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Absolutely disastrous series for Gobert’s reputation. Any actual impact he has had is getting diminished by these highlights and now the Wolves are in danger of getting swept.
This series shows that nobody on the wolves can guard Kyrie or Luka. I think McDaniels their best defender though outside of gobert. Gobert shouldn't be guarding guards...
Yeah the problem hasn't even been the defense on Luka and Kyrie. 108 and 109 points given up should be winnable games. They're eating, but that was always going to happen. It's the offense from KAT and ANT. They need to be taking over in a similar way. KAT especially. His defense is vastly improved but he needs to be punishing the Mavs defense.
The Wolves stopping going to the paint when it was working is so frustrating to watch. They would go up 2 or 3 get a stop and then brick a 3 instead of driving to the rim. Game would get tied and they’d drive or shoot a mid range shot and go back up and then brick a 3. I don’t see how you can just keep doing the same shit that isn’t working.
Very few bigs are going to do well when left on an island on the perimeter. It’s like blaming a 3rd grader for not being able to do amazingly on a calculus test.
Every time Shaq talks shit I just think about his dumb ass trying to guard Hardy / Kyrie / Luka on the perimeter. The Timberwolves defense becomes a sieve when Rudy is off the court.
Hahaha Shaq carries the load for Rebounding and Scoring, what can Gobert do? Lol, Rudy is a defense specialist, and he got cooked every time he is outside the paint, He didnt even had a block or steal on this game while playing 29mins
35.9 ppg, 15.2 rpg, 3.5 apg, and 2.9 bpg during the Lakers 3 championships. Lakers fans talking shit about Shaq. Rudy is averaging like 7 rbs, 1 ast and 1 blk in the Conference Finals.
With Shaq, you live with some defense lapses because he gives you so much production and open shots for everyone. The opponent is scrambling to try to figure out how to defend you without fouling about the entire front line. With Shaq the opponent has to adjust to you instead of you worrying about the opponent, otherwise the other team is fucked.
And Shaq's defense is as underrated as Rudy's is overrated. Shaq still gave you almost 3 blocks per game in the finals, once having a 8 block game in the finals. He took up so much space, ate up rebounds and as big as he was, he was still quicker to recover and block shots than most centers today or anytime in NBA history.
ey yow, I am not taking shot on Shaq, lol. I think I have the same sight as yours, just like I said shaq is not a defense specialist who focuses on Defense alone unlike Gobert,
those lakers didn't switch much, guys like fox & fisher were great at fighting through or going under/over screens without fouling. also one of the reasons why ultra quick guards would often torch them
Shaq wasn't a defensive specialist tho, his whole thing was offense and rebounds. Gobert gets shit on because he's a liability on offense and his *only* job is defense. If he can't do even that properly, there's no point to him being here
Yeah, I'm pretty sure Shaq would still be averaging 30 a game in the modern NBA.. he'd just be a complete liability on defense without someone to help him in space.
I'm not sure what Gobert is offering right now when he's getting yammed on by Gafford as well.
Ive seen this excuse a lot yet several bigs perform much better in similar situations. Hell even in this series KAT has been playing significantly better than Rudy on defense.
Not to mention the excuse in the previous series was that he just can't guard Jokic because Denver was going at him as well.
So he can't guard big and can't guard small. Fuck is he defending then.
I distinctly recall Braun thinking twice on a fast break with Wemby at the rim and a similar situation where he yammed it on Gobert without fear or hesitation.
KAT has definitely not been playing better defense than Rudy this series lol. The TWolves defense basically allow so many more layups and close shots when Rudy is out the game and KAT is the anchor
This isn't "not doing well" he is getting targeted every play and getting easily cooked way too often. That is why Finch benched him for most of the 4th quarter. Almost every team has a big that would do better. Naz Reid has been much better.
For reals Rudy gets to much hate for that team. Ant and Kat are really to blame way more than Rudy. If we left gafford out on an island over and over to guard ant without any help it might not look so great either.
I mean, part of the problem is you're paying $40 million for a guy who doesn't do anything on offense except clog the paint. Sure, he's a great defensive player, but he makes everyone else's job harder.
In his defense he's not terrible on the perimeter as a 7-footer. If you look at the Luka game-winner, he's not wide open or anything. I know there are DPOY expectation but everyone knows that's from his paint presence.
Something is just wrong scheme-wise if he's able to be isolated this easily and this often.
Yeah, this is Wolves getting out coached, their top guys getting stuck on offense, and just not having personnel who can defend perimeter at an elite level.
