Jason Timpf reacts to the biggest highlights from Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and the Dallas Mavericks' 108-105 Game 1 win over Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns, and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals. Jason breaks down Luka and Kyrie's big nights, what went wrong for the Wolves, and shares his main takeaways ahead of Game 2 in Minnesota. #Volume #Herd
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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(02:16):
You're at the volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody, hope all if
you guys are having a great week so far. Game
one of the Western Conference Finals was a barn burner,
super entertaining game, very different than any series we've seen
to this point. I'm excited to get into all the details.
We're gonna break it down, then get out of here
for the night, and then we'll do a film session
tomorrow morning. You guys know the drive before we get started.
Subscribe to our brand new YouTube channel so you don't
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(02:37):
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Speaker 2 (02:49):
All right, let's talk some basketball.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
So simply, as a basketball fan, I really appreciated just
how different this series looked than Minnesota Denver, and it's
a very fascinating example to me of how matchups dictate
a lot of what happens on a basketball court instead
of talent. That's what's fun, right. If it was just talent,
be a lot easier to predict these sorts.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Of things, right.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
But as my friend Mark Titis once said, basketball is
more art than science, right, and it just a lot
of it is just about these magical kind of ingredients
mixing together to make a certain thing, rather than just
accumulating talent and seeing if that manifests on a basketball court. So,
for instance, Dallas and Denver or these are two of
(03:32):
the top three teams that I had in my contender
rankings coming into the postseason, and they're very different in
the way that they're constructed.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Right.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Like one of the things I pointed out in the
series preview, Dallas is a very different defense than Denver,
and a better defense than Denver in my opinion. Even
though the defensive rating in the regular season was higher
for Denver, it was more of a static thing. Over
the eighty two games. Dallas down the stretch of the
season really nailed things down in terms of their processes
(04:01):
on the defensive end of the floor and hit a
level that Denver hasn't been able to get to. And
a big part of that is they're just more athletic,
They're more athletic on the perimeter, and they're much better
at protecting the rim. Denver was eighteenth and points in
the paint allowed per game this season. Rim protection is
not a strong suit of their So, just to put
it simply, going from a Entavious Callwell pope on the
(04:23):
ball on Anthony Edwards to a Derek Jones junior who
is a taller, longer, more athletic player, and then going
from Nikola Jokic on the back line to Derek Lively
and Daniel Gafford to more vertically athletic rim protectors. It's
just a fundamentally different type of matchup, right, manifested in
a massive differential in points in the paint scored in
(04:46):
this game. I think Minnesota only scored thirty eight points
in the paint in this game. How many times did
it feel like Anthony Edwards got downhill and drove to
the rim? Not very many, Right, We're going to get
into that in more detail later. Also, Dallas's offense attacks
in a very different way than Minnesota are then Denver's
offense attack right, Denver's offense is very much about interior passing. Right,
(05:06):
It's very much about Nikola jokicch drawing multiple bodies. Is
there a lot of like cutting along the baseline by
Aaron Gordon. It's a lot of operating out of Jokic
as the decision maker at the high post, whereas with
Luka Doncicch and Kyrie Irving, it's very much perimeter initiation.
The guy who sets the ball screen is simply just
(05:26):
rolling hard to the rim. And it's very classic four
out offense. Right, it's set the ball screen, roll hard
to the rim. There's a shooter in the left corner,
a shooter in the right corner, and a shooter on
the opposite wing. And it's just if you tag the roller,
we're throwing the skip pass and we're playing rotation basketball.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Out of that.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
You don't tag the roller and you stay home on
the roller, I'm shooting in the ball screen. If you
come to me on the on the ball screen, I'm
throwing the lob to a gafferter lively at the room.
It's a very very different type of offensive attack, right.
Like one of the things that worked for Minnesota against
Denver was funneling.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Right.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Funneling is what happens a ball screen when you get
trapped behind right. So like, if I'm dribbling off of
you as the ball screen at the camera there, and
there's an on ball defender guarding me as I drive
that way. If you said a good screen, he's gonna
get into trail position on me, right. And that's that
textbook drop coverage that we talk about all the time
in the NBA, where you have a guy chasing over
(06:20):
the top and trying to funnel you into your rim protection.
The difference is Jamal Murray's not very big, so Jada
McDaniels and Anthony Edwards when they would get trapped on
Jamal's backside, it was actually advantageous for Minnesota because in
those situations, if Jamal tried to shoot anything, they would
disrupt it or block it, and Jamal would have no
choice but to drive into their rim protection and it
(06:42):
would cause a lot of problems for Denver's offense. Luka Doncic.
He loves working with the player trapped on his backside,
and he's just a lot bigger than Jamal Murray is,
and certainly bigger than Jada McDaniels and Anthony Edwards. And
so again, in terms of just basketball matchups, this is
a very, very different type of series than the Denver
(07:02):
Minnesota series, and it's what makes it a very fascinating
challenge for both teams going in. So, like even just
looking back, kind of flipping the angle here looking at Dallas, right,
like Luka Doncic is playing against a damn middle linebacker
in lou Dort who's like super big and strong and
physical and gave Luca issues in terms of just his
(07:25):
physical ball pressure everywhere on the floor. Jada McDaniels is
a player that's regarded as a better perimeter defender as Loudort.
I think they're on similar levels, but Jada McDaniels is
considered at least on the same level. Right, Luca looked
way more comfortable against Jada McDaniels. You know why, because
length doesn't bother Luca the way that strength hands. Sometimes
(07:46):
Luca's best advantage as an athlete is he's just bigger
and stronger than you. Right, So lou Dort was able
to challenge that, you know, Jada McDaniels was not right,
and so it's just fundamentally different. Like another thing too,
Like Anthony Edwards, as we talked about this preview, he
can really lock in defensively when the chips are down
and be one of the best defenders in the world
(08:07):
when he needs to be. But one of the things
we talked about in the series preview is he chills
a lot on defense. Like there's all this conversation about
Ant being the best two way player in the world.
