The Los Angeles Lakers were humbled by the Minnesota Timberwolves in their playoff opener on Saturday, losing 117-95 at home. They were outclassed by the Wolves on both ends of the floor, as Minnesota hit 21 threes on 50% shooting from downtown while no one not named Luka Doncic was able to get it going for the Lakers.
Head coach JJ Redick criticized his game for their lack of effort and urgency during and after the game. While that may be true, there are more things that need to change, other than the increased effort level.
Lakers Must Bench Jaxson Hayes Before Game 2
One of those pertains to the starting lineup. The Lakers continued to start Jaxson Hayes at center, but he only played eight minutes in Game 1. In fact, JJ Redick took him out after two minutes in the third quarter once Minnesota went on an 11-0 run to begin the second half. Hayes didn't go back into the game again.
Dorian Finney-Smith ended up playing 33 minutes off the bench. It behooves Redick to bench Hayes for Game 2 and start Finney-Smith.
This would allow Finney-Smith to play more minutes and align his playing time with Anthony Edwards, whom he will be guarding as the primary assignment.
There are obvious risks associated with this plan. Playing a small-ball lineup for extended minutes will be taxing for the Lakers on the defensive end. They will be battling bigger players throughout the game and have to fly around to make up for the size and physicality difference.
At the same time, this gives the Lakers the best chance to win. They have to stretch the Minnesota defense with five-out spacing and force Rudy Gobert to guard on the perimeter. This will hopefully juice the Lakers' offense by providing more driving lanes for the likes of Austin Reaves and LeBron James. The Lakers will not be able to win games in this series by scoring 95 points.
What changes Redick will make as the Lakers take on the Timberwolves in Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday remains to be seen, but it is a must-win game for LA before the series moves to Minnesota.