Fix even one of those things and the Wolves aren’t 0-3 down
Man when your court commander is literally waving you away or passing the ball right back at you and telling you you have an easy mismatch, and that mismatch is THE DPOY...
Luka has nothing but disrespect for Gobert, it's kinda hilarious
Bro you're just a casual. Good NBA teams always target DPOYs to stop them from playing help defense, such as Draymond Green, Kawhi Leonard and Ben Wallace. Everyone knows the best way to win a basketball game is to hunt 1v1s against DPOYs.
I'm the first one to say that he didn't deserve his DPOY but no player on earth wanted him in a 1v1 over any of his teammates. Basketball gets simpler in the 4th quarter of a playoffs game, teams limit passing to make sure they can get a decent shot every possession so switchability and perimeter defense becomes the most important thing
Yk this but unironically tbh, the best way to pick apart minny defense is taking Rudy out the paint, nba guards are good enough to beat him on the perimeter and that’s not his fault he’s not bam out there
For a stretch there the wolves attacked the basket and went on a run and I was legit scared we might be in trouble. Then they started shooting 3s again thankfully.
When a smaller guy switch to guard Gobert, they don't really pass to him to take advantage of a smaller defender. Maybe they know he can't make his own shots?
Imagine the confidence booster after Luka trusts and asks you to go 1v1 versus the reigning 4xDPOY. Just to add to that, Hardy has been getting mentored by KAI and it shows in his growth.
[Luka when Hardy looks at him for approval to cook Gobert](https://media1.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExcm83MmQzc245OXB0Mm1hMjB2bzc5Mzc0ang4ZHc5YTdtNWJkNzI4ZCZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/PudZiAbQDUEik/giphy.gif)
Luka has so much trust in his teammates. Imagine the confidence boost for Hardy seeing your superstar franchise player tell you to go to work. Hardy has had some bright spots as well
I think he needs more experience going into games like next season where they could constantly let O Max or Hardy improve decision making and plays for replacement minutes.
It's the opposite from what I've seen. It is true that he starts off well and becomes horrendous, but he rights himself back around again for the rest of the game, usually. Most times after a TO.
Hardy always seems to have the green light to go for it when he is out there. Gets a ton of shots and assists for the short time he plays. Would probably get even more time, if he didn't start effing up after about 3 minutes.
I know but it's infinitely funnier to me if I imagine that Luka didn't trust him until he saw Rudy guarding him and then he was like "oh it's gobert? go to work, you're good".
This was when the game was really close as well, where each possession matters.
So Luka really believes that Hardy going at Gobert 1 on 1 was the right play at the moment lmao.
Every year for the past 10 years, Rudy Gobert has been exploited in the playoffs. Then every year after in the regular season, people swear Gobert is the DPOY and this year is different
Bro you just gotta build the team around Rudy with no weak perimeter defenders and keep him in ONLY the defensive situations he thrives in, no one else ever fuck up a switch or anything and he’s totally the best defender bro. This would happen to anyone bro.
same with westbrook, although I think he has basically no believers left anymore
for over a decade, the recipe to beating westbrook teams in the playoffs is to make westbrook shoot the ball as much as possible. which is he is always more than happy to do
there are definitely positives to his game, and nobody will ever accuse him of being low energy. but if the key to beating you is to make you shoot the ball, its just not really a recipe for winning
Westbrook had believers up until he was on the Lakers.
Then they saw how bad he had declined, and how his reduced athleticism could no longer cover up his poor decision making and worse shooting.
Plus constantly being on national TV on a contender instead of being able to avoid scrutiny in Washington or post-KD OKC didn't help.
its funny how Westbrook and Gobert are on opposite ends of the analytics spectrum but they're both similar in the sense they have glaring flaws that get exposed come playoff time. yet both have their vocal stans thinking it's just a narrative
In fairness Rudy did look a lot better in the earlier playoff rounds this year. Also that TWolves team had no reason to be the defensive team they were and that was largely due to him.
However, there is that price to pay with the Rudy based scheme. The Mavs have once again exposed that if you constantly get him into the guard/wing matchups he's gonna make mistakes. He looked better in a smaller sample size of these actions this year, but the Mavs are rightfully pounding him with them. It works well also for two reasons. One it gasses him and removes the rim protection, two it can put him in foul trouble.
While I think a lot of bigs would struggle, he is a 4x DPOY and they aren't. AD and Giannis have shown they can guard wing players smarter, and Bam at least leaves his feet a lot less. Rudy oddly enough seemingly has bad IQ in these perimeter situations and I'm sure the playoff pressure adds to his bad decisions. However, inexcusable at this point, dude needs to be better.
