Wolves can’t match Lakers’ physicality in Game 2 defeat

By Jace Frederick, Pioneer Press – April 23, 2025

LOS ANGELES — Minnesota stunned the Los Angeles Lakers with its physicality in Saturday’s Game 1 victory in Los Angeles.

The Lakers returned the favor on Tuesday.

Los Angeles was the clear aggressor from the opening tip, putting Minnesota on its heels early. The Lakers won the first quarter 34-15.

The Wolves never recovered, falling 94-85 to even the series at 1-1.

“They’re aggressive, they’re very forceful offensively. Defensively, they picked up their intensity, things we expected,” Wolves guard Mike Conley said. “For whatever reason, we just didn’t match it. We didn’t come with the same level of aggression that we had in the first game. I think that led to a lot of mistakes both ends of the floor.”

Game 3 is Friday in Minneapolis.

Minnesota has the ability to match and exceed just about anyone’s physicality. But the Wolves instead grew frustrated and frequently demonstrated an utter lack of composure for 48 minutes that ultimately did them in.

In the fourth quarter alone, Naz Reid ran the ball down the floor out of frustration following a whistle that triggered the team’s second delay of game violation of the contest, giving the Lakers a technical free throw when the Wolves were trying to mount a rally.

Then Julius Randle, who scored a new playoff career-high 27 points to pace Minnesota, had a bucket wiped away when he needlessly swiped his hand into the face of LeBron James before the ball could fall into the bucket. So, instead of Minnesota trimming its deficit to 11, it stayed at nine.

Little things like that kept Minnesota from ever mounting a serious rally.

“I wouldn’t say we lost our minds, but we got a little distracted at some point. A little frustrated,” Wolves center Rudy Gobert said. “And those plays, we’ve got to make sure they don’t happen, regardless of the score. We’ve got to be able to be consistent in what we do. I thought we weathered the storm, but we could’ve done a better job being even more consistent and getting a chance to come back in this game.”

After getting overrun on Saturday, Los Angeles busted out of the gates Tuesday with a renewed tenacity and intensity on both ends of the floor that helped it build a 22-point first-half advantage. Minnesota’s defense finally matched the Lakers in the second half, making every Los Angeles bucket difficult over the final two frames.

Minnesota crept to within 11 in the third quarter, only to have the Lakers come out of a timeout on a 7-0 run. The Wolves trimmed the deficit to nine in the fourth, but never got any closer than that. While Minnesota has mounted numerous furious rallies throughout the season, Los Angeles proved Tuesday it’s less susceptible of a collapse.

“I thought we had opportunities to make several runs, but we couldn’t get the stop we needed, or get the bucket we needed to get it down to six,” Gobert said. “But we cut it down to nine, so we, once again, against a good team, when you get down 20, it makes it harder on yourself. Everything that’s happening throughout the game, a lot of times we had an opportunity to make a run, and something happens to cut that run short.”

Any push the Wolves made in Game 2 was powered by their defense. Luka Doncic had 31 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists for the Lakers. But he went just 3 for 10 from the field over the final two quarters. The Wolves held the Lakers to 26% shooting in the final frame. Los Angeles shot 21% from 3-point range on the night.

Usually, that’s good enough defense to win you games. But Minnesota’s offensive ineptitude ultimately lost out.

Minnesota never got any type of rhythm going offensively. The Wolves relied almost entirely on Randle isolations. One game after seemingly dissecting the Los Angeles defense, Anthony Edwards did little in the form of playmaking, struggling with what he felt was a zone defense from the Lakers every time he touched the ball. The guard finished with zero assists. And after they shot the lights out from deep in Game 1, Minnesota went ice cold from the field Tuesday.

Naz Reid and Donte DiVincenzo — the Wolves’ offensive sparkplugs — were hampered by foul trouble for much of the evening. Minnesota went 5 for 24 from beyond the arc, and shot just 38% from the field. The offensive movement and pace so prevalent on Saturday were non-existent in Game 2.

That will need to change by Friday should Minnesota hope to regain control of the series when the action shifts to Target Center.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We didn’t come in here thinking, ‘Yeah sure, this will be a sweep,’ and go about our day. It is what it is. We got a game, they got a game,” Wolves guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker said. “Go home, protect homecourt. They locked in. It’s a competition. It’s competing, you know? Tonight they got it. They won. Give credit to them. There were things we did bad. Now it’s time for us to make an adjustment. It’s sort of like playing chess, making the right reads and adjusting.”

PHOTO: Rudy Gobert #27 of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Rui Hachimura #28 of the Los Angeles Lakers battle for a rebound in the first quarter in Game Two of the Western Conference First Round NBA Playoffs at Crypto.com Arena on April 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. | Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images