Utah Jazz alum Rudy Gobert made himself stand out when the Minnesota Timberwolves eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers last night. Gobert had no trouble dominating in a very important game on the road, putting up 27 points and 24 rebounds.
The challenge actually wasn't that hard. The Lakers were pathetically weak in the frontcourt. Even if the Luka Doncic trade was an easy one to make, trading away Anthony Davis left a boid that they didn't fill when the trade deadline passed.
Still, it's on Gobert shoulder's to exploit that weakness with such a golden opportunity to advance to the next round. He did just that. When the rebound was up for grabs, he snared it. When an alley-oop was thrown his way, he finished it. When the Lakers tried to drive to the hoop, Gobert stopped him. Not always, but his presence was felt.
This should feel particularly good for Jazz fans because Gobert to this day still gets so much criticism based on his offensive shortcomings and his defense supposedly being overrated. He showed how not true that is.
His offense is limited, but he knows what he can do and rarely tries to do more than what he's capable of. That showed itself against the Lakers. Especially in a game where the Timberwolves couldn't buy a three (if they hit their average, it would have been a blowout), Gobert stepped up.
By virtue of having several Jazz alumni on the team, the Timberwolves beating the Lakers feel like a Jazz win by proxy. The fact that Gobert played a huge hand in finishing them off, and the Lakers were the favorites going in by the way, has to feel great for anyone involved with the Jazz.
And the cherry on top of all this? Following the re-emergence of an old narrative surrounding Gobert, after Luka Doncic tried taking him ISO multiple times in Game 2, Doncic didn' try that much after that, showing that Gobert's one perceived defensive flaw isn't as problematic as many think it is.
Gobert did this last year too
Even if the Timberwolves didn't make it to the NBA Finals last year, they still went on one of their best runs in franchise history, and Gobert played a part in that, too. Last year, they came up victorious against the NBA champs, beating MVP Nikola Jokic in Game 7.
Because the Gobert-led Jazz teams never progressed past the second round, the consensus on him was that he couldn't raise playoff teams' ceilings, but since leaving, he's done it twice. Now many can debate whether the Jazz's playoff struggles were the chicken or the egg, but Gobert has at least proven the notion about him wrong for two straight years now.
He'll still have his skeptics until the day he retires from the NBA, but even if Gobert doesn't walk away with a championship, he still showed that they were wrong about him when the going got tough. That is what an all-time player does.
The Timberwolves gave up the farm for Gobert. Even if it hasn't always been smooth sailing from there, Gobert has proven they were right to do it. Sure, those picks the Jazz got in return haven't worked out too great, but there is something heartwarming about watching him thrive when his team counts on him to do so.