Let’s take a closer look at how five of the Lakers’ key players will recover from playing the entire second half of Game 4 vs. the Wolves.
The Lakers lost a heartbreaking Game 4 to the Timberwolves on Sunday, falling into a 3-1 series hole before heading back home on the brink of elimination.
In the second half of that game, head coach JJ Redick decided to do something never done before in the modern game as he played all five of his second-half starters — Dorian Finney-Smith, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, Luka Doncic and LeBron James — for the entirety of the half.
Regardless of the merits of the decision — JJ did say that it wasn’t the plan heading into the half — the question now becomes, how will those players recover and get ready for Game 5?
The first part of that recovery began immediately following the game. The players get individualized nutrition — you may have seen individual shakes at player lockers postgame — along with treatment, which can include things like hands-on treatment along with modalities such as ice and compression and, most importantly, getting some rest.
On the flight back, hydration is critical, along with minimizing the inflammation that comes with flying. It’s also more time to sleep!
The first day after, or Monday, is all about ongoing recovery. This included individualized treatment at the facility and potentially at home, continuing with the nutrition plans, and more time to simply rest and keep stress off the body.
This first day is also a good window into any potential overload concerns for each player, which you can then address proactively, whether with specific or extra treatment or modifying activity for that day and coming days.
Speaking of the next day, Tuesday, the agenda is typically more varied depending on how that player is feeling physically. You will continue to address any potential concerns that showed up the day before or any new concerns that might have presented, along with introducing more activity.
This could be on court work, this could be getting a lift in, this could be going through full or modified practice – which the Lakers did go through but we don’t know which players participated to what extent – or a combination thereof. At this point in the season and in their careers, most players know what works for them so you have to take that into account as well. Last but not least, rest is again tantamount as you head into game day.
On game day, the specifics will again depend on how the player feels physically and has responded over the past couple of days. Overall, it will align more with the normal game day routine. That routine again varies according to player preferences.
For example, LeBron James recently discussed his game day routine with Steve Nash on an episode of the newly relaunched “Mind the Game” podcast. LeBron said that he typically arrives five hours before the game to lift, get some shooting in, have something to eat and then to do some recovery and mobility work.
However, he also said that when needed, he will adapt that routine. The example he gave was on a back-to-back during the season when the team got in late to Portland after playing the Denver Nuggets. When his alarm went off, his body was too fatigued, so he decided to continue sleeping, modify his pre-game routine and take the last bus to the game.
With all these things in mind, can those second half starters recover for Game 5? Yes, to an extent. But you will likely still see some cumulative fatigue in the game.
Redick took a calculated risk and it didn’t pay off, so he’ll very likely have to factor in that added fatigue into his rotations for Game 5, whether that’s shortening shifts early in the game, using a couple of bench guys to consistently rotate his key pieces or a combination of both. He also still will understand this is an elimination game.
It’s not an easy balance to strike.
Dr. Rajpal Brar, DPT has a doctorate in physical therapy from Northern Arizona University, and runs his own in-person and online sports medicine and performance business, 3CB Performance, in West LA and Valencia, CA and combines his movement expertise and fitness training background to rehab & train elite athletes.
He also works at a hospital — giving him experience with patients in the immediate healthcare setting and neurological patients (post stroke, post brain injury) — and has been practicing for over 5 years. Brar is additionally training at UCLA’s mindful awareness research center (MARC), has a background in youth basketball coaching and analyzes the Lakers from a medical and skills perspective for Silver Screen and Roll and on his own YouTube Channel. You can follow him on Twitter at @3cbPerformance, on Instagram, and on his weekly Substack 3CB Quick HIITS