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The Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves might be a marquee match between two young, exciting teams some day, but neither squad is there quite yet. An injury to Zach LaVine dampened the Timberwolves’ season, while the Lakers are bad, simply put.
But these meetings still feature a who’s who of young talent and can be a fun showing of what’s to come. Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins are both doing their part in Minnesota, each averaging over 20 points per game. Despite both former No. 1 picks performing at a high level, the Timerwolves have only accrued eight more wins than the Lakers.
They’re also on a four-game losing streak, and won’t have the spirit of Shaquille O’Neal guiding them. It’s a big day in Los Angeles with the unveiling of Shaq’s monstrous statue, the big man getting his permanent residence downtown. It’s an iconic jam as the pose, to be fair, and the ceremony will certainly be star filled with Kobe Bryant, Phil Jackson, Jerry West and more expected to be in attendance.
There are only 11 games left in the Lakers’ season, and all that’s left to be decided is whether they’ll finish with the second or third worst record in the league. That’s a nine percent swing in chances they keep their top-three protected pick, and this is one of their two most winnable games left in the season.
They face the Timberwolves again on April 9.
The Lakers were demolished by the Clippers a few days ago, performing so poorly in the first half head coach Luke Walton dropped the hammer and benched the starting lineup coming out of halftime. We’ll see if the message was loud and clear, and what kind of adjustments he makes with less than a dozen games left.
Enjoy the game, and what will be a memorable statue unveiling ahead of tip-off.
Time: 7:30 p.m. PT
TV: Spectrum SportsNet