Game 1 has come and passed, and the Los Angeles Lakers are left in a 0-1 hole in their first round series with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Wolves came out hungry, eventually opening up a big lead and totally annihilating the Lakers in the second half of play.
It wasn't even Anthony Edwards' star power that was the main catalyst of this Lakers loss. Minnesota played excellent team basketball and got the most out of most all their main contributors. They generated open shots repeatedly and completely put LA out of it. In the end, though, Edwards still presents one big problem that will be extremely hard for the Lakers to overcome.
That problem being this: Ant is one of the best offensive talents in the NBA, and the Lakers do not have a single player capable of stopping him in one-on-one situations. It is not hard to spot when watching the Lakers play, but their team defense has been sorely lacking for some time now. Personnel has a lot to do with it. Yes, trading for Luka Doncic is nice, but losing Anthony Davis was not a positive for this team either.
The Lakers don't have a single defender that can guard Edwards
Without Davis shoring up the Lakers' defense on the interior, a lot more of that responsibility falls on the perimeter defenders, as well as on JJ Redick, who has to scheme a lot harder against a player like Edwards than he would have to if AD were still his rim protector. And what we have seen over the last several months of Lakers basketball is that this team is frankly not that talented defensively.
There was always a big chance LA's lackluster defense got exposed once the postseason came around, but the Timberwolves ensured it happened just one game in. Now, when you put a player of Edwards' caliber in front of the Lakers, it is a recipe for disaster. There is no easy solution for minimizing the talents of Ant, especially when you are as limited personnel-wise as LA is.
The Lakers are going to have to keep playing Redick's gimmicky-style defense and keep hoping for the best, because what they have is all they're going to get. Edwards is a monster and can open up opportunities for his teammates with his playmaking if you double him and try to take away his scoring power. There is no easy solution for LA's biggest problem right now, and should they be unable to fix it, the Lakers could very easily find themselves sitting at home in just a couple of weeks.