MINNEAPOLIS – The Los Angeles Lakers are facing elimination following their 116-113 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 4 of their opening round series of the NBA Playoffs. But there is still optimism in the locker room that the Lakers can win this series, and LeBron James is the reason why.

Following the Lakers’ Game 4 loss to the Timberwolves, Dorian Finney-Smith recalled LeBron James’ 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers team that rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals to win the championship. James’ presence is why he feels this group still has a chance.

“I’ve seen ‘Bron do it,” Finney-Smith said. “We still feel like we can win this series. We just got to win one game at a time. Obviously we put ourselves in harm’s way, but we got to figure it out as a team.”

The most recent team to come back from trailing 3-1 in a playoff series was the Denver Nuggets who did so twice in the 2020 Playoffs. They trailed 3-1 in the first round against the Utah Jazz and won, and trailed 3-1 against the LA Clippers in the second round and won.

For James, the man who has experienced this before, the key for the Lakers is focusing on one game at a time.

“Obviously you don’t think about winning three, you want to just get the next one,” James said. “That’s the only thing that matters. If not, then the offseason begins. . .that’s what’s important.”

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One of the main talking points following Game 4 was Lakers head coach JJ Redick’s decision to play the starting lineup for the entirety of the second half. With Dorian Finney-Smith in place of Jaxson Hayes to begin the third quarter, the starters played all 24 minutes.

Although the question of whether or not fatigue played a factor in the Lakers’ fourth quarter collapse, James doesn’t believe that was the case.

“We had some really good looks. . .I missed a point blank layup that would have put us up four, we had a couple of opportunities,” James said. “I don’t think fatigue had anything to do with that. We just missed some point blank shots.”

The Lakers will return home for Game 5 on  Wednesday, and will look to try and extend the series.