How Rudy Gobert, Timberwolves defense got shredded by Nuggets’ Nikola Jokić

DENVER — Rudy Gobert looked helpless out there.

No matter what he tried, no matter how closely he contested, no matter how quickly he moved his feet, there was nothing he could do to stop Nikola Jokic.

In the Minnesota Timberwolves’ most important game of the season, their most reliable player, and one of the best defensive players of this or any generation, was hunted relentlessly by the three-time MVP.

Jokic sought out Gobert as if he was the weak link of a billowy soft unit, not the four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year leading one of the best team defenses in recent memory. And for so much of the night, Gobert hung right with him, refusing to bite on an array of pump fakes, not falling for the street magician’s sleight of hand and giving everything he had to try to make Jokic miss. In the end, none of it worked.

Jokic put up 40 points on 22 shots, racked up 13 assists and did not turn the ball over once in Denver’s 112-97 victory over the Timberwolves that gave the Nuggets a 3-2 lead in their best-of-seven series. Jokic cooked everyone in front of him on Tuesday night, including Karl-Anthony Towns, Naz Reid and Kyle Anderson. He is an all-time great at the peak of his powers, a calculating talent who has ransacked the entire league.

But to see him do it to Gobert, their leader, their defensive fulcrum, clearly shook a team that truly believed it had the defending champions on the ropes after winning the first two games in Denver. An emphatic response by the Nuggets in Minneapolis evened the series, and Jokic snatched the Wolves’ soul in the third quarter of Game 5. He scored 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting with four assists and three rebounds.

It seemed like every time Gobert had good position against Jokic, the Serbian would pirouette and launch a ceiling-scraping shot off of one foot that would kiss the very edge of the backboard and fall softly through the net. Gobert is an all-time great defender with the accolades to back it up. But there was no answer to this.

“The second half, we got a little too demoralized and we can’t have that,” Gobert said. “I think we have to be mentally tough, individually and collectively, to be able to keep playing our game and not let anything that happened in the game affect the way we play and the way we … affect our confidence and the way we compete.”

Gobert could be seen cursing to himself after so many of them. Each time he seemed to be a fingertip away from blocking the shot or tipping the pass. But fractions of an inch might as well be miles-wide canyons to Jokic, who long ago took the red pill to see the matrix unfold in slow motion.

“He was in the zone,” Gobert said. “I mean, a couple of shots that I think I actually blocked and the ball went in. It was just incredible in that quarter. He put the team on his back and he was making everything.”

Gobert is not used to settling for consolation prizes when it comes to his defense. He is one of only three players in NBA history to win four DPOYs and 2023-24 with Minnesota was one of his best seasons as a pro. The Wolves were the No. 1 defensive team all season long with Gobert’s return to form anchoring everything they do on that end. He expanded his responsibilities this season as well, more often going out to the perimeter to guard smaller players on switches, something his legion of critics believed he could not do.

He takes great pride in his ability to dominate on that end of the floor, and it was easy for him to dismiss some of the criticism from his Utah days for playoff losses because so many of the players around him were sieves on the perimeter. He played a key role in Minnesota’s Game 1 win in Denver, using his long arms and mobility to stifle the Nuggets offense. Jokic shot 42 percent from the field and turned the ball over 11 times in Games 1 and 2, saying at one point that he hoped they didn’t get swept.

It has been a far different story since Game 2. Jokic is averaging 33.0 points, 9.7 assists and 9.3 rebounds in the last three games and hitting 62 percent of his shots. This time so much of the damage done was one-on-one. Each teardrop that fell on Tuesday night was a dagger right through Minnesota’s heart. Death by 1,000 sweeping hook shots.

“He had an MVP, best-player-in-the-world performance,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said. “We tried to do a bit of everything on him. He had it all going. We didn’t have answers for him and, honestly, we haven’t had a great one the last couple of games.”

