Basketball

NBA Playoffs: Lakers Beat Timberwolves to Level Series at 1-1

Luka Doncic scored 31 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and made nine assists as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 94-85 on Tuesday night to even their first-round playoff series at 1-1.

LeBron James added 21 points and 11 rebounds, while Austin Reaves scored 16 points for the third-seeded Lakers. They bounced back from a heavy Game 1 loss by taking an early 22-point lead and holding off the sixth-seeded Timberwolves in a tough, physical match.

Julius Randle led the Timberwolves with 27 points and Anthony Edwards added 25, but the team struggled to find the same attacking flow they had in their Game 1 win.

The game was full of fouls and physical play, with 46 personal fouls called and several video reviews. Both LeBron James and Rui Hachimura took hits to the face, and Hachimura wore a mask in the second half after being struck.

Dončić and Anthony Davis

Game 3 will be played in Minneapolis on Friday night.

In Game 1, Minnesota had hit a team record 21 three-pointers in their 117-95 win, despite 37 points from Doncic. But in Game 2, the Lakers improved their defence and Doncic had another strong performance.

The Lakers started fast, going up by 19 points in the first quarter, with Doncic scoring 16 early points by targeting Timberwolves centre Rudy Gobert. James made his first three-pointer to push the lead to 43-21 in the second quarter.

Los Angeles led 83-65 early in the fourth quarter, but then went nearly seven minutes without scoring a basket. Minnesota closed the gap to just nine points, but couldn’t find enough offence to complete a comeback.

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