What's Wright - Lakers-Timberwolves Game 4 Reaction: LeBron & LA NIGHTMARE finish, is season over?

zero percent. However, the present they will get if they somehow do execute a three to one comeback with a rotation that clearly only has five players the head coach trusts is either going to be the Golden State Warriors or or the Houston Rockets, both of which present massive

problem for this team in this moment. And if you were like me and you really thought this team's high end was not just conference finals caliber, not just NBA Finals caliber, but championship caliber, this weekend was a hard punch in the face about that. And if you want to chalk up Friday to man, Luca was sick and played like it and didn't have it and they ran

out of gas at the end. Fine, but then Sunday presented far more problems issues concerns that obviously, as they now face elimination games for the rest of their season, and the only way to not face elimination games the rest of their season is to win three straight elimination games and then get a fresh start after a seven

game war. Then you've got to be honest about what we're seeing, and I want to be I want to give credit words due Anthony Edwards is having his moment, and I know people here want to hear, probably you know, me talking about Lebron and Luca in the end of that game, and we will. But Anthony Edwards forty three points, forty three to nine and six, going to war with Lebron throughout the game, suffering what the broadcast seemed to think was a catastrophic injury, and Anthony in the moment

reacted like it was a catastrophic injury. Everyone's heart sank when they saw it, and he pops up. It doesn't matter. He plays forty four minutes, is brilliant in the fourth quarter, and that has been the key to this series, and obviously the key to Game four is the Timberwolves, a team that was not good in clutch situation closing out games It's really where you thought the Lakers were going to have a decided advantage in this series, was let it be close late and have Lebron and Luca take over.

The opposite has happened. It's been close late the last couple games. Lebron and Luca have been absolutely out of gas, and Anthony Edwards has taken over Julius Randall exercising some playoff demons, and now you're in a spot that I don't think anyone anticipated, even the most ardent Timberwolves fans, even after they took Game one. I don't think thought it would be three to one in this fashion going back to Los Angeles. And so let's get into Game four.

And by the way, we'll talk Steph was played one of the most remarkable playoff games of his career this week, and we'll get into that. Dame sadly, i mean tragically tore his achilles. That's probably we're going to get into that more tomorrow. And obviously Nuggets Clippers with a finish for the ages, so we'll try to quickly hit on all those. But where we have to start is with JJ Reddick and I I am not going to act as if JJ hasn't been awesome this year. He has.

And I'm not going to act as if the you know that JJ Reddick is the problem for the Lakers. Far from it. However, when a rookie head coach does something that, according to you know, the stats and information, folks, no coach has ever done in modern playoff history, maybe in all of playoff history, which is play the exact same five guys for the entirety of a second half of a playoff game, and then those five guys are totally, absolutely, unequivocally out of gas at the end. That's going to

be a story. And JJ was left without a lot of great options. He decided after the opening couple minutes understandably, he couldn't trust Jackson Hayes. I thought he would try to steal a few minutes for Lebron or Luca with Vanderbilt or Gabe or even Goodwin. He decided not to. And he was in a weird spot because the Lakers had that great third quarter which allowed them to go into the fourth with a lead, a position they have

been brilliant all year. I don't know what the record was, something like forty five and four or something outrageous going into the fourth quarter with a lead, they outscore the Turbles by thirteen, and I think JJ's thought process was, if we can in the opening few minutes of the fourth hold or even push this lead a bit, then maybe I'll steal a couple of minutes to rest. But that's how what happened. Aunt kept coming down and making plays.

The Timberwolves stayed right in that down four to down seven range, and JJ never felt comfortable taking those five off the court, and by the very end of the

game they were all on fumes. Lebron somehow found a couple bursts of energy on the defensive end the steal in the block, and I thought that was going to be the story of the game that Lebron after is I think one hundred and fourth career playoff twenty points half, plays a wildly efficient game twenty seven to twelve and eight, and then makes the key defensive plays down the stretch to turn a four point deficit into a six point

lead after the huge Austin Rui threes. But of course that's not what happened, and you saw the fatigue kicking in at various moments before the final couple of minutes Luca got I think it was Jade McDaniels on his hip, or maybe it was Julius had to lay up, missed it. Lebron out of a time out, great play, had to lay up, missed it, And I said it was Austin and Ruy hit the three. Was Austin and Dorian Finney