These Timberwolves have built their identity on defense and toughness, which shined through in a ferocious Game 2 victory. Ever since they have been rendered powerless by a man who seems to have solved the puzzle. After the game, no one in the locker room was blaming Gobert for having trouble with Jokic. They stood in awe of his maddening ability to have an answer for everything they threw at him.

“I just laugh. That’s all I can do,” Edwards said. “I can’t be mad, because he’s good, man. I think I said that after Game 1 when we won, and Game 2. He’s the MVP. He’s the best player in the NBA. He showed it the last three games, three games in a row.”

Gobert was far from the lone culprit in Game 5. Towns and Reid committed silly fouls in the first half to get them seated on the bench, increasing the burden on the offense with Mike Conley out because of Achilles soreness. Edwards was just 5 of 15 from the field for 18 points against the Nuggets’ aggressive double-teaming. He turned the ball over four times and missed four of his five 3s. Jaden McDaniels missed three open looks from 3.

The Wolves were third in the NBA in the regular season in converting 38.7 percent of their 3s. They were just 8 of 26 (30.8 percent) on Tuesday and only made 30 percent from deep in the Game 3 wipeout as well.

Missing Conley was a big blow. He is the brains of this operation and without him the Wolves played erratic basketball for much of the game. The Nuggets were sluggish and sloppy in the first half, and it felt like the Wolves could have crept ahead had they played with any composure or intelligence. Instead, they turned the ball over 11 times, Edwards missed seven of his eight shots, Towns passed up open corner 3s for ill-advised drives to the basket and picked up one of three straight charging calls on the Wolves in the second quarter.

“Decision-making and shot selection,” Finch lamented. “We got antsy, and took some quick ones when we needed some poise.”

McDaniels is 5 of 23 from 3-point range in the playoffs, most of them being wide-open looks. Reid played well in Game 1 of this series with 16 points in 23 minutes but has steadily declined over the last four. Anderson has struggled immensely on both ends.

Finch said the Wolves are hopeful Conley can play in Game 6 on Thursday at Target Center. Whether he is in or not, the Wolves offense will have to be better to try to stave off elimination.

For all of the focus on Gobert vs. Jokic, the Timberwolves were outscored by only two points in Rudy’s 40 minutes, which means they lost the eight minutes he sat by 13 points. He finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds, two blocks and two steals and made all seven of his shots. He was in Jokic’s grill for much of the night.

But the Timberwolves need more. He is being asked to solve what has been an unsolvable problem for the last four years. Jokic has mastered this game the way a puppeteer controls his puppets, bending the action to his will with a flick of his wrist. He received his MVP award before Game 5, the third time in the last four years he has won it. The one season he did not win (last season), he led the Nuggets to the franchise’s first championship and won NBA Finals MVP. He is the best player in the world.

Gobert likes to say that he is the best defender in the world. He is being asked to do something that almost no one else has been able to do. That is the burden that comes with the standard he has set. That is what the Timberwolves need from him. If he raises his level in Game 6, the team and the crowd will rise along with him.

It was not that long ago that Jokic seemed completely flummoxed by the Wolves’ size and tenacity. He said that he thought the only solution was to clone himself so he could play all 48 minutes against Gobert, Towns and Reid. In those three days off between Games 2 and 3, Jokic did not find a twin to bring into the fight with him. But he did seem to find the answer key to a defense that crushed in the regular season in a first-round sweep of Phoenix and the first two games against Denver.

Gobert has done a good job of getting a hand in Jokic’s face, but Jokic has been able to use his strength to move Gobert right to the spot on the floor he wants to get to. Game 6 will call for more physicality, more intensity and more of everything the Timberwolves have in them if they are going to stave off elimination and force a Game 7.

The next 36 hours will be tough for Gobert and the Timberwolves. The volume of the criticism will likely be even louder than the praise was after they went up 2-0. The good vibes of this season are gone. The only way for Gobert and the Timberwolves to recapture them is to lock in, bow their backs and get back in the fight.

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