That can only happen when Ant actually has the level
of conditioning and commitment to do it throughout entire basketball games. Like,
it's not the same as like Cason Wallace or Jalen Williams,
like really devoting their energy to guarding Anthony Edwards. I
(08:30):
thought didn't do a good job on Kyrie Irving in
this game, and so it's fundamentally different perimeter matchups for Dallas.
So the point is these are very different basketball teams
playing very different opponents than they did in the last round.
And it's just kind of cool in terms of the
art of basketball that it manifests in a very different
type of basketball game. You know, it's interesting coming into
(08:51):
this show, I was half expecting to have a very
similar opening monologue to what I said in the Boston
game last night, which is, well, this is the best
case scenario because Minnesota led most of that game and
and very well could have stolen it, especially after they
went up what did they go up by four? I
think in pretty late there before Luka Dancic hit the
three off of the Derek Lively offensive rebound. Minnesota came
(09:14):
this close to escaping this game with a win, and
I thought Dallas badly outplayed Minnesota in every single phase
of the game except for knocking down three point shots.
That was the only thing that I thought Minnesota did
better than Dallas in this game. And so I was
about to be like, here we go again, another example,
kind of like Boston last night, where it's like they
have all of this stuff that they need to clean
(09:36):
up and maybe they end up getting out of there
with the win. Right, No, Dallas ends up winning, which
I thought was what was deserved. They played better basketball,
they deserved to win, and they did. And so that
I thought was kind of a fascinating subplot in this game.
The only reason it was as close as it was
and the only reason Minnesota had a chance to win
is they just shot the basketball better than Dallas did
(09:58):
in this game. They've got a lot that they need
to clean up. We will get to that a little
bit later in the show, I want to move the
attention to Luka Doncic. Luka Doncic was the best player
on the floor in this game by a mile I
talked before we get into some of the specifics I
talked coming into this series. We did a ranking the
playoff players with the NERD Slash guys last week on Friday,
if I remember correctly, and when we did the rankings,
(10:22):
I put Luka doncicet two and I put Aunt at
four if I remember correctly right. And one of the
big reasons why I said that is just I think
Luca's a better half court surgeon at this point. He
just is a little bit more experienced, a little more
comfortable at navigating all the different challenges and curve balls
and weird stuff that you can see in the half court.
But one of the things I talked about in the
series preview is what if Lucas knee is messed up,
(10:44):
And if lucasne is messed up, that might allow Ant
to close the gap. And the only chance that Dallas
has to win the series is Luca's got to be
the best player. He's got to be the best player comfortably.
And he was tonight and it was a big part
of how Dallas got to win. And again, I thought
this game was a lot lot more spread apart than.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
The score would lead you to believe that.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Like I thought Dallas badly outplayed Minnesota in this game
in large part because Luca badly outplayed Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
He was picking them apart in pick and roll.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
One of the things, like I talked about earlier Minnesota
was chasing over the top with Jada McDaniels right. Luka
Dancic has this size to keep you trapped on his backside.
It's one of his best traits as a ball handler.
He kind of positions the ball in front of him
and he kind of like does a reverse post up
where he's kind of working his way into the lane,
letting you kind of ride his backside in and then
(11:34):
if you happen to get too aggressive, he'll just rise
up and shoot and draw fout, which he did late
on Jada McDaniels right, or if you continue.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
To funnel him. All he's doing is methodically.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Working and reading go bear and reading the low man right,
and he's just kind of working down the lane. And
you saw it was like sometimes early in the game,
Go Bear wouldn't commit, and so then Luca would just
work to the block and then just kind of.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Take that little short four foot pop shit.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
That he's gonna make, you know, sixty sixty five percent
of the time, right every time go Beart stepped up,
it was just a simple wraparound pass too Lively or
Gafford underneath the rim boom dunk. Anytime some guy the
lowman actually came over and tagged the center, it was
just a whip pass across the court to a shooter
in the corner. That is where Luca is at his best.
And Stavin Gunny talked a lot about this in the
(12:21):
broadcast in terms of Luca operating and drop coverage. And
we're gonna go over some different options that We're gonna
go over some different options that Minnesota can go to.
But there's a big reason why I think Luca is
the second best player in the world, and it really
is this simple. He is capable of doing damage to
every single type of coverage. Like we're gonna talk about
(12:41):
some different options that Minnesota can go to, none of
them are good options. That's what keeps him on a
up on that level close to a guy like Nikola
jokicch in my opinion, the same thing with jokicch you
double him. He can beat you playing straight up, he
can beat you play ball. If he could beat you
in ball screens, he could beat you with every conceivable
coverage that you throw his way. Luca has a very
similar approach. Right, It's like he can go straight Iso.
(13:04):
He went straight Iso on the dagger against Jada McDaniels.
Didn't want to blitz because he knew if they if
I call a ball screen, they'll probably blitz. If they blitz,
it's gonna be somebody else on my team taking a shot.
I'm the one who trusts myself to knock this down,
So stay away. I'm gonna attack Iso, and he got
to his step back jumper and hit it on Jada McDaniels. Right,
(13:24):
there was a play in the fourth quarter where Rudy
Gobar switched on him.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Gobar actually won that battle and forced him to give
up the basketball. But like we know, Luca can beat
bigs on switches. That's been a big part of what
he's done in the NBA. You run a drop coverage, well,
he can just wait for you to chase over the top,
trap you on his backside, methodically work down in the
lane and just make a decision based on what the
guy on his backside's doing, what the rim protector's doing,
(13:48):
and what the low man is doing. He's just methodically
working in the lane making decisions right like he can
do it all, and that is what makes him such
a devastating player. And then he made a bunch of
huge defensive plays late in this game. I thought that
the play where Mike Conley attacked the closeout off the
left wing, he did a nice job of stunting up
(14:08):
at Conley to make him get rid of the basketball,
but then recovered back to tip away the pass from
Gobert at the rim. That was a huge play. Had
a huge defensive rebound late in the game. And most
importantly thought I thought in terms of his knee, he
looked fine.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
And here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
If his knee is fine and this is just a
much better matchup for him because he doesn't have a
middle linebacker guarding him, then he like he has potential
to just be the best player in the series throughout,
and if he is, Dallas can win. Dallas can absolutely
win this series. If Luca is gonna play this well.
