On Sunday, April 7, 2024, at the Crypto Arena, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Minnesota Timberwolves faced off. Unfortunately for the Lakers, Lebron James was out due to flu-like symptoms, so Spencer Dinwiddie replaced James in the starting lineups. 

The game started pretty evenly with the Lakers winning the jump ball. Right from the start, D’Angelo Russell made the first shot with an assist from Anthony Davis. The game was pretty neck-to-neck with both teams shooting and making a lot of threes. Throughout the first half of the first quarter, Davis terrorized the Timberwolves with his many “put-back dunks,” but unfortunately, while trying to dunk, he got poked in the left eye and went down. The Lakers concluded the quarter 37-33 with Davis out for the remainder of the game.

Without James and Davis, two of the star players, most teams would give up but not the Lakers. Unfortunately, the Wolves were not going to go down without a fight either. Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels, and even Anthony Edwards, continued to get three after three, and all the Lakers could do was watch. By the end of the first half, the score was 79-64 with the Timberwolves up. The first half had ended and it looked like the Lakers had given up, but then the third quarter began and the Lakers were hot. Threes, alley-oop dunks, and crazy passes were being thrown at the other team all at once. Even D’Angelo Russell had to get in on some of the action as he was also making behind-the-back and no-look passes. The Lakers were finally able to make a comeback cutting down the score gap from 15 points to just 10.

Finally, in the fourth quarter, the Timberwolves were leading with the Lakers trying to catch up. But although players like Rui Hachumura were playing very well, the Lakers couldn’t overtake the Timberwolves. The Lakers’ defense kept breaking down in the perimeter and since Davis was out, nobody could stop Rudy Gobert in the post. In the end, the final score was 127-117 with the win going to the Minnesota Timberwolves.