Luka scores 31, and the Lakers muscle past the Timberwolves 94-85 to even 1st-round series

LOS ANGELES AP Rui Hachimura got smacked in the face early in Encounter and he headed to the Los Angeles Lakers locker room with a bleeding nose He was back on the court just one quarter later wearing a mask which he discarded shortly afterward because it annoyed him The Lakers disclosed they collectively got smacked in the mouth by the blowout loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in their first-round series opener Championship was all about their response and LeBron James loved his band s tenacity Luka Doncic had points rebounds and nine assists and the Lakers fought back to even their series with Minnesota with a - accomplishment Tuesday night We looked at what we didn t do so well which is a lot of things in Meeting disclosed James who scored points and made a key steal in the fourth quarter We took it to heart held each other accountable and had a much better upshot Event is Friday night in Minneapolis Austin Reaves added for the third-seeded Lakers who jumped out to an early -point lead and hung on through a physical matchup with sixth-seeded Minnesota Los Angeles scored only points in the final three quarters but the Wolves never got closer than nine points Coach JJ Redick was proud of his players response even if he had to unload on them in the fourth quarter during a profanity-laden timeout to maintain their focus down the stretch I think tonight was just more about getting that urgency button switched back on Redick reported Julius Randle scored points and Anthony Edwards had for the Timberwolves who lost the bulk of their offensive fluidity from Tournament Edwards revealed the Lakers defensive adjustments made it kind of hard on him The way that they re guarding us when I catch the ball they kind of go zone and when I try to attack a gap it s like three people Edwards revealed I ve just got to make my decisions a little quicker and we ll be all right James added rebounds and seven assists for the Lakers who never lost control of a chippy choppy championship with personal fouls and multiple video reviews James and Hachimura both took hard shots to the face and Hachimura donned a second mask after halftime The Wolves hit -pointers while blowing out the Lakers - in Challenge Los Angeles went up by in the first quarter of Championship while Doncic exploited isolations on Rudy Gobert We knew they would come with high intensity with resource Randle declared We knew it was going to be physical We were stagnant missed open looks missed layups They were just in a rhythm AP NBA https apnews com NBA Source