Draymond Green shows true colors with latest cheap shots at Gobert

Tuesday night's pivotal Game 5 in Denver featured a legendary performance by the three-time MVP Nikola Jokic. Playing without the injured Mike Conley, the Minnesota Timberwolves put up a valiant effort, but could not stop the Nuggets' offensive onslaught. The Wolves have now lost three games in a row for the first time all season.

As is sadly expected, the internet took Jokic's historic 40-point, 13-assist, no turnover night as an opportunity to call out his primary defender, Rudy Gobert. As we know, Rudy took home his record-tying fourth Defensive Player of the Year award this past week,. For those that think he was somehow undeserving, this was their ideal moment to take a shot at him.

Unfortunately, the criticism did not come exclusively from nameless internet trolls. We also saw fellow Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green appear on NBA on TNT Tuesday night, where he decided to lay into Gobert as well. For those of us that know the history between these two, there should be little surprise at this development.

After Jokic put on an offensive masterclass the likes of which we have seen from him multiple times in the playoffs, Draymond used it not as a chance to praise arguably the best player on the planet, but to discredit his opposition. Truthfully, both Timberwolves fans and Nuggets fans should take issue with the way he handled this.

Unsurprisingly, Green's analysis felt mostly disingenuous and seemed to be more of a personal attack on Rudy. "I'm a truth teller," said Draymond. "And right now, the truth is Rudy Gobert don't stand a chance against Joker, and that's the difference in this series right now."

Draymond showed his true feelings with shots at Gobert

His rant against Gobert did not stop there, with Draymond confidently asserting the Nuggets will win Game 6 and end the series. Afterward, Green stated his belief that Rudy's inability to stop Jokic is one of the main reasons the Wolves are struggling. "The big Frenchman (Gobert) is sitting on that podium speaking his native language. 'We, we, we (Oui, oui, oui) need to do this.' You, you, you need to get a stop ... It's you, my man, that's getting cooked."

Draymond certainly seemed to delight in the fact that Gobert was beaten soundly by his opponent, and the fact that he made all his talking points about Rudy rather than even once mentioning the brilliance of Jokic should tell you all you need to know. He had an agenda going into this segment, and everyone watching could see exactly what was going on.

While much of what he said is technically true, e.g. the notion that Gobert has been struggling to stop Jokic, Draymond's analysis is a little flawed. Let us consider that Anthony Davis and Rudy Gobert, widely considered two of the greatest defenders in the game, have both been borderline helpless against the Joker in back-to-back series should be enough to make the discussion focused on the greatness of the offensive player, not the shortcomings of the defenders.

Clearly, we are witnessing one of the greatest offensive talents in history. Can we really say we believe any defender in the NBA would have been able to consistently slow down Nikola Jokic on Tuesday night? Logic would say the chances are slim. It may also be helpful for us to remember Draymond's lone matchup with Jokic from this season. On February 25, the Joker logged 32 points, 16 rebounds and 16 assists on 54% shooting with Draymond as his primary defender.

Considering Draymond's history with Gobert, including the incident from this season where he put Rudy in a headlock unprovoked, it seems like common sense to say this segment was nothing more than Draymond's personal dislike for Gobert showing. Having current players on these shows to provide analysis is not a bad thing in and of itself, but we should simply be aware that some of them may show up with agendas to push.