Denver Nuggets guard Christian Braun violently dunks Rudy Gobert, then celebrates in opposition to Rudy Gobert. That sparked some arduous emotions in a rematch of a seven-game playoff sequence from final 12 months.
Within the fourth quarter of the Nuggets’ recreation in opposition to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, Braun discovered a lane to the basket that took him proper in entrance of the four-time NBA Defensive Participant of the 12 months. That is normally a recipe for offensive catastrophe, however Braun powered his manner by way of for a thunderous two-handed dunk that sparked audible gasps from the Goal Heart crowd.
Braun began celebrating by screaming and operating previous the baseline, straight into Gobert. The Frenchman was outraged by placing his fingers on the 25-year-old goalkeeper and pushing him away.
Fast intervention by Timberwolves ahead Jayden McDaniels and officers prevented the state of affairs from escalating, however Braun and Gobert had been later known as for technical fouls.
Gobert praised the dunk himself after the matchhowever not Braun’s celebration:
“He gave me a dunk. It was unimaginable, however what occurred after the dunk is what I did not like. However the dunk was superior. It is a part of the sport, there’s loads adrenaline. I respect it, it was a superb time to soak.
It was an enormous second for the Nuggets, who took a 10-point lead a minute later. That was the top of the nice, although, because the Timberwolves erased all 10 factors in 4 minutes in what ended up being a 119-116 win at Minnesota.
Gobert performed a significant position in placing the Nuggets away, making each of his free throws with 10 seconds remaining and forcing reigning MVP Nikola Jokić into a tricky 3-point shot to finish the sport.
Gobert completed the sport with 17 factors on 7-of-10 taking pictures with 14 rebounds, three assists and two blocks, whereas Braun had 14 factors on 5-of-11 taking pictures with seven rebounds. Aaron Gordon led all scorers with 31 factors, whereas Anthony Edwards had 29 factors for the winners.
