Luka Doncic and the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers are having trouble finding a way to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Purple and Gold are down 3-1 to the Twolves during the first round of the NBA playoffs, with a crucial game 5 taking place at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday night.
Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid and the rest of the Minnesota squad have been the better team at home and away, and they have an opportunity to send LeBron James and company on vacations ahead of schedule.
Luka Doncic cusses out Timberwolves fan
Luka Doncic has been dealing with some issues during the Lakers vs. Timberwolves series. He struggled in game 3 due to a stomach illness, which caused the superstar guard to vomit all afternoon previous to the game. He’s still averaging 30.8 points, seven rebounds, five assists and one steal.
Sunday afternoon, the former Dallas Mavericks scored 38 points but had some very discrete numbers on everything else, recording two assists, one rebound, one steal and one block. Some critics said that he was not effective on the defensive side of the ball, and the fans got an opportunity to let the Slovenian talent know that he’s not welcomed at Target Center in Minneapolis.
One fan in particular told Luka that he was a grown man already and therefore, he didn’t need to complain in almost every call that didn’t went his way. Doncic had enough of the man and as he got rid of the ball, he looked back at the heckler and told him. “Shut the f*** up, p****”.
Lakers need more help from the bench
If the Los Angeles Lakers want to come back from a 3-1 deficit agains the Minnesota Timberwolves, they are going to need more production from their role players, including the bench. Sunday night, center/forward Jaxson Hayes picked up a couple of quick fouls and a technical.
The 7’0 footer and former Texas Longhorns standout never saw the floor after that, with head coach JJ Redick opting to go with a smaller lineup with Dorian Finney-Smith playing the entire second half. That hurted the Lakers as they were not able to have a big man protecting the rim from most of the game.
Undrafted sensation guard Austin Reaves had a difficult fourth quarter, hitting only 2-of-7 from the field and missing the potential game-tying three pointer at the end of regulation. The former Oklahoma Sooners have stepped up big for the Lakers during the regular season, and now it’s time to show his team that he can be a major factor during the playoffs.
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