Neal: Timberwolves lean on Rudy Gobert’s brute force to handle Lakers when subtleties aren’t connecting

The Wolves played with fire by not doing what easily dismantles the Lakers. Drive downhill, where good things happen when you penetrate the paint against a team that can’t protect its rim.

In the end, however, a mountain of a man fueled their entrance into the second round of the NBA playoffs. Because he dominated at the rim.

The Wolves closed out the Lakers with a 103-96 victory at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday, and 7-foot-3 Rudy Gobert nearly had his jersey torn off by celebrating teammates.

Minnesota led by as many as 14 points in the first half, only to relinquish the lead in the second half as they heaved wayward three-pointer after wayward three-pointer. The Wolves went 7-for-47 from three. I’m sure you all were screaming, “Stop. Don’t do it. Get help,” wherever you watched the game.

When the Wolves offense is at its best, Gobert is getting baskets. Either by putting back missed shots or rolling to the basket for a trap-busting bounce pass or a lob for a dunk. That wasn’t quite the case Wednesday.

The Wolves needed all of Gobert on a night when they couldn’t hit water if they jumped into a shower. Gobert poured in 27 points, his best for a playoff game, on 12-for-15 shooting while hauling in 24 rebounds. Gobert had never scored more than 19 points in 24 playoff games for the Wolves before Wednesday.

Heck, he had scored a total of 14 points over the previous four games of this series. And the Wolves needed him badly Wednesday. He pulled down nine offensive rebounds and added two blocks as well.

The Wolves had air superiority coming into this series, but they used it the wrong way.

When they have moved the ball and been unselfish, they have given Los Angeles more than it can handle. Their aerial game Wednesday was more perimeter-focused early on than it needed to be. Had they hit more open shots, the game would have been a blowout. But it wasn’t. And a Lakers team with Luka Doncic (back) and LeBron James (knee) hobbling at times still forced the Wolves to make key plays down the stretch to pull out the game.

Gobert got involved early, the benefactor of Julius Randle’s heater from the opening tip until he was forced to the bench with foul trouble.

The former Minneapolis Lakers moved to Los Angeles in 1960. They should know what waves look like. The ones off Huntington Beach are much larger than the ones created by pontoons on Lake Minnetonka. But they couldn’t handle the Randle wave in the opening minutes.

Randle opened the scoring with a midrange jumper. Randle then stripped the ball from Doncic after he corralled a rebound, leading to a Gobert basket. Randle found Gobert for a third basket, and the Wolves were ahead 6-0. A Randle drive for an and-1 gave the Wolves a 9-2 lead.

Then it was time to mess with Doncic some more. Jaden McDaniels drove around Doncic for a jam. Then Wolves saw Doncic guarding Gobert under the basket and dumped the ball into him for another score. Randle’s brilliant start to the game concluded with a three-pointer that gave the Wolves a 15-9 lead.

The Wolves led 31-22 after the first quarter featured four dunks by Gobert and were up by 10 at half before a maddening third quarter allowed the Lakers to rumble back in the game. The Wolves were 0-for-7 on three-pointers in the third quarter. Anthony Edwards was 1-for-7 in the third, and Wolves coach Chris Finch sat him for the opening minutes of the fourth quarter.

The Lakers led 88-87 with 6 minutes, 29 seconds left to play. But Gobert helped close out the game. His dunk gave the Wolves a 91-88 lead with 5:36 to go. Then he grabbed his final three rebounds of the night down the stretch as the two-man team of Edwards and Randle applied finishing touches to the game. And the series.

Edwards scored just 15 points on 5-for-19 shooting (0-for-11 on three-pointers) but had 11 rebounds and eight assists. Randle, whose value to this cause has skyrocketed over the past month, had 23 points.

Gobert led the Wolves in scoring. And the Wolves now await the winner of the Houston-Golden State series.

Raise your hand if you want a Gobert vs. Draymond Green collision. I can’t type any more because both of my hands are in the air.