\n<\/p>\n
Minnesota\u2019s Rudy Gobert has effectively shadowed Denver star Nikola Joki\u0107 throughout their first-round series.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2022\u00a0Download the NBA App<\/a><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n Nikola Joki\u0107, through the prime of his career, has crafted a reputation as a thinking man\u2019s NBA player.<\/p>\n Rudy Gobert, in essentially the same time frame, has been viewed as a guy who doesn\u2019t get to sit with the cool kids at lunch.<\/p>\n One has been voted the Kia Most Valuable Player three times<\/a>, a tribute to his vision, footwork, touch, size and indispensability to the Denver Nuggets. The other has been voted the Kia Defensive Player of the Year four times<\/a>, tied for the most ever.<\/p>\n Yet some media, fans and \u2013 this is the real issue \u2013 rival players see the Minnesota Timberwolves\u2019 center as the guy Most Likely to Get Catfished. Someone to snicker at, and often not even behind his back.<\/p>\n Over the course of his 13 seasons, about the only thing in which the 7-foot-1 \u201cStifle Tower\u201d has come up short has been respect.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Rudy\u2019s probably the most misunderstood player in the history of the game,\u201d Minnesota point guard Mike Conley said of his teammate with the Wolves and the Utah Jazz. \u201cThe way that he impacts winning, just because it doesn\u2019t look pretty all the time or is not the sexiest thing, people bypass the other 95 things he does for our team.\u201d<\/p>\n Said Wolves coach Chris Finch: \u201cHe\u2019s about the right things, and it\u2019s just laughable, small-minded and petty all the crap that people decide to give Rudy.\u201d<\/p>\n Gobert and the Wolves have the Nuggets on the brink, down 3-1 in their best-of-seven series<\/a> that continues Monday at Denver\u2019s Ball Arena (10:30 p.m. ET, NBC & Peacock<\/strong><\/a>). They have Joki\u0107 and the NBA\u2019s most potent offense of 2025-26 in disarray, stuck below 100 points the past two games.<\/p>\n The Nuggets\u2019 star labeled his performance through four games as \u201caverage,\u201d and in some categories, it\u2019s been worse. He has missed 53 of his 87 shots, is 5-of-27 on 3-pointers and had more turnovers than assists (4-3) in Game 3.<\/p>\n Denver led the NBA in 3-point percentage<\/a> (39.6%) and effective field goal rate<\/a> (57.7%) during the regular season. Against Gobert and the Wolves\u2019 defense now, it ranks last among the 16 playoff teams in both (28.5% and 45.8%). The Nuggets are averaging 10.1 fewer points in the paint in the series (39.5) than they did over 82 games (49.6).<\/p>\n And yet, for a variety of reasons, Gobert\u2019s reputation remains sullied, dismissed and the subject of eye rolls from both casuals and plenty of folks who should know better. From what we can tell, the criticism from outside and resentment from inside stem from a short list of factors:<\/p>\n \u2022 He isn\u2019t much of a scorer,<\/strong> averaging 12.5 points and only 7.1 shots per game, so fans and foes who most value buckets aren\u2019t impressed. But Gobert has maxed out his earnings, nearly $300 million so far, largely for his work at the end of the court, so many opponents disregard.<\/p>\n \u2022 His ball skills are (no pun intended) rudimentary.<\/strong> Just last week in Game 1, Gobert tried to execute a dribble handoff as a bounce pass behind his back. It did not go well.<\/p>\n \u2022 He is a Euro from back before<\/strong> international players were appreciated quite like they are now. Gobert was the 27th pick in the same 2013 Draft<\/a> that produced Milwaukee\u2019s Giannis Antetokounmpo at No. 15.<\/p>\n \u2022 His 8,107 career defensive rebounds<\/strong> (including playoffs) and 1,974 blocked shots rank 28th and 27th all-time, and are in direct opposition to what gets most of the other guys paid. Gobert\u2019s mere looming presence makes their basketball lives tougher, and many don\u2019t like it.<\/p>\n \u2022 The Luka Don\u010di\u0107 shot from the right wing<\/a><\/strong> in the 2024 Dallas-Minnesota series that got replayed incessantly that spring, when Gobert got isolated against the Mavericks\u2019 gifted scorer. (Gobert later offered context in his defense, saying, \u201cMy whole career, I\u2019m very likely to be crossed over. \u2026 But let\u2019s see what happens over the course of hundreds and hundreds of possessions.\u201d But you know what they say about a picture\u2019s worth vs. however many words were in the big man\u2019s quote.)<\/p>\n \u2022 His status as the NBA\u2019s \u201cpatient zero\u201d of COVID<\/a><\/strong>, owing to the goofy video in which he touched the microphones and recorders<\/a> of media folks on his way out of a news conference. This was in March 2020, before Gobert or anyone knew how huge the pandemic would be.<\/p>\n \u2022 Some footage from February 2019,<\/strong> when Gobert felt he was snubbed<\/a> from what would have been his first All-Star selection. He cried while sharing his feelings about his mother\u2019s sacrifices in nurturing his early basketball training and a sense of disrespect. Sure enough, some wise guys pounced.<\/p>\n