There doesn’t seem to be a ton of hype surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers, but they finished the regular season with 50 wins, a mark they’ve hit only once before since LeBron James joined the team. As the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, odds are on them to at least advance to the next round. It won’t be easy, though.
After a wild final day in the regular season, the Lakers found out they would be playing againt the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round. Minnesota could pose problems due to Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle‘s scoring abilities, as well as Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels‘ strong defensive capabilities. Thankfully, the Lakers have LeBron and now Luka Doncic. It also helps that Doncic had tons of success against Minnesota in last year’s playoffs.
Luka Doncic’s past success vs. Timberwolves could be the key for Lakers in playoffs
In fact, that may make him more crucial than even James is. Lakers head coach JJ Redick spoke about how Doncic’s past experience against the Timberwolves could prove useful for the Lakers.
There are nuances to what teams are trying to do against certain opponents. We have a lot of work. They’re a really good basketball team… We’ll have to slow drip, and I think that’s the approach that I think is going to work best for our group. Tuesday will be more about us. Wednesday, we’ll introduce Minnesota.
It sounds like Redick is expecting for the team to lean on Doncic in this series, possibly more than James. In a five-game series against Minnesota last season, Doncic poured in 33, 32, 33, 28 and 36 points while hitting double-digit assists twice.
Of course, the circumstances were different back then. Doncic was on the Dallas Mavericks, but that Wolves team may have been better than this year’s version. This kind of series is why Doncic was brought in. Now it’s time for him to carry the offense.
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