Lakers dismiss T’Wolves, ready for Ja Morant

(News4usonline) –  There was nothing surprising about the NBA playoff play-in game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves. For much of the game, both teams made enough head-scratching plays that would make you scream and want to pull your hair out. This was not one of the more exhilarating games you’d ever want to see. 

Maybe because this is the playoffs. Both teams played sub-pat and inconsistent basketball during the regular season. Both teams mirrored that theme in their head-to-head matchup at Crypto.com Arena. It wasn’t pretty to watch, but the No. 7 seeded Lakers managed to shake off the No. 8 Timberwolves in overtime, coming away with a 108-102 win. 

mood. pic.twitter.com/oB6CO5PeKq

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) April 12, 2023

“We went 2-10; the analytic side said that we had 0.3 [percent] chance of making the postseason,” said LeBron James, who scored a team-high 30 points for the Lakers in the victory. “So, all you ask for is a chance, I guess. For us to turn around our season, and give ourselves an opportunity to compete for the Larry O’Brien trophy, that’s all you can ask for.”

After sputtering out of the gate to start their season, the personnel moves the Lakers made before the trade deadline seems to have paid huge dividends for the team. Now the Lakers’ reward for beating Minnesota is a playoff series date with Ja Morant and the No. 2 Memphis Grizzlies. Good luck. 

The Lakers struggled to beat Minnesota. It took the Timberwolves to go super ice cold in the fourth quarter, and then some luck in overtime before the Lakers managed to put the game away to move on for the right to play against Morant, the most electrifying player in the NBA. 

“Really good team, very well-coached, very well-balanced,” James said about the Lakers’ next playoff opponent. “Obviously, they’ve got a guy named Ja Morant, another All-Star in Jaren Jackson [Jr.], who’s up there, won defensive player of the year; he blocks shots, but offensively, he’s very dynamic as well. Tyus Jones, the point guard off the bench, has led the league in assist-turnover ratio like the last six years, so he compliments them very well.”

And one, AD. pic.twitter.com/2o8APD9z1J

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) April 12, 2023

James didn’t stop there in doling out the platitudes to Memphis. 

“Desmond Bane, I think in his third year…second or third year, but he plays like a veteran,” James remarked in postgame comments. “His ability to shoot the ball from the three-point line and also his ability to attack in early transition. Dillion Brooks, the opportunity to go out there and you know, you can’t disrespect him because he makes shots. Xavier Tillman has been playing good basketball. Obviously, he’s been well-coached from his college days from [Michigan State] coach [Tom] Izzo until now, and so on and so on. They’ve got Luke Kennard, who broke my scoring record in high school. He passed me in high school. There’s a reason why. He’s a lase from the three-point line. His ability to shoot the ball is uncanny. And they’ve got so many other guys also off the bench that you can’t disrespect them because they will make you pay. Obviously, I haven’t thought about Memphis one minute.” 

If the Lakers play at the level they did against the Timberwolves, the Memphis series might be a quick one. The Minnestoa-Los Angeles NBA play-in playoff game was hard to watch for a variety of reasons. Let’s be clear about one thing: Minnesota lost this game. 

Yes, the Lakers eventually came away with the win, but the Timberwolves blew it. Quite simply, Minnesota deserved to lose after blowing a double-digit lead in the fourth period. At the 6:01 mark in the fourth quarter, the Timberwolves had scored 95 points and had a cushion of seven points. 

Minnesota would not score again until three free throws made by guard Mike Conley with 0:01 left in the game sent the contest into overtime. Conley, who scored 23 points for the Timberwolves,  

“Give them credit first off,” Conley said. “They did a good job of changing up their defensive scheme, switching from one through five, and made it tough for us to get the ball into Kat [Karl Anthony Towns] in positions where he could be effective, and we didn’t have a great rhythm, and forced us to take some tough shots.” 

With the Timberwolves bumbling and stumbling all over themselves and suddenly forgetting how to penetrate the paint late in the final period, that created an opening for the Lakers to make a run, which they did. 

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— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) April 12, 2023

But this win was hardly anything to celebrate other than the fact that the Lakers got an opportunity to beat a talent-thin Minnesota team in order to move on to play a deeper and better athletic team in Memphis. At the end of the day, the Lakers won. That’s all that really matters. 

But if this was a rating on the impressive scale, it would read about a 3. Ugly game. Ugly win. Now can the Lakers play this way against the electrifying Morant and the Grizzlies? Absolutely not. The Timberwolves went out and choked this game away rather than the Lakers going out and winning the game. 

This game is also a reflection of where the Lakers are at as a team. There’s a reason (or a couple) why the Lakers found themselves in the play-in game in the first game. They’ve had to fight all season just to be in the position to have a chance to play in the postseason. 

“Everyone knew what was riding on this one.” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “The days of rest you gain by coming out with this game is priceless. That’s on both teams’ minds, the direct competition as well as the circumstances around it-who wins and who loses. We expected a dogfight and they gave us one.”