Third in the Western Conference during the regular season, the Minnesota Timberwolves are extremely ambitious as they begin the playoffs this Saturday evening against the Phoenix Suns. After reaching a new level, the whole question now is whether Rudy Gobert’s teammates can join the fight for the NBA champion title.
A picture is worth more than a thousand words. And that of this improbable stroke of blood during the last evening of the 2022-2023 regular season could alone sum up the first months of Rudy Gobert in the jersey of the Minnesota Timberwolves, between immense frustration and vexation of never having managed to find its place.
On April 10, during a timeout against the New Orleans Pelicans, the French pivot had a serious altercation with one of his teammates, Kyle Anderson. The latter urges Gobert to block shots, to which the Frenchman responds by asking him to take a rebound. The insults fly. And a punch is given by Gobert in front of stunned viewers. A year later, Rudy Gobert and Kyle Anderson still wear the same jersey. Better: together, in the middle of a perfectly oiled collective, they are moving towards a playoff campaign with very serious ambitions.
The big bet made in July 2022, when the Wolves parted ways with several players (Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro) and mortgaged their short-term future (five first draft rounds until 2029) for affording Rudy Gobert ended up paying off. Eighth last season (42 wins, 40 losses), with an elimination in the first round of the playoffs against the Denver Nuggets – future champions – at stake, Minnesota has moved up a gear this year. Right to the end in the battle to finish in first place in the Western Conference, the Wolves finally finished third (56 wins, 26 losses), just one victory behind the leader, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Second best season in franchise history
“Last season was frustrating,” summarized Frenchman Maxime Lefèvre, assistant coach of Wolves, last June with RMC Sport. At the beginning, we had to start integrating Rudy, but Karl-Anthony Towns was injured. Then, we made a transfer to change leader (arrival of Mike Conley, editor’s note), Towns returned at the end of the season… We never really found our rhythm, so it’s complicated to judge the roster we had because there were always changes.”
Time ultimately proved to be the Midwest franchise’s best ally. Thanks to a jump of 14 victories compared to the previous year, the Wolves achieved the second best season in their entire history, behind the 58 victories acquired in 2003-2004. That season, in the wake of a regular season MVP Kevin Garnett, they ended up giving up against the Los Angeles Lakers in the conference final.
A very big defense organized around Gobert at the top of his art
The whole question now is whether the 2023-2024 Wolves can do at least as well as they did just 20 years ago. Before starting their first round of playoffs against the Phoenix Suns this Saturday (9:30 p.m. French time), they are in any case confident of their strengths. The first of these is undoubtedly defense. The Wolves are quite simply the best team in the NBA in terms of defensive rating (the number of points conceded per 100 possessions). This defense obviously revolves around Rudy Gobert. Already voted best defender of the year three times (2018, 2019, 2021), the former Cholet player is the huge favorite to win this distinction a fourth time at the end of the season. In the event of a coronation, he would join Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace at the top of the ranking of the most successful players in this field.
Second best rebounder (12.9 rebounds) and sixth best blocker (2.1 blocks) in the NBA, Gobert feels at the top of his game. “A lot of people tell me that I have found my level but personally, I find that I have never played so well,” he proclaimed at the start of the season in the columns of Basketball USA. On defense, I’ve never been at that level and collectively our group is pretty unique. I have the ability to raise the level of a defense and if you add the individual defensive qualities that we have in the squad, it’s unique.”
Anthony Edwards as a solid offensive boss
On the other side of the field, the Wolves can count on Anthony Edwards. No. 1 in the draft in 2020, the American guard reached a new level this season. With 25.9 points per game (12th in the entire NBA), he had his best scoring season, which earned him a second consecutive All Star Game selection. At just 22 years old, he has established himself as the true leader of this pack of hungry young guns, notably scoring 51 points (his career best) on April 9 against the Washington Wizards. “Whether I’m going to become the best player in the NBA in the next two or three years? Yes, I agree 100% with that, of course. In two or three years, that’s clear,” he recently said. estimated Edwards, sure of his strength and his talent, on the NBA Today show. The playoffs are undoubtedly the stage to prove it.
Behind Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns (we’ll come back to this), their three natural leaders, the Wolves can count on a homogeneous group, structured around duty players like Mike Conley, Jaden McDaniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Monte Morris, Kyle Anderson and even Naz Reid. Proof of his importance and Minnesota’s excellent season, the latter is also one of the favorites for the title of sixth man of the year. Chris Finch, the man who puts it all to music, is also well placed to win a personal distinction at the end of the season. The 54-year-old technician is very well placed in the race for the title of coach of the year, with American bookmakers even seeing him as the main opponent of Mark Daigneault (OKC Thunder) to win the bet.
L’incertitude Karl-Anthony Towns
Despite all these green lights, a twist of fate nevertheless came to halt the great dynamic at the end of the season. Victim of a torn meniscus in his left knee, Karl-Anthony Towns missed 18 games between early March and mid-April. The interior barely had time to return for the last two regular season games, just to get back into the rhythm a little. For his return, the Wolves’ second best scorer this season (21.8 points) was very timid in attack, with 10 then 11 points scored against Atlanta and Phoenix. If the Wolves have managed to maintain a rather serious pace in his absence (12 wins, 6 losses), Towns’ ability to regain his level will be one of the keys to a good run in the playoffs. “Having had so much time to observe this team and see it from another perspective has allowed me to fully understand what I can do on the field to help this team and have the greatest impact possible on her”, tried to reassure the main person concerned.
To try to go as far as possible, and why not make Rudy Gobert the seventh French NBA champion (after Tony Parker, Ian Mahinmi, Rodrigue Beaubois, Ronny Turiaf, Boris Diaw and Axel Toupane), the Wolves will really need the return in the shape of Towns. In the event of Edwards’ sluggish attack, “KAT” represents the most solid alternative to scoring. In the playoffs, defenses tighten up considerably. And one of the main questions heading into this post season is whether Minnesota can find options on offense, with the Wolves being only the 17th team in the entire NBA in terms of offensive rating (the number points scored per 100 possessions).
Phoenix then potentially Denver, a very delicate part of the picture
The playoff table will quickly give first indications of the level of these Wolves. In the first round, it is therefore the Phoenix Suns of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal who stand in their way. Sixth in the Western Conference, the Arizona franchise has sorely lacked consistency during the season. But the intrinsic level of the three stars and their experience in playoff games (Durant won two titles with the Golden State Warriors, Booker reached the NBA finals in 2021) encourage the greatest caution, especially since Minnesota has not not won a single playoff series since the famous run to the Conference final in 2004 (elimination in the first round in 2018, 2022 and 2023).
If Wolves want to claim the title, they will have to reverse the course of history and break this glass ceiling. In the event of qualification against the Suns, it will go through another very big client. In the second round, Minnesota would indeed face the winner of the Denver Nuggets-Los Angeles Lakers series. Nikola Jokic’s Nuggets, second in the regular season in the West, are the overwhelming favorites and therefore have a strong chance of being the Wolves’ next obstacle in the event of a positive outcome against the Suns.
A year ago, in the first round, it was against these same Nuggets that the Wolves were forced to surrender (4 victories to 1). “But this season, we are a more mature team than last year, assured Rudy Gobert on March 30 after a victory against Denver in the regular season (111-98). We really have confidence, we can beat anyone. who, anywhere.” Before starting the playoffs, the ambitions have the merit of being clear.
Felix Gabory Journalist RMC Sport
Top Articles
2024-04-19 18:54:35
#finally #ring #Rudy #Gobert #Minnesota #Timberwolves #expect #playoffs
