MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES VS LOS ANGELES LAKERS
1.73
TOTAL POINTS (INCL OVERTIME) - OVER 206.5
The pressure is on for the Los Angeles Lakers. Luka Doncic and LeBron James are down two to one in the series. The Lakers need the win on the road tonight, otherwise the series could be over soon for them. The Minnesota Timberwolves are a great playoff team, so the Lakers have a challenge in front of them.
The Slovenian point guard was dealing with a stomach bug in game three of the series. The Timberwolves won the game by 116-104. So Luka was pretty far from being the best version of himself. The bug clearly affected him and he was going through it. Doncic needs to be his best self tonight if the Lakers are going back to Los Angeles tied at two all rather than being down 1-3.
There is no question about the stakes being high for both teams. Luka only made two out of his eight three-point attempts. Doncic scored 17 points, played 40 minutes despite the stomach issue, and was minus 16. He had seven boards and eight dimes. Luka must step up for the Los Angeles Lakers and hit his shots. The Lakers head coach JJ Redick told NBA.com the following after game three: “Hopefully Luka is feeling better on Sunday.”
LeBron James scored 38 points in the third game of the series. James had to be more aggressive on the floor with Luka not being himself. LeBron took 21 shots and made 13 of them. He made five out of his nine attempts from downtown. He had ten rebounds, two steals and blocks each, and seven assists. Austin Reaves had 20 points and made five shots out of eleven from behind the arc. Reaves also had seven boards and four dimes. The bench of the Los Angeles Lakers was outscored too. Overall, the performance was kind of bleak from the Lakers in game three of the series. The Lakers had a bunch of turnovers that they have to cut down in game four.
Minnesota were led by the effective trio of Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle, and Jaden McDaniels. McDaniels scored 30 points and stepped up after a bad game two in the series. Jaden took 22 shots and made 13 of them. The ANT Man had 29 points and he grabbed eight boards and had eight dimes. Julius Randle used to get a lot of criticism when he was in New York for being a playoff sinker. He had himself another nice postseason game with the Timberwolves. Randle scored 22 points and he made six out of his 13 shot attempts. Julius also had five rebounds and four assists.
Naz Reid did give a lot of credit after game three to the Minnesota fans. He said the following to NBA.com: “They're the 6th man. They carry us.” Naz Reid made four out of his seven shots and had eleven points (six boards). Donte DiVincenzo scored ten points off the bench. He also had five rebounds and four dimes.
