The road to the Western Conference Finals is littered with elite guards and wings with their eyes trained on the Larry O’Brien trophy. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams are leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to the top spot in the West and the best regular season in franchise history. Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler are leading a resurgence in the Bay Area. LeBron James and Luka Doncic are the NBA’s Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. Amen Thompson is living up to his middle name.
And Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels are back to ruining Devin Booker‘s life.
But the NBA was built on the backs of giants, and to win an NBA championship, the Minnesota Timberwolves will need Rudy Gobert to continue to impose his will on his opponents, as he has over the last three games. Gobert’s peaks and valleys in his three seasons in Minnesota have been well documented.
First year bad. Second year great. Third year mostly bad.
The 32-year-old Frenchman is averaging his fewest points per game since 2016, his fewest rebounds since 2015, his second year in the league, and his fewest blocks per game since his rookie season. Gobert went from winning his fourth Defensive Player of the Year award and leading the Wolves’ top-rated defense to the Western Conference Finals last season to getting punked on and off the court this season.
However, with Minnesota’s playoff hopes on the line, players suspended, and Anthony Edwards struggling with his three-point shot, Rudy Gobert has taken it upon himself to will the Timberwolves into the postseason.
Gobert has been a monster in the paint ever since the Timberwolves dropped two despicable games in a row to an undermanned Indiana Pacers squad and the lottery-bound New Orleans Pelicans. The future Hall of Famer is averaging 17.2 points, 15.4 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per game.
The Wolves are 4-1 and sit precariously in the sixth and final playoff spot in the West. On Sunday, he had 19 points and 25 rebounds in the fiery win over the Detroit Pistons, in which Donte DiVincenzo and Naz Reid were ejected for scrapping with Isaiah Stewart and Ron Holland II. Rudy followed that up with 19 points and 12 rebounds (and six fouls) against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in the game of the year.
People have questioned Rudy’s impact on a basketball game throughout his career, especially in the playoffs. Make no mistake, a healthy and ornery Rudy Gobert is vital to another Timberwolves deep playoff run.
This isn’t the Western Conference of the late 90s and early 2000s with Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Chris Webber, and Dirk Nowitzki. Of course, Nikola Jokic is the best player in the world. Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein form a formidable duo. Jaren Jackson Jr. could be this year’s Defensive Player of the Year. Victor Wembanyama is lurking in the shadows when he returns next season.
However, the paint is open for domination as the playoffs near. The Los Angeles Lakers start Jaxson Hayes at center after moving Anthony Davis to Dallas. Golden State’s old guard of Draymond Green and Kevon Looney are playing great but are perpetually undersized. And Alperen Sengun isn’t a paint enforcer. The West playoffs will be a bloodbath, as they’ve been for 25 years running, but Gobert is in a position to extract plenty of blood from his opponents this spring.
It will never be pretty. For every alley-oop, block, or putback dunk, there will be two clanked free throws, an air-balled layup, and a simple pass that slips through his ginormous hands. Gobert has never been your favorite hooper’s favorite hooper and never will be. But he has been the consistent backbone of every playoff-bound team he’s played on. The Wolves are 3.6 points per 100 possessions better when Rudy is on the court than off it.
It’s a modest number by his standards, but he’s still the anchor of a top-flight defense in the NBA. Heading into Thursday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets, Minnesota has the sixth-best defensive rating in the league. Minnesota’s defensive rating is 4.3 points per 100 worse with Rudy on the bench. He’s still a force to be reckoned with on defense and a lob threat on offense, who, when he is in the right mindset, can outmuscle anyone for a dunk in the paint.
By his lofty standards, Gobert has had a down season. He and the Timberwolves have lagged behind last year’s tone-setting 56-win season. But Gobert and the Wolves are punching back down the stretch. After beating the Nets on Thursday night, they are 22-11 since January 22. By the way, Gobert finished with 21 points and 18 rebounds in Minnesota’s 45th win of the season.
He’s activated beast mode at the exact right time for the Wolves to show they will not be pushed around for a second straight postseason.
