substitute Jaxson Hayes for Dorian Finney-Smith to start the third quarter. The second change was playing that line of Doncic, Finney-Smith, LeBron James, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura all 24 minutes of the second half.

No other Lakers player came in during the second half, which might have raised questions about possible fatigue down the stretch. But after the Lakers’ loss, Luka Doncic was adamant that fatigue was not an issue in the fourth quarter, at least it shouldn’t have been.

“This is the playoffs. Fatigue shouldn’t play any role in this,” Doncic said. “We played a lot of minutes, but it shouldn’t play a role. I think they just executed that on the offensive end during the last minutes.”

When Redick opted to go with the same five players for the entirety of the second half, he became the first NBA head coach in the play-by-play era to do so. And whether or not fatigue was a factor, the Lakers still had their chances down the stretch.

After the Wolves had surged ahead, 111-107, the Lakers hit back-to-back three-point shots, one from Reaves and one from Finney-Smith, to put them back up 113-111 with a little over one minute to go. And even after the Wolves went ahead again, the Lakers had a shot at overtime but Reaves’ three-point attempt was off.

After the game, Redick mentioned that the players themselves didn’t have an issue with playing the entire second half.

“It was not a planned thing to play five guys the entire second half,” Redick said. “We asked them at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and we told them we had two extra timeouts, if you need a sub let us know. Those guys gave a lot. . .I think once you kind of make that decision, and they’re all in, you just got to trust them.”

Down the stretch, there were a couple of calls that didn’t go the Lakers’ way, but that happens sometimes. In the end, the Wolves executed and the Lakers didn’t. Now they face an elimination game as they return home to Los Angeles for Game 5.