After beating the No. 2 in the East, the Milwaukee Bucks, on Friday night, the Lakers continued their winning streak with a 120-109 victory over the No. 2 in the West, the Minnesota Timberwolves.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis were both questionable heading into tonight’s game, and Minnesota was without Rudy Gobert (hamstring strain) and Karl Anthony Towns after undergoing surgery for a torn meniscus.
But at game time, James and Davis became available; they both played – and that says it all extremely slightly.
On the eve of his 31stst birthday, Davis experienced a historic evening. His 27 points, 25 rebounds, seven steals, five assists and three blocks make him the only player in NBA history to ever achieve this stat line in a game. In fact, since the 1983-84 season, the only two players to total 20+ points, 20+ rebounds, and 7+ steals were Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley.
Head coach Darvin Ham explained AD’s performance as the big man “just being a monster all night.”
When asked after his performance if he was aware he was making history during the match, AD’s answer was simple: “No.”
LBJ led the team with 29 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. But he only had eight points at the end of the first half, and at halftime the Lakers led by just one point. They had been outplayed by two in the paint. They shot 66.7% from the field, but Minnesota was stuck in the game due to 11 Lakers turnovers, lackluster perimeter defense and their eight second-chance points compared to Lake Show’s 0 .
Naz Reid also held his own for the TWolves in the first half, he led the team with 21 points in the first half. He was 71.4% from three (5-for-7) and 70% from the field (7-for-10). But Reid was down to four points the rest of the game and the second half belonged to the Purple and Gold.
James started early and announced the third with a triple and 18 points to follow in the second half. But despite everything, at the end of the quarter, the Lakers lost a point.
Then the game was wide open in the final quarter as Davis declared this game his. The big guy’s ten offensive rebounds left everyone stunned and gave the Lakers a 16-point lead at one point.
“Ten offensive rebounds is crazy,” Austin Reaves said after the game. “I felt like during the game, every time we shot and missed, he was there to give us another opportunity.”
Reaves finished with 19 points, six rebounds and four assists, and was the third-highest scorer behind the duo of Bron and AD.
The team now has a few days off before traveling north and meeting the Kings this Wednesday in a rematch where they will look to redeem themselves after losing the game to Sac a week prior.
Now, six games above .500, for this team to become one of the best in the league, “We just have to keep stacking the days,” Coach Ham said after another promising performance this Sunday night.
