Takeaways: Lakers blow big lead, but still beat Timberwolves

For five games, the Timberwolves defense hasn’t been what they or fans have been accustomed to seeing. But Wednesday night, after erasing a 20-point Lakers lead in the second half, all the Wolves needed was one stop while up by one with 10.2 seconds to play.

They couldn’t get it.

Austin Reaves hit a 12-foot floater in the lane as time expired to give the shorthanded Lakers, who were without Luka Doncic, LeBron James and multiple other contributors, a 116-115 win over the Wolves.

Julius Randle had given the Wolves the lead with a driving layup on the previous possession, but Reaves got loose in the middle of the floor for the final shot as he finished with 28 points and 16 assists. Wolves coach Chris Finch had a “mea culpa” afterwards by saying the Wolves should have had a switching defense on for the final play instead of a drop coverage.

“It’s on me, I should have had Rudy just switch,” Finch said. “We got split in coverage, and we should have just blacked it and just switched it and just kept everybody in front.”

Again, the Wolves defense looked little like it has the last few seasons in allowing the Lakers to shoot 54%. Jake LaRavia torched them for 27 points, 17 in the third quarter.

“It’s on us as players,” Randle said of the defense. “We gotta go out and execute and we’re just not doing it, for whatever reason. But I have faith in our group. I know we will do it. We just gotta stick together. We can’t point the finger. Just stay together.”

“I thought we did a better job of extending our point of attack [defense] tonight,” Finch said. “We made life tough for for Reaves [9-for-24] in the shooting column, he did a really good job of finding his teammates, though, and we were just a little bit short on a lot of our closeouts.”

Without Anthony Edwards (right hamstring strain) Randle had 33 and Jaden McDaniels had 30 to pick up the scoring slack for the Wolves, who had trouble finding scoring down the roster. The Wolves had only one other player in double figures (Donte DiVincenzo with 14).

“I got to do a better job of getting Donte shots right now,” Finch said. “Seven shots for him is not nearly enough.”

The Wolves came out flat in the second half as the Lakers went on an 18-6 run that extended their lead to 14. LaRavia dominated the scoring, as he poured in 17 points. LaRavia hit a three as part of a 9-0 Lakers run that put them up 92-75 and forced a timeout from Chris Finch.

The Wolves switched to a zone in the fourth quarter and got back in the game, while Mike Conley ignited the defense with some hustle plays. They cut the lead to 112-106 with 3 minutes, 4 seconds left and piled up enough stops to take the lead behind some buckets from McDaniels. But their defense couldn’t hold up late.

He nearly played more than that in the first half (11). He struggled to score (1-for-5) but did a lot of good things for the offense in generating five assists and a few more hockey-style assists where a pass he made led to another one, which led to an open shot.

At shootaround Wednesday, second-year forward Terrence Shannon Jr. said the team, was looking for him to be more aggressive.

“They’ve been on me a lot, I’ve been being too passive a lot the beginning of the season,” Shannon said. “I got to be more aggressive, look for my shot first, then pass. Got to get back to attacking in transition.”

But it was still slow going for Shannon, who had just two shot attempts in the first half and no points. He also picked up three fouls. He finished 0-for-3 and was scoreless in 16 minutes.

LeBron James (sciatica) didn’t play in the teams’ first meeting last week in Los Angeles. The Lakers’ injury report was extended this time around. Luka Doncic (left finger sprain) was out after scoring 49 on the Wolves on Friday. Marcus Smart (quad) and Gabe Vincent (ankle) also were out for the Lakers.