The Los Angeles Lakers’ season is formally over after a crushing 103-96 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves at dwelling in Recreation 5 of the primary spherical. Los Angeles was in every of the final 4 video games late into the fourth quarter, however an absence of execution on offense doomed them in three of them and finally led to their elimination.
One of many greatest storylines in the course of the sequence was the Lakers’ determination to go together with a small lineup for many of the sequence, placing beginning heart Jaxson Hayes on the bench. Hayes did not eclipse 10 minutes in every of the primary 4 video games and did not see any enjoying time in Recreation 5.
After the sport, head coach JJ Redick talked concerning the cause that Hayes could not get on the court docket.
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“There’s all the time a trade-off,” Redick stated. “We could not rating. So there is a trade-off to every part.”
In hindsight, the choice to bench Jaxson Hayes could have backfired on Redick. The Lakers struggled to rebound all through the sequence and particularly in Recreation 5, the place Rudy Gobert completed with a 27-point, 24-rebound double-double to assist ship the Lakers dwelling.
Ultimately, the Lakers had been simply too small and too shallow on the bench to compete with a Timberwolves workforce that has a number of measurement and a number of high quality bench gamers. Los Angeles constantly bought drained on the finish of video games and gassed out down the stretch, inflicting a number of missed photographs and unhealthy possessions on the offensive finish within the closing minutes. On the opposite finish, the Timberwolves had been faster to unfastened balls and made extra hustle performs to tug out the wins.
The Lakers will now head right into a murky offseason that shall be clouded by LeBron James retirement discuss till he makes a ultimate determination a technique or one other. Nonetheless, it is clear that Redick and the remainder of the choice makers for the Purple and Gold have a number of work to do to spherical this roster round Luka Doncic and probably James in the event that they need to see a special outcome a 12 months from now.
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