A monumental Anthony Davis

With the way things are winding down in the West, this can be said at least a couple of times every night, or almost, but the truth is that this game, Wolves-Lakers in Minnesota, was marked in red on the schedule of a strange fightuncomfortable, often incomprehensible but highly exciting for not staying out of the lot of playoffs/play in in a Conference full of confusion and, let us also agree, a certainly mediocre average level.

The Lakers won (111-123). A vital triumph, basic to know where are they really eight days after the closing of the normal season. Well then: they are positive (39-38) for the first time since the middle of last season (21-20 on January 11, 2022), what is said soon. And they are seventh in the West, with only one loss less than the Warriors and Clippers. So, for those who want to look up, they can still be fifth. As incredible as it may seem and if it is ideal, because everything indicates that it would send a cross in the first round against Devin Booker’s Suns and, clear, Kevin Durant. In addition, the vertigo has also been reduced: they take a game and a half from the Thunder, who are tenth and those who have won the tiebreaker; and two to the eleventh, some Mavericks that they already see relatively far. Seen what’s left.

A wild reaction after the break

The Lakers overtook a Wolves (39-39) who are now ninth and, that’s the way it is in the West, they look at the precipice of eleventh place the same way they would be looking at the vantage point of sixth if they had won a game in the who seemed superior during good stretches of the first part and at the beginning of the third quarter, in which they got to +13 (68-55) and were still twelve points ahead (76-64) with less than eight minutes to go. In the middle of that third quarter, Anthony Davis sprained his ankle (at 76-68). And at that moment, from behind and with what is now their key player on the ground, the Lakers’ season seemed like a lost cause. But the thing is because that’s how everything has to be in the Westthat the turning point was just in the opposite direction. The Lakers got into a 2-24 stretch, a tremendous defensive trance that turned the game around in less than seven minutes (until 78-88). Later, in the last quarter, they authoritatively controlled the (not very fearsome) attempts to react by some Wolves without strength and without discipline.

Davis finished with 38 points and 17 rebounds. By far the best player on court. After his ankle problem, he scored 21 points, 17 in a last quarter in which he controlled the Wolves by himself and in which he chained twelve points in a row without a miss (5/5 from the field). His game, another one, was fabulous again. He is the player with the most nights of at least 35+15 (seven already) in the entire NBA, which is significant considering what has been lost. His intensity in both zones and his ability to play through pain were the watchword, the rallying cry of the Lakers. To top off the good news, he said afterwards that he was feeling fine and was expecting to play tomorrow in Houston. We will seeIt’s still an excess of optimism. His coach, Darvin Ham, explained his significance this way: “Everything starts with him. We have a team that can do things, but there has to be a force that pivots everything on, that leads the charge. In our case, that force is AD”. Chris Finch, the rival coach, was more colloquial but he was also understood without problems: “Davis has given us kicked ass in every way possible.”

The Lakers, with a good part of the season at stake, they won the third quarter 18-35 and the second half, 46-68. They defended very well after the break, with a lot of pressure on Wolves’ generation of play and intelligence to release the worst shooters of a rival attacked by a virus in the hours before the game. Towns (23 points, 8 rebounds) said it had affected him a lot. Anthony Edwards (11 points, 16 shots) seemed limp. In addition, the loss of Naz Reid, who goes long, was very noticeable and allowed Davis to dominate freely when Gobert sat down. And only Mike Conley (25 + 7 assists) directed with sense. The veteran point guard saw the Lakers’ definitive rise from the bench in the third quarter.

