Game 4, 4/27: Lakers at Timberwolves, 2:30 p.m.

[Biff Cooper]

Sit Conley maybe good but the 20 mins Gobert played was still valuable. Use Randle+Naz to close the game seems to work well. I think Gobert should just relax and play his game. Sit out the last 10 mins is fine as long as the Randle+Naz combo works. It hasn't work all season but works for Lakers and that is fine.

Gobert got 26 minutes yesterday. He had very little effectiveness on the offensive end matched up against much smaller guys and ended up -11. The Lakers played their center 4 minutes in the game. If we would have given 10 of Rudy's minutes to Naz and 10 of Conley's minutes to DDV or NAW, it felt like we would have won by 10+ and not had the game go down to the wire.

[Klomp]

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[TimberKat]

Sit Conley maybe good but the 20 mins Gobert played was still valuable. Use Randle+Naz to close the game seems to work well. I think Gobert should just relax and play his game. Sit out the last 10 mins is fine as long as the Randle+Naz combo works. It hasn't work all season but works for Lakers and that is fine.

Gobert got 26 minutes yesterday. He had very little effectiveness on the offensive end matched up against much smaller guys and ended up -11. The Lakers played their center 4 minutes in the game. If we would have given 10 of Rudy's minutes to Naz and 10 of Conley's minutes to DDV or NAW, it felt like we would have won by 10+ and not had the game go down to the wire.

I think those 7 offensive rebounds are still important and don't forget Naz actually sucked most of the game until the 4qtr when LBJ and Luka started to get tired

[minimus]

Sit Conley maybe good but the 20 mins Gobert played was still valuable. Use Randle+Naz to close the game seems to work well. I think Gobert should just relax and play his game. Sit out the last 10 mins is fine as long as the Randle+Naz combo works. It hasn't work all season but works for Lakers and that is fine.

Gobert got 26 minutes yesterday. He had very little effectiveness on the offensive end matched up against much smaller guys and ended up -11. The Lakers played their center 4 minutes in the game. If we would have given 10 of Rudy's minutes to Naz and 10 of Conley's minutes to DDV or NAW, it felt like we would have won by 10+ and not had the game go down to the wire.

I think those 7 offensive rebounds are still important and don't forget Naz actually sucked most of the game until the 4qtr when LBJ and Luka started to get tired

Idk why, but Naz looks completely unplayable in first half of last games but turns into absolute flamethrower in 4th qtr. Maybe early foul trouble affect him.

[Biff Cooper]

I think those 7 offensive rebounds are still important and don't forget Naz actually sucked most of the game until the 4qtr when LBJ and Luka started to get tired

I'm not trying to hate on Gobert. He just doesn't make sense against a team of five 6'-5" to 6'-8" guys when he shoots 1-6. Seven offensive boards resulted in two points (four Gobert missed shots, 2 Conley missed shots, and 1 ended up in a Gobert put back). Meanwhile, Gobert had 3 turnovers including an offensive goaltending and a flagrant foul. Everyone else on the court (except Conley) could switch on anyone else on defense. The Lakers were not shooting much from the paint all day limiting his rim protecting value.

It is true that Reid wasn't great in the first half (0-2 FG, 2-4 FT, 1 TO, 2 PF). Early fouls limited him to 7 first half minutes. He started making some shots in the 3rd and Reid fit much better on the defensive switching concept.

[shrink]

[KGdaBom]

The history of the 3-1 lead is super encouraging. However, past performance does not assure future results. I'm very optimistic, but it's not over yet.

[younggunsmn]

I thought that Reaves shot was going in for sure.

The Lakers just ran out of shooting luck at the end of the game.
Maybe that had something to do with JJ Redick doing his best Mike Malone impression and forgetting he could sub players out.
Luka and LeBron complaining after the game about a no call when an out of control Luka tripped and fell is garbage.
They don't want to talk about the 6 or 7 times we got called for fouls where they stumbled and fell and no one touched them over the past 2 games.

