The 2022-23 regular season is officially in the books and the Los Angeles Lakers have done well for themselves after such a poor start.
The Lakers finished with the No. 7 seed, an impressive accomplishment considering they were staring on the outside of the Play-In Tournament race at the trade deadline. With a win over the Utah Jazz in the regular season finale, Los Angeles secured the opportunity to host a Play-In Tournament game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
After beating the Jazz, Anthony Davis said he and the team would enjoy the win but get immediately turn around and begin preparing for the Timberwolves on Tuesday, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Get your bodies recovered, enjoy the rest of this day, enjoy this Easter with the families. We don’t know…later on today who we play and then come in tomorrow and start prepping. Good things is we don’t have to travel.
“But yeah, it’s been a grind, man. Laker fans stayed with us starting the season the way we started 2-10 and able to come out .500 — I mean above .500– and had a shot to even get in the 6 seed. Small victories but we know we’re not finished. We obviously got a lot of work to do on both ends of the floor, but like I said enjoy today and then start prepping tomorrow for whoever our opponent is.”
Outside of avoiding another Play-In game, Davis said that the Minnesota matchup was a must-win because it would give he and the team a few extra days to heal up:
“It’s good for us. We win Tuesday, we get a couple days off before we go to wherever we gonna go. I don’t want to think too far ahead, but it’s new, obviously, been going straight into the playoffs. But for us, it’s a must-win again Tuesday for us to get a couple days off and let guys heal up. Get Dennis back, rest of the guys are playing through some nicks and bruises. Good to to get healthy and we go into the playoffs fully healthy.”
Injuries have not been kind to the Lakers this year, but they’ve luckily had most of the roster available in recent weeks. Hopefully they take care of business against the Timberwolves, who will be shorthanded.
If the Lakers win on Tuesday then they would have off until Sunday, when they would play Game 1 against the Memphis Grizzlies. If they lose, however, then they would have to play again on Friday with a potential Game 1 still taking place on Sunday.
Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert ruled out against Lakers
Los Angeles caught a massive break drawing Minnesota as reports surfaced that Jaden McDaniels suffered a fractured hand while Rudy Gobert was suspended one game. Without two of their key starters, the Timberwolves have a thin front court that the Lakers should be able to exploit.
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