Which team does Rudy Gobert believe is Minnesota’s toughest foe? The Timberwolves, he told Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.
“We are our biggest opponent,” Gobert said. “We get a little complacent. When people start saying we’re good and when the odds are with us, that’s when we’re not as a good.”
As the postseason approaches, Gobert says his team’s success is predicated on preparation.
“We’ve been through it for the last few years, so by now we know that it’s just about us, our approach,” Gobert said. “It doesn’t just start at the tip-off of the game. It starts right now, how we recover, the work that we put in tomorrow. We all know the things we need to do to be at our best and try to be consistent.”
We have more from the Northwest Division:
- Peyton Watson calls himself a gamer. The Nuggets wing is embracing the challenge of being a defensive stopper, he told Luca Evans of The Denver Post. “I mean, I think just as – about as confident as any guy in the league right now,” Watson said. “I think that I have the ability, on a night-to-night basis, to slow a lot of guys down and cut their water off. And I’m just trying to get better at doing that as consistently as possible.”
- Portland guard Scoot Henderson is in the NBA’s concussion protocol, according to the team’s PR department (Twitter link). He was among several Trail Blazers regulars who didn’t play against the Knicks on Sunday.
- Thunder big man Isaiah Hartenstein missed the second half of their win over Indiana on Saturday with left hip soreness, according to Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman. Hartenstein played 14 minutes, scoring four points. He recorded double-doubles in five of the previous six games. The veteran center is listed as questionable to play on Monday against Chicago, Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman tweets.