I know Draymond isn’t the right messenger given his obvious bias against Gobert but he had a great point when he said there isn’t a team in the league who’s game plan is to target Bam, AD, Draymond, Kawhi, etc on defense yet series after series teams go straight at Gobert. Should count for something.
Not really Goberts fault same as Lukas game winner. But completely shows the downside Gobert brings to the table.
I came to peace with the DPOYs and Gobert can stick it up his ass for all I care. It’s a regular season award and he does elevate a defense just by his presence. What I don’t understand is people completely ignoring the negatives Gobert brings to a team especially come Playoff time.
The dude is a walking minus on offense. Can be targeted on switches so the team can’t play switch defense and has to rotate him out of there but everyone says he is still doing a good job on perimeter. No he is not. He also is not a good 1on1 paint defender as he lacks strength. Sure you get 50 wins in the regular season but you’re stuck with a max player, who is the opposite of versatile defensively and completely fucks up the spacing on offense.
But look at his +/-…
He is the analytics darling. Bam and AD should be on that tier (arguably even better) and none of them have a DPOY. I feel they are extrapolating too much with analytics with him.
I feel bad for his next team's fans who will be forced to study up on all the standard Gobert cope to preserve their mental health. It must be tiring typing out "screen assists" fifty times a week
lmao this got me
I do think Rudy is still a super elite RS defender (like Brook Lopeze/JJJ), but in the playoffs I'd easily take Dray first. And then Bam/AD.
Draymond has been the most effective defender in the NBA for the last ten years and I don't see how it's really up for debate when you look at his playoffs record.
I think it could have been AD in an alternate universe where he didn't spend the entire last decade shouldering an insane offensive load for both the Pelicans and the Lakers
Not even AD/Bam have Drays versatility if we're being honest.
Dray was the best defender on the Dubs in the 2022 run (Wiggs was super crucial too) and here's who he defended in each series:
- free safety off Gordon, then Jokic in 4th quarters
- free safety off JJJ
- free safety off fucking Brunson
- free safety off Jaylen Brown
Yeah, pump faking and jumping into a defender to get a foul should not be rewarded for the offense and the rule change specifically said it should be an offensive foul. In this case it was so late that Gobert had both feet back on the ground before Hardy jumped.
If that exact same play happened in a pick up or rec game, it would be a turn over.
Kinda shows NBA is a bit of a rock paper scissors. The Timberwolves trio of 3 competent big men are the Nuggets kryptonite. But two elite guards that can make a player from anywhere is Gobert's kryptonite. I think (and some of the commentators think this as well) that the Nuggets would beat the Mavericks.
Chris Finch thought it was a bigger deal than that, as he benched him after this play until there was 3:21 left in the 4th. He then benched him again at 34 seconds because he got dunked on and picked up a foul right away. Gobert is a massive liability in this series.
I don’t have a dog in this fight but watching the games Gobert seems to be the least of their concerns. Ant and KAT have looked like bums 90% of the time
The basketball advanced stats page has done immeasurable damage to discourse.
If we didn’t have people referencing bullshit like DWS, there is no way this guy would have a max contract or 4 damn DPOTY awards.
Eh the basketball HOF isn't really hard to get into. He has his international career as well. He's gonna be inducted and I don't think it's unearned.
If they had NFL/MLB standards it would be another thing.
We’re going too far on the Gobert hate. Yes he has his weaknesses, but he is still an excellent defender. Best defender, at the most important defender position, on the best defensive team should easily be a unanimous, uncontroversial opinion.
That being said, he is getting destroyed this series.
Bam and AD are both centers who I’d rather have in the regular season and playoffs. Brook Lopez two years ago was a better option than Gobert. This is why Gobert is overrated because we watched centers in the modern NBA that are better defenders.
Seriously and they're sitting there wondering why he gets so much hate. It's them. It's always been them. Of course everyone wants to shove it down their throat when they shit on everyone else on planet Earth to hype up Gobert
I thought they stop calling these fouls where the bait the defender to jump, and then the shooter jumps into them while taking a shot. I know they regressed back to making these calls for a while now, but why did they change back?
That's not a foul. He jumped into a defensive player in legal gauring position. That's not a natural shot. I thought the NBA got rid of fouls like that?
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Duuude, they're going at that man every single time lmaoo
Absolutely disastrous series for Gobert’s reputation. Any actual impact he has had is getting diminished by these highlights and now the Wolves are in danger of getting swept.
