Matchup chart: Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Los Angeles Lakers

NBA Western Conference First Round

Best-of-seven series

Saturday: at L.A. Lakers, 7:30 p.m. ABC (Ch. 5)

Tuesday: at L.A. Lakers, 9 p.m. TNT, truTV

Friday, April 25: at Target Center, 8:30 p.m., ESPN

Sunday, April 27: at Target Center, 2:30 p.m. ABC (Ch. 5)

Wednesday, April 30: (if necessary) at L.A. Lakers, TBD

Friday, May 2: (if necessary) at Target Center, TBD

Sunday, May 4: (if necessary) at L.A. Lakers, TBD

The Timberwolves meet the great Luka Doncic in the playoffs once again, only this time Doncic is alongside 40-year-old LeBron James with the L.A. Lakers after February’s stunning trade with Dallas.

Last season, Doncic led Dallas to the NBA Finals against Boston after the Mavericks beat the Wolves in five games in the Western Conference final. Included was a clutch three-pointer he made over outstretched Rudy Gobert.

The Wolves have fresh playoff faces, too — Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo — after the Wolves traded away former No. 1 overall pick Karl-Anthony Towns.

Now the Wolves and All-Star guard Anthony Edwards will see Doncic again, starting Saturday night in L.A. after both teams finished the regular season strong. It’s the first time the Lakers have started a playoff series at home since 2012.

Edwards has nine 40-point games this season, including two in three days last week.

Doncic has four of them himself. Two of them while with Dallas and two with the Lakers, including a 45-point game against the Mavs last week.

James has advanced to the playoffs for the 18th time in his 22-year career, for a franchise seeking an 18th NBA title. He ties Tim Duncan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for second most all time.

Only one of the four meetings between the Wolves and Lakers came after the Lakers sent Anthony Davis to Dallas on Feb. 2. That was the Lakers’ 111-102 home win on Feb. 27, when Doncic had 21 points, 13 rebounds and five assists in nearly 36 minutes. The Wolves played without Randle and Gobert.

“It doesn’t matter if we don’t have anything on tape with both teams at full strength,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said.

The Lakers won seven of nine regular-season games before Sunday’s 109-81 road loss at Portland in which their top seven scorers did not play. They finished 50-32 overall – 31-10 at home – and secured the Western Conference’s third seed.

The Lakers won 29 of their last 44 games, their longest stretch like that since the 2019-20 season. They’re 46-5 when leading after three quarters, third best behind Cleveland and Oklahoma City. They won eight consecutive games from Feb. 20 to March 6, a home win over the Wolves included.

The Timberwolves won eight of their last nine games, the only blemish being a 110-103 loss at Milwaukee last Tuesday after they had led by 24 points.

They finished 49-33 — 24-17 on the road — and are the West’s sixth seed.

The teams split the season series 2-2, each winning its two games at home.

The Lakers won 110-103 in the season opener Oct. 22 and 111-102 on Feb. 27, both at Crypto.com Arena.

The Wolves won their two home games 11 days apart, with a 109-80 win on Dec. 2 and 97-87 on Dec. 13.

The two teams have met twice in the playoffs, back-to-back in 2003 and 2004. The Lakers won a first-round series 4-2 the first time around, then won 4-2 in the Western Conference finals the next season. That 2004 season was Kevin Garnett’s MVP year and the farthest the Wolves advanced in the playoffs until last year’s run to the Western Conference finals against Dallas.

Don’t forget: Phoenix dominated the Wolves in the regular season a year ago, then the Wolves swept the Suns in the first round of the playoffs.

The Lakers are 52-15 at home, 35-31 at Minnesota and 87-46 lifetime against the Wolves.

James has made the playoffs for the 18th time in his 22-year NBA career. He has won four championships, but none since the COVID-19 bubble in 2020.

He averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists, the first time since his rookie season that he did not average 25 or more points.

Lakers guard Austin Reaves averaged 22.2 points, 5.0 assists and 4.6 rebounds on 48.3 percent shooting and 40.6 percent on threes. His team is 27-9 when he has scored 20 or more points.

Wolves forward Jaden McDaniels vs. Doncic

McDaniels continues to grow into an offensive force, but it’s his defense that got him into the league and it’s his defense slowing Doncic that gives the Wolves their best chance to win the series.

James vs. Randle

Randle is no stopper, but he provides the size and strength to make James work for what he gets while seeking his fifth NBA title.

Defending NBA Defensive Player of the Year Gobert has played like it again, particularly down the final stretch of regular-season games — and he added a career high-tying 35 points Friday against Brooklyn. If he can establish a presence down low rather than get pulled out onto the perimeter, it could make Doncic think twice and shape the series.

According to Wolves coach Chris Finch, it’s Naz Reid and Donte DiVincenzo who need to lift their games as they did in Sunday’s season-closing victory over Utah.

“We’re playing pretty well,” he said after that game. “We need to get some other guys to get back to playing at the level they need to. It was good to see a great game from Naz and Donte today.”

Reid, DiVincenzo and Nickeil Alexander-Walker are the three off the bench Finch relies upon in his eight-man plus one rotation. The Lakers counter with Dorian Finney-Smith, Gabe Vincent and former Timberwolf Jarred Vanderbilt.

Edge: Wolves

Redick made the playoffs 13 consecutive seasons and reached the NBA Finals in consecutive years as a player with Orlando, but this is his first go-around as a head coach. Finch knows the pace and rhythm after years as an assistant and last season’s run to the Western Conference finals. And he’s healthy this season after he needed surgery to repair a knee injured in a sideline collision with Wolves veteran Mike Conley in last season’s first round.

Edge: Wolves

Depth against greatness. Lakers in seven.