LOS ANGELES—With their season hanging in the balance, the Los Angeles Lakers rebounded with a galvanizing performance against the Minnesota Timberwolves, winning 94-85 on Tuesday, April 22 at Crypto.com Arena. The crucial victory, which evened up their Playoff series at 1-1 spearheaded by Luka Doncic and a superb team defense.

The Lakers never trailed after the first few minutes of Game 2, led by double digits almost until the very end, flexed their star power when necessary and sent the Wolves home feeling frustrated and maybe a little less confident about this series.

The Timberwolves scored a season low 85 points on just 38% shooting from the field. It was excellent defense, the L.A. Lakers were stellar on the boards, showing the ability to rotate on the pick and roll.

Luka’s favorite animal must be a wolf. He has been dominant against the T’Wolves. He finished one assist shy of a 31-point triple-double in Game 2 and is averaging 34 points for the series.

Minnesota rarely doubles opposing players — their one-on-one defense is that good — but Dončić is testing that strategy. It might be time for a tweak.

After the Wolves were sizzling from beyond the arc on Saturday, making a whopping 21 three pointers. In Game 2 however, it was ice cold, making only 5 of 25 from three-point territory.

“We looked at what we didn’t do so well, which is a lot of things in Game 1,” said James, who scored 21 points and made a key steal in the fourth quarter. “We took it to heart, held each other accountable and had a much better result.”

Austin Reaves added 16 for the third-seeded Lakers, who jumped out to an early 22-point lead and hung on through a physical matchup with sixth-seeded Minnesota.

Los Angeles scored only 60 points in the final three quarters, but the Wolves never got closer than nine points. Coach JJ Redick was proud of his players’ response — even if he had to unload on them in the fourth quarter during a profanity-laden timeout to maintain their focus down the stretch.

Julius Randle scored 27 points and Anthony Edwards had 25 for the Timberwolves, who lost most of their offensive fluidity from Game 1. Edwards said the Lakers’ defensive adjustments made it “kind of hard” on him.

Game 3 is Friday night in Minneapolis.