This is the kind of performance that will silence the Rudy Gobert “haters” a little… or not. The French pivot was decisive in the victory of the Minnesota Timberwolves, on the night of Friday to Saturday, against the Denver Nuggets of a certain Nikola Jokic (119-116), voted best in the NBA last season for the third times in his career.
But the match was eventful for Gobert, author of 17 points and 14 rebounds. In the last quarter, he first suffered a “poster dunk” from Christian Braun, a player much shorter than him (1.98 m compared to 2.16 m). On this action, the Denver player took him down then the two men clashed strongly and each received a technical foul.
At that time, Denver led by 8 points on the Wolves floor (102-110) and seemed well on its way to winning. This was without counting on the perfect end to the match by Minnesota, who scored the last ten points of the match to win at the wire. And in money time, Gobert was particularly decisive.
He first captured a defensive rebound then made his two free throws in stride to increase the Wolves' lead to three points, before another great defense against Nikola Jokic to close the match. Gobert finished the game with 17 points and 14 rebounds in the wake of Anthony Edwards (29 points).
Next night, Rudy Gobert will face a different kind of challenge as his team travels to San Antonio where he will find Victor Wembanyama facing him in the paint.
On the other floors, the French shone less even if it is necessary to highlight the good performance of Rayan Rupert, who scored 14 points, during Portland's defeat against the Oklahoma City Thunder (137-114). The number 1 of the last draft Zaccharie Risacher was discreet (3 points) and clumsy (1 of 9 on shots) during the defeat of the Atlanta Hawks at home against the Sacramento Kings (115-123).
Note also that two teams remain undefeated this season: Cleveland, which beat the Orlando Magic (120-109) to sign a sixth success in as many matches, and therefore the Oklahoma City Thunder , easy winner of Portland with 30 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to sign a fifth success.
