Rudy Gober is at his best on both sides of the ball against the Nuggets

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic had 13 points, four assists and one rebound in the first quarter of Saturday afternoon’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Still, the Wolves outscored the Nuggets by nine points in the opening frame.

It wasn’t because Anthony Edwards was shooting the laces off the ball. That was because Rudy Gober essentially matched that line with nine points, four rebounds and four assists in the first 12 minutes. Saturday’s game was an example of Gobert’s best on both sides of the ball. Defensively, he did as good a job with Jokic as anyone could with the best player in the NBA. On offense, his teammates found him in the middle of the floor, and Gobert routinely made the right reads.

Gobert finished with 14 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and four steals in the Wolves game. 133-104 beatdown of the Nuggets.

“He was really good,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said of Gobert. “Just active as it should be. I thought he set the tone offensively in the first quarter. And then when they tried to mix up the lineups and then go small, he continued to be there when they tried to just his activity level got in the way of everything.”

Jokic can’t be ruled out completely, and he finished with 20 points, 11 assists and three rebounds. But he also had seven fumbles, and his plus-minus of minus-24 was a game-worst. Gobert, meanwhile, finished a plus-26, second best.

It was primarily Gobert’s game on Saturday.

While Gobert had an up and down season, it was no surprise to see him put together a strong defensive effort. Still, he won four Defensive Player of the Year awards. But what he did offensively was another story. His passing was flawless in the first quarter with 40 points. Gobert grabbed four offensive rebounds in the game. His teammates found him on the pick and roll. He scored the first four points of the race and even contorted his body to make difficult swims.

Saturday’s game showed just how dangerous the Wolves can be when Gobert contributes offensively.

“First of all, everyone is excited to see these things. Swim trunks, Euros, dimes — he had about five assists (Saturday),” Naz Reid said of Gobert’s offense after the game. “It’s exciting to watch. … Even when you’re trying to get the ball to him, when he scores, he can get fouled. Just things like that, it all builds momentum. I think his involvement in the offense is huge for us.”

Making a more concerted effort to get Gobert involved in the offense is key for the Wolves. They were able to find him in the pocket earlier this season, and Gobert has had success passing and scoring from that spot. But there was a flip side to this equation. There are times, like Saturday, when Gobert makes the right reads and makes timely passes for open layups or dunks. But at times he also had a tendency to turn the ball over or make a rash pass. And other times, if he loses a bit of confidence, the Wolves offense might just start to get away from him completely.

“We haven’t found (Gobert) enough in different situations, and now we feel like we’re finding those things,” Finch said. “That’s something we have to do to make sure teams pay for some of the plays they try to make against us, and that’s something we’ve been able to capitalize on at times. So it’s just that the confidence level is there again and that’s really important for us.”

Trust is the key to the whole operation and the key to finding consistency. When Gobert makes quick decisions, doesn’t hold the ball and finds the right read, whether it’s a drop pass or a field goal, his teammates continue to find him in the pocket. But it seems that confidence tends to dissipate after a bad game or two. Then the Wolves get away from him.

“I found that when I’m determined and confident, they have more confidence to find me in different situations,” Gober said. “It is important for me to be decisive, aggressive.

It’s a two-way street. Gobert needs to continue to make those quick decisions, and his teammates need to trust that he will. Because when Gobert is at his best, it completely raises the ceiling on what the Wolves can do offensively. And when Gobert is at his best on both sides of the ball, the sky really is the limit for Minnesota.

“(Gober) understands that when we give it to you, you have to do the right thing with it every time,” Mike Conley said. “It’s a tough thing, especially for (Edwards) sometimes, to want to throw that pass if we don’t get something out of it. So for (Gobert) it’s just about making the right read early and not trying to make a lot of it because when we can make the right read, …our offense is not so much a stagnant offense, it’s very much motion, motion of the body, movement of the ball.”