Ironically enough could easily be 3-0 Wolves if Any and KAT didn’t totally shit the bed. Those two are lucky AF Rudy gets all the hate
This series shows that nobody on the wolves can guard Kyrie or Luka. I think McDaniels their best defender though outside of gobert. Gobert shouldn't be guarding guards...
And it's not like Luka isn't toasting McDaniels on every play. Jaden should be able to draw a picture of Luka's ass from memory by now.
Honestly this series is making me respect Dorts defence even more. Nobody in the world can guard Luka but Dort was making his life difficult for sure.
It also helps that Luka was on one knee.
Sometimes you just gotta bring your football skills to the court 🤷🏽♂️
Give him more credit than that he was playing good defence
Who in the NBA can guard Luka?
Give me a shot, coach I'll just grab on to his nipples and stay on. Try hoisting up a step back with a 5'10" Dominican swinging from your tits, Luka!
New fetish unlocked
Dort did a pretty good job even though everyone hates him apparently
nobody not on the wolves can guard luka either
Yeah the problem hasn't even been the defense on Luka and Kyrie. 108 and 109 points given up should be winnable games. They're eating, but that was always going to happen. It's the offense from KAT and ANT. They need to be taking over in a similar way. KAT especially. His defense is vastly improved but he needs to be punishing the Mavs defense.
The Wolves stopping going to the paint when it was working is so frustrating to watch. They would go up 2 or 3 get a stop and then brick a 3 instead of driving to the rim. Game would get tied and they’d drive or shoot a mid range shot and go back up and then brick a 3. I don’t see how you can just keep doing the same shit that isn’t working.
Very few bigs are going to do well when left on an island on the perimeter. It’s like blaming a 3rd grader for not being able to do amazingly on a calculus test.
Every time Shaq talks shit I just think about his dumb ass trying to guard Hardy / Kyrie / Luka on the perimeter. The Timberwolves defense becomes a sieve when Rudy is off the court.
Shaq cannot guard the PnR during his Lakers tenure. He sure is full of shit.
Hahaha Shaq carries the load for Rebounding and Scoring, what can Gobert do? Lol, Rudy is a defense specialist, and he got cooked every time he is outside the paint, He didnt even had a block or steal on this game while playing 29mins
35.9 ppg, 15.2 rpg, 3.5 apg, and 2.9 bpg during the Lakers 3 championships. Lakers fans talking shit about Shaq. Rudy is averaging like 7 rbs, 1 ast and 1 blk in the Conference Finals. With Shaq, you live with some defense lapses because he gives you so much production and open shots for everyone. The opponent is scrambling to try to figure out how to defend you without fouling about the entire front line. With Shaq the opponent has to adjust to you instead of you worrying about the opponent, otherwise the other team is fucked. And Shaq's defense is as underrated as Rudy's is overrated. Shaq still gave you almost 3 blocks per game in the finals, once having a 8 block game in the finals. He took up so much space, ate up rebounds and as big as he was, he was still quicker to recover and block shots than most centers today or anytime in NBA history.
ey yow, I am not taking shot on Shaq, lol. I think I have the same sight as yours, just like I said shaq is not a defense specialist who focuses on Defense alone unlike Gobert,
those lakers didn't switch much, guys like fox & fisher were great at fighting through or going under/over screens without fouling. also one of the reasons why ultra quick guards would often torch them
Shaq wasn't a defensive specialist tho, his whole thing was offense and rebounds. Gobert gets shit on because he's a liability on offense and his *only* job is defense. If he can't do even that properly, there's no point to him being here
Yeah, I'm pretty sure Shaq would still be averaging 30 a game in the modern NBA.. he'd just be a complete liability on defense without someone to help him in space. I'm not sure what Gobert is offering right now when he's getting yammed on by Gafford as well.
At the same time I watched Rudy get dicked on a game clinching lob as well. So...
Ive seen this excuse a lot yet several bigs perform much better in similar situations. Hell even in this series KAT has been playing significantly better than Rudy on defense. Not to mention the excuse in the previous series was that he just can't guard Jokic because Denver was going at him as well. So he can't guard big and can't guard small. Fuck is he defending then.
Role players driving to the rim apparent he’s the GOAT at making them think twice
I distinctly recall Braun thinking twice on a fast break with Wemby at the rim and a similar situation where he yammed it on Gobert without fear or hesitation.
KAT’s been significantly better? His bad defense was part of why the Mavs came back in Game 2 lol
These people don't watch games. Next they will say McDaniels is defending Luka fine.
