Rui Hachimura has become an integral piece of the Los Angeles Lakers rotation and he’ll be counted on to play big role in the team’s upcoming playoff matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Timberwolves are a formidable opponent because of their collective, size, length and physicality at every position though the Lakers are still considered the favorites because of their stars and home-court advantage. Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves make for arguably the best trio in the league and Minnesota will need to find ways to slow them down plus the role players like Hachimura.
Fortunately for Los Angeles, they have several days off until Game 1 which gives Hachimura even more time to rest and recover. Hachimura suffered a knee injury back in March that forced him to miss time, and at the time he expected to have to manage it the rest of the season without being 100%.
Ahead of the Timberwolves series though, Hachimura noted his knee is in a much better place now.
“It’s for sure better. It’s way better than what we talked about,” he said. “My knee’s getting better, I can jump now and all that. Just gotta manage it and now we don’t have a back-to-back anymore. We saw the schedule, we have two days in between this series. So yeah, just gotta manage it and then just probably each game as much as possible.
Hachimura also discussed the importance of having multiple days off in between games for the first round for his health and the team overall.
“For sure, yeah. We can get rest, but also we can adjust,” Hachimura added. “Each game is going to be different. They’re gonna change the lineups, how they guard us, so each game we’re gonna adjust but with those two days we have time to adjust. We can kind of watch film, rest and all of that so I think it’ll be great.”
The team as a whole has been happy to get a break when available, and Hachimura acknowledged the Lakers were relieved to have avoided the Play-In Tournament. With Minnesota likely to load up on the stars, it’ll be up to Hachimura and the rest of the team to step up and hit shots.
Defensively, Hachimura’s physical health will be more of a factor so it’ll be interesting to see how he holds up on that end.
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