With the Minnesota Timberwolves (47-33) suffering a loss on Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers (50-29) and Houston Rockets (50-29) are essentially locked in a 4 vs. 5 seed first-round matchup in the playoffs.
The development spells good news for a Lakers team that suffered a Gentleman’s Sweep at the hands of the Timberwolves last year, not to mention won their season series 2-1 against the Rockets this year, including back-to-back wins last month.
ESPN’s Zach Kram recently urged the Lakers to avoid the Timberwolves in the first round at all costs, predicting that Edwards and Co. would prove to be a bad matchup. Last year, the Lakers’ lack of interior presence proved to be their Achilles’ heel against a physical Timberwolves team led by Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle and Anthony Edwards.
Lakers Will Avoid Timberwolves
“Opponent to avoid: Minnesota Timberwolves and San Antonio Spurs,” wrote Kram.
“The league-leading offense in terms of field goal percentage in the paint is actually the Lakers, and they can’t play themselves. But they can play the Timberwolves, who rank second by making 60.5% of their shots in the paint, and they can also play the Spurs, who rank third with a 60.4% mark.
“The Timberwolves dominated the Lakers in the playoffs last year, and they could try to repeat that feat this spring with all the pressure they put on the basket. Meanwhile, the Spurs and Victor Wembanyama could be a huge problem down low if the Lakers face San Antonio in the second round.”
The Timberwolves, 4-6 in their last 10 games, are expected to get a fully healthy Anthony Edwards back for a first-round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets.
Lakers Playoffs Chances
The Lakers are expected to be without Luka Doncic (grade 2 hamstring strain) and Austin Reaves (oblique strain) during the first-round playoff series against the Rockets.
Amid the injuries, head coach JJ Redick plans to use the final three regular-season games — against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday, the Phoenix Suns on Friday and the Utah Jazz on Sunday — to figure out his rotations for the playoffs.
“You obviously have to tackle the situation in front of you, that we have — a unique situation in front of us,” Redick said of the Lakers injury woes, via ESPN.
“And we’ve got to prepare our team, our group that we’re going to have available to play in the playoffs series. … How we approach next week leading into Game 1, it’s finding who’s going to be able to play in the playoffs for us. … The seeding part probably went out the window after the OKC game.”
The Lakers will get LeBron James back for Thursday’s clash against the Warriors after the NBA’s leading scorer missed Tuesday’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder due to left foot injury management.
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