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Andrew Wiggins dunks on Rudy Gobert twice, fears no man

The NBA's year-end awards identify some of key players in any given season, from the most valuable to the most improved to the most productive rookie. Yet these accolades don't always communicate what certain players mean to the league on a nightly basis. For instance, take two of this season's frontrunners — likely Rookie of the Year Andrew Wiggins and highly regarded Most Improved Player candidate Rudy Gobert. Both young men have made statements as top players for lottery-bound teams, but they have arguably received more attention for standing out as must-watch, highly ready performers. They are budding stars who already lead the league in internet attention.

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It's fitting, then, that Wiggins and Gobert were involved in one of the season's top dunks during the second quarter of Monday night's game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz at the Target Center.

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With a little under 5:00 remaining in the second quarter, Wiggins took a pass from teammate Lorenzo Brown and made his way toward the rim and the lurking Gobert, the NBA's leader in block percentage. The young Timberwolf did this:

If your own exclamations are not enough, then let Minnesota radio man Alan Horton show you how to react to such an amazing finish:

Remarkably, Wiggins had dunked on Gobert earlier, just a few minutes into the game. Take a look here at the and-one jam (with the foul from the attending Rodney Hood):

Yet even the second dunk wasn't enough for Wiggins, who went after Gobert again just 30 seconds after his Dunk of the Year competition entry. However, it appears that two times was too many for Gobert, because he stonewalled Wiggins with the block equivalent of the earlier slam:

In recent years, many NBA fans have argued that All-Star Weekend's dunk contest should involve some component in which defenders try to stop competitors. Based on these three attempts from Wiggins, it's clear that they're onto something.

While Wiggins got the better of him on two of these three attempts, Gobert came out ahead in the game itself with 15 points, 12 rebounds, and three blocks in a 104-84 Jazz victory. Wiggins scored 15 points on 5-of-15 shooting with a minus-38 over his 38 minutes, perhaps because he used all his energy to try to dunk on fools.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!