2025 NBA PLAYOFFS West First Round: #3 LA Lakers vs #6 Minnesota Timberwolves (MIN leads 1-0)

[ROballer]

Some of y'all are basing your opinions solely on your Lakers hatred.

Check out playoff Randle, not even mentioning playoff Gobert...and then get back to me.

I think Minny has a better shot by going small and excluding Randle from the rotation altogether.

Yes. DDV/Edwards/Naw/McDaniels/Gobert trumps easily any lineup with Randle in it.

With Randle playing 36-40 mins a game, that's easy money on the Lakers. He really is the Westbrook version of bigs.

[Klomp]

Records since the last meeting:
Lakers: 14-11
Wolves: 17-5

[Klomp]

Playing the underdog role is where Minnesota has thrived over the years. I've been scared of this series for the past month, but right now I have an oddly calm feeling that's hit me.

It's interesting.....we are facing a team with an all-time great and a likely all-time great who is a Wolves killer, but I think I might actually be more scared of JJ Redick and Austin Reaves.

[zimpy27]

Worst matchup possible for the Lakers IMO.

If they survive this then I think they come out the West

[Beethoven]

Worst matchup possible for the Lakers IMO.

If they survive this then I think they come out the West

Ooh really..

[MrBigShot]

Excited to see playoff Ant again.

[zimpy27]

Worst matchup possible for the Lakers IMO.

If they survive this then I think they come out the West

Ooh really..

I think wolves win in 6/7 games sadly.

[zimpy27]

I think the physicality of the Wolves is going to pose a bigger problem for the Lakers than most anticipate.

While playoff Luka is a different animal than basically any other player in the league aside from playoff Jokic, I'm not sure if it will be enough to counter the Wolves' physicality. I think the wolves will dominate the glass and out battle the Lakers in 6.

Yep.

[Beethoven]

Hear that JJ? Lebron , Doncic, NBA you got it? Realgm has already predicted a lakers loss to the Timberwolves in this series.
You're done for. Wave the white flag.

[Mamba Mentality]

I just put a $500 parlay on the Lakers and Clippers to advance. Feel pretty strong about it.

[C3H6N6O6]

Lakers in 5, may be 6.

This is the worst type of team to play for Wolves defense. 2 Wings who can beat you off the dribble and one wing that can just play bully ball.

[pepe1991]

I think a huge reason Luka destroyed Minnesota last playoffs was because he had those amazing lob threats who were killing them. Lakers don't have that and I think it will allow Minnesota to contain Luka better. He's still going to go off but that's a big dimension taken away.

There's one huge difference with Luka, he's in much better condition and without injury this year. Luka in last few games looked like last season December/January Luka, a period with 60 points triple double and 73 points. He had great series against Wolves, especially in clutch moments but he wasn't monster he can be.

Haynes can be a lob threat, but more importantly small ball lineups give fantastic spacing for Luka, it's like spacing Luka was playing with KP and he had the most drives in Nba in that period. And look how Lakers 3-pts shooting was transformed with Luka's arrival. They're totally different team now. Yes Luka is great with lobs, but he likes great spacing even more.

JJ will prepare something to contain Ant, like he does for every star, someone else will need to beat Mavs and Wolves are not exactly the best team to do it. Clippers would be the most difficult to defend against.

I hope LeBron's groin is ok, Lakers can survive without him in offensive side but not in D.

One last thing, Lakers have fantastic record at home and against West.

Mavs mostly won series because Kyrie & Luka got them 60 ppg on some 61% TS on offense and Livley & Gafford combined for 20 PPG, 14,6 RPG & 4,2 BPG as they won rebounding battle.
Wolves also couldn't get anything for Towns, especially from 3 point line.

Lakers have nothing close to Livley & Gafford, matter of fact Lakers don't even have starting level C on roster. You can argue they don't even have nba- playoffs- level backup C on roster.

I'm very confident that Luka, Lebron, Reaves will cook on offense, i'm very confident that watching Randle will be painful experience, but i'm also very sure that Lakers defense will have massive issues keeping Wolves off glass, keeping Edwards from dribble penetrations and rim attacks.

As much as people penalize Wolves exit vs Dallas, we should remember how Lakers lost in first round as well. AD was best Lakers player and only player that played lick of defense. Reaves and Lebron, got fried on defense, Hachimura was useless. Hayes couldn't even be in rotation.
In only game Lakers won, Davis had 23 rebounds.

[Baz]

Seeing this once brought me so much joy now it makes me angry and confused. Hell of a gift the Lakers got. What a player.

[NiceLikeChrist]

don't see why the lakers would win this series. thinking wolves in 6 max

[NiceLikeChrist]

Some of y'all are basing your opinions solely on your Lakers hatred.

Check out playoff Randle, not even mentioning playoff Gobert...and then get back to me.

I think Minny has a better shot by going small and excluding Randle from the rotation altogether.

Yes. DDV/Edwards/Naw/McDaniels/Gobert trumps easily any lineup with Randle in it.

