"They got to change their offense" - Charles Barkley doesn't think Luka Doncic hunting Rudy Gobert is sustainable for the Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers bounced back with a wire-to-wire 94-85 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 2 of their best-of-seven first-round playoff series on Tuesday night. With the victory, the Purple & Gold tied the series at 1-1, and the matchup goes to Minnesota for Games 3 and 4.
But while Lakers fans believe that their team made a strong statement by making great adjustments after losing Game 1, Hall of Famer Charles Barkley wasn't too impressed with the "Lake Show," and he feels that their current game plan might not be able to win them the series against the T-Wolves.
"I think what the Lakers got to do, they got to change their offense," said Barkley. "Remember last year when they went at Rudy…Luka does have the advantage."
Redick getting insights from Luka's experience against the Timberwolves
Before the start of the playoffs, Lakers head coach JJ Redick talked about the Timberwolves presenting plenty of problems for his team in their first-round series. Redick also mentioned using Luka Doncic's knowledge and experience of playing against almost the same Wolves team in last season's Western Conference Finals.
Doncic absolutely torched the Timberwolves in the 2024 WCF, averaging 32.4 points, 9.6 rebounds, 8.2 assists, and 2.2 steals per game, winning the Magic Johnson trophy as WCF MVP while leading the Dallas Mavericks to a 4-1 series win.
One of the plays that worked well for Luka's Mavs was targeting Rudy Gobert with a pick and putting him in a one-on-one matchup with Doncic. Since Game 1, we've seen the Lakers try to put Rudy on an island with Luka, and that has been a gold mine for points in both Games 1 and 2. However, "Sir Charles" does not think that it is a viable long-term game plan.
"It slows the whole game down," added Barkley. "And we were sitting back there watching, they were going at Rudy, and everybody was standing around. They were using up all the shot clock. I don't think the Lakers played great tonight. I don't think the Lakers want to play every game 'We got at Rudy Gobert' the whole time."
The Lakers have been outplayed for most of the first two games of the series
Doncic has had strong first quarters in Games 1 and 2, with a handful of points coming from the Gobert matchup. The Lakers have won both first quarters, 28-21 in Game 1 and 35-14 in Game 2. However, the rest of both games have belonged to the Timberwolves, and that's what Chuck is worried about.
Minnesota outscored Los Angeles by at least five points in the last three quarters of Game 1. On Tuesday night, the Wolves won the second and fourth quarters and lost the third by a solitary point. After putting up 34 in the first quarter in Game 2, the Lakers scored just 60 the rest of the way. In the first two games of the series, the Purple & Gold are averaging just 94.5 points per game.
"The Lakers have to address what Charles is saying," seconded Charles' co-host Kenny Smith. "Because the ball does get a little too stagnant, and there's a lot of reliability on Luka to just score over defenders too many times."
There are no issues, actually, like in the first half of Game 2 when Luka scored 22 points and the Lakers were up 15. However, he scored just nine the rest of the way. It helped that Minnesota shot just 5-25 from three-point distance, but what if the Wolves shoot like they did in Game 1 or just close to that, and Doncic starts missing his shots? Maybe Charles and Kenny have a point. But we'll see what happens in Game 3.
