The Minnesota Timberwolves got past the Los Angeles Lakers on their way to another Western Conference Finals.
The Timberwolves won 49 games and were the No. 6 seed heading into the playoffs. They first upset the No. 3 seed Lakers in the first round, before taking down the No. 7 seed Golden State Warriors in the second round.
However, the Timberwolves’ dream of reaching their first ever NBA Finals came to an end when they were taken down by the defending NBA Champions Oklahoma City Thunder in 5 games.
The Timberwolves will look to get over the hump this season with their main stars Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert.
Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty ImagesRudy Gobert says ‘I was gonna do whatever it takes to have my team win’ against LA Lakers
When the Timberwolves took care of business against the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs, Rudy Gobert was key difference-maker.
He had a monstrous performance in game 5, putting up 27 points and 24 rebounds, which sent the Lakers packing.
The Lakers simply had no response for the big man inside. Gobert talked about his elite display on The Young Man and The Three podcast.
“I remember when I woke up that day, I was already of the mindset that I was gonna do whatever it takes to have my team win, and then it’s not like I did anything crazy during the game.
“I was just flowing, despite the closeness of the game, in my mind, I was just convinced that we were going to win and I was just focusing.
“Being present in the moment and try to do whatever it takes to team. And it was very special, he added.
“I didn’t know much about my stats until the end, I knew obviously that was scoring wise and rebounding was probably my biggest game of this playoffs.
“But, yeah, just really focused on getting the win and trying to be present.”
Minnesota Timberwolves need a bounce back year from Rudy Gobert
Despite Gobert’s big performance against Luka Doncic and the Lakers, overall he had a down year with the Timberwolves this past season.
The former All-Star is coming off a statistical down year, where he saw a dip in his production including scoring, rebounding and shot-blocking.
Gobert is set to earn $35 million this season, followed by an additional $74.5 million in the next two years, which means the Timberwolves need more reliable production from him.
While his defense is something that can’t be replaced, Gobert needs to develop more of an offensive game to truly make him valuable on the floor.