Get the best Timberwolves vs. Lakers predictions ahead of tonight's Game 2 showdown. Free NBA picks and predictions for April 22.
The Minnesota Timberwolves will look to go up 2-0 on the Los Angeles Lakers as the two clash again tonight. As Douglas Farmer explains, Jaden McDaniels will have a role to play in his team's success on the glass.
The Minnesota Timberwolves did not simply win Game 1. They beat the Los Angeles Lakers in just about every way on Saturday night, turning a seven-point first-quarter deficit into an 11-point halftime lead and only growing the cushion from there. Asking Minnesota to upset Los Angeles again in Game 2 would be bold, though far from unprecedented given its sweep of the Suns in last year’s opening round. But certain pieces of that Saturday upset should hold.start with Jaden McDaniels continuing to play as big as he is. Tip comes at 10 ET on Tuesday, April 22.are favored, but there is some surprise this spread has moved a point toward Los Angeles compared to the Game 1 number of -4.5. Moving to -5.5 argues for, at least, some renewed Lakers’ verve after that initial thrashing.replicating their performance in Game 1. But how much of that performance needs to be replicated beyond the usual mean? The Timberwolves should not get 27 wide-open 3-pointers again, but they averaged 20 of them in the regular season, anyway. They should not make 50% of their 3-pointers, but a 22-point win cannot be explained away by a few extra 3-pointers.Minnesota’s edges are real. Finding six more rebounds, committing three fewer turnovers, piling up 29 assists compared to 15 for the Lakers, all of these thoughts are sustainable.. And Los Angeles did not play the 7-foot Hayes much in Game 1, giving the starter just eight minutes of run. None of those minutes came after an 11-0 Timberwolves run to start the second half, Hayes was then sent to the bench for good with more than 10 minutes remaining in the third quarter. Now, to be fair, no Laker played well in that stretch, but Hayes’s lowlights included:Giving up a drive to Edwards and then the subsequent offensive rebound to Edwards, setting up a Julius Randle 3-pointer.Minnesota Timberwolves will gladly move Rudy Gobert to screen on the perimeter to put Hayes in those moments. At that point, he does not even provide rim protection. This may sound harsh, but there may be a reason Hayes has played 20 minutes in exactly one playoff game in his entire career.“If isn’t out there, I’m basically the tallest person out there,” McDaniels said after Game 1. “I don’t think no one can really rim protect me because Jaxson Hayes wasn’t on the court.” McDaniels went 8-of-10 inside the arc on Saturday and grabbed nine rebounds. This is where he shines. He has developed a midrange game, and when he misses those shots, he likes to go grab the offensive rebounds. With Hayes not around, no one in a yellow jersey can outreach McDaniels and his 6-foot-9 frame that is actually closer to 6-foot-11, no matter what the official listings claim. In the Timberwolves’ playoff run last year, McDaniels tracked down at least six rebounds in four of 11 games in the first two rounds, and that was before he dialed up his rebounding this season. Since altering his focus around New Year’s, McDaniels tracked down at least seven rebounds in 25 of 50 games. It became an emphasis. And it will be again against this undersized Lakers team. They simply lack anyone physical inside. McDaniels thrives against that deficiency. His rebounding prop is set at 4.5 with the Over juiced to -145. Suggesting McDaniels find another two rebounds should not bring a boost of nearly two dollars. Pricing this milestone at +240 is foolish, certainly when considering McDaniels’s edges against Los Angeles.Since Jan. 1, McDaniels averaged 13.9 points in 50 games and cleared this prop in 30 of them. The reality that Minnesota should shoot worse in this game will not impact McDaniels all that much, despite going 3-of-3 from long range in Game 1. He is at his best when attacking the paint, and this expectation that JJ Redick needs to move away from Hayes will only embolden McDaniels’s attacks. The Lakers need to shift something. Removing Hayes as a perimeter defensive liability is the obvious first choice. He might not play more than a few token minutes.Take advantage of the early win payout at bet365, where any pre-game NBA moneyline bet getsThis total fell from a Game 1 mark of 215 to a market open of 214.5, hardly notable, before plummeting to 210.5 as the week began. Credit Minnesota’s defense for that move. The Lakers struggled at the rim in Game 1, forcing the series opener three points Under its total despite the Timberwolves hitting 50% of their 3-pointers.The Timberwolves are now 10-4 against the spread as underdogs in the last three months and 8-6 straight up. Find more: Our team of experts has thoroughly researched and handpicked each product that appears on our website. We may receive compensation if you sign up through our links. Douglas Farmer spends his days thinking about college football and his nights thinking about the NBA. His betting habits and coverage follow that same pattern. He covered Notre Dame football for various outlets from 2008 to 2024, most notably spending eight seasons as NBC Sports’ beat writer on the Irish. That was also when his gambling focus took off. Knowing there were veteran beat writers with three decades more experience than he had, Douglas found his niche by best recognizing Notre Dame’s standing in each year’s national landscape, a complex tapestry most easily understood and remembered via betting odds. In 2021, that interest created a freelance opportunity with Covers, a role that eventually led to Douglas joining the company full-time in 2023. In the fall, Douglas will place five or six dozen bets each week, a disproportionate amount via BetRivers because the operator tends to have lines slightly different than the rest of the market. The same can be said of Circa Sports’ futures markets. While Douglas is an avid NBA fan and covers the league throughout the year, the vast majority of his bets are on college football, because that is the biggest key to sports betting: Know what you do not know.Andrew CaleyCopyright © 1995 - 2025 CS Media Limited All Rights Reserved. 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