Gobert \u2014 in Year 13, with a record-tying four DPOYs on his resume and more than $250 million in salary earned \u2014 is finally starting to realize that you don\u2019t matter. Not when he has almost single-handedly turned a franchise long known for defensive ineptitude into one of the stingiest groups in the league. Not when he has been a primary figure in the golden age of Timberwolves basketball, which includes playoff appearances in all four of his seasons in Minnesota and back-to-back runs to the Western Conference finals.<\/p>\n
Not when Anthony Edwards pulls him aside before the start of Monday\u2019s fourth quarter, knowing the Timberwolves\u2019 season essentially hinged on the next 12 minutes, and looks to Gobert to be the one to save them. In that moment, the Wolves were down 93-90 in the game and 1-0 in the series. Falling behind 2-0 in a best-of-seven against the high-octane Nuggets would have meant almost certain death. In that moment, Edwards craned his neck up to stare the 7-foot-1 Gobert in the eyes and deliver a challenge that bordered on the impossible.<\/p>\n
Nikola Joki\u0107, the three-time MVP who averaged a triple-double and became the first player since Wilt Chamberlain in 1968 to lead the league in rebounds and assists in the same season, was on the other sideline. He may be the most unstoppable offensive player the game has ever seen. He has made mincemeat of every big put in front of him, including Wembanyama, and including Gobert on many a night. But unlike you, Edwards knew Gobert was up to the task.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ain\u2019t bringing no double team,\u201d Edwards told him. \u201cYou gonna guard him one-on-one all night.\u201d<\/p>\n
That would seem to be as close to basketball heresy as a team could get. Joki\u0107 put up 56 points, 16 rebounds and 15 assists against the Wolves in a Christmas Day win<\/a>. Last season, Joker went for 61 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a loss to Minnesota.<\/p>\n But Edwards, and the rest of the Timberwolves, know more than you. Truth be told, some of them get as frustrated as you do when Gobert turns the ball over or flubs a layup<\/a>. They also see the impact he has made in Minnesota since he was acquired from Utah in 2022 in what many of you, at the time, called the worst trade in NBA history. They have watched him turn the Wolves into a top-five defense. They have seen how opposing drivers don\u2019t even think about going to the rim with Gobert in the vicinity.<\/p>\n So they didn\u2019t hesitate to put a generational defensive player on a generational offensive player and tell him to go to work. Gobert responded with one of the best performances of his life. After being mired in foul trouble for much of the first three quarters, Gobert held Joki\u0107 to 1-of-7 shooting in the fourth. Joki\u0107 missed both of his 3-pointers, including one airball, didn\u2019t get to the free-throw line and had one assist. The Timberwolves outscored the Nuggets by 10 points in Joki\u0107\u2019s eight fourth-quarter minutes, outscored the best offense in the league 29-21 in the quarter and completed a comeback from 19 points down early in the second quarter to even the series at 1-1.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Rudy\u2019s probably the most misunderstood player in the history of the game,\u201d said Wolves point guard Mike Conley, who has played 7 1\/2 seasons with Gobert in Minnesota and Utah. \u201cThe way that he impacts winning, just because it doesn\u2019t look pretty all the time or is not the sexiest thing, people bypass the other 95 things he does for our team.\u201d<\/p>\n Gobert said the fourth-place finish in DPOY didn\u2019t give him any extra juice. But he wasn\u2019t very convincing.<\/p>\n \u201cI know who I am,\u201d he said. \u201cNot the first time I get disrespected, probably not the last. I\u2019m going to keep being myself. If they want to disrespect greatness, you can just take it for granted, whatever. Sooner or later, they realize the impact.\u201d<\/p>\n The Nuggets have seen it first-hand in this series. Joki\u0107 had 25 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists in the Game 1 win, but he also turned the ball over five times and was 2 of 7 on 3s. On Monday, he finished with 24 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists, but he turned it over three times and scored just four points on 1-of-8 shooting with zero offensive rebounds in 21 minutes with Gobert on the floor.<\/p>\n As absurd as it sounds, Gobert may have had Joki\u0107 shook. In the closing seconds, with the Nuggets down 115-113, Joki\u0107 finally got a little bit of space. As he lumbered down the lane, he had a clear look at the kind of short floater that he makes in his sleep, which would have tied the game. Instead, he hesitated<\/a>\u00a0and dumped the ball to Christian Braun, who was fouled. Braun only made one of the two free throws.<\/p>\n That\u2019s like striking out Barry Bonds four times with the bases loaded. That\u2019s stuffing Earl Campbell at the goal line on three straight runs. That\u2019s knocking Taylor Swift off the top of the charts a week after she released her latest album.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s making me make tough shots,\u201d Joki\u0107 said. \u201cHe\u2019s big, long, he can reach the ball from any kind of angle or position. He\u2019s a really good defensive player.\u201d<\/p>\n The 30th meeting between these two rivals in the last four years was as unhinged as so many of the ones that have preceded it. The Timberwolves opened the game with a 12-minute brain fart in the first quarter. They shot 33 percent from the field, refused to drive against Denver\u2019s non-existent rim protection and allowed the Nuggets to shoot 67 percent from the field, 67 percent from 3 and 90 percent from the line. At one point, they fouled Denver shooters on three straight 3-pointers, and the Nuggets turned all of them into four-point plays.<\/p>\n Less than one minute into the second quarter, the Wolves were down 19 points. Bones Hyland committed three fouls in four minutes, including an inexplicable decision on a three-on-one when he declined to give the ball up to either Randle or Reid and instead plowed into Tim Hardaway Jr. for an offensive foul.<\/p>\n But the Wolves have been here before<\/a>, in this building, against the devastating two-man game of Joki\u0107 and Jamal Murray, down big. Just like in Game 7 of the 2024 West semifinals, they never succumbed. When they finally started attacking the basket, turning Joki\u0107 into a turnstile and blowing by any perimeter defenders the Nuggets put out there, the game turned in their favor.<\/p>\n \u201cGo at Joki\u0107, Jamal, all the bad defenders,\u201d said Jaden McDaniels, who scored 14 points. \u201cTim Hardaway, Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon, the whole team. Like, just go at them.\u201d<\/p>\n There was more spice where that came from. Edwards and Joki\u0107 got into a brief shoving match<\/a> in the fourth quarter. Braun barked at the Wolves bench after hitting a 3.<\/p>\n
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