The Lakers will have to make some changes, or things won\u2019t end well for them. The Los Angeles Lakers, entering the playoffs as the third seed, hosted the Minnesota Timberwolves and suffered a complete embarrassment. The final score was 117:95 in favor of the Timberwolves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s nice to play offense, but to win a title, you have to play defense too. Clearly, the Los Angeles Lakers needed a loss like this to understand that, because if they don\u2019t change something, they won\u2019t make it past the second round of the Western Conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luka Don\u010di\u0107<\/strong> gave it his all on offense, scoring 37 points with eight rebounds, but he had only one assist. On top of that, he was frequently targeted on defense, especially by Anthony Edwards<\/strong>, who repeatedly scored easily over the Slovenian. LeBron James<\/strong> added 19 points, while Austin Reaves<\/strong> contributed 16. Much will depend on those two as well, and they simply have to score more points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Edwards, on the other hand, scored 22 points, while Naz Reid<\/strong> added one more (6\/9 from three), and the top scorer was Jaden McDaniels<\/strong> with 25 points. He\u2019s primarily on the court for his defense, and it\u2019s truly unbelievable that the Lakers allowed him to score that many points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If there\u2019s one thing JJ Redick\u2019s<\/strong> players did well, it was defending Julius Randle<\/strong>, who scored 16 points. Aside from that and free throw percentage, the Lakers were outplayed in every other category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minnesota shot 50% from three (21\/42), had more rebounds, more steals, and\u2014most importantly\u2014fewer turnovers. Even though the Lakers struck first in this game, it was the Wolves who landed the knockout punch.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFIND OUT MORE: <\/mark><\/h4>\n\n\n\n