Rui Hachimura took a hard shot to the face early in Game 2 and headed to the locker room with a bleeding nose. He returned a quarter later wearing a protective mask, which he later ditched because it irritated him.
While Hachimura’s injury was brief, the Lakers as a team felt the sting of their Game 1 blowout loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Game 2 was all about how they responded—and LeBron James praised his squad’s grit and resolve.
Led by Luka Doncic’s near triple-double—31 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists—the Lakers evened their first-round playoff series with Minnesota with a gritty 94-85 victory on Tuesday night.
“We took a hard look at what went wrong in Game 1, and there was a lot,” said James, who chipped in 21 points and made a clutch steal in the fourth quarter. “We took accountability and responded the way we needed to.”
Game 3 is set for Friday night in Minneapolis.
Austin Reaves added 16 points for the Lakers, the third seed in the West, who came out swinging with a 22-point lead in the first quarter. While they managed only 60 points the rest of the way, the Timberwolves never cut the deficit to less than nine. Coach JJ Redick credited the win to a sharper mindset—although he had to deliver a fiery, profanity-laced timeout speech in the fourth quarter to keep his team focused.
“Tonight was just about flipping the urgency switch back on,” Redick said.
Minnesota’s Julius Randle scored 27 points, and Anthony Edwards added 25, but the Timberwolves struggled to find the same offensive rhythm they had in Game 1. Edwards admitted that the Lakers’ defensive tweaks caused problems.
“The way they’re guarding, it turns into a zone when I catch it,” Edwards explained. “When I try to drive, I’ve got three guys in front of me. I just have to make quicker decisions.”
James also grabbed 11 rebounds and handed out seven assists in a game that saw plenty of physicality—46 personal fouls were called, and several plays required video review. Both James and Hachimura took hard hits to the face, and Hachimura switched to a second mask after halftime.
In contrast to their 21 made 3-pointers in Game 1, the Timberwolves couldn’t replicate their hot shooting. Meanwhile, the Lakers surged ahead early, thanks in part to Doncic exploiting one-on-one matchups against Rudy Gobert.
“We expected them to come out with fire,” said Randle. “They were the aggressors. We missed a lot—open shots, layups. They found their rhythm early, and we never really got ours.”
