As the Lakers enter Game 5 against the Wolves, they are still working on ironing out their late-game issues.
It’s the slimmest of silver linings, but the good thing about the Lakers being down 3-1 loss against the Wolves is that there are still plenty of ways that Los Angeles can improve.
One aspect that the Lakers have clearly struggled with in seemingly every game this series has been their late-game execution.
Los Angeles has been outscored by Minnesota in every fourth quarter. In Game 3, the Lakers were tied midway through the quarter before eventually losing and Game 4 was decided by three points. Better execution in either contest could’ve changed the entire outlook of the series for the purple and gold.
The Wolves have outscored the Lakers in each fourth quarter in this series. The fourth-quarter scoring margin is 105-69. That’s been the difference.
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) April 28, 2025
Lakers coach JJ Redick discussed the team’s fourth quarter follies after practice on Tuesday.
“I think there’s been a lot of times where we’ve gotten some good looks,” Redick said. “And I think in Game 4 in particular, when we didn’t turn the ball over, we had some good looks. I think three of the first four possessions were sort of what I would call wasted possessions.
“The series requires us to play a certain way. When we play that way, we’ve gotten good results. The process has been good. When we haven’t, we haven’t been good.”
The Lakers began the fourth quarter of Game 4 up by ten, but as Redick mentioned, they struggled to get good looks.
Here is a breakdown of their first four Lakers possessions in the closing quarter:
Austin Reaves made 3-pointer
Austin Reaves missed 3-pointer
Luka Dončić made free throws
Luka missed a floater
Lakers shot clock violation
After these plays, the Lakers were still leading by nine points, but this was an opportunity to blow the game open and start the quarter strong. Instead, Minnesota hung around and ultimately took control of the game during clutch time.
Following Tuesday’s practice, Reaves discussed the overall need to clean things up at the end of quarters.
“I feel like, not just the fourth quarter,” Reaves said, “the end of quarters, we haven’t finished quarters the way we’ve needed to. I feel like the end of the first quarter last game, we could have been up 10, 12. I think they hit a couple shots and cut it to five or six.
“And then the second quarter, they took the lead. So, there’s many things in the game that we could do better to give ourselves a better opportunity to win and then in the fourth quarter, it comes down to just executing. Like I’ve said many times, you win and lose on the margins and in the fourth quarter, we just haven’t done enough to get those wins.”
On Wednesday, they have another shot to get things right in Game 5. This late into the year, everyone understands the flaws and areas for improvement.
It’s an execution issue, so let’s see if they have the personnel necessary to fix it and push this series to a Game 6.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.