Let’s Assess Rudy Gobert’s Playoff Defense

(Editor’s note: Please welcome Aditya Sitaram to Canis Hoopus!)

Rudy Gobert has an ironclad case to be the one of the greatest defensive players in regular season history.

It’s too bad that at the end of a season where you fork up a 2-0 lead, nobody cares that you were the No. 1 seed with the No. 1 ranked defense all season. Just ask the 2020-21 Utah Jazz how that works. Nobody can argue that Utah has seen a pretty drastic increase in their playoff level defense but does the blame fall on Rudy Gobert?

First, let’s take a look at some of the numbers:

Rudy Gobert defends Reggie JacksonWestern Conference Semifinals vs Clippers: LAC 4-2

This is the infamous series that put Rudy Gobert’s playoff…