LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers held a 28–21 lead over the Minnesota Timberwolves after the first quarter of their Game 1 matchup on Saturday night.
But it did not take long for Minnesota to turn things on, going into halftime with a 59-48 lead and eventually closing out the game with a 117-95 win over Los Angeles.
The Timberwolves were on fire from deep, converting on 21-of-42 attempts from three-point land. Meanwhile, aside from Luka Doncic and his 37 points, the Lakers struggled to get much going and allowed Minnesota to go on runs that proved too big to overcome. After trailing by as many as 27 points, Los Angeles did close the gap to 12 points early in the fourth, but Minnesota used the second part of the final quarter to pull away again.
For the Timberwolves, power forward Jaden McDaniels led the way, scoring 25 points on 11-of-13 shooting as Minnesota took a 1-0 series lead and stole a road game at Crytpo.com Arena.
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James reacts after missing a pass against the Minnesota Timberwolves
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
For James, this might be his last NBA Playoffs, depending on what the 40-year-old chooses to do this offseason. Regardless of what he does, it did not get off to a memorable start on Saturday night.
James did not record a single point during the first quarter and did not get his first points until 8:43 remaining in the second quarter.
At the end of the first half, James had 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting.
Of course, NBA fans had their fun with that number:
His second half went about the same as the first. James finished the game with 19 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 turnovers in the 22-point loss – a totally different story from the 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 8.2 assists he averaged per game throughout his 22nd season.
After playing in an impressive 70 games during the regular season, fans seem to think it all caught up to him on Saturday night.
As you can imagine, NBA fans did not hold back, and plenty of people echoed the same thing: LeBron is done.
“Lebron career is done.”
“Any gas Lebron had left in the tank has been completely drained with that groin injury. He’s done”
“Hate to admit it but this is LeBron’s last elite season he prolly isn’t even a 20 ppg scorer next season”
