Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 5.1.25

May 1

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Special Thursday playoff Takeout. Tip your waiter.

Wild must beat Vegas at home tonight to force the franchise’s first Game 7 since their other series against the Golden Knights. Puck drop a little after 6:30. The Gus Bus should be ready to go. I’d expect another lineup change or two, hello Liam Ohgren. The Wild has lost its last five elimination games.

Frost kept playoff hopes alive last night with a 3-0 blanking of Ottawa behind Nicole Hensley. They’re still in fifth with one game left - beat Boston on Saturday in regulation and they’re in. Ottawa is also in the mix with Boston and Minnesota for the third and fourth seed.

Gobert Stars as Poor Shooting Wolves Survive Game 5 to Eliminate Lakers

On a night the Wolves suffered through a historically inept performance from 3-point range, it was their 7-foot-2 defensive stalwart who single handedly lifted them into the Western Conference semifinals. Rudy Gobert, the lone Wolves player to not miss a 3-pointer (spoiler alert, he didn’t take any), hit 12 of his 15 2-pointers for a career playoff high 27 points to go along with 24 rebounds, as the Wolves eliminated the Lakers 103-96 in Game 5 at Crypto.com Arena.

Minnesota will play either Golden State (3-2 with a chance to clinch at home) or No. 2 seed Houston in the conference semis. The Wolves would have home court advantage against Jimmy Butler’s Warriors.

It was a maddening game for the Wolves, who missed FORTY of their 47 3-pointers, and hit just one after the first half. Per Zack Pierce of The Athletic: The Wolves are the first team to win an NBA playoff game shooting more than 30 3-pointerss at worse than a 20 percent clip. But they kept shooting them until Mike Conley snapped a run of 18 straight misses late in the fourth quarter. Minnesota missed more 3-pointers than they had 2-point makes.

A ten point Wolves halftime lead, with a hobbled Lakes superstar and a pathetic first half from 3-point range. So what else would the Wolves do but settle for awful 3-pointers the first three possessions of the second half. They missed all seven 3-pointeres they took in the third quarter. Anthony Edwards (15 points, 0-for-11 3-pointeres) was the offender on two of those occasions.

Had the Wolves even performed adequately from 3-point range, it would have been an easy game. Luka Doncic took a hard foul from Donte DiVincenzo late in the first hald and could barely move with an injured lower back. LeBron James looked like a 40-year-old man who’s on the edge of retirement. (Editor’s note, I don’t think he’ll want to go out like this).

Gobert scored just 14 points in the first four games. He had 15 points at HALFTIME in this one, with the Lakers just not big enough to guard him. And it’s a good thing he was dominant, The Wolves led by 10 at halftime despite missing TWENTY-SIX 3-pointers in the first half. His biggest bucket came with 5:36 left in the game, a thunderous dunk on a DiVinenzeo 3-point miss to push the Wolves lead to three.

Not many people outside the Land of 10,000 Lakes gave the Wolves much of a chance against the Lakers. But there’s little doubt they were the better, deeper team. The Lakers lost as a three seed or higher for the first time in franchise history.

Twins Bats Quiet Again in Cleveland

The Twins fielded a lineup with six players who would qualify as MLB regulars. The result was another low-scoring, 4-2 loss at Cleveland last night.

Pablo Lopez didn’t allow a run through six innings (game was tied) but got in trouble in the seventh. Brock Stewart added gas to the inferno from the bullpen.

Minnesota scored single runs in the eighth and ninth but couldn’t close the gap further. Brooks Lee homered.

The Twins can’t afford to lose a start like this from Lopez.

Minnesota goes for the series split this afternoon on Lake Erie. The Twins are at Boston this weekend.

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