Jon Krawczynski
Appearances
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
Yeah. I mean, you know, they, they did get it down to nine in the fourth. And, um, so I actually think after that first quarter, um, which was a total letdown, I think on their part and very disappointing, then they hold the Lakers to 24, 23 and 13 points. Um, they just couldn't make enough shots to get back into the game and really to get it within, you know, striking distance. But, um,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
I think the major takeaway, Dave, is that this is a team that has struggled this year with slow starts sometimes, and they knew that the Lakers were going to throw everything they had at them, and they just didn't seem ready to meet the moment early on. You saw LeBron, you saw Luka, you saw...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
Just an increased physicality, an increased effort level, and all of that offensive flow and juice they had in game one just disappeared. And so I think that there was definitely some real disappointment about... how they matched what they knew was going to happen early on.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
And then to claw back into it the way they did in the fourth was something to take home, but still just a lot of disappointment about that first quarter down, what was it, yeah, 34-15. I mean, that was ugly.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
Yeah, I mean, I think that they believe fully that they're the better team in this series. We will see how that plays out. But there's a lot of confidence internally in them and in their ability to win this series, especially with what they were able to do in Game 1. But... When you look at the bigger picture of it, they've held the Lakers to 94 points and 95 points in these two games.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
And I don't think that the Wolves believe the Lakers can win four games if they're scoring under 100 each one. So they feel good about what they've done largely defensively. And now they get to go home to Target Center and it's going to be Friday night and it's going to be late and people are going to be drinking and they hate the Lakers and it's going to be tuned up in there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
It's going to be just live in that arena. And so they're excited about the prospects of getting back there because the other part, I think, you know, even though they have been somewhat disappointed at home sometimes and especially in last year's playoffs, role players generally play better at home. And they didn't get much of anything from their bench, from Jaden McDaniels, from Conley tonight.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
And so I think that there's confidence that going back there, as long as their defense holds and then they get their offense and their shot making back into it, they'll be in great shape.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
Yeah, I think that the real disappointing thing offensively was that they only took 25 threes in the game. I mean, they went 21 of 42 in game one, and they spread the Lakers out, and they moved the ball, and they generated wide-open looks. And there just was none of that tonight. And even, like, you know, they shot five for 25. They were 38% from the field.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
So it wasn't a good shot-making night, but it also, I don't think, was a good just offensive – The creation night, like they they really seem to play into the Lakers hands and do what they wanted, what the Lakers wanted them to do. A lot of the talk after the game from Anthony Edwards, from Rudy Gobert, was about this kind of pseudo zone look that the Lakers were throwing at him. And I do think.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
It confused them. And I think they had a hard time figuring out, OK, how do we kind of get ourselves moving, get the ball moving and get good shots against this defense? And that's why you saw a lot of standing around, a lot of isolation and very few three point tries. And so it wasn't a very good.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
execution standpoint for offensively for them so that when they go home the ball has to move they have to move their bodies and they just have to generate more threes this is one of the very best three-point shooting teams in the league and if you take that away everything is so much more difficult
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
Yeah, I mean, there's certainly a if you if you want to do the conspiracy theory point, which every NBA fan loves to do, like you're playing the Lakers in a series. How is the game going to be called? How is the game going to be called? And I thought tonight, you know, it was called tight both ways, really. I mean, the Wolves took more free throws than the Lakers did.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
The fouls that were happening were fouls in general.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
And so generally speaking, the Wolves want physicality. They want to play tough. They want to play – they hope for a loose whistle and they hope to be able to get into guys. And so I was a little bit – I guess that they seem to be as rattled as they looked, especially early with that physicality.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
Usually when a team wants to play that way against them, they're like, all right, you know, let's get in the ring and swing. And and instead they looked just a little slower. They looked like they were having a hard time. getting their feet where they needed to be before the offensive player was there. And so they were committing all of these fouls.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
So if you look forward to game three, ultimately, I do think that they're going to be reiterating a lot of what they have done defensively because look, Luca's shot making is ridiculous. He had an unbelievable game, but they shot by the end of the game, they shot 45% from the field. They shot 20% from three. The defense from the wolves was really, really good. for those last three quarters.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
And if they can keep that up, and then they don't have the outlier, Nas Reed goes 0-5 to start, and Nikhil Alexander-Walker's 1-6. If a lot of those things don't happen, this game is either a lot tighter or probably goes the Wolves' way. And so defensively, as much as Luka can make them look silly every once in a while, in the aggregate, it's been really good through two games here.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
Yeah, I think so. And I but I also think that, you know, there's been a lot of discussion about the two days off between games being advantageous for LeBron, of course, like that's going to be definitely a plus for him to be able to get a little extra rest. But I think it's a real plus for the Timberwolves as well, because they have an extra day to look at this film.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
to kind of drill in, to have a real practice and to kind of go over the things that did not go well. I think, you know, coming off of game one, when they just completely dominated, I do think that maybe there was a few, a few less teaching points and they'll have plenty of them.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
Chris Finch will between games, you know, two and three here now, and they have that extra day to build in to say, Oh, you find some counters to find some, some things to do to devise, you know, a game plan for this game. increased physicality that the Lakers showed. And I think there'll be a little bit more prepared for it for game three.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka and the Lakers get physical | Are the Bucks finished?
