For much of the opening 3.5 quarters on Tuesday, the Lakers hardly looked like one of the top defenses in the league. From the trade deadline to the end of the regular season, the Lakers had the second-best defensive net rating in the league.
But the Lakers were being gashed open from beyond the arc through the first half and into the third quarter against the Timberwolves. That was perhaps the most concerning of the many things going wrong for the home side at the time.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, the Lakers comeback was bolstered by its defense tightening the screws.