On Monday night, the Minnesota Timberwolves faced the reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal series, albeit without center Rudy Gobert.

Gobert was back in Minneapolis early on Monday, after his fiancée gave birth to the couple’s kid.

The plan to return him to Denver before the 10 p.m. EDT tipoff was derailed by strong winds in Colorado that caused aviation delays.

Wolves coach Chris Finch stated, “There was definitely consideration… but the timing of his circumstances plus some weather made it really tough.” Furthermore, we didn’t think he would be able to arrive and be ready to play.

Gobert was a key player in the Wolves’ 106-99 victory in Game 1, moving around the paint and stopping Aaron Gordon from putting up his typical barrage of alley-oop dunks.

Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Naz Reid in succession also harassed Nikola Jokic, the team’s MVP favorite, who made an unusual seven mistakes and missed fourteen attempts in the first game.

“Obviously Kyle (Anderson) will get some time on” Jokic in Gobert’s absence. said Finch. “Perhaps we’ll need to take some new actions. But KAT is undoubtedly where it all starts and finishes.

Despite having a strained left calf that has been bothering him for more than a week, Jamal Murray was listed as questionable for the Nuggets, but coach Michael Malone stated he fully anticipated him to start in the starting lineup.

The only member of the Wolves who is not feeling well is their coach, who had surgery on his right knee last week following a sideline altercation with point guard Mike Conley in Round 1. The coach is currently sitting in the second row on the Wolves’ bench, watching the play. Micah Nori, the assistant coach, has been in charge of working the referees and communicating with the players on the court.

It felt a little strange. I was an assistant coach here in Denver the last time I sat in the second row,” Finch remarked. To avoid being in the path of Malone’s anger, though, I had to admit that I kind of loved the experience.

“But yeah, the most important thing was that I felt safe, could see the game, talk to the coaches and players, and felt as involved as I usually do, with the exception that I was obviously not working the sideline or interacting with the referees, which was probably a blessing,” Finch remarked. “And Micah performed admirably. In any case, he excels at managing the game.