And that crowd is going to be on their side and they're going to be tuned up. And so they feel pretty good about that element of it and getting that extra day to prepare and break down and look at what, what went wrong and how to attack it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
Right. Yeah, Dave, I thought especially in the Laker game, they're seven for forty seven. But it was great ball movement to wide open shooters who always make them and they just missed tonight. I thought largely it was pretty good process. You know, there were a few maybe rushed or forced shots.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
But in general, the reason that they had 29 was I do think in the second half especially, they did start to pass those up and get downhill more. You saw Ant attacking the basket. You saw Nasri doing it. You saw DiVincenzo go into the basket. And so I do not think this was a case of just irresponsibly chucking. They were missing shots. And, you know, it is –
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
Weird, I would say, because this is the team that had the fourth highest three-point percentage in the league during the regular season and the fifth most makes in the league during the regular season. So this is a very, very good three-point shooting team. No one made more threes in the regular season than Anthony Edwards did. And he was one for five. He was 0 for 11 in the Lakers game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
So, I mean, it's probably just a little slump, but...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
i did see as we got into that second quarter and the the bricks kept coming you saw it looked like guys were a little gun shy as yeah it's almost like they got the yips a little bit yeah right and and so you could see like everyone when they were taking a shot was trying to make three of them to make up for all these misses and i do think that the weight of that was on their shoulders a bit
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
You know, I think that it was more so what Rudy Gobert said was they were a step behind all game long because, you know, they did lose the rebounding battle 51 to 41. And the Wolves can't do that. Like, that just cannot be, you know, Jimmy Butler, Draymond, Buddy Heald at eight rebounds.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
Yeah. Yeah. And Jimmy had seven offensive rebounds. I mean, that's just getting outworked. And so I don't expect that to happen going forward. But another reason it was really disappointing is because that is an area.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
of the game that is usually about effort julius randall said it he had three rebounds in the whole game like that's impossible for for someone like him so um it seemed more of a product of you know i don't want to attribute it all to rust but there was definitely a lack of edge and urgency that the wolves lost i mean they really chewed up the Lakers in five games.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
I mean, they attacked them and went right at them. And I feel like this was just felt different all game long. They just did not feel like they had that same connectivity, that same edge. Yeah. Right. To start the game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
yeah i i and i don't know if it this was a case of like the big stage i'm not sure that it was that at least from my perspective dave i think it was more of just like hey wake wake up wake up yeah yeah this is not you you're asleep right now and this team that just went through a battle in game seven has that edge and is playing like their life depends on it rudy gobert said that they were they were playing like their life depends on it and we weren't and that i think that's exactly
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
Yeah, I really don't know, Dave, because I do. I do think this is going to be the worst that the wolves play in this series. And it just like he is the center of their universe. Everything revolves around him. And I thought. You know, kudos to Jimmy and Draymond and Buddy and everyone for the way they picked up the slack once he left. But it's one thing to do that for two or three quarters.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
It's another thing to do that for whole games. You know, one game even more. You know, I guess I would be surprised. If he doesn't miss multiple games. So I just think that it becomes really, really difficult for the Warriors to score. I mean, I looked at some of those lineups out there tonight. You know, it was Jimmy and, you know, Pat Spencer is getting run. Pat Spencer.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
Yeah, he was good, though. Yeah, exactly. You know what? Hey, kudos again. They played really hard. They earned this victory. But it just seems like if you extrapolate this over the course of the next five or six games, it really just becomes difficult to see an avenue for the Warriors to win. If they do, it will be one of the great achievements in NBA playoff history. I really believe that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
He should get it right now. Steve should get it right now after Kenny is down 0-2. Playing 13 guys.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
He actually did. It was terrific.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
Yeah, Dave, I mean, they come into this series with home court advantage. They played really well against the Lakers and just handled them. And then you have the fans getting all geeked up because they're facing the two biggest villains in Timberwolves lore, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green. And I do think that they...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
wanted to come in and set a tone right away and just say that, hey, this is going to be our series. We are the better, deeper team, and we're going to show what we can do. But instead, Steph goes out with an injury, and they just played so flat, and they were so poor from a shooting perspective. And then even when they really needed to lock down defensively, they were just missing assignments.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
It was... One of those things where the Warriors, 99 points, 39% field goals, 18 turnovers. This was a team that was so beatable. And in a long series, are they going to be okay? Yeah, there's a good chance of that. But you just know that you never want to give away games, especially against a team like this, and give them some belief. And so I think that's why it's so disappointing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
Yeah, exactly right. And so, you know, they have the benefit of more time here. But you just like in these playoffs, whenever you have a team that you that down, you have to get the win anytime you can. And and so that's why, you know, everyone was massively disappointed with the effort, with the execution, with all of it coming out of this game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
Yeah, I mean, Chris Finch was very frontal about Anthony Edwards and just said that he expects him to set a tone from the start that didn't set. I mean, he started 0 for 10 from the game. He had one point in the first half. He still rebounded well. He made a few plays defensively, but he also missed points. But he healed on many assignments defensively as well.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
And so Finch was really kind of as critical of Ant as I've seen him. He was really frustrated with just the lack of finishing at the rim, with the lack of urgency. from Anthony Edwards. Ant was a little more pragmatic about the situation, and that's typically what Ant is after a loss. He's very rarely one to sound the alarm, to really add fuel to the fire. He just said, I didn't play well.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Pacers down Cavs again + are the Warriors done without Steph?
