The Lakers’ 120-106 Tuesday night victory over the Timberwolves in Los Angeles was a perfect example — and a reminder — of why they have been successful in the games Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves have played when LeBron James hasn’t been available.
It’s less about James, and more about clarity.
The pecking order is clearer with Dončić and Reaves playing next to lower-usage role players.
And those role players make the game-changing hustle plays that add up throughout a game.
Dončić (31 points, 11 assists, 11 rebounds) and Austin Reaves (31 points, eight assists, seven rebounds) once again led the way with a combined 62 points, 19 assists and eight rebounds.
But on a night where the shots didn’t fall early, it was the hustle plays from Deandre Ayton (14 points, 12 rebounds), Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia that made up for the slow start.
The Lakers are now 10-2 in games Doncic and Reaves play without James.
What it means
The Lakers leaped the Timberwolves in the standings, moving to No. 4 in the West with a 40-25 record.
The Timberwolves also have a 40-25 record, but the Lakers swept Minnesota in the regular season series, 3-0, after beating the Timberwolves twice in October.
Turning point
When Ayton grabbed an offensive rebound at the 10:45 mark of the second quarter — his third offensive board and eighth rebound of the game through the opening 13 ¼ minutes — before converting a putback layup to cut the Lakers’ deficit to 25-20.
That sequence kicked off a sequence where Ayton scored eight of the Lakers’ 12 points in the second, in addition to grabbing three rebounds, to help the Lakers tie the game at 30 apiece.
The Lakers’ worst deficit from there was four, and they didn’t trail for the entire second half.
MVP: Dončić
Like the rest of the team, Doncic got off to a cold start from a scoring standpoint.
But he and Reaves led the Lakers during the most critical stretches of the game when the Lakers outscored the Timberwolves 39-23 in the third.
The edge goes to Doncic because of his triple-double.
Tuesday marked Doncic’s seventh triple-double of the season and the 89th of his career.
Stat of the game: 7
That was the amount of turnovers the Lakers committed against the Timberwolves, which tied a season-low.
The team’s season-low for giveaways was the seven turnovers they had in the Dec. 18 road win over the Jazz.
Up next
The Lakers’ schedule will ease up for at least one night when they host the Bulls on Thursday.
After the Bulls matchup, the Lakers will play six straight games against opponents that have a winning record.
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