The NBA season is in the business stage as we hit game 3 of the playoffs, with the Los Angeles Lakers taking on the Minnesota Timberwolves in their series.
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, while the Timberwolves on the other hand earned the number six seed with a 49-33 record. The series is currently tied at 1-1 after two games in LA.
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 fine campaign after disappointment last year, and they will be feeling increasingly confident of going all the way to win a record-equalling 18th NBA championship.
JJ Reddick came into the head coach role under plenty of scepticism but he has led the team to great success, with a winning month in every month throughout the season as they earned a 50-32 record in the regular season – earning the number three seed due to winning tie-break situations with the Denver Nuggets and LA Clippers.
But this is a season that will be remembered for the Lakers trading superstar Defensive Player of the Year candidate Anthony Davis to bring in superstar Luka Doncic in his place, while star man LeBron James also played in the NBA alongside his son Bronny James – as they became the first father-son duo in history.
The playoff campaign so far hasn’t really gone to plan though. A disappointing performance in the opening game against the Timberwolves saw the Lakers fall to a 117-95 defeat despite Doncic hitting 37 points and eight rebounds. The team bounced back in game 2 with a stellar defensive display, as Doncic hit 31-12-9 to help the team head to the road in good spirits.
Head coach Chris Finch has led the Timberwolves to a strong season, which saw them put together a 49-33 season and feeling like they have a great chance of reaching the latter stages of the playoffs.
It wasn’t an easy start to the season with Minnesota initially going 9-10 over the first two months, before the team went 8-5 in December to begin climbing up the rankings and finding their rhythm. A five game winning-streak in January also helped as they ended January with a 27-21 record.
But February was difficult and the Timberwolves struggled after the All-Star break, with a 1-4 run leaving them on a 5-8 skid. But they finally found their rhythm once more and went on an eight-game winning run in March, before ending the season with an 19-4 run.
Julius Randle, Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert are the standout players so far this season and they’ve carried that into the playoff games against the Lakers.
Edwards has average 22 points per game alongside eight rebounds and nine assists in the opening two games of the series, while Jaden McDaniels has top-scored for the team with 25 points on average.
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The series has been interesting so far with both games going against the grain of expectation among many fans.
The opening game saw the Lakers totally overpowered and outplayed across the four quarters and they ultimately fell to a heavy defeat, which left most expecting a similar type of performance in Game 2. However, Los Angeles found some defensive grit to stop the Timberwolves from playing, and eventually grinded out a win thanks to their greater individual quality.
Now that we know they can do that against this Minnesota team, they have no reason to change their approach for Game 3.
On the road their regular season record was disappointing, going 19-22. In the regular season they also went 2-2 against Minnesota, with both teams winning their home games. But the experience of this Lakers side in a playoff situation means they will have confidence of breaking that run.
They already lost at home to the Timberwolves meaning the run of home wins is over in the series between the teams all season, and the Lakers are well-placed to do the same this time around.
The Timberwolves are favorites for a reason. Their home advantage has been solid for them all season, as they went 25-16 and the fans will be behind them. But with LeBron and Doncic in good form and Austin Reeves also performing well, take the value bet of the Lakers to claim a victory in a controlled fixture to give them the advantage in the series.
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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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