{"id":492468,"date":"2025-04-20T02:24:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-20T06:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/?post_type=news&#038;p=492468"},"modified":"2025-04-20T02:24:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-20T06:24:18","slug":"timberwolves-dominate-lakers-in-game-1-behind-balanced-offensive-display","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/news\/timberwolves-dominate-lakers-in-game-1-behind-balanced-offensive-display\/","title":{"rendered":"Timberwolves dominate Lakers in Game 1 behind balanced offensive display"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Minnesota Timberwolves delivered a commanding performance in the opening game of their first-round playoff series, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers 117\u201395 on Saturday night. Despite a 37-point effort from Luka Don\u010di\u0107 in his postseason debut with the Lakers, Minnesota\u2019s cohesive team play and long-range shooting proved decisive at Crypto.com Arena.<\/p>\n<p>Jaden McDaniels led the Timberwolves with 25 points, while Naz Reid added 23 off the bench, including six three-pointers. Anthony Edwards contributed 22 points, nine assists, and eight rebounds in an all-around effort that helped the sixth-seeded Timberwolves seize home-court advantage.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">LUKA DON\u010cI\u0106 FROM HALFCOURT \ud83e\udd2f<\/p>\n<p>LAKERS CLOSE OUT THE 3Q ON A 17-6 RUN!!!<\/p>\n<p>Timberwolves-Lakers | Game 1 | ABC <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/otQxzqCvLw\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/otQxzqCvLw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBA (@NBA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBA\/status\/1913784168473088506?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">April 20, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Minnesota took control of the game in the second quarter, outscoring Los Angeles 38\u201320 to build a double-digit halftime lead. From that point, the visitors maintained firm control, holding off any attempt at a comeback.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI got a great group of guys,\u201d Edwards said postgame. \u201cI saw what we had back in training camp. It took time to build chemistry, but now we\u2019re playing with confidence and understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Timberwolves set a franchise playoff record by hitting 21 three-pointers on 42 attempts, with Julius Randle and Edwards each connecting on four. The efficiency from beyond the arc and consistent ball movement allowed Minnesota to generate numerous uncontested looks.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Anthony Edwards vs the Los Angeles Lakers<\/p>\n<p>22 PTS<br \/>\n8 REB<br \/>\n9 AST<br \/>\n1 TO<br \/>\n+21<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/MNjIoyFSos\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/MNjIoyFSos<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WolvesClips\/status\/1913790807640879194?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">April 20, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Doncic scored 16 points in the first quarter to give the Lakers an early spark, but Los Angeles struggled to find rhythm offensively for the remainder of the game. The Timberwolves\u2019 defense tightened as the game progressed, limiting secondary scoring and dominating the glass.<\/p>\n<p>Minnesota has now won 18 of its last 22 games and carries significant momentum into Game 2 of the series.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Rdvy4VDnkWE?si=9Qf5BztibSxHZCbO\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Minnesota Timberwolves delivered a commanding performance in the opening game of their first-round playoff series, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers 117\u201395 on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":492469,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false},"tags":[17160,16970,16747,17159],"news_category":[16706,16715,14084],"gn_keywords":[18339,17645,18115,18338],"acf":{"announce":"Luka Doncic's 37 points were not enough for Los Angeles in 117-95 loss","video":["video"]},"rank_math_focus_keyword":"","rank_math_description":"","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_robots":"","rank_math_canonical_url":"","rank_math_facebook_title":"","rank_math_facebook_description":"","rank_math_facebook_image":"","rank_math_twitter_title":"","rank_math_twitter_description":"","rank_math_twitter_image":"","rank_math_snippet_shortcode":"","rank_math_primary_category":"","rankmath_seo":{"focus_keyword":"","description":"","title":"","canonical_url":"","robots":"","facebook":{"title":"","description":"","image":""},"twitter":{"title":"","description":"","image":""}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/492468"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492468"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/492468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":492470,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/492468\/revisions\/492470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492468"},{"taxonomy":"news_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_category?post=492468"},{"taxonomy":"gn_keywords","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gn_keywords?post=492468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}