PORTLAND, Ore. — After walking off the court at Moda Center following Sunday’s regular-season finale defeat to the Portland Trail Blazers, the Lakers coaching staff, training staff and players who made the trip gathered around various parts of the visitor’s locker room to watch the ending of Clippers at Golden State Warriors.
With the Lakers as the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference entering the playoffs, they awaited the result of Clippers-Warriors to see who’d be the No. 6 seed and their first round matchup for the playoffs.
And once Warriors guard Buddy Hield’s potential game-tying 3-pointer hit the side of the backboard, the Lakers gained the clarity they were seeking, with Jarred Vanderbilt yelling “We’re going to Minnesota, boys!”
The Clippers’ victory over the Warriors not only clinched the No. 5 seed in the West for themselves, but also dropped the Warriors to No. 7, moving the Minnesota Timberwolves to the No. 6 seed after their victory over the Utah Jazz on Sunday that clinched a playoff spot for Minnesota.
The Lakers will have homecourt advantage for their first-round playoff series against the Timberwolves.
The series is expected to start on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena. It will mark the first time that the Lakers hosted their first-round series in Los Angeles since April 2012.
The Timberwolves and Lakers regular-season series finished tied with two victories apiece, with the last matchup coming on Feb. 27, a 111-102 home win for the Lakers.
The Lakers-Timberwolves matchup will mark their first playoff series since 2004, which the Lakers won 4-2 in the Western Conference Finals en route to a run to the NBA Finals.
The teams also matched up in the first round of the playoffs in 2003 – a series the Lakers also won 4-2.
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