Rudy Gobert Takes Snub Personal Against Nikola Jokic
Rudy Gobert, one of the most decorated defenders in NBA history, did not win Defensive Player of the Year. He didn't even come close, actually. The Minnesota Timberwolves big man was fourth in voting and was not named a finalist. He is usually a finalist every year, but not this time. And on the eve of the voting decision, he made it known that he's still a ridiculous defender.
Rudy Gobert shuts down Nikola Jokic in playoffs
The NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award is a regular-season award, so the playoffs don't matter. But if they did, some voters might have changed their minds about where Rudy Gobert deserved to land. He was fourth, behind unanimous winner Victor Wembanyama, Chet Holmgren, and Ausar Thompson.
But when that vote was revealed, the fourth-place finisher was putting on a show against the best offensive player in the world. Nikola Jokic has given everyone, including Wembanyama, buckets, rebounds, and assists. And while his stats were decent, the Timberwolves escaped with a win because of the defense Gobert played on Jokic.
Earlier this month, Jokic gave 40 points and 13 assists to Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs in a win. He proved that he could still dominate the best defender that this sport has potentially ever seen. But when it mattered, Gobert turned in a great performance on that end of the court, leading to a five-point road win.
When matched up, Jokic was just 1/8 shooting against Gobert. He had 24 points overall, but 14 of those 24 came during a stretch in the third quarter when Gobert was in foul trouble. And when he returned, the tides turned. With Gobert out, Jokic missed three crucial shots. Jamal Murray missed four, too.
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Timberwolves strategy
There are very few defenders who can guard Nikola Jokic. That task often requires help, whether by double-team or with defenders nearby sagging off their man to get closer to the Denver Nuggets star. But this time, Minnesota wanted to leave him on an island and make Jokic take it to Gobert.
Anthony Edwards implored Gobert to stay out of foul trouble in the fourth quarter with the game hanging in the balance. "I told him we ain't bringing no double team," Edwards said. "You gonna guard (Jokic) one-on-one. Stop fouling. Stop going for the reach-in. Because he's going to flop. They're going to call the foul. Play him straight up."
"We're half the team when (Gobert's) on the bench," the guard added. "They don't understand what he means to us when he's on the floor. People don't want to lay the ball up around him. They don't want to go at Rudy."
Gobert, for what it's worth, took aim at the voting after the game. He said a top-three defender couldn't guard Jokic, so he was "lucky" to be able to shut the Nuggets big man down. Chet Holmgren and Ausar Thompson finished ahead of him along with Victor Wembanyama, and he's making the claim that none of them could've done what Gobert did to Jokic.
Full voting
The three finalists are announced for Defensive Player of the Year, but voters can vote for others. They can vote for any player for any spot on the ballot. So while he was not named a finalist and could not win, he could've been voted ahead of Thompson or Holmgren, in theory.
He wasn't. Obviously, he and everyone else aside from Wembanyama got zero first-place votes. Gobert got just four second-place votes. He got 29 third-place votes and earned 41 total points. 67 total voters didn't even name Gobert on their ballots, and that didn't sit right with the Timberwolves center.
