Luka Dončić, LeBron James and the Lakers have a big problem. How do they solve it?

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Today is Billy Owens’ 56th birthday. The former Syracuse Orange star played 10 years in the NBA and was traded eight different times. In the summer of 1999, he was traded for Horace Grant in June and then traded for his twin brother, Harvey Grant, in August.

Size Matters

Rudy Gobert sends the Lakers to the summer

At halftime of Game 5 between the Timberwolves and Lakers, Shaquille O’Neal was already choking on his words in the TNT studios. Rudy Gobert was dominating a Lakers team intentionally playing without a player taller than 6-foot-8. Rui Hachimura and LeBron James were pretty much going to be the tallest players on the floor for the Lakers all night, except for five minutes in which the world was reminded that Maxi Kleber is on the team.

JJ Redick didn’t want to play Jaxson Hayes, who doesn’t do enough on either end of the floor to justify extended minutes. But he is legitimately 7 feet tall. Gobert, despite at times being described as having frying pans for hands, is as tall as the day is long (7-foot-1). And he’s still one of the best rim presences and rebounders in the league.

Gobert dominated the smaller Lakers lineup all night long. He finished with 27 points and 24 rebounds, both playoff career highs — and the first 20-20 game of his playoff career. And he’s the first player since Shaquille O’Neal in 2004 to have a 20-20 game with 75 percent or better shooting in the playoffs. Anthony Edwards struggled all night, shooting 5-of-19 from the field and 0-of-11 from deep, but he didn’t struggle in praising Gobert after the game.

He likened Gobert to a dragon — one of the dragons from “Game of Thrones.” The Lakers must have felt powerless watching him lord over them on the offensive boards, grabbing nine of them. Controlling the skies. And patrolling everything above them. Charlotte Bobcats big man Mark Williams, whom the Lakers traded for then rescinded the deal due to medicals, even trolled L.A.’s elimination.

After the game, Redick was as frustrated and irritated as he appeared all series when questioned about tactics and decisions. He said they opted not to play a center because they couldn’t score in this series when Hayes was on the floor. The Lakers finished with 96 points in this game — the third time they failed to crack triple digits in this series.

This came after the pregame news conference where Redick stormed out when asked if he’d lean on assistant coaches to discuss substitutes in the fourth quarters. The question referenced him not giving his lineup a single breather in the second half of Game 4. Redick took it as an attack on his inexperience, a word that wasn’t uttered by the question-asker.

The Lakers ground out the last few months of the season with a smaller group and were awful in the fourth quarter of this series, where they were outscored by 42 points. They shot 29.3 percent from the field, 23.1 percent from 3 and had nearly as many assists (19) as turnovers (18) in the fourth quarter.

When LeBron was asked if the last few months of playing centerless basketball were taxing and if it caught up in this series, he jokingly said the money quote of the night:

“No comment. I’ll never say that. Because my guy AD said what he needed and then he was gone the following week, so I got no comment.”

The Wolves now await the winner of the Warriors and Rockets series.

Speaking of which …

Rockets demolish Warriors to force Game 6

Maybe the Warriors were thinking about just sending the young guys to Houston and saving the veterans the trip so they could be fresh at home. They might as well have because the Rockets obliterated them from the start. Houston led by as many as 31 points in this game and by 27 points in the fourth quarter before settling into a 131-116 victory to force a Game 6 on Friday night in San Francisco.

Steve Kerr pulled the plug on his starters early in the third quarter, and other than a decent run in the fourth quarter, the game was never in doubt. The Rockets’ zone defense confused the Warriors most of the night, and Houston is hoping this will carry over.

Also, Dillon Brooks was asked about potentially targeting Steph Curry’s injured thumb and said:

“If I had an injured ankle, I would attack that ankle every single time. So, whatever they’re saying on the broadcast, they can keep saying it.”

That probably won’t get a reaction from Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green on Friday.

The Last 24

Have the playoffs become too rough now?

🏀 Time to bring it. The Clippers need a simple fix if they’re going to force a Game 7. Get an attitude adjustment. 

🏀 What a moment. Tyrese Haliburton got to share eliminating the Bucks with Pacers fans. Both fueled by the “overrated” vote. 

⬆️ Most improved. Hawks wing Dyson Daniels capped his incredible season by winning Most Improved Player. He ran away with the vote.

🏀 Timeout. The Knicks didn’t lose Game 5 because Tom Thibodeau misused timeouts. It was everything else.

🤔 What’s next? The Giannis Antetokounmpo trade chatter is only going to louder after another lost Bucks season.

💪 Too much? Our NBA staff has a roundtable on whether or not the playoffs have too much physicality now. I don’t think so, personally.