I thought tonight was just a masterful performance from him.
(14:45):
I thought he was magnificent down the stretch of this game. Again, like,
even with everything with Minnesota that we talked about, we're
gonna get into more detail here in a minute. Even
with everything Minnesota did poorly, they almost shot well enough
and Dallas shot poorly enough for them to steal, for
them to steal for Minnesota to still win this game,
and Lucas snatched it for him. He made sure that
(15:06):
they closed the deal despite some poor shooting results. Typically
Captain Luca donchs that was a special playoff performance from him.
Kyrie irving a couple of specific things that I thought
Kyrie did that that worked really well. Anthony Edwards when
he's engaged athletically, is a deeply impactful defender, but he
has a lot of situations where he stands upright and relaxes,
(15:27):
and Kyrie attacked him a couple of specific things. Quick
changes of direction on the catch. He had a like
a floater in the lane off of a rip through
to the left early in the game, where like he
caught it off of the dribble handoff, and then when
ant was kind of like methodically, you know, nonchalantly getting
ready to chase him over the screen. He just ripped
(15:47):
back to the left and just toasted Ant off the
dribble got into the lane. I thought he did a
lot of work in semi transition, which is like that
phase between transition and the half court where you're like
everyone's in the half court, but no one's really set.
Defense had a lot of success there, A big one too,
A big difference between Anthony Edwards in this game and
Kyrie Irving and Luca. Kyrie and Luca attacked downhill in
(16:09):
the ball screen. And by the way, Minnesota's got rim
protection too, Like as good as Derek Lively and and
Daniel Gafford are, Rudy Gobert is a better rim protector
than those guys. But you just saw Kyrie and Luca
attack down hill with the pace regardless because they knew
that the benefits of them pressuring the rim, even if
they do miss some shots, is going to outweigh the
(16:30):
negatives like that, Like the uh there was a like
the offensive rebound that Derek Lively got late that got
kicked back out to Luca, the one where he waited
for Ant to close out and hit the step back.
That was the play where Rudy Gobert got engaged as
the rim protector. Like Lively and Gafford thrive off of
anything that engages the rim protector, and in order to
(16:52):
engage the rim protector, you have to attack down hill.
As a matter of fact, we're gonna get to it
with aunt Ant's got a lot that he can get
better at after after tonight, and he's gonna look at
that film and he's gonna he's coming off these screens
and he's not attacking. Whereas Kyrie every single time was
looking to get downhill, Luca every single time was looking
to get downhill. Even when they took pull up jumpers,
most of the time it was in closer towards the
(17:13):
basket while it was taking pull up threes. I thought
Kyrie was excellent. He poured in thirty points. And again,
like like with Anthony Edwards, like he talked a big
game after Game seven, but like it's gonna be a
challenge to guard Kyrie Irving. Kyrie Irving is a really
damn good basketball player, and he's gonna make you put
your money where your mouth is when you talk like
(17:34):
that and he won Game one of this battle. Dallas's
defense one of the things I talked about again coming
into the series, and I want to get into more
detail about it, the U them being more athletic on
the perimeter and more athletic underneath the basket. So Anthony
Edwards's supreme advantage is he's just got this preposterously quick
(17:56):
first step and he's you know, six five sixty six,
built like a super vertically athletic, and he's been deadly
as a pull up shooter over the course of.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
This playoff run.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
I pulled the numbers and put him on my Twitter
feed earlier tonight, but he's like, coming into tonight, he
was like one point three zero points per catch and
shoot jumper, which is outrageously good. One point zero seven
points per pull up jumper, which is really good. One
point five zero points per like face up jab step jumper,
which is like really really good. Like Ant's just been
amazing in pull up jump shooting situations, right, So like
(18:29):
it's it's that's what makes him so difficult to guard.
You have to have the quickness to keep him in front,
in the length to offer a contest on the pull
up jumper. Derek Jones did just an amazing job tonight.
He just found that sweet spot in terms of distance
between Ant where it kind of like made Ant feel
like he was baiting him into taking a pull up,
(18:51):
but he couldn't really get that much separation without a
ball screen. And then whenever he made some sort of
aggressive move, he was having trouble actually turning the corner
against Derek Jones Jr. Derek just did a really good job.
And then in ball screen situations, it's that bracket that
I talk about, right, It's Derek Jones and his ability
to chase an over the top and apply back pressure,
(19:12):
but it's also you've got this other seven footer who's
super athletic waiting for you at their rim. That combination
of rim protection in perimeter athleticism caused a lot of
problems for Minnesota's offense tonight. And so to tipic the
captain Dallas's defense, they've been fantastic throughout this entire postseason
run and the tail end of the season, they've been amazing.
One last guy I want to shout out for Dallas
(19:33):
before we get into some of the Minnesota stuff. PJ.
Washington really really struggled to shoot tonight. Staman Gunny I
thought did a really nice job on the broadcast of
talking specifically about how he was struggling above the break
but making shots in the corner. And by the way,
that's a schematic thing, like Carl Anthony Towns was guarding him,
and so when Luca would call Karl Anthony Towns into
(19:55):
the ball screen, when Carl Anthony Towns shows, Pj's at
the top of the the key setting the screen, and
then he's slipping, but he's slipping to the three point line,
and when he's slipping to the three point line, he's
at the above the brake. Rather than if Luca's attacking
somebody else in a ball screen and Pj's sitting in
the corner, then he can be the beneficiary of short
roll passing when Luca gets trapped, or if Luca is
(20:18):
in a drop coverage and they'd end up tagging the roller,
he can throw that skip pass right. So like by
virtue of PJ being involved in the screening action, so
Luca could attack Karl Anthony Towns. That was what put PJ.
