(3) Lakers vs. (6) Timberwolves First Round Playoff Series Thread

[QUOTE=Meticode;14993949]Mike Conley gets overlooked a lot. A true professional and journeyman.[/QUOTE]
Apparently 2D needs him the most in order to be impactful at winning crucial games.

[QUOTE=Nowoco;14993950]Well that was a shock. Absolutely zero positives for the Lakers from that. The Wolves shot the lights out but to say that was the reason they blew them out would be disingenuous. They were all over them all game. [B]If the Lakers bench plays like that[/B], you wonder where the points are going to come from. It goes without saying but game 2 is must win for the Lakers but you wonder where the post mortem starts the way that game went.[/QUOTE]

Wolves won the bench points 43-13. That is completely insurmountable if it continues.

Defense wins championships.

[QUOTE=Nowoco;14993950]Well that was a shock. Absolutely zero positives for the Lakers from that. The Wolves shot the lights out but to say that was the reason they blew them out would be disingenuous. They were all over them all game. If the Lakers bench plays like that, you wonder where the points are going to come from. It goes without saying but game 2 is must win for the Lakers but you wonder where the post mortem starts the way that game went.[/QUOTE]

Not a shock at all to me. The idea that the Wolves are some underdog is laughable. The Lakers won ONE more regular season game than the Wolves...also the Wolves finished the season strong.

Either team can win this series in any fashion.

It'd be a good move for Lakers to go after Naz Reid. Wolves may not be able to keep him next season because of their cap situation. I want Reid on Wolves but I wouldn't be surprised if we lose him.

[QUOTE=StrongLurk;14994000]Not a shock at all to me. [/QUOTE]

The shock isn't that the Wolves won, anyone can win a single game, the shock is how the game went. No-one thought they would be blown off the floor. The Lakers' record with Luka and LeBron has been good, everyone was healthy, LeBron for the first time going into the playoffs since the bubble and the Lakers were at home. Vegas had the Lakers big favourites. There's a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking going on in this thread. If anyone thought that game would go as it did, they never said beforehand and they also should have bet on it as they would have made a lot of money.

Either way, as history has shown, beware a team in game 2 who were blown out in game 1 of a playoff series. That said, the Wolves would have taken a split before the series.

[QUOTE=Nowoco;14994015]The shock isn't that the Wolves won, anyone can win a single game, the shock is how the game went. No-one thought they would be blown off the floor. The Lakers' record with Luka and LeBron has been good, everyone was healthy, LeBron for the first time going into the playoffs since the bubble and the Lakers were at home. Vegas had the Lakers big favourites. There's a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking going on in this thread. If anyone thought that game would go as it did, they never said beforehand and they also should have bet on it as they would have made a lot of money.

Either way, as history has shown, beware a team in game 2 who were blown out in game 1 of a playoff series. That said, the Wolves would have taken a split before the series.[/QUOTE]

Who cares about Vegas. As an objective watcher, game 1 didn't shock me at all.

[QUOTE=StrongLurk;14994000]Not a shock at all to me. The idea that the Wolves are some underdog is laughable. The Lakers won ONE more regular season game than the Wolves...also the Wolves finished the season strong.

Either team can win this series in any fashion.[/QUOTE]

The team that is top 10 in o and d and now has the homecourt advantage is more likely.

For some reason I thought the game was today, but in any case, Luka teams starting off playoff series poorly is the norm by now.

[img]https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/d5Py9NQMl.tDOhoFD18_oA--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTI0MDA7aD0xNjIy/https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2025-04/4a9f9c40-1dac-11f0-b57b-63dc887311d1[/img]

Iconic.

[QUOTE=04mzwach;14994009]It'd be a good move for Lakers to go after Naz Reid. Wolves may not be able to keep him next season because of their cap situation. I want Reid on Wolves but I wouldn't be surprised if we lose him.[/QUOTE]


If they let Randle walk their cap situation is fine.

Ant man looked great. Made the right reads. His 3 balk opens up his driving lanes.

Game 2 will be different. Naz reid and McDaniel are not on average going to be shooting from 3 like that.

JJ coached a bad game plan. Lebron at the 5 works in spurts. You need rebounding and size.

Knecht is not a regular rookie. I think they should play him more.

Bron is going to be fine. You could tell he wants to personally guard Julius Randle.

[QUOTE=PP34Deuce;14994034]Ant man looked great. Made the right reads. His 3 balk opens up his driving lanes.

Game 2 will be different. Naz reid and McDaniel are not on average going to be shooting from 3 like that.

JJ coached a bad game plan. Lebron at the 5 works in spurts. You need rebounding and size.

Knecht is not a regular rookie. I think they should play him more.

Bron is going to be fine. You could tell he wants to personally guard Julius Randle.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I don’t understand not playing Vandy and Hayes more.

Wolves won’t shoot that well again until after next year’s all-Star break.

Total anomaly.

Lakers only have 1 NBA-rotation-worthy center (albeit one who still makes dumb mistakes)… Jaxson Hayes

He played 8min in game 1

Going small has its advantages on perimeter switching, but not in other areas like giving up offensive rebounds, and no rim protection. Also none of Luka’s favorite…lob threat.

I think Reddick giving up on Jaxson so quick, is a bad sign.
Just because he didn’t succeed as a roll man or lob threat those first 8min, doesn’t mean you should bench him for the remaining 40 minutes…

Hayes cant compete with gobert so it makes some sense not to play him. Wolves are one of the best shootingvteams so they might not shootvthat well again but they can shoot. Biggestvissue is wolves play both ends. Lakers dont. Cant hide luka defensively