Jaden McDaniels said Rudy Gobert gave the Timberwolves their best game from him this season after Minnesota opened its playoff series with a loss at Denver on Saturday, April 18. The forward said Gobert did it on both ends, and said if the four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year keeps playing that way, the Timberwolves will win.
“That’s the best game we’ve had from Rudy this year,” McDaniels said. “Both ends, he did a good job. He keep doing that, we’re going to win.”
Gobert finished Game 1 with 17 points on 8-for-9 shooting and made his presence felt around Nikola Jokic, helping force the Denver star into five turnovers even as Jokic still posted 25 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists. The Timberwolves also held Denver under 28% from three-point range, but Jamal Murray scored 30 points and went 16-for-16 from the free-throw line as the Nuggets took the opener.
That was enough for Minnesota to believe its defense had done enough to win, only for the offense to bog down, especially early in the second half. Gobert, who went 1-for-5 from the free-throw line, was central to both the praise and the frustration: Anthony Edwards said, “Rudy played his [butt] off,” and coach Chris Finch said, “Rudy was awesome [today] in all facets.” Finch added that he was “really good defensively” and “caught, finished well, on balance” on offense.
The matchup also reflected how Minnesota has changed around Gobert. Two years ago, the Timberwolves did not put him directly on Jokic. After trading Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks, they have often asked Gobert to guard Jokic straight up in these games, turning the series into a test of how far his rim protection and physicality can carry them. Gobert said his job is simple: try to make Jokic work, bother him and stay aggressive, while the team takes away Denver’s other options.
McDaniels has recently drawn attention for reacting strongly on camera to some of Gobert’s missed or awkward attempts at the rim, but there was no mistaking his view after Game 1. Minnesota lost the game, yet its defense looked good enough to steal it, and the question now is whether the Timberwolves can match that edge on offense before the series slips further toward Denver.
