Lakers Add Regular Season Games Against Timberwolves & Grizzlies After Emirates NBA Cup Results
Yesterday at 11:44 AM
The Los Angeles Lakers have received their regular season contests that will replace the quarterfinals and semifinals of the Emirates NBA Cup on their schedule. This now puts them at a full 82-game slate after they were eliminated from the Knockout Rounds through four Group Play games.
The first of these two matchups is on Friday, Dec. 13 at 5:00 p.m. PT at the Minnesota Timberwolves. The second is back at home against the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday, Dec. 15 at 6:30 p.m. PT.
The Lakers have already faced both of these teams twice. They played against the Timberwolves on Opening Night and in their most recent game on Monday night. They got the surprise victory in the first game of the season, but were dealt their worst loss of the season in their last meeting.
They are also 1-1 against the Grizzlies in 2024-25, losing their first matchup by 17 points behind a motivated Ja Morant. They won their second meeting — without Morant in the lineup — by five behind a strong performance from LeBron James.
The Lakers have significant time off before and after these two games on next Friday and Sunday. They have four full days off — Dec. 9-12 — before and three full days off — Dec. 16-18 — after. This should give them some time to reset as they are in the midst of a difficult stretch of the season.
L.A. has won just two of their last seven games and have fallen all the way to No. 9 in the Western Conference standings despite still being three games above .500. The 109-80 loss to the Timberwolves serves as a reminder that, in a crowded Western Conference, there are no throw-away games.
They are currently finishing out a four-game road trip with matchups against the Miami Heat and Atlanta Hawks before returning home and facing the Portland Trail Blazers before a four-day break. They would certainly love to go 3-0 in that span and head into their next matchup against the Timberwolves with a 15-9 record.
LeBron James assesses Lakers through first quarter of season
The Lakers have made it to the quarter-season mark with a 12-9 record. While clearly not one of the top teams in the league, things could also be far worse especially with a new head coach in JJ Redick still figuring out how to optimize this roster around the superstar duo of Davis and James.
So far, the results have been inconsistent with the Lakers looking like a team that can beat anyone on any given night some games, and then turning around and looking like one of the worst teams in the NBA the next. At one point, the Lakers' defense was completely holding them back, but as of late the defense has been solid while the offense has dropped off significantly, as evidenced by a season-low 80 points in their loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Following that loss, LeBron James was asked to assess the Lakers at this point of the season and he maintained that the goal for this team remains simply to keep improving on both sides of the floor.
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