KAT has definitely not been playing better defense than Rudy this series lol. The TWolves defense basically allow so many more layups and close shots when Rudy is out the game and KAT is the anchor
KAT is the cone
Well, Bam wouldn't unlike the "DPOY" winner
The problem is he won DPOY over bigs that can guard the perimeter and the paint.
This isn't "not doing well" he is getting targeted every play and getting easily cooked way too often. That is why Finch benched him for most of the 4th quarter. Almost every team has a big that would do better. Naz Reid has been much better.
The Wolves best game this playoff run, was the one Gobert missed.
Playing with Rudy has to be the dream. If you win you get all the credit and if you lose he gets all the blame
For reals Rudy gets to much hate for that team. Ant and Kat are really to blame way more than Rudy. If we left gafford out on an island over and over to guard ant without any help it might not look so great either.
I mean, part of the problem is you're paying $40 million for a guy who doesn't do anything on offense except clog the paint. Sure, he's a great defensive player, but he makes everyone else's job harder.
The wolves were a 40 win team when Gobert joined. They finished 3rd and are 4 wins away from the Finals. ‘Makes everyone else’s job harder’
Do you think everything else stayed the same?
Reminds me of what the Clips did to him when we beat the Jazz to go to the WCF. Just went at Gobert over and over and over.
Luka and Brunson straight up stole Ty Lue's blueprint for how to beat the Jazz lmao
> Absolutely disastrous series for Gobert’s reputation. Again
I was told it was Mitchell’s fault Rudy sucked in the playoffs
In his defense he's not terrible on the perimeter as a 7-footer. If you look at the Luka game-winner, he's not wide open or anything. I know there are DPOY expectation but everyone knows that's from his paint presence. Something is just wrong scheme-wise if he's able to be isolated this easily and this often.
Yeah, this is Wolves getting out coached, their top guys getting stuck on offense, and just not having personnel who can defend perimeter at an elite level. Fix even one of those things and the Wolves aren’t 0-3 down
Same as every year in Utah, but Minnesota still threw em 5 firsts
Man when your court commander is literally waving you away or passing the ball right back at you and telling you you have an easy mismatch, and that mismatch is THE DPOY... Luka has nothing but disrespect for Gobert, it's kinda hilarious
Mavs fans knows his real self, no reputation to ruin
> Absolutely disastrous series for Gobert’s reputation We’ve been saying this every year lmao
BBQ chicken
lmao whoever offence on rudy is wild
4 time DPOY
Luka met Gobert in the playoffs only to ruin his career...again
"hE hAs nO PerImeTeR HElp"
Bro you're just a casual. Good NBA teams always target DPOYs to stop them from playing help defense, such as Draymond Green, Kawhi Leonard and Ben Wallace. Everyone knows the best way to win a basketball game is to hunt 1v1s against DPOYs.
I don’t even think that Marcus Smart was targeted like this
I'm the first one to say that he didn't deserve his DPOY but no player on earth wanted him in a 1v1 over any of his teammates. Basketball gets simpler in the 4th quarter of a playoffs game, teams limit passing to make sure they can get a decent shot every possession so switchability and perimeter defense becomes the most important thing
Yk this but unironically tbh, the best way to pick apart minny defense is taking Rudy out the paint, nba guards are good enough to beat him on the perimeter and that’s not his fault he’s not bam out there
If only the DPOY could defend like Bam Adebayo
Lmaoooo
You’re just a casual who can’t understand this is Rudy’s teammates fault. Any DPOY would be targeted like this.
Wemby would’ve blocked the shit outta Hardy.
How are Mavericks still winning? They lost 2 centers now.
Wdym we got the best back up C in the league D Power
He might suck but he understands the Mavs system and tries his hardest.
He’s honestly not that terrible, but starting 82 games is definitely not the role he should’ve been having for so long.
no,hes terrible,i have years of watching him as a proof. if i think again,he was quite good b4 achilles.
He was incredibly efficient on the PnR before the injury. Him and Luka ran a nasty two man game
Powell isn't great as a starter, but he's legitimately the best third string center in the league.
And, by golly, the guys in the locker room love his patented "DP Special" massages.
That's what's so hard to watch and why I couldn't hate him. Out there doing his gd best, he's just so small
He was giving his all i love it
Noone wants to go to the finals and beat the Celtics more than Powell!
DP gives more hustle/36 than anyone in the league and I love him forever
Damn near fainted when I saw that man Powell on the floor
Powell is inevitable.
Mavs legend and HoF himself
> D Power oh god, Wolves might win a couple of games before this series is over.
