Los Angeles Lakers rookie coach JJ Redick made a blunt admission following their 116-104 Game 3 loss to surrender a 2-1 series lead to the sixth-seed Minnesota Timberwolves.
“The fact is we don’t have quote-unquote rim protection,” Redick told reporters after the loss. “You give up blow-bys, we’re gonna give up something. We’re gonna give up a three [pointer] or shot at the rim.”
Minnesota’s athletic wings Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels repeatedly blew by Lakers defenders and attacked the rim.
The result?
A staggering 56-36 Timberwolves dominance inside the paint.
The Lakers tried to address this after losing Anthony Davis in the Luka Dončić trade. But they rescinded the Mark Williams trade, leaving them with a gaping hole in the middle.
They tried to patch up the hole with Jaxson Hayes, their lone serviceable center on the roster. But he’s only a backup center at best. He’s been uplayable against the Timberwolves’ imposing frontline of Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid and Julius Randle.
With the specter of a 3-1 series deficit staring them ahead of the pivotal Game 4, Redick is mulling over tweaking his starting lineup.
“We’ll look at everything, but we still believe in Jaxson,” Redick said when asked if he would consider playing small-ball full game.
The 7-foot Hayes has not cracked double-digit minutes in the series. Hayes is averaging just 8.7 minutes, contributing only 1.7 points and 1.7 rebounds.
JJ Redick Relying on Small Ball vs Towering Timberwolves
Redick has mostly relied on his big wings with LeBron James (39.0 minutes), Rui Hachimura (33.7 minutes) and Dorian Finney-Smith (33.3) with a sprinkle of Jarred Vanderbilt (11.3 minutes) in the frontcourt.
“We’ve done it all year when we’ve been at our best, we’ve been able to be physical on the ball and not allow blow-bys and also have sort of cover mentality with multiple efforts,” said Redick.
The game was tied at 103 with 4:37 left. Then Edwards and McDaniels spearheaded a 13-1 closing run.
“Again [Edwards] ended up with 29 on 26 shots,” Redick said. “I think the playmaking was there again tonight, like it was in game one. I think some of that we did make it tough on him at times, but then you had McDaniels — he just absolutely killed us.”
On top of that, the Lakers also committed 16 turnovers which the Timberwolves turned into 28 points.
“They won the possession battle,” Redick lamented. It’s hard to win when you give up double-digit more opportunities to score. We’ve got to clean that up.”
Center Options in Offseason
The Lakers will have plenty of cheaper centers available in the free agent market, which include Atlanta’s Clint Capela, Minnesota’s Naz Reid (player option), Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez, Indiana’s Myles Turner and champion centers Al Horford of Boston and Golden State’s Kevon Looney.
They could also trade for Brooklyn’s Nic Claxton, but might require giving up draft capital.
Turner is the obvious top choice, but the Lakers do not have the cap room unless James declines his $52.6 million player option and signs elsewhere, which is unlikely to happen.
A sign-and-trade with Turner is possible, but the Lakers need to give up rotation players to match salaries, and besides, they only have their 2031 first-round selection and two pick swaps to potentially offer Indiana.
But Rob Pelinka pulled off the Dončić trade and nearly traded for Williams, anything is possible for the Lakers.
For now, they have to make do with Hayes and see how far their small-ball lineup can bring them.
