Minnesota scored 28 points in the first six minutes of Friday’s playoff rematch in Los Angeles to build an 11-point advantage.
History was set to repeat from April.
Until it wasn’t. Minnesota was out-scored 111-82 over the final 42 minutes in a 128-110 loss to the Lakers to drop to 1-1 on the young season.
Here are the Timberwolves Talkers from Friday’s game:
Where’s the defense?
The Timberwolves spoke throughout training camp about ascend back to a truly elite defensive level this season.
Has the opposite occurred? Wolves radio voice Alan Horton posted on X.com that Minnesota’s defensive rating Friday — the Wolves allowed 139.6 points per 100 possessions — was their second-worst defensive performance of the last 16 years.
The lackluster showing came off the heels of a season opener in Portland in which Minnesota played approximately one quarter of quality defense.
After emphasizing that end of the floor in training camp, early results suggest Minnesota could be in line for major defensive slippage this season.
Luka Magic
Los Angeles is without LeBron James, who’s currently out while battling sciatica. But the Lakers still have Luka Doncic, who was far and away the best player on the floor Friday.
Doncic shredded Minnesota to the tune of 49 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. It didn’t matter who Minnesota put on the Slovenian superstar — Jaden McDaniels, Jaylen Clark, Anthony Edwards, Doncic cooked them all. He got wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted, and executed once he found his spots.
A slimmed down Doncic looks every bit like an MVP contender at the season’s outset.
Rotation updates
The top seven have settled in as: Donte DiVincenzo, Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle and Jaden McDaniels in the starting lineup, with Naz Reid and Terrence Shannon Jr. in as the first reserves.
Mike Conley was again one of the first eight Wolves to play Friday, but he logged just nine minutes as he picked up three quick fouls in his opening stint and has struggled in two games against two bigger teams.
Jaylen Clark and Bones Hyland both entered in the second quarter. Whether Hyland has entrenched himself in a 10-man rotation, has surpassed Conley in the pecking order or has merely been a fill-in while Conley works through early-season struggles remains to be seen.
Rob Dillingham finally made his season debut early in the fourth quarter, but his action was short-lived, as he exited the game with a nose injury after battling defensively down low just a couple possessions after subbing in. Dillingham told reporters postgame he suffered a broken nose. That injury doesn’t usually lead to long absences in the NBA.
Edwards scores
One bright spot for the Timberwolves was the sustained scoring success of Anthony Edwards. After dropping 41 in the season opener in Portland, Edwards scored another efficient 31 points on Friday.
The noteworthy part of Edwards’ performance was how nonchalant it was. There were lengthy periods of the game in which the guard’s impact wasn’t felt — which was an issue given the Lakers have no one to match up with the all star — but by game’s end, Edwards again eclipsed the 30-point plateau.
It suggests Edwards could make a legitimate run at the scoring title this season.
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