The Timberwolves came into the series internally confident in how they matched up with the LA Lakers and still believe they can keep winning without relying on unexpected performances from role players.
Many experts counted out the Minnesota Timberwolves before their first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers. But they quickly proved the doubters wrong, stunning the LA Lakers with a 117-95 win in Game 1 and stealing home-court advantage.
According to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, the Timberwolves entered the series with full confidence in their matchup against the Lakers.
"The Timberwolves themselves internally came into this series incredibly confident with how they matched up," Krawczynski said on the Jovan Buha podcast. "They were not surprised at all by the outcome on Saturday. Now, there is an even greater sort of optimism from them.
Los Angeles Lakers
Minnesota Timberwolves"Yes, they had their way in Game 1, but they by no means played a perfect game. Julius Randle had 7 turnovers. Rudy Gobert, who has been so involved offensively over the last 6 weeks, really didn't get many shots and didn't shoot well," the reporter added.
"They view it as less of a crazy outlier performance that led to the Game 1 win, and yes, they got a really kind of unexpected offensive contribution from Jaden McDaniels, but they have many other levers to pull.
"They still believe and they're confident that they can keep winning games even if those kinds of performances from Naz [Reid] and Jaden don't happen in Game 2."
Both teams are expected to make adjustments ahead of Game 2, which will be played Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena. It remains to be seen who will grab the momentum heading into the rest of the series.