Washington in a bunch of above the break three point
shooting situations where he hasn't been as good, but to
his credit, for as much as he struggled shooting, I
thought he hit the biggest shout of the night, that
one in that left, the one in the left corner.
(20:39):
I think Minnesota had gone up one o two, one
oh one if I remember correctly, Jaden McDaniels made this
like absolutely preposterous decision. I genuinely don't know what he
was thinking, or he kind of caught the ball in
that middle flash and then like just made an aggressive
driving move out of bounds and then like jumped and
(21:01):
went flying into camera row and then turned to throw
like a jump pass to somebody and ended up throwing
it right into one of the guys underneath the basket.
But in that sequence they immediately had a five on four.
Going out the other way, PJ. Washington got wide open
in the left corner and knocked down the biggest shot
of the game, which turned the It turned that Minnesota
(21:21):
lead into into something that was I can't remember if
it made a four point game into a one point
game or for a game in the lead. It was
a huge shot though, that PJ. Washington hit there in
the left corner. Again, I'll have a better fear for
feel for this stuff after we rewatched the game tomorrow,
But anyway, shout out PJ.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Washington.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
I thought that was a huge shot, especially after you
didn't shoot well throughout the rest of the game. Minnesota
so much stuff that they need to clean up, first
of all the ball screens. So I think that, like
I talked about earlier, there's nothing that's gonna work, right,
nothing works against a top three player in the world.
(21:56):
It just you just try to make it more difficult, right,
And so what do we know about Luka Doncicic right now?
With what he's doing well right now? Right, all his
short range shot making is dialed in. All the push shots,
hook shots, short range jumpers, those are all dialed in.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
We know he's gonna hick you apart with the lob
pass or the drop off pass to the big guy
underneath the basket, right, So I think the drop where
you chase over the top probably not a good idea anymore,
right because Jada McDaniels just doesn't bother Luca from behind,
and he just can methodically work down and bait in
the rim protector and throw those drop off passes. Right,
(22:35):
the blitz comes with its own share of issues. Now,
I think Minnesota can blitz for stretches as long as
their rotations are sharp. I did not think Minnesota played
a very good defensive game tonight in any facet. I
didn't think Gobar protected the rim as well as Lively
and Gafford did. I didn't think Aunt and Jade McDaniels
defended on the perimeter as well as Derek Jones Junior
(22:56):
and PJ.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Washington did.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Like, I didn't think they did nearly as good a
jo in any phase of the game. Right, So, like
that that's a big part of it. And I think
that Minnesota can do a better job blitzing than they did.
But I think the chasing over the top drop coverage
is no longer an option that they can go to.
What is Luca struggling with right now? He made I
think one tonight, maybe two he made the step back
(23:19):
off of the kickout, but like, uh, he hasn't been
shooting the three balls super well in this postseason, right, So, like,
one thing you can do is just have Luca operate
in pick and roll without Jaden on his backside, but
rather Jayden on his front side. Right, So one option
you can do there is just go underneath screens. So
obviously Luca could get going as a three point shooter.
(23:41):
If you do that, then you can react right again,
none of these coverages work. It's just about finding It's
like the it's like the cliche lesser of two evils, right,
you're looking for the best way to try to make
things difficult for Luca. Luca's not shooting the three super
well right now. Most of his misses tonight were way off.
So try ducking underscreens as opposed to chasing over the top.
(24:02):
It's the exact same coverage right like go Bear is
still in drop, but what you're doing is instead of
chasing Luke over the top and getting into trail position,
you're ducking under and meeting him at spots on the
other side of the screen. So Luca's counter to that
will be to use pullback dribbles as soon as Jaden
Duck's under the pick to try to shoot a pull
up three there. But maybe he's not making it well
(24:24):
enough for it to matter. That's one thing you can try. Switching.
They got to stop in the fourth quarter of this
game by just switching Gobart onto the ball right, Lively
and Gafford are not guys that typically attack in the
post super well. So you just put a put Jada
McDaniels switch onto the post guy, right, and then you
ask Rudy Gobert to try to defend Luca down to
john An Island. Yes, I know Luca can do damage
(24:45):
to go bear on An Island, but again, it's just
about trying to find something different that that does a
better job. Right, So I think I get the actual
deep drop chasing over the top. I just think lucas
too good for that. I think he's comfortable and too
big for Jaden McDaniels. I think he's too good at
baiting Gobert to where he needs Gobert to get for
(25:05):
him to throw that drop off pass or that lob
pass that I don't think is an option. I think
you mix coverages up with ducking, underpicks, switching and blitzing,
because those are gonna at least make things a little
bit tougher on Luca defensive rotations. In general, the game
of sixty two points in the paint tonight, I don't
care how good Luca is in ball screens. You just
have to do a better job in general in rotations.
(25:26):
You guys heard Rudy Gobert at the start of the
fourth quarter doing his interview. He specifically mentioned the lowman
has to be more engaged. What that means is when
Gobert steps up, you need to not make that a lob.
It needs to be a corner three because here's the thing,
or a drop off pass. I mean, the corner three
is gonna be worth for know pj WA Like for
shooters that are shooting really well, it might be worth
(25:48):
one point two points per possession. Right, A lob dunk
or a drop off dunk is worth two points per possession,
So you at least got to make him make a
jumper instead of having an easy dunk. That means when
Gobert's up on Luca, the guy guarding, the guy in
the opposite corner has to step in and guard the
center rolling to the rim. In general, I did not
think Minnesota had nearly the level of defensive intensity and
(26:11):
engagement that they had at the tail end of the
Denver series. That's your bread and butter. That's why you're here.
