A pair of teams intent on finding more from their early-season game plans meet Friday when the Minnesota Timberwolves visit the Los Angeles Lakers in the second game for both.
The matchup revisits last season’s first-round playoff series when the No. 6-seeded Timberwolves advanced in five games over the third-seeded Lakers.
While Los Angeles was upended 119-109 by the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday, Minnesota won its season opener Wednesday on the road against the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Timberwolves’ 118-114 victory came from a team that advanced to the Western Conference finals last season against a team that finished outside of the play-in tournament in the West.
Wolves star Anthony Edwards did his part with 41 points and seven rebounds. He went 14 of 28 from the floor and his five 3-pointers topped his average of 4.1 per game last season. Edwards played after he was listed as questionable with back spasms.
“It’s hurting. I’m in pain right now,” Edwards told reporters after the victory. “But I was good throughout the game.”
Minnesota trailed by as many as five in the fourth quarter and were down 112-111 with less than two minutes remaining before ending the game on a 7-2 run. Edwards scored five of those points, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:14 remaining.
“Everybody stepped in, and then Ant was Superman,” said the Wolves’ Julius Randle, who scored 19 points with seven rebounds and six assists.
While Edwards played and moved to the forefront in the season opener, the Lakers were without their star in LeBron James, who is dealing with sciatica on his right side. James is expected to be out into November, while center Maxi Kleber (oblique) also is out.
Luka Doncic stepped up with 43 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists, but he stepped out of the defeat with a right leg injury. Doncic downplayed the severity of a possible groin issue.
“It’s probably nothing,” Doncic said. “I just felt a little bit with my hip when I went (one) way. Just a little bit, but it’s probably nothing.”
One missing star and one compromised star does not bode well for the Lakers, who received 26 points and nine assists from Austin Reaves but got no more than 10 points from any other player. Those 10 came from center Deandre Ayton in his Los Angeles debut.
The Lakers shot 54.5% from the floor in their season opener to 48.7% from the Warriors. But Los Angeles was just 8 of 32 (25.0%) from 3-point range and 17 of 28 (60.7%) from the free-throw line. Golden State made 26 of its 29 free-throw attempts.
Also of concern was Golden State’s 18-4 scoring burst to open the second half while taking a 73-58 lead and maintaining the advantage the rest of the way.
“The trend I see is that we continue to be a terrible third-quarter team to start,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said. “… Gotta rethink some things and it’s a two-way thing with the guys. What do they need at halftime to make sure they’re ready to play? They’re not ready to play to start the third quarter.”
–Field Level Media
