Timberwolves finish off the Lakers 

Los Angeles, CA (News4usOnline) – Luka and LeBron could not save the Lakers. The Minnesota Timberwolves proved themselves to be a better team in their first-round NBA playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Timberwolves pushed Luka Doncic and LeBron James and the rest of the Lakers out of the postseason in five games. 

“We executed great in the fourth quarter. Missed shots at the rim, missed a bunch of threes, shot 12-for-52 for the series in the fourth quarter from three,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said after the game. 

“On top of that, you lose two games in Minnesota – minus 12 on scoring opportunities and minus 13, and then you lose by 20 tonight. Just too many turnovers, too many offensive rebounds, and then you know. I think given the struggles scoring the ball, particularly early in the series, there is a tradeoff. There is always a tradeoff,” he added. 

The final insult for the Lakers was a 103-96 defeat to the Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena. Mineesota beat the Lakers in three straight games to claim the series and the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, a crushing and humbling exit from the playoffs. 

“I think there’s always a mix of disappointment and gratitude, but certainly disappointed and not something that I’ve ever envisioned with this team,” Redick said. “I mean, to go in and talk to them after losing the first round. But [I] give Minnesota a lot of credit, they’re a really good basketball team. I think our guys played hard enough and did all the right things. We tried to make it work with what we had and came up a little short.” 

The Lakers fell far short of the goal they had set out to achieve when they went out and hired Redick to become the head coach. In his rookie season, Redick was able to guide the Lakers through the minefield that is called the Western Conference and had his team at the No. 3 spot once the regular season had concluded. 

The postseason is all about matchups. And one of the worst teams the Lakers could have matched up with were the Timberwolves, a younger, much deeper and more physical squad. And it showed throughout the series as the Timberwolves sort of bullied the Lakers out of their customary mojo. 

Game 5 was a perfect example of this. Minnesota made just 7 of 47 3-pointers and still won the ballgame. That’s 14 percent. On almost every other night, those kinds of numbers would result in a loss. Well, the Timberwolves managed to offset their porous shooting percentage from three-point range by outrebounding the Lakers, 54-37. 

When it came to points in the paint, Minnesota was a lot more effective in that area than Los Angeles, finishing the night with a 56-40 advantage. The Timberwolves, influenced greatly by the sensational performance by center Rudy Gobert, were dominant on the boards. 

The Lakers had no answer for Gobert in Game 5. In Game 4, Anthony Edwards was the showman for the Timberwolves with 43 points. Well, Edwards was bottled up for most of the night, converting just 5 of 19 shots from the field for 15 points. So, someone had to take up the slack.

That someone was Gobert. Gobert posted 27 points and 24 rebounds in 38 minutes of work, and literally took the breath away from the Lakers. 

“Rudy’s a winner at the highest level. He drives winning,” Minnesota head coach Chris Finch said. “You can not like who he is, how he does it, what he looks like, et cetera, but when you have this guy on your team, you understand what a professional and a winner is. He’s just such a competitor as well. He doesn’t listen to the outside noise. We don’t listen to the outside noise. No one’s happier for Rudy than his teammates right now, particularly Anthony [Edwards].”

The combination of the super duo of Doncic and James was not enough to move the past the first round. And now with James edging ever so close to retirement, the Lakers are looking at some hard realities. LA has a lot to ponder about this offseason. 

One of them being that the Western Conference is stacked with young teams positioning themselves to knock the Lakers around. The Memphis Grizzlies, Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, SacramentoKings, and the Timberwolves are looking like the future, while the Lakers remain stuck in past glory. 

Getting Doncic in a trade was a great acquisition to build around.With Redick being a first-year coach, there need for improvement don’t just land at the players’ doorsteps. Redick said he can get better as well.   

“I’ll use my own thoughts to evaluate myself, and I’ll use what my players say and my coaching staff say to evaluate,” said Redick. “I know I can be better, and I know I will get better. I don’t necessarily take any satisfaction from how the year went. That’s not to say I’m not proud of what the group was able to do and how we were able to figure things out on the fly and put ourselves in a position to have home court the first round. There’s always ways to get better and I can get a lot better.”