LeBron James turns back time, but Luka Doncic’s stomach flu weakens Lakers in Game 3

LeBron James’s NBA-record 290 playoff appearances are more than the combined total of the Timberwolves’ starting lineup. But in James’ three-and-a-half seasons worth of playoff games, there’s one thing the 40-year-old has never found.

A moral victory.

“There’s no moral victories in the postseason,” James said Friday morning, ice wrapped on his knees, after the Los Angeles Lakers’ shootaround at Target Center.

“It doesn’t matter what the stat sheet looks like. It’s about winning the game.”

Later Friday, James scored a game-high 38 points — his most since he picked up a March groin injury that sidelined him for seven games, then was aggravated again on April 11. But there was no win as the Lakers were beaten by the Timberwolves 116-104 in Game 3 of the first-round NBA playoff series.

The Lakers scored more than 95 points for the first time this series. They shot 42.5% (17-for-40) from three, with James going 5-for-9 after the team struggled from beyond the arc at home. They held Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert to a single point.

But, in the end, those were only moral victories.

Anthony Edwards heated up as the Wolves pulled away from a 103-103 tie with five minutes left to play. He finished with 29 points playing against his Olympic teammate.

“You guys know how much praise I have for [Edwards]. We had a hell of a summer,” said James. “The game ball went to Jaden [McDaniels]. He had 30, and he was aggressive start to the finish.”

Luka Doncic powered Los Angeles’ offense with 37 points in Game 1, then 31 in Game 2. But Doncic was late to appear during the announcement of the visitors’ starting lineup on Saturday.

The guard, swapped from the Dallas Mavericks in a blockbuster February trade, had been “vomiting all afternoon,” dealing with a stomach illness for the past 24 hours, said Lakers coach JJ Redick.

Guard Jordan Goodwin thought Doncic might not return from the locker room at halftime “just because, you know, how he sounded, his body language, how he looked.”

Doncic still managed 40 minutes but finished with a quieter 17 points on 6-for-16 shooting, plus five turnovers.

“He gave it everything he had tonight,” said Lakers guard Austin Reaves, who finished with 20 points. “We had a one possession game with three minutes left.”

“Hopefully whatever is going on, [Doncic] is feeling better Sunday,” Redick said when asked about recovery timeline. “I’m not a doctor.”

The Lakers had 16 turnovers, to the Timberwolves eight, and let Minnesota score 56 points in the paint, to the Lakers’ 26. Since acquiring Doncic, the Lakers have opted for smaller lineups. Starting center Jaxson Hayes played just nine minutes, 1-for-2 from the field, but “I still believe in Jaxson,” said Redick. “We’ll look at everything.”

It seems like the Lakers, now, need to have James and Doncic firing on the same night. James, who has never missed a playoff game because of injury, is “moving better, getting healthier by the day,” said Redick.

But Los Angeles, down 2-1 in the series, now heads into Sunday’s second road game in need of a literal victory, not a moral one.

“In the postseason,” James said, “there is no room for error.”