There’s no question, Rudy Gobert is a defensive player. The Minnesota Timberwolves’ blockbuster offseason acquisition has won Defensive Player of the Year on three separate occasions.
On Saturday night, with the Wolves playing just their second game since Karl-Anthony Towns suffered a calf strain expected to keep him out for roughly 4-6 weeks, Gobert found himself in the center of some controversy.
Rudy Gobert loses his cool, gets ejected for first time
This time it came from playing a little defense, perhaps self-defense. You be the judge.
The result came from Williams driving the lane on Gobert, in which the French center was unable to reject or otherwise alter his shot to Minnesota’s advantage. Williams got the easy bucket, and the way both players landed caused some friction.
While we obviously don’t know what Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kenrich Williams said to Gobert, we can imagine it only caused tempers to flare.
But it really doesn’t matter what Williams said to Gobert, a 10-year pro in the NBA. Gobert is 30 years old, he’s played in several different basketball atmospheres including for the French Olympic team. It should take a lot more than some brash smack-talking from a lesser-known opponent to get under his skin.
Yet we see Gobert commit a very dirty move that should never be seen on a basketball court, purposefully tripping Williams, clearly in frustration.
In turn, the referees reviewed the play and determined Gobert should be given a Flagrant 2 foul and be ejected from the game with 9:22 left in the second quarter. It’s the first time Gobert has been ejected from an NBA game.
Minnesota, already facing the pressure of being without their most consistent player, with KAT’s absence, will now be asked to get more out of backup center Naz Reid. We may also see two-way player Luka Garza receive his first bit of meaningful minutes as a Timberwolf.