Lakers outlast Timberwolves in historic NBA season opener

The 2024-25 NBA regular season is now officially underway. Two of the Western Conference’s most talked-about teams this offseason, the mighty Minnesota Timberwolves and the star-studded Los Angeles Lakers, squared off at the Crypto.com Arena in downtown LA

Oddly enough, the biggest headline before the game was the fate of a non-rotation player.

That’s because raw rookie point guard Bronny James, eldest son of 20-time All-NBA Lakers superstar combo forward LeBron James, was playing alongside his father for the first time in a game that counted. In this way, the two James generations made league history and were the first tandem of their kind to occupy an NBA floor at the same time. The two had already played together in three preseason contests, but those were exhibition matches whose results ultimately didn’t matter.

Read more: LeBron and Bronny James from the Lakers make NBA history

Bronny, who is clearly not part of new head coach JJ Redick’s preferred rotation, scored just under 2:41 minutes into the first half with the Lakers comfortably ahead by double digits. He scored no points on 0-of-2 shooting and recorded just one stat, one rebound.

The story of the game, however, was a duel between the two teams’ supposed standout All-Defensive Team centers, reigning Timberwolves four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert and four-time All-Defensive Team Lakers center Anthony Davis.

Considering Gobert was supposed to stifle Davis’ performance, it was pretty impressive to see the Lakers’ nine-time All-Star obliterate him.

The 6-foot-10 big man from Kentucky scored a game-high 36 points on 11 of 23 shooting from the floor (1 of 3 shooting from deep) and 13 of 15 shooting from the charity stripe. often against Gobert. Minnesota’s newly-extended center was whistled for four fouls. Davis also grabbed a game-best 16 rebounds to Gobert’s 14, showing a better feel for reading angles off the glass.

Accordingly, the Lakers survived a push by the Timberwolves late in the game and held on to win 110-103.

Minnesota, led offensively by sharp-shooting All-NBA guard Anthony Edwards, actually got off to a better start and won the first quarter 23-22.

But then the Timberwolves’ luck began to run out.

The Lakers seemed to break the game open with a 23-6 run to start the second frame. Los Angeles led by as many as 19 points, thanks largely to interior scoring from Davis and small forward Rui Hachimura. LA made a good, if not outstanding, 41.5 percent of its total field goals in the first two quarters, but only managed 3 of 19 from long range.

As is often the case over the course of a 48-minute contest, Los Angeles got tight in the second half, and the team’s problems hitting the ball deep hurt the team against a strong, versatile Minnesota team.

Although the aging LeBron James-Anthony Davis pairing is often overlooked as one of the league’s most dangerous scoring duos these days, their two-man game was strong on Tuesday night, as evidenced by this exquisite alley-oop from James to Davis for an easy flush.

Nevertheless, the Timberwolves took advantage of the Lakers’ advantage and outscored LA 32:27. At the end of the period, Minnesota was within single digits, trailing just 82-74.

With Redick playing out of reserve center Jaxson Hayes, starters D’Angelo Russell, LeBron James and Rui Hachimura, and rookie shooting guard Dalton Knecht, the Timberwolves continued to extend LA’s lead entering the fourth and final frame the regular playing time.

Minnesota – playing with a two-man lineup with Gobert and sixth man Naz Reid, as well as All-Defensive small forward Jaden McDaniels, veteran starting point guard Mike Conley and bench swingman Nickeil Alexander-Walker – came up quickly four points, 85-81. Redick called a quick timeout and swapped starting shooting guard Austin Reaves for Knecht, presumably for more ball-handling. Interestingly, Redick tried to keep Hayes for Davis as long as possible.

The Timberwolves outscored the Lakers 63-55 in the second half, but Los Angeles managed to hold on long enough to record a victory behind the heroics of James Davis (who got back into the game). 7:09 in regulation time) and Hachimura.

While coaching his first-ever NBA regular-season game, Redick made some interesting decisions. He completed a nine-man rotation, with the exception of Bronny’s brief James appearance. Redick not only retained last year’s starting lineup of Russell at the top, Reaves at both, Hachimura at small forward, James at power forward and Davis at center, and relied primarily on the perimeter returning backup point guard Gabe Vincent defense (he played crunch-time minutes in the fourth quarter).

James scored a modest 16 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the floor, while also grabbing five boards, providing four assists and blocking two shots. Hachimura scored 18 points on 7 of 14 shooting from the field and 3 of 4 shooting from the foul line while also grabbing five rebounds. Reaves (12 points) and Hayes (10) were the Lakers’ other two double-digit scorers.

Redick also played more than 15 minutes apiece against Knecht and Hayes. Hayes, who pretty much defaulted to backup minutes at center while Christian Wood was sidelined, scored 10 points on 4 of 5 shooting from the field and grabbed four boards. Knecht scored five points on 2-of-4 shooting in his official NBA debut. Newly signed shooting guard/small forward Max Christie served as LA’s ninth man and scored two points on 0 of 3 shooting in nine minutes.

Funnily enough, the Lakers enjoyed a lopsided advantage in points scored in the game, 72-40. Los Angeles also had enormous points advantages in turnovers (19-6) and assists (22-17). The Lakers finished shooting a pitiful 5 of 30 from distance (16.7 percent), a far cry from Minnesota’s 13 of 41 (31.7 percent). That’s something Los Angeles has to clean up if it doesn’t want to get swept off the floor on nights when Davis isn’t quite as herculean.

Next up for the Lakers is another home game against a 2024 West playoff team, the strong Phoenix Suns. James and Davis will host former Team USA colleagues Kevin Durant and Devin Booker on Friday.

On Thursday, the Timberwolves will face the new-look Sacramento Kings, who acquired six-time All-Star small forward DeMar DeRozan as part of a summer sign-and-trade.

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