22.10.2024 | 
Two Western Conference rivals clash on opening night in the NBA as the Los Angeles Lakers host the Minnesota Timberwolves. It’s youth vs experience at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday night, who will come out on top?
The LA Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves meet on 22.10.2024, with bragging rights on the line in the season opener. The game will be played at Crypto.com Arena (Los Angeles) with the visitors Minnesota Timberwolves being slight favorites at 1.88 odds to grab a win.
| LA Lakers |
Tue, 22.10.2024, 22:00 |
Minnesota Timberwolves |
| 1 | x | 2 |
| 2.22 | 13.00 | 1.88 |
LA Lakers vs Minnesota Timberwolves: Current situation
The Lakers finished last season with a 47-35 record, however they lost to the Nuggets in Round 1 of the Playoffs. Hiring former player JJ Redick as their new head coach is the most significant change they made coming into the new year. This team was average at best both on offense and on defense, with LeBron James entering his 22nd NBA season it’ll be interesting to see how far he can take this team at this stage of his career.
Minnesota finished the regular season tied with 2 other teams for the best record in the Western Conference at 57-25. They made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals, only to lose to the Dallas Mavericks 4-1. During the offseason they traded away Karl-Anthony Towns who they replaced with Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. They struggled on offense and in the clutch last year, but with another year under his belt, superstar Anthony Edwards appears to be ready to take his game to the next level.
LA Lakers Stats & Form
The Lakers didn’t have the best of preseasons winning just 2 of their 5 games. However, I wouldn’t put too much weight on those results, after all it’s only preseason. There were some positives to take away from those games. For example Dalton Knecht put on a show in a OT victory over Phoenix, finishing the game with 35 points. Head coach JJ Redick will have to find some minutes for him in the rotation after such a performance.
Minnesota Timberwolves Stats & Form
Similarly to the Lakers, the Timberwolves also didn’t have much success in the preseason going 2-3 SU in 5 games played. Their performances on the defensive end were quite concerning, especially since we know they finished the regular season as the best defense in the NBA last year, with Rudy Gobert winning the Defensive Player of the Year award. In their last 3 preseason games they allowed an average of 124 points per game, way too much compared to the 106 per game they were allowing last season.
LA Lakers vs Minnesota Timberwolves: Head to Head
Minnesota dominated the head-to-head match-ups last season winning 3 of the 4 games played. At Crypto.com Arena each team won a game, however the Timberwolves won the most recent regular season match-up back in April 127-117. These two teams also met in the preseason with Minnesota coming out on top 124-107, however with none of their starters playing more than 10 minutes in that game it’s hard to imagine how much weight that result carries.
LA Lakers – Minnesota Timberwolves Odds
For a home victory on Tuesday night you can get 2.22 odds on Betswap. If you are backing the Timberwolves to start the season 1-0, odds of 1.88 are available at Betswap.
Top 3 Betting Odds
| LA Lakers vs Minnesota Timberwolves Betting Tip | Odds |
| LA Lakers +3.5 Point Spread | 1.74 |
| Minnesota Timberwolves -3.5 Point Spread | 2.09 |
| Over 224.5 Total Points | 1.98 |
Betting tip and prediction: LA Lakers – Minnesota Timberwolves (22.10.2024)
The Lakers were one of Minnesota’s favorite opponents last year. Anthony Edwards just loves playing against this team, he averaged 27.3 points per game in 4 meetings last season, while scoring at least 25 points in each of those 4 games. Age is always a concern with the Lakers, with a new head coach in place it might take them a while to get accustomed to Redick’s style. Other than Anthony Davis, the Lakers won’t be able to match-up with the size of Rudy Gobert down low. The Frenchman is set for yet another season of dominating down low, especially on the defensive end. For a team like LA that struggled shooting from deep and relied a lot of times on penetrating the paint, playing a team like Minnesota is a tough match-up. We are backing the young Timberwolves to bring this one home by covering the spread.