Aurélien Canot, Media365, published on Tuesday May 21, 2024 at 9:38 a.m.
After removing the reigning champion from his path with the Wolves, Rudy Gobert does not hide the fact that he has only one thing in mind: to win his first NBA championship ring. If only to reward the friendship which unites all the players in the squad and which makes them successful, according to the French pivot.
Nothing seems to be stopping Minnesota this season. And it is not the latest results of Wolves which will support this feeling. Sunday evening, Rudy Gobert and his teammates indeed afforded themselves the luxury of sending the Denver Nuggets, outgoing champions, on vacation, during Game 7 on the floor of triple MVP Nikola Jokic and his team. It’s difficult to send a better message at the dawn of challenging the Dallas Mavericks of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving in the Western Conference final. Naturally promoted to main favorites after making the title holders bite the dust, the Wolves nevertheless see much further than this final against the Mavs. Today, probably more than ever, only the title interests “Gobzilla” and his teammates. After the qualification of his team, the French pivot, elected best defender in the NBA for the fourth time in his career and author on Sunday of a basket that the legendary and late Kobe Bryant would not have denied, did not hidden that this was now the only objective of his team. “There is nothing we want more in the world than to win a title all together,” admitted the former Jazz interior, first (but not last) to recall how Minnesota’s fabulous journey so far owes above all to the friendship which unites all the players on the team.
Gobert: “There is a real spirit of camaraderie”
“That’s what’s beautiful about this team. We grew through adversity and today there is a real spirit of camaraderie.” A “spirit of camaraderie” which Karl-Anthony Towns also insisted on Sunday when leaving a locker room overjoyed. “That’s the Timberwolves spirit. We always won our matches when we had that spirit. Knowing how to play together, like a real team,” recalled “KAT”. For Jokic, the Wolves are also a defensive wall. “And that’s why they are the best defense in the NBA,” said the Serbian, not surprised to have come up against Gobert and his “Wolves”. “They had the team to beat us. Just look at their team, they have two All-Stars (Editor’s note: Anthony Edwards and Towns), two top five defensive players and they have Mike Conley, who is probably the best player most underrated in the NBA.” The walk is still long but this first ring may also be so close for Minnesota and Gobert.
2024-05-21 07:58:29
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