JJ Redick’s New NBA Record May Have Cost Lakers Game 4

The Los Angeles Lakers find themselves in an unenviable position.

After losing Games 3 and 4 on the road in Minnesota, the Timberwolves hold a commanding 3-1 lead in this best-of-seven series. In other words, the Lakers need to win three in a row to advance to the Western Conference Semifinals.

While a big story postgame involved Lakers head coach JJ Redick blasting the officiating over no-calls against star Luka Doncic, an even bigger story came to light in the way of a first in NBA history.

Redick became the first head coach in the play-by-play era to not make a substitution in the second half. The grouping of Doncic, LeBron James, Dorian Finney-Smith, Austin Reaves, and Rui Hachimura played the entire second half without sitting out a minute.

James and Doncic led the way, each playing 46 minutes. Finney-Smith came off the bench to play 41 minutes as a de facto starter, considering that Jaxson Hayes played only four minutes. Hachimura also played 41 minutes, and Reaves finished with 35 minutes. The bench trio of Gabe Vincent, Jordan Goodwin, and Jarred Vanderbilt combined for 0 points in 29 minutes.

The strategy to play his core five players this many minutes was an interesting one for Redick. Most thought Minnesota had the deeper team coming into the series. Naz Reid and Donte DiVincenzo coming off the bench give the T-Wolves a considerable advantage.

The Lakers have been playing ‘small’ since acquiring Doncic. In the wake of the Mark Williams trade falling through, L.A. has trotted out small-ball lineups, which frankly were tough for teams to match up with. Essentially, the Lakers surrounded the 6’5″ Reaves with four guys all in the 6’8″ to 6’9″ range. Though the Lakers don’t have a traditional shot blocker, this group spreads teams out and is abnormally big/long at virtually every spot, sans the center position.

Unfortunately for the Lakers, Minnesota is perhaps equipped better than anyone to mitigate these challenges. Julius Randle is a physical, athletic forward similar enough in size to James to make him work. With Rudy Gobert off the floor, Reid comes in as a floor spacer himself with enough of a post game to punish the Lakers inside. He also moves his feet well enough defensively to not be unplayable.

From there, Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels are two of the better wing defenders in the league. Those two have guarded Doncic and Reaves as well as anybody.

Clearly, there’s a lack of trust in the bench considering what we saw Sunday. It’ll also be interesting to see how Game 4 impacts the Lakers moving forward. With only one of the rest, L.A. was forced to play its primary players heavy minutes on Sunday. They’ll have two days of rest before Game 5 takes place in Los Angeles on Wednesday evening.

Should the Lakers lose this series, Redick will surely be questioned for his tactics — especially with the Lakers having a double-digit lead at points in Game 4. Additionally, we may just have to chalk this up to being a learning experience, considering this is Redick’s first rodeo in postseason play as a head coach.

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For more news and notes on the Los Angeles Lakers, visit Los Angeles Lakers on SI.

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