LEBRON James registered 30 points, 10 rebounds and six assists and the Los Angeles Lakers clinched a Western Conference playoff spot with a 108-102 overtime victory over the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) in a play-in game.
Anthony Davis added 24 points and 15 rebounds for the Lakers, who earned the No. 7 seed in the West with the victory. Dennis Schroder added 21 points for Los Angeles, which will face the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies in the first round.
Karl-Anthony Towns recorded 24 points, 11 rebounds and five assists and Mike Conley made six 3-pointers while scoring 23 points for the Timberwolves. Anthony Edwards had just nine points on 3-of-17 shooting for Minnesota.
The Timberwolves will receive another opportunity to claim a playoff spot on Friday (Saturday in Manila) when they host the New Orleans Pelicans or the Oklahoma City Thunder.
In the other game, Trae Young scored 25 points and Clint Capela grabbed a game-high 21 rebounds to lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 116-105 win over the host Miami Heat in a play-in game.
Atlanta, which entered Miami as the eighth seed, advanced to the playoffs in the No. 7 position, where they will meet the second-seeded Boston Celtics.
Miami, which started in the seventh spot, will get one more chance to make the playoffs. The Heat on Friday will play host to the winner of Wednesday’s game between the Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors. Either Miami, Chicago or Toronto will face the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs.
Young finished with eight rebounds and seven assists. The Hawks had big edges in rebounds (63-39) and paint points (64-46).
Reserve Kyle Lowry led Miami with a game-high of 33 points. Tyler Herro had 26 points and Jimmy Butler added 21 points and a game-high nine assists. However, Butler was just 6-for-19 from the floor, with many of his misses influenced by Capela.
Minnesota played without Rudy Gobert, who was suspended for the contest after punching teammate Kyle Anderson during a timeout in Sunday’s game (Monday in Manila) against the Pelicans.
Schroder buried a corner 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds left in regulation to give the Lakers a 98-95 lead. However, Davis fouled Conley while the Minnesota guard was shooting a 3-pointer with 0.1 seconds to play. Conley got a couple fortunate bounces to make the first free throw, then swished the second and third shots to knot the score at 98 and send the game into overtime. — Field Level Media