Smith that hit the threes. But despite all of that, it's Lakers up two with the ball after the Lebron block with a minute ten left. And yeah, if I mean, this is a keep you up at night restless, bad sleep game because there's so many moments that you just wonder, man, if they just do this a little bit better, change one thing. And by the way, those moments existed in

the first half. I was watching the game with my best friend and co worker at FS one, Danny Parkins, over at his house, and the whole first half, even in the first quarter when they were leading, I said to him, four minutes left in the first quarter, Man, they should be up thirteen, they should be up fifteen, And this is gonna end up being a situation where

they're up seven and you feel sick about it. They were only actually up four at the end of that quarter, Then the second quarter the Timberwolves go on the run. All of a sudden, you're trailing at the half. Then they do have that great third quarter, and now to get back to where we were. The highest leverage possession of the season for the Lakers ends up being no real ball movement. Guys standing around Luca dribbling the ball

up to minute left, finds Lebron. Lebron takes an exhausted three, and I understand like there is going to be a carve out of folks that either why doesn't he drive there? Or that focus on Lebron's fourth quarter zero points and the turnover, which I'll get to in a moment, which I understand, And I'm not even saying that's totally unfair. I am saying that when the last two games Lebron is played are the two greatest playoff games by a super old guy in league history, I'm gonna have a

little bit of grace. But the Lebron three with fifty four seconds left in that spot, you wonder, when JJ sees that possession is going nowhere and sees how dead everybody is, is that a time to use your final timeout? Probably not. You probably don't want to use your last time out in that spot. But if you get a basket there, you win the game. Then next time Timberwolves ball up to forty seconds left, the Lakers understand, just

can't allow a three. You don't allow a three, You're gonna be in great shape tied with the ball with a two for one opportunity. They don't allow a three, and Austin makes his biggest mistake of the season, fouling Jaden. McDaniels on it, no hope to alter the shot foul. Jaden, to his credit, makes the free throw, and now all of a sudden, you're trailing for the first time in basically the entirety of the second half after the opening few minutes when you took the lead in the second half.

That's not true, you were trailing a couple minutes earlier. But you're trailing with forty seconds left, down one with the ball, Luca gets tripped. I don't think I'll be honest. I disagree with JJ. I don't think it was a foul. I think it was fine that they didn't call that. Lebron with the bad inbounds pass and then this is the one. I just hate the challenge the out of bounds call that now can retroactively turn into a foul. All of a sudden, Anthony Edward's going to the line.

He was a killer. He makes both three throws, and then the Lakers I thought got lucky that the Timberwolves didn't foul Luke in the back court or foul lebron As on the catch. Austin got a decent look, he missed it. Now you're down three to one, and you still see moments flashes from this team that show the highest end. And I understand some folks are going to say, listen, we knew this was a mismatched roster when you traded for a guy at mid season that you need an offseason.

I don't buy all that, or maybe I should buy it, but I I knew all that. Going into these playoffs, I thought they got the perfect draw. I thought the Timberwolves would be athletic and feisty, but I did not think that in close games late they would have the edge. And they have. And I looked at the Lakers path and I said, Okay, you have the Timberwolves in Round one with home court. You have been dominant against the Western Conference this year. You have been dominated at home

this year. Then in round two you're going to have either a young Rockets team that doesn't have a go to scorer or a Warriors team, where again you have home court, and the Warriors will have just been coming off a seven game absolute war with Houston. It saw a real path, a real path, and instead Friday Night they waste a Lebron masterpiece where they can't finish at the end of thirteen to one run. Luca is sick and pretty ineffective, and is once again awesome. Another eight

assist game for Friday Night. Jaden McDaniels has the game of his life, almost all targeting. Luca Julius has another good playoff game. You lose that fourth quarter by ten. Lebron seems gassed the final few minutes there despite giving you thirty eight, ten to four to two and two. And then Sunday afternoon JJ goes for it, the smallest interval between games they'll have all postseason, from a Friday night to a Sunday afternoon. JJ understanding we have two

days off before Game five, gotta win. This goes for it. Plays Austin, Luca, Ruey and Dorian All twenty four minutes of the second half and they can't hit the tape and can they win Wednesday? Yeah? They should. And if they win Wednesday, will I be on here Thursday feeling like, well, you know, you got a shot Friday and then it's a game seven in your building? Yeah? Maybe? But if the goal for this Lakers team and this was the goal. When you have Lebron James, I don't care that he's forty.

