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On Wednesday evening, the Minnesota Timberwolves punched their ticket to the second round of the NBA playoffs by defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 of their first round series. It was a shockingly easy gentleman's sweep for the underdog Timberwolves, who were led in Game 5 by a virtuoso performance from big man Rudy Gobert.
Gobert obliterated the Lakers' centerless lineup to the tune of 27 points and 24 rebounds, and after the game, head coach Chris Finch clapped back at the many haters Gobert has accumulated over the course of his career.
“When you have this guy on your team, you understand what a professional and a winner is,” Finch said, per Chris Hine of the Star Tribune. “He’s just such a competitor. He doesn’t listen to the outside noise, we don’t listen to the outside noise. No one is happier for Rudy than his teammates right now, particularly Anthony, who let everybody out there on the floor know that it was Rudy’s night and nobody was around to stop him.”
It was also a great series for power forward Julius Randle, who overcame some playoff demons of his own.
“Another guy who’s had a lot of unfair criticism in his career, and he was outstanding on both ends of the floor. We don’t win this series without him,” said Finch.
An impressive performance
The Timberwolves were expected by most pundits to bow out in five or six games to a Lakers squad featuring LeBron James and Luka Doncic. Instead, Minnesota set the tone right from the beginning by winning Game 1 in blowout fashion and ultimately won the final three games to win the series in five.
The Timberwolves now await the winner of the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets for their semifinal opponent. The Warriors currently lead that series three games to two as the matchup shifts back to the Bay Area for Game 6.
While the Warriors certainly have more firepower than the Rockets, their lack of frontcourt depth may make them a more favorable matchup to exploit, similarly to the way they did with the Lakers.
The semifinals will begin next week.
