Anthony Edwards and Patrick Beverley made some curious comments about Rudy Gobert following the Utah Jazz’s 136-104 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night. Both players had some things to get off their chest regarding the French center, who is often criticized for not guarding the best rival player.
Edwards first dismissed Gobert’s impact on the defensive end, saying he was more scared of playing against Dallas Mavericks’ Kristaps Porzingis than Gobert.
“Anytime I go against Porzingis, I don’t get no layups. I don’t get why we couldn’t finish on Rudy Gobert. He don’t put no fear in my heart. I don’t know why.”
Beverley also took a shot at the Frenchman, saying he never takes on the hardest player to guard on the court, yet he’s been awarded the Defensive Player of the Year prize three times in the past four seasons.
“If I’m Defensive Player of the Year, I’m always guarding the best player no matter what. I’m not roaming. It’s no discredit to Royce O’Neale or any of the others on their team, but if I’m Defensive Player of the Year, I’m not guarding Royce O’Neale. I’m guarding Mike Conley, I’m guarding Donovan Mitchell, I’m guarding Bogdanovic. You got Rudy Gobert out there guarding Vanderbilt. And every time I hear he’s Defensive Player of the Year. So, uh, whatever.”
Neither Gobert nor teammate Joe Ingles were happy with those statements and fired back at the Timberwolves duo. First, the Australian took a shot at Edwards saying he doesn’t watch enough basketball to believe that Porzingis is more dangerous than Gobert.
“I mean, I don’t understand. For Edwards to say that Porzingis is more intimidating than Rudy is hilarious. They obviously don’t watch enough basketball,” said Ingles. “Maybe Porzingis blocked him one time or something. I don’t know. … It’s bizarre to me.”
Moreover, Rudy had his say, too, saying he’s used to people taking shots at him. Still, that doesn’t change his approach to the game and he’s always ready to help his team win.
“It’s not the first time people have taken shots at me for no reason. I come in every single night to help my team win, and be the best Rudy I can be. I never take shots at anyone. I just focus on myself. I think it’s just, when you’re the best in the world at something, people become insecure and try to discredit what you do in some kind of way,” Gobert said. “… It’s more funny than anything. It’s just funny. But it’s part of it. People are gonna try to discredit what I do, what we do as a team. It’s been the same my whole career. I’m just gonna keep winning awards, winning trophies, and hopefully help my team win something bigger than that.
Gobert added that the goal is not to shut down one individual opponent, but to beat the opposing team.
“I tell Quin I’m cool with guarding anyone. I trust the gameplan. When you win by 30 points, the gameplan is pretty good,” he said with a laugh. “… What people need to understand is we’re not playing a pickup game in the park. It’s not a 1-on-1 game. When I’m out there, I’m not guarding one guy, I’m guarding the whole team. It’s hard to understand for some guys; they get used to just being able to impact one guy at a time. I’m trying to guard a whole team.”
Even if Gobert didn’t guard Karl-Anthony Towns during the game, the Jazz dismantled the T-Wolves, beating them by 32 points as visitors. At the end of the day, that’s the only thing that should matter, getting wins and not recording empty stats that don’t mean anything in the standings.
These teams will clash again next Dec. 23, with Minnesota trying to get revenge on the Jazz, and especially Gobert.
