A few months ago, the Lakers looked left for dead with a roster that wasn’t built for a deep postseason run.
Now, after a busy trade deadline that reshaped the rotation, Los Angeles controls its own destiny ahead of Tuesday’s play-in game against the Timberwolves.
Minnesota, on the other hand, has slogged through a tumultuous season that reached a crescendo with Sunday’s dramatic final day.
Can the T-Wolves shock the NBA and upend the Lakers as massive underdogs?
Here’s how we’re betting Tuesday’s contest, which tips off at 10 p.m. ET on TNT.
(via BetMGM)
(10 p.m. ET. TNT)
In some ways, this feels like a bit of a trap, with the line climbing higher and higher ahead of Tuesday’s tip-off.
That said, I’m not sure what number would dissuade me from backing the Lakers in the biggest mismatch of the entire play-in tournament.
Much of that is a credit to Los Angeles’ midseason reinvention at the trade deadline (Feb. 9), which saw the team flip Russell Westbrook and ancillary pieces for D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Malik Beasley – all of whom have played at least 23 minutes per game since being dealt to L.A.
With those three in tow, the Lakers have boasted the NBA’s second-best record (18-8) and sixth-best net rating (+4.8), with almost all of that coming with LeBron James (foot) on the sidelines.
Since his return to the starting lineup, Los Angeles is 6-1 with five double-digit wins and a stellar +9.2 net rating – trailing only the Warriors (+19.6) and Celtics (+13.6) in that stretch.
One of those six wins came over the Timberwolves, who have lost three of their last six games to fall into the play-in tournament.
That came before Sunday’s explosive regular-season finale when Rudy Gobert punched teammate Kyle Anderson in the first half, and Jaden McDaniels punched a wall on the way to the locker room at halftime.
Neither Gobert (suspension) nor McDaniels (hand) will be available for Tuesday’s contest, which is a massive blow for a team that relied on its top-10 defense to carry its lethargic offense — one that’s gotten worse since shipping Russell (17.9 PPG) to Los Angeles.
Gobert’s absence is drawing much of the attention ahead of Tuesday, as is appropriate for the three-time Defensive Player of the Year.
But it’s hard to overstate the loss of McDaniels, who is quietly one of the best defenders in the league.
McDaniels ranked third in opponent field-goal percentage (52.9%) among players with at least 20 MPG, and he was one of just six players to defend this year’s All-Stars at least 1,000 times.
Without those two, the Timberwolves will be hard-pressed to keep up with the new-look Lakers, especially with James and Anthony Davis playing as well as they have all year.
This one shouldn’t be close.