Luka Doncic was unable to prevent the Los Angeles Lakers’ 116-113 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 4, putting them in a 3-1 hole in the series.
NBA analyst Zach Lowe didn’t hold back in his assessment of Luka Doncic’s defensive shortcomings. He picked out the Slovenian star as a weakness up against Minnesota’s strong and energetic offense.
“He’s just helpless defensively, off the ball too,” Lowe stated bluntly on his podcast about Luka Doncic.
“How about you put up a fight in like game one. And now you’re down 3-1 and you’re probably going home.”
The criticism highlights a weakness that has followed Doncic throughout his career but has been particularly exposed in this playoff series against the athletic Timberwolves.
Despite the Lakers’ defensive needs against Minnesota’s explosive offense, Doncic has struggled to provide resistance on that end.
While Doncic poured in 38 points in Game 4, Lowe pointed to another concerning statistic that suggests the superstar isn’t having his typical impact as a playmaker.
“One interesting stat from this series is that Luka only has 20 assists in four games, which for him is not very many,” Lowe explained.
For a player averaging 7.5 assists during the regular season with the Lakers, Doncic’s playmaking has seemingly disappeared at the worst possible time.
His two assists in Game 4 represented a dramatic drop-off from his usual production, while his one-assist performance in Game 1 was particularly alarming.
Lowe attributes part of this decline to the Lakers’ roster construction, specifically the lack of a reliable pick-and-roll big man that Doncic had grown accustomed to in Dallas with Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II.
“I think you feel the absence of a dive man for him to sort of break down the defense and get into his sweet spots,” Lowe noted.
With Jaxson Hayes playing just four minutes in Game 4 before being subbed out, Doncic lacked the vertical threat that had previously allowed him to manipulate defenses and create opportunities for teammates.
Now facing elimination, the Lakers must find answers for both Doncic’s defensive limitations and their roster construction issues before Game 5, or their season will come to an abrupt end at the hands of the surging Timberwolves.
