The Lakers Traded For Luka Doncic Just To Have Rudy Gobert Bounce Them Out Of The Playoffs In The First Round

Adam Pantozzi. Getty Images.

In the history of the Los Angeles Lakers, there have been 19 teams that entered the playoffs as a 3 seed or higher. Those teams finished a perfect 19-0 when it came to winning their first-round series. When a Lakers team is supposedly that good, winning at this stage of the playoffs should be a foregone conclusion.

When the Lakers pulled off basically the biggest trade in NBA history, it elevated them to the 3rd seed in the West. Suddenly, the Lakers were talked about as Finals contenders. LeBron and Luka? Who was going to stop that! Those expectations meant most assumed they would win their first round series regardless of who they played, and then be well on their way to a deep playoff run. Well…..

That 19-0 record? Time to update it to 19-1.

That big trade? The Lakers and their fans just got a front row seat to what it means to be in the Luka Doncic business in a playoff series. If there's one person on the planet who feels vindicated right now, it's Nico Harrison. Everything that he said was the driving force of his decision sneaky turned out to be true….again. The same way Luka was exposed defensively in the Finals last year, the Wolves followed that formula and hunted the shit out of Luka all night right from the opening jump

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Possession after possession after possession, as long as Luka is on the floor, he's going to be hunted by any team that has even an ounce of basketball IQ. His lateral quickness is nonexistent, his quit level is HIGH the second he gets beat off the dribble which happens any time you go at him since he doesn't provide resistance at the point of attack, and he makes zero effort in recovery. All he does is point to someone else or put his hands out in an attempt to show he was confused there was no help. Fans cope by saying this is all intentional and part of the "system", but really it's just dogshit defense.

For what felt like the millionth time in this series, the Lakers ran out of gas in the 4th quarter. Nobody could make a shot, Luka and LeBron were nowhere to be found, and they scored a measly 16 points with their season on the line. That's tough. It's not even like the Wolves were all that much better, they missed 18 straight 3PA before Mike Conley eventually hit a late dagger. They only had 22 points in the 4th and still found a way to win this game going away. How?

Believe it or not, Rudy Gobert. I'm not kidding. 

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Given the fact that the Lakers didn't have a center on the floor, Rudy Gobert completely dominated both ends of the floor. Every time the Wolves missed, it didn't matter because Gobert was able to overpower everyone to keep possessions alive and tap the ball out. It was like you were watching a man play against boys. Just completely bullied the Lakers on both ends of the floor in a way we've basically never seen him do before at any point of his career. Talk about a narrative change. 99.9% of Gobert's NBA life is getting shit on, but now? Now he just packed up LeBron James and Luka Doncic by himself. Who the fuck saw that coming?

Something you can never run from in a playoff series is a matchup problem. The Lakers can make all the trades they want, get Luka for free and all that shit. None of that matters if you have a matchup problem in a playoff series, and that's what these 5 games told us. The Wolves were simply too big. The Lakers shooting was still an issue (shocker!), they willingly got drastically worse defensively by swapping out AD for Luka, and they had absolutely no size once Jaxson Hayes became unplayable. Maybe they would have been successful against a different opponent, but the Wolves were a terrible matchup pretty much across the board, and this is what happens in playoff series when you present a problem that your opponent does not have the roster capability to stop.

This now marks the 2nd straight season the Lakers will fail to advance out of the first round, despite again, being a team many said were stamped to come out of the West when they brought in Luka. As if suddenly being a Laker would make Luka's playoff flaws disappear. Whoops! For the Wolves, they've certainly developed a reputation as being giant slayers once we get to the postseason, so there's no reason to think they can't be poised for a deep run. 

Is Steph up next? We'll find out soon enough.