With Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick keeping the same five players on the court for the entire second half of Game 4 on Sunday, Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards said he knew L.A. would be susceptible to his late-game attack.
“I felt like they were gassed going down the stretch,” Edwards said after Minnesota erased a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit to win 116-113 and go up 3-1 in its first-round Western Conference series. “So just trying to keep my foot on the pedal and keep going.”
Edwards nearly matched the Lakers’ fourth-quarter point total, scoring 16 of his game-high 43 points as Minnesota outscored L.A. 32-19. The Lakers shot just 5-for-18 in the fourth — including 3-for-9 in the final five minutes — but LeBron James said tired legs were not the cause of the misses.
“We got some really good looks,” said James, who had another strong performance with 27 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks.
“Luka [Doncic] missed a point-blank layup to put us up seven. I missed a point-blank layup to put us up four. We had a couple opportunities. I don’t think fatigue had anything to do with that. Just missing some point-blank shots, you know? We were getting into what we wanted to get into. We just weren’t able to convert.”
Doncic bounced back from a stomach ailment in Game 3 to lead L.A. with 38 points in Game 4 but only seven in the fourth. James was scoreless in the fourth, missing both of his shots. Both of the Lakers’ stars played 46 minutes.
“Fatigue shouldn’t play any role in this,” Doncic said. “I played a lot of minutes, but that shouldn’t play a role. I think they just executed better on the offensive end during the last minutes.”
