The Minnesota Timberwolves deal with a Rudy Gobert conundrum every game, but now that it's the playoffs, the decisions they make are going to be magnified.
Frankly, the Timberwolves' defense is horrific if Rudy Gobert isn't playing. They are unable to defend the rim, collect defensive rebounds, or stay organized defensively with him on the bench. While the defense becomes amazing when he's on the court, the offense takes a major hit.
He can't create looks for himself, and he bobbles many passes, resulting in extremely unforced turnovers. If he isn't screening or being a lob threat on offense, he's pretty close to useless, and the Wolves will have the task of figuring out how to use him so that doesn't happen.
If the Wolves can't maximize Rudy on offense, their chances of an upset are limited.
The Timberwolves will need to score a lot to win this series
It sounds simple. You need to score points to win basketball games, obviously. But it's more than that against Denver. The Nuggets have the best offense in basketball, headlined by the best player in the NBA.
If the Wolves' strategy to win these games is to make them defensive, grind-it-out games, it is going to fail. They're going to need to put ample points on the board, which, statistically speaking, is harder to do when Gobert is on the court.
Luckily for the Wolves, while Denver has such a high-powered offense, they equally have a highly flawed defense. This could make integrating Gobert on offense a little easier.
Jokic doesn't play above the rim, so if the Wolves can effectively use Gobert as a lob threat, they should be able to withstand the downsides of him on offense.
The Wolves will need to trust Gobert with the ball, which is easier said than done
Chris Finch has tried his best to instill in the team that, despite some of the mind-numbing turnovers that happen as a result of passing Gobert the ball, the team needs to continue finding him, because more good than bad happens. This is true, as Rudy just shot a league-best 68.2 percent from the field this season.
These numbers reflect that nearly seven out of every 10 times that Gobert shoots, you're putting points on the board. If the Wolves are able to put Gobert in spots to succeed and not put him in situations where he needs to make on-ball decisions, then they should be able to still have an effective offense with him on the court. Maybe he can give us another vintage dagger fadeaway too?
Ultimately, if Gobert's teammates don't trust him and/or his offensive limitations play him off the court, the Wolves will crumble on defense, which will spell doom for them in this series.
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