Los Angeles Lakers defeated visitors Minnesota Timbervolves in a close 108-102 overtime victory in their play-in game on Tuesday to confirm themselves as the No. 7 seed and grab the playoff spot in the Western Conference.
The Lakers legend LeBron James once again was the star of the show with 30 points, 10 rebounds and six assist. Anthony Davis added 24 points and 15 rebounds for the Lakers, while Dennis Schroder scored 21 points.
The Lakers will face the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies in the first round.
Karl-Anthony Towns recorded 24 points, 11 rebounds and five assists and Mike Conley made six 3-pointers while scoring 23 points for the Timberwolves. Anthony Edwards had just nine points on 3-of-17 shooting for Minnesota.
The Timberwolves will receive another opportunity to claim a playoff spot on Friday when they host the New Orleans Pelicans or the Oklahoma City Thunder (who play one another in a play-in game Wednesday).
Minnesota played without Rudy Gobert, who was suspended for the contest after punching teammate Kyle Anderson during a timeout in Sunday's game against the Pelicans.
Schroder buried a corner 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds left in regulation to give the Lakers a 98-95 lead. However, Davis fouled Conley while the Minnesota guard was shooting a 3-pointer with 0.1 seconds to play. Conley got a couple fortunate bounces to make the first free throw, then swished the second and third shots to knot the score at 98 and send the game into overtime.
Rui Hachimura opened the extra session with a 3-pointer and Schroder added a layup to put Los Angeles up by five. Minnesota later had a chance to tie the score after Conley intercepted a James pass. The ball eventually made it to Taurean Prince, whose 3-point try bounced off the rim with 12 seconds left.
Schroder sank two free throws with 8.4 seconds left to make it 107-102, and the Lakers closed it out.
Prince scored 14 points and Anderson had 12 points, 13 assists, five rebounds, four steals and four blocked shots for the Timberwolves, who committed 24 turnovers.
(AI image)
Hachimura and Austin Reaves each added 12 points for Los Angeles, which hit 41.3 percent of its shots, including 10 of 31 (32.3 percent) from behind the arc. The Lakers gave the ball away 21 times.
The Timberwolves made 43.4 percent of their field-goal attempts and were 16 of 41 (39 percent) from 3-point range.
Minnesota led by seven with 6:01 left in regulation but didn't score again for six minutes. The Lakers put up the next 10 points. James tied it at 95 with a 3-pointer with 2:02 remaining before Schroder drained the go-ahead shot prior to Conley's tying free throws.
Towns scored 17 points and the Timberwolves led 60-49 at the break. James had 16 in the half for the Lakers.
The Lakers were trailing 86-79 going into the final period of the game.
(With agency inputs)
