by Paul Teetor
Uh oh.
The NBA playoffs are finally here but they may soon be gone.
The fervent hope blooming in Los Angeles like a California poppy that either the Clippers or the Lakers – or both — could make it to the Western Conference Finals this year were dealt a significant blow in a long Saturday afternoon of hoops that started with great hopes and ended with great fears.
First up: the Clippers lost to the Denver Nuggets in Denver 112-110 in overtime after dominating the bulk of the game, choking at the end of regulation to send it into overtime, and then choking even worse at the end of overtime to lose it by the thinnest of margins.
That was followed a couple of hours later by the Lakers being overwhelmed 117-95 by the Minnesota Timberwolves at the aptly named Crypt. The Lakers couldn’t handle the Wolves’ hard-nosed physicality, their hard-earned playoff poise, and most notably their hard-to-believe 3-point shooting, as they turned what was supposed to be a Laker weapon into their kryptonite by making 21 trifectas on 42 attempts.
Sure, both teams are only down 1-0 in their best-of-seven series, so there is still a long way to go. It’s only one game, things can turn around in a few minutes, etc. But losing the next game and going down 2-0 means they would then have to win four out of the next five games to win the series – an unlikely scenario for either team.
The brutal reality is that both teams are now facing a must win situation in game 2. If they lose a game 2 it will be a case of it getting late early, as the great Yogi Berra once said.
By far the most ominous loss was by the Lakers, while the Clippers at least could make a case that they showed they are the better team and would have won handily if they hadn’t handed the game to the Nuggets at the end. And the Clippers redeemed themselves Monday night with a 105-102 victory, led by Kawhi Leonard’s 39 points. They will now come back to LA with the series tied 1-1.
So let’s take a closer look at what went wrong with the Lakers.
It started great for the Lakers, with Luka Doncic scoring 16 points in the first quarter and showing why he is a top five player in the NBA.
But as well as Luka was playing – and he finished with a game-high 37 points and 8 boards – that’s how badly the other two members of the Lakers so-called Big Three were playing.
LeBron James was scoreless in the first quarter and only had 10 points by halftime. You know all that talk about how LeBron has been defying Father Time for the last few years, still playing great in his 22nd season at 40 years old? Well, that talk could quickly be followed by even louder chatter about Father Time being undefeated and this being the moment that LeBron turned out to be a mere mortal like the rest of us.
That moment may be coming at a most unfortunate time.
That’s because the other member of the Big three – Austin Reaves – was even worse in the first half, shooting 1-for 6 on his way to just 2 points. If he doesn’t find his form soon the Lakers have no chance and could even be swept.
It all came as a serious shock to the capacity crowd (19,000) that included the usual celebrity contingent of semi-famous rappers and pro and college athletes to go along with Lakers throwbacks 91-year-old record producer Lou Adler and 88-year-old pin-up girl Dyan Cannon.
Glory days indeed.
The Lakers fans that filled the Crypt were pumped up to cheer the Lakers’ new found status as a serious contender, a legit threat to win the West if they could just get a shot at the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Gold T-shirts with the Lakers’ new playoff slogan “Unleash Joy” were placed on every seat for every fan inside the arena – the first time the Lakers have opened a first-round playoff series in Los Angeles since April 2012.
But by the time those same fans got back to their seats shortly after halftime, the Lakers were being run out of the gym in a game that they trailed by as much as 27 points.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Tuesday night in LA as the Lakers look to get at least a split on their home floor before heading to Minnesota for Games 3 and 4.
“They’re a great opponent,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “They’re one of the best in basketball. It’s not that our guys weren’t ready to withstand a playoff-level basketball game. We were mentally ready. I thought our spirit was right. I thought even when they made runs, our huddles were great. The communication was great.”
Then Redick added the obligatory caveat.
“I’m not sure physically we were ready, if that makes any sense,” he said. “When they started playing with a lot of thrusts and physicality, we just didn’t respond immediately to that.”
Luka led the Lakers with 37 points on 12-of-22 shooting (5 for 10 from 3-point range), but it wasn’t nearly enough to prevent the Lakers from losing home-court advantage to begin the best-of-seven series.
The sixth-seeded Timberwolves knocked down a franchise playoff-record 21 3-point shots – while shooting a blistering 50% from behind the arc – and overwhelmed the third-seeded Lakers with their physical play, shot-making and veteran poise.
“They just physically beat us from the get-go,” Reaves said. “Neither team has played in a week or so, but they came out with a little more aggression and physicality to their game that helped them win. That’s really it.”
Reigning NBA Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid (23 points, five rebounds off the bench) led the Timberwolves with six 3-pointers.
All-NBA guard Anthony Edwards (22 points, nine assists, eight rebounds) shot 4 for 9 from long range, while Jaden McDaniels, who led the Timberwolves with 25 points and nine rebounds, made all three of his attempts from behind the arc.
LeBron James finished with 19 points, five rebounds and three assists, while Reaves had 16 points (5-of-13 shooting), but both of the Lakers stars had slow starts and by the time they got going the game was well out of reach.
The Timberwolves weathered a 16-point first quarter from Doncic, then made 15 3-pointers during the second and third quarters – including a trio of 3s in the opening two minutes of the third – when they turned what had been a seven-point deficit after one period into an 88-61 lead midway through the third.
“They were hitting a lot of 3s,” Doncic said. “We gotta limit their 3s, especially their lasers. And we weren’t physical. They were running. They were getting anything they wanted. And we gotta be better than that.”
The Lakers finished the third quarter strong and cut their deficit to 12 multiple times with the help of improved physicality and energy, but they couldn’t get any closer.
“You know when you play Minnesota they’re going to be physical,” LeBron said. “That’s what they bring to the table. So maybe it took us one playoff game to get a feel for it and know the type of intensity and type of physicality that’s going to be brought to the game. That’s just the way they play. So we should be more than prepared for that on Tuesday night.”
If they lose another home game to the Wolves Tuesday night, it will be near impossible to come back from that, so All Ball will say it again: Game 2 is a must-win game for the Lakers.
It’s getting late for the Lakers early.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com
