On January 3, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued to unfold, with the Lakers playing at home against the Timberwolves. In this game, the Lakers still insisted on a small lineup, James as the starting center, but this time their internal line was suppressed by the opponent, which also led to their inability to open the point difference, fortunately, the team found its form in the last quarter, coupled with the Timberwolves themselves made consecutive mistakes. In the end, the Lakers beat the Timberwolves 108-103 at home to usher in a two-game winning streak.
At the beginning of the first quarter, the Lakers took the lead in finding the outside touch, and the Timberwolves clenched the score through the inside line, and the Lakers led by 7 points after the first quarter; in the second quarter, both sides played an offensive attack, and the Timberwolves successfully narrowed the point difference, trailing only 3 points in the half. In the second half, the Timberwolves' inner advantage was more obvious, and they successfully surpassed the score with consecutive offensive rebounds, but the Timberwolves made consecutive mistakes in the last quarter, and the Lakers seized the opportunity this time, and as Edwards deflected three points, the Lakers beat the Timberwolves 108-103.
The Lakers won this game is still very thrilling, facing the lack of Dons Russell's Timberwolves, did not occupy the absolute upper hand, mainly because of the serious loss of the inside. Trailing 28-56 rebounds in the game, the Timberwolves grabbed 20 rebounds to catch up with the Lakers' entire team rebounds, and the Lakers only grabbed 4 offensive rebounds. Rebounding fell behind, but Vogel put his two major centers Howard and Jordan Jr. on the bench and did not play a minute. Reed on the opposite inside line got 23 points and 11 rebounds, watching these unknown juniors dominate on the inside line, Howard and Jordan Jr. off the court were also a little helpless.
This time, James failed to continue the previous hot state, stopping 7 games in 30+ consecutive games. This time he played 39 minutes, 7 of 15 shooting, 3 of 9 three-pointers, 9 of 12 free throws, 26 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals, and only 1 turnover. In addition, James reached two more milestones, which was his 1336th regular season game, surpassing Gary Payton (1335 games) to 16th in NBA history; free throw shooting to 7696, surpassing "Big O" Oscar Robertson (7694) and rising to fourth all-time.
In this game, Wei Shao was again out of order, sending 7 mistakes in the first half, and some unnecessary mistakes, resulting in the team's delay in pulling apart the points difference. Westbrook played 33 minutes, shooting 7-of-16, 0-of-5 from three-point range, 20 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists, and made nine turnovers. There was also a 5-second serve violation in the final minute, giving the Timberwolves a chance to chase points.
After beating the Timberwolves, the Lakers' record came to 19-19, and the winning percentage returned to 50%, ranking seventh in the West.