The Los Angeles Lakers were the more desperate and purposeful team Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena. And the offense of the Minnesota Timberwolves became stunted and confused, allowing the Lakers to easily escort them into a split of the first two games of their first-round playoff series, which moves to Target Center on Friday night and Sunday afternoon. 

The final score was 94-85, a pitiful performance in both approach and execution for a Wolves team that racked up 117 points in Game One, had posted triple-digit point totals in 59 straight games and had never registered less than 93 throughout the 2024-25 regular season. 

Last season the Wolves reached the Western Conference Finals on the strength of a top-rated defense that suffocated the opposition, allowing their 17th-ranked offense just enough leeway – and enough transition opportunities – to be successful. That formula is not on the menu during this postseason. 

Granted, the Wolves defense, which slipped to sixth in the NBA in points allowed per possession this season, scrapped and rotated with resilient energy for the final three quarters of the game, allowing just 60 points. But by then it was already too late.

The Lakers imposed their will throughout the first period. Once again, Luka Doncic immediately demonstrated that he was – and is, thus far – the best player in the series, orchestrating a multifaceted offense that scored four layups and an alley-oop as part of their 7 for 9 shooting on two-pointers, were 4 for 11 from three-point territory and a perfect 8 for 8 at the free throw line. 

That’s 34 points, 19 more than the Wolves mustered. For the second straight game, Minnesota’s starters came out passive and perplexed against a Lakers defense that has been mediocre for the vast majority of the season, regardless of shifting personnel. In Game One, the Wolves seized on that vulnerability and flexed their newfound versatility by relying on the pace and infectious ball movement from catalysts off the bench, Naz Reid and Donte DiVincenzo (DDV). 

But on Tuesday night, Naz and DDV were a colossal bust, combining for six fouls, four turnovers and two measly points – a pair of free throws from DiVincenzo – in the first half.

So sure, the Lakers offense became anemic, but because the absence of offense from the Wolves removed any urgency for them to score more prolifically. Five minutes and seven seconds into the game they had a double-digit lead and it stayed that way until there was 6:27 left in the game. And down the stretch, the Wolves never shaved it down past nine.

The shot selection was bewildering. In Game One the Wolves sank 21 three-pointers. In Game Two they attempted only 24. With the Lakers lead hovering between 11 and nine, they didn’t attempt a single trey from the 5:37 mark of the fourth quarter until a half-hearted heave from Anthony Edwards became the final concession with a tenth of a second left in the game. 

And it wasn’t as if the two-point focus was paying dividends. The Wolves scored eight points in that final 5:37, half of them on free throws, and turned the ball over four times. 

When I asked Wolves Coach Chris Finch about the team’s disinclination to shoot threes down the stretch, he replied that he felt his team were passing up treys throughout the game. It begs the question of why it wasn’t a greater priority or topic of conversation in the huddle (or maybe it was). But as the Wolves flailed in the first half, the offense increasingly relied on isolation opportunities for Julius Randle. 

In terms of play-by-play results, the Randle isos were a necessary evil and thus a net positive. He led the Wolves in scoring with 27 points, got to the free throw line nine times and doled out six assists as well as shooting 9 for 17 from the field. 

But those gains inevitably come at a cost, chief among them an erosion of teamwork. At the nine-minute mark of the second quarter, Randle was the only Wolves player with an assist – and his six dimes were nearly half of the team’s entire total of 14 for the game. 

In the postgame interviews, Ant, Randle and Rudy Gobert all admitted they weren’t quite sure how the Lakers defense took them so thoroughly out of their rhythm. 

I think it was as simple as this: The Wolves won the first game and knew at some level that a split on the road to open the series was not a terrible result. The Lakers understood what being down two games and heading to Minnesota for the next two was a recipe for embarrassment, and played harder. 

People have not caught up to the fact that Minnesota had a top-three offense after the All Star break in terms of points scored per possession. It was borne on the ability to change the pace with a deep bench, running and gunning with relative abandon, and the starters used crisp deliberation to deliver points in the half-court sets. The through line for both of these styles is ball movement and quick decision-making. And that comes from focus, energy and teamwork. 

On Tuesday, the Wolves resorted to their old habits, relying on a staunch defense to bail out an inefficient offense. But the defense can’t carry that load as far as it used to, and the offense requires a broader ownership and accountability beyond Ant and Randle. 

Mike Conley, a plus 40% shooter from long distance throughout his three-year Timberwolves tenure, went scoreless on Tuesday on 0 for 5 shooting from the field, three of them behind the arc. That can’t happen. DiVincenzo and Naz can’t let foul calls affect their concentration – and should understand their importance to the new order of things enough to avoid cheap fouls. 

Ant led the entire NBA in three-point makes this season, with 320. He can’t give up the ball and turn down three-point opportunities with his team an arm’s length behind in the fourth quarter of a low-scoring game. 

There are other culprits, of course. That’s the point. To get to where they want to go, they need to rely on everybody, and enable each other, on both ends of the court. 

They got the split in L.A. But the grit displayed in Game Two was lopsided toward defense and thus a regrettable effort overall. It is not how a sixth seed topples a third seed that has Luka Doncic able and willing to toy with the Timberwolves for a second straight postseason.