Lakers escape with a win vs the Timberwolves

The Lakers on February 27, 2024 took on the Minnesota Timberwolves inside Crypto arena for a pivotal matchup. both teams are fighting for playoff and play-in positioning.

The Lakers dominated early with Lebron James being 6/7 with 16 points in the first quarter helping them build a 16 point lead early. The Lakers at one point had a 23 point lead in the middle of the second quarter but the Timberwolves kept on fighting back.

The Timberwolves even without Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle were still fighting even with Anthony Edwards getting double teamed every single time he touched the ball and the Lakers tried to make Nickell-Alexander Walker and Terrance Shannon Jr. beat them.

They ended up cutting the deficit down to 13 by halftime which is a reasonable deficit in today's NBA to come back from. The Timberwolves the previous night came back from a 25 point deficit in 10 minutes to beat the best team in the Western Conference which is the Oklahoma City Thunder so this was nothing new for them.

In the 2nd half, there was a huge shift when Anthony Edwards complained to the referees about getting fouled and then got ejected for complaining to the referee. That is now his 16th technical foul which will force him to serve a one game suspension which he will face while they face the jazz tonight.

Despite the ejection, Terrance Shannon Jr. was able to shine by blowing by the Lakers defense and cut the lead down to 3 with 6 minutes left. The Lakers shot terribly form the field in the 4th quarter but hit timely shots when they needed to including a one legged 3 pointer by Luka Doncic to seal the deal.

Lakers now move to 36-21 while the Timberwolves fall to 32-28. Minnesota's next game is against the Utah Jazz tonight. The Lakers face the Clippers in a tight battle for playoff seeding tonight as well.