LeBron James took a shot at analysts after his Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves to advance to NBA playoffs.
After their horrible start to the 2022/23 season, the Lakers booked their place in the NBA Play-In as they concluded the regular season with a 128-117 win over the Utah Jazz on Sunday. On Tuesday night, the 43-39 Lakers secured a 108-102 win against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Play-In to clinch the seventh seed in the Western Conference.
The win means the Lakers have set up a first round playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies, who finished second in the west. However, James and co. will be ready after defeating the Timberwolves, who were without Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert due to separate punching incidents.
The Lakers - who rallied from 13th in the standings at the All-Star break to finish seventh - had to dig deep as Karl Anthony-Towns’ 17 first half points threatened to crash their post-season party, but James led the way. The four-time MVP scored 30 points to go with 10 rebounds and six assists, and he is ready for a play-off run after a long and challenging season.
“When we went 2-10 the analytics side gave us a 0.3% chance of making the pos-tseason," James said. “For us to turn around our season, for us to have an opportunity to compete for the Larry O'Brien trophy, that's all you can ask for.”
Lakers head coach Darvin Ham admitted he and his staff needed to move Davis - who scored 24 points and added 15 rebounds - around more as the former New Orleans Pelicans star faces double teams each and every time he finds isolation on the floor. The 30-year-old is a dominant big and could cause problems for the Grizzlies, although they will be missing Steven Adams who would be an obvious match-up.
However, Ham is confident the difficult regular season has battle-hardened his Lakers, adding: “Some of the huge disappointing losses that we experienced early on, whether it was a defensive breakdown, whether it was an unfortunate foul ... it's totally uncomfortable when you are in the moment and going through those things. But you have to find a silver lining in things, whether it's basketball, major sports in general and life.”
Elsewhere, Trae Young’s 25 points - and Clint Capela’s 21 rebounds - ensured the Atlanta Hawks secured a road win against the Miami Heat to clinch the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. It means the Hawks will face the Boston Celtics i n the Play-Offs.
Miami will take on Wednesday’s winner between the Toronto Raptors and Chicago Bulls in the Play-In round. The overall winner will secure the right to face the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the Play-Offs
