The Minnesota Timberwolves passed the Los Angeles Lakers on their way to another Western Conference Finals.
The Timberwolves won 49 games and were the No. 6 seed heading into the playoffs. They first confused the 3rd Seed Lakers in the first round, then defeated the 7th seeded Golden State Warriors in the second round.
However, the Timberwolves’ dream of reaching their first NBA Finals came to an end when they were defeated by defending NBA champions Oklahoma City Thunder in five games.
The Timberwolves will try to get over the hump this season with main stars Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle and Rudy Goatbert.
Rudy Goat was an important difference maker when the Timberwolves looked after the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs.
He had a monster performance in Game 5, bringing 27 points and 24 rebounds and sending out the Lakers packing.
The Lakers simply didn’t respond to the big guys inside. Goat spoke with the young man about his elite display on three podcasts.
“When I woke up that day, I wasn’t doing anything crazy during the game with the idea that I was already going to do whatever it took to beat the team.
“I was just flowing, despite the intimacy of the game, in my head I was sure we were going to win, and I was just focused.
“It was there in that moment and was trying to do whatever the team needed, and it was very special, he added.
“I didn’t know much about my stats until the end, I was obviously wise and clearly knew that rebound was the biggest game of this playoff.
“But yeah, I really focused on getting a victory and trying to exist.”
Despite Gobert’s big performance against Luka Doncic and The Lakers, he overall spent a down year with the Timberwolves this season.
The original All-Star is out of a statistical down year, and dips were seen in his production, including scoring, rebounding and shot blocking.
Gobert is set to make $35 million this season, with another $74.5 million over the next two years. In other words, Timberwolves needs more reliable production from him.
His defense is unreplaceable, but Goat needs to develop a more offensive game to make him truly valuable on the floor.