Luka Doncic's decisive shot in Game 2 against the Wolves, ahead Rudy Gobert, will remain as one of the strong images of these playoffs. Image which generated its dose of irony towards the Frenchman, rewarded again this year with a trophy for best defender of the year.
When he thinks about this action, Jalen Brunson is rather one of the defenders of the Wolves pivot. “ You leave it on Luka and Kyrie (Irving). I don't think there's a single person on this planet who says, 'Hey, go defend Kyrie, go defend Luka, and good luck.' Is Rudy a game-changer defensively? Absolutely “, judges the Knicks point guard.
Gobert makes the attacker think
A good way to remember that a high-level defender with a physique comparable to the two geniuses of the Mavs will naturally suffer against them. And that will be even more the case for a player of this size like Rudy Gobert.
“ If you pass your defender and you see Rudy behind you, you don't just throw the ball, you think about what you need to do to put it in the basket. He does things on defense that make you think, but asking him to go out there and switch? “, continues Jalen Brunson, on podcast with teammate Josh Hart.
The latter, who enjoys the “ coordination » from French, finds “ unfair » to leave him facing this profile of players. “ We've seen it tons of times. Do I think that when we see this, he should be nominated for the title of best defender of the year in the future? No. But it's also unfair to say, 'OK, go out there and defend on these guys without help.' It will be difficult for anyone. »
Jalen Brunson thinks another player should be considered in this DPOY race: Jrue Holiday. “ Jrue has never won this trophy. Think about how many stops he has made. Think of all the different combinations he had to do. Sometimes he defends on the pivot. He ends up changing on pick-and-rolls and doing all these things », Develops the Knick.
Six times cited in the league's best defensive five, the Celtics leader was not among the finalists for the trophy this season, where the only interiors were cited. He still finished 6th in this race.
