The Minnesota Timberwolves stunned the Denver Nuggets at home to clinch an impressive 106-99 Game 1 victory. Ahead of Game 2, Nikola Jokić and co. were favored to even up the series after shrugging off the one-off bad performance. Additionally, with Rudy Gobert flying back to Minnesota for the birth of his child, fans and analysts assumed the series score to be 1-1. However, Karl-Anthony Towns stepped up in his fellow frontcourt player’s absence and helped the Wolves clinch a blowout victory.
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Rudy Gobert is the anchor of the Wolves defensively. He even displayed his importance in Game 1, restricting Nikola Jokić to a subpar 44% FG. Hence, missing the Frenchman was going to make it slightly tougher for Chris Finch’s boys to win. However, Karl-Anthony Towns recording his best game of the postseason helped the Minnesota side grab a 106-80 win and take a 2-0 series advantage.
In the absence of their “Defensive Player of the Year”, according to Towns, the latter revealed that the entire team had to take their performance up a notch.
“When you don’t got the Defensive Player of the Year, you gotta step your game up. So, we all understood the challenge coming in against the defending champions… We just wanted to come here and find a way to win the game,” KAT said.
"When you don't got the Defensive Player of the Year, you gotta step your game up… We understood the challenge. We just wanted to come here and find a way to win the game." 💯
KAT on Minnesota's Game 2 mentality with @ALaForce pic.twitter.com/mgj3iLDvpz
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 7, 2024
The sharpshooting big man led by example as he recorded a 27-point, 12-rebound double-double and was also a pest on the defensive end–recording 3 ‘stocks’ (steals + blocks) and restricting the Joker to 38.5% FG, per NBA.com.
ANT x KAT give Wolves 2-0 series lead!@theantedwards_: 27 PTS, 7 AST@KarlTowns: 27 PTS, 12 REB#PlayHasNoLimits | @PlayStation pic.twitter.com/6zbBu5jGyK
— NBA (@NBA) May 7, 2024
By referring to Gobert as the “Defensive Player of the Year” in his interview with TNT’s Allie LaForce, it is quite evident that KAT and the entire squad are backing the Frenchman to win his fourth defensive accolade. While the announcement of the same is set to take place sometime this week, many analysts and mock voting polls have Gobert winning the Hakeem Olajuwon Trophy over Victor Wembanyama and Bam Adebayo.
Rudy Gobert would love to win the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year and join Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace as the only other players to have four such awards. However, with the Wolves having a legitimate chance at winning the 2024 championship, he will be more interested in leading the Wolves to their first-ever title.
Throughout his career, despite his defensive prowess, Rudy’s legacy has been attacked for not winning a title. If he were to clinch both DPOY and the title this season, his legacy would be beyond reproach, and he would be a shoo-in for a first-ballot Hall of Famer when his career ends.
