Lakers 110, Wolves 103: Clunky Offense Sinks Minnesota in Season Opener

Game one of the season definitely could have gone better, but the improvements can be seen. Anthony Davis’ 37 points outmatched Anthony Edwards’ 27 points.

Game Story

The Minnesota Timberwolves kicked off their 2024-2025 season with a late tip-off against the Los Angeles Lakers. Plenty was going on tonight, as it was not only the season debut for LeBron James and his son Bronny James, who became the first father-son duo to play in an NBA game together, but it was also Minnesota’s first official game with Donte DiVincenzo and Julius Randle. Primetime at Crypto.com Arena.

The game started with Anthony Edwards raining threes and Jaden McDaniels being aggressive early, but the senior James came to play, firing right back. An early 16-10 Lakers advantage just over halfway through the first for the Lakers. Five early turnovers and sluggish play plagued the Wolves early on and Los Angeles took advantage. Despite that start, an 11-4 Minnesota run to close the frame had them leading 23-22 at the end of the first quarter. It felt like the Wolves played very clunky on offense and were turning the ball over a lot, yet they were still ahead. Edwards led the way for the Wolves with eight points and hit two three pointers.

The Lakers started the second quarter with another 12-4 run, giving them a 34-27 just minutes into the second period. This is where things started to go south. Turnover after turnover, the Lakers capitalized on the Wolves mistakes to balloon their lead up to 19. This is when history occurred. With four minutes left in the quarter Bronny James checked into the game with LeBron. They are the first father-son duo to play in an NBA game together, ever. It was an extremely cool moment in the game.

Edwards scored a few buckets which helped the game not get out of hand, but the Wolves still looked off. They lost the offensive rebound battle 10 to 5 and the turnover battle 10 to 3. Edwards led Minnesota with 14 points in the half, while Anthony Davis and Rui Hachimura each impressed with 12 points and 11 points respectively.

The poor energy and disjointedness continued to plague the Wolves to start the second half. The home team continued to hold their double-digit lead despite the Wolves hanging around, using the charity stripe to generate some easy points. Their energy picked up for over the last eight minutes of the third quarter which helped to shift the tide of the game. The Wolves got as close as eight, 82-74.

Naz Reid started the final quarter hot, pouring in five quick points as his team got the lead down to four before they forced a quick LA timeout. The Lakers immediately responded to maintain a few possession lead over the Wolves. This is when Anthony Davis, who was dominating all game, stepped on Minnesota’s throat. He was a force on both ends of the floor, scoring 11 points in the final seven minutes off an array of difficult shots while acting as a stalwart at the rim for anyone who dare approached him. The Wolves made efforts to keep the game within reach, but could not get it close enough to takeover as they fell to the Lakers 110-103.

Key Takeaways

Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images

Non-Rudy Gobert Minutes

As can be expected when this big of a trade is made close to the start of the season, there are some questions that need to be answered. One of those is who would take on the backup center minutes after Towns’ departure. In the first half, when Reid and Randle were the frontcourt pairing, Finch decided to switch to a zone defense to mitigate the potential struggles.

That did not work at all.

When Rudy sat down was when the Timberwolves struggled to get stops which will be something that needs to be figured out over the course of the season, though it makes sense as to why that happened. Both Reid and Randle have been asked to play the five position sparingly, only as a small-ball options with little to no other bigs around them. They both played as if they expected the other to rotate as the center, but neither did that. That isn’t to say it’s their fault, nor that they can’t do it, but something that will need to be a focus in the coming games.

Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images

Anthony Davis Takeover

Davis dominated the game especially in the fourth quarter. He scored 36 points and grabbed 16 rebounds while getting to the line 15 times, and being a force at the rim. As mentioned earlier, the Wolves had an extremely difficult time finishing when he was in the vicinity of the basket. This relates to the struggles of both Reid and Randle, who couldn’t stop Davis when Gobert was off the floor. Along with this, AD just had a special night.

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

Clunky Offense and How to Work it Out

The ball moment that we were all so excited about in the preseason was not on display tonight for the Wolves in this one. Everyone was still finding their footing and how fit it all together — Especially Randle. I thought there were times when Randle wasn’t 100% confident in what he was doing offensively, which makes sense as it will take time for him to acclimate. The offense looked a little suspect in this one, which can be expected with the seismic roster move that was made just before the season started. In the first half, they compounded poor process with lack of energy, but I thought in the second half, both of those issues got better. The energy was there and while the offense still struggled to fully get its legs, there were some things to like overall and clear areas of improvement.

It’s easy to get negative, especially after an opening night loss so let’s look at some positives:

• Randle getting to the free throw line and finding ways to fit in offensively in the second half
• Rudy Gobert being a force on the glass and active offensively
• Three-point volume being up, though they have to hit at a higher clip
• Nickeil Alexander-Walker hitting his threes and being a team-high +13

---

Highlights

---

Up Next

The Wolves will stay on the West Coast in California to face the Sacramento Kings on Thursday, 10/24 at 9:00pm CT. Sit back, relax, and enjoy some Vikings football before another Wolves game where they look to work out some the kinks we saw tonight.