A Dip in the Lake: The Lakers playoff history against the Timberwolves
A look back at the past matchups of the Lakers and the Wolves in the NBA playoffs.
There is a lot of geographical and on-court history between the Lakers and Wolves ahead of their showdown in this year’s NBA Playoffs..
Much of that history comes down to how one team was uprooted from the Land of 10,000 Lakes in 1960 to go to the sunny weather of Los Angeles and a new expansion team came into existence in 1989 in it’s place.
Over the next seven years after the Timberwolves birth, the two franchises found arguably their greatest players ever in Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant in the 1995 and 1996 draft, respectively.
The Lakers used that selection to help build a dynasty while the Wolves front office tried to be sneaky in the 2000s in attempting to circumvent the salary cap and ultimately lost four first round draft picks. Eventually, the two sides crossed paths in the playoffs.
Prior to that 2003 postseason matchup with the Lakers, the Timberwolves were recovering from trying to get Joe Smith’s bird rights, leading to the aforementioned punishment. Meanwhile the Lakers were coming off a three-peat and were eyeing a fourth straight title.
Its time to take a dip in the Lake.
2003 Western Conference First Round
This is the first year where the first round expanded from a five-game series to the best-of-7 format.
Leading up to this series, the Lakers finished with a 50-32 record and were the No. 5 seed. The Timberwolves were the No. 4 seed with a 51-31 record.
In Game 1, it was the Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal show as usual with Derek Fisher adding clutch shots to start the game.
The Timberwolves gave up 39 points in the first quarter, the most points allowed that season in a quarter for the Timberwolves that season. Kobe Bryant scored 16 of his 39 points in the second quarter. The Lakers kept feeding Shaq throughout as he scored 32 points.
The Lakers role players stepped up as Fisher scored 17 points, Devean George had 11 and Rick Fox added 10. The Timberwolves had more balanced scoring with Kevin Garnett leading the way with 23 points with five other players in double figures, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Kobe and Shaq.
Game 2 was the Troy Hudson game as he led the Timberwolves in scoring with 37. Garnett was just behind with 35. Wally Szczerbiak added 21 and Marc Jackson — Not the Pacers player or Warriors head coach — scored 12 and had nine rebounds.
Kobe and Shaq were held to 27 each and the role players didn’t step up. The Timberwolves won game two and tied up the series 1-1.
After splitting the games in Minnesota, the Lakers returned and made a starting lineup change with Mark Madsen heading to the bench for Robert Horry.
Game 3 was close throughout, with the fourth quarter making the difference ultimately. Heading into the finale frame, the Timberwolves led 80-71. The Lakers turned to Shaq in that fourth. With just over a minute left, Kevin Garnett got the lead to 97-91. It took some key plays for the Lakers to force it to overtime, let alone win it.
With 17.7 left and the Lakers down 101-96, Kobe hit a 3-pointer with a foul, bringing it to 101-100. The Timberwolves lost the ball and then Kobe was fouled, splitting the pair to send it to overtime. In overtime. the Lakers tied it at 105 with a few minutes left but the Timberwolves overcame their collapse to earn the win.
Game 4 was a bounce back game with the Lakers winning. Had this been a series just one year prior, the Lakers would be facing elimination but since this was a seven-game series, the Lakers had more life.
Game 5 was just a dominant game by the Lakers. Kobe took over and the new starting 5 made it difficult for the Timberwolves to do much of anything offensively. Fisher, Kobe, George, Horry and Shaq were all in double digits for the game.
Game 6 was the last stand of the Timberwolves and without being able to adapt to the new Lakers starting five, they lost 101-85.
2004 Western Conference Finals
After a disappointing end to both teams' efforts in the playoffs the year prior, each went out and got some backup. They would meet again, but this time in the Western Conference Finals.
In Game 1, it was the Big 4 that led the way for the Lakers.
Game 2 was a tale of two benches. The Lakers bench only scored 14 points. For Minnesota, Sczerbiak scored 16, Darrick Martin scored 15 and the remaining bench pitched in another 10 points.
After suffering an injury early in Game 2, Sam Cassell returned for Game 3 and scored 18 points in 26 minutes, but he would not suit up for the rest of the series.
With the series tied at 1-1 the Lakers would take over and win the next two games and force the Wolves to the brink of elimination.
Game 5 was piviotal. In this game, Kevin Garnett, the MVP of the league, would prove why he was just that. He finished with 30 points, 19 rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block.
One of his partners in crime, Latrell Sprewell, scored 28. They got help from sharpshooter Fred Hoiberg with 14 and Wally chipped in 11. The Timberwolves won the game to avoid elimination.
To close the door on the Timberwolves, Shaq had 25 points, 11 rebounds, one assist and one block in a closely contested matchup.
Once again, it was a 4-2 series with the Lakers winning and heading to the NBA Finals to face the Detroit Pistons. [Editor’s note: nothing happened in those Finals we do not need to talk about them]
After not winning the championship, Kobe and Shaq broke up. It would be the Kobe show for many years until 2008 when he would get his costar in Pau Gasol. Meanwhile, the Timberwolves wasted KG's prime before trading him to the Celtics where he won a championship in 2008.
Both teams went through many iterations until two players came to their respective teams, one in the draft and one in free agency. Anthony Edwards was selected No. 1 overall in the 2020 NBA Draft by the Timberwolves and LeBron James chose the Lakers in free agency in 2018.
2023 Western Conference Play-In
In the 7-8 play-in game, the Lakers hosted the Wolves.
LA won this game 108-102 in overtime. Minnesota would eventually make the playoffs as the No. 8 seed after beating the Thunder before losing to the Nuggets in the first round. The Lakers would face the Grizzlies, Warriors and Nuggets, losing to the eventual NBA champions in Denver in the Western Conference Finals.
2025 first round
While the Wolves have a number of players remaining from that play-in game taking part in this series, only LeBron James, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt remain for the Lakers.
Will the continuity of the Timberwolves make a difference in the matchup or will the new Lakers additions, namely Luka Doncic among others, be enough?
Matchup history is from LandofBasketball.com.
When I am not posting ridiculous trades on here you can find me talking about Nintendo, LGBT content, music, and the Lakers on my Twitter. You can follow Alexis on Twitter at @BeautifulShy_RS and on BlueSky at @msshyskye.bsky.social.