Undermanned Lakers Face Ardent Task Of Defying Odds Against Timberwolves

Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Edwards, D'Angelo Russell — The Timberwolves may be favored but are facing a different Lakers quintet on Friday, Mar. 3. Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

KEY POINTS

The Timberwolves are slightly favored to win over the hosting Lakers on Friday
The Lakers need to play with the same energy they did against the Thunder
The Timberwolves cannot let their guard down against the Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers have proven they can win sans their top guns, but on Friday, March 3, they will have to demonstrate that again when they host the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves at the Crypto.com Arena.

Despite holding home-court advantage, the purple and gold will have to do more to fend off the gritty Timberwolves who are currently eighth in the Western Conference standings with an even 32-32 win-loss card.

The Lakers, on the other hand, are 30-33, 11th in the conference.

Making it tougher for Los Angeles is that top stars like LeBron James and the returning D'Angelo Russell are listed as out for this matchup.

Other stars listed as questionable are Anthony Davis and Dennis Schroder.

Hence, the T-Wolves are -2 spread favorites to prevail. The moneyline set for this encounter is -128 for Minnesota and +108 for Los Angeles.

Regardless, the Timberwolves cannot take the Lakers for granted–especially with their new core.

The Lakers showed they could survive even with James and Davis in their last assignment, pulling off a 123-117 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Schroder stepped up in that win, leading the ballclub with 26 points and six assists. Austin Reaves and Troy Brown Jr. chipped in 19 markers each.

"Anytime you play without your three most of all dominant guys that you run mostly everything through, the game's going to be—I won't say awkward, but there's just a lot of new situations for guys and especially myself," Reaves said after the game via ESPN.

For Minnesota, bringing down another Los Angeles team is in their minds they are fresh from a 108-101 win over the Los Angeles Clippers with Jaden McDaniels guiding the way.

McDaniels finished with 20 points and six rebounds, while Anthony Edwards added 18 markers.

"Everybody played really well and that's what we've been waiting for," Timberwolves coach Chris Finch stated in another report from ESPN. "We've been hit and miss with guys but we really needed an effort like tonight."

It is also worth noting that the T-Wolves lead the regular season series with the Lakers.

Minnesota won the duel back in October, 111-102. However, a lot has changed since then and this could very well be a telling factor on Friday.