Minnesota Timberwolves @ Los Angeles Lakers
Wednesday, April 30, 2025 at 10:00 PM ET
Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, CA | Game ID: 42400165
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
LAL 22 27 31 16 96MIN 31 28 22 22 103
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Rudy Gobert dominates small-ball Lakers and the Timberwolves advance with a 103-96 win in Game 5
LOS ANGELES -- — The Minnesota Timberwolves spent Game 5 in a dismal shooting funk, providing the Los Angeles Lakers with ample opportunity to stave off playoff elimination.
While his teammates struggled, Rudy Gobert stepped up against the small-ball Lakers — and on their big man's shoulders, the Wolves are going all the way back to the second round.
Gobert had playoff career highs with 27 points and 24 rebounds, Julius Randle added 23 points and Minnesota advanced in the NBA playoffs with a clinching 103-96 victory in their first-round series Wednesday night.
Gobert stepped up when the Lakers deployed a centerless lineup, scoring more points than he managed in the series’ first four games combined. The Lakers also struggled defensively against Gobert, who dominated stretches on both ends.
“Feels great, but not vindication,” Gobert said. “It’s not about beating a specific person. It’s about a championship, and we’ve got a little bit more work to do before that.”
With Gobert running amok in the paint, Minnesota won Game 5 despite going 7 for 47 on 3-point attempts, including 17 consecutive misses between the middle of the second quarter and Mike Conley’s dagger 3 with 1:22 to play.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well, but I thought we were the tougher team mentally and physically,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said. “That’s when it showed itself. We knew we’d been good in fourth quarters against this team all series. We just needed to see a couple of shots go down opportunistically. Guys did a great job surviving the emotions of the game, which was always going to be a tough game.”
Anthony Edwards had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the sixth-seeded Wolves, who won three straight games to eliminate LeBron James and Luka Doncic from their first postseason together.
After winning a playoff round in back-to-back seasons for the first time in franchise history, Minnesota next faces the winner of Houston’s series with Golden State. The Rockets avoided elimination Wednesday, and Game 6 is Friday with the Warriors leading 3-2.
Doncic had 28 points and nine assists, while James added 22 points for the Lakers, who lost in the first round for the second straight postseason despite reconfiguring their roster at midseason with their seismic trade for Doncic .
Rui Hachimura scored 23 points for the Lakers, who have advanced from the opening round just once in five seasons since their 2020 championship in the Florida bubble.
“There’s always a mix of disappointment and gratitude,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “Certainly disappointed (because this result is) not something that I ever envisioned with this team, having to go in and talk to them after losing in the first round, but give Minnesota a lot of credit. They’re a really good basketball team, and I think our guys played hard enough and did all the right things.
"We tried to make it work with what we had, and came up a little short.”
MIN KarmaHide StintsShow StintsHide PMShow PMHide KarmaShow KarmaHide ScoresShow Scores
Who
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
MINAE A. Edwards
DD D. DiVincenzo
JM J. McDaniels
JR J. Randle
MC M. Conley
NA N. Alexander-Walker
NR N. Reid
RG R. Gobert
LALAR A. Reaves
DF D. Finney-Smith
DO Doncic
GV G. Vincent
JV J. Vanderbilt
LD L. Dončić
LJ L. James
MK M. Kleber
RH R. Hachimura
MIN/LAL the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur