benhillboy wrote:mademan wrote:Edwards will get all the glory, and while he was amazing and Towns and Naz had big moments, Gobert's defense continues to be the story, imo. Im not gonna go so far as to call him the Wolves MVP this postseason, but the conversation should be a lot closer than it is. Dude has been absolutely fantastic and a lot of people are gonna be eating crow soon (or should be now) saying he couldnt perform in the playoffs.
I never cared for Gobert: it was a combination of weird intangibles that led to lackluster team chemistry, his horrible FT shooting, poor fluidity, stones for hands, 0 playmaking ability, and lousy finishing.
Now he’s sporting a +28.8 on/off, the only Wolves player in the playoffs with a positive off court value, and it’s easy to see why (Jaden second at 18.6, Ant Man third at 12.9) He’s better than he’s ever been defensively which is crazy and this team chemistry simply fits him to a T, I give Conley a lot of credit for being that buffer. Most impressive is Gobert’s FT % jump from 64 in the regular season to a whopping 88 in the playoffs. Much like Lively, Jones Jr, Green, and Gafford have virtually forced Luka and Kyrie to become better defenders through osmosis, Conley, SLo Mo, Jaden, and largely Gobert have helped turned Ant into a defensive monster through communication and play. Not a stretch at all to say Gobert is the MVP so far. Having to argue over two guys for that honor is a wonderful problem for Wolves fans to have. The comradely and awesome team building with no duplication outside of Alexander Walker and McDaniels (whose combination basically gives you an elite 3 & D player) has been a joy to watch all season.
I can arguably tell you when the Wolves turned a corner. They gave up a huge lead in a loss to the Atlanta Hawks (!) early in the season. I believe they had a players only meeting after that game (that thankfully the media didn’t know about lol) and haven’t really looked back.
It took a year to develop the chemistry and Ant's passing to Gobert is still a work in progress. The national audience and TNT analysts are finally watching how Twolves plays. A couple notable comments by Kenny: "Gobert made Towns better, playing better defense" and "Gobert actually could guard out to the perimeter, not just drop defense". Many Wolves fans been saying that for over a year that Gobert/Towns/Naz could actually work.
