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Heading into Game 1 against the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the biggest questions surrounding the game was how the Minnesota Timberwolves would operate in the minutes when JJ Redick doesn't have a true center on the court.
Sure, the Lakers have found ways to win games without an overreliance on traditional centers, as the team more or less knew their fate when they rescinded the Mark Williams trade with the Charlotte Hornets, but the Timberwolves boast one of the bigger lineups in basketball, with an ability to keep at least one big man on the court at all times if they so see fit.
In Game 1, that size proved a major advantage, with the Timberwolves seemingly going on a run whenever the Lakers' big guys weren't on the court.
Discussing how things shook out in the game after the clock went all zeros, Jalen McDaniels, who somehow led the team in scoring, broke down what went wrong for the Lakers, and how he was basically able to run shop when he was the tallest player on the court.
Did the Lakers make a mistake by only playing Hayes eight minutes, with Alex Len only logging three minutes off the bench? Potentially so, as every member of the starting lineup had at least a -12 +/-, and Dorian Finney-Smith, the team's top reserve, didn't do much better with a -11 in his 33 minutes of action.
And yet, what are the Lakers supposed to do? Should they play Hayes 30 minutes a night when he's only really scoring as Luka Doncic's favorite lob threat? Needless to say, fans will have plenty to say on the subject moving forward, especially if things go south in Game 2.
