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LA Lakers head coach Frank Vogel was disappointed by his side's physicality in their loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday. The Timberwolves completely outrebounded the LA Lakers as they grabbed 61 rebounds compared to the 36..
Frank Vogel stressed the fact that the opposition had 15 offensive boards, whereas his Lakers team Purple had just one. The Lakers were not given a single chance to make inroads as the young Minnesota team played with a lot of grit and determination. During his post-game press conference, Frank Vogel said his team needed to be more physical and impose themselves on their opponents:
" I think their whole team was physical, not just KAT, you know, look at the board, they had 15 offensive rebounds and we had 1, they definitely played a more physical brand of basketball tonight and we gotta be better"
The LA Lakers have been marred by injuries and of late the COVID Health and Safety Protocols. Coming into the game against the Timberwolves, five Lakers players were placed in the Health and Safety Protocols. These include Malik Monk, Dwight Howard, Talen Horton-Tucker, Avery Bradley and Austin Reaves. Frank Vogel said the team currently finds themselves in a "crazy" situation:
"It's just craziness, there's chaos you know involved with like just every few hours you're hearing a new guy's out or in this case, new guys in you thought was out. It's just a crazy time, but you know we're not letting it impact us in terms of trying to win games, like I said no excuses man, you know we had enough to win the game tonight, we didn't play well enough"
LA Lakers suffer another tough defeat against the Minnesota Timberwolves
The LA Lakers came into the game high on confidence after the win over the Dallas Mavericks. However, the Minnesota Timberwolves were determined right from the tip-off. They played with intensity and made life extremely difficult for the LA Lakers. Karl-Anthony Towns scored all of the first 8 points to give the team a flying start.
The Purple and Gold looked extremely fragile in the paint as Towns took control down low, consistently making buckets to carry the Timberwolves. Jarred Vanderbilt was an assassin on the board as he grabbed 16 rebounds. The Lakers were simply not given a chance to get back into the game. As the Minnesota team kept going on scoring runs, eventually increasing the lead to to as many as 20 points at one point in the game.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in 32 minutes. He shot the ball at 55% efficiency and was playing with tons of energy. His impeccable performance was the catalyst for the Timberwolves' dominant 110-92 win on the night.
The LA Lakers will be hoping to bounce back strong from this setback when they next face the Chicago Bulls on Sunday, December 19 at the United Center.
