“Shut the F**k up” - Lou Williams hails down on critics for calling out Rudy Gobert amid the birth of his first child

Former Philadelphia 76ers superstar Lou Williams went on a rant against critics and fans who criticized Rudy Gobert for missing game 2 of the series against the Denver Nuggets.

Gobert, along with partner Julia Bonilla, recently welcomed their first child on May 6th, as the player ended up missing game 2, which was held on the same day. While this has resulted in a lot of criticism from fans who have suggested he should have instead played, Lou Williams has gone on a rant against these critics.

Talking about how family and the birth of his child should always come first, Williams illustrated his point in a recent interview "The Underground Lounge" episode alongside Spank Horton. He started by asking Horton whether he would attend a show on the night of his child's birth:

“Man f**k that game. Why are we even? You are going to your own show the night your child get born? To your show? F**k that shit. Look, you only a basketball player a short percentage of your life. Your family and kids is forever. That’s one game in the series out of, who knows what, and you are talking about the birth of my child?”

While Horton joked that he might not skip the birth of his first child, but will surely not do the same for his second, Williams was steadfast with his perspective. He claimed that fans have no idea what they're talking about:

“Yeah I think fans talking about, ‘ohh he should. Y’all; go shut the f**k up, you and your parlays. 100% did the right thing, go be with your family, go see your child being born, like those are moments for life. Let’s say your wife have a fucking complication, and you on the court warming up. Like come on bro, what are we talking about?”

While the criticism has most notably been heard from fans, some NBA analysts have also spoken out, claiming that Rudy Gobert’s decision was not justified in choosing the birth of his son over game 2 against the Denver Nuggets.

Gilbert Arenas criticized Rudy Gobert for choosing to skip game 2

The 31-year-old French international won his 4th Defensive Player of the Year award this campaign and is an integral part of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ roster. The Timberwolves have already whitewashed the Phoenix Suns 4-0, and are now leading the Western Conference Semifinal series 2-1, against the defending champions.

While they ended up winning Game 2 in question even without Gobert, some of the responses have been questionable, to say the least. Gilbert Arenas, who was aptly criticized for his own analysis, had suggested that Gobert had no reason to be at his son’s birth.

"I'm a father of four, I love my kids and I love my wife, but she's going to have to hold off for me just a few more hours for a playoff game. So when I heard Rudy wasn't going to play, I was like, 'Wow, To me, it almost felt as if you were almost cashing it in, like, 'We won Game 1,' because my first immediate question was if they lost Game 1, would the approach be the same?"

Arenas went on to congratulate Gobert for the birth of his first child, but claimed that he himself would not take the game for granted in such a situation. The former Wizards star further claimed that he was not sure the situation would have been the same had the Timberwolves lost game 1, claiming that Gobert might have stuck around for game 2, in that case.