The Los Angeles Lakers took care of business on Friday night, sealing their spot as the third-seed out West after a win against the shorthanded Houston Rockets. What was left for them in the regular season was to await which team they would be matching up against in the first round of the playoffs. Following the Los Angeles Clippers’ 124-119 overtime triumph against the Golden State Warriors and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 116-105 victory over the Utah Jazz, the Lakers will officially be facing the Timberwolves in a rematch of the 2023 7/8 play-in tournament matchup.
The ever-passionate Lakers fanbase has plenty of confidence regarding the team’s chances of making a deep playoff run, thanks in large part to the addition of Luka Doncic. Doncic has not taken much time integrating himself within the team, working wonders alongside LeBron James and Austin Reaves. In fact, Lakers fans now know when they must tune in to catch Doncic’s first playoff game while donning the Purple and Gold.
As reported by ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, Game 1 of the Lakers’ 2025 first-round playoff matchup against the Timberwolves will be on Saturday at 8:30 PM E.T. (5:30 PM P.T.) Compared to typical Lakers home games, this is an early start time, although this game will cap a four-game playoff slate that also includes Game 1s of the Indiana Pacers-Milwaukee Bucks, Clippers-Denver Nuggets, and New York Knicks-Detroit Pistons series.
A matchup against the Timberwolves will be a tough one for the Lakers, although at this point, it’s hard to single out a team that will be an easy out in the terrifyingly competitive Western Conference. Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert, and Naz Reid may give a small Lakers frontcourt problems, while Anthony Edwards is always a threat to go off. But Doncic has dominated the Gobert matchup in the past, which should give the Lakers the edge, especially when they have homecourt advantage.
Timberwolves to pose a ton of problems for the Lakers
The Timberwolves play with such physicality that the Lakers will have to up their execution and not fall prey to silly mistakes for them to advance to the conference semi-finals. Anthony Edwards will be a tough cover for the Lakers, while there is a major size advantage in favor of the Timberwolves.
The Lakers, however, will have the two best players in the series (Luka Doncic and LeBron James). Doncic and James are esteemed postseason performers who deliver when it matters the most, while Austin Reaves has blossomed into a legitimate star as well. Nevertheless, the Lakers’ role players (Dorian Finney-Smith, Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent, Jarred Vanderbilt) will also have to do their part, especially when protecting the paint and cleaning up the glass, to prevent the Timberwolves from overwhelming them with size and physical play.
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