For years now, Gobert has been a safety net for Minnesota when things aren’t going well, particularly against cellar dwellers. His interior dominance creates a high floor. If opponents can’t score at the rim and have to battle for every rebound, Minnesota automatically becomes three times more difficult to beat.

Rudy Gobert had playoff career highs of 27 points and 24 rebounds, Julius Randle added 23 points and the Minnesota Timberwolves advanced in the NBA playoffs with a 103-96 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 of their first-round series.

Conley’s Minnesota Timberwolves were in Crypto.com Arena on Feb. 27, Dončić’s sixth game in a Lakers uniform. Even though Dončić wasn’t particularly sharp, the Lakers cruised to a 111-102 victory. Long after the visiting locker room cleared out,