TWOLVES -at- LAKERS - 4-30-25 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Season Over... These teams were only separated by one win in the regular season, and Minnesota had it rolling into the playoffs. They took that momentum and steam rolled right over the Lakers this series.

If there’s a couple themes to this series, it will be the Lakers small ball (they played it 43 minutes tonight). And then there was their complete inability to put up points in the fourth quarter. The two may very well be related in a physical series.

The Lakers averaged 17 points in the fourth quarter in this series. They scored 16 tonight.

They were killed on the offensive glass all night, giving up 18 offensive boards. Gobert had 27 points and 24 rebounds (9 offensive). No fight inside for the Lakers tonight.

This game was there for the taking again with the two teams swapping leads late. With 3:27 left, the Wolves got two offensive boards before Randle finally scored to go up 5. The dagger might have been a 4-point switch where Luka missed a layup on one end and the Wolves scored a layup off that on the other to go up 6 with 2 minutes left.

Rui would sink a three to cut it back to 3 points, but there was no fight in the dog beyond that. The Lakers fell 103-96. Season over.

Time to go to work filling the holes that remain after the trade deadline shakeup.


LeBron -- -- We asked a lot from the 40 year old. Big minutes. Big physicality in the paint. Our fourth quarter scoring paid the price. “Anytime you make a big acquisition in the middle of the season it’s going to be challenging,” He said. It would be tough for both him and AR and they were barely scratching at the surface. “I still don’t think we had enough time to mesh,” Bron said. First game we were seeing the stampede cuts from Bron at the wing to quickly get downhill on the catch. He drew FTS on one and hammered a dunk on another. I’m not sure we saw any low post game in this one. We didn’t see a lot of matchup hunting by him, either. He hit a big corner three off a Rui/Luka two-man action late in the game. That Rui/Luka action did really well in stretches in previous games. Go to work and help bring in a bigman to the team this offseason. A lot of bounce in his step with the injury recovery still. The Stats: He scored 22 points on 9-21 shooting (1-5 from three, 3-6 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 6 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 40 minutes. He was a -13.

Luka -- -- We need some proper bigmen for Luka. Offensively, we don’t have the vertical threat for him, so that takes away one of his options offensively where he can get guys in jail, seal them, walk into the lane and score a short one or hit the lob man. That was taken out of the equation in this series. Defensively, teams are going to attack him if we automatically switch, which we have to do without a bigman to anchor. That came to play tonight. So the assignment this offseason is pretty clear. You need to get him a bigman he can work with on both ends. Can’t be a bigman who isn’t a threat of some type offensively rolling or popping off screens. In this one, he went to the locker room with a minute left in the first half after getting hacked hard from behind and tweaked his back. He had a heat pack on just before the start of the second half. He was grimacing at times in the third quarter, but battled, scoring 13 in the quarter. There was a play late in the third where he fed DFS for a three and immediately had his hands on his knees in pain as the shot was even going up. When we finally subbed him out at the end of the third, he went to the locker room again shortly later. Rough series for him with the illness and this back pain. We need to finish building the team after the trade to help maximize Luka going forward. The Stats: He scored 28 points on 7-18 shooting (2-8 from three, 12-15 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 9 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 39 minutes. He was a -4.

Reaves -- -- “I wasn’t good enough for us to be successful…I can guarantee you I will get back to work this off season and be better,” AR said. Problem with small ball is you have to switch on D. You don’t have an anchor big to play drop or zone show and recover and patrol the paint. So switching means you are putting a lot of burden on your smaller defenders to battle with bigs. That will tire you down. AR would be wise to be more aggressive early in games. But this series wore down on him. He shot just 2 of 10 from three in this one. He averaged 20.2 this season, which is great, and that shrank to 16 in this series. He couldn’t get to the FT line in this series and that cost him some points. He hit a big three to take the lead midway through the fourth. He gave up a big three trying to put a body on Rudy and then recover on a kickout to Conley. Too many turnovers tonight. He was stripped, called for using an off arm, lost the ball in the corner against pressure, just too much of that. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-14 shooting (2-10 from three) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 6 turnovers and 4 fouls in 40 minutes. He was a -8.