You're in the conference finals because you defend. So that
needs to be where they devote the majority of their
resources they have to do a much better job. And
then lastly, their offensive process. And this goes in two
different phases. Like I'll start with crunch time. A lot
of classic Minnesota Timberwolves crunch time offense that we saw
(26:34):
in the regular season in this game.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
They've been much.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Better in the postseason, but in the regular season this
was a god awful offense. In the in crunch time
they had a one h four offensive rating. It was
one of the worst in the league. In A big
part of it was just silly decision making from a
bunch of key players. Like I mentioned the Jada McDaniels
play like Ant's tired, so he throws the ball up
to Jade and he ends up kind of co opting
(26:58):
a possession. He drives out of bounds and then throws
some bizarre kick back pass underneath the basket that Mike
Conley play drives into the lane. If you watch that one,
Luca is kind of splitting the difference between Gobert and
Conley as he's driving. But Jaden, I think it was
Derek Jones, Yeah, Derek Jones. I can't remember who was
guarding Ant on the weak side. I think it was
(27:19):
Derek Jones. Derek Jones was guarding Anthony Edwards on the
weak side, and he left ant to come into the
lane to help on Mike Conley. So Mike Conley looked
and saw Luca in front of Gobert and saw Derek
Jones coming and Anthony Edwards was wide open on the
right wing. Is a poor decision. That's Mike Conley. That's
what he's out there for is to make good decisions.
He forces a lob that's not open, Luca turns it,
(27:40):
turns it back and they go the other way. Throw
a kickout past to Anthony Edwards for catching choo three.
He's been getting one point three points per catching chew
jumper in this postseason. Anthony Edwards again in crunch time
either completely disengaged or just looking for a pull up three.
So like in general, in their offensive offensive processing crunch time,
it looked way too much like the regular season. They
(28:01):
have to do a much better job on in the
meat and potatoes of the game. There was a lot
of good stuff. Carl Anthony Towns looked great throughout. They
had a lot of success running Horn's chest. Those of
you guys who've watched What's the Mind the game the
Show with JJ Redick and Lebron they've broken it down before.
It's a basic horn set where you have two guys
at the at the elbows, a guy at the top
(28:22):
of the key.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
He dribbles off Carl Anthony Towns this way, and Carl
Anthony Town's comes off.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Gobert, Ornazrit, whoever it is, comes off the opposite side.
You throw the skip pass and there's a three point
shot there right. Carl Anthony Town's had a lot of
success with that. He had a lot of success with
four or five pick and roll, which is basically just
have Gobert's at the screen, catworks down hill. He had
some lob passes to go bear that way. So they
had some success with offense run through Karl Anthony Towns.
The main thing they have to get way better at
(28:47):
is the offense run through Anthony Edwards. And again a
couple of key things. First of all, I understand you're fatigued,
but like you weren't defending well enough on Kyrie Irving
to actually justify being as tired as he was Conference finals, man,
and your team needs you to your team needs you
to create shots. So like the fatigue thing, I can't
accept that as an excuse. Like Aunt has to find
(29:08):
a way to power through that right Specifically, like I
mentioned earlier, when he was coming off of those screens,
he was looking at the rim protector in this case
go Gafford or Lively and just not applying any pressure
on them at Like Aunt applied almost no pressure on
the rim in this game, and it's like, that is
your superpower, Man, that is your superpower.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Now.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
To be clear with Ant, I haven't watched any of
the postgame pressers. Aunt's a high character guy and a
great leader. My guess is I'm gonna get on my
phone after this game and I'm gonna see some sort
of quote from Aunt saying like I played like dogshit,
I let my team down tonight. I need to be
better on Friday, and I believe Ant will be better
on Friday. But the reality is is in this game,
I thought Aunt was a major driver of their struggles throughout,
(29:53):
and a big part of it was just because there's
not some sort of clear obvious advantage like there was
against Denver, where you're just slashing down the lane and
getting easy lamps doesn't mean you don't try the rim
protector Again, like I talked about with Kyrie and Luca,
a lot of times, you just need to engage the
rim protector somehow, because if you do, that's where your
your waves of size coming on the weak size or
(30:14):
week side are rolling from the perimeter can do damage.
Right Like, if Gobert's rolling to the rim, he's not
gonna get the offensive rebound if Ant shoots to pull
up three, because if Ant shoots to pull up three,
Gafford or Lively can just turn and box out go
bear right. They're the only way you're gonna get any
sort of benefit there is if you turn the corner
on the ball screen and get into Gafford or Lively
(30:35):
and engage them. That way, you can either throw the
drop off pass or get something up on the rim. Now,
since Gafford or Lively are engaged on Ant, that is
where Karl Anthony Towns and Rudy.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Gobert can do damage on the offensive glass.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
And so again, like you know, a lot of times,
and this is it's a good thing in some ways,
and it's a bad thing in others, because, like ant is,
he did a really good job for stretches of game
Savage and for stretches of the last round and against
the Suns of like, Okay, they're loading up on me,
don't force it, make the extra pass. Let my teammates
go to work. And like, I get that, there's a
(31:10):
certain amount of that that you need to do. But
the reality is is you're the guy have to superpower.
You're the guy that has the ability to break this
defensive part with your downhill athleticism. At a certain point,
you need to force the issue. You need to turn
the corner, get into traffic, gets something on the rim,
or get a drop off pass to your bigs. And
the only way you're gonna do that is if you
turn the corner in those ball screens instead of constantly
(31:31):
settling or just throwing swing passes. Again, just a really
bad game from Anthony Edwards on both ends of the floor.
