Lakers beat Timberwolves in overtime, advance to playoffs as No. 7 seed

The Lakers targeted 19 wins for a very specific reason.

It was in early February, the morning before LeBron James would break the NBA’s all-time scoring record, when Dennis Schroder put it on the record.

With 28 games left in their season, Schroder said the team’s mindset was to win at least 19 — that would be the number the Lakers would need to make it into the playoffs.

Days later, the roster was remodeled and soon, the Lakers started playing some of their best basketball of the season.

They won 18 more games, one short of their goal.

And that’s why, Tuesday night, they had to stand on the doorstep of the playoffs with a younger, hungrier, looser Minnesota team right next to them.

Lakers forward LeBron James scores on a layup against Timberwolves forward Taurean Prince during the first half Tuesday.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

One more win, anywhere in the season, would’ve meant the Lakers were the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference. Maybe with a whistle in Boston, a made free throw in Philadelphia, better rotations against Indiana or Dallas — any of it, and the Lakers wouldn’t have been in this position.

Needing one more win.

So of course, it took one more comeback.

After rallying from a 15-point deficit in the second half, the Lakers looked like they had won the game on Schroder’s three-point shot with 1.1 seconds left. But Anthony Davis fouled Minnesota’s Mike Conley on a three, with the veteran guard sending the game to overtime with three made free throws.

But just like the Lakers’ season, the slow start wouldn’t define them, the team overcoming the late mistake and owning overtime to advance to the playoffs with a 108-102 win over the Timberwolves.

James scored 30 and had 10 rebounds in more than 45 minutes. Davis scored 24 and grabbed 15 rebounds, and Schroder, stepping in for the struggling D’Angelo Russell, finished with 21.

It’s the Lakers’ third trip to the playoffs in the last decade, all three coming in James’ tenure with the team. The Lakers will play the second-seeded Grizzlies in a best-of-seven, first-round series starting Sunday in Memphis.

Minnesota scored just 12 points in the fourth and four points in overtime as the Lakers came back. It finished much better than it started.

Lakers forward LeBron James passes the ball over a defender to a teammate cutting to the basket during the first half Tuesday.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Earlier, the Lakers came out flat offensively and unorganized defensively, run over with better energy and better execution from a badly wounded Timberwolves team.

While the Lakers struggled through a win Sunday against Utah, Minnesota imploded in a game with New Orleans that would determine whether it would be the eighth or ninth seed in the West.

First, Jaden McDaniels, one of the best and most versatile perimeter defenders in the NBA, broke his hand when he punched a wall in frustration. Then later in the first half, All-Star center and former defensive player of the year Rudy Gobert swung at teammate Kyle Anderson during a timeout.

Gobert was sent home from the game and ultimately suspended.

Without two starters, Minnesota rallied with Karl-Anthony Towns carrying the load offensively while Anthony Edwards made all of the biggest defensive plays.

“We have fighters,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said with a laugh before Tuesday’s game.

And unsurprisingly, the Timberwolves were the team that swung first.

The Lakers missed 10 of their first 11 shots.

After the misses, Minnesota quickly caught fire, Towns and Tauren Prince, starting for McDaniels, canning threes to help grab some early momentum in a game that went back and forth.

Davis started the comeback, quickly scoring a three-point play that began under the rim. James capped it, hitting a three off a Rui Hachimura screen and tying the game at 95.

With less than seven seconds left, James drove baseline, skied and, at the last second, fired the ball to the corner where Schroder stood behind the three-point arc in front of the Minnesota bench.

Swish.

But the win would need to wait. Minnesota found Conley open in the far corner and Davis’ challenge on the shot was too close, his feet landing just inside Conley’s landing area to send the game to overtime.

But Hachimura hit a three on the first play of overtime to restart the Lakers in the first capacity postseason game in Los Angeles since 2013.

Two-plus months after saying the Lakers needed to win 19 games to make the playoffs, they did.