The Los Angeles Lakers opened their first-round NBA playoff series with the Minnesota Timberwolves as the favorites, but have looked like anything but that since the action began. A disappointing postseason performance as the Lakers are down 3-1 to the Timberwolves ahead of Wednesday's Game 5, putting pressure on everyone to step up.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick made the controversial decision to rest his entire bench in Game 4's second half, which ultimately didn't end up paying off. As bad as Los Angeles' depth is at the moment, playing only five players for 24 minutes isn't how basketball games are won — especially in the postseason.
With that in mind, the Lakers must give a certain veteran some more playing time in Game 5.
Lakers Must Increase Jarred Vanderbilt's Minutes in Game 5
The Lakers must find a way to stop the Timberwolves from scoring if they want to cut into the series deficit. Each of Los Angeles' losses came when Minnesota scored 116-plus points, with the only loss being when the latter was held to 85 points in Game 2.
If the Lakers want to improve their defensive performance, it's in Redick's best interest to give Jarred Vanderbilt more playing time in Game 5.
Vanderbilt, 26, has been limited to only 10.3 minutes per outing in this series, playing completely off the bench. Having said that, the ex-Kentucky product's 114 defensive rating per 100 possessions only trails LeBron James (114) as far as the Lakers' postseason players go, further highlighting how playing Vanderbilt more could be beneficial.
It's understandable if Vandebrilt's lengthy injury history has left Redick hesitant to bump up the former's playing time, but there really isn't another option at this point.
Struggling big men Alex Len and Jaxson Hayes have already proven they aren't built for the playoffs. It'd make more sense for Redick to give some of their minutes to Vanderbilt, who has as many career playoff outings as they do combined (28). It also goes without saying that he's a better defender than the pair, both in the regular season and postseason.
With Vanderbilt being a potential offseason trade piece, it also makes sense for the Lakers to feature him as much as possible. They're going to want to show off the veteran defensive specialist's complete skill set if they want to entice potential suitors, proving again why it's in Redick and the front office's best interest to bump up Vanderbilt's playing time for Game 5.
With Wednesday night being do or die, the Lakers have nothing to lose and everything to gain by bumping up Vanderbilt's minutes. It might be the only way for L.A. to capitalize on its being the 5.5-point home favorite over Minnesota just hours away from Game 5 on FanDuel Sportsbook.
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