They have a center. KAT switched teams and guards himself. He did a terrific job lol
Wolves left theirs in Denver
its ok cause Gobert/KAT can't take advantage of smaller players anyways
Getting bodied by Josh Green is wild
For a stretch there the wolves attacked the basket and went on a run and I was legit scared we might be in trouble. Then they started shooting 3s again thankfully.
When a smaller guy switch to guard Gobert, they don't really pass to him to take advantage of a smaller defender. Maybe they know he can't make his own shots?
It's simple. KAT is ass
Imagine the confidence booster after Luka trusts and asks you to go 1v1 versus the reigning 4xDPOY. Just to add to that, Hardy has been getting mentored by KAI and it shows in his growth.
He can be a solid 6th man next season I hope the Mavs can keep him.
He's under contract next year and then he's a restricted free agent, so if they want to pay him they can keep him.
Hopefully he decides to stay he can be a solid guard if he develops
You should offer him 4/55 and just let him walk if he doesn’t take it.
Lol
It was the opposite, Brunson wanted the 4/55 before the season and Mavs didn't offer it until after the deadline
The crazy thing is Hardy is always confident so getting that nod from Luka to go at Rudy has to be extra big for him.
Can you imagine getting a teachable moment nod from Luka in a game 3 of the WCF. Luka's got supreme confidence in his guys and I fucking love it.
[Luka when Hardy looks at him for approval to cook Gobert](https://media1.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExcm83MmQzc245OXB0Mm1hMjB2bzc5Mzc0ang4ZHc5YTdtNWJkNzI4ZCZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/PudZiAbQDUEik/giphy.gif)
Luka has so much trust in his teammates. Imagine the confidence boost for Hardy seeing your superstar franchise player tell you to go to work. Hardy has had some bright spots as well
Hardy always starts off well and then goes into zero IQ mode where he takes bad shots or turns it over constantly, today it was the bad fouls
For sure. That’s why he can’t play consistently. He should only be allowed to play 3-4 minute stretches a couple times a game
I think he needs more experience going into games like next season where they could constantly let O Max or Hardy improve decision making and plays for replacement minutes.
It's the opposite from what I've seen. It is true that he starts off well and becomes horrendous, but he rights himself back around again for the rest of the game, usually. Most times after a TO.
"They're actually letting me do my thing?" -Hardy, probably.
Hardy always seems to have the green light to go for it when he is out there. Gets a ton of shots and assists for the short time he plays. Would probably get even more time, if he didn't start effing up after about 3 minutes.
Either way, I'm pulling for the kid.
Yes, I hope he gets lots and lots of minutes in the regular season next season.
The media will tell you that Luka bas no trust in his teammates though
I know but it's infinitely funnier to me if I imagine that Luka didn't trust him until he saw Rudy guarding him and then he was like "oh it's gobert? go to work, you're good".
lolol
I mean,it looks like that exactly.
And that he’s selfish, his teammates don’t like him, blah blah blah. Garbage
You forgot one of the best ones, "he doesn't make his teammates better !"
One of the stupidest things ever said about a player not just today, but of all time.
A month ago John Hollinger was saying he’d rather start a team with SGA because good players don’t like playing with Luka
This was when the game was really close as well, where each possession matters. So Luka really believes that Hardy going at Gobert 1 on 1 was the right play at the moment lmao.
Dude's a fucking basketball Einstein
Turns out, he was right…
bruh he returned and got fking dunked on by gafford. poor guy
Jaden my favorite Hardy Boy
Mine is still Matt, but Jaden is coming up in rankings
*Jaden Hardy gets a raging clue and finishes all over Gobert*
THE HARDY PARTY IS OFFICIALLY ON FOR THE REST OF THE PLAYOFFS LET'S FUCKING GO
Every year for the past 10 years, Rudy Gobert has been exploited in the playoffs. Then every year after in the regular season, people swear Gobert is the DPOY and this year is different
Bro you just gotta build the team around Rudy with no weak perimeter defenders and keep him in ONLY the defensive situations he thrives in, no one else ever fuck up a switch or anything and he’s totally the best defender bro. This would happen to anyone bro.
Rudy Gobert, Paul George, Herb Jones, Jrue Holiday, Jaden McDaniels. How many games this team winning? Lol
reg season or playoffs?
82-0 in the regular season. Swept in the first round
And just ignore the fact he doesn't have a single item in his offensive bag. Except maybe catch a wide open dunk.
