Game Time: 7:00 PM ET, Friday, December 16th, 2021 

Venue:  Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Where to Watch:  ESPN 

DraftKings:  Spread: Lakers -1; O/U 223.5

BetMGM:  Spread:  NL

VegasInsider:  Spread:  Lakers-1; O/U 223.5

 

Lakers: 16-13, 6th place Western Conference

Timberwolves: 13-15, 9th place Western Conference

Whaoh!!  Did you see the finish of the Lakers last game against the Dallas Mavericks?!!  It was tense and finished pretty.  We had a tie game, we had a back and forth game, we had overtime.  The NBA season, the regular season, isn’t supposed to make you hold your breath… but it did.  The underdog Dallas Mavericks pushed the game to overtime and tied that overtime with only a few seconds left on the clock…. LeBron James gave the ball up to Russelll Westbrook… Russell Westbrook drove the rim and dished to a very open Austin Reeves… an undrafted rookie out of Oklahoma by way of Wichita State… Austin, AKA AR-15, AKA HillBilly Kobe drained a 3-pointer with the clock running down to .9 second.  The Mavericks were broken… the Lakers may have found, in that moment, the kind of teamwork they need to right the ship.  The Lakers got the W for their 3rd straight win.

The Timberwolves are actually better at this point in the season then they have been in several seasons.  Only this point is 2-games under .500 for 9th place.  If they keep getting stuck in the middle they will need a big trade.  It’s fine to be cellar-dwellers cause those guys get great lottery odds!... but to be in the middle with a 13th-14th pick can be a backbreaker… especially for a team that hasn’t impressed anyone since Kevin Garnett left a decade and a half ago.  Still it’s not all gloom and doom in Minnesota.  The Wolves have won their last two-games and have young buck Anthony Edwards poised to take over the star role on the team… if only Karl-Anthony Towns could see it.  

ON ABSOLUTE FIRE! 9 IN A ROW with all TITAN plays in NBA and it was ANOTHER CBB WIN but tough OT loss in NBA and all sports 1-2 Tuesday. The fact remains ASA has been RED HOT long-term and this includes 9 STRAIGHT TITAN WINNERS on the pro hardwood! 10 IN A ROW?! Get Asa’s picks right now at the Shop Picks page, where you can find all of the Best Bets from our champion sports handicappers. NCAAF, NFL, MLB… get positive value from all your bets! Expert picks!  Fun fact… winning a wager is much better than making a wager!

The Lakers are 16-13 on the season, but 11-18 ATS.  They have logged 14 Overs, 14 Unders, and 1 Push.  They are 6-6 in road games.  They are 7-3 over their last 10 games.  Definitely on an upward push having beaten the Dallas Mavericks without Luka Doncic, the Orlando Magic, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Boston Celtics, the Sacramento Kings, the Detroit Pistons, and the Indiana Pacers… do you get what is going on?... They have beaten the dregs of the league.  They are feasting on mediocrity. They lost to the Memphis Grizzlies, the Sacramento Kings, and the Los Angeles Clippers… so we have no idea if this is a good team yet?… but you have to play who is in front of you.

The Timberwolves are 13-15 on the season and 13-15 ATS. They have notched 14 Overs and 14 Unders.  They are 7-9 in home games. They are on a two-game winning streak having beaten the Denver Nuggets and the Portland Trail Blazers.  Prior to that was a five-game losing streak.  They are a bad team with fine young talent.  If we knew who would show up night to night they wouldn’t be a bad team.

The Lakers are 6th in ppg with 111.1 per game, 6th in rebounds with 46.3 per game, 24th in AST/TO ratio with 1.5.  Russell Westbrook misses a lot of passes as well as shots, but he plays hard and has a fire in his belly… also he doesn’t fit on the Lakers as of yet.  The team is shooting 46.5 FG% for 6th and 13th in 3pt% for 35.8%.

The Timberwolves are 12th in ppg with 108.6, 15th in rebounds with 45 per game, and 26th in AST/TO ratio with 1.5.  Neither of these teams can handle the ball for long before turning it over… except the Wolves are also bad shooters.  They are 27th in the league in FG% with 42.8%, 20th in 3PT% with 34.1%,... They have the stats of a losing team and the record of a losing team… if it looks like a duck?

Our prediction for Friday, December 17th is….  Lakers 118 - Wolves 111

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The Lakers are 4-1 ATS versus Minnesota over the last 3 seasons.

The Lakers are 1-0 ATS versus Minnesota over the last 3 seasons.

That one game went Under.

Lakers: SG Avery Bradley (hip) Out ** PG Russell Westbrook (illness “covid”) Out ** SG Malik Monk (illness) Out ** C Dwight Howard (illness) Out ** SG Talen Horten-Tucker (illness) Out ** PG Kendrick Nunn (ankle) Out ** SF Trevor Ariza (ankle) 

Lakers: F Wayne Ellington, F LeBron James, C Anthony Davis, G Russelll Westbrook, G Austin Reeves

Timberwolves: F Anthony Edwards, F Jarred Vanderbilt, C Karl Anthony-Towns, G D’ Angelo Russell, G Patrick Beverley

Lakers

Points: LeBron James 26.1

Assists: Russell Westbrook 8.4

Rebounds: Anthony Davis 10.2

Steals: LeBron James 1.8

Blocks: Anthony Davis 2.1

Timberwolves

Points: Karl-Anthony Towns 24.3

Assists: D’Angelo Russell 6.4

Rebounds: Karl-Anthony Towns 9.0

Steals: Anthony Edwards 1.6

Blocks: Karl-Anthony Towns 1.1

Lakers: Frank Vogel

Timberwolves: Chris Finch