Timberwolves' Rudy Gobert says ailing back is improving

DENVER – After Sunday's Game 1, Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert said his back was feeling "not great."

Gobert got two days of rest since then, and didn't have to cram his 7-1 body into an airplane. One of the main questions heading into Game 2 was just how his back was feeling?

"Night and day," Gobert said. "Still not 100%, but it's much better."

Gobert has been playing through significant pain in the past few games. He added that when he played in Friday's play-in victory over Oklahoma City, it was "not good." Gobert was suspended for punching teammate Kyle Anderson in last week's play-in game loss to the Lakers but said he wouldn't have been able to play in that game.

Gobert has said he hasn't been able to move like he wants because of the back and it has limited his effectiveness.

"It was just moving more than anything," Gobert said. "I feel like finishing through contact, especially Friday, that's when I felt like every time I was touched, it was hurting. Now I'm good. Now I'm better, so it's exciting to see the sunshine again."

On Tuesday, a reporter asked Wolves guard Anthony Edwards how it was to be a "young star" in the NBA, taking on the likes of Denver's Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. Edwards rejected the premise of the question.

"I'm not a young star yet," Edwards said. "But it's fun."

Edwards said this even though he was selected to his first All-Star Game this season.

Edwards was then asked what he thought would make him a "young star" in the league.

"Win the first round," Edwards said. "Get out of the first round. I can't get sent home again. Can't be a young star and keep getting sent home."

Guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker was on the Jazz last season when Utah went to the playoffs, but Alexander-Walker didn't see much playing time in that series with the Mavericks — only 4 minutes, 41 seconds.

Alexander-Walker has suddenly become one of the most important pieces of this Wolves playoff run. He earned the start in Friday's play-in win over the Thunder while guarding his cousin, Oklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He was in the starting lineup for Game 1 against the Nuggets, with the Wolves asking him to track Murray in a similar manner.

"One thing I knew just from being in that Utah series was just every play, the crowd is engaged, and more so than ever," Alexander-Walker said. "If you give them reason to, they're going to get louder, they're going to get rowdier. It brings the best out of you if you're a competitor."

Alexander-Walker said there has been a difference in how he prepares on offense when he starts, compared to when he's playing with the second unit or a mixed lineup.

"When you play with Ant, play with KAT [Karl-Anthony Towns], you're more off-ball," Alexander-Walker said. "You're more, 'How do I help them? I'm going to cut. I'm going to move.' When you're in that second unit, sometimes I'm the one, sometimes I'm the two. Am I getting guys into the offense?"

He doesn't have as much on-ball responsibility as a starter because Mike Conley handles those duties.

"Having Mike out there, you don't gotta worry about us getting into things because that's what Mike's been doing since probably before I was born," Alexander-Walker said.