Rudy Gobert had playoff career highs with 27 points and 24 rebounds, Julius Randle added 23 points and the Minnesota Timberwolves advanced in the NBA playoffs with a 103-96 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 of their first-round series Wednesday night.
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.
With Gobert running amok in the paint while the Lakers deliberately played without a center, 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.
After splitting the first two games in Los Angeles, the Wolves seized control of the series in back-to-back narrow home victories with superior late-game execution.
Gobert then stepped up when the Lakers deployed a small-ball lineup for Game 5, with the French center scoring more points than he managed in the series’ first four games combined.
Minnesota nursed a narrow lead down the stretch, and the Lakers missed five consecutive shots while going 3 1/2 minutes between points.
Rockets beat Warriors to stay alive
Fred VanVleet scored 26 points, Amen Thompson added 25 and the Houston Rockets avoided elimination with a 131-116 rout of the Golden State Warriors in Game 5 of a first-round playoff series.
Game 6 is Friday in San Francisco.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr threw in the towel early in this one with the game out of hand. A layup by VanVleet midway through the third quarter made it 93-64, and Kerr called timeout and cleared his bench.
Houston coach Ime Udoka followed suit with about a minute to go in the third and his team up 105-76. He put all his starters back in with about eight minutes left after Golden State cut the lead to 109-92.
Dillon Brooks added 24 points on a night when all five Houston players scored in double figures.
A 9-5 run by the Warriors got them within 114-101 before a fracas broke out with about four minutes to go. Pat Spencer pushed Brooks and then was ejected after headbutting Alperen Sengun in the ensuing scuffle.
Houston went on a 7-2 run after that to put the game away.
The Rockets put together their best game this postseason to extend the series after losing both games in California, including Game 3, which Jimmy Butler sat out with an injury.
They raced to a 14-point lead after one quarter and by the time Stephen Curry made his first basket on a 3-pointer midway through the second, they led 55-32. They had a 27-point lead at halftime behind 19 points from VanVleet.
Butler managed just eight points in 25 minutes on 2-of-10 shooting after combining for 52 points in the two full games he’d played in this series. Curry was 4 of 12 for 13 points after scoring more than 30 points in two of the first four games to move the Warriors within a game of clinching the series.
