In the verbal argument between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Utah Jazz, the men from the Salt Lake Center Rudy Gobert jumped aside. Several Wolves stars had questioned its reputation as one of the best defenders in the league, now the Jazz etched back.
“You obviously don’t watch enough basketball,” joked jazz forward Joe Ingles after the 118: 96 win over the Sixers, the sixth win in a row, when asked about the verbal attacks of the Timberwolves. They had criticized center Rudy Gobert after the blowout bankruptcy against Utah the day before.
Instead of expressing self-criticism after the clear defeat, among others Patrick Beverley and Anthony Edwards dealt against the French because he had not defended the entire game over Karl-Anthony Towns. “If I were Defensive Player of the Year, I would always defend the best opposing player,” said Beverley.
“Nothing against Royce O’Neale or the others, but if I were the DPOY, then I would not defend Royce O’Neale, but Mike Conley or Donovan Mitchell or Bojan Bogdanovic,” continued the Timberwolves Guard. “Over there we have Rudy Gobert and he’s defending Jarred Vanderbilt. And I keep hearing that he’s Defensive Player of the Year.”
Edwards also teased Gobert that he wasn’t even the best ring protector in the league. “He’s like everyone else. For me, the best ring protector is Kristaps Porzingis. Every time I play against him I don’t get layups,” said the 20-year-old. “I don’t understand why we didn’t score against Gobert today, I’m not afraid of him.”
Utah Jazz defend themselves against criticism of Gobert
Now the Jazz defended themselves against the criticism and above all showed a lack of understanding. “That Edwards says Porzingis is more intimidating than Rudy is ridiculous,” Ingles continued. “Maybe Porzingis blocked him once or something, I don’t know. That’s bizarre.”
“This is not the first time that people attack me for no reason,” said Gobert, who in the past was described as overrated by Ben Simmons, among others. “I just go into every game to help my team win. I always try to be the best Rudy I can be. I don’t attack anyone verbally, I just focus on myself.”
Gobert described the comments of the Timberwolves as “more funny than anything else”, he doesn’t worry about whom he is defending in a direct duel: “I say [Coach Quin Snyder] always that I defend everyone. I trust our game plan. If you win by 30 points, then the plan was probably pretty good. When I’m out there, I’m not just defending a player, I’m defending an entire team – which is difficult for a lot of people to understand. You always try to defend against one player, I defend a whole team. “
Quin Snyder defends Rudy Gobert
Coach Snyder also emphasized the influence of his defensive anchor on the entire defense concept of his team. “From the perspective of a coach, I can say: Every team thinks about how they can attack Rudy – or rather, how they can avoid him,” said Snyder. “He’s the best ring protector in the league, most of the time he defends in the system. So it’s my fault if he doesn’t defend against a particular player.”
The 29-year-old has already been named Defensive Player of the Year three times in his career and made it into the All-Defensive First Team five times. Opposing players hit loudly in the current season stats.nba.com only 38.5 percent of their attempts to throw against Gobert and thus 8.6 percentage points worse than the average. This is the best value among all players who defend at least ten degrees per game.
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