CHICAGO -- They're not officially dead yet, but the LA Lakers are dying shortly after arriving in the first round of these 2025 NBA playoffs against a nasty pack of Timberwolves from Minnesota.
The cause of death points to an apparent drowning in a shallow talent pool, and it's a slow and suffocating demise.
For the first time since this sort of data has been collected in the 1996-97 playoffs, per ESPN, Lakers coach JJ Redick had zero substitutions in the second half of today's Game 4 where the same five players played all 24 minutes.
The result was a crushing 116-113 defeat that shoved the purple-and-gold franchise to a 3-1 series defeat and at the brink of elimination.
LeBron James. who scored zero points in the fourth quarter, rallied behind his coach and insisted that fatigue had nothing to do with the loss, just "missed opportunities."
It's hard to fault Redick for refusing to expand his rotation. He simply went with the guys he trusted as any coach would do in a critical must-win contest on the road at Target Center.
A QUESTION OF TRUST.
The problem is that the result bears judgement on the wisdom of his decision.
James is 40 years old and playing a quick turnaround from Friday night to Sunday afternoon. Maybe he needed to rest for more than just two minutes in a tense 48-minute brawl where he had 27 points on a relatively mellow 5-of-9 shooting from the field.
Luka Doncic is only 26 years young and could handle 46 minutes of action, but he dealt with a stomach virus that caused him to vomit all day just 36 hours earlier. As the Wolves aggressively full court pressed him, perhaps a few minutes of rest could have helped.
Being second-guessed is part and parcel of a coach's job.
What's not up for argument, though, is the fact that the Timberwolves are the better team in this series.
BIGGER. DEEPER. NASTIER.
And that showed in the two games in Minnesota where the Lakers got worn down by the relentless pressure. Outscored by 13 in the fourth quarter of Game 4 and outscored 20-4 in the paint in Games 3 and 4 combined.
Anthony Edwards, aka the Ant Man, is biting the Lakers hard, including a 43-point explosion yesterday which followed the 29 points he manufactured in Game 3.
Unlike LeBron, which only has Luka, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura to count on, Edwards has plenty of firepower behind him.
Mike Conley. Donte DiVincenzo. Jaden McDaniels. Naz Reid. Julius Randle.
Unlike the Lakers, who don't have a rim protector and used 7-foot Jax Hayes for just four minutes in Game 4, Minnesota has a tower of power in Rudy Gobert
With two generational talents in their roster, the Lakers sure can still spring a surprise and stun the Timberwolves.
But the odds are exceedingly thin.
Of the 288 NBA teams that have faced a 3-1 series deficit, only 13 survived, including LeBron's Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals.
Still, a 4.5 percent success rate is not much to be hopeful for even for the most diehard Lakers fan.
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