Timberwolves watched as the Lakers got stagnant watching Luka Doncic in Game 1. They knew the feeling.

Luka Doncic dominated the first quarter of Tournament Saturday night in Los Angeles The Slovenian superstar scored points in the frame on shots and the Lakers led - after the opening frame And then Los Angeles bogged down The Lakers shot just from the field in the second quarter while turning the ball over thrice Minnesota out-scored the Lakers - in that quarter to take a commanding lead and never really looked back Doncic finished with points but the rest of his teammates combined to shoot from the field in the loss Sometimes the early onslaught from Luka it s just easy offense and he s getting downhill The first possession he drives on Gobert and then he s hitting threes That s really good offense for us Lakers coach J J Redick mentioned And certain of the other guys may not touch the ball for stretches Doncic noted postgame he was trying to set the tone And sometimes it works His -point first quarter against the Wolves in Event of last year s Western Conference Finals was an absolute kill shot that effectively ended the series But there is also pitfall in the strategy A negative side effect is no one else catches a rhythm So when it s time for others to make plays they aren t necessarily in the best frame of mind to do so Minnesota has struggled with that same issue in latest years There have been particular first-quarter flurries from Anthony Edwards Julius Randle and even now former-Wolf Karl-Anthony Towns that are fun in the moment But when those individual explosions dry up over time and if you haven t established anything early in the contest you can lean upon it can be formidable to shift offensive gears when needed Minnesota for example is - this season in games in which Edwards takes nine-plus first quarter shots The Wolves won games last season but again were just - in the nine games in which Edwards or Towns took nine-plus first-quarter shots It s rarely an optimal approach Meanwhile Edwards did take six shots in Saturday s first frame with minimal success But he also had three assists in the quarter And he took just two shots to go with two assists in the second quarter when Minnesota s offense truly took off And in the second half when everyone else around him had an established rhythm Edwards scored points Edwards scored points in Meeting a modest total for him but also had nine assists and eight rebounds I invariably say the best version of Ant is one that s flirting with a triple double Timberwolves coach Chris Finch announced Got his teammates involved I thought with even more timely passing That s certainly not to say Minnesota doesn t want its best player to shoot Far from it But in nowadays s NBA with the approaches defenses have evolved to make life as laborious as feasible on the star players you truly need everyone to crack the defensive codes The balance for every star and club to strike is to determine when it s necessary to move the ball around and play good pace and space offense and when you may need to rely on your star s to hit a tough shot Minnesota turned to the latter in the fourth quarter When the Lakers were mounting a comeback charge and had pulled to within points Randle and Edwards both stemmed the tide with contested mid-range jumpers Then Edwards hit a tough triple over Doncic s out-stretched arms That the prosperous shotmaking stretch came after two quarters of really good association basketball seemed like no coincidence All season Wolves wing Donte DiVincenzo has preached the power of having both options at the group s disposal It also builds confidence in everybody that those guys are very unselfish and when a defense throws whatever they re throwing they ll find the open shooter the open cutter and make plays for everyone else DiVincenzo disclosed And also we rely on them when things are not in rhythm for us to go get a bucket calm us down and be themselves Mike Conley noted the Wolves have done a great job striking the balance Hats off to Ant and Julius being able to be unselfish enough to allow us for the first three three and a half quarters to play a certain way and get off the ball Conley noted And then they know in the fourth quarter late in the match it s your show Shoot every shot Shoot the mid range shoot the fadeaways All those are shots they shoot every day They just try not to do that too early in games and be stagnant That has been our battle all year Related Articles Timberwolves no longer underdogs against Lakers Is that cause for concern Timberwolves Playoffs Reserves again ignite crew s best play The Timberwolves had one of best shooting performances of the season Saturday How will the Lakers react in Event Pack of rabid Timberwolves harass Lakers en trail to Battle rout Timberwolves playoffs From contracts to reputation what s at stake