Proud of the team never giving up and kept chipping away and playing hard even when things weren't going well.
Ant and Julius with 68 points, 9 assists, and only ONE TURNOVER combined.
That's valuing the possession and that's what winning looks like.

The Lakers had much better spacing offensively today around Luka and LeBron and that resulted in tons of open 3's.
You can tell they worked on that.
They can't afford to have Hayes or a non shooter out there on offense any more than we can afford to have Gobert out there.

But our anticipation and reaction on the rotations was slow today, not nearly as crisp as it was in game 3.
There were multiple times a defender just plain gave up after the 4th or 5th pass.

That small lineup the Lakers run is super vulnerable defensively though, LeBron is basically the only defender who isn't food once we get into the paint.

Ant's patience in probing the defense and ability to control his handle while doing so has leveled up since the regular season.
I don't know how much of that is growth from Ant, and how much of it is the Lakers defense lacking a true POA defender and most of their defenders just plain being food out there, as well as just plain being gassed in the 4th quarter.

I expect the Lakers to ratchet the ball pressure up a lot in game 4 like they did early in game 2.

Rudy was again abysmal and that idiot temper tantrum elbowing Lebron in the back of the head boxing out on an LA free throw cost us 3 free throws and a possession and could have cost us the game.

He has to be better. You can tell his head is just not in a good place right now.

Game 5 is next. You are being too critical of rudy.. yes he can play better.. essentially everyone could play better. Julius and Jaden are throwing down.

I honestly don't think I'm being critical enough.
Rudy is our most experienced player and we need way more from him from both a mental and physical standpoint.

[Klomp]

I think those 7 offensive rebounds are still important and don't forget Naz actually sucked most of the game until the 4qtr when LBJ and Luka started to get tired

I'm not trying to hate on Gobert. He just doesn't make sense against a team of five 6'-5" to 6'-8" guys when he shoots 1-6. Seven offensive boards resulted in two points (four Gobert missed shots, 2 Conley missed shots, and 1 ended up in a Gobert put back). Meanwhile, Gobert had 3 turnovers including an offensive goaltending and a flagrant foul. Everyone else on the court (except Conley) could switch on anyone else on defense. The Lakers were not shooting much from the paint all day limiting his rim protecting value.

It is true that Reid wasn't great in the first half (0-2 FG, 2-4 FT, 1 TO, 2 PF). Early fouls limited him to 7 first half minutes. He started making some shots in the 3rd and Reid fit much better on the defensive switching concept.

OK, that's fine. You don't necessarily need 8 players to play to their full potential in order to win a playoff series.

This isn't a Rudy Gobert series. That doesn't necessarily mean there will never be another Rudy Gobert series again. His time will come. The problem comes when the guys taking his minutes also aren't playing well, but that hasn't been the case so far. And a good coach like Chris Finch recognizes when someone like Gobert is struggling, and adjusts his minutes down to 26 mpg accordingly. Gobert/Reid and Conley/DiVincenzo are essentially splitting minutes at their respective position groups through 4 games.

[Dewey]

I thought that Reaves shot was going in for sure.

The Lakers just ran out of shooting luck at the end of the game.
Maybe that had something to do with JJ Redick doing his best Mike Malone impression and forgetting he could sub players out.
Luka and LeBron complaining after the game about a no call when an out of control Luka tripped and fell is garbage.
They don't want to talk about the 6 or 7 times we got called for fouls where they stumbled and fell and no one touched them over the past 2 games.

Proud of the team never giving up and kept chipping away and playing hard even when things weren't going well.
Ant and Julius with 68 points, 9 assists, and only ONE TURNOVER combined.
That's valuing the possession and that's what winning looks like.

The Lakers had much better spacing offensively today around Luka and LeBron and that resulted in tons of open 3's.
You can tell they worked on that.
They can't afford to have Hayes or a non shooter out there on offense any more than we can afford to have Gobert out there.

But our anticipation and reaction on the rotations was slow today, not nearly as crisp as it was in game 3.
There were multiple times a defender just plain gave up after the 4th or 5th pass.

