Life without LeBron James continued for the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday when they hosted the Minnesota Timberwolves.
They were coming off a road trip in which they had won two of three games, and overall they had taken five of their last seven contests.
Los Angeles got off to a fast start, but the Timberwolves fought back, and in the third quarter they muscled their way to a double-digit lead as they rendered the Lakers slow and stagnant offensively. After the game, head coach Darvin Ham said the Lakers looked like they were “playing in mud” as he seemed to lament the fact they had only 10 fast-break points all night while giving up 26.
Anthony Davis and company made a run down the stretch, but it was too little, too late, as L.A. fell to Minnesota 110-102.
While Davis had a huge game, his teammates were of little help. The team shot just 41.9 percent from the field and 32.3 percent from 3-point range, and its 23 assists were indicative of its lack of ball movement and pace in the second half when it mustered just 47 points.
With a 30-34 record, the Lakers have fallen to a full game behind the 10th-place New Orleans Pelicans and three games behind the sixth-place Dallas Mavericks.