Luka Doncic was unable to stop the Los Angeles Lakers’ 116-113 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Recreation 4, placing them in a 3-1 gap within the sequence.
NBA analyst Zach Lowe didn’t maintain again in his evaluation of Luka Doncic’s defensive shortcomings. He picked out the Slovenian star as a weak spot up towards Minnesota’s sturdy and energetic offense.
“He’s simply helpless defensively, off the ball too,” Lowe said bluntly on his podcast about Luka Doncic.
“How about you set up a battle in like recreation one. And now you’re down 3-1 and also you’re in all probability going dwelling.”
The criticism highlights a weak spot that has adopted Doncic all through his profession however has been significantly uncovered on this playoff sequence towards the athletic Timberwolves.
Regardless of the Lakers’ defensive wants towards Minnesota’s explosive offense, Doncic has struggled to supply resistance on that finish.
Whereas Doncic poured in 38 factors in Recreation 4, Lowe pointed to a different regarding statistic that means the celebrity isn’t having his typical impression as a playmaker.
“One attention-grabbing stat from this sequence is that Luka solely has 20 assists in 4 video games, which for him just isn’t very many,” Lowe defined.
For a participant averaging 7.5 assists in the course of the common season with the Lakers, Doncic’s playmaking has seemingly disappeared on the worst potential time.
His two assists in Recreation 4 represented a dramatic drop-off from his ordinary manufacturing, whereas his one-assist efficiency in Recreation 1 was significantly alarming.
Lowe attributes a part of this decline to the Lakers’ roster building, particularly the shortage of a dependable pick-and-roll huge man that Doncic had grown accustomed to in Dallas with Daniel Gafford and Dereck Full of life II.
“I feel you are feeling the absence of a dive man for him to kind of break down the protection and get into his candy spots,” Lowe famous.
With Jaxson Hayes taking part in simply 4 minutes in Recreation 4 earlier than being subbed out, Doncic lacked the vertical menace that had beforehand allowed him to control defenses and create alternatives for teammates.
Now dealing with elimination, the Lakers should discover solutions for each Doncic’s defensive limitations and their roster building points earlier than Recreation 5, or their season will come to an abrupt finish by the hands of the surging Timberwolves.
