Los Angeles Lakers’ star power may not be enough against tenacious Minnesota Timberwolves
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Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James reacts after missing a pass in the first quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LOS ANGELES – Outworked and outplayed by the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 1, the Los Angeles Lakers know they must find some toughness if they are to bounce back in the first round of the National Basketball Association (NBA) play-offs – while the league hopes LA’s biggest stars stick around long enough to boost viewing figures.
LeBron James and Luka Doncic are still a long way from a shocking exit but, while the Lakers did not press the panic button after their 117-95 Western Conference mauling at home on April 19, they know they are battling a team with superior strength, speed and size.
The teams remain in Los Angeles for Game 2 on April 22 (April 23, Singapore time).
“When you play the Minnesota team, you got to be physical,” James said. “That’s what they bring to the table.
“So maybe it took us one play-off game to now get a feel for the type of intensity, the type of physicality that’s going to be brought to the game, but that’s just the way they play.”
The Lakers looked good in the first quarter of Game 1 as Doncic got off to a hot start, before finishing with a game-high 37 points, but from the second quarter onwards, the Timberwolves were in control.
Minnesota had been given little chance ahead of the series opener, with many media outlets predicting a Lakers’ sweep, and Anthony Edwards said he had told his teammates to use that as fuel.
“We’re the underdogs. I told them to be aggressive and come out ready to fight,” he said.
Asked how they can repeat their success in Game 2, Edwards said the key was to fight to the last second. “Same mindset – be aggressive,” he added. “Try to throw the first punch and the last punch.”
While a first-round exit would be tough to take for Lakers fans, it would also be a body blow for the league.
The NBA wants to see superstars like the 40-year-old all-time leading scorer James in the spotlight for as long as possible, to reverse the narrative prevalent earlier in the season that people were losing interest in the game.
The league saw a ratings drop of 20 per cent early in the season amid criticism that teams had become too reliant on the three-point shot, leading to dull play.
Commissioner Adam Silver, who in 2024 helped negotiate a new 11-year broadcasting deal, has said he is looking at ways of improving the quality of the product through possible changes to the rules.
The ratings tide began to turn when the league served up an expanded schedule on Christmas Day, and a series of blockbuster trades, led by Doncic’s stunning move from the Dallas Mavericks to the Lakers, got people tuning in again.
At the end of the regular season, viewership was down 2 per cent from the previous year, which Silver called a victory.
“There was a competitive World Series, a presidential election. There were a bunch of factors I think that led to our ratings being down early on,” Silver said on ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show.
“But in order to end up down 2 per cent, or relatively flat for the season, which is a victory these days, especially with declining television viewership from traditional television, that’s a victory.”
On April 21, the Detroit Pistons snapped their record 15-game play-off losing streak with a 100-94 victory over the New York Knicks to level their Eastern Conference first-round series at one game apiece.
Cade Cunningham scored 33 points with 12 rebounds and Dennis Schroder added 20 points off the bench – including a go-ahead three-pointer with 55.7 seconds left – as the Pistons thwarted another Knicks’ rally bid.
The Los Angeles Clippers also bounced back from a Game 1 defeat,
