LOS ANGELES — The task the Lakers were handed Sunday – being without one of their best players against one of the top teams in the Western Conference on the second night of a back-to-back – was already going to be challenging.
But once they lost their other best player, the challenge became too difficult to overcome, leading to the Lakers falling to the Minnesota Timberwolves 127-117 at Crypto.com Arena.
With LeBron James sidelined and Anthony Davis playing only the first quarter because of an eye injury, the Lakers fell to 45-34 on the season, despite Rui Hachimura leading the team with 30 points.
“For every team, when your best two players [are out],” the Lakers’ Jaxson Hayes said, “it definitely hurts.”
Davis left between the first and second quarters after Kyle Anderson hit Davis on the left eye with his forearm on a Davis putback dunk with 25 seconds left in the first. It was the same eye Davis injured in the March 16 home loss to the Golden State Warriors, resulting in Davis only playing in the first quarter that game.
Sunday played out similarly.
Davis remained in the locker room for the entire second quarter before the team ruled him out shortly before halftime started.
He finished with four points, four rebounds and three assists in 12 minutes, with the Lakers leading 37-33 when Davis left the game. James wasn’t available because of flu-like symptoms.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported that Davis is expected to be available for Tuesday’s home game against the Golden State Warriors.
The Lakers initially didn’t hold up well without Davis, surrendering a 46-27 second quarter that allowed the Timberwolves to take a 79-64 lead into halftime. Minnesota’s lead grew to 84-64 early in the third.
“He’s extremely valuable,” coach Darvin Ham said of Davis. “Everyone around here knows that. Everything he brings on both sides of the ball, it’s tough. Already being without Bron and seeing him go out, it’s tough.”
The Lakers stormed back behind the energetic play of Jaxson Hayes, who started the second half in place of Davis. Hayes had four dunks in the third, contributing to his season-high 19 points to go with 10 rebounds and a career-high five steals.
“He was amazing,” Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell said of Hayes. “He’s gonna make a lot of money this summer being on this main stage all these nights. Teams get to see him dominate his minutes. Been playing behind AD all season and whenever he gets just a little bit of time, he dominates it. So just kudos to him. He’s been hanging in there all year. He’s been doing everything we need him to do.”
The Lakers cut their deficit to 94-90 with less than two minutes left in the third after a Cam Reddish corner 3-pointer.
But they didn’t get any closer, with the Timberwolves controlling the fourth before Ham took his rotation players out with his team down 126-111 with two minutes left.
“My hat’s off to our guys,” Ham said. “They didn’t feel sorry for themselves. They kept competing all the way through. Just had some unfortunate possessions offensively, couldn’t make shots we normally make.”
Naz Reid led the Timberwolves (54-24) with a 31-point, 11-rebound double-double, while Anthony Edwards had 26 points and eight assists. Reid averaged 18.3 points on 54.1% shooting (47.6% on 3s) against the Lakers this season.
“I don’t know man, but we got to figure it out though,” Ham said of Reid. “We could see these guys again in the postseason so we have to figure it out.”
Spencer Dinwiddie, who started in place of James, finished with 18 points (4-for-7 shooting), seven assists and five rebounds. Russell (15 points on 5-for-19 shooting to go with 11 assists and seven rebounds) and Austin Reaves (14 points on 4-for-14 shooting) struggled with their shots.
The Lakers will get Monday off before their final regular-season home game against the Warriors.
