Los Angeles Lakers’ Luka Doncic, Minnesota Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards aching but ready
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Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic competing against the Golden State Warriors in their season opener.
Getty Images via AFP
LOS ANGELES – A pair of teams intent on finding more from their National Basketball Association (NBA) early-season game plans meet on Oct 24 (Oct 25, Singapore time) when the Minnesota Timberwolves visit the Los Angeles Lakers in the second game for both.
The matchup revisits last season’s first-round play-off series, when the No. 6 seed Timberwolves advanced in five games over the third-seeded Lakers.
While the Lakers were upended 119-109 by the Golden State Warriors
Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards did his part with 41 points and seven rebounds. He went 14 of 28 from the floor and his five three-pointers topped his average of 4.1 per game last season.
Edwards played after he was listed as questionable with back spasms.
“It’s hurting. I’m in pain right now,” he said after the victory. “But I was good throughout the game.”
Minnesota trailed by as many as eight in the fourth quarter and were down 112-111 with less than two minutes remaining before ending the game on a 7-2 run. Edwards scored five of those points.
“Everybody stepped in, and then Ant was Superman,” said Minnesota’s Julius Randle, backing his teammate to build on the momentum against the Lakers.
While Edwards played and moved to the forefront in the season opener, the Lakers were without their star LeBron James, who is dealing with sciatica on his right side. James is expected to be out till November, while centre Maxi Kleber (oblique) also is out.
Luka Doncic stepped up with 43 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists, but he stepped out of the defeat with a right leg injury. He downplayed the severity of a possible groin issue.
“It’s probably nothing,” Doncic said. “I just felt a little bit with my hip when I went (one) way. Just a little bit, but it’s probably nothing.”
One missing star and one compromised star does not bode well for the Lakers, who received 26 points and nine assists from Austin Reaves but got no more than 10 points from any other player. Those 10 came from centre Deandre Ayton on his Lakers debut.
The Lakers shot 54.5 per cent from the floor in their season opener to 48.7 per cent from the Warriors. But Los Angeles were just 8 of 32 (25.0 per cent) from three-point range and 17 of 28 (60.7 per cent) from the free-throw line. Golden State made 26 of their 29 free-throw attempts.
Also of concern was Golden State’s 18-4 scoring burst to open the second half while taking a 73-58 lead and maintaining the advantage the rest of the way.
“The trend I see is that we continue to be a terrible third-quarter team to start,” Lakers head coach J.J. Redick said. “Gotta rethink some things and it’s a two-way thing with the guys. What do they need at half-time to make sure they’re ready to play? They’re not ready to play to start the third quarter.”
Meanwhile, in NBA action on Oct 23, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a career-high 55 points to lead reigning champions Oklahoma City Thunder over the Indiana Pacers 141-135 in double overtime in a historic rematch of last season’s NBA Finals.
In the only other game of the day, Stephen Curry finished with a team-high 42 points as the Warriors overcame Aaron Gordon’s 50-point performance in a 137-131 win over the Denver Nuggets. REUTERS, AFP
