The Lakers need to make big adjustments for Game 2 against the Timberwolves

Game 1 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves was dictated by size, athleticism, physicality, and shotmaking.

Meaning, Minnesota overwhelmed L.A. with immense size, athleticism, physicality, and shotmaking.

While perhaps Minnesota’s shotmaking might regress closer to the mean, several factors remain within L.A.’s control that they need to fare much better with to turn the series around.

Lakers need to understand the moment

After practice Monday afternoon, JJ Redick said the Lakers have to play harder and be more organized. With all due respect, needing to be reminded after being blown out that teams scout better and take each moment more seriously is a pretty bad look for anyone in a leadership position with the Lakers. From Redick, to LeBron James, and Luka Doncic, and on throughout the roster, that can’t be the starting point on what the Lakers will need to do better.

The Lakers are supposed to be the more veteran team. If anyone should’ve known going into Saturday night’s blowout loss what it would take to avoid that outcome or, even better, be on the other side of the blowout, wouldn’t that be the team led by James, who has appeared in more games than any other NBA player ever?

Redick may be the least experienced coach in the history of the playoffs, but as a player, he made the postseason every year he was in the NBA, except one. In total, he appeared in 110 playoff games. Surely, he would be able to pull from that experience to remind his team what all goes into winning playoff games — or at least avoiding getting embarrassed in them. As far as organization goes, that falls squarely on the head coach. More on Redick in a bit.

Doncic may only be 26, but he was just in the NBA Finals last season. Sure, he’s new to the Lakers locker room, but as the team’s best player, if he senses guys aren’t ready, he needs to step up and remind them about the task at hand.

Saturday was the first Game 1 in L.A. since the 2010-11 season. The Lakers’ only now arriving at the realization that they missed the opportunity in front of them is a pretty poor reflection of the leadership in place.

Welcome to the playoffs, JJ

Quite plainly, Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch coached circles around the new guy.

Redick stuck with a painfully similar game plan for Game 1 as the last time the Lakers and Wolves met. In fairness to Redick, the Lakers beat the Wolves comfortably, though it should be pointed out that Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle did not play in that game. Finch came ready for Game 1 with counters to what he and his coaching staff saw, and the Lakers never adjusted.

For example, Jarred Vanderbilt, Rui Hachimura, and Dorian Finney-Smith were primarily tasked with guarding Anthony Edwards. In order to get Edwards in space against lesser defenders, Minnesota set screens, knowing how switch-heavy L.A.’s defense is. The result was Austin Reaves or Doncic on Edwards whenever Minnesota wanted. Over-switching has also plagued the Lakers on several occasions this season, so Redick and his staff not being able to adjust became all the more frustrating to watch.

Making things worse, Reaves was also minimized by how little organized offense the Lakers ran, so because of what the Wolves were doing offensively and because of how the Lakers approached their own offense, Reaves was turned into quite possibly the worst version of himself the Lakers could’ve gotten.

When asked about what he saw from himself in game film after practice on Monday, Reaves was pretty candid, calling his play “s****y.” He’s not wrong, obviously, but he was also not done any favors by Redick’s game plan or his inability to adjust to what Minnesota was doing to take Reaves out of the game.

Vanderbilt was another example of this, as there were minutes he was on the court and Edwards wasn’t, on top of how easily his defensive impact was schematically lessened. If Vanderbilt’s defensive impact is minimized by even the smallest margin, because of how limited he is offensively, he very quickly becomes unplayable.

If Redick doesn’t come with a stronger game plan for Game 2 or takes as long to adjust as he did in Game 1, the Lakers might be in deep trouble.

LeBron James, care to join us?

James’ role on the Lakers has entirely shifted from offensive engine to defensive Swiss Army knife. This evolution has been born of necessity, as the Lakers’ center rotation is as untrustworthy as it is. Redick clearly isn’t comfortable with Jaxson Hayes playing a key role in this series and is even less sure of Alex Len. Once the Mark Williams trade fell through, it became clear the Lakers would have to rely heavily on centerless groups, and James would have to be a big part of them.

Add to that Doncic’s ball dominance and, since his return from a groin strain, James just hasn’t been playing at the same level consistently that the Lakers need him to. After Game 1, Redick admitted the Lakers needed to do more to get James more involved in the offense, an admission that truly breaks the brain.

James is quite possibly the most gifted player anyone will ever see and the greatest player of his generation. If, after a crucial playoff game, the takeaway is, “yeah, we probably should’ve used him more,” then you’re quite literally doing the other team’s job for them.

The most obvious way to get James more involved is to run more pick-and-rolls to get him going downhill against a defense on its heels. For most of Saturday’s game, the Lakers ran almost exclusively lateral pick-and-rolls to matchup hunt. That approach obviously isn’t going anywhere so long as Doncic, James, and Reaves are such big parts of the offense, but the Lakers need to find a way to mix up the types of screens being set so as to attack different parts of the defense.

On defense, James was left in no-man’s land for large chunks of the game while Minnesota kept him away from their primary actions. Moving forward, James will have to be a lot more active defensively, get out and run more frequently after the stops the Lakers do get, and also play a much greater role in the half-court game plan than he did in Game 1.