{"id":284115,"date":"2025-09-15T00:01:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T00:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/284115\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T00:01:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T00:01:21","slug":"rudy-gobert-points-to-pacers-as-blueprint-to-timberwolves-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/284115\/","title":{"rendered":"Rudy Gobert points to Pacers as blueprint to Timberwolves\u2019 success"},"content":{"rendered":"

The post Rudy Gobert points to Pacers as blueprint to Timberwolves\u2019 success<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> center Rudy Gobert<\/a> believes the path to sustained success<\/a> lies in chemistry and teamwork, pointing to the Indiana Pacers\u2019 2025 playoff run<\/a> as an example.<\/p>\n

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On a recent episode of The Young Man & The Three, the four-time Defensive Player of the Year said the Pacers\u2019 cohesion separated them from other teams in the Eastern Conference and helped them reach the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at the Finals, and I was talking about this a lot with my friends, I think the two teams that seemed the most together went to the Finals,\u201d Gobert said. \u201cI think Indiana wasn\u2019t necessarily the most talented team in the East, but they went to the Finals because I felt like they were the most together team. And in those moments of adversity, I don\u2019t know how many times they came back from being down six, seven points in the last minute, but it doesn\u2019t happen if you\u2019re not together, if you don\u2019t believe in your teammates, if you\u2019re not poised through adversity and I think OKC is the same way differently, but the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rudy Gobert cites Pacers\u2019 resilience and togetherness as the standard for playoff success\"\u00a9<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Gobert emphasized that chemistry and trust are critical when the postseason spotlight intensifies.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think it shows that chemistry is really, really important and teamwork is really, really important,\u201d Gobert said.<\/p>\n

The Timberwolves saw that first-hand last season when Indiana overcame a depleted roster to rally past Minnesota in the regular season. Gobert used that moment as a reminder of how a collective spirit can overcome obstacles.<\/p>\n

\u201cExactly. It\u2019s about the spirit of the team \u2013 it comes from your leader obviously, but just the togetherness and being able to overcome adversity together,\u201d Gobert said. \u201cI think it\u2019s super, super important when you get deep into the playoffs when you have the whole world watching you and talking about you and ready to tear you down or spread you apart any opportunity they get. I think being able to connect with your teammates and share the same goal is huge and OKC had that and Indiana had that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Timberwolves look to Pacers\u2019 Finals-tested formula as model of growth<\/p>\n

Minnesota finished 49-33 in 2024-25, claiming the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference. The Timberwolves eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> in the opening round and defeated the Golden State Warriors<\/a> in the conference semifinals before falling to eventual champion Oklahoma City in five games<\/a> in the Western Conference Finals. It marked their second straight trip to the conference finals.<\/p>\n

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The Pacers, meanwhile, went 50-32 as the No. 4 seed in the East. Indiana opened the postseason with a first-round victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, then knocked out the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in five games. The Pacers advanced to the NBA Finals by defeating the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals. Their run ended in Game 7 of the Finals against the Thunder<\/a>, when star guard Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles<\/a> in the opening minutes.<\/p>\n

For Gobert, the Pacers\u2019 ability to rally in late-game situations and maintain unity despite setbacks offered Minnesota a clear model for its own growth. As the Timberwolves look to build on back-to-back deep playoff runs, Gobert believes following Indiana\u2019s blueprint could be the key to breaking through.<\/p>\n

Related: Karl-Anthony Towns \u2018heartbroken\u2019 over murder of Naz Reid\u2019s sister<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The post Rudy Gobert points to Pacers as blueprint to Timberwolves\u2019 success appeared first on ClutchPoints. Minnesota Timberwolves…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3774],"tags":[7,193,1409,164,113,126,3866,150,121,152,6,191,378,475,114,46834,373,278,3460],"class_list":{"0":"post-284115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indiana-pacers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","10":"tag-eastern-conference","11":"tag-golden-state-warriors","12":"tag-indiana","13":"tag-indiana-pacers","14":"tag-indianapacers","15":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","16":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","17":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-new-york-knicks","20":"tag-okc","21":"tag-oklahoma-city","22":"tag-pacers","23":"tag-playoff-success","24":"tag-rudy-gobert","25":"tag-tyrese-haliburton","26":"tag-western-conference-finals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115205379455655951","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}