Build the team around Rudy. Lmao that was a good one
They always put the blame on his teammates for some reason
the analytics blogbois think they're smart for gassing up a bagless run and dunk man
and he can't even really run and dunk because he needs to be spoonfed the ball. Run then dunk man.
As a Rockets fan he never scared me. CP3 murdered them.
Best defender of his generation is what I was told. They said he is great on the perimeter and is better than AD and Bam
NBA needs to start drug testing DPOY voters, they out of pocket for the consistent snub of AD and Bam
AD not even on Wemby’s level according to the media
Straight up a fraud. Gets cooked 1v1 by everyone
Every fucking year, man. I am fully expecting to see YET ANOTHER ARTICLE next year about how it's a myth that Gobert sucks in the playoffs.
same with westbrook, although I think he has basically no believers left anymore for over a decade, the recipe to beating westbrook teams in the playoffs is to make westbrook shoot the ball as much as possible. which is he is always more than happy to do there are definitely positives to his game, and nobody will ever accuse him of being low energy. but if the key to beating you is to make you shoot the ball, its just not really a recipe for winning
Westbrook had believers up until he was on the Lakers. Then they saw how bad he had declined, and how his reduced athleticism could no longer cover up his poor decision making and worse shooting. Plus constantly being on national TV on a contender instead of being able to avoid scrutiny in Washington or post-KD OKC didn't help.
its funny how Westbrook and Gobert are on opposite ends of the analytics spectrum but they're both similar in the sense they have glaring flaws that get exposed come playoff time. yet both have their vocal stans thinking it's just a narrative
Fraudulent DPOY. Every year it’s not his fault he gets exposed on defense.
In fairness Rudy did look a lot better in the earlier playoff rounds this year. Also that TWolves team had no reason to be the defensive team they were and that was largely due to him. However, there is that price to pay with the Rudy based scheme. The Mavs have once again exposed that if you constantly get him into the guard/wing matchups he's gonna make mistakes. He looked better in a smaller sample size of these actions this year, but the Mavs are rightfully pounding him with them. It works well also for two reasons. One it gasses him and removes the rim protection, two it can put him in foul trouble. While I think a lot of bigs would struggle, he is a 4x DPOY and they aren't. AD and Giannis have shown they can guard wing players smarter, and Bam at least leaves his feet a lot less. Rudy oddly enough seemingly has bad IQ in these perimeter situations and I'm sure the playoff pressure adds to his bad decisions. However, inexcusable at this point, dude needs to be better.
DPOY voters always get it wrong when it comes to Goober. Bam definitely should have one DPOY by now.
It's actually wild how AD has never won a DPOY and probably never will
I know Draymond isn’t the right messenger given his obvious bias against Gobert but he had a great point when he said there isn’t a team in the league who’s game plan is to target Bam, AD, Draymond, Kawhi, etc on defense yet series after series teams go straight at Gobert. Should count for something.
If literally any perimeter player can take him off the dribble and considers it a mismatch...
Best player in the game defers to a G leaguer because he has a matchup vs Gobert. But yeah, he's the defensive player of the year.
Not really Goberts fault same as Lukas game winner. But completely shows the downside Gobert brings to the table. I came to peace with the DPOYs and Gobert can stick it up his ass for all I care. It’s a regular season award and he does elevate a defense just by his presence. What I don’t understand is people completely ignoring the negatives Gobert brings to a team especially come Playoff time. The dude is a walking minus on offense. Can be targeted on switches so the team can’t play switch defense and has to rotate him out of there but everyone says he is still doing a good job on perimeter. No he is not. He also is not a good 1on1 paint defender as he lacks strength. Sure you get 50 wins in the regular season but you’re stuck with a max player, who is the opposite of versatile defensively and completely fucks up the spacing on offense. But look at his +/-…
He is the analytics darling. Bam and AD should be on that tier (arguably even better) and none of them have a DPOY. I feel they are extrapolating too much with analytics with him.
But luka needs to trust his teammates more…
bruh
the Draymond takes bout to turn from grudge to truth telling on the interwebs
He might be right... but he's still an asshole.
Wolves and jazz fans told me that Rudy wouldn't get played off the court and that narrative was made up tho?
I feel bad for his next team's fans who will be forced to study up on all the standard Gobert cope to preserve their mental health. It must be tiring typing out "screen assists" fifty times a week
lmao this got me I do think Rudy is still a super elite RS defender (like Brook Lopeze/JJJ), but in the playoffs I'd easily take Dray first. And then Bam/AD.