I've got to play better. We all have to play better as a team, but I'm not here to blame anyone and just move forward. Ant's trying to move forward. I think Chris Finch was definitely more frustrated just knowing the opportunity that they let slip through their fingers.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
Now you're starting to see a loss of not just chemistry out on the court, but really belief in what's going on. There were so many plays in which the Sixers were disconnected. They felt as if they were talking on defense. People weren't moving their feet. I mean, it looked like the Sixers realize the situation they're in and they're like 20 games only won this season. We're way under 500.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
I appreciate your self-censorship. Right. The self-censorship was amazing. And I'm so happy that you brought up Jalen Clark. You took the words right out of my mouth. Between his length as well as Jaden McDaniels, especially at the top of that zone that they were doing, you could see that the OKC guards were so bothered. And now they've kind of laid out a
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
a blueprint for the rest of the league in terms of what to do with OKC and tiring them out and then making them feel uncomfortable and speeding up their offense. So I'm curious to you, John, is this game more of a tell for Minnesota and what they're capable of? Or is it more of a tell of OKC and how easily they can be disrupted?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
What are the chances we're going to be in the play-in? Maybe we mail it in.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
The biggest way that the true competitor in Ant Edwards came out to me, yes, those plays were massive, but it was in that post-game interview with the Timberwolves inter-arena host in which you saw Ant Edwards with a smile plastered across his face as his teammates were being interviewed about their comeback. He was so excited about the way they played
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
The way that they came back, which he, I'm not going to say had nothing to do with, but for the most part, didn't have anything to do with. And he was so just genuinely happy for the win and for how they played. That to me is like why he's viewed as such a superhero because he's a dog. He wants to get the win and he doesn't care who does it. And he got that tonight.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
Imagine if you're Joel Embiid and you've been putting all of your effort to try and get back on the court. You've been playing through this inflammation. You've been playing through this pain. Imagine if you're Tyrese Maxey, who in the absence of Joel Embiid and Paul George was burdening 40 something minutes, a quarterback.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
every night trying to keep this team afloat while those two were getting back on the court. I mean, there's so many reasons that you would be disappointed if you're a Sixers player, let alone a fan that believed this was the season that they could elevate to the top of the East. It's disappointing all around.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
And it's really disappointing to hear a Nick nurse, you know, be asked about the situation with Joel Embiid and, and you're learning, okay, today is a, there was a test and that's why he was sidelined and he was benched. Uh, It just seems vague. You're not getting real answers. It's disappointing all around.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
It doesn't feel as if the organization really has grasp on what they're doing and moving forward and how to get, make the best of the situation.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
They've really got to find a way to play themselves into that position. And that also means disappointing the fan base. And that's the worst part, right? Like you've got these people that want to play and fight for what the Sixers were supposed to be this season, but it's way too late for that. That's a foregone conclusion at this point.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
And now it's accepting the fact that you hope to get a top six protected draft pick.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
Well, if you guys have been listening to the NBA Daily since we launched, I've been saying Cade Cunningham is a star for a min-min.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
And I'm just really happy that he is validating everything that I've been saying and just being able to continuously put up these 30-point performances, creating for his teammates, creating for himself, coming off of screens, just attacking the basket, doing everything right that he's capable of doing. But what was not...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
predicted for detroit was just how good his supporting cast would be around him namely asar thompson asar thompson came back after you know his blood clot incident playing only 20 minutes a game still trying to find his way through the game and the feel of the game 24 minutes now a game 13 points almost six rebounds but the defense This man is in passing lanes.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
And for a rookie, he knows exactly where to be when it comes to help defense to be able to find his way to help off ball, to get on back on his defender, to chase down blocks. I mean, we've seen something similar. Yeah, his twin in Houston. But it has taken a little while to be able to see, you know, a star ascend to that level of play. Jalen Durant said it best tonight.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
I've never seen anyone like him. Like he might be, he does everything. That's what he said. He does everything. And so you've got a Desar Thompson that can be counted on to do everything. You've got three vets in Tobias Harris, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Malik Beasley, who is currently shooting the lights out in the last seven games that they've won, shooting over 51% from three.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
So you got these three veterans doing exactly what they're supposed to do. And then, Kate Cunningham is finally getting to become the star that he is. J.B. Bickerstaff, bravo. Bravo. Because he has taken this team to another level. They've won 32 games this season. That's more games than they've won in the last two years combined.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
I absolutely think they have a shot. Because one thing that Detroit has is that chip on their shoulder. They have this scrappiness to them that I think a lot of teams have underestimated all season. And it's funny, we're going to talk about this Minnesota OKC game. And when you think about who... Minnesota in that late game. It was the youth.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
It was the young guys being able to come in and have a point to prove against these veteran players. Now, I can see a situation in which the Knicks get a little comfortable against a team like an Asar Thompson that wants to come out and fight and play hard. Cade Cunningham, who feels as if he has a point to prove to make sure he's not an empty calories player on a bad team, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
And they finally have some veteran presence that can be able to assess players the talent across the ball from them. A Tobias Harris, a Malik Beasley, a Tim Harvey Jr. that can look at a Jalen Brunson and a Carl Anthony Towns and find a way to pick and roll them to death and take advantage of the fact that they're not so great on defense in that category. So I absolutely think they have a chance.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
It's going to be a matter of who has the consistency and their aggressiveness all night long.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
I was like, wait, what? I mean, 16 and 0 run in the fourth quarter, 41 points scored by the Timberwolves in the fourth quarter. We've been talking about them all season long about this up and down team that hasn't quite figured out their offense. Where does Julius Randall play in this mix? Where does the whole team is reeling after Carl Anthony Towns has left? Julius Randle isn't playing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
