Will Timberwolves’ Rudy Gobert struggle against Lakers’ small-ball lineup?

The Lakers only have one true center in their rotation Jaxson Hayes a career-long reserve who starts for Los Angeles but generally plays less than minutes a match And he s certainly not a member of the Lakers best five-man grouping Included in that collection is LeBron James Luka Doncic Austin Reaves Rui Hachimura and Dorian Finney-Smith That s a lineup that features ample shot creation scoring and enough length everyone but Reaves features a wing span of feet or better to be bothersome defensively It s the type of lineup that would figure to give Minnesota problems but the Wolves potentially have one large advantage in that spot specifically the center spot And large is exactly how Rudy Gobert has played over the final quarter of the season Over the past games of the regular season Gobert averaged points and rebounds for Minnesota as he dominated physically overmatched opponents After the center got off to a slow start to the season Timberwolves coach Chris Finch believes Gobert may have been in a lower gear to open the campaign after consecutive summers spent playing international basketball He announced Gobert narrated the group before and after the all-star break that he knew what needed to happen to return to playing to his foreseen And he s done just that I just think you know I got in a little groove by trying to be more aggressive try to really set the tone for this band Gobert noted And obviously the importance of the moment and importance of every single match down the stretch I think supposedly allowed me to play at an even higher level The Lakers are certainly better than any gang Minnesota saw in that span but even of Gobert s his end-of-season production would go a long way toward the Wolves winning the first-round series that starts Saturday in Los Angeles Can he reach that Not if you listen to national podcast conversations which suggest that Gobert will struggle against the Lakers small-ball approach and force Finch to look for alternative lineup options Never mind that Gobert has been serviceable this season in isolation defense per NBA com He allows points per possession in such spots And while that s certainly up from the ppp he allowed a year ago even the number surrendered this year is better than say the Spurs Victor Wembanyama Multiple players have tried and failed to size Gobert up on the perimeter Chosen of these narratives are cheap They re easy They grab a hold of them and just spin them all the time Finch declared But if you research what s really going on what the numbers might say or being true to yourself in a lot of means and trusting in why that s been good to you then I think there s a lot of value in that Why does perception veer so far from reality Because anecdotes reverberate in the minds of all There were playoff games during his time in Utah in which Gobert was exploited by opposing five-out lineups where he had to sprint out to shooters Terance Mann and Maxi Kleber come to mind then rush back to the paint to prevent layups Then of unit there s the end of Match of last year s Western Conference Finals when Doncic got Gobert on a switch and buried a laborious step-back triple in his face to give the Mavericks a - series lead When that moment appeared in Doncic s tribute video this month in his post-trade return to Dallas the star admitted he got emotional Gobert noted his detractors have perhaps seen that clip a thousand times So did I he mentioned But you know this is one clip amongst a lot of other defensive possessions That s why I know a lot of people don t like the numbers but I mean over a long period of time the numbers speak more than the eye test You know it s going to be up to us to be able to be consistent with our approach I m very likely to be crossed over Very likely people are going to hit chosen tough shots over me and then I might get dunked on All this stuff might happen but let s see what happens over the module of hundreds and hundreds of possessions Gobert noted he doesn t have try to rewrite any narratives The center has reached the point in his career where he is relaxed and confident in who he is and how he impacts winning I m really worried about setting the tone being myself and letting the championship take care of itself he declared Protect the paint Grab rebounds Finish at the rim Make the right plays when the ball comes your way If Gobert checks all of those boxes he ll be an integral part of Minnesota s success in the series regardless of which lineups the Lakers trot out Rudy s going to have to be huge I think he knows that I think he s prepared himself for this for the last couple months Wolves guard Mike Conley stated He s really worked himself into great shape He looked really good the last limited weeks of the season and we know we re going to have to utilize him a lot whether that s him in the dunker or in the post or underneath the rim lob threat or crashing the glass And Conley noted on defense against any group The whole point I think in the playoffs and basketball and anything is to try to force the other crew to adapt to you Gobert stated and not the other way around Related Articles Julius Randle struck offensive balance in Minnesota Will that be better playoff formula Schedule set for Timberwolves-Lakers first-round series The Timberwolves have week to prepare for Lakers Do they have the proper facts Frederick To beat the Lakers Minnesota must conquer its Boogeyman Timberwolves beat Utah lock up playoff matchup with Lakers