First out of a five-game home stand for Lakers kicked off with a big showdown on Friday night against the talented and athletic Minnesota Timberwolvesone of only three teams to beat Los Angeles in the race for a play-in spot in the tournament.
The Lakers will go through this stretch without LeBron Jameswhich will be revalued three weeks after it was announced on Thursday that the forward has right foot injury. The Lakers also did not have a starting point guard. D’Angelo Russellwho missed his fourth straight game with a right ankle sprain.
But the Lakers are back Anthony Davis after he missed Wednesday night’s game in Oklahoma City because the team was taking precautions due to his right leg injury.
Davis played his part, scoring 38 points on 12-of-22 shooting, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Lakers from losing. 110-102 in the Timberwolves at the Crypto.com Arena.
Davis only had five rebounds and turned the ball over six times.
Rudy Gobert recorded a double-double with 22 points and 14 rebounds, while Anthony Edwards scored 19 points for the Timberwolves (33-32).
But when the game was close, Michael Conley stood out for the Timberwolves.
The Lakers cut their lead from 14 points in the fourth quarter to three.
But Conley came late with a three-pointer and a right float, which helped stop the Lakers’ play.
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards scored in the first half on Friday.
(Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press)
“They are also fighting for their lives trying to get into the playoffs. Lakers coach Darwin Hamm said about the Timberwolves, who had moved to seventh place in the West. “And they had that kind of urgency, and we don’t. And that’s something we have to decide, and we talked about it after the game.”
The Lakers (30-34) remained in 11th place in the Western Conference after the loss, one game behind the New Orleans Pelicans.
“At the end of the day, the standings are what they are,” Davis said. “We have to get back to what we have to do, control what we can control, and that’s winning basketball games.”
Ham said they know where they are in the race for a top 10 spot in the West.
“I tell the team: “The first task is to mind your own business.” It doesn’t matter what the standings say, whether we’re missing games or not doing what we need to do to make sure we’re able to seize the opportunity,” Ham said. “So that’s the most important thing for us. We just need to focus on our business and everything else will fall into place, as it should.”
The Lakers will not be easy without James.
He began his rehab by doing everything he could to get back with the Lakers to help them in their quest to even get to play games.
“There is no update and his situation is as it is,” Ham said. “And if it wasn’t for him and his game, we wouldn’t be this close to having a chance to improve in the future. So, I just want him to take his time, coordinate with the medical staff, and do what he needs to do to get back as quickly as possible. … We need to step up, all of us.”
The Lakers will bring Russell back before James, but when that happens is still unknown.
According to Ham, Russell organized several “playgroups” on Friday and is still working on his comeback.
“We don’t want a guy to go from not playing an NBA game to throwing him back,” Ham said.
Unfortunately for Russell, he missed the game against his former team. The Lakers acquired Russell from Minnesota as a point guard. But his new Lakers teammates, Malik Beasley And Jared VanderbiltBoth played for the Timberwolves, which made the playoffs with Russell last season.
Beasley and Vanderbilt were traded to the Jazz last summer and were acquired by the Lakers last month.