The Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 of their Western Conference first round playoff series on Wednesday night to eliminate LeBron James, Luka Doncic and company from the postseason.
Rudy Gobert led the way with an historic 27-point, 24-rebound performance, but it wasn’t a perfect night for the sixth-seeded T-Wolves.
In fact, Minnesota made some very ugly history with its poor shooting numbers from three-point land.
Timberwolves Able to Overcome Historically Bad Shooting Night
According to ESPN’s Zach Kram, the Timberwolves’ 40 missed three-pointers were the most for any team that won a playoff game in NBA history. Minnesota finished the 103-96 victory an astonishing 7-for-47 from beyond the arc.
Furthermore, the Timberwolves’ 14.9% three-point field goal percentage during the contest was the worst during a win in NBA playoff history (with a minimum of 25 attempts), as noted by Keerthika Uthayakumar on Bluesky.
The biggest contributors to the negative history-making effort were superstar guard Anthony Edwards (0-for-11 on three-pointers), seventh-year pro Donte DiVincenzo (2-for-12), 26-year-old shooting guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker (2-for-9) and big man Julius Randle (1-for-6).
Rudy Gobert Makes All Kinds of History in Career-Defining Game
Minnesota was able to overcome the abysmal shooting effort thanks in large part to Gobert.
The 32-year-old Frenchman’s monster double-double effort came on a night when his sidekick (Edwards) had by far his worst game of the series. Despite Gobert’s stack of regular season accolades including three All-Star honors and four Defensive Player of the Year awards, he’s been plagued by a reputation of coming up short in the playoffs.
He put the criticism to rest — at least for now — with a masterful game on Wednesday that saw him finish 12-for-15 from the floor and 3-for-6 from the free throw line, while posting two blocks as well. His points and rebounds totals were both playoff career highs.
Gobert’s numbers were ones that the NBA hadn’t seen in the playoffs in over two decades.
“Rudy Gobert had 27 points and 24 rebounds tonight. First player since Tim Duncan in 2003 to do that in a postseason game,” Justin Russo posted on Bluesky.
“Rudy Gobert is the first player with 25+ points and 20+ rebounds while shooting 75%+ in the playoffs since Shaquille O’Neal for the Lakers in Game 4 of the 2004 Finals,” Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic added.
The former longtime Utah Jazz center’s bout with history included more impressive nuggets.
Statitudes’ Justin Kubatko noted that Gobert’s 24 rebounds are a new playoff record for Minnesota (surpassing Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett’s 22 boards on April 21, 2004). Gobert also became the first player in league history with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds with a field goal percentage of 80% in a series-clinching win.
The Timberwolves will play either the second-seeded Houston Rockets or seventh-seeded Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference semifinals.
Timberwolves Make Ugly NBA History Despite Eliminating Lakers