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

[ReggiesKnicks]

Why are we talking mostly about Lakers D, when they have scored 95 points? There's no D that could have won them the game.

Because the two are linked? How are you supposed to score more when you're taking the ball out of the net and going against a set defense? It's demoralizing

Then tell me, how many points can Wolves score for Lakers have a chance of winning?

94

[TheAlchemist]

Wolves win this 4-1 in 5 games.

Lakers have no interior defense. Collapsing causes open 3 pointers. You stay playing 1 vs 1 and Anthony Edwards eats BBQ chicken all day. Also Gobert/ Naz Reid are too good interior wise. Randle can also get hot and take over, and especially against Lakers lol.

It just looks like a bad matchup roster wise. They shoulda followed the Luka trade with some interior defence, but that trade got nixed.

[Bob8]

Because the two are linked? How are you supposed to score more when you're taking the ball out of the net and going against a set defense? It's demoralizing

Then tell me, how many points can Wolves score for Lakers have a chance of winning?

94

Then we agree, D was not the main reason for losing.

[Exp0sed]

initially after the Luka trade, I just assumed Lakers will do a couple more moves and after the failed Mark Williams trade, I figured they just punted this season basically. however, they went on to surprize me (and many others) by being elite on both ends for the final stretch of the season

now for my hot take of hot takes - the Wolves are winning the West or at the very least giving OKC a real run for their money. are they supposed to go h2h in the next round or in the WCF?

I love this Wolves team and I think they match up very well with all of the top contenders, including Boston and Cavs in the East

I think they're a real darkhorse contender and personally I would be happy to see the Wolves win their first ring after such a sordid history

just an awesome team, a complete and deep team. very cohesive too. ANT has really grown, he was so much better at just giving the ball up (to the right man) when he was doubled, in one short year he's made a great leap in that regard. Gobert is a machine, Randle fits here and stays in lane. kinda like a rich man's Bobby Portis and their other pieces are awesome. Naz is a high impact player (on one of the best deals in the NBA), Mcdaniels is a beast, DDV is a real x-factor in the playoffs those guys just make alot of winning plays

I think the Lakers are actually quite good, they'd beat the Dubs (for example) with ease but they can't beat the size and physicallity of this Wolves team

i'm starting a banwagon, anyone wanna hop on?

[California Gold]

People talking about the Wolves winning a title… lol. Jesus.

There’s getting carried away and then there’s just plain just being ridiculous.

[ReggiesKnicks]

People talking about the Wolves winning a title… lol. Jesus.

There’s getting carried away and then there’s just plain just being ridiculous.

True. They are probably a distant 4th or 5th behind the Top 3 (Boston, OKC and Cleveland).

[TimberKat]

Then tell me, how many points can Wolves score for Lakers have a chance of winning?

94

Then we agree, D was not the main reason for losing.

If you want to talk about how bad Lakers offense was and how great Twolves defense was go for it. The true is Lakers got problems at both end. Feel free to ignore defense and save all the energy to simply out score Twolves.

[Miami_Lux]

People talking about the Wolves winning a title… lol. Jesus.

There’s getting carried away and then there’s just plain just being ridiculous.

True. They are probably a distant 4th or 5th behind the Top 3 (Boston, OKC and Cleveland).

People overreacting after one game. A RealGM special

[ReggiesKnicks]

People talking about the Wolves winning a title… lol. Jesus.

There’s getting carried away and then there’s just plain just being ridiculous.

True. They are probably a distant 4th or 5th behind the Top 3 (Boston, OKC and Cleveland).

People overreacting after one game. A RealGM special

Who is overreacting?

I had the Wolves as a Top 5 or 6 team entering the postseason. I don't think they are any worse than any Non-OKC team out West and have clear advantages over the group they are in (LAL, LAC, Denver, Houston and GSW).

I think the Pacers are the 3rd best team out East and would be in that same group out West.

[Bob8]

94

Then we agree, D was not the main reason for losing.

If you want to talk about how bad Lakers offense was and how great Twolves defense was go for it. The true is Lakers got problems at both end. Feel free to ignore defense and save all the energy to simply out score Twolves.

If Lakers can't score a lot more than 95, they should just forfeit games. The only team that scored less than 95 against them was Wizzards this season.

I'm not ignoring D, they should play better in D, but they won't win this series by totally limiting Wolves in O, we all agree they don't have personal for that. They will need to score a lot more than in game 1. If the main reason for scoring only 95 points is Wolves D than we can't stop talking about this series, Lakers have lost already.

Everyone is talking about Wolves having many wide open 3s, that's true. They had 27 wide open 3s, but Lakers had 21 wide open 3s too. The main difference was Wolves hitting 70% of those wide open 3s and Lakers 47% of them.

If it was vice versa, Lakers would have won. Basketball is not math, but that just shows, how things can change fairly quickly in next game, or not.

[mademan]

People talking about the Wolves winning a title… lol. Jesus.

There’s getting carried away and then there’s just plain just being ridiculous.

True. They are probably a distant 4th or 5th behind the Top 3 (Boston, OKC and Cleveland).

