What We Learned About the MN Timberwolves in Series Clinching Win Over Lakers

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Rudy Gobert - Minnesota Timberwolves vs Los Angeles Lakers - Game 5 - 2025 NBA Playoffs
Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Timberwolves entered game 5 of their first round playoff series vs the Los Angeles Lakers with a chance to close out LeBron James and Luka Doncic under the bright lights of Hollywood.

You could tell leading up to this matchup, from the moment he met with media after Minnesota took a 3-1 series lead after game four, to his practice presser earlier this week, and especially in his pregame meet up with media prior to game 5… that JJ Redick was feeling the pressure.

Reporter: “As you watch the film, what do you recall about your thought process, in the moment, sticking with the five in the fourth quarter the other day? And is there an assistant or someone that you can maybe lean on tonight to try and get other players involved tonight…”

Redick: “Are you saying that because I am inexperienced and that was an inexperienced decision that I made? Do you think I don’t talk to my assistants about substitutions every single timeout?”

Reporter: “No, I just think a lot of coaches lean on their assistants in those situations…”

Redick: “As do I, every single time… [pause]… that’s a weird assumption.”

JJ Redick pregame press conference prior to game 5

Anyway… so that set the scene for Wednesday night’s all important game 5. Redick and the boys are frustrated. the Minnesota Timberwolves have a much deeper and more flexible roster than anything the Los Angeles Lakers can put on the court, something we’ll get into more later in this recap.

What We Learned – Minnesota Timberwolves vs Los Angeles Lakers (Gm 5)

Much like what we saw through the first four games of this series, the Timberwolves towered over the Lakers, dominating the glass on both sides, which allowed them all sorts of second chances on the offensive end. Had they been able to shoot at all in the first half, this series would have been over by halftime.

And that is where we will start. Here is what we learned about the MN Timberwolves in their game 5 series-sealing 103-96 win over the Lakers in front of all the LA stars gathered at Crypto.com Arena Wednesday night.

If only the Minnesota Timberwolves could have hit the broad side of a barn in the first half…

It took less than one minute into this game for the Minnesota Timberwolves to grab a six point lead Wednesday vs the Lakers. Shortly after that, the Wolves stretched their lead all the way out to 21-9. But then, their offense hit a brick wall… a sturdy one that they built with every outside brick they shot (and there were a bunch).

How bad was it? Well, the Wolves finished the first quarter 3-of-18 from three point land (12-of-28 FG). By the time the first half ended, it wasn’t much better: 6-of-30 3PT | 22-50 FG. Nonetheless, Minnesota held a 31-22 lead going into the second quarter and a 59-49 lead going into halftime.

How did they do it? Because Rudy Gobert could not be stopped. That’s right, with his size advantage, Gobert was swallowing up rebounds on both offense and defense, and so much more, finishing the first half leading all scorers with 15 points, to go along with his 8 rebounds — four of which came on the offensive glass.

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In fact, Gobert was so good that, at halftime, one of his biggest haters — Shaquille O’Neal — was forced to admit that Rudy was the reason Minnesota was dominating the Lakers in the first half, despite their inability to shoot the basketball.

The domination in the paint continued all game, which eventually resulted in the best playoff game of Rudy Gobert’s career. The 7-foot Frenchman finished 12-of-15 with 27 points, 24 rebounds (9 offensive) and 2 blocks.

He was the best player in game five and pretty much single-handedly won the game for the Minnesota Timberwolves. With just a few minutes left, the Wolves were shooting 6-of-44 from deep and 39.3% from the field, most of which were made by Gobert.

In those final three minutes, the law of averages won out, the Timberwolves made a few shots, and the game was over. Ho-hum… that’s what happens in the NBA. The better team almost always wins a seven-game playoff series.

The MN Timberwolves were just the better team in this series

Rudy Gobert - Minnesota Timberwolves vs Los Angeles Lakers - Game 5 - 2025 NBA Playoffs
Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Of course, wins rarely come THAT easy for the any Minnesota team, let alone the Timberwolves in an elimination game against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Wolves came out flat in the second half, and even while Luka Doncic was nursing an injury that forced him to leave the game at the end of the first half, they allowed the Lakers to claw back into the game.

The surge was led behind the shooting of secondary players like Rui Hachimura. But in the end, that was LA’s biggest problem in this entire series. In order to come back or take a lead… god forbid extend one, they needed everything to go right for them and everything to go wrong for the Wolves.

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Not only was Anthony Edwards the best player on the floor for most of this series, even though Luka and LeBron were on the court too, but once you get passed those three, the Timberwolves employed six of the next seven most talented.

That’s why JJ Redick felt like he had to play Los Angeles’ starting five for the entire second half in game four and why the Lakers never really stood a chance in this series. So yeah, they came back in that third quarter, but all it was going to take was the Timberwolves to not panic, wait for some shots to fall, and take home a series victory.

Once again, the Minnesota Timberwolves proved in this first round series vs the Los Angeles Lakers that they have the most dynamic roster 1-10 in the Western Conference, probably in the NBA. The Lakers, on the other hand, had probably the least dynamic. And we saw the results of a matchup like that play out right in front of our eyes over the past two weeks.

Now, the Wolves will await the winner of Golden State and Houston. The Warriors currently hold the lead in that series 3-2. If they can pull out one more victory, we will have one of the most intriguing playoff matchups in Minnesota history.

Not only will Anthony Edwards look to knock off yet another NBA legend, in Steph Curry, but notable Rudy Gobert hater Draymond Green and former Timberwolves imploder, Jimmy Butler would also be coming to town. Now, that would be fun.

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