LeBron didn’t play well: 18+10+6, 7/19 shooting. In fact, he started horribly wrong. And it got better in the fourth quarter. Dennis Schröder was fundamental, due to his heart and ability to defend with glue and aggressiveness. Also Vanderbilt. Russell scored 12 points and dished out 10 assists, Reaves finished with 15 points and Beasley made the three-pointers (3/4, 9 points). The Lakers won a game that they had to winThey have five wins in the last six and have added two essential ones in Chicago and Minneapolis after their blunder last Sunday, in LA against the Bulls. They have been with the Russell-Reaves-LeBron-Vanderbilt-Davis quintet for two nights, a unit that seems excellent even with LeBron still far from 100%. And they’re deep enough to hold on if Ham doesn’t entangles much with the rotations. Their situation is good, excellent if you consider where they were a couple of months ago. Now that they warm up a bit, the temperature rises in some Wolves shaken by disease and leaning into the abyss. Because how the Mavs win today in Miami …

Minnesota Timberwolves

Statistics

9 Nickel Alexander-Walker
5 Kyle Anderson
10 Mike Conley
1 Anthony Edwards
55 luka garza
27 Rudy Gobert
13 Nathan Knight
3 Jaden McDaniels
6 Jordan McLaughlin
8 Josh Minott
7 Wendell Moore Jr.
12 taurean prince
32 Karl Anthony Towns

Statistics

	Min	pts	RT	RO	DR	Ast	Per	rec	Tap	T1	T2	T3	FR	CF	Val
9 Nickel Alexander-Walker	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/1	0	0	0
5 Kyle Anderson	31	17	4	2	2	6	1	2	3	0/0	7/9	1/2	0	0	0
10 Mike Conley	31	25	3	0	3	7	2	3	0	7/8	3/5	4/6	0	6	0
1 Anthony Edwards	38	eleven	4	0	4	3	3	1	0	1/2	2/9	2/7	0	1	0
55 luka garza	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
27 Rudy Gobert	31	14	eleven	5	6	1	1	2	0	2/2	6/9	0/0	0	3	0
13 Nathan Knight	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
3 Jaden McDaniels	37	fifteen	5	1	4	2	5	1	1	0/0	3/8	3/6	0	4	0
6 Jordan McLaughlin	9	0	1	0	1	2	2	0	0	0/0	0/2	0/3	0	1	0
8 Josh Minott	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
7 Wendell Moore Jr.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
12 taurean prince	twenty	6	3	0	3	1	1	1	0	1/2	1/3	1/7	0	2	0
32 Karl Anthony Towns	35	23	8	4	4	3	1	0	0	5/5	11/6	2/7	0	5	0

los angeles lakers

Statistics

5 Malik Beasley
7 Troy Brown Jr.
10 max christie
3 Anthony Davis
35 wenyen gabriel
28 Rui Hachimura
6 Lebron James
fifteen austin reaves
eleven Davon Reed
1 D’Angelo Russell
17 Dennis Schröder
2 jarred vanderbilt
4 Lonnie Walker IV

Statistics

	Min	pts	RT	RO	DR	Ast	Per	rec	Tap	T1	T2	T3	FR	CF	Val
5 Malik Beasley	10	9	6	0	6	0	1	0	0	0/0	0/1	3/4	0	1	0
7 Troy Brown Jr.	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/1	0	1	0
10 max christie	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
3 Anthony Davis	36	38	17	8	9	0	3	1	2	8/10	15/24	0/2	0	3	0
35 wenyen gabriel	14	4	2	1	1	1	0	1	0	0/0	2/2	0/0	0	2	0
28 Rui Hachimura	twenty-one	4	6	1	5	1	1	1	1	2/2	1/2	0/2	0	3	0
6 Lebron James	32	18	10	1	9	6	3	1	2	3/4	6/16	1/3	0	1	0
fifteen austin reaves	30	fifteen	6	2	4	2	2	0	0	5/6	2/6	23	0	1	0
eleven Davon Reed	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
1 D’Angelo Russell	33	12	1	0	1	10	3	2	0	1/2	4/8	1/4	0	3	0
17 Dennis Schröder	22	eleven	0	0	0	6	2	2	0	5/6	3/3	0/1	0	2	0
2 jarred vanderbilt	28	12	5	2	3	2	1	2	0	0/0	3/6	2/2	0	0	0
4 Lonnie Walker IV	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0