Rudy Gobert is not playing. Dante DiVincenzo is not playing. And here you go, as you mentioned, this ragtag group coming together. What do you think this really says about the Minnesota Timberwolves in terms of what they have in the coffers, like what they could pull out for the rest of this Western Conference?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Timberwolves comeback from down 24 to shock Thunder
Yeah, there's just been so many aspects of this team piling up. Of course, we all know about the Joel Embiid issues. We've talked about the fact that Paul George just joined back into this mix, and they should have been playing together all season long and building this chemistry. Even last night, Yabusella gets hurt and goes to the back room. I mean, there's been so many factors at play, but...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Strike Timberwolves + SGA MVP
When you don't have Julius Randle to kind of help with that physicality with just the bucket getting, it just really becomes very hard to keep up with the Thunder offensively. And that's what we kind of saw in that game. They just could not find enough buckets offensively. to keep up in the track meet with OKC when, when, when Randall's struggling.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Strike Timberwolves + SGA MVP
Yeah, I mean, it was a really good adjustment from him to attack the rim even more. I mean, Oklahoma City packs the paint, and they do everything they can to take that away. But I just think that Ant was hell-bent on getting there in Game 2, and he really just put the pedal to the metal, got downhill, and started to create things. And even...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Strike Timberwolves + SGA MVP
On the empty possessions, when that happened, it was always Ant driving and kicking to the corner for a wide-open corner three. Most of the time, they were missing them. And so the simplest thing is the hardest for the Timberwolves right now, and that's shooting the ball. And they were in the regular season. They were fourth in the league in three-point shooting. They shot it well.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Strike Timberwolves + SGA MVP
They shot above 37% as a team, and Ant was 39% from three on super high volume. Yeah. You go one for nine from three. They went 11 for 39 overall from three-point range. They just have not been able to hit in these first two games. I would credit OKC's defense a lot for that. The scrambling closeouts, the frenetic style that they're playing is speeding the Wolves' shooters up some.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Strike Timberwolves + SGA MVP
But ultimately, they are getting open looks, and they're missing a lot of those looks. And if they start to fall, if those shots start to fall, then this series can turn quickly. But if they don't, then it's going to be over very quickly.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Strike Timberwolves + SGA MVP
I mean, I, I would say it's more the shots as, because like, I mean, they, because they are in by nature, a team that turns the ball over a lot. Right. Um, I don't think they're going to get to a point where they're only committing nine turnovers in a game. Now I thought actually 14 tonight wasn't terrible. Um, but they did give up 22 points off of those.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Strike Timberwolves + SGA MVP
They gave up 31 points off of 19 turnovers in game one. Um, So really what I do think is like if you're looking at realistic pathways for them to turn things around here, I think the biggest thing is for them to knock down shots because we've seen them do that in the regular season at a very high clip. We've seen them do it and some games in the playoffs as well at a very high clip.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Strike Timberwolves + SGA MVP
So that is attainable. I don't know against this defense with a team that is careless by nature if it's realistic to ask them to really cut down their turnovers or
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Strike Timberwolves + SGA MVP
great deal I thought one of the things that Nikhil Alexander Walker talked about that was really an interesting and in telling was he said they have to do more than get by on their talent right and I do think in the first two rounds against a very flawed Lakers team against a very shorthanded Warriors team this this these Wolves could
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Strike Timberwolves + SGA MVP
win just on talent they didn't have to really play great basketball to win games against their opponents that they were facing the the thunder are a completely different animal like you have to play really good basketball to beat them and the wolves just haven't been anywhere close to that for most of these first two games the fourth quarter was a little something that they showed a little bit of a heartbeat but by and large they've been just pretty sloppy
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Strike Timberwolves + SGA MVP
Yeah, you know, yeah, you do look at it, you know, in game two in the fourth quarter, he didn't play Julius Randall barely at all. And Randall's been such a great player for them. Rudy Gobert sat down as well. And so one thing we saw in the regular season, one interesting kind of subplot here is that, you know, they split the regular season two to two.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Strike Timberwolves + SGA MVP
There was a three-game stretch where they played a very compact three games in February where Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert, and Dante DiVincenzo were all out. And you'd think, like, going into this series, like, oh, well, they got Randle and Gobert back. Like, you know, this is great for them. But I wonder just if in this specific matchup,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Strike Timberwolves + SGA MVP
If it's not better to go even smaller, even sleeker with your with your lineups. Right. Nas Reed at the five. Jaden McDaniels at the four. And, you know, some combination of DiVincenzo and Nikhil Alexander Walker and Mike Conley in the on the wings in the backcourt, because that was what got them their two wins against Oklahoma City was getting up and down.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Strike Timberwolves + SGA MVP
Like running with them, staying with them at that pace. Right. Yeah, exactly. And then blitzing Shea in the in the half court, getting the ball out of his hands, making other players beat him. Jalen Williams has played really well in the series so far, but testing that a little bit more might be an option for Chris Finch.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Strike Timberwolves + SGA MVP
You know, I do think like I don't blame him for these first two games really trying to stay with what got them here. and lean into being big, seeing if that'll work. But it so far has not. And so now it's becomes like a kitchen sink thing, I think, where you got to be willing and open to anything.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Strike Timberwolves + SGA MVP
And so maybe they do with this day off and then getting ready for game four or game three on Saturday. Maybe they do look back a little bit more at those games that they won and see that, you know what? You just got to run with a man.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Strike Timberwolves + SGA MVP
You just got to turn this thing into a windshield wiper game and see if you can get a rhythm offensively by getting out in transition and finding finding shooters in the flow. And so that's something I'm watching for a little bit going into the weekend here.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Strike Timberwolves + SGA MVP
Yeah, I mean, it's it's really difficult because, you know, Julius has been so good for them all playoffs, really consistent. And I think he's averaging like 24 points before tonight, before the game. And and then he has six points left. Five rebounds, two for 11 from the field. He was shooting over 52% from the field coming into game two and just couldn't buy a bucket.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Strike Timberwolves + SGA MVP
This is a team in the Thunder, a 68-win team in the regular season, the heavy favorite in this series. This is a game and a series where you need your stars. Anthony Edwards played well, was more aggressive in this one. He wasn't game one, but
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
Yeah, I mean, regular season-wise especially, right up there, man. And I've covered this team 21 years now. And you just think about all the twists and turns. I mean, I thought that thing was lost and won seven different times. Jokic is...
