Lakers refuse obvious adjustment as Rudy Gobert cooks L.A. in historic career night

Billy Heyen

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Lakers refuse obvious adjustment as Rudy Gobert cooks L.A. in historic career night image

The one possible answer for the Lakers to extend their 2025 playoff life was sitting on the bench.

But unfortunately for Los Angeles, despite Rudy Gobert playing the offensive game of his life, J.J. Redick never pointed that way.

The Lakers have one true center on their roster, Jaxson Hayes (well, Alex Len, too, but he wasn't going to get in). Hayes played exactly zero minutes on Wednesday night as the Lakers' season ended at the hands of the Timberwolves.

Gobert was the story of the night.

Normally an impactful rim defender whose offensive game is filled with a few too many in-close minutes for an athletic 7-footer, Gobert dominated the paint with the basketball.

The French star put up 27 points and 24 rebounds in maybe the best offensive performance of his life. Gobert shot 12-for-15 from the floor, admittedly on mostly pretty dang easy buckets.

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The Lakers never had an answer, except they never tried the most obvious solution.

Hayes isn't a perfect player. He's not much of an offensive threat besides as a player to lob the ball to on potential alley-oops.

And you never really plan for Gobert to be the guy that beats you. The Lakers' defense had to be more focused on slowing Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle.

But at some point, there has to be an effort to make something change. Gobert shooting 80 percent and grabbing all the available rebounds isn't a route to winning the game, either.

The Timberwolves shot 7-for-47 from beyond the arc and won anyway because of Gobert.

In a game the Timberwolves won by seven, Gobert was a +18. The next best Minnesota player was +11.

Gobert won this game for Minnesota, thus winning the series.

The Lakers didn't play the final card that may have given them a chance to extend their season.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle