Trailing by two in the final minute of Minnesota’s dramatic win over the Thunder on Friday, Rudy Gobert tapped a rebound off a missed Julius Randle free throw out toward Donte DiVincenzo to give Minnesota another look at the bucket.

The ensuing shot was Anthony Edwards’ go-ahead, stepback triple that gave the Wolves the lead for good against the NBA’s best team.

That rebound put Gobert at 15 for the night.

Asked about the play after the game, Gobert turned the question onto the media. “So, when you tap it out, it’s a rebound, huh?” he said.

“Some games they put it as a rebound, some games they don’t,” Gobert said. “I really wanted to know the rule, right? You tap it out and your teammates get it intentionally, so it’s a rebound. I just wanted to know.”

The intent of his comment was obvious. Gobert is a tap-out king, yet frequently doesn’t get the statistical credit for the extra possessions. Sure enough, within an hour of the game’s conclusion, that massive rebound was stat corrected to a board for DiVincenzo. How many rebounds does Gobert think have been taken from him via subjective evaluation of which tap-outs are intentionally directed to teammates and which are not?

“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t really pay attention.”

What is known is the count of rebounds for which Gobert has been given credit in his NBA career: 10,016. Eighteen of those came in Sunday’s win over Milwaukee, including rebound No. 10,000.

“Not a lot of people do that,” Wolves guard Mike Conley noted. “He’s gonna be in the Hall of Fame someday. He knows it, and he’s been just a guy that continues to challenge himself every year, and all the hard work is paying off.”

While round numbers are somewhat arbitrary in terms of their significance, Gobert said such a plateau provided a good time to “pause and reflect a little bit on the journey.” But only for a moment.

There are many more rebounds to grab. Gobert noted he’s still in his prime, even at 33 years old.

“I’m feeling great. I feel like I’m still getting better, still learning every day, still figuring things out every day,” he said. “There’s always ways to improve. It’s fun. It’s fun to have that drive to always get better. It’s not just about basketball. It’s so much deeper than that: get better as a leader and as a person, as a dad, as a leader in my community, leader in everything I do.

“(There is) always room to learn and room to grow, and I’m always hungry for that, hungry for knowledge and enjoying the moment at the same time.”

Gobert’s play suggests improvement. His performance Sunday marked his fifth-straight game with 12-plus rebounds, including a dominant performance against Oklahoma City. Minnesota coach Chris Finch said opponents are still trying to hold Gobert from a face-to-face position on the interior when shots go up. But rather than wrestling, Finch said Gobert is shedding his opponents so he can go grab the ball in the air.

The key to that improvement, per Gobert: Jiu jitsu.

“I try to pressure them as much as I can. They get away with being very physical with me, so I realize that I have to be even more physical with them and use momentum and strength and everything I know and have to our advantage,” he said. “ It’s been good. … Even when I don’t get the rebound, I think it takes a lot for them to just fight me. It takes a lot of energy and it carries over over the course of the game. Keep applying the pressure; that’s the mindset.”

Gobert is fifth in rebounds among active NBA players, trailing only Andre Drummond, LeBron James, Nikola Vucevic and DeAndre Jordan.

While Gobert noted his evolution as a rebounder as the game has changed over the years, he still insists rebounding is “99 percent” effort and desire.

“There’s other guys that are big, too. I think it starts there,” he said. “Then just being able to just try to feel the game … and just compete, compete for the ball.”

Briefly

Jaden McDaniels is questionable for Tuesday’s game against the Knicks with a left oblique contusion. The Knicks will be shorthanded at Target Center, with star guard Jalen Brunson already listed as out along with starting wing O.G. Anunoby.

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