The only thing that moved more slowly than the lakers was the clock.
They had poured their energy into the fights for everything while building an advance which extended to 22 in the first half and lived at 20 deep in the second half. They had caught and scratched and had been scratched and were caught and he was still there, a big lead, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the chronometer left to beat the series at 1-1 and save a split on their home.
But Minnesota has become stronger, faster and smarter.
And the Lakers, mentally and physically, have become slower.
Two major errors by Jaxson Hayes led five quick points from Minnesota. Luka Doncic, who had been fully engaged on the defensive side of the ball, was flat while Anthony Edwards struck the painting. The three wide openings bordered.
And the kind of fast break in two with Austin Reaves and LeBron James who would generally be an alley has become an alley when Reaves launched the ball too high and James missed the layup.
But the clock continued to check. And the Lakers continued to fight, pulling enough accusations, grabbing enough rebounds, marking enough (barely) to beat Minnesota, 94-85 Tuesday evening at Crypto.com Arena.
The center of Luka Doncic and Timberwolves Rudy Gobert fight for a rebound in the second quarter.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
There was time for dead in the middle of the third quarter after Minnesota reduced the advance of the Lakers to 11, the coach of the Lakers JJ Redick Rage-Walking and the B-Bombing F far and back on the bench of his team.
“This is not something I would like to do. It is not something that I am more than comfortable,” said Redick. “But I think that this evening, it was just a question of obtaining this emergency button which returned.”
The switch turned around and the Lakers scored the following nine points.
Later in the fourth quarter, once again, when the Lakers have passed and the Timberwolves cut their lead, the Redick teams did just enough. Reaves exceeded Rudy Gobert for a large dismissal. James stripped Edwards, overthrowing a chance of minnesota transition in a bucket for Lakers. Reaves sealed it by stopping another fast break by taking a charge, the Lakers finding means to win even though they only scored 13 points in the last quarter.
According to Statmuse, the 13 points are the third less marked by a team in the fourth quarter of a victory in the playoffs since at least 2015.
Match 3 is Friday in Minneapolis.
“We could still be better offensively. I thought we were sometimes very clear. But sometimes we were not,” said James. “I think we could do a better job at the end of the offensive, but we will continue to improve, continue to watch the film, see the ways we can break the defense and continue to have a good appearance. I thought we had beautiful looks tonight. I know that many of my blows in the fourth quarter were superb looks that were not.
If match 1 showed that the lakers standing as a big favorites in the series were wrong, match 2 showed that everything that would then come to leave scars.
After Redick challenged his team to meet the intensity and physicity of Minnesota, the teams torn and reached and held and hammered while they played as if each possession would determine and lose.
Luka Doncic has shown that history has entirely in bold of the first quarter of the opening of the Lakers qualifiers showed why he is one of the most gifted difference manufacturers in the NBA. It can be an individual show, too difficult for any player to stop, too qualified to be refused.
But it was singular.
Excellence of Lakers in this series? You had to be plural.
LeBron James shoots on his arms outstretched from the center of Timberwolves Rudy Gobert in the first quarter.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The playoffs would require more than Donci in the process of getting buckets. They would force James to cut suddenly in the paint to create an additional space. Lakers would need Reaves to fight like hell for each stage on the defensive side of the field.
It does not work when it is only the opposite. It didn’t work when it was like that in match 1.
So Tuesday evening, faced with the first unofficial “essential” of the playoffs, the Lakers played in unison very early, even if Dononic was the only one with the shots really.
“We did the same match plan. We haven’t changed much,” said Donic. “It was just a question of whether we were going to be more physical or not. And I think we showed it. And we were there for 48 minutes. We got up in the first quarter. We learned from the last match. And we just stayed.”
And while Doncouic was able to create the type of discrepancy he will be able to use against anyone, the Lakers suddenly found themselves suffocated by the defense of Minnesota.
Doncic finished with 31 points, James had 21 and Reaves scored 16, but the Lakers pulled only 20.7% from three points. Fortunately, the Minnesota was not better, obtaining 42 combined points from Julius Randle and Edwards but no more than nine of anyone else.
It was the defense, the intensity and effort of the Lakers that built their big lead, and finally allowed them to beat the chronometer to hang on to it.
“We were physical,” said Redick. “The playoffs require a different level.”
The Lakers got there – and stayed there long enough.
