The Lakers (26-13) return to Los Angeles for the back end of a road/home B2B against Minnesota (9-30), after LAL beat GSW 128-97 on Monday. Tipoff is Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. on Spectrum SportsNet.
Below are three things to know in advance of the matchup:
BENCH DOMINANCE
With two starters (Anthony Davis and Marc Gasol) and one key bench player (Alex Caruso) out against the Warriors, LAL’s bench was thinner than usual. But it’s also deeper than that of perhaps any team in the NBA, with real firepower led by Montrezl Harrell, last year’s Sixth Man of the Year, and Kyle Kuzma, who’s played like a starter all season. Those two were joined by Talen Horton-Tucker to help LAL to a 71-41 smashing of GSW’s bench.
Harrell made 11 of his 14 shots towards 27 points, leading Frank Vogel to summarize like this: “He catches everything, he finishes everything.” THT had his first career double-double with 18 points on 7 of 10 FG’s plus 10 assists.
"He's got a unique ability to get in the paint, and he's figuring out the length of the NBA game," said Vogel of THT. “With the 10 assists tonight, you saw he made great decisions."
Kuzma added 17 points on 7 of 11 FG’s, and he too was dropping off pretty extra passes on the interior for a number of dunks. The bench trio will need another productive night on Tuesday when they won’t have the 2-day rest advantage they possessed over GSW, who’d played the night before.
NO. 1 PICKS, 18 YEARS REMOVED
In 2003, when LeBron James was selected with the No. 1 pick by Cleveland, Anthony Edwards was … 2 years old! Edwards, Minnesota’s most recent No. 1 overall pick, is now 19, and he’s really starting to pick up his play.
In four March games, Edwards is averaged 25.3 points on 43.7 percent shooting, plus 5.3 boards and 2.5 assists, up from 16.1 points on 37.2 percent with 5.1 boards and 3.3 assists in February. He scored a season-high 34 points with six triples made in Minnesota’s 114-112 win over Portland on Sunday.
Meanwhile, LeBron has been … well … LeBron. He hasn’t slowed in the least, going for a 22-point, 11-assist, 10-rebound triple-double to finish a +33 on Monday night. In fact, James is the leading contender for the MVP trophy at an unprecedented age of 36.
IN THE MIDDLE
This will be the third and final meeting between Minnesota and Los Angeles this season, and for the third time, Anthony Davis will miss the action. That’s fortunate for the Wolves, who’ve struggled with their PF position throughout the season, searching for production from Jake Layman and Juancho Hernangomez. Of late, they’ve leaned more on little-known Jarred Vanderbilt, a 2018 second round pick of Orlando, who’s starting alongside Karl-Anthony Towns.
Towns was quiet against L.A. in LAL’s 112-104 Feb. 16 victory at Minnesota, scoring only 15 points with six boards, and attempting just 10 shots in 33 minutes. It was Edwards, instead, who was the aggressor, hitting 10 of his 21 shots for a team-best 28 points. Starting SG Malik Beasley is currently suspended, and D’Angelo Russell out after knee surgery, so Ricky Rubio and Edwards are starting in the backcourt. Minnesota is also without Jordan McLaughlin, who scored 13 points off the bench in the February matchup.
LeBron controlled that game with 30 points, 13 boards and seven assists, while Dennis Schroder got where he wanted towards 24 points on 9 of 15 field goals. Harrell pitched in 17 points off the pine in just 18 minutes, and will look to continue the strong rhythm he’s in, having scored 26, 17 and 27 points in his last three games.