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LAKERS

Not quite enough

Lakers drop Game 3 to Timberwolves despite 38 points from James

The Lakers’ LeBron James celebrates a 3-point basket against the Timberwolves in the fourth quarter of Game 3 of their NBA first-round series Friday night in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves beat the Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 series lead. PhotoS by David Berding / Getty Images

Jaden McDaniels, who led Minnesota with 30 points, dunks the ball Friday against the Lakers during the fourth quarter of Game 3.

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By Khobi Price

kprice@scng.com

MINNEAPOLIS — It didn’t matter that LeBron James had one of his highest-scoring playoff games with the Lakers on Friday in Game 3 of the ongoing best-of-7 first-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Or that the Lakers, at least for one game, broke out of their collective shooting slump, knocking down 17 of their 40 3-point attempts on Friday night after making a combined 21 in Games 1 and 2.

Because as James said during Friday morning’s shootaround, “it doesn’t matter what the numbers look like. It doesn’t matter what the stat sheet looks like ... It’s about winning the game and seeing what team you get to four faster than the other team. That’s the only thing that matters.”

And the Timberwolves moved one game closer to achieving that goal on Friday night, beating the Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the series.

James finished with 38 points (13-of-21 shooting), 10 rebounds and four assists, leading the Lakers on a night Luka Doncic struggled as he battled with a stomach bug that he had been dealing with going back to Thursday, with ESPN’s Lisa Salters first reporting the ailment during the first quarter of the game.

Doncic finished with 17 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, but shot 6-of-16 from the field (2 of 8 on 3s) and had five turnovers against a Minnesota defense that blitzed and trapped him more often compared to the first two games.

But late-game heroics from James and Doncic, and the Lakers’ hot shooting, were spoiled by the their struggles with the smaller of the details of the game — factors that added up.

The Lakers turned the ball over 19 times, directly leading to 28 Minnesota points.

The Timberwolves scored 21 fastbreak points, quickly turning defense into offense against a Lakers team that often looked outmatched athletically.

The Lakers also missed seven of their 20 free-throw attempts, leaving valuable points on the board in a game they needed every one of them.

So even with James knocking down three straight 3s in the fourth to bring the Lakers’ deficit from seven (97-90) to one (100-99) midway through the fourth, or Doncic making a pair of free throws and a floater on back-to-back possessions to tie the game at 103, the Lakers didn’t overcome the hole they put themselves in.

And Anthony Edwards, who took a significant step in attacking the Lakers’ offense, burying the Lakers even deeper in that hole.

Edwards scored or assisted on the Timberwolves’ final 13 points, leading Minnesota down the stretch with his shotmaking and playmaking. The All-NBA guard finished with 29 points on 12-of-26 shooting to go with eight assists and eight rebounds.

Jaden McDaniels led the Timberwolves with 30 points on 13-of-22 shooting, while Julius Randle had 22 points.

The Timberwolves also got 11 points off the bench from Naz Reid, and 10 points from Donte DiVincenzo.

Austin Reaves was the lone other Laker besides James and Doncic to score in double figures, finishing with 20 points (7-of-18 shooting), seven rebounds and four assists.