🎧 Tuning in. Today’s NBA Daily discusses whether Gobert is the new Shaq.

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A Tall Tale

Is it just me, or is Wemby getting taller?

A lot of pressure comes with being part of The New York Times Company. There are journalistic standards to uphold if you’re going to report news about players. You must have sound sourcing — you can’t just go out there and be reckless with things you can’t back up. With that said, I am not going to adhere to any of that right now. I am going to just use my eyes and instinct and make a declaration.

I believe Victor Wembanyama is upwards of 8 feet tall, and I will not be convinced otherwise. I was apoplectic during the preseason when I saw his listed height for the Spurs. Wemby never did the pre-draft combine measurements, because why would he? He was always going to be the No. 1 pick. So, we never got his official measurements. We just went off eye tests and lore. We’ve heard he’s 7-foot-5, and I believed it. I still believe it. But as a rookie, he was listed at 7-foot-4. OK, fine. We don’t have to split hairs on that.

Then, before his second season, he was listed at 7-foot-3. We were to believe he shrank an inch at the age of 20. No, thank you. I still believe he’s 7-foot-5 and have tried to always state his height as such in this space. Look at these photos of him with David Robinson and Tim Duncan as they celebrated Stephon Castle accepting his Rookie of the Year trophy yesterday.

Yes, that’s 7-foot-1 David Robinson and “6-foot-11” Tim Duncan. I recognize they might be slouching a bit. If I’m to believe there is roughly four inches of height between Duncan (not standing straight up) and the 6-foot-6 Castle (appears to be standing straight up), then explain the height difference between Wemby and the rest of them. He’s 8 feet tall! It’s the only explanation.

Is this a real photo of him next to the Eiffel Tower earlier this week?

Nobody can be certain! Or did I make it on my phone? Nobody knows! This is an international basketball crisis! He is growing! I will not be convinced otherwise. The most I’m willing to compromise now is to say he’s 7-foot-7, and the Spurs media guide better state as such.

Bounce Passes

We have two Game 6s tonight, and both home teams are trying to stave off elimination. Let’s give out three things the Pistons and Clippers need to do to make it to a Game 7. Both times are Eastern!

Knicks at Pistons, 7:30 p.m. on TNT: Knicks lead 3-2

This series has a five-point differential through the five games so far, so let’s expect Game 6 to be another battle. The Pistons are more than capable of bringing this back to Madison Square Garden. Here’s how they do it.

Get to the free-throw line: In the two wins for the Pistons in this series, they got to the free-throw line 34 and 36 times. They did it with physicality and by putting pressure on the Knicks defense by relentless attacking. Seventy free-throw attempts in two wins, 64 attempts in three losses. Get to the line.

Win the turnover battle: The Pistons have 23 more turnovers than the Knicks in this series. That’s 23 more wasted possessions. The Knicks have 18 more points off turnovers than the Pistons. Detroit has to take better care of the ball, and that starts with Cade Cunningham, who has 29 turnovers in five games.

Find Malik Beasley: I don’t know where he is, but they could really use him. He’s made just 30.4 percent of his 3-pointers after being one of the best 3-point shooters in the league this season. He had a historic season and is now shooting horrendously. He has to show up and help Cunningham as an outlet.

Nuggets at Clippers, 10 p.m. on TNT: Nuggets lead 3-2

The Clippers had so much momentum in this series, and then Aaron Gordon soared through the air for that tip dunk to avoid overtime and take home-court advantage back. Now we’re back at the Intuit Dome and the Clippers are fighting for their playoff lives. Here’s how they keep their season alive.

Win the turnover battle: I was going to say stop Nikola Jokić, but apparently, that’s impossible. So, just don’t willingly give the ball to Denver. The Clippers have given up 47 points off 40 turnovers in their three losses. They can’t give the ball away like this.

Get back in transition: The Nuggets aren’t a big-time transition team, but they’re opportunistic. That’s life with Jokić throwing the ball ahead. When the Clippers have contained that, they’ve put themselves in a great position to win. They’ve given up fewer than nine fast-break points per game in the wins in this series and 15 per game in the losses.

Avoid the James Harden elimination game thing: It’s a thing, and it’s been a thing. Over his last four games with the season on the line, Harden is 17-of-53 (32 percent) from the field, 6-of-30 (20 percent) while averaging 14.5 points, 9.5 assists, 6.5 rebounds and 3.5 turnovers. He barely showed up last game, and Norm Powell isn’t really giving them much right now either. They need their backcourt to show up and help Kawhi Leonard and Ivica Zubac.

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(Top photo: Kiyoshi Mio / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

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