That small lineup the Lakers run is super vulnerable defensively though, LeBron is basically the only defender who isn't food once we get into the paint.

Ant's patience in probing the defense and ability to control his handle while doing so has leveled up since the regular season.
I don't know how much of that is growth from Ant, and how much of it is the Lakers defense lacking a true POA defender and most of their defenders just plain being food out there, as well as just plain being gassed in the 4th quarter.

I expect the Lakers to ratchet the ball pressure up a lot in game 4 like they did early in game 2.

Rudy was again abysmal and that idiot temper tantrum elbowing Lebron in the back of the head boxing out on an LA free throw cost us 3 free throws and a possession and could have cost us the game.

He has to be better. You can tell his head is just not in a good place right now.

Game 5 is next. You are being too critical of rudy.. yes he can play better.. essentially everyone could play better. Julius and Jaden are throwing down.

I honestly don't think I'm being critical enough.
Rudy is our most experienced player and we need way more from him from both a mental and physical standpoint.

Speaking of experienced and expecting more … LeBron deserved much worse for that cheap elbow - like a 12 year old and you’re fine with that?? … what’s abysmal is the ref standing right there letting leboy get away with it. Rudy needs to learn to lay him out when he tries going to the basket - that elbow will stop.

[Domejandro]

Game four was the only game this series where I think that Rudy wasn’t particularly good.

For the first three games, he graded out as the best isolation defender by a wide margin, while also operating as a serious rebounding threat.

If you rewatch the games, you’ll see that the Los Angeles Lakers have an intentional game plan of doubling him on box-outs, which enables corner crashers like Jaden McDaniels and Donte DiVincenzo to hunt for putbacks. The Lakers have succeeded at neutralizing Rudy Gobert offensively, but there is a significant cost to doing so.

[younggunsmn]

Speaking of experienced and expecting more … LeBron deserved much worse for that cheap elbow - like a 12 year old and you’re fine with that?? … what’s abysmal is the ref standing right there letting leboy get away with it. Rudy needs to learn to lay him out when he tries going to the basket - that elbow will stop.

There was nothing wrong with that play. That's physical basketball.
He got really low first and put his gigantic ass into Rudy which put him off balance and then finished him off with a big meaty arm to the chest.

If you aren't throwing your forearm/elbow into a guy's chest and getting low when you are in the first slot on a free throw box out you aren't doing your job. LeBron is just a helluva lot stronger than Rudy with a lower center of gravity so it looked worse than it was.
And I can't stand LeBarbie, he gets away with a helluva lot of fouling, but that wasn't one.
Even after the skycam showed the world his karate chop across ANT's wrists on our last possession, LeBarbie was still trying to deny it in the postgame.

The rules are very specific about where you can legally contact another player.
Head/neck are always off limits.
You can have one hand/forearm on an opponent's back as long as you aren't pushing them by extending your arm.
When you are in front of a player and boxing out there is even more leeway for using your arms/elbows to contact them in the chest.

Instead of complaining about that particular play our players and coaching staff should use it as a teachable moment about how and when to be physical and effective on the court within the rules.

[younggunsmn]

Game four was the only game this series where I think that Rudy wasn’t particularly good.

For the first three games, he graded out as the best isolation defender by a wide margin, while also operating as a serious rebounding threat.

If you rewatch the games, you’ll see that the Ls Angeles Lakers have an intentional game plan of doubling him on box-outs, which enables corner crashers like Jaden McDaniels and Donte DiVincenzo to hunt for putbacks. The Lakers have succeeded at neutralizing Rudy Gobert offensively, but there is a significant cost to doing so.

There's a significant opportunity cost to us having him out there too.

It's no coincidence Ant has been so much better finishing games with a 5 out lineup and that the closing lineup we've been dominating them with has switchable defenders that make it really hard for them to hunt matchups.

I just want the good version of Rudy that plays smart, under control, and within the scheme.
Because even if we close out this series without much contribution from Rudy, we are going to still really need him going forward.

The Lakers are one of the few teams in the league where we can get away with a Julius Randle/Naz Reid frontcourt defensively for extended periods.