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Rudy Gobert Questionable (Back) for Game One

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Mathew Huff
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Mathew Huff Sports Editor

Mathew is an avid sports fan who loves basketball. He has a soft spot for Denver sports in particular and has been involved with sports writing for close to 7 years now. He likes to utilize both statistics and a blend of the eye test when analyzing the games he loves. Mathew also dabbles with sports betting and loves helping people win money.

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Sports Editor

Updated16 Apr 2023

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The Minnesota Timberwolves were barely able to squeak into this year’s NBA playoffs. It took them defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder in the play-in tournament, but they still got the job done. However, the road just gets harder from here. Not only will Minnesota be battling the number one seed, Denver Nuggets, they may also be without one of their most important players for game one. Center, Rudy Gobert, has popped up on the injury report as questionable due to a nagging back injury. If Gobert does miss game one, the Timberwolves are going to miss his presence down low in a huge way.

Rudy Gobert Questionable (Back) for Game One Against the Denver Nuggets

Rudy Gobert’s Impact for the Minnesota Timberwolves

Gobert has made a career out of being one of the premier rim-protectors in the league. After all, he is a three-time Defensive Player of the Year for a reason. Even if he is not blocking shots, Gobert’s presence at the rim often deters cutters and driving offensive players from attacking the rim. In turn, this allows the Timberwolves to force more perimeter shots which are lesser percentage shots.

While the big man duo of him and Karl-Anthony Towns may be a bit awkward in today’s modern NBA, it has certainly worked for the Timberwolves at times this year. Given that Minnesota will be battling the Denver Nuggets who arguably have the best center in Nikola Jokic on their squad, Rudy Gobert will be a valuable piece to have throughout this series.

Gobert’s Regular Season Numbers 

Despite boasting a star trio of Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Rudy Gobert, the Timberwolves still underperformed by many people’s expectations. They finished with a record of 42-40. However, Gobert still had a solid campaign. The French big man finished the regular season tallying 13.4 points, 1.4 blocks, and 11.6 total rebounds per game.

Not to mention, he also had an effective field goal percentage of 65.9 percent to go along with a true shooting percentage of 67.5 percent. The six-time All-Defensive NBA player also had totals of 18.9 in terms of player efficiency rating, a defensive win-share total of 3.5, and a defensive rebounding percentage of 29.8 percent. Rudy Gobert may not be winning another Defensive Player of the Year award this year, however, his presence is still extremely important to this young Minnesota Timberwolves squad.

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