Three Things To Watch For In Lakers-Timberwolves Play-In Game On Tuesday
The regular season is officially over, which means it is time for postseason basketball!
Even though the NBA Play-In Tournament is not "officially" postseason basketball, it leads straight into the playoffs, which will begin on Saturday, April 15.
On Tuesday night, the lone Western Conference game will be played between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles with the winner claiming the 7-seed and a date with the Memphis Grizzlies in the first-round of the playoffs.
Winning two of their three matchups this season, the Timberwolves may appear to have the upper-hand entering this game, but the Lakers are better at home than they are on the road and Minnesota is without some key contributors in this game.
Not only is Naz Reid out with a broken wrist, but Rudy Gobert is serving a one-game suspension for punching Kyle Anderson in the team’s final game of the regular season and Jaden McDaniels is out with a fractured hand after punching a wall in the same game.
On the other side of things, the Lakers are at full-strength and are looking to make history by winning yet another championship.
This should be a very exciting and thrilling battle in the Western Conference and here is what you should be watching for in this game:
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LeBron James, Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell Injury Updates
All season long, the Lakers have had to deal with key injuries to Anthony Davis and LeBron James, resulting in neither player being 100 percent entering this game on Tuesday.
Davis played in 56 games and James played in 55 games, which is one of the main reasons why the Lakers ended up in the play-in region of the standings. D’Angelo Russell, one of the team’s main trade deadline acquisitions, has also missed some games lately due to injuries.
All three stars are listed on the team’s injury report heading into this game, but they are all expected to suit up and play. However, injury concerns still haunt the Lakers, as their chances of winning any game moving forward relies heavily on the availability of James, Davis and Russell.
The best scenario for Los Angeles in this game against Minnesota is that none of them show any limitations and can play through their soreness, but D’Angelo Russell was forced to miss some games late in the year due to his foot injury and both Anthony Davis and LeBron James have consistently been labeled as questionable due to their respective foot injuries.
Keep an eye on Los Angeles’ injury report for this game and whether or not the Lakers look to get their stars extra rest during the game, especially if they are leading by double-digits at some point.
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Who Will Win The Rebounding Battle?
The Lakers rank sixth in the league in rebounding and the Timberwolves rank 23rd in the league in rebounding. However, the Timberwolves hung in there with the Lakers in terms of rebounding in their three matchups this season.
The battle of the glass will determine the outcome of this game and Los Angeles already has an advantage not just because they are a better overall rebounding team, but because the Timberwolves will be without Rudy Gobert, who is serving a one-game suspension handed down by the organization.
This puts a ton of pressure not only on Karl-Anthony Towns and Kyle Anderson to be physical on the interior, but Anthony Edwards as well.
Minnesota must find ways to keep the Lakers off of the offensive glass in this game because second- and third-chance opportunities will ultimately result in too many points for the Lakers and the game will get out of hand very quickly.
If the Timberwolves can slow things down, control the pace of play and do their job getting defensive rebounds, they will actually have a really good chance to pull off a big upset in Los Angeles.
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Anthony Edwards vs. Lakers Defense
This game is going to come down to whether or not Anthony Edwards can lead the game in scoring. The Lakers have more overall talent than the Timberwolves and they have more scoring options, but Edwards is an X-factor and can get hot at any point offensively.
In three games against Los Angeles this season though, Edwards has struggled slightly, averaging just 19.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 40.1 percent from the floor and 43.4 percent from three-point range. In the two most previous meetings, Edwards has failed to score 20 points.
On Tuesday in Los Angeles, Edwards will need to have at least 25 points for the Timberwolves to keep this game close and for them to win, he is going to have to exceed 30 points while helping make an impact in terms of rebounding.
This will be tough for Anthony Edwards to do though, as Jarred Vanderbilt will likely draw defensive assignments on him throughout the game. Vanderbilt’s length has disrupted a lot of players offensively this season and he has really grown as a perimeter defender in Los Angeles.
The Lakers may also throw multiple players at Edwards and try to double-team him, that way players like Taurean Prince, Kyle Anderson and Mike Conley will have to try and beat the Lakers offensively late in the shot-clock.
Karl-Anthony Towns will also obviously need to be a factor for the Timberwolves if they are to win this game, but he will have Anthony Davis guarding him and Towns’ upside is limited since he is still working his way back from a calf injury that sidelined him almost the entire season.
Anthony Edwards must be an All-Star in this game for the Timberwolves to have a chance at advancing and ultimately, his performance will dictate the flow of this game.
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