Yahoo Sports NBA contributor Tom Haberstraw talks about the latest “Big Numbers” and why the Timberwolves big man, a four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, will play a key role in Minnesota’s rim defense.
Video Transcript
Tom Haberstraw.
And you’re looking at big numbers.
The big number today is 109.9.
Here’s the Minnesota Timberwolves’ defensive rating among the seven Timberwolves players who played at least 75 minutes in this series when Rudy Gobert took the court in the Western Conference Finals:
This represents the lowest on-court rating for any player.
What this shows is that while some may call Gobert the defensive line, the Timberwolves defense is at its best when Gobert is on the court.
Gobert may not be racking up a lot of blocks, but he is forcing a lot of business decisions, such as when Luka Kyrie and the Mavs offense don’t want to get close to the rim when Gobert is on the court. Dallas’ average two-point shot is seven feet away from the basket.
But with him on the bench, that number drops to 5.4, meaning the Mavericks are getting closer and closer to the rim as Gobert checks them, and what’s more, Dallas’ fall rate at the rim jumps from 68% when Gobert is in the game to 83% when he’s off the court.
83% Gobert isn’t perfect.
No defender is like that, but to specifically point out the limitations of the defender’s defense says more about the critic than it does about the critic himself.
Just look at the team’s poor defensive rating of 109.9.
I’m Tom Haberstraw, and here are the big numbers.
