The Timberwolves’ five-game series win over the Lakers, punctuated with a gritty 103-96 closeout win Wednesday in Los Angeles, is a great lesson in what we think we know vs. what actually might happen.
Let’s take a look at five pre-series narratives that the Wolves demolished along with the Lakers, something I also talked about on Thursday’s Daily Delivery podcast.
The Wolves would suffer this season for trading Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo: It took a while, but Randle has become a great fit on this roster. He has been excellent in the playoffs, giving the Wolves a consistent secondary scoring threat (22.6 points per game in the series) who could exploit 1-on-1 matchups against weaker defensive matchups like Luka Doncic in key moments. He also brings a calm presence that KAT seldom delivered. DiVincenzo is part of an eight-player rotation that gave the Wolves a supreme edge in depth over the Lakers.
Rudy Gobert can’t function against small lineups: This was true for four games as Gobert had minimal impact. But with Lakers coach J.J. Redick making one of several rookie mistakes and not playing a true center in Game 5, Gobert delivered a massive 27-point, 24-rebound game. I also thought his perimeter defense throughout the series was good, even though social media would have us believe that he never does anything right.
The Wolves are bad in the clutch and would suffer in tight games against the Lakers: Again, this was not a delusional opinion going into the series. The Wolves were a bad clutch team for a lot of this season. Going against Doncic and LeBron James seemed like a terrible matchup in that regard. But Anthony Edwards continued to make tremendous strides as a decision-maker, shifting away from hero ball to take what defenses were giving him. The Wolves’ smothering cadre of lengthy and strong defenders kept the Lakers from getting good shots late. And Minnesota ended up outscoring Los Angeles in every single fourth quarter in the series, most importantly in Games 3-5 when the outcome hung in the balance in the closing minutes.
Referees would favor the Lakers because of their veteran star power and because the NBA wanted them to make a deep playoff run: Friend Brandon used the perfect term — “pre-furious” — to sum up how Wolves fans were convinced Minnesota would get worked over by the refs in this series. Final tally for the series: Lakers were called for 105 fouls and the Wolves for 104. And the biggest break in the series, the Game 4 non-call on Jaden McDaniels, went Minnesota’s way. It was a bad series for conspiracy theorists.
The Wolves would follow other Minnesota teams and fail to rise to meet increased expectations: The Wolves are the first major men’s pro team in Minnesota to advance in the playoffs in consecutive years since the Wild a decade ago. Before that, it was a quarter-century ago with the Vikings. Everyone except the Lynx has had a habit of taking a big step back after a big step forward. But the Wolves, even after a ragged regular season, are now 21-5 in their last 26 games and have met the moment.