He is still unequivocally what top eight playoff guy right now this moment, like I'm not I'm not sure the what's the full list of guys this postseason who you'd say either have been better you'd rather have in no particular order, just going through the series, Tatum, Giannis, aunt Ants earned it, Joker, Steph who I'll get to, there's an argument for it. Fair's fair, Kawhi maybe maybe Jalen Brunson.

So what's that seven six, seven, eight when you have I don't even at his age, a guy who's still a top eight, let's go conservatively playoff performer this moment and Luca getting bounced in round one when you're a minus two hundred favorite is a disaster. And even if somehow you are able to dig deep and overcome and come back from this deficit. What legs are you going to have going into Round two when the series basically start going every other day. I don't know that you're

gonna have them. And so that's why started the pod by saying the season ended on Sunday. They needed the Round one to be done in six or less, and they needed to demonstrate to themselves and their team that they had at least seven guys they trusted. Even if you don't trust Austin or I'm sorry up Jackson Hayes, who I wouldn't. You got to at least trust Vanderbilt or Vincent more than you have, and they haven't. They can't steal minutes. It's why I thought Kerr as brilliant,

and it'll get to Steph shortly. As brilliant as Steph was this weekend, all the games are running together? Was that Saturday? Was that Friday? I don't even remember Friday night? Saturday night. Kerr deserves massive credit himself for finding his way through without Jimmy Butler, for massaging the rotation the way he did, and the Lakers didn't think they had that luxury. They play four guys forty plus minutes. They play Luca coming off whatever illness he was dealing with.

Forty six, They play Lebron in his two hundred and eighty fourth career playoff game, forty six, and they don't get to the finish line. And it's just a damn shame to waste. And this is and then I'll get to ant. We're all focused on Lebron, every single one of these man. Every single time we're watching, we might be watching the final great playoff game of the greatest playoff performer in NBA history's career. Like Friday Night, the odds are, the odds are that's the most points Lebron

will ever scorre in a playoff game. Again, all the none of the records. At this point, it's just he's just passing his own oldest ever records again and again and again. But thirty eight last on Friday Night, that's like a minus three hundred favorite to be the most points Lebron ever scores in a playoff game the rest of his career. Sunday afternoon twenty seven to twelve eight, three and three. The best Laker on the defensive end and arguably the best Laker on the offensive end and

it's wasted. And listen, the Lebron missed the three. Lebron turned the ball over on the end bounds, and I Lebron, I suppose you can say fouled Anthony Edwards. I'm that one. I'm not gonna kill him on I thought that the US going to the Zapruder review and the Timberwolves challenging the out of bounds, not even hoping to get the out of bounds, but hoping to then retroactively get the foul. I don't love any of that, but the rules are

the rules, and so now we see. And the other story here is, of course Anthony Edwards and Anthony Edwards, who is putting a whole lot of pelts on his wall at such a young age. We have now seen Anthony Edwards not Kevin Durant and Devin Booker out of a playoff series, Nikola Jokic out of a playoff series, then get bounced by Luca and say I was out

of gas. And he now is this close to knocking Lebron James and Luka Doncic out of a playoff series in a postseason where through four games he's averaging thirty eight and six on forty three percent from three forty five forty three eighty three splits. Listen, he can say all he wants about not wanting to be the face of the league, and the fact of the matter is, as long as Lebron and Steph are playing, that spot

is probably not really open. But his charisma, his style, his competitiveness, his athleticism, his ferocity, his listeners, all of that, all of that is face of the league's stuff. And it certainly doesn't hurt that folks in the media seem convinced he looks like and reminds them of Michael Jordan, and so this is a huge moment for Aunt and Ant. Then I just mentioned beat Durant, beat Joker, is this close to beating Lebron and Luca and then in the

next round would have a chance to beat Steph. Now, I still think Houston has a shot in that series, but obviously Golden State's in great position is the favorite right now. He's building quite the resume at twenty three years old, and it's really really impressive and credit to Chris Finch and that entire listen. Jaden McDaniels has been awesome they have. I think Rudy Rudy has had his moments on the offensive, I mean on the defensive end

more than his moments. He's been good on the defensive end, but he has been His total inability to take advantage of the lakers lack of size has been a little embarrassing. And I understand he's not an offensive player, but he's not a four point a game guy. In the regular season, He's a dozen points a game. In this series, he's been a zero on offense. Hasn't mattered because An's been that good, Julius is exercising some playoff demons, Jaden's been great,

and then Nas. They've had different role players step up, and so they they've gotten away with the fact that Mike Connley was about as unplayable as I thought he would be. That's the crazy part to me about this sies a lot of my pre series analysis of go Beart's not gonna take advantage of their lack of size. Conley's not going to be playable. You can pencil Luca in for thirty a game and Lebron will be great.

