The Los Angeles Lakers lost Game 1 to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and relinquished home-work advantage – are they in trouble?
The NBA Playoffs are upon, and so is the first-round series between the Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves.
Here are a few takeaways, which might mean something, or might mean nothing, after Game 1 in which the Wolves stole home court advantage, with a 117-95 victory in Los Angeles.Three-point barrage
The Wolves, who on paper match up fairly horrible with these Lakers, decided to even the score by applying simple mathematics. They launched 42 attempts from behind the arc, making 21 of them.
Naz Reid came off the bench to knock down six of them, and the Wolves appeared firmly ready to launch those shots immediately off of catches.
This opened up the floor for the Wolves, leading in particular Jaden McDaniels to assert himself, as he went for 25 points, primarily off interior scoring.
Does this mean something? Yes. The Wolves came in with a plan to optimize the use of the floor, and stole an essential game off the basis of that plan.
