Timberwolves at Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers just swept a three-game road trip in impressive fashion and will try to pick up a win at home over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday before heading out on a five-game trip. The Lakers own the best record in the Western Conference at 20-3 as Anthony Davis and LeBron James make building chemistry look easy.
Davis and James combined for 70 points in a 136-113 drubbing of the Trail Blazers on Friday and the two helped Los Angeles beat Denver, Utah and Portland by an average of 19 points on the road trip. "I'm just impressed with our guys' level of energy and focus," Lakers coach Frank Vogel told reporters. "To play on the road the way we've played is just impressive to me. ... Three games in four nights, we didn't have a shootaround, guys performed at a high level. Couldn't be more happy with what we're doing on the road." The Timberwolves are coming off a controversial overtime loss at Oklahoma City in which they were called for a delay of game technical foul with 1.1 seconds remaining in regulation when Jordan Bell checked into the game with his jersey untucked. "I've been playing basketball for a long time and I've never seen that before," Minnesota guard Josh Okogie told reporters.
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, FS North (Minnesota), Spectrum SportsNet (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES (10-11): All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns was at the free-throw line trying to close out the game when Bell came onto the court and came away dejected despite finishing with 30 points, eight assists and five rebounds. "Obviously, we showed you," Towns told reporters about the team getting outscored 17-5 in overtime of the 139-127 setback. "We didn't play well in overtime at all. We put all marbles into that one second and let our guard down, and we never picked it back up." The loss soured a strong game from veteran point guard Jeff Teague, who scored a season-high 32 points.
ABOUT THE LAKERS (20-3): Davis is going after the Defensive Player of the Year Award this season and James has stepped up his level of play at that end of the floor as well, helping Los Angeles hold opponents to 43.3 percent from the floor - the fifth-best mark in the league entering play on Saturday. The Lakers lead the league in offensive field-goal percentage (48.5), and credit the defense for helping the offense. "Our offense is starting to catch up with our defense a little bit," James told reporters. "We knew at some point that the cohesiveness and the rhythm would start to get better and better. It’s been behind our defense for the majority of the season."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Lakers PG Rajon Rondo (hamstring) left Friday's game and is day-to-day.
2. Timberwolves SF Andrew Wiggins (thumb) sat out Friday and is day-to-day.
3. Minnesota took two of the three meetings last season, including a 120-105 victory at Los Angeles in the most recent matchup on Jan. 24.