But again I expect that he will have taken accountability
for it and that he'll be ready to go on
Friday for Game two. So again, Minnesota a lot that
they can clean up. But tip of the cap to
Dallas tonight. I thought they came in and just put
(31:52):
on a clinic. I thought they out played Minnesota in
every phase of the game.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
I thought.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
They deserve to win, and they deserve to be up
one to zero in the series. This is going to
be a super entertain series. I'm super excited. We're gonna
get into the film tomorrow morning, So keep an eye
on my Twitter feed and on my YouTube channel. I'll
have a film breakdown up at some time, you know,
in that mid morning area. Just keep an eye on
my Twitter feed. I'll tweet out the links once it
goes live. As always, sincerely appreciate you guys. It means
(32:17):
a lot to me that you guys have rocked me
over the last couple of years. Has been fun building
this channel out. We will be back tomorrow morning with
the film breakdown, and then again tomorrow night for Game
two of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
I will see you guys.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Then the volume
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(02:16):
You're at the volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody, hope all if
you guys are having a great week so far. Game
one of the Western Conference Finals was a barn burner,
super entertaining game, very different than any series we've seen
to this point. I'm excited to get into all the details.
We're gonna break it down, then get out of here
for the night, and then we'll do a film session
tomorrow morning. You guys know the drive before we get started.
Subscribe to our brand new YouTube channel so you don't
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(02:37):
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throughout the remainder of the postseason.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
All right, let's talk some basketball.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
So simply, as a basketball fan, I really appreciated just
how different this series looked than Minnesota Denver, and it's
a very fascinating example to me of how matchups dictate
a lot of what happens on a basketball court instead
of talent. That's what's fun, right. If it was just talent,
be a lot easier to predict these sorts.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Of things, right.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
But as my friend Mark Titis once said, basketball is
more art than science, right, and it just a lot
of it is just about these magical kind of ingredients
mixing together to make a certain thing, rather than just
accumulating talent and seeing if that manifests on a basketball court. So,
for instance, Dallas and Denver or these are two of
(03:32):
the top three teams that I had in my contender
rankings coming into the postseason, and they're very different in
the way that they're constructed.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Right.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Like one of the things I pointed out in the
series preview, Dallas is a very different defense than Denver,
and a better defense than Denver in my opinion. Even
though the defensive rating in the regular season was higher
for Denver, it was more of a static thing. Over
the eighty two games. Dallas down the stretch of the
season really nailed things down in terms of their processes
(04:01):
on the defensive end of the floor and hit a
level that Denver hasn't been able to get to. And
a big part of that is they're just more athletic,
They're more athletic on the perimeter, and they're much better
at protecting the rim. Denver was eighteenth and points in
the paint allowed per game this season. Rim protection is
not a strong suit of their So, just to put
it simply, going from a Entavious Callwell pope on the
(04:23):
ball on Anthony Edwards to a Derek Jones junior who
is a taller, longer, more athletic player, and then going
from Nikola Jokic on the back line to Derek Lively
and Daniel Gafford to more vertically athletic rim protectors. It's
just a fundamentally different type of matchup, right, manifested in
a massive differential in points in the paint scored in
(04:46):
this game. I think Minnesota only scored thirty eight points
in the paint in this game. How many times did
it feel like Anthony Edwards got downhill and drove to
the rim? Not very many, Right, We're going to get
into that in more detail later. Also, Dallas's offense attacks
in a very different way than Minnesota are then Denver's
offense attack right, Denver's offense is very much about interior passing. Right,
(05:06):
It's very much about Nikola jokicch drawing multiple bodies. Is
there a lot of like cutting along the baseline by
Aaron Gordon. It's a lot of operating out of Jokic
as the decision maker at the high post, whereas with
Luka Doncicch and Kyrie Irving, it's very much perimeter initiation.
The guy who sets the ball screen is simply just
(05:26):
rolling hard to the rim. And it's very classic four
out offense. Right, it's set the ball screen, roll hard
to the rim. There's a shooter in the left corner,
a shooter in the right corner, and a shooter on
the opposite wing. And it's just if you tag the roller,
we're throwing the skip pass and we're playing rotation basketball.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Out of that.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
You don't tag the roller and you stay home on
the roller, I'm shooting in the ball screen. If you
come to me on the on the ball screen, I'm
throwing the lob to a gafferter lively at the room.
It's a very very different type of offensive attack, right.
Like one of the things that worked for Minnesota against
Denver was funneling.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Right.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Funneling is what happens a ball screen when you get
trapped behind right. So like, if I'm dribbling off of
you as the ball screen at the camera there, and
there's an on ball defender guarding me as I drive
that way. If you said a good screen, he's gonna
get into trail position on me, right. And that's that
textbook drop coverage that we talk about all the time
in the NBA, where you have a guy chasing over
(06:20):
the top and trying to funnel you into your rim protection.
The difference is Jamal Murray's not very big, so Jada
McDaniels and Anthony Edwards when they would get trapped on
Jamal's backside, it was actually advantageous for Minnesota because in
those situations, if Jamal tried to shoot anything, they would
disrupt it or block it, and Jamal would have no
choice but to drive into their rim protection and it
(06:42):
would cause a lot of problems for Denver's offense. Luka Doncic.
He loves working with the player trapped on his backside,
and he's just a lot bigger than Jamal Murray is,
and certainly bigger than Jada McDaniels and Anthony Edwards. And
so again, in terms of just basketball matchups, this is
a very, very different type of series than the Denver
(07:02):
Minnesota series, and it's what makes it a very fascinating
challenge for both teams going in. So, like even just
looking back, kind of flipping the angle here looking at Dallas, right,
like Luka Doncic is playing against a damn middle linebacker
in lou Dort who's like super big and strong and
physical and gave Luca issues in terms of just his
(07:25):
physical ball pressure everywhere on the floor. Jada McDaniels is
a player that's regarded as a better perimeter defender as Loudort.
