Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert puts Bleacher Report on blast

Utah Jazz treasure Rudy Gobert has some beef with one particular outlet.

In the final minutes of Friday night’s 114-109 home victory over the Dallas Mavericks, the Utah Jazz essentially tasked three-time All-Star Rudy Gobert with locking down three-time All-Star Luka Doncic throughout the visitors’ entire halfcourt possessions. And it’s safe to say the three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year rose to the challenge — literally at times.

Check out Gobert’s defensive stand against Doncic when the score was knotted at 107-107 with under two minutes to play:

https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/1497425022406647809?s=20&t=PurjGe4heIsVX28boJ8Wog

That wasn’t the 29-year-old’s only impressive block in the fourth quarter with a tied score:

Speaking to the media afterward, Gobert didn’t hold back in defending himself against all the ill-informed critics out there — especially those who run the Bleacher Report social media accounts. They have long erroneously claimed that the 7-foot-1, 260-pound “Stifle Tower” cannot keep up with guys outside the paint.

Gobert knows better:

“The numbers [from those situations] have always been in my favor. But for some reason — I blame Bleacher Report for that — the perception has never matched the numbers. I hope they can do a better job in the future to show the bad plays but also show the good ones. There are way more good ones than bad ones.”

Gobert finished the contest with 14 points, 17 rebounds, and three blocks across his 34 minutes on the floor.

Meanwhile, the silly folks over at Bleacher Report likely only noticed Gobert’s plus-minus of -5.

More words of defense from the Utah Jazz big man

After learning from a reporter that Luka Doncic cried foul in his postgame comments, Rudy Gobert took the high road, sort of:

“I mean, I’m not a ref. I think it was a really physical game. And you know, Luka always uses his body really well and always pushes off and everything. So if you’re not going to call a push-off, then you shouldn’t call anything else unless it’s a foul, and I don’t think there was enough contact to be called a foul. So, you know, it’s part of the game…I don’t think the game was lost on one play.”

Rudy Gobert and the Utah Jazz (37-22) now hit the road for a showdown at 1:30 p.m. MT Sunday against the NBA-leading Phoenix Suns (49-11).

Stay tuned to The J-Notes for more Utah Jazz news and views.