Hachimura -- -- He battled in this one, bombing five threes in the game, including a big one late. He also had a nice power dribble to body Randle backwards before powering up for a layup. Earlier in the game, he attacked a Gobert closeout and hammered a dunk on him. He mentioned the lack of rebounding as an issue. “Unfortunately, I’m not a five man. I’m 6-8, 240. It’s tough,” he said. He mentioned how the Wolves all crashed the glass. If you put two on Gobert, it opened up the glass for someone else. The Stats: He scored 23 points on 9-16 shooting (5-8 from three) to go with 4 boards (1 defensive), 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 39 minutes. He was a -11.

Finney-Smith -- -- In to start this game versus waiting for 4 minutes into the game, he’d foul out barely playing in the fourth quarter. He may have had one of the loudest cheers from the arena tonight when he drained a three with 2:30 left in the third to take the lead. He’d score a couple layups, one changing ends in transition to take a long lob from Luka, another on a bounce pass from Rui. He also had a great offensive board that led to a Rui three. We need a traditional big that can play traditional bigman minutes. DFS will then give us length and versatility. But we need a gear shift with height on both ends. Not having that really came to play for Luka on both ends, too. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-5 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 6 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a -2.

Vincent -- -- He led the team with a +6 tonight. Good to have him in the mix to relieve the starters. Should have done that last game. Some little plays, like breaking up a lob pass to Gobert. A nice give and go to Bron in transition for an And-1 layup. “We didn’t fully execute the way we wanted to,” Gabe said. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-2 shooting from three to go with 3 boards, 2 assists and 3 fouls in 26 minutes. He was a +6.

Vanderbilt -- -- Good energy tonight. He scored a couple points off FTs. Offensively, he had 3 assists. He has gotten better at making quick decisions moving the ball when he gets and draw the D. He had a nice kickout to Rui for a three. He hit DFS on the odd man advantage for a score. Problem, though, and why he has to move the ball quickly, is he struggles to finish over the top or elevate. We are playing him as a C offensively, but he doesn’t have that size advantage like a Hayes. So you saw him unable to score over Conley rolling and he had Rudy recover to him in the dunker spot and get blocked. If those are Hayes, those are dunks. Good energy, but the Wolves did a good job exposing all the Laker weaknesses this series. So there should be no confusion this offseason on what they need. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 0-1 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a +3.

Kleber -- -- Surprise appearance as the first big off the bench. He was about to enter the game with 3:18 left in the first quarter, but went back to the bench. Then checked in with 2:48 left. He hasn’t played since January. Lakers went to a zone defensively. He picked up a loose ball foul and was fouled in transition for FTs for his 2 points in this short shift. Then he sat again. No Hayes tonight at all. Even when DFS fouled out when we went back to Kleber. So we brought him back in crunch time with 5 minutes left of a close game without any game experience this season for L.A. He missed an open three that could have tied it. He was wide open in the corner on that. He’d crash the glass and foul out McDaniels, but then step on the line later in the possession for a turnover. So Kleber was the extent of our bigmen tonight. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 0-1 shooting from three (2-2 from the line) to go with 1 turnover and 1 foul in 5 minutes. He was a -1.

Redick -- -- Worst team in the fourth quarter in the NBA playoffs (17 points average heading into this one). JJ talked about how poor they were in this area even prior to the historic no-sub second half of the last game. He started the fourth tonight with DFS, Bron, Rui, AR and Vincent. (Gabe/Vando being the subs in the third quarter tonight.) When DFS picked up his fifth, Vando came in for him with 10 minutes to go. DFS came back and immediately fouled out later. So we didn’t have him most of the fourth… He brought in Gabe, we gave up a putback dunk to Gobert. So he brought in Kleber with 5:36 left in a 3-point game in crunch time. Wow. Hayes completely in the dog house… All things considered, the Lakers held the TWolves to 103 points in this game. That is a winnable number. They got killed on the offensive glass. Luka got attacked with the D collapsing. Lakers were sending a lot of doubles on Ant when he was deep on the perimeter in the first half. As a guard, this is what you want because you have the floor stretched out. Give the ball up and it’s an odd-man advantage. The hope, I guess, was the Lakers could recover in time. With the TWolves shooting poorly from three, they got away with some of that… So all that considered, as many holes as they had on D, they still held them to 103. The offense was missing in action (once again!!!) in the fourth quarter. Score and you win. Really sad seeing the wheels come off every game in the fourth… “I think JJ is going to continue to grow. I thought he had a hell of a rookie campaign for a rookie coach,” Bron said. “It’s a already hard being a rookie coach in the NBA. It’s a hell of a lot harder being a rookie coach and coaching the Lakers. It’s a whole nother ball game, and I thought he handled it extremely well.” He said JJ will be an “up and coming coach and a great coach for many years.” I agree. Despite all the issues. You expected problems and a lot of learning moments. To not expect that is fooling yourself. That’s the downside of hiring a rookie coach, unfortunately…

