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The Minnesota Timberwolves made a statement Saturday night with a dominant 117-95 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 of their Western Conference first-round series Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The Wolves were faced with several questions entering the series, and they provided a lot of answers Saturday night.
It was an impressive performance up and down the lineup, and there were no shortage of things that stood out in the game. Here's a look at five takeaways from the dominant Game 1 victory: Great decision-making from Anthony Edwards One of the big questions coming into the series was how Edwards would handle some of the Lakers' coverages. Edwards is Minnesota's offensive engine, and he was certain to face blitzes and double teams, which have at times frustrated the 23-year-old star, who's also had a tendency to try and play the hero.
On Saturday, Edwards did everything the right way. He didn't force shots. He didn't play into a crowd.
He didn't turn the ball over. Edwards used his gravity to draw defenders and find his teammates. He let the shots come to him.
He defended at a high level. It resulted in a great all-around game in which he finished with 22 points, nine assists, eight boards, a steal and just a single turnover. He posted a plus-minus of plus-21, which was the second best in the game to Jaden McDaniels.
It was truly a perfect performance from Edwards. Scoring punch from Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid If Edwards isn't taking over the game and scoring 40, he needs his teammates to step up. That's exactly what McDaniels and Reid, who scored 25 and 23 points, respectively, did Saturday night.
McDaniels got the run started for the Wolves early in the second quarter, hitting a turnaround jumper and a 3-pointer as Minnesota's second unit jumped on the Lakers. Reid continued the trend and knocked down six 3s in the game. The duo not only provided a scoring punch, they did it on incredible efficiency, combining to shoot 19 for 25 (76%!!) from the field, including 9 for 12 from 3-point range (75%!!).
McDaniels also added nine rebounds, two assists and a steal on a night he finished as a game-best plus-27, while Reid recorded five rebounds, two assists and a pair of blocks while finishing as a plus-13. Reid also shook off an elbow to the face in the fourth quarter, returning to finish out the game after a brief exit on a night he was critical to Minnesota's victory. Defensive matchups Arguably the biggest question facing the Wolves entering the series was how they'd guard the Lakers' star duo of LeBron James and Luka Doncic, the latter of whom they were quite familiar with after last year's Western Conference finals loss to Doncic's Dallas Mavericks.
Just like that series, the Wolves started with McDaniels as the primary defender on Doncic. The matchups were as follows for the starting unit: McDaniels on Doncic Edwards on Reaves Mike Conley on Rui Hachimura Julius Randle on James Rudy Gobert on Jaxson Hayes The Wolves did throw several looks at the Lakers. Nickeil Alexander-Walker got time guarding both Doncic and Reaves; Edwards often guarded James when Randle was off the court, and he also got time against Doncic.
Minnesota even turned to a zone defense on a couple of occasions. For the most part, the Wolves were able to limit the Lakers Saturday. Doncic did get his, scoring a game-high 37 points, but they held James to 19 and Reaves to 16 on just 5-for-13 shooting.
Game of runs McDaniels hit the turnaround jumper and a 3 to score the first five points of the second quarter. A few possessions later, Reid hit a 3 to give the Wolves their first lead of the night at 31-30. And Minnesota was just off and running from there.
It was a 26-6 start to the second quarter for the Wolves, and they outscored the Lakers 38-20 overall in the frame. They went into halftime with some momentum as Donte DiVincenzo hit a 3 from the logo just before the halftime buzzer. That was the start of a 14-0 run as McDaniels and Randle hit 3s, McDaniels made a layup and Edwards hit a deep one from downtown to make it an 11-0 start to the third quarter for the Wolves.
They look a lead as large as 27 in the frame. Starting slow One thing the Wolves would probably like to have back was their start, which they quickly put behind them with the dominant second quarter. But they did have four early turnovers and they did give up five offensive rebounds that the Lakers turned into 11 second-chance points in the first quarter.
They faced a seven-point deficit after 12 minutes. Doncic was dominant early. He scored 16 of his 37 points in the first quarter, including the first six points of the game.
It was reminiscent of how he put the Wolves away in Game 5 of last year's Western Conference finals. Of course, the end result of Game 1 was far different than that game as Minnesota found its way and took complete control after settling in. Recommended articles.