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
the most insane player I've ever seen with one of the most insane performances I've ever seen not coming off the floor for the last like 40 minutes of the game include, you know, if you include the halftime and then you have Ant going crazy, Nikhil Alexander Walker doing his thing and Russell Westbrook doing his thing in the worst of ways. It was the emotional twists and turns were insane.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
The whole way was amazing.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
Yeah, I would say this, and this is what I think made it different for the last game versus the other three and the five total, including the playoffs that came before it. There are times watching this Timberwolves team where you just know there are certain matchups that they get up for.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
They I think they've been really maddening, especially this year, because they will look really good against teams and then they will play Washington, Utah, you know, one of these lower teams and just really look terrible. But Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels love to play against Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr.,
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
Like for whatever reason, those when they see those guys in front of them, it's we're coming after you. And it's Devin Booker is another one of their favorite guys to torment. And and they have their way with Phoenix all of the time. But when you have the two twenty three, twenty four year olds that are really engaged and set the tone defensively, including offensively as well, defensively,
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
the wolves are just different. And there are times when Jane McDaniels looks a little bored out there with some matchups. There are times when Anthony Edwards isn't making the right decisions, isn't locked all the way in, but against Denver, they want to get in there and take them apart piece by piece. And a lot of the times they do.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
And that's what made the last game kind of more impressive to me, even though Maureen and Porter were out, those are usually the guys that really kind of stoked the fire. And for the Wolves to overcome that and play the way they did and win that game, even without that internal motivation that they usually have, that said something to me.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
Because I see a different look in Anthony Edwards' eyes when he has Jamal Murray in front of him. And I see a different look in Jaden McDaniel's eyes when he is saying, I'm going to take Michael Porter Jr. out of this game and out of this league. And that's what happens. And then Jokic can get as many points as he wants.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
And if the other guys are not hurting them, the Wolves are usually in pretty good shape that way.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
Yeah, I wrote about it at The Athletic because I swear to you, Ryan, I've been in locker rooms for 20 plus years and I have never seen such reverence, such respect doled out from the opposing team before. to an opposing player as we saw after 61, 10 and 10 against them on, you know, the other night, Julius Randall sat in his locker room in front of his locker. And I went up to him and I just said,
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
how does your body feel after going to war with that big dude for 50 minutes? And he said, I feel terrible. My body feels awful. It is a 15 round fight the whole way. And he said, I don't know what to do with him. He said, he does nothing. these turnaround fadeaways off one leg and his touch to get the ball onto the rim at any angle, as soft as possible is impossible.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
He just said it like, and his eyes were wide. And this is a, you know, multi-time all-star former face of the franchise in New York. This isn't some scrub who is like in awe of a star. This is a, a well-established 11 year vet who was saying this. And then we went over to Anthony Edwards and I am telling you, Ryan, Anthony Edwards never gives flowers to anyone besides Kevin Durant. Like,
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
He is just this super prideful guy. He was quoted in the Netflix documentary saying, I don't look up to anyone in the league ever. And that's his mentality. He was once at a Nike event when he was in high school, and there was a bunch of stars around. And he sat in the corner, and someone went up to him and said, Ant, why don't you go
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
talk to some of these players and kind of soak up a little bit of this. And Ant's like, man, I don't got time for this. I mean, you told Barack Obama to stand down. And like, I mean, this guy does not get flattered by anything, doesn't get in awe. And we talked to him and the first things out of his mouth were, Nikola Jokic, bruh, oh my God.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
And like he went on for a minute just talking about how good Jokic is, how impossible it is to stop him, and just the sheer insanity of his skill level and what it's like to try and figure him out. And so I just, it really struck me in that locker room that you just never hear players, especially these guys, talk with that kind of respect and reverence for another person.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
And they could not stop gushing about Nikola Jokic.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
Yeah. I remember Ryan right after the trade kind of, I, I even hit you up kind of on the side and, and we're just kind of talking through things a little bit. And, and,
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
The immediate messaging, both publicly and privately, from the Timberwolves after the cat trade was, this is a long-term play to give us the flexibility that we need to build around Anthony Edwards to get out of that second apron eventually, to open up some more team-building mechanisms that the CBA prevents us from having when we're in that apron.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
And with Carl Anthony Towns' contract, that was going to be almost really difficult to do and still put a good team around Ant. And so there was the larger picture of long-term planning, making sure everything is sustainable going forward for the next four or five years. But also, there was a belief internally that with this trade, Gideon Randall and DiVincenzo, four towns,
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
they thought that they might be a little more versatile going into the playoffs matchup-wise. Maybe they're a little tougher. And maybe they actually do have a chance to, in the immediate future, still be as successful as the team that went to the Western Conference Finals. And I think early on, it certainly wasn't there.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
And one of the biggest reasons is when you talk to people about the process of learning to play with Rudy Gobert, That is a different kind of animal, a different kind of teammate to learn, to figure out, to understand than your average big man in the paint. He just does things differently. He operates differently offensively. He has a... more idiosyncrasies you have to learn to figure out.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
Mike Conley's told me it took him a full year in Utah before he really understood the best ways to work with him, where he wants the ball, all of these different things. And I do think in the early first couple of months, DiVincenzo and Randall were struggling to figure out how to play with Rudy.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
