The Los Angeles Lakers have been through numerous key injuries, bad or questionable trades, poor roster construction and perhaps plain old bad luck over the last two years. But they have seemingly turned the page. They head into the NBA playoffs against the Memphis Grizzlies after being conspicuously absent from the postseason last year.
They did so by earning an ugly and gutsy 108-102 overtime win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in the play-in tournament on Tuesday. Los Angeles fell behind by as many as 15 points in the third quarter, but it turned things up a couple of notches and achieved a win the old-fashioned way — with a suffocating defense that held Minnesota to 16 points in the fourth quarter and overtime combined.
LeBron James led the way with 30 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Anthony Davis added 24 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, three blocked shots and two steals. Dennis Schroder contributed 24 points off the bench.
Fans on Twitter are pleased that the Lakers will be headed to the NBA’s “second season” to play for a shot at the world championship.