So much for the in-season tournament. The L.A. Lakers and big, bad LeBron James rose to the spotlight as they always seem to do (except in the real playoffs), beating the upstart, darling Indiana Pacers 128-109 in the tournament finale in Las Vegas. The Lakers and LeBron are of course familiar to everybody. The Pacers and young point guard Tyrese Haliburton, not so much, so they were promptly praised as the league’s newest superstars. Both teams were presumed to be ready to mount a big run toward the playoffs starting now.
Well, the Minnesota Timberwolves did a number on the NBA’s new darlings last night. Now, granted, Haliburton did not play, yet that did not prevent the Pacers from leading through much of the 1st half. But the Timberwolves were equal to the challenge, outscoring Indiana 38-23 in the 3rd quarter and pulling away for good in the 4th. Karl Towns and Ant Edwards combined for 77 points (Towns 40, Edwards 37) to help the Wolves tie the Boston Celtics with the NBA’s best record at 18-5.
Returning to the in-season tournament, it’s entirely possible that the winners and runners-up may end up rueing their participation therein. Since surprising Boston and Milwaukee in the 1st and 2nd knockout rounds, the Pacers are now 1-4, including the loss to the Lakers, and they’ve now dropped to 6th place in the East, which would mean a matchup against Philadelphia in the playoffs. Philly would of course have the homecourt advantage. Meanwhile, since beating the Pacers, the Lakers are 1-2, including a loss to San Antonio that broke the Spurs’ 18-game losing streak. As a result, the “champion” Lakers have sagged to 8th place in the West, which assuming they survive a play-in game, means that they’ll draw the fearsome, intimidating Timberwolves in the playoffs. So, from a predictive standpoint, it looks right now like the NBA in-season tournament don’t mean shit.
What means something is the Timberwolves defense. Indiana came in with the league’s highest scoring offense. Again, Haliburton did not see the court tonight but, still, the Wolves’ league-leading defense held the Pacers 18 points below their average. But, of course, the Wolves offense was what really caught people’s eyes–again with Karl Towns scoring 40 and Ant Edwards 37, and Naz Reid again excelling with 17 points off the bench. Indiana outscored the Wolves 70-50 in the paint, but the Wolves made a season high 18 3s (on 30 attempts, 60%).
From here the Wolves will play 3 of 4 on the road against tough opponents Miami, Philly and Sacramento, plus a circle-on-the-calendar type of home game against the glamour boys from L.A., meaning the Lakers. It’s a tough-enough stretch. In times past, you’d just hope for one win. Now, hey, why not grab for 3-out-of -4?