The Los Angeles Lakers got LeBron James back in the lineup on Sunday night when they hosted the Minnesota Timberwolves and Anthony Davis was able to play as well despite injuring his shoulder on Friday.
On the other hand, the Timberwolves were without some key players in Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert and Kyle Anderson, giving the Lakers a prime opportunity to pick up a much-needed win. They were able to do exactly that, coming away with a 120-109 victory.
Neither team was playing any defense early as players were scoring with ease. Rui Hachimura was filling it up with seven early points to give the Lakers a 13-11 lead.
Hachimura then hit a corner triple and Davis got going inside. Anthony Edwards tried to put Davis on a poster at one point and was unsuccessful and then picked up a technical for arguing the no-call.
The Lakers got sloppy from there though with some silly turnovers, but Davis still made up for it with his two-way dominance to give L.A. a 32-28 lead at the end of one.
Minnesota heated up from deep to begin the second with Naz Reid and Mike Conley both hitting to tie the game. The Lakers also started to heat up from deep as Austin Reaves made two in a row and then Hachimura made another.
Reid was able to keep his team in it with 21 first-half points, so the Lakers went into the halftime locker room with a slim 69-68 lead.
James came out aggressive to start the third quarter, scoring 11 points in the third three minutes to get the Lakers’ lead to double digits for the first time. The Timberwolves again had a nice response though with Nickel Alexander-Walker making back-to-back triples, forcing a Lakers timeout.
Minnesota’s run continued out of the timeout as the Lakers kept turning the ball over and Edwards made a trio of buckets, including a 3, to give his team the lead.
Davis quickly got the lead back for the Lakers by going to work on the offensive glass, although Luka Garza beat the buzzer to give the Timberwolves a 92-91 lead at the end of the third.
The Lakers opened up the fourth quarter on an 11-2 run with James leading the way, forcing a Minnesota timeout.
L.A. continued dominating from there as the Timberwolves simply had no answer for Davis on either end of the floor. Reaves then got in on the action from deep and all of a sudden the Lakers had built a 112-96 lead.
The shorthanded Timberwolves weren’t able to make a run from there as the Lakers closed out an easy victory.
Davis finished with a ridiculous statline of 27 points, 25 rebounds, five assists, seven steals and three blocks. He was the first player in NBA history with a statline of that kind.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers now get a couple days off before returning to the court on Wednesday for a big road matchup with the Sacramento Kings.
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