LeBron James totaled 30 points, 13 rebounds and 7 assists to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 112-104 road victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night, February 16 (Wednesday, February 17, Philippine time) in Minneapolis.
The Lakers, one of the best road teams in the league this season, won for the 13th time in 16 games away from L.A. and prevailed for the eighth time in their past 9 games overall.
Playing without Anthony Davis, who is expected to miss multiple weeks after straining his right Achilles, the Lakers trailed 81-77 with 1:56 left in the 3rd quarter.
James sparked a 26-8 surge that helped the Lakers open up a 14-point lead in the final quarter and eventually hold on for the victory.
Kyle Kuzma (7 points) started again with Davis out, but it was Montrezl Harrell who was clutch off the bench with 17 points and 6 rebounds, and Marc Gasol (11 points) on the defensive end limiting Karl-Anthony Towns to only 15 points and 6 rebounds.
Towns was averaging 21 points over his first 3 games back since returning from a 13-game absence due to a positive COVID-19 test.
Dennis Schroder also delivered on the offensive end shooting 9-for-15 and finishing with 24 points. The Lakers made 11-of-26 three-point attempts (42.3%).
But Minnesota was sharp from long distance as well, connecting on 16-of-34 attempts (47.1%). Rookie Anthony Edwards led the Timberwolves with 28 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists.
Jordan McLaughlin and Ricky Rubio each finished with 13 points, and Naz Reid had 10 points.
But Malik Beasley struggled from the field shooting 4-of-15 and finishing with only 11 points after averaging 24.6 points per game over his previous 7.
Things got worse on the injury front for the Timberwolves on Tuesday.
According to ESPN, Minnesota is expected to be without guard D’Angelo Russell for the next 4-6 weeks after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.
Russell is averaging 19.3 points and 5.1 assists in 20 games this season. – Rappler.com
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