Mrs. DB & Family -- -- Much love to the family again for all the sacrifice around the Lakers games. We were on the road a bit this season, so that limited some of the coverage. But thank you for all you do. And thank you to LG for tuning in again for another season.

[Hanging from Rafters]

Fortune gave us Luka then Rob thumbed his nose at Karma rescinding the Mark Williams trade for an embarrassment to all involved. Don’t pursue it, or back out of it before it’s concluded, or do it soon enough to amend it, but to rescind? Karma paid us back for that.

Maybe Mark Williams was a long term risk but it looked like he would have made the Lakers one of the favorites for a ship this season and his play this season made it look like it would have been worth the risk. Who knows for sure. Rudy Gobert closed us out with a 27/24 game when we didn’t have a starting C, nor a legitimate back up for that matter. Then JJ got in his feelings and played Kleber over Jax. A useful C would have likely cut Rudy’s numbers in half. Without one tho the inevitable seemed like it could not be stopped and this type of end would be eventual somewhere down the line either way, so might as well get the suffering torture over with. I’m disappointed but not surprised. Got what we earned. Sad, but fair.

Still, Thanks DB. Appreciate you!
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When reasonably possible, I expect the Lakers to go after a ship like it can’t be denied. I haven’t seen a completely committed effort by the GM for the last 2 off seasons nor the last 2 trade deadlines. What is going on?

[Hammett]

RIP 2024-2025 Lakers. It was a wild ride.

Thanks DB!
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02/01/2025

[PLATNUM]

First and foremost,
Thanks for your work all season DB.

Is it weird to assume that it wasn't JJ's inexperience but instead, his stubborn and prideful foolishness that sabotaged the series/season?

The team plays with zero to little fire and acts like they can just flip the switch and win a game in the 2nd half. They are good for a few highlight plays and a bunch of headlines and fanfare (like drafting Bronny)
But this is not a championship team. Not even close.

We may be looking at yet ANOTHER roster overhaul next season. So yet again, very little familiarity and roster continuity (poor chemistry) -- we may be 2-3 years away. (at best)
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"No amount of money ever bought a second of time."

[pio2u]

Thanks DB for another outstanding write up.
And thank you again for your efforts all year in breaking down the action.
Job well done!👍🏽

[slavavov]

Thanks DB for your work all season!

Honestly, a part of me is glad we lost this game after the way the first four games went. Now the front office cannot be lulled into a false sense of thinking that it needs to just make a couple of minor additions and run it back.

We may or may not need to trade Reaves or even Rui to field a championship-caliber roster. But assuming LeBron stays (who ever knows what that guy's agenda is?), the franchise needs to act with urgency.

BTW Vanderbilt deserves props for how hard he competed tonight. He made a great impact tonight.
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Lakers 49ers Chargers Dodgers

[Nobody]

Thanks for the writeups, DB!

Too bad they couldn't win one for the fans, but a part of me is glad they lost a tightly contested one rather than getting absolutely demolished in Game 6 with both Bron and Luka hobbling.

Hats off to the Wolves, they were clearly the better team.

[Chronicle]

Thanks DB
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Kobe

[RI Laker]

Thanks for everything DB. Thanks to your family as well. Gob Bless you all.

[Killer_Z]

Thank you DB! I always love your write-ups, and appreciate all the time you put in. Have an amazing Summer my friend.

[ThePageDude]

We can't thank you enough DB & family, have a great summer!

