Lakers back on the win column with bounce back win over the Timberwolves.
The Lakers bounced back on the road Tuesday night with a 112–104 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. With tonight’s victory on the road, the Lakers move to a record of 13–3 on the road this season. The Lakers now move to an overall record of 22–7, and still remain in 2nd place in the NBA behind the 23–5 Utah Jazz.
With Anthony Davis looking to miss some time until after the all-star break with his calf injury, the Lakers didn’t miss a beat defensively tonight with Anthony Davis. The Lakers were able to hold Timberwolves Karl Anthony-Towns to only 2 points in the entire 2nd half of tonight’s game. This Lakers defense was able to finish with 7 blocks and 8 steals and forced the Timberwolves to commit 15 total turnovers. Lakers head coach Frank Vogel talked about the matchup between Marc Gasol and Montrezl Harrell on Karl Anthony-Town saying:
“Our guards were really locked in to get to the 3 point line to challenge Towns. Marc [Gasol] was terrific in that matchup, even Trez [Montrezl Harrell] competed well in his minutes when they were matched together.”
LeBron James had another huge performance for this Lakers team, James continues to be productive night in and night out and keeps building his case for MVP every game.
In 37 minutes tonight, LeBron James had 30 points, 13 rebounds, and 7 assists on 13 of 20 shooting from the field. In 29 games this season, LeBron James is averaging 25.5 points, 8.0 assists, and 8.0 rebounds a game, and James is shooting 38% from the 3 point arc. Tonight’s 30 point performance is LeBron’s 5th time this season where he has scored 30 points or more.
LeBron James spoke with Lakers reporter Mike Trudell after tonight’s win, asking James about his leadership and main focus when a star player like Anthony Davis is out for a short term to his teammates:
“Just keep everybody engaged. Our main goal is to try and get better every single day. We want to continue to get better, we understand we’re in a marathon, this is not a sprint for us. We want to build great habits, we want to build championship habits every single day.”
Lakers starting point guard Dennis Schroder had a huge bounce-back performance tonight after scoring only 10 points in the previous 2 games. In 32 minutes, Dennis Schroder finished with 24 points, 3 assists, and a game-high 4 steals in tonight’s win over the Timberwolves. Schroder shot, great from the field ending the night going 9 for 15 total and 6 for 8 from the free-throw line.
After an embarrassing loss to the Denver Nuggets, LeBron James emphasized the “Next man up” mentality, as the Lakers will be without Anthony Davis until after the all-star break. The Lakers had some players step up from the bench and bring that “Next man up” mentality tonight.
Montrezl Harrell had a huge night for this Lakers bench finishing with 17 points and 6 rebounds in 18 minutes tonight. Harrell had a needed bounce-back game for this Lakers team after only scoring 4 points in the Lakers loss versus the Nuggets. With Anthony Davis looks to miss a short amount of time, Harrell is going to be relied on ever more from this Lakers squad.
Markieff Morris had an impactful night off the bench for the Lakers, finishing 3 for 5 from the 3 point arc and ending the game with 9 points off the bench for the Lakers. Look for Markieff Morris to have a bigger role in the Lakers lineup with the injury to Anthony Davis.
Alex Caruso has been a player throughout the season who never stuffs the box score, but always finishes games with the highest +/- because of his efficiency when he is on the court. His impact on defense does not get talked about as much as it should, Caruso had an unbelievable chase down block tonight on Timberwolves Jordan McLaughlin. The chase-down block is one example of the type of plays Caruso makes every game.
In 18 minutes, Alex Caruso finished with 4 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block. Caruso finished with a game-high +/- with 14.
The Lakers have one of their biggest matchups of the season this Thursday. They will be facing the 17–12 high-powered Brooklyn Nets, who have also been missing some key players in their previous games. Both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving did not play tonight in the Nets matchup vs the Phoenix Suns. This matchup between the Lakers and the Nets can be one of the best of the regular season, as the Lakers will face a huge challenge versus a great Nets team.