Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Los Angeles Lakers Prediction, NBA Odds
The Lakers shocked the NBA with a franchise-altering trade for superstar Luka Doncic, who gets his first crack at leading L.A. on a playoff run as the team prepares for a first-round series against Minnesota. The Lakers cruised to the 3-seed in the Western Conference, while the T-Wolves claimed the 6-seed to avoid the play-in tournament.
L.A. is a 4.5-point favourite to win Game 1 on the NBA odds, with the total set at 216.5.
Timberwolves vs. Lakers NBA Betting Odds
Home court could be the difference-maker in this series as the road team lost all four games in the season series. Doncic was only around for one of those games, dropping 21 points and 13 rebounds in a 111-102 win in late February.
These teams have only met twice in the playoffs and it’s been over 20 years since the last battle. L.A. came out on top in both series’, ousting the Timberwolves in the first round in 2003 and again in the conference finals in 2004. Both series’ lasted six games.
Led by the duo of Doncic and LeBron James, the Lakers enter the playoffs with the fourth-shortest odds to win the NBA championship at +1000 on the NBA futures board. Minnesota is further down the board at +6600.
Focusing on the first round, L.A. is a -190 favourite to win the series, with the Timberwolves at +155. The favoured exact series result is a Lakers win in either five games (+400) or seven games (+400). The biggest long shot is a T-Wolves sweep (+1600).
Minnesota Timberwolves
Minnesota will be looking for another long playoff run after reaching the Western Conference Finals last year. Strong defensive play continues to be the identity of this team, with the T-Wolves holding opponents to 109.3 points per game (fifth in NBA). The unit is led by four-time Defensive Player of the Year, Rudy Gobert, who has taken a step back statistically, but still remains a dominant player. Offensively, Anthony Edwards continues to impress. “Ant-Man” finished the regular season averaging a career-high 27.6 points per game, fourth-best in the NBA, and he became the youngest player to lead the league in made three-pointers (320). Shipping out Karl-Anthony Towns to add Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo last off-season has also arguably made this a much deeper and more dangerous team.
Los Angeles Lakers
While the Lakers are still viewed as LeBron’s team, the future is clearly all about Luka. Doncic has been incredibly consistent all season as he averaged 28.1 points in 22 games with Dallas and 28.2 points in 28 games with L.A. This is also the same player who torched Minnesota in the conference finals last season, averaging 32.4 points, 9.6 boards, 8.2 assists and 2.2 steals per game in the series. At 40-years-old, James has taken a step back, but he still remains productive, producing 24.8 ppg, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists this season. Playing at home is also big for the Lakers as they posted a 31-10 record at Crypto.com Arena, the third-best home mark in the NBA.
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