The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 108-102 in overtime (OT) in the NBA Western Conference play-in tournament game at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, on Tuesday.

After this victory, the purple and gold will enter the playoffs as the seventh in the West and play the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round. The Timberwolves have one more chance to secure qualification for the playoffs by beating the winner between the New Orleans Pelicans and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Lakers began to trail in Tuesday's game less than three minutes into the first quarter and didn't lead until there were only 1.4 seconds in the fourth period. In that possession, LeBron James drove to the rim and drew the attention of nearly all five defenders before passing to Dennis Schroder, who was open in the left corner. Schroder made his only field goal (FG) in this quarter and placed his side in a three-point lead (98-95).

However, instead of sealing the deal in regular time, the Lakers saw Anthony Davis foul Mike Conley when shot a tough triple. Though it was Conley's first trip to the free throw line on Tuesday, he made all three shots against the suffocating pressure and dragged the competition into OT.

The Lakers were in a better advantageous position during OT but still suffered a false alarm when the throw-in pass to D'Angelo Russell was cut by Conley when there were 19 seconds left. The purple and gold were leading by only three points (105-102) at that time. The Timberwolves caught the opponents on the hop and soon found Taurean Prince open in the left corner. Unfortunately for the team, Prince, who had shot 4-for-6 from downtown before that possession, missed the 3-pointer that could have tied the score for the Timberwolves.

Despite those chills that ran down their backs, the Lakers secured the valuable win at home thanks to the solid work of James, Davis and Schroder. Three combined to drop 75 points, 29 rebounds and 12 assists. James scored in double digits in the second and third quarters; Davis grabbed nine offensive rebounds; Schroder contributed 18 points in the second half and OT after returning from a sprained ankle.

The Timberwolves wasted a good opportunity of advancing to the playoffs early. They had 13 steals and forced 20 turnovers by the Lakers with excellent defensive energy. Offensively, Karl-Anthony Towns, Conley and Prince continued to score efficiently until the fourth quarter. The team went 3-for-15 from the field in this period and made no shot at all within the 3-point line. They reached 95 points at 6:01 but didn't score again until the final second.

Anthony Edwards will face the most criticism for the Timberwolves' loss on Tuesday night after missing 14 of his 17 FG attempts to get only nine points, eight rebounds and five assists. He took more shots than any other teammate, but made the second-fewest ones. His underperformance was why the team struggled so much when Towns had to take a break from the bench.

Hawks go to the playoffs after getting revenge on Heat

The Atlanta Hawks beat the Miami Heat 116-105 in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament game at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday to enter the NBA playoffs. They will face the Boston Celtics in the first round while the Heat will need to compete with the winner between the Chicago Bulls and the Toronto Raptors for the final berth of the conference.

Not many had expected the Hawks to win because they lost to the Heat in last season's playoffs and it was a very one-sided series. The Heat have good defensive resources to contain Trae Young with constant switching while the Hawks have no solution to guarding Jimmy Butler.

Young didn't play well on Tuesday night as he went 1-for-8 behind the arc and committed five turnovers. His back-court partner Dejounte Murray had a cold touch from the field as he missed 11 of his 17 shots. Nonetheless, the Hawks' bench unit did a superb job on offense by outscoring their Heat counterpart 53-37, not to mention that Kyle Lowry scored 33 of those 37 points.

Clint Capela's dominance of the board was also integral to the Hawks' win. He grabbed as many as 21 rebounds, including eight on the offensive glass, outperforming the whole team of the Heat. His efforts enabled the Hawks to outscore the Heat 26-20 in second-chance points.

A great part of the Heat's loss came from the poor performance of their starting lineup. Tyler Herro could still make up for his struggling 3-point shooting (2-for-9) by going 9-for-13 in mid-range jumpers. Bam Adebayo lost control of the board in front of Capela. Butler, who had been nothing but solid this season, shot 6-for-19 in FGs.