Lakers vs Timberwolves Picks, Prediction Today | Thursday, Dec. 21

Here's everything you need to know about Lakers vs. Timberwolves on Thursday, Dec. 21 — our expert prediction and betting picks for today.

The Lakers will travel to Minnesota to take on a smoking-hot Timberwolves team on Thursday night.

Can the Lakers steal a road win, or will the Timberwolves' defense prove too daunting of a challenge? Let’s break this one down.

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This is a tough matchup for the Lakers' offense as they are heavily dependent on paint shots. The Lakers rank second in offensive rim rate while the T-wolves rank second in defensive rim rate allowed and fifth in FG% allowed at the rim.

We just saw Isaiah Hartenstein effectively defend the rim against LA on Monday and Rudy Gobert is certainly multiple levels above Hartenstein in terms of rim-deterrence.

The Lakers will need their guards and their shooters to step up here if they want to remain efficient on offense. Austin Reaves has been efficient offensively and that will need to continue if the Lakers are going to have any success in the halfcourt.

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The Timberwolves have been an extremely good team when healthy and they now rank first in the West with a 20-5 record and third in the NBA in net-rating (+8.8).

The T-wolves are on a back to back here, but they will need to make sure they are sprinting back on defense regardless as the Lakers rank second in offensive transition rate.

The T-wolves need to force the Lakers to play in the half-court as the Lakers are just 11th in half-court offensive rating. The Timberwolves' half-court defense has been impregnable as they have a league-best 89.0 defensive rating in the half-court, a full -3.7 points better than second place.

Jaden McDaniels, Anthony Edwards, Kyle Anderson and Karl-Anthony Towns are all mobile defenders who can switch onto LeBron James and Anthony Davis and at least survive.

I expect the Timberwolves' defense to dominate here as the Lakers' offense is too reliant on paint looks. As long as they can limit their offensive turnovers and force the Lakers to play in the half-court, the Lakers should struggle to find points here.

With both teams on a back to back, I will lean toward this younger Timberwolves team to defend their homecourt.

The line opened at T-Wolves -4.5 and has been growing substantially as it gets closer to tipoff. I would take the Timberwolves at -5.5 but would not play the number past -6.

Pick: Timberwolves -6 or Better