Anthony Edwards is the best player on the Timberwolves’ roster, hands down.

But, on different nights, different players throughout the squad may proved to be Minnesota’s most valuable player.

And, against Golden State, Minnesota’s most valuable player might just be Rudy Gobert.

The Warriors played hard and well Sunday in Minneapolis. They had a strong defensive game plan designed to make life difficult on Anthony Edwards. They were sharp offensively.

Those are all things Golden State — an aging team that still sports a strong championship pedigree — can bring on any given night, which might make the Warriors a scary potential first-round playoff opponent for some teams, should they slither through the play-in round.

But as well as Golden State plays on any night against Minnesota, there isn’t much it can do to compensate for Rudy Gobert.

Gobert dominated numerous facets of Minnesota’s 114-110 home victory Sunday over the Warriors.  The big man finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds.

He was a massive player in the team’s clutch-time offense, from a tip dunk off a Mike Conley miss to put the team up three with 3 minutes, 42 seconds to play to, on the ensuing possession, blocking out Conley’s defender so he could bury an open triple.

“He’s going to get us open when we need it late in the game,” Conley said. “We talked about it after the game, but I had a layup where I just tried to get it up on the rim. Either it goes in or it doesn’t, it’s like an alley oop. We’ve done that a lot, and we’re getting back to it, lately.”

Gobert’s size is something Golden State has to try to overcompensate for, which leaves Golden State exposed in other areas. On Sunday, his mere presence helped free up shooters, and Minnesota capitalized by going 21 for 40 from deep.

Naz Reid hit six triples, Edwards his four, and Conley and Nickeil Alexander-Walker each hit three.

“He is the offense,” Conley said of Gobert. “For the most part, guys don’t recognize that. But the gravity he has from just not even setting a screen, just rolling down the middle of the floor creates a 2 on 1 for us.”

Defensively, Minnesota held Golden State to just 48 percent shooting in the paint. Golden State was hyper aggressive getting into the paint, but Gobert — per usual — was a major deterrent.

Minnesota completed a season sweep of Golden State with the victory.

Sunday’s certainly didn’t come easily. Minnesota was chasing for much of the night. The Wolves started the game sloppy against a desperate Warriors team clinging to the final play-in spot in the West. That led to 13 first-half turnovers.

“We started that game trying to fight the way they were guarding us,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “It didn’t work.”

But Reid’s early offense kept Minnesota within striking distance while the Wolves waited to calm down. Eventually, the Wolves found their composure and raised their intensity to match Golden State’s. Minnesota trailed by eight late in the third quarter, but the Wolves pounced once Steph Curry went to the bench.

The Wolves outscored Golden State by 12 in the 11 minutes in which Curry sat and held an eight-point advantage when the star guard re-entered. But the Warriors hung around long enough to make it an execution contest in the closing minutes.

Neither team has proven particularly adept in clutch time this season, but Minnesota’s defense stood up, generating some key stops, including a forced miss on a potential tying attempt from Klay Thompson with five seconds to play.

Edwards, who led Minnesota with 23 points, sealed the game with a free-throw on the other end.

The Minnesota Gophers learned on Sunday that, as expected, they are among 16 men’s hockey teams trying to earn a trip to the Twin Cities a few weeks from now, for the 2024 NCAA Frozen Four in St. Paul. But in the meantime, Bob Motzko just wants to get out of town.

“We’ve been home for a month and a half,” Motzko noted, after the Gophers’ first-round matchup versus Omaha in the Sioux Falls Regional was announced on Sunday afternoon. “When you do a three-week (Big Ten) playoff, it’s two years in a row that we haven’t left home. We had a bye and then we were at home to end the regular season. That’s a long time.”

Indeed, the Gophers last played a game anywhere other than 3M Arena at Mariucci on Feb. 17, when they won in overtime at Notre Dame.

So their low-key trip to a northern Minnesota resort last weekend served as some team bonding time and some important time away from campus for Motzko’s team. The Gophers (22-10-5) will try to earn a third consecutive Frozen Four trip starting on Thursday evening when they face Omaha, which is coming off a runner-up finish in the NCHC tournament, played last weekend in St. Paul.

