Rudy Gobert punches teammates: What happened?
Win 113-108 over the New Orleans Pelicans in the final game of the season, thereby taking the opportunity to contest the Western 7th seed. However, Rudy Gobert's swing towards teammate Kyle Anderson obscured all positive impressions.
During the second half timeout, Gobert and Anderson had a lot of arguments. Despite being stopped by an assistant coach, the French player still threw his fist at his teammate. Immediately the remaining players had to separate this duo.
Kyle Anderson asked the French striker to actively block more, while the three-time player who won the best defensive award of the year said that his teammate refused to participate in the rebound. The witness said the Timberwolves' No. 1 challenged, and Rudy Gober got angry and told Anderson to "Shut up" before going right.
The controversy of the two continued to erupt when the second half ended and the players entered the dressing room. Veteran defender Mike Conley had to come forward to mediate and calm the duo before the third half began.
However, the management of the Minnesota Timberwolves realized that the situation had gone too far. President of Operations Tim Connelly and CEO Dell Demps were in the locker room, asking Gobert to go home while the team warmed up. The 30-year-old did not play in the second half of the game.
However, it looks like there will be no internal punishment for Rudy Gobert. "We're not proud of that behavior," said coach Chris Finch. "We haven't really figured out the root cause yet. But they're simply frustrated. We didn't play well and didn't share. share the ball with each other, and are inferior in almost every respect."
Punch victim Kyle Anderson believes the two can be reconciled ahead of the Play-in against the Lakers: "We will move forward and win together. This case will be left behind. It's not the first time I've been punched anyway. I think we're both just a little bit annoyed. We'll talk about it. Both are grown men."
As for Rudy Gobert, when he got home, he apologized to the team chat group, before giving a vent on Twitter to Kyle Anderson, teammates and fans.
"I was completely emotional. I shouldn't have reacted like that, no matter what. I want to apologize to the fans, the entire team and especially Kyle, a teammate. I have always loved and respected."
It is not known if everything has been resolved, but that was not the only punch of the Minnesota Timberwolves players of the day. Prior to that, Jaden McDaniels punched the wall in the first half - perhaps a response to early two individual errors.
Immediately, the player clutched his arm in pain and an X-ray showed that he had broken his right hand - an injury that would take away his entire play-off opportunity.
