MINNEAPOLIS — The climb to advance just got steeper. The Lakers were outplayed and outlasted by the Timberwolves late in the fourth quarter, pivoting the series in Minnesota’s favor with a 116-113 Game 4 win on Sunday.
The Lakers now head back to Los Angeles on the verge of elimination, trailing 3-1 in the series. Only 13 teams in NBA history have ever come back from that deficit in a seven-game playoff series — and the Lakers have been on both sides of that history.
"It's definitely disappointing, but we haven't lost anything yet. First to four wins and we just gotta still believe," Luka Dončić said after finishing with 38 points (13-of-28 shooting) in 45 minutes.
LeBron James added that the team isn’t focused on winning three straight games but on taking things one game at a time to come back and win the series.
Just like in Game 3 — only more physical — the Lakers had multiple chances to escape an amped-up Target Center with a win. A 10-point lead heading into the fourth gave them a strong cushion, but it slowly evaporated against a Lakers lineup that played every second of the entire second half — 24 straight minutes to be exact.
"We had opportunities to win; we just couldn't close it," James said. "I don't think fatigue had anything to do with that. We just missed point-blank shots."
Head coach JJ Redick and the coaching staff made the adjustment at halftime to have Dončić, Austin Reaves, Dorian Finney-Smith, Rui Hachimura, and James play the rest of the way. And it worked out in L.A.'s favor after outscoring the Timberwolves 14-0 to start the second half.
The Lakers dominated the third quarter 36-23 and seized momentum heading into the fourth. A big part of the surge was seven 3-pointers — three coming from Austin Reaves, who bounced back from foul trouble in the first half as he finished with 17 points.
Then the Timberwolves turned the tables behind young star Anthony Edwards, who scored 16 of his 43 points in the fourth quarter to will their way back to outscore the Lakers 32-19 in the fourth quarter.
The Lakers managed to retake momentum when James blocked a Naz Reid floater, leading to a transition three-pointer by Dorian Finney-Smith that put L.A. up 113-111 with one minute left. It was a sequence that could have been remembered as the play of the game had the Lakers pulled out the win.
James turned in another strong postseason performance, finishing with 27 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists in 46 minutes while getting to the line on 15-of-18 shooting.
Instead, the Lakers failed to score the rest of the way. Their final chance slipped away when a steal attempt by James on Edwards — initially ruled a clean deflection off of him — was overturned on review and called a foul. Edwards knocked down both free throws to extend Minnesota’s lead to three.
"That play happens all the time. Hand is part of the ball. I feel like the hand was a part of the ball. I was able to get his hand on top of the ball and the ball stripped down and out on him," James said.
James alluded to multiple instances of missed shots with a chance to extend their lead. Opportunities that would have given them a better chance of tying the series.
The Lakers now have two days to recover and regroup before Game 5 on Wednesday (7 p.m.). A win would extend the series back to Minnesota for Game 6 on Friday, with a potential Game 7 back in L.A. on Sunday.