Great win and series for Minnesota. They couldn’t throw a beach ball in the ocean last night in regard to their three point shooting—but they found a way to win . I thought they were active defensively and as I’ve said before—I do think they are one of the more talented and deep teams in the NBA. They just need to play with more cohesiveness and I think they need to find a way to be productive inside when their three point shooting isn’t working. Gobert provided that to them last night—and I think that the Lakers incomplete roster played a big part in that dynamic. I think Minnesota matches up well against either the Rockets or the Warriors. If GS wins, I believe Minnesota would get the home court—and Minnesota would be more rested while a GS team where their star players are up there in age will be worn down from a tough Houston series.
On the Lakers side of things—as unpopular as this sounds—I think they have a lot to be happy and proud about. First of all, they landed a player that can carry the franchise for the future. Reeves is looking like a steal in regard to what they extended him to earlier. While the Luka trade was awesome for the franchise, I do believe that it did leave them with an incomplete roster to finish this year—and yet they played well enough to get the 3 seed in a tough western conference. I thought that JJ Redick did an admirable job being a rookie head coach in a hot seat (being the head coach of the Lakers comes with a lot of scrutiny) that even veteran coaches aer sometimes uncomfortable with. Acquiring a guy like Luka mid season— is not easy to do schematically. They went from having one of the best big men in the game to effectively being a team with a lack of big men—to a team that has three legit ball handlers/creators (in reeves, lebron and luka). I think that with more time together to develop chemistry, and time to tweak an incomplete roster—that they have a bright future.