1 week Ago
The Minnesota Timberwolves took full control of their first-round Western Conference playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers, taking a 3-1 series lead following Sunday's 116-113 victory in Game 4 at Target Center in Minneapolis. The Wolves defended home court and put the Lakers on the brink of elimination with two victories in two incredible games. Sunday's was no exception, and there were no shortage of highlights from Game 4.
Here's a look at five of them: Lakers take their best shot The series isn't over until a team wins four games, but Sunday's game felt like one the Lakers really needed, and they acted accordingly. Lakers coach J.J.
Redick didn't make a single substitution in the second half — LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Dorian Finney-Smith all played the full half. Four of them got over 40 minutes. James nearly played the entire game, only sitting for a one-minute stretch in the first quarter.
Doncic sat just a couple minutes in the second quarter. And both of the Lakers stars came through with monster efforts — Doncic scored a team-high 38 points and added two assists, a rebound, a steal and a block, while James put together a jaw-dropping two-way effort with 27 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, three steals and three blocks. They even got 23 points from Hachimura.
It felt like the big minutes and big efforts from James and Doncic would pay off when the Lakers opened the third quarter on a 14-0 run and took a 10-point lead into the final quarter. But they ultimately fell short, and one has to ask what more the James-Doncic duo could possibly do to pull out a victory. That felt like the Lakers' best shot, and it still wasn't enough.
Wolves benefit from 'Jaden rule' In last season's playoff matchup against Doncic, the Wolves were on the wrong side of a critical challenge. In Game 2 of the Western Conference finals against the Dallas Mavericks, Jaden McDaniels had the ball at the baseline and it got swiped out of his hands by Kyrie Irving. It was initially ruled out off Dallas, but Mavericks coach Jason Kidd challenged.
The ball was off McDaniels, but only because Irving got all arm instead of all ball. But under replay review rules last season, a foul could not be added upon review, and it was ruled Mavericks ball. That rule was changed ahead of this season, and it benefited the Wolves in a big way in the final seconds on Sunday as a challenge from Chris Finch added a foul on James.
With 10.1 seconds remaining, Anthony Edwards was driving to the rim and James deflected the ball out of his hands. The ball last touched Edwards, but Finch challenged the call and it was determined upon replay review that James made contact with Edwards' arm before the ball, and Edwards was awarded two free throws, making both to put them up three.
"As soon as it happened, I looked at the ref like, 'We want to challenge it,'" Edwards said. "It might have been out on me, but he fouled me because the ball, with my euro, I put the ball all the way down here. He's swiping at the ball, he can't get to it, he got to hit my arm.
I told Finchy right away, 'You gotta challenge it.' "Because we got a challenge anyway, and there's 10 seconds left in the game, you might as well use it. We wasn't challenging for the out of bounds, I told him, 'We challenging it for the foul.
' I knew he fouled me, man, because he swiped down and hit my arm. That was a great overturn by the refs, we appreciate it." James disagreed with the call, believing he made contact with his hand (by rule an extension of the ball) not the arm.
Mike Conley still has bounce In perhaps one of the most underappreciated moments of the game, Conley blocked James in transition during the third quarter, a play that was a momentum halter as the Lakers were in the midst of the 14-0 run, though he did get banged up. "I was like, 'All right old man," Edwards said of Conley's block. "He got hurt though, but he'll be alright.
I'm not gonna lie, I was impressed when he blocked that. If we had been up, I probably would've been talking a little bit more trash, but they was like on a 10-0 run, so I had to pipe down a little bit. But yeah, that was dope.
Big shout out to MC, man." Conley exited the game after that, appearing to injure his leg, but he did return in the fourth quarter and grabbed an offensive rebound as the Wolves whittled down the 10-point deficit. He seemed OK, but did have a bit of a limp.
Closing time In back-to-back games, the Wolves have delivered their two best closing efforts of the season, and in both instances, Edwards was the driver. During the regular season, Edwards would tend to force things and take ill-advised shots down the stretch in close games. He seems to have gotten it out of his system.
He's been brilliant in the clutch in the playoffs. Edwards hit two 3-pointers in the first minute of the fourth quarter as the Wolves started to mount the comeback. He made the right reads, getting off the ball when he needed to and taking shots as they came to him.
In the fourth quarter alone, Edwards had 16 points on 4-for-7 shooting, four rebounds, two assists, a block and not a single turnover. The Wolves outscored the Lakers 32-19 in the fourth quarter, and Edwards played the entire frame — a plus-13. "He just took over in the second half," Finch said of Edwards.
"Had it going, was super aggressive." Edwards finished with a game-high 43 points, nine rebounds, six assists, a block and just one turnover. Edwards was the catalyst, but his struggling teammates came through when it mattered most, too.
Naz Reid, who was having a rough game, drilled a pair of critical 3s down the stretch as the Wolves retook the lead. Donte DiVincenzo, who also struggled early, though played well defensively, got to the rim for an and-1 layup to put them up four with 2:11 to go. One win away With Sunday's victory, the Wolves are just one win away from advancing to the West semifinals.
They can end the series as soon as Game 5 on Wednesday, which is scheduled for a 9 p.m. CT tipoff in Los Angeles and will be televised on TNT.
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