Speaking on his podcast, NBA legend Kevin Garnett sent a message directly to Timberwolves big man Rudy Gobert. Ahead of tonight’s pivotal Game 6, Garnett called on Gobert to step up and challenge Nikola Jokic defensively.
“You gotta switch it up,” said Garnett. “You can’t just give [Nikola Jokic] the same dose. You may have to give this motherf*cker a hard one. You have to do something to even this out and be a force. Be a man in there, be a presence in there motherf*cker… You 7’5. Play like it.”
While Gobert is not quite 7’5”, he should still be more than capable of bothering Jokic and the Nuggets. This season marked the fourth time he was named as the Defensive Player of the Year and many experts claimed that this campaign was the best of his entire career.
After winning the first two games in Denver, the Wolves had complete control of the series and the popular thinking was that they were headed for a sweep against the defending champions. But after failing to put the Nuggets on their heels in Game 3, the Timberwolves missed their opportunity to maintain the lead and now it’s the Nuggets who are up in the series.
Rudy Gobert is obviously not the only one to blame, but his defense on Jokic in the last three games has been ineffective and critics like Draymond Green have made it a point to broadcast how much he’s getting cooked in the series. If Rudy doesn’t find an answer soon on some way to slow Jokic down, the Timberwolves will be at home early once again and everyone will be questioning if this team is ready for the pressure.
Rudy Gobert Is Fighting For His Legacy
Gobert, a 3x All-Star, was drafted back in 2013 by the Denver Nuggets. He was traded to the Utah Jazz before his first game and it’s where he broke out as one of the best defensive bigs in the NBA.
Through the years, Gobert has received varying degrees of recognition, from All-Star appearances to Defensive Player of the Year nominations. Love him or hate him, the impact he makes on the court is impossible to deny and there’s a reason he’s one of the highest-paid centers in the game.
After his trade to the Timberwolves, which involved giving up four first-round picks, Gobert’s legacy took a hit once again as fans and critics panned the trade as one of the worst in NBA history. This season, while Gobert did enough to earn Defensive Player of the Year, he’s being exposed in this series against Jokic and it’s borderline ugly to watch.
If Rudy doesn’t show up and give the Joker some kind of resistance, there will be a massive assault against his legacy this offseason, and the critics will waste no time casting doubt on his status as a winning player. As a Timberwolves legend himself, Kevin Garnett is one of the few who wants to see the franchise succeed in this game and extend the series for at least another day and he knows more than anyone how important Gobert is for their recipe for success.
