Rudy Gobert and the Utah Jazz take care of business against Covid-depleted Timberwolves

With multiple starters for the Minnesota Timberwolves out for Covid protocols, the Utah Jazz won with relative ease, 128-116.

Despite missing Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards the Timberwolves still put up a fight forcing the Jazz to play their main rotation guys all night. Malike Beasley had a very strong showing scoring 33 points shooting 52% from the field and 43% from three. Naz Reid and D’Angelo Russell also had their moments but it wasn’t near enough to keep up with the full-strength Jazz.

For Utah, Rudy Gobert had a dominating night. Without Towns to keep Gobert out of the paint, the Wolves struggled to score anything at the rim. Gobert also punished the smaller Timberwolves defenders on the offensive end. Gobert finished the game with 20 points, 17 rebounds, 2 assists, and 4 blocks. It’s a massive showing from the the 3X DPOY and shows that if you decide to talk trash with Gobert, you’re going to regret it in the long run.

Speaking of trash talk. One of the more interesting points in the game was Joe Ingles getting into it with Jake Layman. After a couple of shoves the fight mostly dissipated and Ingles played with much more aggression like the shot below.

There was also some trash talk between Jordan Clarkson and Malik Beasely. Beasley was seen jawing at Clarkson at one point and the two seemed to went back and forth trying to make plays. It was one of those fun game within the game situations. The best part was this dunk that Clarkson unleashed that absolutely took the house down.

The other important aspect to this game was Donovan Mitchell’s playmaking. Mitchell is making huge strides in his ability to set up other players for shots and it was on full display this game. Whether it was lobs to Rudy Gobert, dump offs to Hassan Whiteside or kickouts to 3-point shooters, Mitchell was in his bag and lighting it up play after play. Mitchell had 7 assists and they were beauties.

Rudy Gobert jumpshot alert: Rudy Gobert made another jumpshot tonight! More of this, Rudy!