The Timberwolves missed three of their first four 3-point attempts on Saturday in Los Angeles. They also missed their final three of the night.

In between those stretches, Minnesota was a blazing inferno, hitting 20 of 35 attempts from beyond the arc to blitz the Lakers in Game 1.

“I mean, they had great shots, honestly,” Lakers wing Luka Doncic noted.

Indeed. Twenty-seven of Minnesota’s 42 3-point attempts were “wide open” according to Second Spectrum data available on NBA.com.

The Lakers don’t have a wing stopper, nor a rim protector around which to construct a defense. So, they play a condensed scheme that relies on positioning to collapse on opposing star players. So, every time any Wolves player — primarily, Anthony Edwards — got into the teeth of the defense, numerous shooters were left open around the perimeter.

Minnesota made itself even more difficult to guard through consistent off-ball movement where shooters relocated to open spots around the arc that created simple passes for Edwards to make.

“We watched a lot of film. Obviously, one thing we needed to work on — not just for this series, but in general — was just movement off the ball,” Wolves guard Mike Conley said. “And (Saturday) we did a really good job of relocating, making ourselves available for anybody who was making a drive towards the rim and drawing two people on them.

“(The Lakers) do a good job of loading up and bringing multiple people to the ball. So, we knew we just had to keep moving. We had to keep our bodies moving and make the extra play, make the extra read and not turn it over. As a result, we were getting good looks.”

Twenty-seven wide open 3-point attempts is a big number. Minnesota averaged 20 throughout the regular season. If you generate that many high-value shots in a playoff game, your chances of success skyrocket.

“We know they have a lot of lasers. They have a lot of guys that can shoot from the perimeter,” Lakers forward LeBron James said. “So, we’ve gotta do a better job of closing the bodies, getting out on shooters. We’ll get back in the film room (Sunday), look at the things that we did well, some of the things that we didn’t do so well and continue to gameplan for Game 2. We’ve got a couple days to prep for that.”

It will be interesting to see if the Lakers determine they can continue to play their heavy-gap help scheme moving forward; it’s vulnerable to creating open catch-and-shoot 3s for their opponent.

Will Los Angeles try a different approach in an effort to patch an obvious hole from Game 1? Or will it take its chances on Minnesota’s shots not falling at the same rate on Tuesday?

Minnesota is a great 3-point shooting team. It has been all season. The Timberwolves finished the regular season with the fourth-highest 3-point percentage (37.7%) on the fifth-highest volume (39.9 attempts per game).

Much of that success did from Edwards, of whom the Lakers were aware around the perimeter Saturday. But Donte DiVincenzo, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Naz Reid and Mike Conley were also snipers, and the Lakers were largely done in by Jaden McDaniels and Julius Randle. Those two combined to go 7 for 9 from deep on a night where Minnesota had a shooting performance to remember.

The Wolves hit 19 of their 27 wide open attempts Saturday. That 70% clip is the highest of any team in the NBA this season that attempted at least 23 in a game. Had Minnesota hit the regular 40% of wide open 3-point attempts it made throughout the season, the Wolves would have scored 18 fewer points.

With their season effectively on the line Tuesday, will the Lakers play the percentages?