Rudy Gobert isn’t a four-time All-Defensive Team member and two-time Defensive Player of the Year by accident. Not only is he top-20 all-time in blocks per game at 2.2 (averaging a career-high 2.7 so far this season), but Gobert has firmly established himself as one of the best interior defenders the NBA has today.
Heading into Tuesday’s nationally-televised contest with the Boston Celtics, opponents were shooting 11.4 percent worse within six feet of the rim with Gobert as the nearest defender. That’s a top-five mark among players contesting at least 7.0 shots per game, an elite standing the properly nicknamed Stifle Tower has maintained for the last five seasons.