They've come to fruition and it hasn't mattered because the Lakers have been The fourth quarter margins in this series have been mortified. Game one twenty three to seventeen, so the Timberwolves are plus six. Game two, the Lakers won it, but it was twenty to thirteen, So now the Timberwolves are plus seven. Plus seven there, so plus thirteen overall. Game three thirty to twenty, So now the Timberwolves are plus seventeen. Game four thirty two to nineteen, So now

the Timbrelves are plus thirty. You lose the fourth quarters by thirty points in an otherwise tightly contested series, You're in terrible shape. And so shout out to the Timberwolves. This was truly a wake up in the middle of the night think about it game, and it is obviously a think about all off season game. If this series goes the way one thinks it's likely to go, I mean, I'll look right now the series odds. They've got to be like minus one thousand, right, series markets minus five

hundred minus on thousand. I guess was too strong, and then so that means the Lakers must be big favorites. Let me check with our friends at DraftKings, and then I'm gonna tell you about DraftKings Lakers five and a half point favorites Game five. Yeah, but Lakers who went into this postseason with seventeen to one to win the title now forty to one, and honestly, that feels a little strong because even if they were to execute the three to one comeback, what legs are they going to

have for round two? Much less Round three and four, which doesn't seem to be It's gonna be a problem they have to deal with. The eighty two game grind is done and now the real fun begins. The NBA Playoffs are here. Time for all the high stakes drama, clutch moments, and jaw dropping plays. I know you can't wait. If you're looking to make the playoffs even more exciting, Draftings Sportsbook has you covered as an official sports betting partner of the NBA from the play in games all

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ineligibility varies by jurisdiction, voidant Ontario. New customers only bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKNNG dot co slash audio. All Right, some other quick hitters from the weekend. I thought Steph was unbelievable Saturday evening. And it wasn't just that he was getting beat up the whole game.

minutes he sat, they were minus seven. They needed one other guy to show up offensively. They got two other guys to show up offensively, Gary Payton the second and obviously Buddy Hit the huge threes and the Rockets. On the other hand, Jalen Green responds to his thirty eight point game with his fifth single digit game in his last six games. Jalen Green has not been the same

guy since they clinched that two seed. Now, his minutes weren't the same at the end of the regular season, but still he had the one explosion in Game three, gets utterly shut down the Warriors, and Fred van Vliet, after hitting two threes to open that game, went right back to what he had been. He's two for two to start the game, three for twelve and one for seven from three the rest of the way. He's been brutal this series. Shngoon not quite involved enough and probably

should have been playing more minutes. I know he had some foul trouble, but the Warriors playing of Amen Thompson. Take all the shots you want, buddy, we don't care if they're from seven feet, has been great. Draymond, who's been nothing but triple singles in this series, had another great defensive performance. They got by with Quinton Posts not being able to hit a shot, and you would think the Rockets would sign up for any game. The three

point discrepancy is only three made threes difference. The Rockets will say, Okay, no problem. The Warriors only outshot them from three, fourteen to eleven. The Rockets got to the line nine more times, couldn't make their free throws, but the Rockets turnovers, which they've got to win that battle. The Rockets have shied from the Steven Adams shingoon double big minutes for a reason that I don't totally understand.

And the Warriors overcame a fourth quarter depicit and it is two points, but still for a dominant fourth quarter where Steph was brilliant and took control of that series, retook control of that series, I should say. And so I still think this seven game series. I still think the rock and we'll see what the you know, how Jimmy looks when he comes back. But that was a gritty, great win by the Warriors and by Steph. Great win. And I think that it's Steph or Ant for who's

been the best player this postseason. And Steph doing that at thirty seven is remarkable and none of that the people Warrior fans. And it's so I said this on the pod on Thursday, but I'll say it again. These folks who don't have any type of microphone other than their Twitter feed. Acting as if those of us who have actual platforms are obligated to comment on everything via Twitter because that's their platform, is that it's just out to launch levels of cluelessness. The idea that all where's

