It’s only a few short days since I proclaimed the Minnesota Timberwolves wouldn’t be hanging around long in the NBA Playoffs. Rudy Gobert gave me reason to rethink that in a devastatingly impressive display against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night.
If you’re feeling generous, I shouldn’t take the L just yet. The Denver Nuggets could well end up winning this series in 6 games. Even if they do, I was wrong about the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Rudy Gobert showed me why in Game 3. The French stud had about as balanced a performance as could have been asked for. It was pivotal towards them earning a statement win in the NBA Playoffs.
Seeing the picture in context
From the get go, Rudy Gobert was visibly calm yet hyper focused on this game. He knew how to dial it up at just the right time and was in tune throughout. The most visible example came very early in this encounter.
With 8.45 still left in the first quarter, he patiently moved in the paint with Nikola Jokic. The Minnesota Timberwolves big man bided his time. He let Jokic be the aggressor but on Gobert’s tempo. That led to a relatively straightforward block to close out a solid defensive play.
The block a few minutes later on Christian Braun had a more visible spark to it. Still, on the rewatch, you could see the same elements of calm before pulling the trigger. Gobert was about to see the whole floor in context and work out his ideal way to navigate it. It’s a form of elite vision that doesn’t appear in the box score.
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Measured intensity
A lot of my early coverage of these NBA Playoffs has been focused on how teams have failed to either get to or remain at the required level for this stage of the season. The Minnesota Timberwolves were the picture perfect definition of what should be done when the games really matter.
What they did to the Denver Nuggets was akin to what they say about slowly boiling a frog. Don’t boil frogs, just trust the apologue. There wasn’t one big move. Those blocks by Rudy Gobert weren’t triggers.
Instead the Timberwolves just kept on raising the intensity gradually. Before they knew it, Nikola Jokic’s passing game had been made irrelevant and the Nuggets were down 50-30 with time left in the first half. With each possession, the Timberwolves stepped up that little bit more.
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And about Rudy’s offensive performance
As with his defensive display, calm and focus were at the heart of what he did. Few plays describe that as much as one score in the third quarter. Nikola Jokic had him one-on-one in the paint.
There was so much motivation to rush or get caught up mentally and hesitate excessively. Instead, as was put so well on commentary there was the twist, the turn, the spin, and the hook for the bucket. Against the best player in the game today in the NBA Playoffs, Rudy Gobert reminded us who he is when he’s his best self.
As I said at the top, a few days ago I had written off the Minnesota Timberwolves because of their failure to capitalise in Game 1. The focus shown across the board in this game has me rethinking that a lot. Game 4 is obviously enormous but repeating this kind of mental performance would go a long way towards the W.
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