The Los Angeles Lakers had a season to remember this year. They suffered the worst start a team could imagine losing ten games out of twelve. If that was not worse, then the Lakers had to deal with injuries and a lack of balance in the roster. Finally, they overcame all these obstacles to get to the top ten. The Lakers are looking dangerous with the abundance of quality in their roster. They tried their best, but unfortunately, they could not reach the top six.
Nonetheless, the LA franchise has a chance to make the playoffs. They need to do well in the play-in tournament. The Lakers will face the eighth-seed Minnesota Timberwolves. The last encounter between the two teams saw the Lakers having the last laugh. But it is going to be interesting to see what happens in the play-in round. In the last two games, the Timberwolves won, and the Lakers won another one. Hence, it is not going to be easy for the Lakers.
Jaden And Rudy May Not Play Against The Lakers
However, the good news for the fans is that a couple of players of the Timberwolves have become questionable to play out the whole season. Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert may miss the play-in game against the Lakers on Tuesday, April 11, 2023. Jaden broke his hand, and there is a good chance that he will miss Tuesday’s game. But Rudy may or may not miss that game. Gobert had an ugly fight with his Timberwolves teammate, Kyle Anderson, and later was sent off. In the same game against the Pelicans a few minutes later that incident McDaniels broke his hand in frustration. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski mentioned, “McDaniels punched a wall in anger, and later reports came out suggesting he has fractured his hand.”
ESPN Sources: Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert escalated a verbal argument to a physical encounter after Kyle Anderson told him to “Shut the f— up, bitch.” The disagreement started with Anderson telling Gobert to block some shots, Gobert telling him to grab a rebound – and ended with a…
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 9, 2023
Emotions got the best of me today. I should not have reacted the way i did regardless of what was said. I wanna apologize to the fans, the organisation and particularly to Kyle, who is someone that i truly love and respect as a teammate.
— Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) April 10, 2023
This game saw the Timberwolves’ fortunes kind of fall apart for the next game against the Lakers. Tim Connelly, the President of the Minnesota Timberwolves team, later reacted to this incident. Connelly mentioned, “Rudy’s behavior is unacceptable, and it will be taken care of internally.” Meanwhile, this question mark to Rudy and Jaden makes this more difficult for the preparation process of the Timberwolves for the next game. The LA side is anyway looking stronger than ever before. The Purple and Gold won the last two games of the regular season.
LA Franchise Looks Stronger Than Ever
Now, the question for the Timberwolves is, who will stop the force of James-Davis-Russell-Reaves on Tuesday? These four horsemen of the LA side look invincible at the moment. They had their fair share of injury issues, but then they came back stronger and more focused. If it was not for a difference of an extra game win between the Lakers and both the Warriors and the Clippers.
The top-six finish was very gettable. These four horsemen of the LA side look ready to take their team home. After the February trades, the Lakers look fresh and worthy of claiming the championship for the record 18th time. All they need to take care of is no more injuries, and they will be safely home.
