Wolves center Gobert sets different screens for different players

Rudy Gobert is renowned around the NBA as one of the league's best screeners, and part of his acclimation to Minnesota was to learn the tendencies and preferences of his teammates when it came to screening for them.

Gobert, who missed his second consecutive game because of an ankle sprain Sunday, said recently that process has been going better in recent weeks, and said how he screens for his teammates is a combination of how they like him to screen for him and how the defense is playing.

"When guys are switching, I slip the screen more," Gobert said. "When they're blitzing, really aggressive on the ball, I'm going to open up, give an outlet, play in the half-court more. And if they are back, I'm going to hold more to give room to the guards to either shoot, or if they go over, just attack and it's a two-on-one."

Gobert is traditionally among the league leaders when it comes to a statistic known as a "screen assist," which is when a screen set by a player directly leads to a basket. He is third in the league at 5.3 per game, according to NBA.com.

There are certain subtle differences Gobert deploys when he's setting a screen for different players, like D'Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards, two of the teammates he screens for the most. With Russell, he knows the screen-and-roll action will be more methodical.

"D-Lo, I know once I give him an advantage, he's going to be able to navigate the screen and ready to make the defense pay," Gobert said. "Whether that is with his jumper, driving left and finding me with a pocket pass. With D-Lo, everything can go at a little slower pace."

That slower pace isn't always the way to go with the more explosive Edwards.

"I know you only need a small advantage and I get space for him," Gobert said. "Then you allow him to attack, and if they really have the big back, I'm going to hold the screens. Ant is a really good shooter, too. So, I know if they go under, he's going to have a wide open three behind the screen."

The goal is to get multiple defenders into the paint and see what develops.

"When he drives, once there's more than one guy in the paint, that means we won," Gobert said. "That means someone is open, whether it's me that rolls … that's open for a lob, or if they bring some of the wings. Sometimes they bring three guys too. That means somebody is open in the corner, top of the key."

Injury updates

Gobert was out again. Russell (left knee contusion) came into the night as a game-time decision but played after missing Friday's game.

Those injuries are short-term concerns for the Wolves, but the injuries to point guard Jordan McLaughlin (left calf strain) and forward Taurean Prince (shoulder) linger.

McLaughlin missed five games because of the injury, then played in three before reaggravating it. He has now missed another five games. Prince missed his 12th consecutive game.

When asked if he had an update on their prognosis, coach Chris Finch said, "I don't have anything revealing."

New court debuts

The Wolves were supposed to debut their new court, which matches their new City Edition uniforms, back on Nov. 21, but an "imperfection" on the court prevented its debut. It was in place for Sunday's game.