The Los Angeles Lakers have their backs against the wall on Wednesday night at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5. It looked like the Lakers were going to even this series up at two apiece in Game 4 as they had a comfortable lead in the fourth quarter, but the Timberwolves stormed back to steal the win. Now, Minnesota is up 3-1, and a win on Wednesday in LA would end the Lakers' season.

Los Angeles needs a win in Game 5 to stay alive, and they are favored to get it done. The Lakers are favored by 6.5 points at home, but it won't be easy taking down Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves. Edwards has been a problem in this series, and Shaquille O'Neal thinks that the Lakers are lacking players in that department.

“No, but what is a factor is they don't have any dawgs on their team,” Shaq said when he was asked if fatigue was a factor for the Lakers. “You got two of the greatest players on this team, but where are the dawgs at? I don't see a lot of fight. I don't see a lot of grit. So you know, when you have players like that, the others should want to be dawgs and wanna do certain things. … All the players that were with me were dawgs, I don't see any dawgs on the team. So, might as well pack up and get ready for next year.”

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It looks like Shaq has given up on the Lakers making an improbable comeback in this series. LA has been right there with the Timberwolves for this entire series, but the blown lead at the end of Game 4 was the big difference in the series. If the Lakers hold on to that lead, this is a completely different series. It's tied up at two and LA has home-court advantage. Instead, the Lakers need to find a way to win three in a row.

The good news for the Lakers is that they only need to find one win away from home. If they can take care of business on their home floor, they are one road win away from taking control of the series. LA has already won one game at Minnesota, and Game 4 should've been a win as well. It can certainly happen again. The Timberwolves definitely don't want to come back to LA for a Game 7, that is for sure.