2025 NBA PLAYOFFS West First Round: #3 LA Lakers vs #6 Minnesota Timberwolves (MIN leads 1-0)

[Bob8]

bull. Wolves won the Gobert minutes last year against the Mavs, they lost all the other ones without him.

Wolves lost the Gobert minutes by 16 last year against the Mavs.
They did win his minutes the 1st 2 games in Minny, but not the entire series.

Rudy Gobert being played off the floor is a false narrative that originates from bad optics (Clippers going small in 21, Maxi Kleber going nuts from 3 in 22 and Luka famous shot) that aren't backed by stats, but part of ANT clutch struggles is having to play next to 2 weak offensive players in Gobert and McDaniels who can be helped off of.

Rudy avg 14 rb and 18pt the last 10 games. He has been playing great. On the defensive end, he has cover much more space than he was a couple years ago and goes out to 3pt lines. He didn't play well beginning of the season partly due to Randle's inability to throw a lob pass. I am not sure which version of Gobert we will get but I expect the DPOY one. Rather than debat with Luka groupies, I will let Gobert's play speak for itself.

Why are we even talking about Gobert that much, he won't win or lose series for Wolves, Ant, Randle and 3-points shooters will. Similar story with Lakers, it will be about Luka, LeBron, Reaves and role players hitting wide open shots. This series won't be about D but about offense.

If Wolves fans want to know how Lakers will look, just watch last 2 OKC games. Have in mind that OKC is far the best defensive team.

[TimberKat]

Wolves lost the Gobert minutes by 16 last year against the Mavs.
They did win his minutes the 1st 2 games in Minny, but not the entire series.

Rudy Gobert being played off the floor is a false narrative that originates from bad optics (Clippers going small in 21, Maxi Kleber going nuts from 3 in 22 and Luka famous shot) that aren't backed by stats, but part of ANT clutch struggles is having to play next to 2 weak offensive players in Gobert and McDaniels who can be helped off of.

Rudy avg 14 rb and 18pt the last 10 games. He has been playing great. On the defensive end, he has cover much more space than he was a couple years ago and goes out to 3pt lines. He didn't play well beginning of the season partly due to Randle's inability to throw a lob pass. I am not sure which version of Gobert we will get but I expect the DPOY one. Rather than debat with Luka groupies, I will let Gobert's play speak for itself.

Why are we even talking about Gobert that much, he won't win or lose series for Wolves, Ant, Randle and 3-points shooters will. Similar story with Lakers, it will be about Luka, LeBron, Reaves and role players hitting wide open shots. This series won't be about D but about offense.

If Wolves fans want to know how Lakers will look, just watch last 2 OKC games. Have in mind that OKC is far the best defensive team.

If nothing else, make Lakers use up all the timeout because every time Rudy dunks, Lakers are going to call timeout. Free feel to use those two meaningless OKC game as reference, as OKC has nothing to play for. You can also rewatch 2/24 MIN vs OKC as reference to how great JMcD is and how deep Wolves bench is

[thinktank]

Get a room you two. DMs would work.

[Bob8]

Rudy avg 14 rb and 18pt the last 10 games. He has been playing great. On the defensive end, he has cover much more space than he was a couple years ago and goes out to 3pt lines. He didn't play well beginning of the season partly due to Randle's inability to throw a lob pass. I am not sure which version of Gobert we will get but I expect the DPOY one. Rather than debat with Luka groupies, I will let Gobert's play speak for itself.

Why are we even talking about Gobert that much, he won't win or lose series for Wolves, Ant, Randle and 3-points shooters will. Similar story with Lakers, it will be about Luka, LeBron, Reaves and role players hitting wide open shots. This series won't be about D but about offense.

If Wolves fans want to know how Lakers will look, just watch last 2 OKC games. Have in mind that OKC is far the best defensive team.

If nothing else, make Lakers use up all the timeout because every time Rudy dunks, Lakers are going to call timeout. Free feel to use those two meaningless OKC game as reference, as OKC has nothing to play for. You can also rewatch 2/24 MIN vs OKC as reference to how great JMcD is and how deep Wolves bench is

I don't need to watch anything about Wolves, I have seen they playing and losing playoff series last year. I'm not talking how Lakers will stop Wolves in D, how big and strong they're, how deep they're... I'm just saying they're better basketball team.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Why are we even talking about Gobert that much, he won't win or lose series for Wolves, Ant, Randle and 3-points shooters will. Similar story with Lakers, it will be about Luka, LeBron, Reaves and role players hitting wide open shots. This series won't be about D but about offense.

