The Los Angeles Lakers have championship hopes this season, but their playoff run did not get off to the best start as they were blown out by the Minnesota Timberwolves at home in Game 1.
They sacrificed home-court advantage in the series with that loss, but now they have a chance to even things up before the series shifts to Minnesota when they host the Timberwolves again in Game 2 on Tuesday night.
While it was just one game, the manner in which the Lakers lost Game 1 was concerning as they had no answers for the Timberwolves’ physicality and 3-point shooting.
Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid, in particular, gave the Lakers fits as they combined for 48 points on 19-of-25 shooting and 9-of-12 from 3. That simply can’t happen again if the Lakers are gonna have a chance in Game 2.
Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle are the main focal points of the Timberwolves’ offense, but their team becomes really dangerous when the others like McDaniels, Reid, Mike Conley and Donte DiVincenzo get going as well.
Because of that, it will be interesting to see what adjustments JJ Redick makes going into Game 2. This is his first postseason series as a head coach, and his strategy of selling out to keep Minnesota out of the paint and leaving shooters open in the corner didn’t work. There is a balance though as the Lakers won’t want to overreact to one game while also keeping in mind that the series could be close to over if they drop the first two games at home.
In addition to potentially switching up the defensive game plan and playing more physical, the Lakers will also need to be better offensively than they were on Sunday.
Luka Doncic continued to get whatever looks he wanted against the Timberwolves defense, as was the case in the 2024 Western Conference Finals, but L.A.’s others didn’t do enough to help him out like the Minnesota others did.
Not only do LeBron James and Austin Reaves need to be better, but the Lakers’ ball movement as a whole needs to improve as their “Big 3” only combined for seven assists in Game 1.
The Lakers were hunting mismatches and playing a lot in isolation, which can work at times, but clearly isn’t a recipe for success given the Timberwolves’ strong individual defenders. There are a lot of strong basketball minds in the Lakers organization, so hopefully they come up with a plan to even the series in Game 2.
Minnesota Timberwolves (1-0) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (0-1)
Tuesday, April 22, 7:00 p.m. PT
Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, California
TV: TNT/truTV/MAX, Spectrum SportsNet
Radio: 710 AM ESPN LA
Lakers Projected Starting Lineup:
PG: Luka Doncic
SG: Austin Reaves
SF: Rui Hachimura
PF: LeBron James
C: Jaxson Hayes
Key Reserves: Dorian Finney-Smith, Gabe Vincent, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jordan Goodwin, Dalton Knecht
Timberwolves Projected Starting Lineup:
PG: Mike Conley
SG: Anthony Edwards
SF: Jaden McDaniels
PF: Julius Randle
C: Rudy Gobert
Key Reserves: Naz Reid, Donte DiVincenzo, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Jaylen Clark
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