Three stars from Wednesday's NBA playoffs

Amen Thompson overwhelmed, disrupted and terrorized the Warriors' ball handlers, racking up five steals in the first half. He guarded Stephen Curry quite a bit, and Curry didn't score until midway through the second quarter.

In a series where the Rockets have struggled from the foul line, Amen Thompson went 8-for-9 on free throws and shot 8-for-12 overall. He rebounded one of those misses and turned it into an and-one — after one of his steals, of course.

Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert | 27 points, 24 rebounds, 9 offensive boards

Last season, Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks beat Rudy Gobert and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals, with Doncic sinking a game-winning three over Gobert to take Game 2. 

Wednesday night, Gobert took revenge as a defender — and shockingly, a scorer. He led the Timberwolves with 27 points and collected 24 rebounds, nine of them on the offensive glass. 

It seemed impossible that the Timberwolves could win a game where Anthony Edwards shot 5-of-19 and 0-of-11 from three-point range, while the team as a whole went 7-for-47 from deep. But with Gobert grabbing so many misses — he had more offensive rebounds than any other player had total rebounds — and controlling the paint, the Wolves eliminated the Lakers with a 103-96 victory on the Lakers' home floor.

Gobert took advantage of JJ Redick benching starting center Jaxson Hayes and breaking out a rusty Maxi Kleber. Ultimately, Redick and the Lakers had no answers for Gobert, and the underdog Wolves took the series in five games.

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle | 23 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists

Julius Randle also got some revenge against a Lakers team that drafted him in the lottery in 2014, then cut him loose when LeBron James arrived in 2018. Randle became an All-Star after stops in New Orleans and New York, and Tuesday night, he made up for Anthony Edwards' poor shooting night while helping Minnesota hold James to 9-of-21 shooting.

The Timberwolves acquired Randle and Donte DiVincenzo (nine points, five assists, two steals, one black eye) when they traded Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks just before the season. Randle averaged 22.6 points in the series, providing size and scoring that made the difference against the star-studded Lakers.