It looks like the back to back defensive player of the year, Rudy Gobert, will be defending his crown once again in 2019-2020 with one of the most historic defensive performances of all time.
The Oklahoma City Thunder were rolling heading into March 11th, winning 8 of their last 10 games. They were averaging 112.8 points per game during this stretch, as they headed back home to face defensive phenom Rudy Gobert and the Utah Jazz. Little did the Thunder know, Rudy Gobert was about to make this biggest defensive stop of his NBA Career.
Gobert pulled out some new tricks from his defensive playbook, tapping every microphone at the Jazz presser two nights prior while then touching all of his teammates' belongings in the locker room. He also practiced his lock down D on his superstar teammate, making sure to stay inside of 6 feet of Donovan Mitchell at all times.
That night, Gobert would shut down the entire NBA being the first professional athlete to test positive for the corona-virus, passing it along to his superstar teammate Donovan Mitchell in the process. Gobert’s antics would stop 114,444 points from being scored in the NBA, one of the single most impressive defensive feats in NBA history.
Although many were very upset with Gobert and his mockery of the virus, his actions may have defended against the spread of COVID amongst not only NBA players but locker rooms across all sports in the United States. Making it maybe the biggest defensive stop in American sports history.
What would have happened if Gobert did not test positive on March 11th? Would we have had March Madness? Would the NBA and other sports have continued? These are all questions we will never have answered and maybe that is for the better.
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