Afrigather 
Denver Nuggets guard Christian Braun dunked laborious on Rudy Gobert, then celebrated within the face of Rudy Gobert. It led to some laborious emotions in a rematch of a seven-game sequence from final yr’s playoffs.
Within the fourth quarter of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 119-116 win over the Nuggets on Friday, Braun discovered a lane to the basket that took him proper by the four-time NBA Defensive Participant of the Yr. That’s often a recipe for offensive catastrophe, however Braun muscled his approach via for a thunderous, two-handed dunk that triggered audible gasps from the Goal Middle crowd.
Braun proceeded to have a good time by screaming and strolling previous the baseline, proper into Gobert. The Frenchman took exception, laying palms on the 25-year-old guard and shoving him away.
Fast intervention by Timberwolves ahead Jaden McDaniels and the officers prevented the state of affairs from escalating, however each Braun and Gobert have been assessed technical fouls within the aftermath.
Gobert praised the dunk itself after the sport, however not Braun’s celebration:
“He dunked on me. That was unimaginable, however what occurred after the dunk was what I did not like. However the dunk was nice. It is a part of the sport, there’s a variety of adrenaline. I respect him, it was a pleasant dunk.”
It was a spotlight play for the Nuggets, who took a 10-point lead a minute later. That was the top of the nice, although, because the Timberwolves proceeded to erase the deficit over the course of 4 minutes in what ended up being a Minnesota win.
Gobert performed a significant half in placing the Nuggets away, making each of his free throw with 10 seconds left and forcing reigning MVP Nikola Jokić right into a troublesome 3-pointer 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 victors.
