Scouting Report | Wolves vs. Lakers

LeBron is in town! The Wolves host the Lakers on Monday night in the first of two opportunities for Minnesota fans to see LeBron James play at Target Center.  

James being in town is reason enough to watch, but this game is also a very important one for the Wolves. They dropped a disappointing contest on Friday night against the Bucks and have an opportunity to get back on track against the Lakers before another tough home game on Wednesday against the Jazz. After Wednesday, Minnesota has a tough week-long West Coast road trip—a victory over LeBron and Co. would be a great way to start the week off right. 

The Lakers have the best player in the world so they’re obviously a threat, but they haven’t got off to the best start. With a record of 2-4, they sit in 11th place in the West—tied with the Wolves. While it’s still early and there hasn’t been a sense of panic coming from Los Angeles, they have made some changes since opening night. The Lakers moved Josh Hart into the starting lineup and after Brandon Ingram and Rajon Rondo were suspended for a fight in Houston, Kyle Kuzma and Lonzo Ball also joined the starting group. It seems like that group might be the one to watch going forward. Though Ingram and Rondo are back, they’ll need to earn their place in the starting lineup again. 

With Hart, Kuzma and Ball in the starting lineup, the Lakers have a great group of shooters around James, and can bring Ingram and Rondo off the bench as part of a solid reserve unit. The Wolves bench will need to be aware of those two—they have more talent than most bench players in the league.  

The Wolves are equipped to match up well with the Lakers as long as they can keep James in check. With some teams, you assume that their best player will do their damage and try to limit the supporting cast. With James, you can’t do that. James is more than good enough to beat teams on his own if he is given the opportunity, so the Wolves need to slow him down both figuratively and literally. The Lakers like to play at an extremely high pace, so the Wolves will need to make sure to match up in transition. This game should be a fun one.  

James may be the most talented basketball player in the world, but it’s the rest of the Lakers that will likely determine the fate of the team. While Ingram and Ball may have the highest ceilings of the Lakers’ talented group of young players, lately it’s been Kuzma and Javale McGee stepping up in a big way. Through six games, they are the second and third leading scorers on the team, averaging 19.5 and 15.8 points, respectively. The Lakers are actually a pretty balanced team—eight of their players average double digits—but they are thin in the front court. McGee has had his ups and downs throughout his career, but he’s doing a great job this year as one of the only players on the team who can play center and shooting a very high percentage. He also averages three blocks per game. Kuzma isn’t shooting particularly efficiently, but he’s still finding a way to get his baskets. 

The Lakers don’t have a great record, but there are reasons (besides LeBron) to believe that they’re a better team than it seems. Most of that reason for optimism comes from the offensive end. The Lakers have the eighth-best offensive rating in the league and play with the NBA’s third-highest pace. They also have the league’s fourth-best field goal percentage. Where the Lakers start to run into problems is on defense. They have given up an average of 122 points per game. Even in a league in the midst of an offensive explosion, that’s way too many points. The Lakers are fairly good at stopping opponents’ three-point attack, but they are not a good defensive team in the paint. They allow the third-highest two-point field goal percentage in the NBA. The Wolves will definitely look to take advantage of that weakness by getting the ball to Karl-Anthony Towns in the paint and using their guards to penetrate and get scoring opportunities at the rim. 

Wolves: PG—Teague, SG—Butler, SF—Wiggins, PF—Gibson, C—Towns  

Lakers: PG—Ball, SG—Hart, SF—Kuzma, PF—James, C—McGee