If Wolves fans want to know how Lakers will look, just watch last 2 OKC games. Have in mind that OKC is far the best defensive team.

If nothing else, make Lakers use up all the timeout because every time Rudy dunks, Lakers are going to call timeout. Free feel to use those two meaningless OKC game as reference, as OKC has nothing to play for. You can also rewatch 2/24 MIN vs OKC as reference to how great JMcD is and how deep Wolves bench is

I don't need to watch anything about Wolves, I have seen they playing and losing playoff series last year. I'm not talking how Lakers will stop Wolves in D, how big and strong they're, how deep they're... I'm just saying they're better basketball team.

Fair enough. But then any post where you mention anything about the Timberwolves should be rendered worthless.

After all, the Lakers lost last year in the playoffs, too. But nobody is silly enough to assume that team has much to do with this year.

Now that I know you're just opining as a rube fan, and not even open to learning anything... it's a lot easier to dismiss your basketball takes.

[Bob8]

If nothing else, make Lakers use up all the timeout because every time Rudy dunks, Lakers are going to call timeout. Free feel to use those two meaningless OKC game as reference, as OKC has nothing to play for. You can also rewatch 2/24 MIN vs OKC as reference to how great JMcD is and how deep Wolves bench is

I don't need to watch anything about Wolves, I have seen they playing and losing playoff series last year. I'm not talking how Lakers will stop Wolves in D, how big and strong they're, how deep they're... I'm just saying they're better basketball team.

Fair enough. But then any post where you mention anything about the Timberwolves should be rendered worthless.

After all, the Lakers lost last year in the playoffs, too. But nobody is silly enough to assume that team has much to do with this year.

Why not, are you much different team now?

There's a slight difference, player who killed you is now in LA, and playing exactly the same like he was last year, having better offensive options on disposal. It will be like deja vu for Wolves fans.

[facothomas22]

The series is going a lot less interesting than what people would expect and will be for a different reason than you might think. Look, Lebron/Luka will be hard to stop on offense. I'm not going to question that. I think they will get theirs. However basketball is played 5 on 5, not 2 on 5.The Timberwolves should very easily walk away in this series. Anthony Edwards will torch the Lakers backcourt defense. Rudy Gobert will look like prime Dwight Howard on the court.Who's even going to contain Gobert once he get gets to the pain area? I'm expecting Gobert to be major rim presence on defense and basically forcing the Lakers to take a lot of 3 pointers.Even outside of those Edwards/Gobert matchups, the Wolves simply have far better talent overall to the point where nothing else really matters. The Timberwolves 6th best player is better than the Lakers 3rd best player and by a decent margin at that. My only Concern about the Timberwolves is are we getting playoff Randle again, who disappears on both sides and is basically unplayable. That will be the difference between the Timberwolves winning a sweep with each game being by 15-20+ points and the Timberwolves winning maybe in 5 or 6 games. Playoff Randle simply can't show up once again, otherwise the Timberwolves for sure going to lose in the 2nd round. I will be very, very surprised if this Timberwolves don't win this series in very convincing fashion. This isn't to say the Timberwolves are a contender. This is more than say that Lakers are awful team disguised as a playoff team. I see the Timberwolves win this in series in a sweep with Randle playing just good enough to make this happen.

[Bob8]

