The Los Angeles Lakers were back on the road on Wednesday night, taking on the Minnesota Timberwolves in a rematch of last week’s victory at Crypto.com Arena.
Both teams looked a little different this time, however, as superstars Luka Doncic and Anthony Edwards were both out of the lineup. The Lakers continued to be shorthanded without LeBron James, Marcus Smart and others, but that didn’t matter as they played extremely hard and came away with a 116-115 victory on an Austin Reaves buzzer-beater to improve to 3-2 on the season.
With so many guys out, Jake LaRavia got his second straight start and kicked off the scoring with a triple. He had five early points, although Julius Randle had eight straight for Minnesota and then they took advantage of some Laker turnovers to take a 19-10 lead.
Reaves eventually got going and Dalton Knecht came off the bench to provide the Lakers a spark after a Timberwolves 3-point barrage. He had seven points in the first quarter and L.A. trailed 34-32.
Knecht had another bucket to begin the second and then Deandre Ayton went to work in the paint. Randle and Jaden McDaniels were handling the scoring load to keep Minnesota in front until Reaves connected from deep to tie it at 51.
Despite the hot shooting from the Timberwolves, the Lakers played extremely hard and after a run led by Reaves to close the half, they took a 62-58 lead into the locker room.
The Lakers kept their energy up to begin the second half and LaRavia ripped off an 8-0 run by himself to stretch the lead to double digits for the first time.
LaRavia was on fire with 17 points in the third quarter alone with L.A. building its lead to 20 at 95-75.
A couple of offensive fouls on Jaxson Hayes and then a turnover led to a Minnesota run to end the quarter though, cutting their deficit to 11 at 97-86.
The Lakers put their foot back on the gas pedal to begin the fourth with Reaves and LaRavia making back-to-back 3s. At that point, they were trying to hang on for dear life as the Timberwolves began chipping away.
With four minutes to play, Mike Conley connected from deep to cut the deficit to single digits, although Reaves immediately responded with one of his own. Reaves then found Ayton for a floater, but Minnesota kept coming as a Jaden McDaniels triple made it 114-111 in the final minute.
After a turnover by the Lakers, a dunk made it a one-point game and then Randle came down and scored again as the Timberwolves came all the way back to take a 115-114 lead with 10 seconds to play.
The Lakers had one final opportunity, and Reaves nailed a floater for the win as time expired.
As usual, Reaves led the way in the win with another great all-around game, scoring 28 to go along with a career-high 16 assists while LaRavia had his best game in purple and gold with 27 points, eight rebounds and two assists.
What’s next for the Lakers…
The Lakers’ short two-game road trip wraps up on Friday night when they take on the Memphis Grizzlies in their first group play game of the 2025 Emirates NBA Cup.
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