While the Minnesota Timberwolves might have an early lead in their Western Conference first-round playoff series, longtime team supporters know that nothing is safe when it comes to facing the Los Angeles Lakers in the postseason.
After the No. 6 seed Timberwolves took the series opener with a convincing 117-95 victory over the No. 3 seed Lakers on Saturday, the teams remain in Los Angeles for Game 2 on Tuesday.
Still in search of their first appearance in the NBA Finals, the Timberwolves’ best chance for a title came in 2004 when they reached the Western Conference finals against the Lakers.
With home-court advantage in that series, the Wolves split the first two games before getting upended 4-2 in the best-of-seven matchup.
Minnesota already has assured itself of a split of the first two contests at Los Angeles, but history shows the Wolves would be better off not taking Game 2 for granted, even with the series set to shift to the Twin Cities later in the week.
“We have a great group of guys, but I didn’t learn that (Saturday), I learned that in training camp,” Wolves star Anthony Edwards said after scoring 22 points with eight rebounds and nine assists in Game 1. “It just took a minute to figure each other out but now it feels like we’re rolling.”
Minnesota was a disappointing 32-29 through February before closing the regular season on a 17-4 run, all after Julius Randle returned from a groin injury. Randle scored 16 points Saturday, while Jaden McDaniels led the team with 25 points on 11-of-13 shooting and added nine rebounds.
“I was playing with confidence,” McDaniels said. “I know the last time we played them we didn’t end up winning the game, so we were trying to get one in the playoffs.”
McDaniels was referencing the Lakers’ 111-102 home victory over the Wolves on Feb. 27. That was the only one of the four regular-season games between the teams after Luka Doncic had been traded to Los Angeles.
Doncic was everywhere during the first quarter of Game 1, scoring 16 points in the opening 12 minutes. He finished with a game-high 37, but Los Angeles shot just 39.8 percent from the floor, while LeBron James was held to 19 points and Austin Reaves had 16.
Reaves was just 5 of 13 from the floor and 3 of 8 from 3-point range after he was held to just two points in the first half and none in the fourth quarter.
The Lakers led by eight points early and were up 28-21 at the end of the first quarter before the Wolves took over the game by using a physicality the Lakers were unable to match.
“When they started playing with a lot of thrusts and physicality, we just didn’t respond immediately to that,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said in the aftermath of the defeat.
As alarming as it sounds for the veteran Lakers to be caught off guard by an opponent’s style of play, the team has not been in panic mode during the time between games.
“Maybe it took us one playoff game to now get a feel for it and know what type of intensity, the type of physicality, is gonna be brought to the game,” James said. “But that’s just the way they play. So we should be more than prepared for that on Tuesday night.”
