Timberwolves offense stalls out in Game 2 loss to Lakers
LOS ANGELES Minnesota stunned the Los Angeles Lakers with its physicality in Saturday s Encounter conquest in Los Angeles The Lakers returned the favor on Tuesday Los Angeles was the clear aggressor from start to finish putting Minnesota on its heels early The Wolves never recovered falling - to even the series at - Match 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 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 squad s second delay of competition 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 points to pace Minnesota had a bucket wiped away when he needlessly swiped his off hand into the face of LeBron James before the ball could fall into the bucket So instead of Minnesota trimming its deficit to it stayed at nine Little things like that kept Minnesota from ever mounting a serious rally 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 -point first-half advantage Minnesota s defense at last matched the Lakers in the second half making every Los Angeles bucket formidable over the final two frames But Minnesota never got any type of rhythm going offensively The Wolves relied almost entirely on Randle isolations One event after seemingly dissecting the Los Angeles defense Anthony Edwards did little in the form of playmaking The guard finished with zero assists And after they shot the lights out from deep in Meeting Minnesota went ice cold from the field Tuesday Minnesota went for from beyond the arc and shot just from the field Luka Doncic had points rebounds and nine assists for the Lakers