The series is going a lot less interesting than what people would expect and will be for a different reason than you might think. Look, Lebron/Luka will be hard to stop on offense. I'm not going to question that. I think they will get theirs. However basketball is played 5 on 5, not 2 on 5.The Timberwolves should very easily walk away in this series. Anthony Edwards will torch the Lakers backcourt defense. Rudy Gobert will look like prime Dwight Howard on the court.Who's even going to contain Gobert once he get gets to the pain area? I'm expecting Gobert to be major rim presence on defense and basically forcing the Lakers to take a lot of 3 pointers.Even outside of those Edwards/Gobert matchups, the Wolves simply have far better talent overall to the point where nothing else really matters. The Timberwolves 6th best player is better than the Lakers 3rd best player and by a decent margin at that. My only Concern about the Timberwolves is are we getting playoff Randle again, who disappears on both sides and is basically unplayable. That will be the difference between the Timberwolves winning a sweep with each game being by 15-20+ points and the Timberwolves winning maybe in 5 or 6 games. Playoff Randle simply can't show up once again, otherwise the Timberwolves for sure going to lose in the 2nd round. I will be very, very surprised if this Timberwolves don't win this series in very convincing fashion. This isn't to say the Timberwolves are a contender. This is more than say that Lakers are awful team disguised as a playoff team. I see the Timberwolves win this in series in a sweep with Randle playing just good enough to make this happen.

If I understand you right, 6 Wolves players are better than AR?

[sogood]

The series is going a lot less interesting than what people would expect and will be for a different reason than you might think. Look, Lebron/Luka will be hard to stop on offense. I'm not going to question that. I think they will get theirs. However basketball is played 5 on 5, not 2 on 5.The Timberwolves should very easily walk away in this series. Anthony Edwards will torch the Lakers backcourt defense. Rudy Gobert will look like prime Dwight Howard on the court.Who's even going to contain Gobert once he get gets to the pain area? I'm expecting Gobert to be major rim presence on defense and basically forcing the Lakers to take a lot of 3 pointers.Even outside of those Edwards/Gobert matchups, the Wolves simply have far better talent overall to the point where nothing else really matters. The Timberwolves 6th best player is better than the Lakers 3rd best player and by a decent margin at that. My only Concern about the Timberwolves is are we getting playoff Randle again, who disappears on both sides and is basically unplayable. That will be the difference between the Timberwolves winning a sweep with each game being by 15-20+ points and the Timberwolves winning maybe in 5 or 6 games. Playoff Randle simply can't show up once again, otherwise the Timberwolves for sure going to lose in the 2nd round. I will be very, very surprised if this Timberwolves don't win this series in very convincing fashion. This isn't to say the Timberwolves are a contender. This is more than say that Lakers are awful team disguised as a playoff team. I see the Timberwolves win this in series in a sweep with Randle playing just good enough to make this happen.

If I understand you right, 6 Wolves players are better than AR?

Dude is a known Lakers hater/troll, don't mind that moron lol.

[facothomas22]

The series is going a lot less interesting than what people would expect and will be for a different reason than you might think. Look, Lebron/Luka will be hard to stop on offense. I'm not going to question that. I think they will get theirs. However basketball is played 5 on 5, not 2 on 5.The Timberwolves should very easily walk away in this series. Anthony Edwards will torch the Lakers backcourt defense. Rudy Gobert will look like prime Dwight Howard on the court.Who's even going to contain Gobert once he get gets to the pain area? I'm expecting Gobert to be major rim presence on defense and basically forcing the Lakers to take a lot of 3 pointers.Even outside of those Edwards/Gobert matchups, the Wolves simply have far better talent overall to the point where nothing else really matters. The Timberwolves 6th best player is better than the Lakers 3rd best player and by a decent margin at that. My only Concern about the Timberwolves is are we getting playoff Randle again, who disappears on both sides and is basically unplayable. That will be the difference between the Timberwolves winning a sweep with each game being by 15-20+ points and the Timberwolves winning maybe in 5 or 6 games. Playoff Randle simply can't show up once again, otherwise the Timberwolves for sure going to lose in the 2nd round. I will be very, very surprised if this Timberwolves don't win this series in very convincing fashion. This isn't to say the Timberwolves are a contender. This is more than say that Lakers are awful team disguised as a playoff team. I see the Timberwolves win this in series in a sweep with Randle playing just good enough to make this happen.

If I understand you right, 6 players are better than AR?

