Timberwolves’ Rudy Gobert gets eye-opening advice from Kevin Garnett amid struggles vs Nikola Jokic

Said Garnett to the Timberwolves’ center, “You gotta switch it up, bro… You can’t just give [Nikola Jokic] the same dose… Be a presence in there motherf*cker… You 7’5. Play like it.”

Jokic ended Wednesday night’s game with 40 points, 13 assists, and seven rebounds. His offense flowed smoothly, and he was able to carry Denver to victory. The Timberwolves had trouble stopping him the entire game, and Rudy Gobert revealed that being unable to slow him hurt Minnesota’s morale.

“The second half, we got a little too demoralized and we can’t have that,” Gobert said, per The Athletic. “I think we have to be mentally tough, individually and collectively, to be able to keep playing our game and not let anything that happened in the game affect the way we play and the way we … affect our confidence and the way we compete.”

Gobert stressed that Minnesota cannot get down on themselves, especially when guarding a three-time MVP. Jokic went 15-22 from the field and was 2-3 on three-pointers. Despite heavy resistance, it seemed like nothing Gobert and the Timberwolves did could affect the star center.

JJ Redick called out those criticizing Gobert, saying that focusing on one performance is asinine.

“I want to make a couple points on Rudy Gobert because again, I’m not going to do the full discourse and explanation right now because no matter how many times I’ve f—ing done it over the last three or four years,” Redick said. “You know people want to point to these singular games where it’s like oh that’s your Defensive Player of the Year like okay. So Jokic last night, he was 8 for 9 with Gobert as the primary defender. Going into that game last night he was 11 for 28 with Gobert as the primary defender including 4 for 13 in Game Four.”

Rudy Gobert and Timberwolves trying to force Game 7 vs. Nuggets

The Timberwolves seemed to be on the verge of upsetting the defending champions after taking a 2-0 series lead over the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Semifinals. Denver bounced back, however, and the Nuggets now hold a 3-2 lead heading into Game 6.

Minnesota needs a win to avoid elimination in Game 6 at home. Denver currently holds all of the momentum in the series. Playing at home will help the Timberwolves’ chances of pulling off the upset, though.

Should the Timberwolves manage to hold on and force a deciding Game 7, that game will be played in Denver on Sunday.