Anthony Davis, Lakers overtake Timberwolves in standings with dominant 2nd half

By DAVE CAMPBELL AP Sports Writer

MINNEAPOLIS — Anthony Davis scored 17 of his 38 points in the fourth quarter and had 17 rebounds to lift the Lakers past Minnesota, 123-111, to leapfrog the Timberwolves on Friday night in the crowded Western Conference playoff race.

LeBron James added 18 points and 10 rebounds and D’Angelo Russell had 12 points and 10 assists against his former team as the Lakers (39-38) won for the fifth time in six games to move into seventh place. They’re even with New Orleans, owning the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Pelicans.

Mike Conley had 25 points on 7-for-11 shooting with seven assists before fouling out, and Karl-Anthony Towns scored 23 points for the Timberwolves (39-39), who dropped into ninth place. They entered the evening one game behind Golden State and the cut to avoid the four-team play-in tournament, with the Warriors tipping off later at home against San Antonio.

Davis, who rolled his left ankle in the third quarter, scored 12 straight points for the Lakers over a 3:52 span late in the fourth quarter to seal the steely comeback from a deficit that hit 13 points shortly after halftime. He made five baskets in a row with Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert on the bench.

The Lakers took charge earlier with a 24-2 spurt over a 6:49 stretch of the third quarter with their defense in lockdown mode. Conley’s turn to rest on the bench during that run was ill-timed. Davis rolled his left ankle around the start of the Lakers surge, a breath-holding sequence that only seemed to energize the visitors.

The Wolves, whose bench was shortened without center Naz Reid and his broken wrist, were 2 for 14 from 3-point range in the third quarter and were outscored 35-18 in a discouraging stretch for a fired-up crowd that included local sports superstars Justin Jefferson and Kirill Kaprizov in floor seats.

James has been rebuilding his stamina from the month-long absence to a torn tendon in his right foot, and the second time with this new starting lineup around him of Davis, Russell, Austin Reaves and Jarred Vanderbilt produced a second win to start this five-game road trip. The Lakers improved to 9-4 since losing at home to the Wolves on March 3. Davis had 38 points Wednesday in the win at Chicago.

HELLO, D-LO

Russell, who was sent to his original team in a three-team trade with the Lakers and Utah on Feb. 8, was welcomed back to Target Center with a brief tribute video before the player intros. Russell played 173 games for the Timberwolves, the most among the four teams he’s been with.

“If you’re not here or you haven’t lived here or anything like that, then you’re not aware of how good of a city it is and a sports town, how committed fans are,” he told reporters at the morning shootaround.

WHISTLE STOP

Gobert ($25,000) and Coach Chris Finch ($15,000) were fined by the NBA earlier in the day for criticizing the officiating Wednesday after their loss at Phoenix when the Suns had 27 free-throw attempts and the Wolves had 12. This time, they went to the line 19 times – making 16 – and the Lakers had 30 tries.

TIP-INS

Lakers: Vanderbilt had 12 points. … Another former Wolves player, Malik Beasley, had three first-quarter 3-pointers.

Timberwolves: Anthony Edwards had 11 points on just 4-for-16 shooting. … Gobert had 14 points and 11 rebounds.

UP NEXT

The Lakers play at Houston on Sunday at 4 p.m. PT.

More to come on this story.