Lakers heavy betting favorites over Wolves

[Wolvesfan21]

Who do you think wins and in how many games? Seen the moneylines with Lakers about a 60-65% favorite.

[Wolvesfan21]

Lakers in 6.

[Coolbreeze44]

Lakers in 6.

Same

[Phenom]

Man it would be nice to spoil everyone's party. NAW and Naz are my x factors. They have to make the Lakers pay for doubling Ant.

[Wolvesfan21]

Lakers in 6.

Same

I just feel with Luka, the refs, most the media and for sure TV (ESPN and TNT), they'll all be rooting for LA. Plus the Lakers are not a joke squad either, the Wolves have been living this last month beating a bunch of G leaguers.

[Q-is-here]

It pains me to say Lakers in 6, which is a popular choice here. Do I think we are disadvantaged in terms of the refs? Yes. But to me the main reason we lose this series is late game execution. There was absolutely zero growth from this team from Game 1 to Game 82 that would assuage our fears on this front.

Having said that, I'm thankful that we avoided the play-in game and Ant gets another playoff series. Even if we lose in six, he will have played in 33 playoff games by the age of 23 and faced off against some of the greatest players of all time in the process.

[Wolvesfan21]

It pains me to say Lakers in 6, which is a popular choice here. Do I think we are disadvantaged in terms of the refs? Yes. But to me the main reason we lose this series is late game execution. There was absolutely zero growth from this team from Game 1 to Game 82 that would assuage our fears on this front.

Having said that, I'm thankful that we avoided the play-in game and Ant gets another playoff series. Even if we lose in six, he will have played in 33 playoff games by the age of 23 and faced off against some of the greatest players of all time in the process.

Agreed, I think really our only chance is if we get good leads going into the last 5 minutes. I am not sure why we just play backyard ball in the last especially 2 minutes of games. Do the players like Ant just not like the plays Finch wants to run? I get it he has the ultimate confidence to pull shit off, but maybe wait till you are 27-28 before going rouge.

I heard others say this in the other threads too. But Rudy has to dominate on both glasses. He has the size. We must out rebound them and out physical them. That I see is our only real advantage, and to win we have to use it. More aggressive, more physical, tougher and more energy team.

[FNG]

Nice to see 7 votes for the Wolves here..it could happen. I wanted to pull the trigger and pick the Wolves in 6, but I ended up with Lakers in 7. The Lakers were the best home team in the Association this season except for Cleveland and OkC, and I think it's going to be a tall order to steal a game there. But even though the Wolves were not a great home team this season, I think a rabid crowd (perhaps with KG leading the cheers!) won't let LA celebrate a series win in our house.

The 4 games between the two teams this season tells us very little...Luka wasn't there for the first three, and the Wolves started Clark and Naz in the 4th game with Ju and Rudy missing. But we know enough about Luka to know that he is going to be a handful in this series. Actually, although both teams were very good defensively the last half of the season, I think both don't have answers for the other team's offense...I don't know how we're going to stop Luka, and I don't know how they are going to stop the Ant/Randle combo. The Wolves (and especially Ant) have struggled against zones this season, but Redick doesn't go zone very often. Instead I think the Lakers will attack Ant up high with doubles, and we can only hope that he gets rid of the ball quickly so Ju or Mike can initiate some 4 on 3 offense. We can be pretty sure they have been working on this all week in practice with Clark and NAW attacking Ant. If he has been successful in beating that combo in practice, he shouldn't be too concerned about whatever duo the Lakers throw at him.

I do have some concerns about who Mike is going to guard, but his defensive numbers this season have actually been quite good when paired with Rudy...they have a net rating of 17.3 since the all-star break. I'm expect almost all of Mike's minutes will be either with Rudy or against Vincent.

So I have the Lakers winning a close series. The X factor in bringing the Wolves a series win though could be Randle...if he plays like the guy we saw a month ago close to a triple double each night and working hard on defense, we will win this series. His playoff record argues against this, but we can hope.

[WildWolf2813]

Lakers in 6, but mainly because I don't think Randle shows up.

[Coolbreeze44]

Lakers in 6, but mainly because I don't think Randle shows up.

I agree with you on this, but I honestly believe the deck is just rigged against us. A Laker loss in round 1 would be a disaster for the NBA. I know this league is corrupt and they simply aren't going to let this Lebron-Luka-Tinseltown opportunity get away this year. They need the ratings, Lebron is almost done, and they have gotten away with similar things in the past. There might be an uproar about some egregious calls for a couple days, but they know that will fade away quickly. It wasn't that long ago the WNBA simply stole a championship from Minnesota for New York, and this series has far greater consequences than that one did. If you really want something close to fair and legitimate competition the NFL and NHL offer it. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but this isn't my first rodeo with this.