Continuing our coverage of the NBA Play-In Tournament we have the Minnesota Timberwolves visiting the Los Angeles Lakers tonight. This will be the second game of the day and is also a matchup between the #7 and #8 seeds, but this time in the West. Check out now the details of the game.
After a difficult start in the season, the Los Angeles Lakers struggled to make it to the postseason. The team lost a lot of games, especially in the first half of the regular season and was out of the playoff zone for a long time. With a final record of 43-39, they almost made it directly to the playoffs and could at least clinch a Play-In spot. They are coming from two wins in the last two games, and eight victories in the last 10.
On the other side, the Minnesota Timberwolves are living in troubled times. Even though they had a final record of 42-40 and are on a three-win streak, one of their best players, Rudy Gobert, is out of tonight’s game for suspension, after punching a teammate during the last game.
Just like in the other conference, the winner of this game clinches a playoff spot as the #7 seed. The loser will play another game against the winner of the matchup between the #9 and #10 seeds, in tomorrow’s game.
Injury Report
The Minnesota Timberwolves have a lot of problems tonight. First of all Rudy Gobert is suspended for punching his teammate, Kyle Anderson, last game. He didn’t even travel to LA with the team. Then Jaylen Nowell (knee) and Jaden McDaniels (hand) are also out of the game, as well as Naz Reid who has been out for a while. And last but not least, Karl-Anthony Towns (calf) is questionable for the game.
On the Lakers' side things are less concerning. The list of injured players has five names, including LeBron James (foot), D’Angelo Russell (foot) and Anthony Davis. But to the relief of Lakers fans, they are all listed as probable for tonight’s game.
Bets
Because of these problems, the Los Angeles Lakers are widely favourites for tonight. They have a spread of 8.5 points in their favor. And having two teams scoring a lot of points recently, the over/under is high, at 233 points.
One line on players prop bringing attention is the D’Angelo Russell assists line. He averaged over 6 assists per game during the regular season and the odds for him having over 5.5 assists today is paying 2.20. However, his last games weren’t the best ones and this prop only happened once in the past five games. Playing against his old team could be a factor here for him having a great game. These are my game’s predictions:
- LA Lakers -8.5
- Over 233.0 points
- D’Angelo Russell over 5.5 assists
- LA Lakers over 120.5 points (happened in six of the last seven games)
Game Details
- Venue: Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles
- Time: 10:00 PM (ET)
- Broadcast: TNT
