The Los Angeles Lakers lost Game 1 of their first-round series to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday by 22 points. The Timberwolves now have home-court advantage in the series.
Lakers guard Austin Reaves, who had a terrific regular season, struggled in Game 1 versus the Timberwolves. The talented playmaker had 16 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the field and registered a plus-minus of -25 in 37 minutes.
“I wasn’t myself,” Reaves told local reporters on Monday. “To what the reason was, don’t know. But just got to go out there and be myself, play my game and have fun doing it.”
The Timberwolves shot 21-of-42 from 3 in Game 1. Reaves said on Monday that the Lakers will match Minnesota’s physicality in Game 2.
“Hopefully we can just right our wrongs,” Reaves said. “We played bad, they shot the ball really well. They’re obviously a really good team that’s physical. We got to match that. Tomorrow it’ll be different story.”
Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15).
© Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
The Lakers trailed by as many as 27 points in Game 1 versus the Timberwolves, who made it to the Western Conference Finals last year. First-year Los Angeles head coach JJ Redick believes his team wasn’t organized enough on either side of the ball in Game 1.
“I think a lot of times you would hear that word and then you would think, ‘Oh, it’s the point guard calling a play.’ No, it’s just all of the normal stuff that we try to do and when we do it, we’re really good,” Redick said on Monday. “Being organized is screening. Being organized is getting to the proper spacing. Being organized is getting the corners filled after makes and misses. That’s being organized.”
Game 2 is on Tuesday. It’s a must-win contest for the Lakers, who can’t afford to go down 2-0 since Games 3 and 4 will be in Minnesota.