The Mavericks are 23-12-4 overall and are making their first NCAA tournament appearance since a lopsided loss to the Gophers in the 2021 first round, at the Loveland (Colo.) Regional. Omaha is the host school in Sioux Falls, which is less than three hours drive from its campus and a good contingent in black and red is expected.

Motzko has some history in Sioux Falls, where he coached the USHL team two decades ago, and where he coached his final game at St. Cloud State in 2018, when the Huskies were upset by Air Force in round one of the NCAA tournament. For a coach whose only focus is winning two games and getting to St. Paul, the venue and the history are of little importance.

“We love the fact that we’re one of 16 teams. There are a whole bunch of folks who would like to switch with us. So just to be in the tournament is great,” Motzko said. “I learned a long time ago I don’t care where it’s at or who we’re playing, we’ve just got to be playing our best hockey. Going to Sioux Falls is great, and I think we can get some fans there.”

The Gophers and Omaha are scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. CT faceoff on Thursday, March 28. Boston University and RIT will clash in the opener at 4 p.m. CT Thursday. Both games will be televised by ESPNU.

Minnesota faced its biggest game to date on Sunday afternoon at Xcel Energy Center, and before the announced crowd of 7,268 could get settled, the home team found itself down to Montreal 2-0 after a pair of unfortunate breaks.

Not the start Minnesota was looking for as it aimed to extend its winning streak to five games.

Not the start it wanted in the final game before a nearly month-long break for the Women’s World Championship.

Not the start it wanted in its quest to pick up the three points needed to tie Toronto for first place in the Professional Women’s Hockey League standings and put some distance between it and third-place Montreal.

But the finish was just about perfect.

Minnesota beat Montreal 3-2 in a shootout, with Grace Zumwinkle scoring twice in the shootout to secure the victory that leaves Minnesota one point out of first place at the break.

Zumwinkle, who was buzzing the Montreal net all game but had nothing to show for it until the shootout, said the early deficit did not diminish the confidence the team has built up during its winning streak.

“As a team, coming off a week off, it was a key emphasis to come out and start hard,” Zumwinkle said. “And, going into a long break, It was give it all you’ve got for one game. So that’s something I tried to focus on.”

Minnesota center Taylor Heise, who also scored in the shootout, reiterated that there was no panic among the players when facing the early deficit.

“We’ve been in those situations before,” Heise said. “We didn’t really need to say anything. We literally had a whole game left, so you know you have time.”

Montreal took a 1-0 lead at 2:36 of the first period. A shot from the right point pin-balled around in the slot and onto the stick of Kati Tabin, who beat goaltender Nicole Hensley from in tight.

Montreal’s lead grew to 2-0 at 5:53. Minnesota’s Sophia Kunin lost the puck in the neutral zone when she fell to the ice, setting up a two-on-one for Montreal. Maureen Murphy beat Hensley from in right for her fourth goal of the season.

Minnesota scored twice early in the second period within a span of 24 seconds to tie the game. Natalie Buchbinder scored her second of the season on a wrist shot from the right point that found its way through traffic.

Lee Stecklein scored her second of the season at 6:04 on a wrist shot from the left-wing circle.

“It was kind of awkward the way they scored the two goals,” Minnesota coach Ken Klee said. “But we knew if we stuck with it that we could score.”

The third period and overtime had a playoffs-like feel to it, with both teams coming close on good scoring chances. Hensley made a handful of big saves down the stretch to keep Minnesota alive.

“For me, it’s exciting because we’ve been fortunate to have been able to play with the lead,” Klee said. “In hockey, you’re going to have to be able to come from behind.”

With five games remaining in the regular season, Minnesota is all but assured a spot in the postseason as one of the league’s top four finishers. The top two teams will have home-ice advantage in the best-of-five series, and Minnesota wants to be one of them.

It did all it could do leading into the break by sweeping a four-game homestead.

“It was kind of pivotal for us, where we kind of solidified that we’re a team to contend with,” Klee said. “We have multiple players who can contribute on any given night.

“That way we don’t get pigeon-holed, where we have to rely on certain players. That’s a great feeling.”