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The Los Angeles Lakers survived a turbulent day, beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 108-102 to clinch a playoff spot. They were down by as many as 15 points midway through the third quarter, but ended up trimming the lead to seven entering the fourth quarter before winning the game in overtime.
Despite the win, many fans and basketball pundits alike weren’t satisfied with their performance as the Lakers made it extremely difficult to overcome a Minnesota team that was missing three key players in Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels.
The expectation for the Lakers in this play-in game was different, to say the least. So after their sloppy performance, NBA Hall of Famer and current NBA analyst Charles Barkley wasted no time slapping the Lakers with a harsh reality check.
“They didn’t deserve to win this game tonight. This was all about the Wolves choking this game away,” Barkley said. “This is the perfect example right here. They think they’re better than they are. This ain’t the bubble, dude.”
Chuck: [Lakers] think they’re better than they are. This ain’t the bubble dude pic.twitter.com/FG9Jv0xfWa
— hoops bot (@hoops_bot) April 12, 2023
