5 Reasons Los Angeles Lakers Should Panic After Loss vs. Minnesota Timberwolves

The Los Angeles Lakers are the higher seed in their first-round matchup. They have home-court advantage, LeBron James and Luka Dončić.

But after Sunday's 113-116 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, they are headed back to L.A. down 3-1.

LeBron, rather famously, has some experience overcoming that specific deficit. And Mike Breen's "blocked by James!" call in the fourth quarter was reminiscent of the Finals in which LeBron climbed all the way out of that hole, but this series feels different.

The five reasons the third-seeded Lakers should be panicking can be found below.

Don't misunderstand. Luka certainly hasn't been bad (outside of perhaps Game 3, when an illness limited him to 6-of-16 shooting). If you just look at raw numbers, you can probably argue he's been better than Anthony Edwards.

But this is one of those examples of why it's so important to actually sit down and watch the games. The numbers aren't telling the entire story. Ant's imposing his will on games in a way Luka isn't. That was particularly true in Sunday's second half.

While Luka was often settling for and missing pull-up jumpers, Edwards was pressing the issue, getting to the paint and earning himself 17 free-throw attempts. His final and perhaps most important drive drew a foul on LeBron James that allowed him to go to the line and stretch a one-point lead to three.

Edwards finished the game with 43 points, nine rebounds, six assists, five threes and just one turnover. He was plus-three in a three-point win and is now plus-28 for the series. Luka is minus-19.

Lakers center Jaxson Hayes has started all four games in this series. Sunday, he played four minutes, picked up two fouls, left the game and never came back.

And while coach J.J. Redick's desire to play small is understandable, especially with how much Hayes has struggled in this series (he's averaging under 10 minutes a game), it's tough to pull off against a team as big and physical as the Timberwolves.

Even when Minnesota plays "small," it's big. Naz Reid, particularly in fourth quarters, has been a nightmare for L.A. to defend. Julius Randle's juggernaut game has had the Lakers reeling on several possessions. Edwards is huge for a shooting guard.

And the Timberwolves have won the rebounding battle in two of their wins, while tying in that column for the third.

Unfortunately for the Lakers, there's nothing they can do to simply get bigger between now and Game 5.

The Timberwolves have three players (Reid, Donte DiVincenzo and Nickeil Alexander-Walker) coming off their bench who would start for multiple other playoff teams.

Reid alone is 9-of-10 from the field and 6-of-6 from three in fourth quarters this postseason. His true shooting percentage in those critical frames is a whopping 119.5. Sunday, DiVincenzo had five steals. Whenever Alexander-Walker is on the floor, you can count on stout perimeter defense.

As far as eight-man playoff rotations go, they don't get much stronger than Minnesota's.

Meanwhile, in Game 4, LeBron and Luka each played 46 minutes. Rui Hachimura and Dorian Finney-Smith were each at 41, while Austin Reaves registered 35.

The load on those players, one of whom is 40 years old, is immense. And the deeper this series goes, the more taxed they'll look.

If the Lakers manage to push this series to seven games, two of them will be in L.A. That's the good news.

The bad news is that the Timberwolves had the fifth best road net rating in the league this season. Defense typically travels better than offense, and this team is a good example of that principle.

In the Game 1 win in L.A., Minnesota held the Lakers to 95 points. Luka was the only starter who made at least half of his shots.

With an opportunity to close out the series in five, expect the Timberwolves to play with the same level of intensity that has them up 3-1.

The Western Conference being an absolute gauntlet is an annual tradition in the NBA. It's been this way for a quarter of a century.

And even if the Lakers do pull off a miraculous series comeback, it's going to take a ton of energy. Another dogfight with either the Houston Rockets or Golden State Warriors would be up next. And of course, a potential Western Conference Finals matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder would be after that.

L.A. has one of the most dynamic offensive top threes in the league with Luka, LeBron and Reaves. But this series has exposed its lack of depth and size, two weaknesses that were likely to doom the Lakers either now or somewhere down the road.