Last night’s play in game between the Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Los Angeles Lakers. The Timberwolves came in as the number eight seed and they finished with a 42-40 record. The Lakers came in as the seven seed and they finished the season with a record of 43-39. The Timberwolves took the regular season series 2-1. The winner of this game will face the Memphis Grizzlies who are the number two seed. The loser will face the winner of the play-in game of the New Orleans Pelicans or the Oklahoma City Thunder and will have to play battle for the number eight seed.
Who’s out: For the Timberwolves they have two questionable players and it is a game time decision Jaylen Nowell with a (left knee tendinopathy), Karl-Anthony Towns (right calf strain) these two are the questionable players for the Timberwolves. The Timberwolves have one player that is under team suspension and it is Rudy Gobert. Gobert was acquired by the Timberwolves from the Utah Jazz for Patrick Beverley, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro, and the draft rights to center Walker Kessler in addition to four first-round picks and a 2026 first-round pick swap. Jaden McDaniels, and Naz Reid will be the two players that are out with injuries. Jaden McDaniels injury is a (right hand fracture) and for Naz Reid his injury is (left scaphoid fracture). If you are curious how a hand fracture happens according to https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/diseases–conditions/hand-fractures it states a hand fracture is A hand fracture is a break in one of the bones in the hand. This includes:The small bones of the fingers (phalanges) The long bones within the palm (metacarpals). Another injury is the left scaphoid fracture.
The Lakers injuries entering tonight’s game is that Anthony Davis is probable with a (right foot stress injury) Lebron James is also probable with a (right foot soreness) and also probable is D’Angelo Russell (left foot soreness) these are the only injuries the Lakers have. So it will come down to a game time decision. So the Lakers are pretty much healthy for this game. But we will see at tip off what the starting lineups will be for both teams.
At the end of the first quarter the score was Timberwolves 28 Lakers 22. Karl-Anthony Towns had 4 field goals in the first quarter. Kyle Anderson is at 5 assists in the game. The Timberwolves have 11 rebounds so far. The Lakers have 13 rebounds. This was the first quarter recap with the things that happened. There was also a little brawl at the end of the quarter but no technical fouls.
The Lakers started the second quarter with a 14-2 run that lasted for about four minutes. Lebron James and Anthony Davis at the half combine for a total of 28 points at the half. The Timberwolves had a 14-2 run going into halftime. There have been 9 lead changes during the game.
Skip ahead to the end of the 4th quarter.
The game was tied at the end of regulation 98-98, a late foul on Anthony Davis with 0.1 seconds sent the Timberwolves to the free throw line to shoot 3 and Mike Conley Jr sunk all 3 free throws to send the game into overtime.
The Lakers controlled overtime and ended up winning the game108-102. The Laker will face the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday.
Some of the key players were Lebron James for the Lakers with 30 points and a double double. Lebron James and Anthony Davis combine for 54 points and 25 rebounds. As for Anthony Davis his stat line is 30 points and 10 rebounds. On the Timberwolves side there key players are Karl- Anthony Towns he had 24 points and 11 rebounds in the game. Mike Conley Jr. sent the game into overtime with a foul by Anthony Davis at the three point line and he made all three free throws. Mike Conley Jr. stat line was 23 points and 4 rebounds. Overall both teams shout 90%+ from the free throw line. But the Lakers out rebound the Timberwolves. There were 40 combined turnovers and both teams had 20 each.