Total Play on T-Wolves vs. Lakers Game 2

One of the main edges they enjoyed was getting, and hitting, wide open threes most of the night. They used those three to largely pace win, draining 50% of their 42 attempts from deep. Jaden McDaniels made the Lakers’ defense pay as he went 11-for-13 from the field and 3-for-3 from three, matching his playoff career-high with 25 points.

Not to be outdone, Naz Reid popped off, going 6-for-9 from three and booking 23 points coming off the bench. 

With McDaniels and Reid contributing as they did, the need for Ant to carry the heavy offensive load was dialled way down. He was good, but in a low key, almost supporting role, grabbing some rebounds (eight) and dishing (nine assists).

The Lakers were not sharp from the field, stumbling to a bleak 39.8% mark. Luka Doncic held up his end on the offensive side, while Lebron and Austin Reaves were not good. Luka has now reached the 30-point mark in five of his last six playoff starts vs. this T-Wolves team. 

We are expecting the Lakers to have a much better showing tonight. Notably, this is a spot where Lebron should bounce back from his lacklustre opener, where he managed only 19 points. 

Game one with a total of 218, before settling in at 215 and 215.5 across the board by tip-off. The game stayed Under the total (of 212). We’re interested in visiting the total on tonight’s matchup. It’s currently set at 210, a nice drop down for the opening game number, giving us what we see as a bit of value to take a shot at. 

LA shot a sliver under 40% from the field in that last start, managing to cobble together 95 in total. Look for them to be more efficient, and make enough adjustments to get better looks. Worth noting as well is that the Lakers have gone over this total (210) in 14 of their last 17 playoff games. We should have a look for what their numbers are like when coming off a loss that went under the total, but we’re too lazy to go track that down. We did see that five of Minnesota’s last six playoff games have reached 211 points. 

We expect Lebron, and An as well, to jump up their offensive numbers, while Luka to do what he does (score points) and the supporting cast players to chip on both sides, hitting shots as the attention flows to the offensive stars. 

Let’s take a shot at the Over 210. 

Play: Minnesota and LA to go Over 210 tonight.