The Lakers had a chance to make a significant move in the West on Friday, as the Clippers, Pelicans and Jazz all lost. Had the Lakers defeated the Timberwolves at the Crypt, they'd have moved into the top 10 and pulled into a loss-column tie with all four of those squads.
Instead, after a 110-102 loss, they're still on the outside looking in, with the Golden State Warriors coming into town Sunday. (On the one had, Golden State has been a wretched road team all year. On the other, Steph Curry is expected to play after a long absence.) It was definitely a missed opportunity, which is perhaps why Darvin Ham was more visibly angry following this game as he's been at any postgame press conference this season.
He said his team lacked urgency and fire. Minnesota played desperate, the Lakers did not. And certainly LA was flat coming out at halftime, where the Wolves pulled ahead and had the Lakers playing uphill for the rest of the game. But how much of their performance was a matter of being overmatched thanks to a hyper-aggressive Minnesota defense designed to attack LA's ballhandlers. That's a group missing not just LeBron James, but also D'Angelo Russell. Without them, the Lakers struggled to get into any sort of offensive rhythm. Most possessions were a tremendous grind.
Anthony Davis was, overall, very good. 38 points, 14 free throws. But on a night where the rest of the team was pretty ineffective, the Lakers needed something closer to perfection. That's a tall order for any star, and Davis couldn't quite hit the bar, and his teammates couldn't lower it at all. (Mostly, they kept raising it.)
This one stings for the Lakers. And it'll require a major bounce back game on Sunday.

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

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