Despite the popular narrative, Rudy Gobert actually held up quite well when switched onto Luka Doncic and other Lakers perimeter players in the Timberwolves’ Game 2 loss on Tuesday.
LA made a concerted effort to force Gobert to switch onto their best players and defend in space. Seemingly every time it happened, TNT’s Kevin Harlan and Reggie Miller pointed it out, emphasizing it as a mismatch in the Lakers’ favor. The Associated Press’ recap of the game says that “Doncic exploited isolations on Rudy Gobert” as LA built its big lead in the first quarter.
The statistics don’t back up that claim. Doncic and LeBron James combined to score four points on 1-of-7 shooting against Gobert, according to the NBA’s matchup data. In total, the Lakers were credited with 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting on attempts defended by Gobert, who also had a pair of steals.
Doncic drew a shooting foul on Gobert in the first quarter and got one tough bucket on him in the second, but he also missed three shots with Rudy defending. Austin Reaves was 2 for 5 against Gobert, including one circus shot. James went 0 for 3 against him. All things considered, it was a strong performance from Gobert in some tough situations.
Rudy’s a -2,” head coach Chris Finch said after the Wolves’ nine-point loss. “His impact on the floor remains pretty strong.
Through two games in this series, Gobert’s box score numbers haven’t been impressive. He only has eight points and 12 rebounds so far, which is a far cry from the dominant stat lines he was putting up late in the regular season. But even if the Wolves would like him to play better on offense and be a bit stronger on the glass, his defense has remained reliable. He hasn’t been “played off the floor,” like some might suggest.
Across Gobert’s 53 minutes in LA, the Wolves held the Lakers to 38 percent shooting and a 99 offensive rating (points per 100 possessions), as radio announcer Alan Horton noted. In the 43 minutes with Gobert off the floor, the Lakers shot 49 percent with a 112 offensive rating. That’s a pretty positive impact on the game. There have been — and will continue to be — times in this series when the Wolves take Rudy out to play better offensive lineups with Julius Randle or Naz Reid at the five, but that’s not the same thing as him being “unplayable.
Gobert has long been a popular punching bag for some fans and analysts, as well as current and former players. People love to criticize him and say he shouldn’t have four defensive player of the year awards in his trophy case. But even if he inevitably gives up some highlight-reel buckets to Doncic and other great players as an isolation defender (most famously Luka’s game-winning three in last year’s Western Conference Finals), he’s far from a liability in those situations on the whole.
That was certainly the case in Game 2. Gobert played very well defensively on a night where the Wolves lost because they dug a big early hole and couldn’t buy a three-pointer.
