Without Anthony Davis, the Lakers had little choice but to try and play small against the Timberwolves late in their matchup Friday night.
Rudy Gobert's 20-20 helps Timberwolves send Lakers to 0-5
The Wolves lacked the pacing they like on the offensive end most of the night but got key contributions from their best players in the second half of a 111-102 victory.
October 29, 2022 at 4:43AM
The Wolves' dual center lineup of Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert caused more problems with their size for the Lakers than the Lakers smaller lineup could for them.
Gobert was a steady presence all night while Towns found his offensive rhythm in the fourth quarter of a 111-102 Wolves victory.
Gobert finished with 22 points and 21 rebounds, eight of those on the offensive end. Towns scored 14 of his 21 points in the fourth as the Wolves built and maintained a small lead on the Lakers they didn't relinquish.
"Just enough plays here and there," coach Chris Finch said. "I think we got some better looks, put a little more pressure on them. Just kind of went back to our big lineup because it was the only way to protect the rim was just to put both the bigs out there and just roll with it."
Aside from his defensive presence, Gobert came up with two key buckets in the final 2 minutes, 10 seconds. Towns fed Gobert for a dunk, which marked Towns' seventh assist of the night. That came after Towns was 6-for-9, including two threes in the fourth.
"I just wanted to get a little aggressive," Towns said. "Most of the game I focused on moving the basketball, just getting into a flow. Then in the fourth quarter, I saw how the game was going, saw I had to get a little more aggressive."
Gobert also rebounded a miss from Anthony Edwards and laid it back in to give the Wolves a 107-99 lead with 57.6 seconds remaining that all but clinched the game. That led to chants of "Rudy, Rudy" as Gobert stepped to the foul line a few moments later.
Edwards got the Wolves through the third quarter with 16 of his 29 points. Jaden McDaniels handled the responsibility of guarding LeBron James (28 points) and had four blocks.
Taurean Prince provided a needed lift off the bench with 13 points, five rebounds and three steals. Those contributions helped make up for D'Angelo Russell's 4-for-15 night (11 points). Prince's contribution, especially, caught Finch's eye. This continued Prince's strong start, in which he has picked up where he left off last season. Prince is hitting 58% of his three-pointers to start the season.
"I thought he was awesome," Finch said. "He made a ton of big time plays, energy plays, hustle plays, plays when we needed it."
The game probably shouldn't have been in doubt as much as it was, given the Lakers' (0-5) woeful start to the season. But the Wolves still had clunky ball movement, which led to them shooting just 41% for the night. The Lakers shot 42%, but had 22 turnovers to the Wolves' 10.
As for one of the Wolves' biggest issues this season, transition defense, they're making incremental progress, according to Finch.
"I think our transition defense is getting a little better," Finch said. "We have some doozies. But I think it's getting a little better. I think our rebounding is getting a little bit better."
It helps when you have Gobert on the boards with his ability to grab 20-plus, which he did for the second time this season. Gobert's presence inside has alleviated some pressure on Towns (eight boards) to be the main rebounder.
"It changed a lot for me, not feeling like I got to get every rebound," Towns said. "I could trust that Rudy will get the rebound. On the flip side, I want to repay the big fella when he's working hard on the defensive end. Give him some chances to get some shots up and in a way get in his bag."
Gobert's bag, slang for his skillset, had just enough in it to keep the Wolves from an embarrassing loss.
The team's superstar ranted, calling the players “a bunch of little kids” and saying “internally, we soft.” Mike Conley joined him in saying the Wolves are too negative with each other: “We got to be able to talk.”
