Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert was dunked on and started a mass brawl on court having previously elbowed Nikola Jokic.

The NBA action on Friday night between the Timberwolves and the Denver Nuggets boiled over with Gobert in the thick of the controversy. The 32-year-old was assessed a flagrant 1 foul for an elbow on Jokic at the start of the fourth quarter.

Jokic was defending against Gobert when the Frenchman pivoted around and swung his trailing elbow into the face of the Serb who was standing his ground. Jokic was immediately sent tumbling to the ground holding his face as Gobert walked away from his stricken opponent. The officials called for a foul before calling the fragrant 1 upon review.

It appears that the feeling of retribution still remained with the Nuggets players as later in the quarter, guard Christian Braun dunked hard on Gobert before celebrating in the face of his opponent. Gobert reacted by putting his arm around the neck and face of Braun, sparking reaction from both sets of players.

As Gobert shoved Braun away, the officials attempted to step in before all players on the court came sprinting over to the scene, eventually calming down the situation. Both Braun and Gobert were assessed technical fouls in the aftermath.

Rudy Gobert - Christian Braun

Gobert reacted furiously to Christian Braun’s celebration

Rudy Gobert elbows Nikola Jokic

Gobert was previously assessed a flagrant 1 foul for elbowing Nikola Jokic

Gobert spoke to the media after the game where he praised the dunk but hit out at the celebration. “He dunked on me,” the Timberwolves center said. “That was incredible, but what happened after the dunk was what I didn’t like. But the dunk was great. It’s part of the game, there’s a lot of adrenaline. I respect him, it was a nice dunk.”

Braun’s dunk proved to be one of the highlights of the game as the Nuggets soon took a 10-point lead. But the Timberwolves proceeded to hit back and went on to claim a narrow 119-116 victory over the course of the remaining four minutes.

Despite being on the wrong side of two controversial moments, Gobert played a crucial role in the victory, making both of his free throws with 10 seconds left and forcing Jokic into a difficult 3-pointer to end the game, which the reigning MVP was unable to make. Gobert finished the game with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting with rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Meanwhile, Braun had 14 points off 5-of-11 shooting with seven rebounds.

Victory for the Timberwolves moves last season’s beaten Conference finalists to a 3-2 record. While defeat saw the Nuggets fall to a 2-3 record, leaving them down in 13th in the Western Conference.