Gobert did not become a toy, but O'Neill

The last game of the Lakers' season started at 10 o'clock and finished close to 1 p.m., but in fact, from the beginning of the Lakers' starting lineup, the Lakers started their countdown to the whole season, and the process of the game was nothing more than a slow death for the Lakers.

Redick's starting lineup today completely abandoned Hayes, Finney-Smith started, and the Lakers continued to use the same lineup that played the entire second half in G4. I even had a crazy thought in my head that this kid Redick was going to let these five guys play a full 48 minutes.

Redick wasn't crazy enough yet, but he was still more insane than the last one. Forget about Hayes at all, he even sent Kleber to complete his Lakers debut, and even in the decisive moment, Kleber can play.

The five-man lineup requires a full team on both ends of the floor, but that's almost impossible for the Lakers. Doncic quickly paid two fouls in the opening game, not to mention the foul compensation, and the defense has not yet been prevented.

Doncic's fatigue in this game is even higher than that of the 40-year-old James, plus his unexpected waist sprain, which is probably the result of fatigue, including the last layup that was close to an empty basket and did not improve, which is a series of chain reactions.

In the second half, every time Doncic came back to the defense, I felt as if he had just run the 5,000 meters. The Timberwolves are still carrying out the idea of attacking Doncic, and whenever the Timberwolves feel cold, then Huazi or Randle will come out and single out Doncic.

Not many people are hoping about Doncic's defense. But today, Doncic's offense was not returned at all, shooting 7 of 18, 2 of 8 three-pointers, and relying on 15 free throws to get 28 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. On the surface, he is still the Lakers' No. 1 star, but it was difficult to say that he passed today.

James and Reaves played equally badly, James completely lost his shooting touch today, and in the face of interior defenses, he floated around and threw outrageous mid-range shots more than once. James' score today relied too much on conversion offense, and the positional battle was almost non-attacking, and the three-point goal was only one at the end.

Reaves' play was really not the slightest surprise, he never managed to match the intensity of this series, today James had 3 turnovers, Doncic 2 turnovers, and Reeves alone sent 6 turnovers. Reaves' average of 16 points per game after the series may seem like much worse than the regular season, but his three-point accuracy and toughness dive are important losses for the Lakers.

The three cores failed to play, and the Lakers were able to play with the Timberwolves to the end today, largely relying on Hachimura's excellent shooting, and Hachimura's dunk of Gobert's ball in the first quarter was the strongest response of the Lakers to Gobert today, but it was limited to that. Of course, what the Lakers rely on most today is the Timberwolves' three-point shot.

The Timberwolves were 6-of-30 from three-point range in the half, 6-of-37 in the third quarter, and 7-of-47 for the game, shooting just 14.9 percent from the field. Before Conley hit that game-killing three-pointer in the final minute, the Timberwolves had missed 18 consecutive three-pointers.

Edwards is estimated to have made the most ironclad three-point performance of his career, shooting 5-of-19 and 0-of-11 from three-point range. Huazi is also a stubborn character, the more he can't throw, the more he has to throw, if he loses today, Huazi has to carry the big pot for three points.

The Timberwolves lost Huazi's outside support, but their ability to play mismatches still crushed the Lakers. I have to admit that I was completely wrong about Randle's playoff game. Randle's previous playoff resume averaged 34 percent shooting from the field and 28 percent from three-point range per game.

But in this series against the Lakers, except for the first game with 16 points, Randle scored 20+ in the other 4 games, averaging 22.5 points, 5 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game, shooting 48% from the field and 39.3% from three-point range, handing over an absolutely dominant performance.

His play was definitely outside the Lakers' plan, and his ability to catch the mismatch simply flicked the Lakers alive. And when defending James, Randle is also leaky. Such a Randall is enough to impress everyone with him.

None of ESPN's 10 pundits were optimistic about the Timberwolves advancing ahead of the series, with the vast majority of previews saying that Gobert would be Doncic's toy again. But now the Timberwolves sent the Lakers home in five games, and Gobert blew up the Lakers today.

Finch is very targeted, Redick likes to use five small, I'll use Gobert to hit yours five small. The Lakers' rebounding is no match for the Timberwolves. The Lakers lost 17 rebounds in the game, and the Timberwolves grabbed 18 offensive rebounds, while the Lakers only had eight.

In the first four games, Gobert averaged just 3.5 points per game and shot just 31 percent from the field. Gobert played 39 minutes today, shooting 12-of-15 from the field, with 27 points, 24 rebounds and 2 blocks. With 29 points, Gobert has a career-high in the playoffs.

The whole game, Gobert did two things, got the rebound, and then dunked the ball to the basket. At the end of the buckle, I think Gobert's hand must have hurt a lot. The Lakers' basket was completely blown up by Gobert, not only did they not turn Gobert into a toy, but instead made Gobert into O'Neal, which was the opposite.

It's ironic that the Lakers still couldn't win the game after their opponents shot less than 15 percent from three-point range. Looking at this data, you must not think that the Lakers' outside defense is suffocating, it is purely the Timberwolves themselves who feel cold.

The Lakers' dramatic season ended in such a dramatic way. Redick used his paranoia to make the Lakers play such an ugly season finale, which made Gobert's career night and a stepping stone on Huazi's way forward.

Trading Doncic for Bushy is absolutely right for the long-term development of the team. So the goal of the Lakers in the offseason is also very clear, to find a serious starting center, and stop torturing fans with five smalls.

This season has been the fastest decline I've seen James see in recent years, and of course it's in line with the laws of biology. Scenes like today's powerlessness will only appear more times in the future.

He can still averaging 25.4 points per game in a series and can score 38 points in a playoff game. But after all, he accepted everything that time brought him, including but not limited to aging, declining, unresponsiveness, and slowing down.

He'll be 41 next season, if he has to have a season.