By Field Level Media
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Jaden McDaniels scored 30 points, Anthony Edwards had 29, and the Minnesota Timberwolves finished strong for a 116-104 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series on Friday night in Minneapolis.

Julius Randle added 22 points for Minnesota, which took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Naz Reid and Donte DiVincenzo came off the bench to chip in 11 and 10 points, respectively.

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LeBron James netted 38 points on 13-for-21 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Los Angeles. Austin Reaves scored 20 points, thanks largely to five 3-pointers, and Luka Doncic scored 17 points but made only 6 of 16 shots from the field and 2 of 8 from 3-point range. Doncic also had five of Los Angeles’ 19 turnovers but contributed eight assists and seven rebounds.

The Timberwolves outscored the Lakers 62-46 in the second half.

Doncic drove toward the rim and made a step-back jumper to even the score at 103-all with 4:37 to go. Los Angeles had trailed 100-93 after Reid knocked down a 3-pointer with 7:31 remaining.

The Timberwolves built their lead back to seven points in the next couple minutes.

Edwards put Minnesota back on top 106-103 with a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 4:19 to go. Reid followed with a 3-pointer from the left wing to make it 109-103.

After Reaves made one of two free throws to cut the deficit to 109-104, Edwards took control once again. He drove against James and finished with a layup to increase the Timberwolves’ lead to 111-104 with 2:18 remaining.

Edwards then set the home crowd into hysterics when he dribbled between his legs and stepped back for a long jump shot to make it 113-104 with 1:06 left.

Rui Hachimura missed a 3-pointer on the opposite end for the Lakers, and McDaniels added to the late surge with a 3-pointer from the right corner to make it 116-104 with 39.1 seconds left.

The Timberwolves led 86-84 at the end of the third quarter.

An 8-0 run early in the third quarter allowed Minnesota to overtake the Lakers. Edwards and Randle hit back-to-back 3-pointers to punctuate the run, which ended when James scored on an alley-oop dunk to pull Los Angeles within 67-65.

Edwards provided a highlight-reel play to give the Timberwolves a 76-72 edge with 4:39 left in the third quarter. He drove the baseline and soared past a leaping Doncic for a dunk.

The Lakers led 58-54 at the half.

Gary Trent Jr. leads Bucks to comeback win over Pacers

Gary Trent Jr. and Giannis Antetokounmpo each scored 37 points while leading the Bucks to a 117-101 comeback victory over the visiting Indiana Pacers on Friday, cutting Milwaukee’s deficit in the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series to 2-1.

Trent was inserted into the starting lineup in place of Taurean Prince and delivered for coach Doc Rivers, hitting 9 of 12 3-point attempts. The nine tries tied the franchise playoff record set by Ray Allen in the 2001 Eastern Conference finals.

“We wanted somebody aggressive to attack (Tyrese) Haliburton,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said of Trent. “One thing about Gary, there’s players who turn themselves off, Gary’s not going to do that. When Gary gets it going, he’s going to go for it and we love that. He’s a tough kid.”

Antetokounmpo grabbed 12 rebounds and dished out six assists, while teammate AJ Green finished with 12 points on four 3-pointers.

Pascal Siakam put up 28 points on 12-for-19 shooting for Indiana, which led by 12 points in the second quarter. Aaron Nesmith contributed 18 points, while Tyrese Haliburton logged 14 points and 10 assists.

Game 4 is scheduled for Sunday in Milwaukee.

The third quarter belonged to Trent and the Bucks. The sharpshooter shot 5-for-6 from deep while scoring 18 points, leading Milwaukee to dominate the period 39-18 and move on top 86-75.

“We knew we were getting a lot of good open looks,” Green said. “(Gary Trent Jr.) can shoot it with the best of ‘em, so he did his job tonight. He knocked them down. We’re going to keep finding him, keep creating those shots, those advantages for him and everyone else the rest of the series.”

Bucks guard Damian Lillard, who shot 1-for-10 through the first three quarters, hit a 3-pointer to start the fourth, and Green followed suit on Milwaukee’s next two possessions.

The Bucks shot 6-for-10 from beyond the arc in the fourth, with Trent connecting on both of his long-range shots.

“They played with a lot of force, lot of determination,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “We made some early defensive mistakes in the second half. We were bad on both sides of the ball. They were great, we were bad.”

It was a rock fight early, with both teams struggling to shoot, in particular from beyond the arc. Both clubs made just two shots from deep in the first quarter, and they went into the second tied at 26.

Indiana found some momentum late in the second and took a 57-47 lead into halftime. The Pacers shot 46 percent from the floor before the break, while the Bucks hit just 38 percent, including a 4-for-23 showing (17.4 percent) from deep.

Antetokounmpo led all scorers with 17 points in the half. Nesmith topped Indiana with 15.

Magic hold off Celtics at home, avoid 3-0 hole

Franz Wagner broke a late tie with consecutive driving hoops over Kristaps Porzingis, and the Orlando Magic, riding a suffocating defense and surviving a wild finish, held off the visiting Boston Celtics 95-93 in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series Friday night.

Wagner finished with a team-high 32 points and Paolo Banchero 29 for the Magic, who held serve at home after losing the first two games of the best-of-seven series in Boston. Game 4 also will be played at Orlando on Sunday.

“It was a great team effort,” Banchero said. “We knew it was going to be a helluva game. Being at home, we wanted to get the win and have a chance to tie it up 2-2.”

After Boston, which led most of the way, rallied from a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 91-91 on a Derrick White layup with 2:31 left, Wagner hit one layup with 2:13 remaining and another with 1:26 to go, putting the hosts up four.

The Celtics got back within two on a White dunk with 28.1 seconds remaining and then appeared to get a turnover when an eight-second backcourt violation was called on the Magic. But the referees conferred and decided that Orlando had in fact advanced past the midcourt line in time and gave the ball back to the Magic.

Wagner then missed a 3-pointer but by the time the Celtics were able to retrieve the miss and call a timeout, only three-tenths of a second were left on the clock. Boston was relegated to a long lob pass on an inbounds play that was broken up.

“I thought we showed a lot of character,” Wagner said. “We stuck together and found a way to win the game.”

A game-time decision after having missed Game 2 with a sore right wrist, Jayson Tatum exploded for 21 points in the first half then added a 3-pointer on Boston’s first possession of the third period to give the visitors a 62-51 lead. But the Celtics added just eight more points in the period and found themselves in a 73-70 hole by period’s end.

“I thought our defense in the third won us the game,” Banchero said. “We showed a lot of poise in that third, and we rebounded the ball better.”

When Wagner opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer and Banchero chipped in with six points shortly thereafter, the Magic lead expanded to 86-74 before Boston made its late push.

Wagner also found time for seven rebounds and a game-high eight assists, while Wendell Carter Jr. had a 10-point, 12-rebound double-double for the Magic, who held the Celtics to 21 points over a 17-minute stretch of the second half.

Tatum had a game-high 36 points and a team-high nine rebounds for the Celtics, but also seven of the team’s 21 turnovers. Jaylen Brown chipped in with 19 points and White 16 to go with a team-high five assists for Boston, which also lost both its regular-season games at Orlando.

“We were at their place,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “They’re out there pressuring. The physicality … we could do a better job of play-calling, getting us in the right spots. We could do a better job at the point of attack. We could do a better job finishing. We just have to do a better job with our offensive physicality.”

The Celtics played without defensive ace Jrue Holiday, a late scratch with a strained right hamstring.