La Lakers veteran Markieff Morris fought back against the dismantling of the team’s playoff failure.
Markieff Morris has made more appearances in First Take than La Lakers have been better since his trade with the Dallas Mavericks.
Morris was thrown into the controversial trade of Luka Donsic, who sent the Slovenian superstar to LA in the midseason.
And although he hasn’t been given much of a chance to go to court for La Lakers, Morris is keen to protect his team when he can on TV.
The La Lakers finished as the third seed after winning 50 wins. Their reward was a matchup in the opening playoff round against the six-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves.
Minnesota was the dominant team throughout the series, winning 4-1 and dominating the close-out game five.
Rudy Gobert is the hero of the Timberwolves in the decision game, exposing the Lakers’ complete absence of RIM protection with 27 points and 24 rebounds.
And this was mentioned in the first take when ESPN Insider Tim McMahon mentioned the urgent need to resolve the Lakers’ problems.
McMahon said: “Rudy Goat looked like Wilt Chamberlain, bounced the Lakers out of the playoffs in Game 5 of the playoffs, and there’s an inconspicuous blank in the middle of the Lakers starting their lineup.
“They know that and they absolutely have to deal with it this summer.”
Lakers general manager Rob Perinka has not challenged the team’s needs to resolve this prominent issue and has expressed his intention to do this offseason.
However, when it comes to comparisons with Wilt Chamberlain, Markieff Morris makes the exception to Rudy Gobert’s passionate praise.
Morris replied:
“I don’t think he’s scored more than 10 points in any other game in that series.”
Markieff Morris is not wrong that Rudy Gobert had one good game in the Timberwolves series with the La Lakers.
| Rudy Gobert vs Lal | point | rebound | assist |
| Game 1 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| Game 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| Game 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Game 4 | 5 | 10 | 0 |
| Game 5 | 27 | twenty four | 0 |
Gobert’s Game 5 was an outlier, earning more points (27) than the previous four games combined (14).
He also had fewer rebounds (24) than he did with his previous four (25).
Part of the collapse of Game 5 was tactical, with JJ Redick deciding to play without center. But there was also a positive adjustment from Minnesota coach Chris Finch.
The way Game 5 was finished was crushed for the Lakers, and while Gobert’s overall impact across five games can be contested at an average of 8.2 points per game, it’s not the end that the Lakers are short.