The Minnesota Timberwolves came from behind to beat the San Antonio Spurs 104-103 on Sunday and it was no easy feat. 

With the amount of weapons that the Spurs have at their disposal, beating them on the defensive end becomes more crucial than ever. That's where Julius Randle came in, who had the titanic task of guarding Spurs star Victor Wembanyama all night. 

Wembanyama finished the game with 29 points in 27 minutes, but as the minutes wound down and the Timberwolves had all but completed their come back Wembanyama had a chance to sink a go-ahead three pointer with 6.6 seconds left. 

Randle was tasked with guarding the 7'4 star on that crucial play and the physicality that Randle brought to that possession was just enough to contest Wembanyama's shot and force him to miss, all but sealing the Timberwolves' victory at that moment. 

"It was incredible. I thought his competitiveness, his physicality was incredible. He took that challenge. We were down 15, down 10, he took that challenge and it affected the whole team," Rudy Gobert said of Randle's performance (via Timberwolves). 

What Gobert appreciated the most about his teammate's performance wasn't just the end result, but the effort that Randle brought throughput the game. 

Gobert extended that praise to his entire team as well. The Timberwolves trailed by as much as 19 at one point in the game and by their lofty standards it was a difficult scoring night as the team only shot 43% from the field, but despite the odds stacked against them they never lost confidence and weathered the storm long enough to surge back and take the game in the fourth.

"That's the mindset that I like," Gobert said. "That's the championship mindset. It starts with Julius. It starts with Jaden [McDaniels]. It starts with Ant [Anthony Edwards]. It doesn't matter if we're 0-10, 0-20 offensively. If we have that mindset defensively and offensively [and] we stay confident... we can beat everybody."

Mentality is an important thing to Gobert. In his fourth season with the Timberwolves, Gobert has made it a point to defensively elevate the team around him and Randle may be the best example of that change. 

"Just push him. Push him on the little things. It''s all mental. It's all about competing. It's all about, when your tired, somethings not going your way offensively, still doing the things that's going to help your team win. I hold myself to the highest standard and I try to hold my teammates accountable for that... It's been great so far," Gobert said.