Do the Timberwolves stand a chance against the Lakers on Tuesday night? Vegas has made the Lakers a 6.5-point favorite at home against Minnesota – and the entire country, including Charles Barkley, will have a front row seat with TNT televising the game.
Barkley, known for calling the Wolves the “dumbest” team in the NBA, has new material in his back pocket after Rudy Gobert got sent home like a mean school child for punching teammate Kyle Anderson during a timeout on Sunday, followed by Jaden McDaniels reportedly breaking his hand when he punched a wall.
Minnesota overcame the embarrassments and beat the Pelicans, but overcoming the odds in L.A. against a healthy Lakers squad is going to be much harder. Really, the Wolves and Lakers appear to be going in opposite directions.
The Lakers finished just one game ahead of Minnesota but they are a Western Conference-best 18-9 since the trade deadline. The Wolves are 12-12 since trading D’Angelo Russell to the Lakers in the deal that brought Mike Conley to Minneapolis – and also helped L.A. beef up its 3-point shooting and defense with Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt.
This is not the same Lakers team that began the season 2-10. Since then, they are 41-29 compared to Minnesota’s 37-32 mark. The only teams in the West with more wins than the Lakers since then are the Kings, Grizzlies and Nuggets. Take away that forgettable start and the Lakers are basically a four seed disguised as a play-in team.
And it’s not like the Lakers have rattled off a bunch of wins against bad teams or good teams resting starters. The most recent four fall into those categories, but they went 8-5 when LeBron missed a month with a foot injury. Going back to the beginning of March the Lakers are an NBA-best 14-6. Their wins:
- Utah: Lost 9 of 11 to end the season
- Phoenix: Devin Booker and Kevin Durant didn’t play
- Utah: Needed overtime to beat the Jazz
- Houston: Tied worst record in the West
- Minnesota: Trailed by 12 before outscoring MN 59-35 in the final 19 minutes
- Chicago: Bulls were full strength for this one
- Oklahoma City: won without LeBron
- Phoenix: LeBron and Durant didn’t play
- Orlando: home against the Magic but they didn’t have LeBron
- New Orleans: road win against the Pelicans without LeBron
- Toronto: Won without LeBron and with Davis only scoring 8 points
- Memphis: No Ja Morant but still a good win
- Golden State: No Andrew Wiggins but still a good win
- Oklahoma City: Won without LeBron, Davis and D’Angelo Russell
The Lakers are good. They might be really good.
The Timberwolves are going in the opposite direction. On Monday, the team suspended Gobert for the play-in game against the Lakers and if McDaniels has a broken hand, he’s probably not playing, either. That eliminates the two best defensive players on the team and forces Anthony Edwards, Anderson and Taurean Prince to slow down LeBron while Karl-Anthony Towns will have to try and shut down Anthony Davis.
It’s a messy situation and it comes at the worst possible time as the winner of the Wolves and Lakers qualifies for the playoffs as the No. 7 seed and will face the Memphis Grizzlies in the first-round of the tournament.
The loser enters a do-or-die game against the Pelicans or Thunder on Friday night to secure the eighth seed and the right to play Denver in the first round.
