Another winning streak?
The 20-3 Los Angeles Lakers have won each of their last three games following last week’s defeat to the Dallas Mavericks. Each victory has showcased a commanding style that has resulted in compiling over 120 points per game, shooting over 50% from the floor, and winning by an average margin of 20 points.
Just like it has been all season, it’s LeBron James and Anthony Davis that’s providing much of the damage in the said span, with the former netting 25.7 points and 9.7 assists and the latter dropping 30 points on 60%-shooting. Both will be in an intriguing match-up, as James has the task of stopping swingmen like Andrew Wiggins and Davis has to bang bodies with Karl-Anthony Towns, who, like him, is an elite-level big man.
The much-improved defense of the Lake Show, which currently ranks inside the top three in points allowed (103.7 PPG) and defensive efficiency, will be tested early. We’ll see if it can contain the inside attack and force the Wolves to keep taking outside shots. LA is 28th in opponent three-point shooting and has only allowed the opposition to shoot just 31.9% from beyond the arc in its last three games.
The Lakers are 9-2 at home this season.
Losers of three-straight
The Minnesota Timberwolves head to the game in a three-game skid and a 10-11 record. They went below the .500 mark following Saturday’s 139-127 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, where they allowed a last-second, full-court assist at the end of regulation and then proceeded to get outscored in the extra period, 17-5.
The aim to break out of the slump will be tougher than usual as the Karl-Anthony Towns-Andrew Wiggins tandem is questionable, with Wiggins currently day-to-day due to a thumb injury. He missed the team’s recent outing and brought 24.9 PPG with him.
The would-be absence will mean more opportunities and production for Towns. He’s averaging 26.2 points, 11.9 rebounds, and 4.5 assists and has put up over 30 points and 11 boards this season in the four total games that Wiggins has been sidelined all year.
Also bound for more action in Wiggins’s injury is Jeff Teague and Robert Covington. Teague, the Wolves’ floor general, is dishing out 11.2 APG without Wiggins and will be coming off a season-high 32 points. Covington, meanwhile, is chipping in 16.7 points in the same four games.
Considering the up-and-down year, the Wolves are surprisingly a decent road team this season as they hold a 7-4 record outside Minnesota.
PREDICTION:
The Lakers win, 116-106, but don’t count out Towns. In his last six meetings with Davis, he has five double-doubles, one 20-20 game, and one 32-point performance.
