Luka Doncic maintains hope that the Los Angeles Lakers can keep their season alive despite going 3-1 down in their first-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Wolves ran out 116-113 victors in Game 4 at Target Center on Sunday, with Anthony Edwards leading Minnesota in scoring for the first time this postseason, with 43 points.
Julius Randle added 25 for Minnesota, while Doncic led the Lakers with 38 points with support from LeBron James (27) and Rui Hachimura (23).
The Wolves had trailed by 12 points late in the third quarter but outscored their visitors 32-19 in the fourth – through the four games in the series to date, Minnesota have outscored Los Angeles by 105-69 across fourth quarters.
The Lakers are now facing a do-or-die Game 5 in front of their own supporters on Wednesday, but Doncic – who recovered from the stomach bug that plagued him in Game 3 – is remaining positive.
“We haven’t lost anything yet,” Doncic said. “It’s still the first one to four wins, and we’ve just got to still believe.”
Head coach J.J. Redick, meanwhile, was furious about a no-call when the Lakers were 114-113 down with 33 seconds remaining, as Jaden McDaniels appeared to trip Doncic.
“To start with, Luka got tripped,” Redick said during his post-game press conference. “That was a blatant trip. He doesn’t just fall on his own. We rewatched it; he gets tripped.
“So we should have been at the free-throw line. It’s not an excuse for why we lost, but he got fouled. We had a chance to go up.”
Redick faced criticism from some quarters for failing to make a single substitution in the second half – the first time a team has ever done so in the NBA Playoffs since play-by-play tracking began.
But the Lakers coach does not believe that sticking with his starters cost them the victory.
“We played well enough to win and we worked hard to do that,” he said. “It’s not a plan to play five guys for the entire second half.”
Minnesota star Edwards, meanwhile, relished his battle with the league’s all-time leading scorer James.
“It’s always going to be physical, man,” Edwards said. “I was trying to make a point, just letting him know that we ain’t just going to let him push us around all night.
“We play together at USA. He was like a big brother to me. He looked out for me, helped me out a lot, reading the game, IQ and everything. So I was just trying to be a pest to him out there.”
