Gentleman's Sweep - Wolves at Lakers GDT

[Coolbreeze44]

Okay, so I must ask the question. Rudy you were superman tonight, where were you the first 4 games? It was there every game.

[ItsJustSoSab]

Glad we didn't lose. Still worried for Round 2, that was horrible outside of Randle/Gobert. Finchie doesn't seem to have much control over the team. Would have been nice to see someone else like Shannon for a spell

Idk man. When finch has had time to gameplan the wolves have done amazing

That's the issue. When he has time. You don't always get that time, gotta do stuff on the fly, make adjustments. The Wolves clanking 3's against an exhausted, depleted, small Lakers team. That's on the Wolves players, Finch doesn't shoot, but he can say "hey guys, maybe try driving and attacking a little more, pretty please?"

[Phenom]

Okay, so I must ask the question. Rudy you were superman tonight, where were you the first 4 games? It was there every game.

The Lakers didn't pack the paint as much today. Rudy consistently had 3 or 4 guys around and under him on misses.

[Coolbreeze44]

I want the Warriors

[Phenom]

I don't know why but I'm watching the post game show and it's all about the Lakers. Wolves will be doubted next round and it's a good thing.

[Q-is-here]

I don't know why but I'm watching the post game show and it's all about the Lakers. Wolves will be doubted next round and it's a good thing.

Are you surprised?

Here's the good news. This stupid Laker post-game analysis by TNT along with a handful of articles and pods in the next two days will be the last we hear of the Lakers this season. Thank God!

[Coolbreeze44]

I don't know why but I'm watching the post game show and it's all about the Lakers. Wolves will be doubted next round and it's a good thing.

I think we will be favored in the next round

[Phenom]

Mark Williams is cold

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Okay, so I must ask the question. Rudy you were superman tonight, where were you the first 4 games? It was there every game.

Rudy definitely had a great game and deserves credit. But I think his value also partly comes from the circumstances, so it's not like Rudy deserves all the credit here or that when he doesn't have a game like this, he deserves all the blame. This was partly Rudy, partly the circumstances.

Rudy did a great job on the boards, and needs to play more like that most nights. And at the same time, the rebounds were partially helped by not having Hayes out there and because when they did go to their bench, the Lakers got even smaller.

Offensively, I think Rudy again benefitted from their small lineup, but I think their small size mostly helped him offensively because of the offensive rebounding. I think Rudy benefitted mostly from the way they defended Ant, especially in the first half. We moved the ball well in response, and it led to a bunch of easy buckets for Rudy around the basket.

So Rudy's good game was partly because of their lineups and partly because of the way they defended Ant and the way we responded by moving the ball. Those are circumstances. At the same time, he did definitely make some mistakes and some great plays that only he is responsible for, and on the whole, he definitely made more good plays than bad ones.

That might be repeatable in the future, but it depends on the circumstances, especially offensively, where he is really only equipped to be a finisher right under the basket. But when he can play that role, and when he has such a huge size advantage, he has to take advantage. He did tonight.

Great win.

[Lipoli390]

As bad as Rudy was in the first 4 games of this series, he more than made up for it with his stellar performance tonight. As others have noted, Rudy and Randle carried the team.

I don’t know what Rudy’s issue was through the first four game, but he obviously has a lot of pride. I think he came into this game determined to make up for his prior lackluster performances. Having bad games and slumps is part of sports. You have to hand it to the players who will themselves out of those slumps and take it upon themselves to win games for their teammates. That’s what Rudy did tonight.

I don’t agree with those who think we would have lost tonight if we still had KAT instead of Randle. KAT is so talented and I can see where he might have been our one playing hitting threes tonight, which would have put us over the top. Having said that, I love the toughness that Randle brings to this team. That toughness and his ability to score effectively have been apparent throughout this series and were on full display tonight. If we’re giving out a series MVP award for the Wolves, I’m giving it to Randle even though Ant has been fantastic. Randle has shown up and performed in every single game. His scoring has been critical while his toughness and energy have been incredible and infectious.

Ant obviously had a terrible night shooting as did every other player not named Rudy Gobert or Julius Randle. But Ant really stepped up in other categories with 11 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals and 0 turnovers. I love that Ant’s not turning the ball over in the playoffs so far.

Conley’s dagger corner three late in the 4th was obviously huge for us.

Tonight’s game was a measure of just how good this team can be. We beat a very good Lakers team in their building with all but two of our players having a horrendous shooting night, and with the team hitting only 7 of 47 threes collectively and missing 9 of 32 free-throw attempts. As we all know, this is a Wolves team that could get swept by Houston or Golden State in the next round. But it’s also a team that could make it to the NBA finals.

Right now, I’m just happy that we won this first series and beyond thrilled that we beat the Lakers. Even more sweet that we beat them in their building. If this is as far as we get, I’ll be disappointed but content. Losing to the Lakers would have been hard to get over.

Thanks you Rudy and Julius!!