The first duel between Rudy Gobert and his former coach for eight years at Jazz, Quin Snyder, smiled at the French pivot on Monday evening. With Minnesota, the vice-captain of the Blues left Atlanta, now coached by Snyder, with a precious victory in the race for the play-offs (136-115). Gobert held his place while he was doubtful with a left ankle injury.
Opposed to Clint Capela in the Hawks racket, the triple best defender of the year made a copy topped with 14 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks. Above all, he finished with a differential of +25, the second best score among the Timberwolves.
Gobert opened his points counter on an alley-oop served by Jordan McLaughlin before helping his team make the hole in the second quarter (7 points). The pivot of the Blues runs at 16.8 points and 12.5 rebounds since the beginning of March, and Minnesota goes back to seventh place in the Western Conference.
Fifth double-double for Hayes
Opposed to Indiana for the second time in three days, Killian Hayes signed a new double-double (10 points, 11 assists) in Detroit’s victory (117-97). Holder, the leader signed a very good start to the game with 8 points and 7 assists in the first quarter. His replacement, Canadian Cory Joseph (22 points), took over, and Hayes had to wait until the very end of the match to validate his double-double, the fifth of his season. Only downside: a marksmanship still behind (4 out of 11), especially behind the arc (0 out of 3, 10% success in March).
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Killian Hayes now has 382 assists to his name this season. The former Choletais can become the fifth Frenchman to distribute 400 caviars in a season after Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, Joakim Noah and Nicolas Batum.
In Texas, Frank Ntilikina played the last four minutes of Dallas’ defeat against Memphis (88-104). Jason Kidd preferred to trust rookie Jaden Hardy to take the lead in the absence of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Launched on the floor when the match was folded, Ntilikina did not record any statistics (0 points, 0 assists, 0 shots attempted).