I think Rudy who at Carl Anthony towns was as open to playing with Rudy as anybody on last year's team and was really helpful for go bear and getting kind of acclimated with him gone. I think Rudy had to adjust to these new guys and they did not look good. The offense was terrible. The defense was slow, but I think slowly over the course of the last several months, Rudy,
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
they have found their rhythm together. They are operating on a string defensively a lot better. It's not what it was last year, but it's still much better. Rudy is starting to get involved in the offense with – Julius Randle giving him little lob passes, Dante DiVincenzo finding him and just giving him enough touches so that he is engaged on the other end of the court at a much higher level.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
And then finally, the other piece that I think is really important to their success is since January 1st, they have the fifth best offense and the fourth best net rating. And and one of the reasons Mike Conley is not looking like the washed up player that he looked like early on. He's shooting the ball great. He's playing much better defensively. He is the adult in the room for them.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
And he's been terrific in March. And he started turning around in February. And that's just so big for a team that doesn't make really good decisions. A lot of the times to have a quarterback and a reliable guy, a point guard has really solidified. And so now they look like a team that if they get the right matchups, things go their way. They could win a round or two.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
They could, I really believe that they could also lose two in the play-in and, and be done with this. That's just been how frenetic and Jekyll and Hyde they've been. Yeah.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
Oh, it'd be a disaster.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
Yeah, I think so. What we've seen from Finch so far this season is that there have been times where he has closed with Rudy on the bench. There's been times he's closed with Randall on the bench, with Conley on the bench. There are no sacred cows with him.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
I think there's been a little frustration within the fan base, especially in the first couple of months, that he kind of really stuck to an eight-man rotation and didn't really maybe incorporate Shannon or Dillingham or a few of these other guys a little bit more just to try and get them some run and see if they brought a different dimension.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
But when it comes to closing time, when you're leaning on your dudes, he has proven to be pretty versatile and pretty elastic with what the game requires. What would be interesting in a Lakers series is even though when they go small, they kind of play play big, and I would worry about how the Wolves would close possessions in terms of getting rebounds.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
They are kind of vulnerable to offensive rebounds, especially when Rudy is off of the floor. And the other part of a Lakers matchup is that Luka Doncic is one of the very few players in the league that isn't bothered one bit by Jaden McDaniels. And so how they defend that part of the equation would be a concern. But I do think that overall, to your point, in a playoff series,
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
Chris Finch will eventually, I would say even by game three would, would say, all right, you know, I'm going to give my best guys the chance. And if that's not working, I'm changing things up. He famously sat D'Angelo Russell against Memphis a few years ago. And, and so he has proven to show that he'll do what it takes.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
And that might mean some hurt feelings every once in a while and managing things, but you know, they got to win games and that's, that's what he's made the priority.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
Yeah, I really think it was, Ryan. When you look at how that game was going, Detroit was handling the Wolves. It was 34-20 after the first quarter, and they were doing what the Pistons do to their credit. I mean, they were physical, they were... pushing people around. They were the aggressors in every sense of the word in that first quarter.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
And you could tell when Dante DiVincenzo came into the game that he saw that his teammates were getting bullied and said, I'm going to stand up here. And, you know, somebody has got to follow me into this fight. And so what happened was as soon as he hit the floor, he started ramping up the physicality and he went right at Dante. Isaiah Stewart.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
I mean, it's like, you know what they say in prison, go at the biggest guy first and see what happens. And that's exactly what Dante did. And and I think a few possessions into that. I think that everyone in the arena and certainly everyone on the Wolves bench understood that this was about to pop off if the officials did not really crack down and they didn't.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
And so Dante took it upon himself to say, look, man, we are not getting punked here in our own building. And do I think he maybe overreacted a little bit? He absolutely ramped that up from a skirmish into like a potentially dangerous situation going into the stands the way that he did.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
But after the game, the Wolves really did respond well to it and felt like, hey, here was one of our guys, one of our new faces that was going to bat for us. And we came back and got the energy and took the game that they needed. But also, I think that there's more of a togetherness now even than before. I think they needed to have some kind of a scrap there.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
And one thing that this team was missing early on in the season, Ryan, was Kyle Anderson. And not necessarily from a play standpoint, although they did miss that, but he was like The resident asshole in the locker room.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
Totally. And he's a Jersey guy. And even so, it's both on the court, but also in the locker room, too, when they were, you know, whenever last year's team was not doing what it was supposed to be doing. It was Kyle Anderson getting in people's faces, being a little ornery and being like, look, we got to knock this stuff off and get back.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
and start, you know, put our big boy pants on and get out there and do it. And so I, you know, they miss that presence in the locker room. And I think Dante is stepping into that role a little bit as sort of the fiery ornery dude that is going to maybe tell some truths, maybe, you know, rat waffle some feathers, but then when you're out on the court, he is fighting for you.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
And I think they need some of that edge. And, and that was a big productive moment. for them was kind of responding. And then not only, you know, getting into the fight and doing that. And he came to Nas's aid and there was a point in that scrum where he like threw Stewart off of it and would push like five people back while his back was against the wall.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
And that's a visceral reaction that they really reacted to. And I think that will carry well, you know, going forward and into the playoffs, if things get heated.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
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The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
Oh yeah.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
Yeah.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
A CFB View of This NFL Draft With Bruce Feldman. Plus, How Dangerous Are the TWolves, With Jon Krawczynski.