[ChefLinda]

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

A great big thank you DB for all of the work you put in providing the best analysis there is of Laker game flow, players, highlights and insights.

Also a big thank you to Mrs DB and family, a well deserved thank you from those of us who benefit from your time and effort putting these together.

What a strongly ambivalent season when it comes to results. Strongly bad balanced with strongly good. On the bad side, we lost in the first round, as expected at the start of the season. LeBron is old and we don't have a center. And our roster is thin. On the good side, nobody thought last September that we'd end up walking away from this season with Luka Doncic on the roster, and that the Lakers would end the season with an actual future and a rotation capable of playing strong defense when healthy.

As for the series, I'm a bit surprised we went strictly small ball, primarily leaning on 5 players playing insane minutes. I'm particularly surprised that Gabe Vincent didn't have a bigger role, and that Jaxson Hayes, our only center, played such a small spot role. JJ went extreme on thinning out the playoff rotation.

We still have a rebuild ahead of us, but at least we now have a player to build around, a player with some gravity in the free agent market, and a player who can do it all on the court, scoring, passing, facilitating, and getting rebounds and steals. And we certainly provided some spice for the NBA as a whole this season. This is going to be an interesting off season!

[ribeye]

I spend less time in this forum, the one we all learned of to begin our journey with LG, than in Off Topic, but I never miss a DB write up. These alone are worth the price of admission--even with the inflation headed our way--though $0.00 inflated is still $0.00.

Back to the point, this service that you, DB, provide, for naught, is so unlike how our current federal administration operates, and is not only the best deal out there, but a testament to the character of your person.

We are all extremely lucky to have found this place and this Dancing Berry character. And by all the previous posts, appreciative of the work.
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Hey Doge, ever hear of “measure twice, cut once?” It is not cut first and measure later.

[deal]

Many thanks DB, it’s always great to read you.
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Lakers need to build a freaking team !

[danzag]

Thanks for your work, DB! Here's off to another season!

[Surfitall]

Thank you DB! Love these summaries.

[Laker7]

A great big thanks to Mrs DB and all the little DB'ers in the family for allowing Mr DB to do his thing on this board. Also, thanks to Mr DB for all he does for the Lakers community.

When the Luka trade went down, all the talking heads were like "great for the future but they are not competing for a chip this year." Turned out they were right. Had some good runs until teams figured out how to attack us (be physical on the perimeter, attack the paint, take away the lob threat from Luka to Hayes). Due to the roster construction, we did not have a counter. In part this was due to Rob and Jeannie not wanting to pay for bigger role players (Trey Jemison) or signing big scrubs (Alex Len) that were worse than G Leaguers. The Lakers did not have the physical size to compete with the Wolves.

IMO Rob needs to get a physical big and another physical wing defender. Luka needs to get in better health / shape and improve defensively. AR needs to figure out how to handle physical defenders and become a better defender himself. Lebron need to rest his body and decide if the want to come back for another season. DFS needs to decide if he wants to opt in for another run or try and get another contract somewhere else cause Jeannie ain't going to pay him more than what he is making now. Rui is doing everything he can, IMO he has hit his ceiling. Vando is what Vando is. Unless he discovers a shooting touch, he is never going to improve. Gabe is what Gabe is. Role player off the bench who can get hot but is not consistent enough to get much more than that. Luv some Knecht but he is trade bait for a center. Kleber is trade bait also. Loves me some Goodwin and I hope he stays around. Len, Morris, Koloko and Hayes need to go away. Milton and Bronny need more work. Rob has some work to do.
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Lets go Lakers!

[DancingBarry]

[DancingBarry]

[TDRock]

Thanks for another great LG season DB and Fam

[TDRock]

[eddiejonze]

Its all about matchups...We would have probably beaten Warriors, Nuggets, Clippers first round IMO, but getting the abolute worst matchup for our team specifically in the Wolves.
We could have seen the Wolves 2nd round and would have lost it anyways, so in a weird way, I'm glad we ended the way we did, and at least no one got hurt.
With the Luka trade, we won the season IMO.
Austin for a center!
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Creatures crawl in search of blood, To terrorize y'alls neighborhood.

[Hanging from Rafters]

[eddiejonze]