Rudy Gobert delivers his best on both sides of the ball against Nuggets

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic had 13 points, four assists and a rebound in the first quarter of Saturday afternoon's game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Still, the Wolves outscored the Nuggets by nine points in the opening frame.

It wasn't because Anthony Edwards was shooting the laces off the ball. It was because Rudy Gobert essentially matched that statline with nine points, four rebounds and four assists in the first 12 minutes. Saturday's game was an example of Gobert at his best on both sides of the ball. Defensively, he did as good a job on Jokic as anyone can on the NBA's best player. Offensively, his teammates were finding him in the middle of the floor, and Gobert routinely made the right reads.

Gobert finished with 14 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and four steals in the Wolves' 133-104 beatdown of the Nuggets.

"He was really good," Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said of Gobert. "Just active like we need him to be. I thought he set the tone on the offensive glass in the first quarter. And then when they tried to mix the lineups and then go small, he continued to be a presence there when they tried to put small guys on him. Just his activity level bothered everything."

Jokic can't be shut down entirely, and he did finish with 20 points, 11 assists and three rebounds. But he also had seven turnovers and his plus-minus of minus-24 was a game worst. Gobert, meanwhile, finished as a plus-26, second best.

It was primarily Gobert's matchup on Saturday.

While Gobert's had an up-and-down season, it came as no surprise to see him put together the strong defensive effort. He's won four Defensive Player of the Year Awards after all. But what he did offensively was another story. His passing was flawless in a 40-point first quarter. Gobert grabbed four offensive rebounds in the game. His teammates found him on the pick-and-roll. He scored the first four points of the contest, and was even contorting his body to make difficult floaters.

Thought today was Rudy Gobert's best offensive game of the season. Here are all his makes and assists.

14 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists and was a +26 (when most of his minutes were matched up with Jokic).

He was a weapon in the middle of the floor, when he's often been a… pic.twitter.com/rggi8wR4zW
— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) January 25, 2025

Saturday's game showed just how dangerous the Wolves can be when Gobert is contributing on offense.

“For one, everybody’s excited to see that stuff. Floaters, euros, dimes — he had like five assists (Saturday)," Naz Reid said of Gobert's offense postgame. "It’s exciting to see it. … Even when you’re trying to get the ball to him when he’s posting up, he might get a foul. Just stuff like that, it all builds momentum. I think him being involved in the offense is huge for us.”

Making a more concerted effort of getting Gobert involved in the offense is a key for the Wolves. They've had success finding him in the pocket earlier this season, and Gobert's had success passing and scoring from that spot. But there's also been the flip side of that equation. There are times, like Saturday, where Gobert is making the right reads and making timely passes for open layups or dunks. But sometimes, he's also had a tendency to turn the ball over or make an ill-advised pass. And other times, if he loses some trust, the Wolves offense might just start to go away from him entirely.

"We haven't found (Gobert) enough in different situations, and we now feel like we're finding these things," Finch said. "It's something we have to do to make sure teams pay for some of the matchups they're trying to do against us, and it's something we've been able to exploit at times. So just the trust level is there again, and that's really important for us."

Trust is the key to the whole operation, and the key to finding consistency. When Gobert makes quick decisions, doesn't hold onto the ball and finds the right reads, whether that's a drop-off pass or to score, his teammates continue finding him in the pocket. But it would seem that trust tends to dissipate after a bad play or two. Then the Wolves get away from it.

"I realized that when I'm decisive and confident, they have more confidence in finding me in different situations," Gobert said. "For me, it's just about being decisive, being aggressive."

It's a two-way street. Gobert needs to continue making those quick decisions, and his teammates need to trust that he'll make them. Because when Gobert's at his best, it entirely raises the ceiling of what the Wolves can do offensively. And when Gobert's at his best on both sides of the ball, the sky is truly the limit for Minnesota.

"(Gobert) understands when we give it to you, you have to do the right thing with it every time," Mike Conley said. "It's a hard thing, especially for (Edwards) sometimes, to want to throw that pass if we don't get something out of it. So for (Gobert), it's just about making the right reads early, not trying to do too much because when we can make the right reads, ... our offense is not so much a stagnant offense. It's very much a move, body move, ball move kind of offense."