People overreacting after one game. A RealGM special

You guys do realize the Wolves wen 17-4 to end the season, right? This was one of the best teams in the league closing the season, and after the top 2 (OKC/Boston), theyre definitely in the convo, tho i think there's like 5 teams in that convo

[Exp0sed]

People talking about the Wolves winning a title… lol. Jesus.

There’s getting carried away and then there’s just plain just being ridiculous.

hey, I said it was the hot take of hot takes

but honestly, I had a hunch they were really damn good before yesterday's game
ridicilous? we'll see about that now won't we

[California Gold]

People talking about the Wolves winning a title… lol. Jesus.

There’s getting carried away and then there’s just plain just being ridiculous.

hey, I said it was the hot take of hot takes

but honestly, I had a hunch they were really damn good before yesterday's game
ridicilous? we'll see about that now won't we

I mean I do think the Wolves were being underrated before the series but they had won 17/21 or something like that. I’m not shocked they won but definitely shocked at the margin. If Naz Reid is outplaying Reaves it’ll be a long series for the Lakers.

[HotRocks34]

Just went through some of the footage.

From when Luka came in after the Lakers blew the lead in the second quarter, he had 6 assists opportunities (1 of them a hockey assist) that I saw.

Only one of them led to points, two Reaves free throws late 3Q. The other five were missed shots.

Luka shot 54.5% for the game. The rest of the Lakers shot 34.4%.

If a good scorer has it going and his teammates continue to miss shots from potential assist chances, eventually the scorer is going to think it's in the best interest of the team for him to shoot more and pass less.

That's what happened in G1.

That being said, the Usage numbers were pretty much in line with the season. LD 35 (33 this year with LA), LJ 27 (29) and AR 20 (23).

Guys just missed shots. The turnover number wasn't terrible but the assist number was really low because people just couldn't hit shots.

Final passing tracker stats in G1 for the three main Laker playmakers and the Lakers team

AS
SA (secondary [hockey] assists)
PA (potential assists)

Luka
1 AS
4 SA
8 PA

LeBron
3 AS
0 SA
8 PA

Reaves
3 AS
0 SA
8 PA

Lakers
15 AS
4...SA
37 PA
13 TO

In the game, Minnesota had 40 potential assists to LA's 37. But the difference in points from assists was MIN 79, LAL 42.

Thus, LA had nearly as many assist opportunities as did MIN but they got outscored by 37 points in converted assist opportunities.

LA converted 15/37 assist opportunities (41%) while MIN was at 29/40 (73%).

Gotta make shots.

[Blazing_royale]

is Randle still a better fit than Towns?

[Sharkboy242]

Respect to Mr. Anthony Edwards

[Green89]

People talking about the Wolves winning a title… lol. Jesus.

There’s getting carried away and then there’s just plain just being ridiculous.

It wouldn't 't surprise me if they made it to the Finals.

[Shaka_Zulu]

Denver home crowd was definitely alot more present and intimidatingly loud then this first Lakers game.


The Laker home team was at times like you could barely notice it was their home. Bit subdued and not so obnoxiously alive (like a Boston home crowd can be).



Plus half his comment is because how scary it is to face Jokic, and past years of us facing them fresh out championship and being well oiled unit (they used to execute frustratingly well end of games, like robots). Became a rivalry, so it adds to the crowd intensity.

[Exp0sed]

People talking about the Wolves winning a title… lol. Jesus.

There’s getting carried away and then there’s just plain just being ridiculous.

hey, I said it was the hot take of hot takes

but honestly, I had a hunch they were really damn good before yesterday's game
ridicilous? we'll see about that now won't we

I mean I do think the Wolves were being underrated before the series but they had won 17/21 or something like that. I’m not shocked they won but definitely shocked at the margin. If Naz Reid is outplaying Reaves it’ll be a long series for the Lakers.

yup but also def something about their demeanor yesterday, hard to put a finger on it but i've been watching basketball for many decades, I trust my intuition. they're a championship caliber team

I think last season, they took down their great whale (the Nuggets) after being down 20, in Denver, in game 7 -I think they blew their gasket in that series might have gotten to their heads a little bit too so they didn't have enough in the tank for a smoking hot Luka and Dallas team and they were humbled by the Mavs. as Bob likes to point out, KAT isn't around to be soft and inefficient at the wrong moment anymore and ANT is a real one

I think this year they have everything they need to get over the hump. as good as OKC is, I do think they will have trouble with the sheer size of this Wolves team. with ANT flying around, Gobert, Randle, Mcdaniels and Reid, I just don't see how the OKC keep them away from the paint and the offensive glass. as good as their perimeter defense is (and it might be the best i've seen, from a whole team) - Minny can just pass over the top, Chet and Iharte gonna stop them for 7 games? idk about that

[California Gold]

People talking about the Wolves winning a title… lol. Jesus.

There’s getting carried away and then there’s just plain just being ridiculous.

It wouldn't 't surprise me if they made it to the Finals.

Even if they somehow remarkably made it that far, two of the 3 best teams are in the east. I just can’t see a title, those would be some really, really long odds.