They were the most talked about team in the NBA after the trade deadline and considered a Western Conference heavyweight that could take it to the might of top seed Oklahoma City.
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But instead, the Los Angeles Lakers have crashed out of the playoffs in the first round after a 103-96 defeat to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday sealed a 4-1 series defeat.
It was the first time in NBA history that the Lakers had lost a playoffs series while finishing the third seed or higher, with five-time All-Star calling it “shocking” in commentary.
While the Anthony Davis trade will still go down as a clear win for the Lakers given the 26-year-old, five-time All-Star they received in return, Luka Doncic’s arrival in Los Angeles came at a cost and one the team tried to address at the deadline.
But a failed physical examination brought the Mark Williams trade undone and in the end, left the Lakers with too big a hole to fill at center as Minnesota bullied L.A. in the paint on its way to victory.
Rudy Gobert was, as veteran play-by-play commentator Kevin Harlan put it in TNT’s broadcast, a “one-man wrecking crew” on his way to a career postseason high 27 points and 24 rebounds.
Maybe Nico Harrison was right that defence wins championships?
Although regardless of what happened on Thursday and this season, you suspect history will still look upon the Lakers favourably for that trade.
After all, with the Lakers’ season now over, attention will soon turn to the future of LeBron James, who has a $52.7 million player option for 2025-26.
While it is unclear whether James will take that option or not, the Lakers can take confidence in knowing they have a centrepiece in Doncic to build around.
Lakers coach JJ Redick made one change to the starting line-up for Thursday’s must-win game, starting Dorian Finney-Smith in place of the struggling Jaxson Hayes.
It did little to solve L.A.’s glaring hole at center, which has been an issue since Davis was traded at the deadline, with Rudy Gobert scoring back-to-back buckets inside the paint early in the first quarter.
The Timberwolves were dominating on the inside and on the offensive glass in particular, opening up a 15-9 lead that could have been much bigger if they made more of their shots.
But fortunately for Minnesota, both Doncic and James had failed to make a field goal by the time the Timberwolves pushed the difference out to 21-9 off the back of Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Donte DiVincenzo 3-pointers.
While the Lakers hadn’t got the usual contribution from their superstar duo, Anthony Edwards was also scoreless at that point, happy to take a backseat with Gobert doing most of the damage inside the paint while superior off-ball movement was also creating plenty of open looks for Minnesota’s role players.
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Plus, L.A. was doubling Edwards plenty and the three-time All-Star was more than happy to make the selfless play.
The Lakers, on the other hand, looked “tentative” and “tight” according to Miller in commentary, with Jarred Vanderbilt the only player who really looked to be playing with the kind of energy and urgency you would expect in a do-or-die game.
Otherwise, there were defensive breakdowns all over the place, whether it was Naz Reid finding a wide-open Gobert in the paint or James failing to switch and close out on Alexander-Walker as he drained a corner 3-pointer.
The zone defence the Lakers were playing under certainly wasn’t helping either.
But for all of the Lakers’ issues early in Thursday’s game, with containing Gobert at the forefront, they only trailed 31-22 after the first quarter after Minnesota shot just 3-for-16 from deep.
A frustrated Redick was nonetheless left searching for answers and, clearly desperate and willing to try anything, turned to Maxi Kleber in his first minutes since foot surgery sidelined him in late January.
Kleber’s activity on defence was an improvement, but there was still little the Lakers could do to stop Gobert.
L.A. was able to close within three points of Minnesota, trailing 44-41 midway through the second quarter as Jaden McDaniels and Julius Randle both quickly picked up three fouls and sat out the majority of the period accordingly.
But just as the Lakers looked a chance of taking the lead, the Timberwolves pushed ahead and eventually took a 59-49 buffer into halftime.
That was despite L.A. having a better field goal, 3-point and free throw shooting percentage.
Making matters worse for the Lakers, Doncic walked off gingerly before the end of the quarter clutching at his lower back after falling hard as he went to the basket and was fouled by DiVincenzo.
Doncic returned for the start of the third quarter but looked visibly uncomfortable with his back strapped up and Miller noting in commentary that he could “barely move”.
Despite that, the Lakers quickly closed the gap to 59-53, taking advantage of a flat start from Minnesota as the Timberwolves settled for poor quality shots.
Doncic even was able to drain a deep 3-pointer to get it to 62-56 and later assisted on back-to-back Lakers buckets, including a Finney-Smith triple that gave the Lakers their first lead of the night late in the third.
By that point, as much as Edwards had been making the right plays earlier in the game to pass it up, he desperately needed to find his shot having gone 4-for-14 from the field and 0-for-8 from deep at that point.
But while Edwards was struggling to get going, Gobert continued to feast in the paint and scored again to close out the quarter and give Minnesota a 81-80 lead.
That was despite 13 points in the period from a hobbling Doncic, who was a liability on defence but doing all he could despite the injury to keep the Lakers’ season alive.
Doncic had a brief break at the start of the fourth quarter before re-entering the game with Minnesota up 84-82 and nine minutes left on the clock.
It didn’t take long for him to help the Lakers regain the lead too, hitting a tough shot to put L.A. ahead 88-87 entering the final six minutes.
Both teams were dealt setbacks late in the game as Finney-Smith and McDaniels fouled out and while the Lakers were able to close the gap to three points on multiple occasions, the Timberwolves continually answered back to secure the win and the series.
ROCKETS STILL ALIVE AS WARRIORS PLAYER EJECTED IN LOSS
Earlier, the Houston Rockets thrashed the Golden State Warriors 131-116 to fend off elimination in the NBA playoffs on Wednesday, narrowing the gap in their Western Conference series to 3-2.
Fred VanVleet scored 26 points, Amen Thompson added 25 and Dillon Brooks chipped in 24 for the Rockets, who led by as many as 31 points and were up by 29 when Warriors coach Steve Kerr waved the white flag, pulling Stephen Curry and the rest of his starters with 5:50 left in the third quarter.
With their season on the line after an agonising loss in a game-four thriller, the Rockets blasted out of the gate.
They connected on 64.7 percent of their shots in the first quarter on the way to a 40-24 lead.
VanVleet drilled three of Houston’s six first-quarter three-pointers and the Rockets made all 13 of their free throws in their opening period blitz.
The Warriors looked helpless to respond. Curry and Jimmy Butler failed to score in the opening frame, Curry missing two attempts from the field and Butler three.
The Warriors didn’t get to the free throw line and turned the ball over five times in the first period.
Curry drained a three-pointer for his first basket of the game midway through the second quarter.
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He connected on three from beyond the arc in the period but the Warriors could make few inroads in the face of Houston’s suffocating defense and the Rockets led 76-49 at halftime.
Houston forward Thompson had five steals in the first half. He picked Curry’s pocket and raced up the court for a dunk with 1:03 left in the half, drawing a foul and converting the free throw. VanVleet capped the half with a driving layup.
Kerr’s decision to pull his starters gave some rest to 37-year-old Curry — playing through a thumb injury, Draymond Green and Butler — who missed game three with a pelvic injury.
Curry finished with 13 points and Butler scored eight for the Warriors — whose top scorer was reserve Moses Moody with 25.
Golden State can still wrap up the series when they host game six on Friday. After a tense game four, things got chippy again with less than five minutes remaining, with Warriors reserve Pat Spencer ejected for head-butting Houston center Alperen Sengun — who had a near triple-double of 15 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.
The scuffle started when Spencer shoved Brooks under the basket. Sengun responded with some choice words in the face of Spencer, who responded with the head-butt before Warriors teammate Trayce Jackson-Davis gave Sengun a two-handed shove to the chest.
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