The Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves are facing off in the Western Conference’s 3rd vs 6th matchup.
In Game 1, Minnesota overpowered Los Angeles in a 117-95 blowout on the road. LA will have a chance to redeem themselves on Tuesday.
Minnesota enters this matchup as the west’s 6th seed. With a win in Game 1, the Wolves have stolen home court advantage from the Lakers. This is not new for the Wolves, as they have been one of the NBA’s best road teams, with a 24-17 record.
The Timberwolves shot lights out, as they went 21-for-42 from the 3-point line. They shot 51.2% from the field overall, as they went 44-for-86.
Jaden McDaniels led the Wolves in scoring with 25 points on 11-for-13 shooting. He was a perfect 3-for-3 from the 3-point line and added 9 boards.
Anthony Edwards scored 22 on 36.4% shooting. Though he struggled from the field, Edwards had a near triple-double with 8 rebounds and 9 assists.
Naz Reid added 23 points off the bench. He torched LA from 3, as he shot 6-for-9 from beyond the arc.
The Wolves also dominated on the defensive end, as they held the Lakers to 39.8% shooting. Minnesota will continue to rely on their 6th ranked defense throughout the series.
The Lakers simply were not prepared for the avalanche from the Timberwolves in Game 1.
Luka Doncic led the Lakers on the offensive end. Doncic scored 37 points on 12-for-22 shooting, with 5 3-pointers. A mixture of Minnesota’s defense and LA’s stagnant offense limited Doncic’s playmaking, as he only had 1 assist to 5 turnovers.
LeBron James scored 19 points on 8-for-18 shooting. Like Doncic, James struggled to take care of the ball as he had 4 turnovers.
Austin Reaves had 16 points on 38% shooting. He added 3 rebounds and 3 assists.
The Lakers were unable to get their offense flowing. LA’s primary playmakers in James and Doncic only combined for 4 assists. As a team, the Lakers only had 15 assists in comparison to the Timberwolves’ 29.
Since joining the Lakers, James has had a subpar record in Game 1’s as he has gone 4-6 in 10 games. However, he has gone on to win 6-out-of-9 of those series, with the result of this series still pending.
McDaniels may have shredded the Lakers in Game 1, but that will be his best offensive game this series. That offense will not be sustainable and Minnesota cannot rely on him to be their leading scorer again. The bulk of Minnesota’s offense will have to come from Edwards and Julius Randle.
Questions surround Randle’s ability to perform in the playoffs. This will be his third career playoff series and his first with Minnesota. With the New York Knicks, Randle averaged 18 points on 29.8% from the field in 2021 and 16.6 on 37.4% in 2023.
If Randle is unable to produce once again, Minnesota’s offense will fall solely on the shoulders of Edwards. The responsibilities may be too much for him.
While Minnesota has their defensive anchor in Rudy Gobert, he often struggles on the perimeter against smaller and quicker lineups, as shown in previous years. LA has the personnel in Dorian Finney-Smith and Rui Hachimura to go small and space the floor against Gobert.
As this series progresses, Doncic and James will be able to get the Lakers’ offense rolling. Game 1 was simply an outlier.
Doncic already defeated Minnesota in last year’s playoffs. The Wolves won’t have an answer for him once again.
Prediction: Lakers in 6.
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