The Minnesota Timberwolves got the best of the Los Angeles Lakers in their first-round matchup, needing just five games to advance to the Western Conference Semifinals. While the Lakers entered the series as the favorites due to the pairing of Luka Doncic and LeBron James, they had no answer for the Timberwolves' size and athleticism throughout the series.
James reflected on the series during a recent episode of his podcast, "Mind the Game", heaping praise on Minnesota for their hunger.
"You unravel all of those emotions and I've unraveled all of them in the sense of, like, giving me space," LeBron James stated Thursday. "Going back, analytically seeing if there was ways I could have -- what could I have done better, what we could have done better. Thinking about the individual matchups. Thinking about their team versus our team. Things where we could have did better. It all has entered my mind since Wednesday night when it was over with.
"Obviously, I've come to grips with it now with it being quite a few days after the fact and watching a lot of other series now and seeing how they unfold," James continued. "I've had all those emotions to the point where it's like what the -- (expletive), we entered the season well, but when it comes to the postseason, man, matchups sometimes just -- it doesn't determine how well of a regular season you had. It's the matchups and we ran into a damn good matchup. A team that's been battle-tested. A team that's hungry. A team that -- a lot of youth, but also experience at the same time, and another team that's trying to make the next step. They were a worthy opponent, that's for sure."
Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp
The Timberwolves had a significant size advantage and played to their strengths throughout the series. JJ Redick faced some criticism for his desire to roll out small-ball lineups against Minnesota's frontcourt trio of Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle and Jaden McDaniels.
Starting center Jaxson Hayes played just 31 minutes, while backup Alex Len played four minutes -- all of which came in garbage time. Neither player saw the floor in the series-ending Game 5 loss as Rudy Gobert dominated, finishing with 27 points and 24 rebounds -- both of which set playoff career-highs.
Despite the early exit, the 40-year-old James played well in the series. He averaged 25.4 points, 9.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.8 blocks per game while shooting 48.9% from the field, 35.7% from three-point range and 77.5% from the free-throw line.
More NBA: LeBron James reveals Lakers remain confident in JJ Redick despite tough playoff debut