Nick's commentary now on Warriors Rockets? I don't know, man, Probably on the podcast, YouTube show or TV show that I'm doing twenty hours of content every single week. You'll probably get it there. But those folks that are upset about the we know the rules with Steph Curry k as if this game contradicts it. No, this game, if anything, watch the commentary today we get on Steph Curry, it'll just confirm it. When he's great, he's in the Goat

conversation and he's better than Magic Johnson. And when he's not, we move on to the next thing. That's just what it is, and it's it. But when he's great, and he has been great this postseason and he's thirty seven years old, it's the best small guy, old guy season ever and he deserves massive credit. And then the other listen,

I don't even want We'll do it on Tuesday. The Dame injury part, but they're the The shock waves of Dame reportedly bowing his achilles and therefore being out all of next year are going to be felt throughout this offseason, and you feel sick for Dame, and obviously people are

going to jump to what it means for you. Honest Dame has a two year, one hundred and twelve million dollars contract extension that has not started yet starts next season, so Dall Dan will be fine money wise, but you worry about, obviously what this means for an all time great player's career. So we'll do more of that tomorrow.

The other story from the weekend is the Clippers furious fourth quarter comeback in a game much like the Laker game where it was like, and we trust these five guys were playing these five guys for the Nuggets, and those five guys ran out of gas at the end, but thanks to and I thought Jokers in a game Joker was awesome. I mean he hit thirty six twenty one and eight, thirty six twenty one and eight. I thought Joker's decision on that last possession of I don't

care if it's a good shot or not. I'm taking it was very unjoker, like, maybe you have that luxury because it's a tie game more so than otherwise. I was shocked by that decision when it was clear it wasn't gonna be a good look. But maybe it was like, man, Jamal doesn't have it tonight. Porter's injured, and I mean Porter played tough and played well through the plate through the injury, and you're not gonna trust Christian Brown and that's spot and Aaron Gordon you're not gonna want to

play for. I get, so maybe it's more reasonable than I thought. But the Aaron Gordon buzzer beating dunk to tie a series rather than go down three to one is really the stuff of legends. And it is such a stomach punch for the Clippers in a game that it looked like they were going to It was such a weird game, and that the first half is back and forth the whole time, as tightly contested as you get.

Denver then absolutely blitzes them in the second half to be up twenty going into the fourth quarter of a playoff game up twenty, and the Clippers then more than chip away. The Clippers thanks to a great Norman Powell game Zubach doing his thing on the offensive end, even though he got absolutely crushed on the other end. Some time he plays by kawhis you saw playoff James Harden

show up a bit. And despite the fact that the Nuggets were basically telling Chris Dunn, shoot all you want, buddy, we're not worried about you, Clippers still in position to steal it, and that play by Aaron Gordon changes the entire complexion of that series. And now listen, maybe you can say, oh, well, the Nuggets could have won and overtime. They could have won and overtime, but they were so gassed. It's the same way I felt once the Lakers went

down three with ten seconds left yesterday. When Ant makes both those free throws, the game's over, because even if Austin makes that shot, the Lakers were on fumes and you just felt like that game was going to be a rap in overtime. And that's how I felt when I saw Jokic put up that shot. It's like, Okay,

well they're gonna lose. Aaron Gordon by maybe one one hundredth of a second saves them, and now we have a great series there in Oklahoma City, which I know this is going to sound shitty, and Oklahoma City fans are going to be upset as unimpressive in a sweep as I can remember. It just didn't look the last couple games the way you would have wanted it to look. But maybe they felt correctly, like, man, we can play our c minus game and the Memphis still can't take

a game from us, And they were right. So now you're gonna have Oklahoma City resting and chilling watching what is going to be a seven game slugfest between the Clippers and the Nuggets. All Right, this was a little cathartic. I don't I can't say I feel better, but maybe a little bit, I don't know, less anxious about what was a what if weekend for the Los Angeles Lakers, Lebron and Luca. And we'll see how they look on Wednesday, but I'll remember this weekend as the weekend when the

Lakers championship hopes went to die. And God, nothing would make me happier than a month from now. Folks sending me this clip, Oh you lost faith? Look at them now. I've never wanted to be wrong about a take more than I want to be wrong about this one, but that's It feels like the Lakers season ended this weekend and it shouldn't have. All right, I'll see you guys tomorrow with demands. What's right