National Basketball Association

Timberwolves vs. Lakers: Battle of Young Talent

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Timberwolves have had a rough start to the season and are looking to get a solid win against the Lakers, who have already had much more success than anticipated with a young roster in the post-Kobe era.

The Lakers are in their first season without Kobe Bryant since 1996.

With Kobe gone, guys like D’Angelo Russell and Jordan Clarkson are able to have the ball in their hands much, much more. This change has already proved to benefit the young Lakers team.

The Lakers head into this game with a winning record at 6-4. To this point, the young roster in L.A. along with new Lakers coach Luke Walton are getting the job done just fine. The Timberwolves, on the other hand, are struggling.

No one could have guessed that heading into this game, the Lakers would have a better record than the Timberwolves. The Wolves received a lot of hype over the summer, but fans are already starting to worry due to this poor start.

This game should be high energy, high emotion, and a ton of fun. Two of the youngest, most-talented teams in league squaring off should be an exciting watch for basketball fans.

Feb 2, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Louis Williams (23) guards Minnesota Timberwolves guard Andrew Wiggins (22) in the second half of the game at Staples Center. Lakers won 119-115. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Minnesota Timberwolves Preview

Record: 2-6 (1-2 home, 1-4 road)

Starting Lineup

PG – Ricky Rubio (5.3 PPG, 6.3 APG, 3.7 RPG)

SG – Zach LaVine (19.8 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 2.5 APG)

SF – Andrew Wiggins (23.8 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 2.1 APG)

PF – Gorgui Dieng (9.9 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 1.5 BPG)

C – Karl-Anthony Towns (22.1 PPG, 8.5 PPG, 2.8 APG)

Key Reserves

Now that Rubio is back from his injury, the Wolves’ bench has regained Kris Dunn. Hopefully, the time Dunn spent as a starter gave him a confidence boost and he can be extremely effective.

Tyus Jones has played exceptionally well while in the second-string point guard position. While he isn’t likely to see a lot of minutes, you should expect to see him more than usual.

Guys like Nemanja Bjelica and Brandon Rush, the latter of whom was inactive on Saturday night, need to step up their offensive game.

There are only two teams in the NBA that have three players averaging 20+ points per game: the Wolves and the Cleveland Cavaliers (Actually, LaVine’s scoring average dipped to 19.8 after Saturday’s loss. But still). This would be good for the T-Wolves if they were winning. Since they’re losing, it points to the lack of offensive production from the bench.

The Wolves need the bench to pick up the production in order for the team to get consistent wins.

Los Angeles Lakers Preview

Record: 6-4 (3-1 home, 3-3 road)

Starting Lineup

PG – D’Angelo Russell (16.2 PPG, 4.8 APG, 2.9 RPG)

SG – Nick Young (14.7 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 1 APG)

SF – Luol Deng (5.6 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.6 APG)

PF – Julius Randle (13.9 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 3.2 APG)

C – Timofey Mozgov (8.2 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 1.1 APG)

Key Reserves

Louis Williams is the most important piece off of this team’s bench — in fact, he’s leading the team scoring. This trend is likely not to be consistent all season, but as of now, Lou Will is a big, big contributor.

Another thing to point out with this roster is the minutes played; there are nine Lakers averaging over 20 minutes per game. Since this is a young roster, Coach Luke Walton is evening the playing time, and the idea is to get everyone on the floor for the same amount of time to give young guys experience.

As the second-overall draft pick, Brandon Ingram is the talk of the bench and is expected to grow into a star one day. His length is ridiculous and there are hints of Kevin Durant in his play. Jordan Clarkson is another guy being talked about quite a bit and might be the shooting guard of the future for the Lakers.

The bench isn’t far-off in production when compared with the starters. Expect the same tempo throughout the game, no matter who is on the floor for L.A.

Feb 2, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) and Los Angeles Lakers center Tarik Black (28) battle for a rebound in the second half of the game at Staples Center. Lakers won 119-115. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Three Things to Watch

1. Brandon Ingram matched up with Andrew Wiggins. These are two young, emerging small forwards in this league. Wiggins has more experience and success that Ingram, but this should be a fun match-up regardless.

In the future, this could be a much closer match-up. Both players are extremely thin and don’t take contact all that well, so I’d expect high efficiency from both players when matched up. Of course, Wiggins will surely play twice as many minutes at the Lakers rookie, but it’ll be fun to see them together even in limited minutes.

2. The Lakers’ energy. The Lakers played in New Orleans on Saturday and head back to L.A. on Sunday for this game. On the other side, the Timberwolves played the Clippers at home on Saturday so they should be more rested and settled than the Lakers.

The young guys on the Lakers might not be used to making quick trips like that and that could reflect on the floor. Hopefully, this could be a factor that the Timberwolves can take advantage of.

3. The third quarter. So far this season, the Wolves have blown multiple third quarter leads. Even in the two wins, the third quarters have been dicey. Watch this game’s third quarter to see if the Wolves take advantage of the immaturity of this Lakers squad.

Nov 10, 2016; Sacramento, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton looks on against the Sacramento Kings during the second half at Golden 1 Center. The Lakers won the game 101-91. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports

Game Prediction

While the Lakers will be the favorite in this game, anything can happen. The Wolves are inexperienced, but the Lakers are even more inexperienced. The two teams will come out with a lot of energy and you can expect a close contest in this one.

This is really a toss-up with both teams having played less than 24 hours prior, so don’t be surprised with any outcome to this high-energy game.