Yes there 6 Timberwolves better than Austin Reaves. Anthony Edwards and Ruby Gobert are quite obvious. Once you get outside of those 2, would you consider Austin Reaves better than Julius Randle? Considering that Randle is a better defender and scoer who can rebound, I say that's easy no, even with Randle playoff struggles. Is Austin Reaves better than Jaden McDaniels. I mean yes Jaden McDaniel is a worse player on offense. However basketball playoff on both offense and defense and Jaden has shown to be a elite defender, while Austin Reaves has shown to be cone on defense. I don't think Austin so much better on offfense that it makes up for his terrible defense to put him over McDaniels,so the answer to that question is that he's not better than McDaniels. Same be said about Donte DiVincenzo, who yes is a worse player on offense, but the defense is simply miles apart in favor of DDV to the point DDV is better than Austin. Same can also be said about Naz Reid. A worse player on offense, but again he actually plays defense unlike Austin Reaves, which matter a lot in the playoffs. So yes I do believe there 6 players on the Timberwolves that's better than Austin Reaves.

[Bob8]

The series is going a lot less interesting than what people would expect and will be for a different reason than you might think. Look, Lebron/Luka will be hard to stop on offense. I'm not going to question that. I think they will get theirs. However basketball is played 5 on 5, not 2 on 5.The Timberwolves should very easily walk away in this series. Anthony Edwards will torch the Lakers backcourt defense. Rudy Gobert will look like prime Dwight Howard on the court.Who's even going to contain Gobert once he get gets to the pain area? I'm expecting Gobert to be major rim presence on defense and basically forcing the Lakers to take a lot of 3 pointers.Even outside of those Edwards/Gobert matchups, the Wolves simply have far better talent overall to the point where nothing else really matters. The Timberwolves 6th best player is better than the Lakers 3rd best player and by a decent margin at that. My only Concern about the Timberwolves is are we getting playoff Randle again, who disappears on both sides and is basically unplayable. That will be the difference between the Timberwolves winning a sweep with each game being by 15-20+ points and the Timberwolves winning maybe in 5 or 6 games. Playoff Randle simply can't show up once again, otherwise the Timberwolves for sure going to lose in the 2nd round. I will be very, very surprised if this Timberwolves don't win this series in very convincing fashion. This isn't to say the Timberwolves are a contender. This is more than say that Lakers are awful team disguised as a playoff team. I see the Timberwolves win this in series in a sweep with Randle playing just good enough to make this happen.

If I understand you right, 6 players are better than AR?

Yes there 6 Timberwolves better than Austin Reaves. Anthony Edwards and Ruby Gobert are quite obvious. Once you get outside of those 2, would you consider Austin Reaves better than Julius Randle? Considering that Randle is a better defender and scoer who can rebound, I say that's easy no, even with Randle playoff struggles. Is Austin Reaves better than Jaden McDaniels. I mean yes Jaden McDaniel is a worse player on offense. However basketball playoff on both offense and defense and Jaden has shown to be a elite defender, while Austin Reaves has shown to be cone on defense. I don't Austin so much better on offfense that it makes up for his terrible to put him overal McDaniels,so the answer tot hat question is that he's than McDaniels. Same be said about Donte DiVincenzo, who yes is a worse player on offense, but the defense is simply miles apart in favor of DDV to the point DDV is better than Austin. Same can also be said about Naz Reid. A worse player on offense, but again he actually plays defense unlike Austin Reaves, which matter a lot in the playoffs. So yes I do believe there 6 players on the Timberwolves that's better than Austin Reaves.

Reality is a bit different,

Luka>Ant
LeBron>Randle
AR>Conley
Rui>Mcdaniels
Haynes<Gobert

AR is better than anyone not named Ant.

Hmm, now I understand why we're talking about Gobert that much. The biggest Wolves hope.

[bisme37]

I forgot to say this in this thread and I'm seeing mild-to-moderate violations, so...

The playoffs usually attract fans who don't often post on the GB, so here's a friendly preemptive reminder that will hopefully save me time and work in the long run and help people avoid getting banned and whatnot:

Personal attacks are not allowed.

Disagree with each other's posts as strongly as you'd like but don't insult each other personally.

That's all I wanted to say about that. Carry on.

[TimberKat]

Reality is a bit different,

Luka>Ant
LeBron>Randle
AR>Conley
Rui>Mcdaniels
Haynes<Gobert

AR is better than anyone not named Ant.

Hmm, now I understand why we're talking about Gobert that much. The biggest Wolves hope.

That is where you are wrong. It's more like:
Luka>Conley
LeBron=Ant
AR<JMcD
Haynes<Randle
RUi<Gobert
LABench<<MNBench

I supposed now that Luka is healthy, he could chow down a gallon of ice cream and drink a couple Red Bulls before each game to play 40 mins. He could average 60pts, 20 rebounds, and 25 assists to win the series.