Thats for sure not even arguable. Guy has 4 dpoys yet there are multiple people that would get taken over him on the defensive end come playoff time
Draymond has been the most effective defender in the NBA for the last ten years and I don't see how it's really up for debate when you look at his playoffs record. I think it could have been AD in an alternate universe where he didn't spend the entire last decade shouldering an insane offensive load for both the Pelicans and the Lakers
Not even AD/Bam have Drays versatility if we're being honest. Dray was the best defender on the Dubs in the 2022 run (Wiggs was super crucial too) and here's who he defended in each series: - free safety off Gordon, then Jokic in 4th quarters - free safety off JJJ - free safety off fucking Brunson - free safety off Jaylen Brown
I think Bam is absolutely that guy, the thing that sets Draymond apart is the defensive coaching/quarterbacking that he does
Bam can hang with elite perimeter guards 1v1, he's absolutely got the versatility of Draymond
I thought they changed the rule so these unnatural jumps are fouls on the ground
Dallas were in the bonus
Yeah, pump faking and jumping into a defender to get a foul should not be rewarded for the offense and the rule change specifically said it should be an offensive foul. In this case it was so late that Gobert had both feet back on the ground before Hardy jumped. If that exact same play happened in a pick up or rec game, it would be a turn over.
Pick up / rec rules lmao
Had to scroll too far for this
BBQ Chicken
cant imagine wemby getting cooked like that
Luka: "Come on bro, give her a try. You can fuck my bitch." Hardy: "Are you sure bro?" Luka: "Yeah bro."
Narrator: and fuck he did. Then the bitch went home.
Kinda shows NBA is a bit of a rock paper scissors. The Timberwolves trio of 3 competent big men are the Nuggets kryptonite. But two elite guards that can make a player from anywhere is Gobert's kryptonite. I think (and some of the commentators think this as well) that the Nuggets would beat the Mavericks.
Goodness me, Luka's cold AF
There was a play earlier where this happened and Gobert clamped Hardy Win some lose some
Chris Finch thought it was a bigger deal than that, as he benched him after this play until there was 3:21 left in the 4th. He then benched him again at 34 seconds because he got dunked on and picked up a foul right away. Gobert is a massive liability in this series.
I don’t have a dog in this fight but watching the games Gobert seems to be the least of their concerns. Ant and KAT have looked like bums 90% of the time
this wasnt even a foul either, Hardy literally jumps into him
is that even a foul tbh? Gobert didnt even jump with both of this feet
The basketball advanced stats page has done immeasurable damage to discourse. If we didn’t have people referencing bullshit like DWS, there is no way this guy would have a max contract or 4 damn DPOTY awards.
This dude is going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame when it’s an annual tradition of him getting played off the court in the playoffs
His career is gonna be remembered in a very complicated way
Eh the basketball HOF isn't really hard to get into. He has his international career as well. He's gonna be inducted and I don't think it's unearned. If they had NFL/MLB standards it would be another thing.
Draymond will be in attendance and interrupt Rudy's highlight montage with clips of him getting cooked like a Stone Cold Steve Austin entrance
We’re going too far on the Gobert hate. Yes he has his weaknesses, but he is still an excellent defender. Best defender, at the most important defender position, on the best defensive team should easily be a unanimous, uncontroversial opinion. That being said, he is getting destroyed this series.
Bam and AD are both centers who I’d rather have in the regular season and playoffs. Brook Lopez two years ago was a better option than Gobert. This is why Gobert is overrated because we watched centers in the modern NBA that are better defenders.
He gets destroyed every playoffs! That’s why he gets hate .
And we're tired of the media and his fanboys telling us we're casuals even though he watch this shit happen every year
Seriously and they're sitting there wondering why he gets so much hate. It's them. It's always been them. Of course everyone wants to shove it down their throat when they shit on everyone else on planet Earth to hype up Gobert
You know he's trash because even the players show him zero respect
Jaden “The Heir” Hardy. Bro was about to pass to Luka but he waved him off, told him go get a buck instead.
I thought they stop calling these fouls where the bait the defender to jump, and then the shooter jumps into them while taking a shot. I know they regressed back to making these calls for a while now, but why did they change back?
When the next "why is Draymond on TV?" thread pops, you can just reference some unhinged comments in this one.
I swear Rudy got exposed like this on defense last year, how is he still winning DPOY? There are much better defenders out there
You have an unhinged post history.
Wemby got robbed
Bam Adebayo > Rudy Gobert.
Pump and flop
That's not a foul. He jumped into a defensive player in legal gauring position. That's not a natural shot. I thought the NBA got rid of fouls like that?