"It's fu**ing basketball": JJ Redick comes to Rudy Gobert's defense against fans backlash after Nikola Jokic's historic night

In a pivotal Game 5 matchup against 2023-24 NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets, Rudy Gobert and the Minnesota Timberwolves came up short, upsetting the home crowd as they fell 112-97. Following the loss, the 2023–24 Defensive Player of the Year has been heavily criticized for his struggles in guarding Jokic, which former Clippers guard JJ Redick disagreed with.

With Gobert's fourth DPOY award, several fans were expecting the Timberwolves big man to make things difficult for the three-time MVP. However, that hasn't been the case so far, with Jokic seemingly having his way against the number-one-ranked defense in the league.

"Denver had to figure out a way to get Gobert away from the basket," Redick said. "That's the challenge against the Minnesota Timberwolves, it was the challenge against the Utah Jazz.

"It's not an indictment on Rudy Gobert. It's f***ing basketball. Name a skill set. This guy is elite at doing this. He's the best in the world in doing this. Let's try to take that away."

During an episode of Redick's "The Old Man & The Three" podcast, he said that after the Nuggets' first two home losses in this series, it was evident that the 2023 defending champions needed to find a means to counter Gobert's rim protection.

With Denver's offensive schemes adjusting accordingly, the Timberwolves center has often found himself defending in space, with Karl-Anthony Towns and the rest of the team struggling to react quickly to the new coverages.

This often led to the paint being open for attacks and in other cases, Nikola Jokic would just handle his business against Gobert through some tough shotmaking.

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Rudy Gobert talked about disappointing Game 5 loss to the Denver Nuggets

Following the Game 5 loss, Rudy Gobert addressed the lackluster response of the Timberwolves after dropping two straight games at their home, as per The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski.

"The second half, we got a little too demoralized and we can't have that," Gobert said. "I think we have to be mentally tough, individually and collectively, to be able to keep playing our game and not let anything that happened in the game affect the way we play and the way we affect our confidence and the way we compete."

Nikola Jokic made a strong performance in front of the home crowd when he put up 40 points (15-of-22 shooting, including 2-of-3 from 3-point range), 13 assists and seven rebounds. He looked just like every bit of the MVP that he was while playing against an excellent defensive center in Rudy Gobert.

Minnesota, on the other hand, shot 48.7%, including 30.8% from beyond the arc. Their lackluster offense was exposed further as they limited the one-two-punch tandem of Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns to just 41 points (15-of-34 shooting, including 3-of-10 from 3-point range).

Be that as it may, Rudy Gobert and the Timberwolves can still bounce back and tie this series up 3-3 as they head back to Minnesota for a crucial Game 6.