{"id":621819,"date":"2026-04-21T17:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T17:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/621819\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T17:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T17:24:08","slug":"anthony-edwards-calls-his-30-piece-a-wolves-defend-disrespected-rudy-gobert-after-dpoy-finalist-snub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/621819\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Edwards calls his 30-piece ‘a**’; Wolves defend ‘disrespected’ Rudy Gobert after DPOY finalist snub"},"content":{"rendered":"

After coming back from 19 points down a mile up in Denver<\/a> on Monday, at times flummoxing three-time NBA MVP Nikola Joki\u0107<\/a> and All-Star sidekick Jamal Murray<\/a> with lockdown defense<\/a>, the Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> let their guard down.<\/p>\n

The Wolves were unfiltered in the aftermath of their Game 2 victory, which tied a first-round playoff series that\u2019s stoked the flames of a burgeoning NBA rivalry. They spoke candidly following the 119-114 win<\/a>, both at the podium and in the locker room.<\/p>\n

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Anthony Edwards<\/a> was amusingly hard on himself even though he led the team with 30 points and 10 rebounds. He and other members of the squad went to bat for four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert<\/a>, who wasn\u2019t even a finalist for the award this season. And Minnesota\u2019s Jaden McDaniels<\/a> went as far as to say that the Nuggets<\/a> are \u201call bad defenders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards got the ball rolling with a head-turning response to his stat line<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m ass, bruh,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cF***.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards shot 10-of-25 from the field, including just 3-of-11 from beyond the arc. But in addition to his double-double, he accounted for two assists, two blocks and one steal, all while playing 40 minutes and navigating a right knee issue<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The four-time All-Star guard missed 11 of Minnesota\u2019s final 14 regular-season games. His status was up in the air for the Wolves\u2019 first two playoff games. Plus, he appeared to tweak his knee early in Game 2 on Monday<\/a>. Despite his grit, he isn\u2019t satisfied.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat s***\u2019s ass,\u201d Edwards said<\/a> of his box score, when asked about his displeasure postgame. \u201cI missed 15 shots tonight, two free throws. I\u2019ll be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for how he\u2019s doing injury-wise?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been like a month and a half since I played basketball. I missed it,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cIt\u2019s the most fun I have in my entire life. Just being out there, man, I\u2019m enjoying every moment, no matter how I feel. So it\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For what it\u2019s worth, Edwards\u2019 head coach, Chris Finch, unsurprisingly had a much different take on his superstar\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was awesome, man. Unbelievable,\u201d Finch said<\/a>. \u201cAlso in that period when we were down, he was great on the bench \u2014 great leadership, positive. He recognized he needed to get into attack mode and get downhill a little bit more. He did that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018It’s a joke that he wasn’t a finalist for the Defensive Player of the Year\u2019<\/p>\n

While Gobert finished with only two points on 1-of-4 shooting and seven rebounds, long hampered by foul trouble, he starred when it mattered most on Monday night.<\/p>\n

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The 33-year-old, French center put on a defensive masterclass, playing a sizable role in Joki\u0107 \u2014 a career 56.1% shooter \u2014 making just 8-of-20 field-goal attempts in Game 2.<\/p>\n

Gobert, instrumental in the Timberwolves\u2019 run to back-to-back Western Conference finals, was on his A-game during the fourth quarter. In that frame, the three-time All-Star big man limited Joki\u0107 to 1-of-7 shooting. Entering the quarter with a three-point deficit, the Wolves outscored the Nuggets 29-21 in the fourth, exiting Ball Arena victorious.<\/p>\n

San Antonio Spurs<\/a> wunderkind Victor Wembanyama<\/a> wearing the DPOY crown this season isn\u2019t a shock to anyone. He\u2019s even the league\u2019s first unanimous winner of the award<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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What offended Minnesota was that Gobert wasn\u2019t even a finalist for the honor. He clocked out fourth, 19 points behind third place, which was occupied by Detroit Pistons<\/a> wing Ausar Thompson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Finch interrupted a postgame question Monday about Gobert often receiving flak.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it’s a joke that he wasn’t a finalist for the Defensive Player of the Year,\u201d Finch said.<\/p>\n

He soon added: \u201cI thought it was incredibly disrespectful. \u2026 We didn’t help him. We had mixed results coming down the stretch. If we were a little better, and we feel we let Rudy down in that way \u2014 but he’s an outstanding defender.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s an outstanding professional, he’s an outstanding human, he’s about the right things. And it’s just laughable and small-minded and petty, all the crap that people decide to give Rudy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards shot it straight when illustrating Gobert\u2019s value to the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him in the locker room just now before I came in here,\u201d Edwards recounted<\/a>. \u201cLike, \u2018Brother, we are half the team when you\u2019re on the bench. It\u2019s just that simple.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody gonna say this about Rudy, \u2018He\u2019s this, he\u2019s that.\u2019 They don\u2019t understand what he means to us when he\u2019s on the floor. People don\u2019t want to lay the ball up around him. People just don\u2019t want to go at Rudy. Regardless of what they say about him on the offensive end of the floor, he\u2019s a four-time Defensive Player of the Year for a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Gobert was asked if he had any extra juice in Game 2 after he saw the DPOY voting results. He said that wasn\u2019t necessarily the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know who I am,\u201d he said, per The Minnesota Star Tribune\u2019s Chris Hine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot the first time I get disrespected, probably not the last. I\u2019m going to keep being myself. If they want to disrespect greatness, you can just take it for granted, whatever. Sooner or later, they realize the impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018They\u2019re all bad defenders\u2019<\/p>\n

The Nuggets wrapped the regular season outside the top 20 in defensive rating<\/a>. In fact, they entered the postseason with the lowest defensive rating of any playoff team this season.<\/p>\n

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Denver especially struggled to protect the rim Monday. Once Edwards and his teammates flipped into \u201cattack mode,\u201d the scale began to tip.<\/p>\n

Afterward, forward Jaden McDaniels, who collected 14 points in the win, called out the Nuggets\u2019 defense. He was asked what worked for the Timberwolves offensively.<\/p>\n

\u201cGo at Joki\u0107, Jamal, all the bad defenders,\u201d McDaniels said, via Hine. \u201cTim Hardaway [Jr.], Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon, the whole team \u2014 just go at \u2019em.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following up, a reporter asked, \u201cThey\u2019re all bad defenders?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, they\u2019re all bad defenders,\u201d McDaniels said bluntly.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no love lost between the Wolves and the Nuggets. Minnesota left Denver with the series tied and plenty to say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After coming back from 19 points down a mile up in Denver on Monday, at times flummoxing three-time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[3891,20453,64,19702,63,726,3893,172103,301400,3897,7214,16814,62609,3901,5665,3906,3907,60872,10549,85,119904,12838],"class_list":{"0":"post-621819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-aaron-gordon","9":"tag-anthony-edwards","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-ausar-thompson","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-basketball","14":"tag-cam-johnson","15":"tag-chris-finch","16":"tag-chris-hine","17":"tag-denver","18":"tag-detroit-pistons","19":"tag-finalist","20":"tag-jaden-mcdaniels","21":"tag-jamal-murray","22":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","23":"tag-nikola-jokic","24":"tag-nuggets","25":"tag-rudy-gobert","26":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","27":"tag-sports","28":"tag-the-wolves","29":"tag-victor-wembanyama"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}