Minnesota Timberwolves at Los Angeles Lakers
Date: October 24th, 2025
Time: 9:00 PM CDT
Location: Crypto.com Arena
Television Coverage: Amazon Prime Video
Radio Coverage: KFAN FM, Wolves App, iHeart Radio
They say revenge is a dish best served cold, but if you’re the Timberwolves, the smartest thing you can do is make sure it never even leaves the kitchen.
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Minnesota rolls into Hollywood for Game 2 of a two-game mini West Coast road trip. The game will be played at Crypto.com arena, the very same floor where five months ago, the Wolves finally slayed two decades of Los Angeles demons, ended the Lakers’ season, and baptized Luka Doncic into the Wolves’ personal revenge anthology. It wasn’t just a playoff win. It was an exorcism. Tonight is the sequel, and you know how Hollywood is with sequels.
The Lakers? They just got slapped in the mouth on their home floor by Steph Curry and the Warriors. No LeBron. A clearly pissed-off Luka drops 43… and the team still loses by double digits. Which means tonight, he is going to come out breathing fire like he got paid appearance money by Jeff Bezos to play the villain.
The Wolves, meanwhile, survived the exact kind of game they blew all last season — a road game where the inferior team plays like rabid hyenas and Minnesota sleepwalks until it’s too late. Instead? They kept punching back. They didn’t fold. And then, Anthony Edwards put on a Jordanesque fourth quarter. Ten points in the final four minutes. A 41-piece. Absolute cold-blooded killer mode.
That was a grown-up win. But if the Wolves want to keep their momentum and start 2–0, here’s what has to happen:
Keys to the Game:
1. Ant can’t just be great. He must confirm the superstardom.
Forget the Wemby frenzy, what Ant did in Portland was legendary, and he did it in the exact moment where superstars either reveal themselves or get exposed. Down four, four and a half minutes left, the building buzzing, Portland throwing every bit of youthful chaos they had — Ant just calmly decided nope.
That’s the version the Wolves need tonight, not the “coast til the third, flip the switch” Ant. The “I’m going to absolutely embarrass Luka on Amazon Prime and make the MVP conversation start tonight” Ant. If he shows up like that again, it’s over. Wolves win.
2. Stop handing out turnovers like Halloween candy.
Nineteen turnovers for Minnesota in Portland, and the only reason the Wolves survived was because Anthony Edwards put on the cape. You are not getting away with that twice. This is where Conley, DiVincenzo, and honestly, Finch’s patience get tested early. If the Wolves have 8+ turnovers by halftime, the tone is set, and it’s probably bad.
3. The Wolves’ frontcourt has to feast like it did in the playoffs.
Reminder: Game 5 last April ended because Rudy Gobert physically humiliated the Lakers frontcourt, and Julius Randle backed him up with grown-man playoff violence. Nothing the Lakers did this offseason actually fixed that problem. (Sorry Deandre Ayton.) Minnesota has three dudes in Rudy, Julius, and Naz who can take the soul out of L.A. at the rim. There is no excuse not to weaponize that.
If the Wolves own the glass and punish the paint that gives them a huge advantage. If they settle for jumpers and get cute? That’s how fake momentum dies.
4. Find somebody (anybody) who can capably back up Mike Conley.
Finch threw out DiVincenzo to start at point. It looked bad. Bones showed up randomly. Conley is still a life preserver. Dillingham didn’t play at all. This is officially not a subplot. It’s the main story for this team. And Amazon’s cameras are about to make it everyone’s business.
This is not just another game.
This is the stress test. The first chance to prove Minnesota isn’t just surviving the West, they’re hunting it.
Win in L.A., with Luka furious and the building charged for revenge, and the Wolves officially plant a flag as one of the league’s elite.
Drop it, look sloppy, lazy, turnover-drunk, and the national takes write themselves before wheels-up back to MSP.
What’s at stake isn’t the record.
It’s the message.
And Ant gets first crack at delivering it live, in Hollywood.
