The Lakers will head into Game 3 in Minnesota needing to come up with a win to get homecourt advantage back after the team was knocked back in Game 1 before rebounding with a tough defensive win in Game 2 at Crypto.com Arena.

Though the Lakers would appear to have a significant advantage over the Wolves as the No. 3 seed in the series, fact is, Minnesota entered the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in the NBA, winning 17 of their final 21 games this season to help them avoid the play-in tournament. 

As Lakers star Austin Reaves said after the Game 2 win, both teams will need to pay attention to the small details to have a chance in this series. 

Said Reaves: “Just think it’s the how connected we are when everybody’s giving it everything they have on every possession. You’re more locked into every detail on both ends of the floor. And that’s what the playoffs is about, winning on small details. Unfortunately we didn’t do it the first game.”

Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch talks with Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards

Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

For the Lakers, one of the concerns has been health, with both forward Rui Hachimura and star LeBron James (groin) coming into the postseason at less than 100%. For the Timberwolves, though, the bill of health has been surprisingly clean. 

On Thursday night, the team announced its Game 3 injury report via the NBA, and only one player–rookie Rob Dillingham–was on it. Dillingham missed the first two games of the series, and will be out with an ankle injury.  

Dillingham had an up-and-down season with the Wolves, who acquired him in a draft deal with the Spurs last June. Dillingham was the No. 8 pick out of Kentucky. Heading into the March stretch run, Dillingham had averaged 16.3 minutes in a 21-game stretch, but fell out of favor with coach Chris Finch, as he lost his grip on a rotation spot thanks to some poor decisions.