Will the real Minnesota Timberwolves please stand up?
Consistency has been the problem for the Minnesota Timberwolves this season, evidenced by their record which now stands at 18-17.
Before the Timberwolves win over the Los Angeles Clippers, ESPN expert Marc Spears called the team the ‘most frustrating’ in the NBA, and demanded star players Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert step up and improve, with some consistency.
Edwards responded with a 37-point performance, while Gobert grabbed 18 rebounds in the 108-106 win.
Rudy Gobert is the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year, and his performance was credited as key to the T-Wolves welcome win over the Clippers.
This was the second highest number of rebounds Gobert has managed in a game this season, the most being 20 against the Celtics back in November.
Speaking after the game, teammate Donte DiVincenzo credited Rudy Gobert’s ‘monster’ performance, praising the timing of his impact, and discussing how it had a knock-on effect for the rest of the team.
He said: “When you get stops, Rudy was a monster in the fourth, he’s getting rebounds offensively and defensively, it injects energy into everybody.
“When you get the rebound you are pushing it everybody’s flying up the court, and when guys are flying up the court you get easy ones., and now you want to play harder on defense.
“When the balls flowing around and popping and you are running around quick you get into the game a little bit more. It’s natural, it’s human nature.”
Gobert ended the night with a 8-18-2 stat line, while DiVincenzo went 15-9-1, grabbing a few rebounds of his own – with nine being the most he has managed in any game this season.
The most rebounds DiVincenzo has managed in a game in his career is 15, with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021.
Meanwhile, Rudy Gobert has previously put together a staggering 28-rebound game, during his time with the Utah Jazz, also putting up 24 points in the same game, against the Warriors in 2021.
DiVincenzo is playing alongside Gobert for the first time this season, having been traded to the team from the Knicks.
He admitted that he did not realize how big Gobert was until he shared the court with him on his team, and last night he felt he was a true ‘monster’.
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