I think they're on similar levels, but Jada McDaniels is
considered at least on the same level. Right, Luca looked
way more comfortable against Jada McDaniels. You know why, because
length doesn't bother Luca the way that strength hands. Sometimes
(07:46):
Luca's best advantage as an athlete is he's just bigger
and stronger than you. Right, So lou Dort was able
to challenge that, you know, Jada McDaniels was not right,
and so it's just fundamentally different. Like another thing too,
Like Anthony Edwards, as we talked about this preview, he
can really lock in defensively when the chips are down
and be one of the best defenders in the world
(08:07):
when he needs to be. But one of the things
we talked about in the series preview is he chills
a lot on defense. Like there's all this conversation about
Ant being the best two way player in the world.
That can only happen when Ant actually has the level
of conditioning and commitment to do it throughout entire basketball games. Like,
it's not the same as like Cason Wallace or Jalen Williams,
like really devoting their energy to guarding Anthony Edwards. I
(08:30):
thought didn't do a good job on Kyrie Irving in
this game, and so it's fundamentally different perimeter matchups for Dallas.
So the point is these are very different basketball teams
playing very different opponents than they did in the last round.
And it's just kind of cool in terms of the
art of basketball that it manifests in a very different
type of basketball game. You know, it's interesting coming into
(08:51):
this show, I was half expecting to have a very
similar opening monologue to what I said in the Boston
game last night, which is, well, this is the best
case scenario because Minnesota led most of that game and
and very well could have stolen it, especially after they
went up what did they go up by four? I
think in pretty late there before Luka Dancic hit the
three off of the Derek Lively offensive rebound. Minnesota came
(09:14):
this close to escaping this game with a win, and
I thought Dallas badly outplayed Minnesota in every single phase
of the game except for knocking down three point shots.
That was the only thing that I thought Minnesota did
better than Dallas in this game. And so I was
about to be like, here we go again, another example,
kind of like Boston last night, where it's like they
have all of this stuff that they need to clean
(09:36):
up and maybe they end up getting out of there
with the win. Right, No, Dallas ends up winning, which
I thought was what was deserved. They played better basketball,
they deserved to win, and they did. And so that
I thought was kind of a fascinating subplot in this game.
The only reason it was as close as it was
and the only reason Minnesota had a chance to win
is they just shot the basketball better than Dallas did
(09:58):
in this game. They've got a lot that they need
to clean up. We will get to that a little
bit later in the show, I want to move the
attention to Luka Doncic. Luka Doncic was the best player
on the floor in this game by a mile I
talked before we get into some of the specifics I
talked coming into this series. We did a ranking the
playoff players with the NERD Slash guys last week on Friday,
if I remember correctly, and when we did the rankings,
(10:22):
I put Luka doncicet two and I put Aunt at
four if I remember correctly right. And one of the
big reasons why I said that is just I think
Luca's a better half court surgeon at this point. He
just is a little bit more experienced, a little more
comfortable at navigating all the different challenges and curve balls
and weird stuff that you can see in the half court.
But one of the things I talked about in the
series preview is what if Lucas knee is messed up,
(10:44):
And if lucasne is messed up, that might allow Ant
to close the gap. And the only chance that Dallas
has to win the series is Luca's got to be
the best player. He's got to be the best player comfortably.
And he was tonight and it was a big part
of how Dallas got to win. And again, I thought
this game was a lot lot more spread apart than.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
The score would lead you to believe that.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Like I thought Dallas badly outplayed Minnesota in this game
in large part because Luca badly outplayed Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
He was picking them apart in pick and roll.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
One of the things, like I talked about earlier Minnesota
was chasing over the top with Jada McDaniels right. Luka
Dancic has this size to keep you trapped on his backside.
It's one of his best traits as a ball handler.
He kind of positions the ball in front of him
and he kind of like does a reverse post up
where he's kind of working his way into the lane,
letting you kind of ride his backside in and then
(11:34):
if you happen to get too aggressive, he'll just rise
up and shoot and draw fout, which he did late
on Jada McDaniels right, or if you continue.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
To funnel him. All he's doing is methodically.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Working and reading go bear and reading the low man right,
and he's just kind of working down the lane. And
you saw it was like sometimes early in the game,
Go Bear wouldn't commit, and so then Luca would just
work to the block and then just kind of.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Take that little short four foot pop shit.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
That he's gonna make, you know, sixty sixty five percent
of the time, right every time go Beart stepped up,
it was just a simple wraparound pass too Lively or
Gafford underneath the rim boom dunk. Anytime some guy the
lowman actually came over and tagged the center, it was
just a whip pass across the court to a shooter
in the corner. That is where Luca is at his best.
And Stavin Gunny talked a lot about this in the
(12:21):
broadcast in terms of Luca operating and drop coverage. And
we're gonna go over some different options that We're gonna
go over some different options that Minnesota can go to.
But there's a big reason why I think Luca is
the second best player in the world, and it really
is this simple. He is capable of doing damage to
every single type of coverage. Like we're gonna talk about
(12:41):
some different options that Minnesota can go to, none of
them are good options. That's what keeps him on a
up on that level close to a guy like Nikola
jokicch in my opinion, the same thing with jokicch you
double him. He can beat you playing straight up, he
can beat you play ball. If he could beat you
in ball screens, he could beat you with every conceivable
coverage that you throw his way. Luca has a very
similar approach. Right, It's like he can go straight Iso.
(13:04):
He went straight Iso on the dagger against Jada McDaniels.
Didn't want to blitz because he knew if they if
I call a ball screen, they'll probably blitz. If they blitz,
it's gonna be somebody else on my team taking a shot.
