The Lakers were missing both of their superstars, LeBron James and Luka Doncic. The Wolves were the home team and heavy favorites. They thought they could sleepwalk through parts of the game before turning it on late.
It almost worked, but they got the result they deserved — something I talked about on Thursday’s Daily Delivery podcast amid a raft of concerns about various Minnesota teams.
The season is long, and it’s instructive to remember that the Wolves started 8-10 last year and were just 32-29 through 61 games before sprinting to the finish, securing a top-six spot at the last moment, and going on a surprising run to the conference finals that included a convincing series win over the Luka-and-LeBron Lakers.
Reaves was a no-show in that series, hounded by various tenacious Wolves defenders.
The Wolves found their continuity and identity late last year. The expectation was that they would still have those features this year since so much of the roster carried over from a season ago.
I see evidence of the opposite so far.