If we talked about game-saving defensive plays and clutch stops the same way we talk about game-winning offensive plays and clutch buckets, there would be absolutely no debate about Gobert as a top 10 player.

Sorry, but another video thread coming in 3, 2, 1...

Kyrie finishes more plays per game as P&R handler than any guard in the NBA not named Trae Young, and he's more efficient at it than any volume P&R finisher outside of Kemba and Luka.

But when he rounded the corner and saw Gobert last night, he wanted nothing to do with it.

Here are 2 plays where he comes around the pick, sees Gobert and tries to throw wild lobs that result in Bkn TOs. Both of these TOs are the result of Gobert's elite ability to guard the ball AND the roller. Kyrie has to throw higher than he's used to & the bigs can't handle.

Similar play here, on quite possibly the defensive stop of the game. Once again, Kyrie doesn't feel like he can get his shot off against Gobert, so he makes an awkward pass at the last second. Gobert's able to challenge THAT shot too, giving Joe time to strip.

A couple of times, Kyrie came off, saw Gobert and just got rid of it. Both times, he delivers the ball to a guarded teammate, and in Temple's case he only had time to put up a contested airball.

When Kyrie did dare to go at Rudy, it usually didn't end well. Gobert forced him to alter/hurry shots, resulting in plays like these.

This might be the best paint-finishing guard in the NBA, and he did not score in the paint in the 4th qtr. 2/11 in the quarter overall.

And then of course there was this. The game-winning stop. Rudy understands time and situation and knows when he needs to challenge out in space. He does so here, then chases down a long rebound to seal the win.

More on that last shot... People have tried to weaken Rudy's DPOY case by saying the modern game is all abt guarding the 3. OK. But not only does Rudy's unique D enable the Jazz to limit & contest 3s, but he's now won 2 gms in the last week by contesting 3s by All-Stars.

If an offensive player had that many plays in a single fourth quarter where they just dominated the defense, we'd rightfully freak out about what a special performance it was. And he completely neutralized a player known for getting to the rim & finishing.

Net players shot 6-for-24 for the night when Rudy was guarding the shot ( https://stats.nba.com/game/0021900152/matchups/?OFF_PLAYER_ID=&DEF_PLAYER_ID=203497), and that doesn't even account for the times he deterred, forced TOs, or just made a player take a U-turn away from the lane -- including All-Star Kyrie.

/thread