You’ve heard of Prime Time. But tonight was a different type of Prime Time. It was the first primetime NBA game on Amazon Prime. On a beautiful 70 degree Los Angeles evening, Crypto.com Arena was packed full of fans and stars. Dwyane Wade. Candace Parker. Justin Herbert. Even the Timberwolves very own Kevin Harlan! The Los Angeles Lakers may have been missing their biggest star in LeBron James, but no one remembered that just minutes into the game.
Luka Dončić made sure of that.
Dončić poured in an eye-popping 23 points in the first 11 minutes of the game. Anthony Edwards responded to Dončić’s jawing with 14 points of his own. It was a fire fight right from the start. Both teams converted on over 56% of their field goal attempts which included a dueling seven of 14 mark from beyond the arc in just the first quarter.
The audience was in for a treat.
Minnesota held an advantage after the first quarter by hammering Los Angeles on the offensive glass and earning second chance points. That didn’t last long though, as the Lakers slowly but surely marched ahead in the next stanza. The defensive tenacity of the oft-injured Marcus Smart and Jarred Vanderbilt started to get under the collective skin of Timberwolves. Meanwhile, Dončić led a parade to the charity stripe as Minnesota spiraled into foul trouble. His point total tallied up to 32 by halftime as the Lakers led 67-63.
It was giving 2024 Western Conference Finals.
Julius Randle was having himself a solid night on the offensive end of the court, but it just wasn’t enough. The mountain of fouls that the Wolves racked up in the first half only grew larger in the third. They went from committing seven fouls in the second quarter, to 10 in the next. Four different Wolves had at least three personal fouls. It was an easy quarter for the Lakers, outscoring Minnesota by nine for the second straight quarter.
It was all academic from there.
The Wolves were getting slim to nothing from anyone not named Edwards or Randle. A 14-point deficit quickly ballooned as Dončić was getting whatever he wanted on the offensive end. Minnesota got thoroughly embarrassed as he hit an off-balance fading triple in a defenders face, then shimmied to the crowd as Finch called a timeout.
How about a just above the rim and-one dunk as he went tumbling into his own tunnel laughing. Both Rudy Gobert and Donte DiVincenzo spoke at length after the game about how their team let the offense effect the defense, resulting in poor effort and process. The Los Angeles crowd delighted in Minnesota’s demise, chanting for Bronny James with just under five minutes remaining in the game. He did end up playing and had one missed field goal to go with one personal foul.
The Timberwolves were run out of the the arena as Finch finally pulled the plug with 3:59 left in the gam down 23, putting in all the bench warmers. The mood in the locker room was rather muted, as multiple players mumbled about the foul calls against their favor. Jaden McDaniels murmured that the media wouldn’t want to hear him talk as he would “say all kinds of crazy things.”
They head home with their tail tucked between their legs.
The Wolves will spend the night in Los Angeles before finally heading back to Minnesota for their home opener against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, October 26th at 6:00 PM CT. Though the Pacers will be without the services of Tyrese Haliburton, they will likely continue to be a thorn in the Wolves side with their (sorry) pace. Catch the game on FanDuel Sports Network – North.