Yeah.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
They ran out of guys and Jonathan Kaminga actually got on the, Steve Kerr looked on the bench like, Is Bogan available?
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
Oh, my God. Six. I'm going to do the LeBron flex on that one.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
Is this segment from 2021?
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
I'm going to get up like this and do the doc where I just bend over at a completely right angle. How does he do that? I can't even do it properly.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
I'm doing great, man. Great to be on the new version of The Great Show. Let's do this, man.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
Right down the road.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
We did do that. That's for sure.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
Yeah, you're right. It's been hard to get a handle on it. What I've looked at in the first two games is if... the Lakers are not going to score a hundred in the game. The wolves are going to win the series. Like, I think that's where they want to live. But the big question is going to be for me on the wolf side of things is, can they keep their composure enough against Luca and LeBron and
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
To stay in these games and and not let them get away. I thought that actually game two was pretty impressive for the Wolves to come back the way that they did. And they really played poorly offensively. And so if they can find a way to just, you know, they don't have to shoot the lights out like they did in game one, but they just have to.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
be more composed more organized than they were in game two and they should be in good shape but man when you are facing lebron and aluka in a series it is a torture chamber and so i i don't know what's going to happen in the series right now but i do think that the wolves feel confident with how they played defensively out of these first two games that that they'll be okay here
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
Yeah, it was a big conversation point after the game. I thought Anthony Edwards had a very interesting answer about it. He said that he felt what he was seeing in front of him was the Lakers going to almost a pseudo zone where he would see things right in front of him and then they would shift into a little bit of a zone. And
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
What we have seen from the Timberwolves this season is zone defense's death. We saw it in the Milwaukee game. They gave up a 24-point lead in the fourth quarter because the Bucs went zone.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
Yes, please, please. It was a disaster of epic proportions.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
In the fourth quarter, 10 minutes ago.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
Yes, I was there. It was inexplicable to me. it was a circus of like, I have never seen either at this 21st season on the beat. And you know, Zach, I've seen some really bad basketball teams in Minnesota over the years. And that was as bad as I have ever seen any team play for any extended stretch. And, and so I do think that is,
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
a little bit of a concern for the Wolves in this series in terms of if they're seeing a little zone and don't know what to do with it. Mike Conley does not have a great matchup in this series. And so his minutes are limited and his production is limited. And when he is not...
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
a factor offensively, you said it, Zach, the, the, the wolves deep or the wolves offense becomes mindless in, in, in a way. And, you know, if they hit a bunch of threes, if and is getting downhill, it can work, but that is the big, uh, Just Achilles' heel for them is if you make them think through a stretch of offensive game, it usually goes poorly for the Wolves.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
And so that's what we saw in game two is you just saw them not be able to get a handle on where they were supposed to go, how they were supposed to move, and it resulted in awful shots, awful shot selection, and letting a game go that they very easily could have won. You hold a team to 94 points on the road, you should win that game. And they just... They were never really in it.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
Incredible goaltend. He was absolutely furious. He couldn't believe the call. It's the most obvious goaltend I've ever seen.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
Yeah, and I think that especially, Zach, the most disappointing thing to the Timberwolves was they took 25 threes in the game. Now, they didn't shoot well at the start, but what they needed to do was move the ball a little bit and keep shooting threes like they do. They're one of the best three-point shooting teams in the entire league. And so to go away from that...
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
it looked like they all just wanted to attack to the middle of the zone and do something that was beyond their capabilities. And, and so I think they got into a mental game of, okay, we have to take this control back some other way when they just make the easy play. And they just did not do that over and over again, passed up three pointers. You know, what, what,
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
passed up the easy matchups that were out there and, and made it harder on themselves. And that's why they were just, you know, what they shoot. Yeah. 38%, 20% from three. It was, it was grueling to watch.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
Absolutely drives me crazy. There was one play in game two where Luka got Rudy in the ISO, made a really creative, crafty move, comes down to the baseline, hits an unbelievable shot. It was really, really fun. It was really impressive. And social media lights up. Oh, he caught a body. Oh, yeah. but he was one for four against Rudy in that game.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
And I honestly thought Zach that in the fourth quarter, in the second half, one of the reasons that the wolves were able to cut into that lead is because Luca did seem kind of hell bent on. I'm going to embarrass this dude. Like I'm going to put him in one-on-one. I'm going to cross him over. I'm going to step back. I'm going to go buy him.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
And I am going to put this guy on the sports center top 10. And, and it really kind of, bogged down the Laker offense for a little while. And, and so I do think that Rudy has done a really good job in that matchup. And for, you know, anyone to say otherwise, because Luca gets him once or twice. I mean, that's just disingenuous. It's ridiculous.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
you are a hundred percent correct on the offensive side of things. And I will say this on Rudy and defensively, he's got to grab more rebounds, man. There's been a few times. It's just, they've glanced off his fingers. He hasn't been able to get his hands on it and end the possession. He's just got to do a better job there. But one-on-one against Luca, he's been fine. And yeah,
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
offensively, one of the reasons I was optimistic about the Timberwolves going into this series is in the last month or so leading into the playoffs, they had really done a good job with Rudy getting him involved. Julius Randall, little, little drop lobs to him. Even Ant was finding him a little bit more. And Rudy was consistently 15, 17, 19 points, like really being a factor.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
