A decisive match: The Lakers vs. Timberwolves NBA regular season continues on December 31, Beijing time, and the Lakers 106-108 Timberwolves today. Before the game, the Lakers were ranked 8th, while the Timberwolves were ranked 1st. Judging from the rankings, there is a natural gap in the strength of the two teams, but the Lakers have always been a team full of miracles.
Therefore, this game is destined to be a fierce matchup, and winning or losing is only a matter of thoughts. In the end, the Lakers narrowly lost to the Timberwolves. The course of the game also proved that victory and defeat are only in a split second. In the first quarter of the game, the two teams scored each other, and the Lakers had a slight advantage, beating the Timberwolves by 2 points in a single quarter.
In the second quarter, the Lakers' touch on the offensive end weakened, and the Timberwolves seized the opportunity to blast a 32-26 attack wave in the second quarter, and at halftime, the Timberwolves overtook the Lakers by 3 points. In the second half, the Lakers fell back in the third quarter, the Timberwolves also couldn't make any shots, both teams didn't score much, the Lakers fell a little behind, and the score was still within the controllable range.
In the last quarter, the Lakers started chasing points, James scored continuously, but he couldn't limit the Timberwolves' scoring, and finally could only swallow the defeat, and the last controversial three points were also very helpless. In terms of the rating of key players, Davis and James performed the best.
Davis gave his all in this game, and against the interior combination of Gobert and Towns, he had the upper hand in the game, and he shot 11-of-17 from the field, 8-of-8 from the free throw line, and scored 33 points, 17 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 steals. James, on the other hand, had a decent performance, scoring 26 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 1 block on 10-of-21 shooting.
However, among other players, Vanderbilt became the only player to shoot more than 50 percent from the field, finishing with 8 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. Wood and Prince took on almost all of the Lakers' outside three-pointers and contributed a lot to the team.
Conversely, Russell, Reaves, Hachimura and Reddish were underwhelmed in this game, becoming a drag on Davis and James' side and unable to contribute much to the team. After this game, the Lakers temporarily retained the eighth spot in the West, but they will need to face four strong teams next up: the Pelicans, Heat, Grizzlies and Clippers.
These four games will not be easy for the Lakers, and they will need to adjust in time or risk falling out of the playoffs. The road ahead for the Lakers is full of challenges, so let's wait and see.