While it is certainly a great day for the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Rudy Gobert, the same cannot be said of his team. Or his fans. Pretty sure the Denver Nuggets are jumping for joy, though. The pesky center was key to holding off Nikola Jokić in their Game 1 victory.

Unfortunately, the 31-year-old Frenchman has been announced as ‘Out’ for personal reasons, as per Shams Charania. The 3x All-Star is back at home with his newborn baby. His fiancée gave birth to a baby boy early Monday. And while everyone is simply happy for Gobert, they can’t help but be slightly worried for tonight. The Wolves do need the team at full strength if they are going to face a Nuggets team bent on getting back what they lost.

According to Star Tribune reporter Christopher Hine, Coach Finch said, “The team looked into having Gobert here. The windy weather played a role in preventing that.” Well, despite all the hopes of fans on X about Gobert’s arrival just minutes before tip-off seems to have been in vain. The man, sadly, is not a superhero with control of the elements.

Interestingly, though, when the news of Rudy Gobert’s absence was confirmed, the Nuggets moved from a 6-point favorite to 7.5 to win the game. Clearly, the 3x DPOY was a major factor in the sudden change. But it seems like the Wolves are holding remarkably well on their own. With just 2:33 left on the clock in the third quarter, Denver is down 25 points.

The last time they were down 25 was on January 28, 2019, vs the Memphis Grizzlies. The Nuggets rallied with 6:36 remaining in the third quarter then to finish 95-92. Can they repeat that night this time? Sadly, there was nothing of the sort tonight. The Minnesota Timberwolves lead the series 2-0 as they thrashed the Denver Nuggets 106-80.

The Timberwolves sail to an early lead in the Western Conference Semifinals despite the absence of Rudy Gobert

Despite the Nuggets rising as favorites in Gobert’s absence, Minnesota ensured they remained at the helm. The fact that Denver was subject to two losses at home only makes it that much more painful. Whatever strategy they used against the Lakers is clearly not working against the high-flying Anthony Edwards and Co. The young guard is a one-man army, and he came prepared with his trustworthy men.

Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns led the wolf pack with a game-high 27 points along with seven assists, two rebounds, and one assist and 12 rebounds, respectively. As for the Nuggets, except Aaron Gordon, no one got anywhere close to 20. Gordon finished the night with 20 points, two assists, and four rebounds. The defending champion, Nikola Jokić, had 16 points, eight assists, and 16 rebounds for the night.

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Talking about the embarrassing loss at home court, coach Malone said, “We got out coached; we got out played. You can feel sorry for yourself, or you can do whatever you can to try to be better come Game 3.” Is it just me or does the last line sound eerily similar to Klay Thompson after his brilliant night in his first game off the bench? Well, Malone and his boys need to have the “talk” after tonight.

The Nuggets can only advance past this round if they win four in the coming games. And it has to start with Game 3. History doesn’t side in the favor of the teams that are down 0-3 to make a comeback. Hopefully, the next time they meet, Denver will have a few surprises for the Wolves.