[Bob8]

Reality is a bit different,

Luka>Ant
LeBron>Randle
AR>Conley
Rui>Mcdaniels
Haynes<Gobert

AR is better than anyone not named Ant.

Hmm, now I understand why we're talking about Gobert that much. The biggest Wolves hope.

That is where you are wrong. It's more like:
Luka>Conley
LeBron=Ant
AR<JMcD
Haynes<Randle
RUi<Gobert
LABench<<MNBench

I supposed now that Luka is healthy, he could chow down a gallon of ice cream and drink a couple Red Bulls before each game to play 40 mins. He could average 60pts, 20 rebounds, and 25 assists to win the series.

Normally you compare 1st option vs 1 option, but you choose to compare Luka with the worst starter. And not only that, you went by position only with Luka vs. Conley, then you went all over place, or maybe you believe LeBron is playing 2 and Haynes 4?

Mcdaniels can't be better player than AR in this series, because he will be abused by Luka or LeBron, so he will be useless in D, AR is light years better offensive player.

I believe Luka can average 60/20/25, but Wolves will need to trap and double him in the middle of the court after he scores 20 in first Q. So he will avg only 40/20/15, LeBron and AR will be main beneficiaries of that, averaging 30.

[TimberKat]

On the more serious side, Finch was on radio this morning and talked about how it's like Wolves never really played the Lakers this year. Lakers has home court advantage and certainly the favored team. It's going to take a game or two to know where both teams stand and which team able to make the adjustments. For now, it's interesting to speculate.

[Klomp]

I just cant get over the fact that Lakers 3rd creator is better then Wolves 2nd.

With that math, the Pelicans might have a chance at the championship. Oh wait.

[Mrakar]

I just cant get over the fact that Lakers 3rd creator is better then Wolves 2nd.

With that math, the Pelicans might have a chance at the championship. Oh wait.

Pelicans can have Luka/Lebron/Steph/Jokic/SGA and it wouldnt matter, playin would be max, i'm used to it

[scrabbarista]

Just a reminder that the Lakers will be facing the most efficient scorer in NBA history in both the regular and the playoffs. This may not be the cakewalk some of you pundits expect.

[Klomp]

I don't need to watch anything about Wolves, I have seen they playing and losing playoff series last year. I'm not talking how Lakers will stop Wolves in D, how big and strong they're, how deep they're... I'm just saying they're better basketball team.

Fair enough. But then any post where you mention anything about the Timberwolves should be rendered worthless.

After all, the Lakers lost last year in the playoffs, too. But nobody is silly enough to assume that team has much to do with this year.

Why not, are you much different team now?

There's a slight difference, player who killed you is now in LA, and playing exactly the same like he was last year, having better offensive options on disposal. It will be like deja vu for Wolves fans.

Did you not realize that the Timberwolves also made a franchise-altering trade?!

Minnesota is absolutely a different team. A big difference is the number of shot-makers. In that series against the Mavericks, Karl-Anthony Towns and Kyle Anderson shot a combined 49-118 (.415) overall and 10-40 (.250) on 3-pointers. Their two replacements in the rotation Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo will not shoot that poorly.

At the end of the day, Minnesota and Los Angeles each have strengths and weaknesses that will win and lose them games in this series. I don't expect the series to be a sweep.

[Klomp]

On the more serious side, Finch was on radio this morning and talked about how it's like Wolves never really played the Lakers this year. Lakers has home court advantage and certainly the favored team. It's going to take a game or two to know where both teams stand and which team able to make the adjustments. For now, it's interesting to speculate.

Certainly not anything they can use to really game plan off of.

October 22, 2024: Lakers had Anthony Davis and D'Angelo Russell in the starting lineup; Timberwolves had Joe Ingles in the rotation off the bench.
December 2, 2024: Lakers had Anthony Davis and Dalton Knecht in the starting lineup.
December 13, 2024: Lakers had Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and Gabe Vincent in the starting lineup; Timberwolves had Rob Dillingham in the rotation.
February 27, 2025: Timberwolves had Naz Reid and Jaylen Clark in the starting lineup, with TJ Shannon and Rob Dillingham in the rotation off the bench.