T'wolves eliminate Lakers, Rockets win to stay alive

Rudy Gobert has posted playoff career highs with 27 points and 24 rebounds to help the Minnesota Timberwolves send the Los Angeles Lakers crashing out of the NBA playoffs in the first round.

Gobert, Julius Randle (23 points) and Anthony Edwards (15 points and 11 rebounds) led the Minnesota Timberwolves in a 103-96 victory over the Lakers in Game 5 in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

The Timberwolves won for a third-straight game as they eliminated Lakers superstars LeBron James and Luka Doncic in the duo's first postseason together and advanced to the western conference semi-finals.

The whopping rebound total for veteran French centre Gobert was a Timberwolves postseason record.

"We knew we had to have it at some point in this series," Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said of Gobert. "He was awesome tonight just shedding defenders, nine offensive rebounds, super active on defence, finished extremely well when he had the opportunity."

Doncic put up 28 points and James had 22 for the Lakers, while teammates Rui Hachimura had 23 and Austin Reaves 12

Doncic, who also had nine assists and seven rebounds, was limited in the second half after sustaining a back injury following a hard foul.

James limped to the Lakers' bench during the fourth quarter after going down hard on his balky ankle, but returned a few possessions later.

With Gobert running amok in the paint while the Lakers deliberately played without a centre, Minnesota won Game 5 despite going seven for 47 on 3-point attempts, including 17 consecutive misses between the middle of the second quarter and Mike Conley's dagger 3 with 1:22 to play.

The playoff ouster did not dampen Redick's enthusiasm for the Doncic-James combination.

"We played 13 games with our playoff rotation in the regular season. LeBron and Luka obviously played a lot more than that together. These things take time," Redick said."

In Houston, pushed to the brink of elimination, the host Rockets delivered a playoff gem to beat the Golden State Warriors and keep their season alive.

Fred VanVleet scored 26 points, Amen Thompson added 25 and the Rockets extended their first-round playoff series with a 131-116 rout in Game 5 and now trail 3-2.

"Nobody wants to go home," centre Alperen Sengun said.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr threw in the towel early in this one with the game out of hand. A layup by VanVleet midway through the third quarter made it 93-64, and Kerr called timeout and cleared his bench.

Jimmy Butler managed just eight points in 25 minutes on 2-of-10 shooting after combining for 52 points in the two full games he'd played in this series.

Stephen Curry was 4 of 12 for 13 points after scoring more than 30 points in two of the first four games to move the Warriors within a game of clinching the series.

Australian centre Jock Landale got some rare playoffs court time, with five minutes off the Rockets bench for three points.

By extending the series, the Rockets have a chance to become the 14th team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 deficit in a best-of-seven series.