With Randle playing 36-40 mins a game, that's easy money on the Lakers. He really is the Westbrook version of bigs.

playoff randle. a breakout season with a terrible roster, couple of rookies, elfrid payton as his starting PG. and a playoff run a couple years back where he played on an ankle injury that had his miss 10+ games before playoffs and required surgery after playoffs

nobody has seen randle in the playoffs with a competent team and actually healthy. I imagine he will do just fine and more of the same of what he did during the reg season. that means 20/5/5 and getting his team 10+ open 3's a game

[Bob8]

I think a huge reason Luka destroyed Minnesota last playoffs was because he had those amazing lob threats who were killing them. Lakers don't have that and I think it will allow Minnesota to contain Luka better. He's still going to go off but that's a big dimension taken away.

There's one huge difference with Luka, he's in much better condition and without injury this year. Luka in last few games looked like last season December/January Luka, a period with 60 points triple double and 73 points. He had great series against Wolves, especially in clutch moments but he wasn't monster he can be.

Haynes can be a lob threat, but more importantly small ball lineups give fantastic spacing for Luka, it's like spacing Luka was playing with KP and he had the most drives in Nba in that period. And look how Lakers 3-pts shooting was transformed with Luka's arrival. They're totally different team now. Yes Luka is great with lobs, but he likes great spacing even more.

JJ will prepare something to contain Ant, like he does for every star, someone else will need to beat Mavs and Wolves are not exactly the best team to do it. Clippers would be the most difficult to defend against.

I hope LeBron's groin is ok, Lakers can survive without him in offensive side but not in D.

One last thing, Lakers have fantastic record at home and against West.

Mavs mostly won series because Kyrie & Luka got them 60 ppg on some 61% TS on offense and Livley & Gafford combined for 20 PPG, 14,6 RPG & 4,2 BPG as they won rebounding battle.
Wolves also couldn't get anything for Towns, especially from 3 point line.

Lakers have nothing close to Livley & Gafford, matter of fact Lakers don't even have starting level C on roster. You can argue they don't even have nba- playoffs- level backup C on roster.

I'm very confident that Luka, Lebron, Reaves will cook on offense, i'm very confident that watching Randle will be painful experience, but i'm also very sure that Lakers defense will have massive issues keeping Wolves off glass, keeping Edwards from dribble penetrations and rim attacks.

As much as people penalize Wolves exit vs Dallas, we should remember how Lakers lost in first round as well. AD was best Lakers player and only player that played lick of defense. Reaves and Lebron, got fried on defense, Hachimura was useless. Hayes couldn't even be in rotation.
In only game Lakers won, Davis had 23 rebounds.

You can believe me or not, but healthy Luka is capable of much better performances than what did he did last year against Wolves especially with 5 out offense. You should check his 21 series against Clippers, when Kp was playing for Mavs.

Playoffs basketball and RS basketball is 2 very different things. To make argument short, pace falls of the cliff in playoffs. It's basically half court offense in playoffs. The best half court player in Nba is Luka. Add LeBron and AR and things become pretty difficult for opponents.

How do you think is possible Lakers finishing in 3rd place, if they're struggling that much against big teams? Maybe because they're not.

Luka's defensive rtg, when he was on the court with Lakers is 111.5, AD was 113.2. I'm not saying that Luka is better defender than AD, he isn't. I'm saying that Lakers are playing better D without AD. Lakers struggled 1 period with D, but that was a time without LeBron and Rui. Who are basically Lakers crucial defenders, when playing small ball, because others can't play 5.

Lastly, do you think Gobert can stay on court against Lakers small ball? If he can't all advantage with boards goes away, because Lakers small ball is in reality pretty big. That's one of the main reasons why their small ball works that good. Other is Luka capable of creating numerous wide open 3-pointers.

Lineup Luka/AR/DFS/LeBron/Rui has +18.6 net rtg.

[PlatinumState]

Wolves in 6

[Bob8]

Hear that JJ? Lebron , Doncic, NBA you got it? Realgm has already predicted a lakers loss to the Timberwolves in this series.
You're done for. Wave the white flag.

That's pretty normal. You should see last year predictions against OKC and Wolves, it was mostly 4:0 at most 4:1 for OKC and Wolves.

Or Suns in 22.

People don't understand that RS and playoffs basketball are 2 different things, that game slows dramatically and you need half court creation the most. Controlling pace and playing slow and deliberately is in Luka's blood. Now he has another player, who can play similarly besides him or even more importantly Lakers will have all the time 2 generational half court players on the court.

[Shanghai Kid]

2022- Luka leads team to WCF without hc.
2023- lebron leads team to WCF without hca
2024'= Luka leads team to nba finals
2025- Luka and lebron team up = ?

A lot of overthinking happening. Austin Reeves is the best third option in the West..

Lebron and Luka are two of the top 4 playoff performers in nba history.

They got this.

[Mavrelous]

Will the Lakers be able to contain ANT without good rim protection, unlike Suns and Nuggets last year? How much of Hayes + Vando minutes it'll take?
Will the Wolves be able to defend the P&R against an even better Luka this year?
Will Rui punish the Wolves since they'll put their focus on Luka/LeBron/AR?
Will JJ talent as a coach overcome his lack of experience compared to Finch?

Looks like it'll be offensively oriented series.