MINNEAPOLIS — Rudy Gobert has spent two games denying Nikola Jokic the ball, steering him away from his comfort spots and forcing the Denver star into split-second decisions. The Minnesota Timberwolves and Nuggets are tied 1-1 in the Western Conference semifinals, and Game 3 is set for Thursday night.
The matchup matters because Jokic is still producing at a star level even as Minnesota’s approach changes the shape of Denver’s offense. Through two games, he is averaging 24.5 points, 9.5 assists and 14 rebounds, while making 64 percent of his 2-point shots. Denver is plus-10 when he is on the floor, but its offensive rating with him on the court is 1.1 percentage points below league average, a stark drop from the regular season, when that same figure was an NBA-best 11.8 percentage points above league average.
That is why Minnesota’s decision to leave Gobert on Jokic one-on-one is more than a tactical wrinkle. It is a reversal from the 2024 Western Conference semifinals, when the Timberwolves put Karl-Anthony Towns on Jokic so Gobert could roam as a helper. In Game 5 of that series, Jokic received his third MVP trophy from Adam Silver and answered with 40 points, 13 assists and zero turnovers. Anthony Edwards could only shake it off afterward, saying, “I just laugh,” and, “That’s all I can do.”
Edwards has now drawn a line in the current series. After Game 2, he said Minnesota would not bring a double-team and told Gobert to guard Jokic straight up, avoid fouls and stop reaching because the whistles would come. The message reflected confidence in Gobert’s work, but it also exposed the risk: if Minnesota keeps Jokic isolated and he keeps seeing the floor, the Timberwolves may be asking their center to solve one of the hardest matchups in basketball without backup.
For Denver, that leaves a narrower path but not a dead end. Jokic has been productive enough to keep the Nuggets in position, even if Minnesota has taken away some of his easiest reads. The next turn in the series will come Thursday night, and the question now is not whether Gobert can bother Jokic for a game. It is whether Minnesota has found a way to make that disruption last.
For more on Shaq, see Shaquille O'neal says he cut ties with celebrity culture 10 years ago.
