{"id":832,"date":"2025-04-26T06:28:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T06:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/832\/"},"modified":"2025-04-26T06:28:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T06:28:11","slug":"lebron-lakers-lose-to-timberwolves-in-game-3-of-playoffs-basketball-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/832\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron, Lakers lose to Timberwolves in Game 3 of playoffs | Basketball News"},"content":{"rendered":"

LeBron James scores 38 but the LA Lakers fall to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 3 of their first-round, Western Conference NBA playoff series.<\/p>\n

Jaden McDaniels scored 30 points, Anthony Edwards had 29, and the Minnesota Timberwolves finished strong for a 116-104 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

Julius Randle added 22 points for Minnesota, which took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Naz Reid and Donte DiVincenzo came off the bench to chip in 11 and 10 points, respectively.<\/p>\n

LeBron James netted a game-high 38 points on 13-for-21 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Los Angeles on Friday night. Austin Reaves scored 20 points, thanks largely to five 3-pointers, and Luka Doncic scored 17 points but made only 6 of 16 shots from the field and 2 of 8 from 3-point range. Doncic also had five of Los Angeles\u2019 19 turnovers but contributed eight assists and seven rebounds.<\/p>\n

The Timberwolves outscored the Lakers 62-46 in the second half.<\/p>\n

Doncic drove towards the rim and made a step-back jumper to even the score at 103-103 with 4:37 to go in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles had trailed 100-93 after Reid knocked down a 3-pointer with 7:31 remaining.<\/p>\n

The Timberwolves built their lead back to seven points in the next couple of minutes.<\/p>\n

Edwards put Minnesota back on top 106-103 with a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 4:19 to go. Reid followed with a 3-pointer from the left wing to make it 109-103.<\/p>\n

After Reaves made one of two free throws to cut the deficit to 109-104, Edwards took control again. He drove against James and finished with a layup to increase the Timberwolves\u2019 lead to 111-104 with 2:18 remaining.<\/p>\n

Edwards then set the home crowd into hysterics when he dribbled between his legs and stepped back for a long triple to make it 113-104 with 1:06 left.<\/p>\n

Rui Hachimura missed a 3-pointer on the opposite end for the Lakers, and McDaniels added to the late surge with a 3-pointer from the right corner to make it 116-104 with 39.1 seconds left.<\/p>\n

The Timberwolves led 86-84 at the end of the third quarter.<\/p>\n

An 8-0 run early in the third quarter allowed Minnesota to overtake the Lakers. Edwards and Randle hit back-to-back 3-pointers to punctuate the run, which ended when James scored on an alley-oop dunk to pull Los Angeles within 67-65.<\/p>\n

Edwards provided a highlight-reel play to give the Timberwolves a 76-72 edge with 4:39 left in the third quarter. He drove the baseline and soared past a leaping Doncic for a dunk.<\/p>\n

The Lakers led 58-54 at the half.<\/p>\n

Game 4 is in Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\"LeBronLos Angeles Lakers\u2019 LeBron James #23 scored a game-high 38 points in Game 3 against the Minnesota Timberwolves on April 25, 2025, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, US [Jordan Johnson\/Getty Images via AFP]<\/p>\n

In two earlier playoff games played on Friday, Gary Trent Jr and Giannis Antetokounmpo each scored 37 points while leading the Bucks to a 117-101 comeback victory over the visiting Indiana Pacers, cutting Milwaukee\u2019s deficit in the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series to 2-1.<\/p>\n

Game 4 is scheduled for Sunday in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

In Florida, Franz Wagner broke a late tie with consecutive driving hoops over Kristaps Porzingis, and the Orlando Magic, riding a suffocating defence and surviving a wild finish, held off the visiting Boston Celtics 95-93 in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.<\/p>\n

Wagner finished with a team-high 32 points and Paolo Banchero 29 for the Magic, who held serve at home after losing the first two games of the best-of-seven series in Boston. Game 4 also will be played at Orlando on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"GaryMilwaukee\u2019s Gary Trent Jr tied a franchise playoff record with nine 3-pointers against the Indiana Pacers in Game 3 of their first-round NBA playoff series at Fiserv Forum on April 25, 2025, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US [John Fisher\/Getty Images via AFP]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LeBron James scores 38 but the LA Lakers fall to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 3 of their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,6,11,67,275,417,418],"class_list":{"0":"post-832","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-playoffs","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-nba-playoffs","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-sport","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-us-canada"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}