Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

JJ Redick's Strong Reaction to Lakers Facing Timberwolves in Playoffs

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Ashish Mathur | Last updated Apr 13, 2025 7:59 PM ET

The Los Angeles Lakers will take on the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the 2025 playoffs in a series with a lot of star power.

The Lakers are led by LeBron James and Luka Doncic, while the Timberwolves have Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert.

Los Angeles has home-court advantage in the series, which is important since JJ Redick's group went 0-2 against the Timberwolves in Minnesota during the regular season. The Lakers went 2-0 at home versus Edwards and Co.

After the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Golden State Warriors on Sunday, confirming that the Timberwolves would face the Lakers, Redick spoke to local reporters about the Los Angeles-Minnesota matchup.

"Very difficult opponent," Redick said. "They've played as well as anyone lately. Believe they're one of four teams in the top 10 in offense and defense. So they present a lot of problems."

Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Timberwolves in the 2024 Western Conference Finals in five games.

James, who has the most postseason wins in NBA history with 183, has never faced Minnesota in the playoffs during his Hall of Fame career.

Redick just finished his first season as an NBA coach. The former Duke star said he and his staff will use next week to prepare the players for the Timberwolves.

"We can map out what we wanna do in terms of Minnesota prep Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, potentially Saturday," Redick said.

The Lakers lost to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 2024 playoffs. It will be interesting to see if Los Angeles can defeat Minnesota this year in the first round.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: