LOS ANGELES — When Luka Doncic scored 16 points in the first quarter of his playoff debut with his new team, the Los Angeles Lakers’ downtown arena crackled with excitement from fans probably imagining dream scenarios for their team and its new superstar this spring.
The Timberwolves made sure that dream got ugly quite quickly in Game 1. They also left the Lakers looking for ways to help Doncic before Minnesota runs away with this first-round series.
Doncic scored 37 points and eight rebounds, but it wasn’t nearly enough to counter the Wolves’ balanced scoring in their 117-95 victory Saturday night.
After an impressive start by their Slovenian superstar, the Lakers were comprehensively embarrassed during their first postseason Game 1 in front of a full home arena since 2012. Los Angeles didn’t demonstrate the toughness necessary to hang with the physical, veteran Wolves on defence — and only Doncic produced an impressive game on offence.
The combination led to a 27-point deficit in the second half and a laugher of a victory for the Wolves, who immediately seized homecourt advantage in the series after finishing just one win behind the Lakers in the regular season.
“They’re a great opponent,” JJ Redick said after losing his playoff coaching debut. “They’re one of the best teams in basketball. It’s not to say our guys weren’t ready to withstand playoff-level basketball. We were mentally ready, and I thought our spirit was right. … I’m not sure physically we were ready, if that makes sense. When they start playing with a lot of thrust and physicality, we really just couldn’t respond to that.”
Minnesota’s superior physicality was obvious for long stretches, even with Rudy Gobert playing only 24 minutes. But the Wolves took control and kept it largely because they hit 21 3-pointers on only 42 attempts.
The Lakers lack a dominant big man after trading Anthony Davis, and Jaden McDaniels took advantage of that while scoring 25 points. But that doesn’t explain the Lakers’ poor effort on the perimeter, where they have enough athletes to guard most teams competently when they make the effort.
“I think it was physical, (and) they were hitting a lot of 3s,” Doncic said. “We have to limit their 3s, especially their lasers. We weren’t physical. They were running. They were getting anything they want, and we have to be better.”
Doncic knew that applied to him personally on the offensive end despite his gaudy point total: The gifted passer had just one assist, his lowest total since Game 1 of last season’s NBA Finals.
LeBron James also got off to an unimpressive start to his 18th NBA postseason, scoring 19 points and going 1 for 5 on 3-point attempts while producing only three assists and five rebounds in 36 minutes.
The 40-year-old James can’t be shaken by one loss, and he focused on clear areas for improvement in Game 2 on Tuesday. He particularly lamented the Lakers’ transition defence, which allowed 25 fast-break points.
“Throughout the whole season, we did a great job of not allowing teams to get fast break point after fast break point,” James said. “We already know offensively how dangerous they are, so in giving teams an opportunity to get those easy points, it’s gonna be hard to make that up.”
The Lakers’ crowd stayed in the game throughout the night, but the huge second-half deficit obviously dampened the excitement. Minnesota star Anthony Edwards wasn’t exactly complimentary about that crowd after the Wolves cruised to victory, either
“An atmosphere like this, it’s easy for me, man,” Edwards said. “I’ve played in Denver, man. Denver is a tough place to play on the road. So I mean, it was nothing.”
