Lakers bullied physically by Wolves in Game 1 defeat

It wasn’t pretty and things got ugly fast as the Lakers were dominated by the aggressive Wolves in Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Playoffs.

LOS ANGELES - Saturday night was set up to be a wonderful start for the Lakers in their NBA Playoffs opener against the Wolves.

The Lakers had nearly a week of rest, Hollywood stars like Jack Black and Will Ferrell were in attendance and L.A. had their own star power on the court with Luka Dončić and LeBron James ready to go.

What was supposed to be a happy opening scene to the start of Los Angeles’ journey to banner No. 18 quickly became a horror movie with the Wolves terrorizing the Lakers.

Game 1 ended with Minnesota beating Los Angeles 117-95, a score that fails to demonstrate just how dominant the visitors were.

The second quarter was where things went off the rails for the Lakers.

Minnesota outrebounded Los Angeles 13-8 and were able to spread the Lakers out and get off open look after open look from deep.

Naz Reid feasted from the perimeter, going a perfect 4-4 from 3-point range in the period. His biggest basket came off a corner three where he hit a rainbow shot over Dorian Finney-Smith, forcing JJ Redick to call a timeout.

Reid looked at the Lakers’ bench with a smile that was as menacing as it was gleeful.

The Lakers’ playoff theme may be “Unleash Joy,” but only Reid and Minnesota experienced any kind of happiness inside Crypto.com Arena on Saturday night.

While the Luka trade was a no-brainer, it did take away their best big in Anthony Davis.

The Lakers already lacked depth at center and the failed Mark Williams trade meant they never properly addressed this flaw. In Game 1, the Wolves exploited it in a way virtually no team has been able to.

“I’m not sure physically we were ready if that makes sense,” JJ Redick said. “Really, when they started playing with a lot of thrust and physicality, we just didn’t respond immediately to that. And in that stretch from the start of the second through, four, five minutes to go in the third, we lost that stretch by 34. So, that’s a blowout.”

Los Angeles tried to jump-start a rally a couple of times. Luka had an impressive half-court off-the-glass buzzer-beater at the end of the third and they got within a dozen points for a moment early in the fourth.

However, the Wolves responded every time the Lakers made any kind of a run. Julius Randle scored five of Minnesota’s first seven points in the final frame. Anthony Edwards returned after a brief spell in the locker room with a cramp and hit a killer jumper over Luka.

He slowly made his way back on defense and pointed at Dončić after the clutch basket, letting him know it was he who came into L.A. and took home court from the Lakers.

It was just one game, but what’s concerning is that some of the problems the Lakers have, no amount of preparation can change. They are undersized when compared to Rudy Gobert, Jaden McDaniels and Randle. And if Jaxson Hayes only plays eight minutes like he did on Saturday, the Lakers become even smaller.

Luckily for the Lakers, it’s first to four, not first to one. Adjustments can and will be made, and they’ll have to respond to that physicality better moving forward.

“We have an opportunity Tuesday to even up the series on our home court, then go compete for two games on their home court,” Reaves said. “You never lose the series after the first game, second game, third game. To be honest, you got to get beat four times or you got to win four times. That’s the outlook. We know we didn’t play very well. We didn’t play to our standards and we’ll get better.”

If the Lakers can play better and the Wolves come down to earth a bit, this series could be even 1-1 heading to Minnesota. They proved repeatedly in 2020 that losing Game 1 is not a death knell in a series.

But whatever Hollywood script the Lakers had for their first playoff series with home court advantage in a dozen years was quickly ripped to shreds on Saturday by the bigger, faster and stronger Wolves.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.