Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert has quietly built up his resume as the best defender to throw at Nikola Jokic. Gobert’s performance Thursday may have been the Frenchman’s crown jewel.
The Timberwolves spanked the Denver Nuggets 115-70 at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. to force a Game 7 in their Western Conference semifinal series.
Jokic had a subpar game by his standards, finishing with just 22 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 assists. The cerebral Joker was harassed by Timberwolves defenders all game long with Gobert serving as the last line of defense.
The Nuggets were held to just 70 points, which is by far the team’s lowest playoff total since Jokic joined the team in 2015. It’s just the third time a Jokic-led team has been held to 80-or-fewer points in a playoff game. All three instances happened to be against Gobert.
Teams holding the Jokic Nuggets to 80 points or fewer in a playoff game:
3 — Rudy Gobert teams
0 — Rest of NBA history combined pic.twitter.com/jSUJzoDW8M— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 17, 2024
Nuggets not scoring more than 80 points in a playoff game:
2 — This series
1 — Rest of Jokic era combinedThat one game was against Rudy Gobert and the Jazz in 2020. pic.twitter.com/wVReoelzyT
— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 17, 2024
The Timberwolves also held the Nuggets to 80 points in Minnesota’s resounding Game 2 win. The only other time a Jokic-led team was held to 80 points in a playoff game was against Gobert’s Utah Jazz in 2020.
Gobert, who won his fourth Defensive Player of the Year Award this season, became the butt of several jokes after Jokic dominated him through Games 3 to 5 — all Timberwolves losses.
It’s proven to be nearly impossible to stop Jokic over the last several seasons. The Nuggets star has won three of the last four MVP awards for a reason. But Gobert has clearly offered a level of resistance against Jokic that few others can match.
