Rudy Gobert finished the Minnesota Timberwolves’ season opener without making a field goal. He attempted just two shots and scored five points. For anyone evaluating his night based solely on scoring, that might sound like a disappointing start. Everyone who watched the game, including his coach Chris Finch, saw something very different.
While Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball combined for 66 points in Minnesota’s 131–106 win over the Miami Heat, Gobert helped create the conditions for their success. He collected rebounds, generated additional possessions and did the screening work that allowed Minnesota’s guards to attack with space.
Finch made sure that contribution received attention afterward.
“I thought Rudy did an unbelievable job screening,” the Timberwolves coach said in his postgame press conference. “We got guys open just coming off screens, like, for clean looks.”
That assessment deserves more attention than Gobert’s scoring total. Minnesota has changed its offensive personnel and approach, but its center can still influence possessions without being the player who finishes them.
Rudy Gobert helped create Minnesota’s shooting opportunities
Edwards scored 45 points and made nine three-pointers. Ball added 21 points and five threes in his first regular-season appearance with the Timberwolves. Those performances required exceptional shooting. Gobert’s screens helped them establish a rhythm before the offense needed a difficult individual play.
A good screen can force a defender to take a longer route to the ball. It can create enough separation for a pull-up jumper or make the opposing big man choose between stepping toward a shooter and protecting the paint. For a backcourt with Edwards and Ball’s range, a small amount of space can be enough. Finch specifically identified that connection when discussing Minnesota’s three-point attempts.
“I thought most of them came in a good flow,” he said, pointing to Edwards’ shotmaking when he found a rhythm and Ball’s opportunities coming off Gobert’s screens.
The important part is that Finch described the attempts as a product of how Minnesota played. Gobert’s involvement helped turn the team’s shooting ability into available shots.
That work rarely receives the same attention as the jumper that follows. The scorer gets the points, and the passer may receive an assist. The player who disrupted the original defender can disappear from the statistical record of the possession.
Wednesday provided a useful reminder to look for him.
Gobert’s rebounding gave the Wolves more chances
Some of Gobert’s impact was much easier to measure. He finished with 15 rebounds, including five on the offensive glass, according to the game’s box score. Minnesota collected 17 offensive rebounds as a team, compared with four for Miami.
That matters even on a night when the Wolves made 21 three-pointers. Their offense still missed plenty of shots. Gobert helped ensure that a miss did not always end the possession.
An offensive rebound can produce another attempt before the defense gets organized. Even when it leads to a reset, it gives the offense another opportunity without requiring a stop at the other end.
Minnesota needs those contributions as it adjusts to a frontcourt without Julius Randle and Naz Reid. Gobert remains the most established interior presence, and his responsibility extends beyond contesting opponents at the rim.
He also needs support. Edwards grabbed 10 rebounds, Jaden McDaniels added eight and Joan Beringer collected six. The opener offered an encouraging example of teammates contributing around Gobert rather than expecting him to handle every missed shot himself.
For Minnesota, that is a healthier formula than relying on one center to solve its rebounding concerns.
Gobert’s quiet role fits what the Timberwolves want to become
McDaniels described the offense’s early chemistry in terms that fit Gobert’s performance particularly well.
“Just playing for each other,” he said in his postgame interview. “Seeing the ball move, not caring who scores or who makes the play, just everyone being selfless, for real.”
McDaniels was discussing the team as a whole. Gobert’s night illustrated the value of that approach.
With Edwards and Ball capable of generating offense, Minnesota does not need to distribute shot attempts evenly to meaningfully involve everyone. Gobert can contribute through contact, positioning and effort, helping teammates get better chances while recovering some of the ones they miss.
That does not make his offensive limitations irrelevant. Opponents will test his finishing, pressure Minnesota’s ball handlers and attempt to disrupt those screening actions. The Wolves will need answers when their jumpers are falling less frequently.
But two shot attempts do not tell us whether Gobert helped an offense function. Finch’s explanation provides a much better starting point.
Minnesota outscored Miami by 29 points during Gobert’s minutes. Single-game plus-minus reflects the performance of entire lineups and cannot isolate one player’s value. Still, it is consistent with a night in which his coach praised work that the scoring column largely overlooked.
Edwards and Ball supplied the memorable shots. Gobert helped make some of those shots available and gave Minnesota more possessions to pursue them.
Five points captured very little of that. Finch’s “unbelievable” assessment of his screening told the more useful story.
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