The NBA season enters the business stage this weekend as the playoffs begin, and the Los Angeles Lakers will be looking to take a step towards a record-breaking championship when they face off against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round.
The Lakers earned the number three seed in the Western Conference with a 50-32 record and will be hoping the relationship between LeBron James and Luka Doncic can continue. The Timberwolves on the other hand earned the number six seed with a 49-33 record.
We’ll take a look at the clash between the two teams and provide you with our best free NBA betting picks to try and earn you some extra cash while you take in the action on the court.
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The Lakers have had a fantastic season after a disappointing campaign last year, and will feel increasingly confident about their chances of a record-equalling 18th championship.
Head coach JJ Reddick has come in and led the team to great success, with a winning month every season to help them earn a 50-32 record in the regular season and the number three seed as a result of prevailing on tie-break situations with the Denver Nuggets and LA Clippers.
The season will be remembered as the year where LeBron James and his son Bronny James played together in the NBA, for a league-first moment, but also the year where the Lakers shook up the league by trading to bring in Dallas Mavericks‘ superstar Doncic in place of Anthony Davis.
A topsy-turvy start to the season saw them really kick on in January and February as they went on an exciting 19-7 run in order to push into the playoff spots.
Austin Reaves has found himself in a great spot heading into the postseason too, giving Los Angeles a great base to build on as they look to go on a deep run.
The Timberwolves have had a decent season themselves under head coach Chris Finch, and will believe they have a great chance of progressing into the latter stages.
A slow start to the campaign saw them go 9-10 over the first two months of the season, but they found their rhythm shortly after and went 8-5 in December in order to climb up the standings. They then improved to 27-21 at the end of January after an impressive five-game winning streak to end the month.
February was a difficult month for them, however, causing them some issues as they went 5-8 including a 1-4 run after the All-Star break.
But following that period of poor results they finally clicked into gear, starting March with an eight-game winning streak as they went 11-3 before then ending the regular season by going 6-1 in April with their only defeat coming against an inspired Milwaukee Bucks side.
They now head into the playoffs with Julius Randle, Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert all in exceptional form and looking to cause an upset.
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The Lakers will feel as though this is the ideal draw for them after the way they managed to secure their third seed spot.
The two teams are quite evenly matched heading into the series and they’re both in good form, but for the Lakers this is the best options they could have got by avoiding first-round games against the Denver Nuggets, LA Clippers or Golden State Warriors.
Despite that, Minnesota was one of four teams to rank in the top eight in the Association in both offensive and defensive efficiency, but they have a very heavy reliance on Edwards in their recent run. Edwards has averaged 27.6 points per game, 5.7 rebounds per game and 4.5 assists per game this season, and that is going to become even more of an issue following Karl-Anthony Towns’ exit to the New York Knicks.
The quality that both rosters possess means this is likely to be a close series. Minnesota have great size and their form in the build-up to this series means they will have plenty of confidence.
However, ultimately the Lakers should just have too much firepower for them. LeBron James is still firing on all cylinders despite being 40 years old, while Doncic has taken like a duck to water to life in Los Angeles. Alongside Reaves, who is stepping up to the plate as a key player this season, they should be able to get the win over the series to progress to the next round.
At -200 there is great value for them to do just that too, so grab it while you can before they likely win the first game and the odds drop.
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About the Author
Daniel is a football writer who has a great thirst for the Premier League and other major European leagues. A lover of the beautiful game and a firm believer that the eye test is better than statistics. Also an avid MMA fan.
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