Every NBA fan not rooting for the Los Angeles Lakers had the same joke. There was no way the refs were letting this series end in five games.
Well NBA conspiracy theorists. You were wrong.
In a truly stunning result, the Minnesota Timberwolves, thanks to Rudy Gobert’s monster double-double with 27 points, 24 rebounds, eliminated LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and the Lakers in the Western Conference first-round NBA playoffs series. It’s the first time the Lakers have ever lost a first-round series as a top-three seed.
LeBron, at 40 years old, had an admirable series, but is only 2-12 in his last 14 playoff games. Doncic, 26, was supposed to help him make a deep playoff run after the shocking trade from the Dallas Mavericks. Alas, now fans are already questioning their durability as both stars got injured in the game, and as TNT’s Kevin Harlan pointed out on the telecast, the Lakers just looked tired.
There to greet LeBron before he entered the locker room after a disappointing end to his season was his wife Savannah, and the high school sweethearts shared an endearing kiss before a demoralized James walked away with his shoulders slumped.
There is no reason to believe this was King James’ final game in an already legendary career, as LA will obviously retool. Plus Luka and LeBron will have an entire summer to build better chemistry. Not to mention hopefully Luka, who was traded mostly because of his lack of conditioning, will follow LeBron’s lead as far as optimizing his performance on the court.
Until then, it’s a sad ending for a team that had Las Vegas fretting. At least Savannah was there for LeBron to take away the sting of a shocking NBA playoffs early exit.
