On Christmas Day, a 280-pound centre went viral, not for a poster dunk or a game-winning triple-double, but for collapsing to the floor as if hit by a bus after the lightest contact possible. The clip went viral on social media, reigniting a long-running debate: should one of the world’s best players ever flop? Months later, before the most important 12 minutes of Game 2 between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets, one player in the visiting locker room had already planned his response. Anthony Edwards summoned Rudy Gobert before the fourth quarter. He delivered a straightforward game plan: no double teams, one-on-one coverage, and, most importantly, no reaching in, because Nikola Jokic would flop and the refs would bite.

“I told him we ain’t bringing no double team,” Edwards said. “You gonna guard [Jokic] one-on-one. Stop fouling. Stop going for the reach-in. Because he’s going to flop. They’re going to call the foul. Play him straight up.” The context made the message urgent. With Gobert sidelined due to foul trouble in the third quarter, Jokic had erupted, scoring 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting without the French center on the floor. The Nuggets had clawed out a three-point lead heading into the final quarter, and the series, and perhaps the Wolves’ season, hung in the balance.

Gobert delivered. His defensive work, which included three one-on-one stops on Jokic in the closing minutes, helped the Timberwolves to a 119-114 victory and a 1-1 series tie. It was the worst shooting performance of Jokic’s playoff career against a single defender, by a significant margin. Asked post-game how he managed to contain a three-time MVP three possessions running, Gobert deadpanned: “I was lucky. A top-three defender cannot do that. So I was lucky.” Julius Randle, watching from the bench, offered his own account: “Ant challenged him, he said, ‘I need you to stop fouling.’ He came in, and how he guarded Nikola Jokic, it was super-inspiring to the team.”

The performance landed on the same night the NBA announced its Defensive Player of the Year results, and Gobert was not among the finalists. He received only four second-place votes, 29 third-place votes, and was left off 67 ballots entirely, finishing fourth overall. Victor Wembanyama claimed the award unanimously, with all 100 first-place votes. His response when asked about the snub: “Not the first time I’ve gotten disrespected. Probably not the last. If you want to disrespect greatness, take it for granted, whatever, soon they’ll realize the impact.”

Gobert’s DPOY Snub Just Got the Loudest Answer Possible

The numbers from Game 2 make the case bluntly: with Gobert on the floor, Jokic scored 4 points on 1-of-8 shooting; without him, the three-time MVP shot 7-of-12 for 20. The on/off swing was the entire argument, one that, apparently, 67 DPOY voters failed to make. It was Anthony Edwards who articulated it most plainly afterward. “Brother, we’re half the team when you’re on the bench,” he told Gobert in the locker room. “They don’t understand what he means to us when he’s on the floor. People don’t want to lay the ball up around him. They don’t want to go at Rudy.”

Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch did not hold back when asked about the DPOY snub. “It’s a joke that he wasn’t a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year,” Finch said. “I thought it was incredibly disrespectful. It’s just laughable and small-minded and petty all the crap that people decide to give Rudy.” That reaction was informed by watching Gobert’s impact for years, but also by a specific pattern with this specific opponent.

On Christmas Day, in a regular-season game between these same two teams, Nikola Jokic’s flopping went viral once more, with at least three instances circulating widely, including one in which a 280-pound man fell backward after colliding with a 200-pound defender who had lost his footing. Edwards’ pre-fourth-quarter warning was not improvised; it was the result of a full season of watching Jokic weaponise contact and a clear-eyed decision that Gobert was the only player capable of making it irrelevant.

The Timberwolves needed Anthony Edwards to design the strategy and Gobert to carry it out. Both delivered, and now the series moves to Target Centre in Minneapolis for Game 3 on Thursday at 9:30 PM ET on Prime Video, with the series tied at 1-1 and the momentum clearly shifting to Minnesota. Voters have already submitted their DPOY ballots. The Nuggets haven’t.