Now he's playing terrible defenses, but, but you thought that maybe they could build on that and they haven't done that in the first two games. And so if he is going to be out there, if you're not just going to go with the Nas Randall front court, he does have to be more of a factor. He has to catch the ball cleaner. He has to, they have to find little lobs out of the dunker for him.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
He's got to get on the offensive glass better and create more second chances. That's the way that you hurt the Lakers. by going big with Rudy. And he has not done enough of that so far in these first two games.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
Yeah, absolutely. I think that it is no coincidence that the wolves were terrible offensively in game two and Nas Reed and Dante DiVincenzo were both in foul trouble early because what you, what we have seen from this wolves team all season long is, has been they generally start slow. They did in game one. They were down seven in the first quarter.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
Game one, I think they had 21 points in the first quarter. That starting group typically does not play well offensively at the start of games and digs themselves a hole. When the Wolves start to get control of the game is when they go to the bench and DiVincenzo and Reed and Nikhil Alexander-Walker all step in and the ball flies around.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
and they shoot threes and they move and they get out in transition. And when Reed went out early and when even Chenzo went out early, it took way too really of their most important offensive players. And so then it became a lot more of Julius Randall. I so, you know, he did well, like I give him credit against it.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
Yeah, he played really well. Here's the thing about that, though, too, Zach, is he did his job. And I think he recognized, hey, we got no other options. So I'm going to do this. I'm going to be a little more assertive. But when we have seen the Wolves at their worst is when it's Ant heavy ISO, it's Julius heavy ISO, and everyone stops and just watches. And
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
when they are at their best is when the ball is moving, when it's driving kick. And there was just a lot less of that because it was Randall going to work. And so it did sort of work for them because they shaved a 22 point deficit down to nine in the fourth quarter.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
But it also was really, it's hard to sustain that level of offense and really get yourself on any extended run when you're kind of going about it that way. So I think if I'm the Lakers, I want to invite that style of offense from the Timberwolves. And if I'm the Wolves, I want to avoid that.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
So game three will be important to reestablish some kind of flow, some kind of ball movement, drive and kick and get open threes and let them fly. And that's just what was not happening in game two. In part, because I will say this, Zach, Luka and LeBron were both just so much more active with their feet defensively. And I think that was, you know, they were very physical.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
They got their hands on people and they did all that, but they moved their feet a lot better and just made it harder for the wolves to generate some of that.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
Unbelievable. Two hands and got fouled, didn't get called. But like the force that he put, you know, I've seen every day, Aunt Dunk, that in his career, and he has had some unbelievable one. That's right up near the top. It was in traffic. It was against the big. It was two hands right on his head.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
John Collins. There's the Watanabe. Yeah. He had one in Phoenix in the Phoenix series that kind of ended the sons in the fourth quarter as they were burying him. He's had, you know, and he just had one towards the end of the season. Was it Utah or Brooklyn? I can't remember, but. just coming out of nowhere and throwing down as much as he does. Yeah.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
So he, I mean, he scrapes his knuckles on the ceiling. Like he, he can, and he throws it down. What did he say?
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
What did he get fined for? What did he say?
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
He was talking to a fan and the fan was chirping at Rudy and Rudy and, and aunt said, Rudy got 200 million. And Rudy said, no, actually I have 300 million. Rudy has 300 million and I have a bigger fan. blank than you and grabbed his crotch as he walked away. The first part was fine. The second part, probably don't need to be doing that.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
He was the 15th pick in the draft.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
He doesn't care. No, he cares not at all. I do think what the league is trying to do is say, Ant, man, you are the next guy. LeBron and Steph and KD are only going to be here for a little longer. We need you. to be right up there with Tatum, right up there with Luka, right up there with a few of the other guys to take the mantle.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
And so this was, I think, more of a, you know, kind of a career achievement award fine than like for this specific thing here. And so I think that was the crackdown. But I agree with you, Zach. Like, was I offended by that? No, I wasn't. I've seen and heard way worse things than that. But I think this is the league trying to, to make a statement and reign him in.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
A hundred percent. Yeah. I mean, I think like that was, but I understand I do why so many people pick the Lakers. You have Luca, you have LeBron, you have all this, but like, I really do think a lot of people who are Lakers and five, you know, even Lakers and six, we're not looking at the Wolves' numbers. 17-4 down the stretch, top 10 offense, top 10 defense, net rating in the top five.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
All of that stuff tells you that there is talent here if it's harnessed and plays the right way. My concern right now for them, Zach, is they typically have not been the greatest team at home. Like you think, oh, they split on the road. You go home, Target Center is going to be on fire. And believe me, Target Center is going to be ridiculous on Friday night.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
Like it's going to be on, you know, people thought crypto was loud. Nah. Wait until you get there for this, for the Lakers. It's going to be insane. But they were last year after the Phoenix series, they were one in five at home in the playoffs. They have had some of their ugliest performances at home this season, losing to the wizards, losing to a few other teams at home. So yeah,
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
they have to figure out something to get playing better there. But if they do, it's right there for them. I, they're deeper than the Lakers. They have, they have the ability to win this series and not only this series, but next series as well. So all of it is right there for them, but they have to get out of their own way to do that. And, and that's going to be the key composure and,
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
execution, organization. If they do that, they have the pieces to make this big run. But we do, we kind of have to see it happen first before you really believe that, yeah, this is actually happening.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
Lions Pub. The Lions Pub. Anytime, man. I'm just happy you're back. The league is better with you back here, Zach. And I'll buy next time we go to the Lions Pub. So come on in.
The Zach Lowe Show
Huge Playoff Takeaways With Kirk Goldsberry, Plus a Deep Dive Into Wolves-Lakers With Jon Krawczynski
Welcome to the Zach Lowe Show. It's Thursday morning. Three more playoff games in the books. I was up till 1, 1.30 watching film. I'm on no sleep. Let's go, Kurt Goldsberry.