{"id":52699,"date":"2025-04-14T01:48:20","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T01:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=52699"},"modified":"2025-04-14T01:48:20","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T01:48:20","slug":"report-lakers-matching-up-against-minnesota-timberwolves-in-first-round-playoff-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=52699","title":{"rendered":"REPORT: Lakers matching up against Minnesota Timberwolves in first-round playoff series"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Clippers victory over Golden State bumped Minnesota to the No. 6 seed and first-round matchup with the Lakers<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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\"Lakers<\/div>
Lakers guard Austin Reaves tries to get to the basket as Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert defends during the second half on Friday night in Minneapolis. (Photo by David Berding\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 After walking off the court at Moda Center following\u00a0Sunday\u2019s regular-season finale defeat\u00a0to the Portland Trail Blazers, the Lakers coaching staff, training staff and players who made the trip gathered around various parts of the visitor\u2019s locker room to watch the ending of Clippers at Golden State Warriors.<\/p>\n

With the Lakers as the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference\u00a0entering the playoffs, they awaited the result of the\u00a0Clippers-Warriors\u00a0game to see who\u2019d be the No. 6 seed and their first-round matchup for the playoffs.<\/p>\n

And once Warriors guard Buddy Hield\u2019s potential game-tying 3-pointer hit the side of the backboard, the Lakers gained the clarity they were seeking, with Jarred Vanderbilt yelling, \u201cWe\u2019re going to Minnesota, boys!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Clippers\u2019 victory over the Warriors not only clinched the No. 5 seed in the West for themselves but also dropped the Warriors to No. 7, moving the Minnesota Timberwolves to the No. 6 seed, matching them up in the first round with the Lakers.<\/p>\n

Minnesota won 17 of its final 21 games to clinch the No. 6 seed.<\/p>\n

The Timberwolves are one of four teams, along with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers, to rank in the top-10 in offensive and defensive rating.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very difficult opponent,\u201d Coach JJ Redick said. \u201cThey\u2019ve played as well as anyone, lately. They present a lot of problems.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Timberwolves clinched a playoff spot after their victory over the Utah Jazz on Sunday, finishing the season with a 49-33 record.<\/p>\n

The Lakers will have homecourt advantage for the first-round playoff series against the Timberwolves.<\/p>\n

The series is expected to start on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena. It will mark the first time that the Lakers hosted their first-round series in Los Angeles since April 2012.<\/p>\n

The Timberwolves and Lakers regular-season series finished tied with two victories apiece, with the last matchup coming on Feb. 27,\u00a0a 111-102 home win for the Lakers.<\/p>\n

Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert weren\u2019t available for the last matchup between the Lakers and Timberwolves, which was the lone time the teams matched up since the Lakers traded for Luka Doncic, who was just six games into his tenure with the Lakers at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201c[We\u2019ve] had games the last six, seven weeks where we hadn\u2019t played the team since [Anthony Davis] was on the team and didn\u2019t have Luka,\u201d Redick said. \u201cSo we have a way of prepping based on previous games against Luka. We have a general idea of what their rules are, just like they have a general idea of what our rules are. I don\u2019t think it doesn\u2019t necessarily matter that we don\u2019t have anything on tape with both teams at full strength.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Lakers\u00a0won the regular-season-opening matchup\u00a0between the teams, 110-103, on Oct. 22. The Timberwolves\u00a0blew out the Lakers, 109-80, on Dec. 2\u00a0in Minneapolis and\u00a0beat the Lakers again, 97-87, at Target Center on Dec. 13.<\/p>\n

The Lakers-Timberwolves matchup will mark their first playoff series since 2004, which the Lakers won 4-2 in the Western Conference Finals en route to a run to the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

The teams also matched up in the first round of the playoffs in 2003 \u2013 a series the Lakers also won 4-2.<\/p>\n

The Lakers beat the Timberwolves in 2023 Play-In Tournament game to determine the No. 7 seed for that season\u2019s playoffs en route to a run to the Western Conference finals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clippers victory over Golden State bumped Minnesota to the No. 6 seed and first-round matchup with the Lakers Lakers guard Austin Reaves tries to get to the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52700,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\nREPORT: Lakers matching up against Minnesota Timberwolves in first-round playoff series - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=52699\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"REPORT: Lakers matching up against Minnesota Timberwolves in first-round playoff series - 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