LeBron James was non-committal about his future after the Minnesota Timberwolves eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5. “I don’t know,” James said, adding that he’ll speak to his family and inner circle about the decision. “I don’t have an answer to that.”
It’s hard to believe he’ll leave a situation where he’s playing alongside Luka Dončić, with his former podcast host as his coach, and his son on the bench. James can still hit a clutch three and storm to the basket for a dunk. He had 38 points in Game 3. Meanwhile, Dončić can hit shots with a defender draped on him, even when he has a stomach bug.
James inevitably must be upset that the Lakers lost in the first round when Vegas favored them by -200, and all of ESPN’s experts picked LA. Still, he’s on a team that can close a game with clutch shot-making and break double-teams with expert passing. At their best, the Lakers are nearly unguardable.
The most surprising thing about Minnesota’s 103-96 Game 5 win wasn’t Rudy Gobert leading the Wolves with 25 points. It wasn’t that they advanced after shooting 7 of 47 from deep, or that Julius Randle overcame his playoff reputation. It’s that they held Dončić to 28 points and James (22) to fewer than Rui Hachimura (23) in a game where LA’s stars could have salvaged a win at home.
“We got a long way to go. We’ll regroup, but we are certainly going to celebrate this,” Chris Finch said. “Because this team took a lot of s— through the season, and that was set against the backdrop of a really good run last year.”
A year ago, the Wolves beat the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets as underdogs, but lost to the Dallas Mavericks as the Western Conference Finals favorites. Dončić’s three over Gobert sent the Mavs home with a 2-0 lead, and they finished off Minnesota in five games.
Dončić flashed his Houdini-like offensive ability in Round 1, but the Wolves held him and the Lakers in check enough to win the series.
“At the end of the day, man, he’s a great player,” said Nickeil Alexander-Walker, explaining Minnesota’s mentality on guarding players like Dončić. “If you’re making unguardable shots, then we did our job. You know what I mean? Our job is to make you take those shots. And now if you’re making them, you got to tip your hat.”
The idea is that no player can hit 80 unguardable shots in a game, although Stephen Curry will try. Curry has long been the league’s preeminent three-point shooter. He and the Golden State Warriors changed basketball with their three-point shooting and small-ball revolution.
Curry no longer has Klay Thompson at his side. Still, Buddy Hield bailed Curry out in Game 7, scoring 33 points on a night when Curry went 8 of 16 from the field. Jimmy Butler led the Miami Heat to two NBA Finals before pushing his way out of South Beach, as he did in Minnesota.
Golden State has a championship pedigree, and two players who can score at will in clutch moments. Curry can shake free and sink a 30-foot three; Butler will charge to the basket and score through an unimaginably small opening.
Minnesota faces a similar challenge in Round 2. They’re facing a popular California team that dramatically overhauled its roster at the deadline and has established stars. Even though the sportsbooks favor the Wolves against Golden State, they maintain an underdog mindset.
“I think sometimes we have tendencies to get a little too comfortable when people are praising us,” Gobert said. “We have to keep that underdog mentality.”
Although the Wolves lost once Vegas favored them against the Mavericks, it’s more important that they continue to guard against the unguardable. A year ago, Dončić’s step-back sank them two games after they came back to beat the Denver Nuggets in Game 7.
Instead of heading to Dallas tied 1-1 and potentially returning home 2-2, they returned to Target Center down 3-1. Dončić shot 14 for 22, including multiple deep three-pointers, and the Mavericks beat them 124-103 to take the series.
Curry can also hit from that range, and Butler can cover for him on an off night. Ultimately, the Wolves are the deeper team, and Edwards is the best all-around player on the court. They’ll advance in this series if they don’t let Curry and Co. beat them with shots nobody can guard.
