01/24: LAKERS vs. Minnesota Timberwolves 1st Half Open Thread

Welcome to the first half open thread of the Lakers' matchup vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves as both teams try to keep afloat in the playoff race in the West. Leave a comment below and share your thoughts on the game.

Q2

MIN 58 LAL 61

Not a good defensive sequence to end the half. But, happy the Lakers have the lead at the half. Of course, the big story here is the return of Rajon Rondo. As I said in the first quarter, all is well when you have one of your floor generals back. Players get to do what they do best without taking up the bulk of the playmaking. Rondo looked good, scoring-wise and facilitating-wise. It's like he hasn't missed one month of action. And that's the big plus right now. But, the Timberwolves are hanging around there as their getting some quality minutes out of Jerryd Bayless off the bench. They're a scrappy bunch despite all the drama that has happened with Jimmy Butler and Tom Thibodeau and they're fighting for a playoff spot as well. For the Lakers, while Rondo is a big boost, we need to see more from our main cast off the young core. Kyle Kuzma finally scored in the 2nd quarter, he's struggled as of late and hope he gets the hot hand back. Ingram's been underwhelming. He had a couple of good looks this first half, he just is not able to knock his shots down. There's still plenty more to play. The 2nd half will open up shortly.

Q1

MIN 28 LAL 29

Quite a struggle for B.I. in this quarter with that jump shot. Outside of that, this quarter shows the beauty of having a playmaker like Rondo back. It was just one game that the Lakers didn't have all three of their floor generals. But, it was nowhere near where it was when the Lakers had a pure playmaker. Rondo's return tonight exemplifies the Lakers' getting back to the flow the offense. He looked good this quarter, knocking down a couple of shots and he takes a lot of pressure off of B.I. and Lance as ball handlers. The last stretch was a bitter finish as the T'Wolves benefited on some and one calls to make this a one point game.