NEW YORK – Timberwolves coach Chris Finch has said one of the things he admires about Rudy Gobert is Gobert’s approach to each game. How the center’s professionalism and approach doesn’t wax or wane depending on the opponent. It’s a quality not every Wolves player shares, and that has resulted in multiple lost games the team should have won.
Thursday against Brooklyn had the makings of a trap game. Several players logged heavy minutes in a Tuesday marathon victory over Denver, then the Wolves boarded a four-hour flight Wednesday and played a Brooklyn team that didn’t have a lot of key contributors. Easy win for most teams. Recipe for disaster sometimes for the Wolves.
But Thursday wasn’t going to be one of those head-scratching losses, and Gobert was a big reason why it wasn’t in a 105-90 Wolves win.
“Trying to set the tone and dominate,” Gobert said. “I felt like, especially those guys that played two overtimes, I wasn’t sure they were going to have the same type of energy, so I tried to really set the tone.”
So was it a blessing in disguise that Gobert fouled out of that Denver game in regulation?
“I don’t know about that,” Gobert said with a smile. “But you always try to find the positive. I played a little bit less and be a little more fresh.”
As the Wolves struggled to score, Gobert, along with Anthony Edwards, provided enough offense most of the night. Gobert had 21 points and cleaned up on the glass with 18 rebounds. Edwards bounced back from an injury scare in the second quarter and returned in the second half to finish with 28. The Wolves have now won four in a row and the first two on this five-game road trip.
Former Wolves guard D’Angelo Russell had no points in 13 minutes, with coach Jordi Fernandez saying Russell was dealing with an ankle injury. Naz Reid and Nickeil Alexander-Walker each had 13 off the bench for the Wolves, who had 17 turnovers and shot only 31% from three-point range. The Wolves were up 10 early in the fourth quarter when Mike Conley and Alexander-Walker found Gobert on consecutive possessions for easy buckets. They were up 85-71 with 8:41 remaining, and the game wasn’t close after that.