I'm the one who trusts myself to knock this down,
So stay away. I'm gonna attack Iso, and he got
to his step back jumper and hit it on Jada McDaniels. Right,
(13:24):
there was a play in the fourth quarter where Rudy
Gobar switched on him.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Gobar actually won that battle and forced him to give
up the basketball. But like we know, Luca can beat
bigs on switches. That's been a big part of what
he's done in the NBA. You run a drop coverage, well,
he can just wait for you to chase over the top,
trap you on his backside, methodically work down in the
lane and just make a decision based on what the
guy on his backside's doing, what the rim protector's doing,
(13:48):
and what the low man is doing. He's just methodically
working in the lane making decisions right like he can
do it all, and that is what makes him such
a devastating player. And then he made a bunch of
huge defensive plays late in this game. I thought that
the play where Mike Conley attacked the closeout off the
left wing, he did a nice job of stunting up
(14:08):
at Conley to make him get rid of the basketball,
but then recovered back to tip away the pass from
Gobert at the rim. That was a huge play. Had
a huge defensive rebound late in the game. And most
importantly thought I thought in terms of his knee, he
looked fine.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
And here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
If his knee is fine and this is just a
much better matchup for him because he doesn't have a
middle linebacker guarding him, then he like he has potential
to just be the best player in the series throughout,
and if he is, Dallas can win. Dallas can absolutely
win this series. If Luca is gonna play this well.
I thought tonight was just a masterful performance from him.
(14:45):
I thought he was magnificent down the stretch of this game. Again, like,
even with everything with Minnesota that we talked about, we're
gonna get into more detail here in a minute. Even
with everything Minnesota did poorly, they almost shot well enough
and Dallas shot poorly enough for them to steal, for
them to steal for Minnesota to still win this game,
and Lucas snatched it for him. He made sure that
(15:06):
they closed the deal despite some poor shooting results. Typically
Captain Luca donchs that was a special playoff performance from him.
Kyrie irving a couple of specific things that I thought
Kyrie did that that worked really well. Anthony Edwards when
he's engaged athletically, is a deeply impactful defender, but he
has a lot of situations where he stands upright and relaxes,
(15:27):
and Kyrie attacked him a couple of specific things. Quick
changes of direction on the catch. He had a like
a floater in the lane off of a rip through
to the left early in the game, where like he
caught it off of the dribble handoff, and then when
ant was kind of like methodically, you know, nonchalantly getting
ready to chase him over the screen. He just ripped
(15:47):
back to the left and just toasted Ant off the
dribble got into the lane. I thought he did a
lot of work in semi transition, which is like that
phase between transition and the half court where you're like
everyone's in the half court, but no one's really set.
Defense had a lot of success there, A big one too,
A big difference between Anthony Edwards in this game and
Kyrie Irving and Luca. Kyrie and Luca attacked downhill in
(16:09):
the ball screen. And by the way, Minnesota's got rim
protection too, Like as good as Derek Lively and and
Daniel Gafford are, Rudy Gobert is a better rim protector
than those guys. But you just saw Kyrie and Luca
attack down hill with the pace regardless because they knew
that the benefits of them pressuring the rim, even if
they do miss some shots, is going to outweigh the
(16:30):
negatives like that, Like the uh there was a like
the offensive rebound that Derek Lively got late that got
kicked back out to Luca, the one where he waited
for Ant to close out and hit the step back.
That was the play where Rudy Gobert got engaged as
the rim protector. Like Lively and Gafford thrive off of
anything that engages the rim protector, and in order to
(16:52):
engage the rim protector, you have to attack down hill.
As a matter of fact, we're gonna get to it
with aunt Ant's got a lot that he can get
better at after after tonight, and he's gonna look at
that film and he's gonna he's coming off these screens
and he's not attacking. Whereas Kyrie every single time was
looking to get downhill, Luca every single time was looking
to get downhill. Even when they took pull up jumpers,
most of the time it was in closer towards the
(17:13):
basket while it was taking pull up threes. I thought
Kyrie was excellent. He poured in thirty points. And again,
like like with Anthony Edwards, like he talked a big
game after Game seven, but like it's gonna be a
challenge to guard Kyrie Irving. Kyrie Irving is a really
damn good basketball player, and he's gonna make you put
your money where your mouth is when you talk like
(17:34):
that and he won Game one of this battle. Dallas's
defense one of the things I talked about again coming
into the series, and I want to get into more
detail about it, the U them being more athletic on
the perimeter and more athletic underneath the basket. So Anthony
Edwards's supreme advantage is he's just got this preposterously quick
(17:56):
first step and he's you know, six five sixty six,
built like a super vertically athletic, and he's been deadly
as a pull up shooter over the course of.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
This playoff run.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
I pulled the numbers and put him on my Twitter
feed earlier tonight, but he's like, coming into tonight, he
was like one point three zero points per catch and
shoot jumper, which is outrageously good. One point zero seven
points per pull up jumper, which is really good. One
point five zero points per like face up jab step jumper,
which is like really really good. Like Ant's just been
amazing in pull up jump shooting situations, right, So like
(18:29):
it's it's that's what makes him so difficult to guard.
You have to have the quickness to keep him in front,
in the length to offer a contest on the pull
up jumper. Derek Jones did just an amazing job tonight.
He just found that sweet spot in terms of distance
between Ant where it kind of like made Ant feel
like he was baiting him into taking a pull up,
(18:51):
but he couldn't really get that much separation without a
ball screen. And then whenever he made some sort of
aggressive move, he was having trouble actually turning the corner
against Derek Jones Jr. Derek just did a really good job.
And then in ball screen situations, it's that bracket that
I talk about, right, It's Derek Jones and his ability
to chase an over the top and apply back pressure,
(19:12):
but it's also you've got this other seven footer who's
super athletic waiting for you at their rim. That combination
of rim protection in perimeter athleticism caused a lot of
problems for Minnesota's offense tonight. And so to tipic the
captain Dallas's defense, they've been fantastic throughout this entire postseason
run and the tail end of the season, they've been amazing.
One last guy I want to shout out for Dallas
(19:33):
before we get into some of the Minnesota stuff. PJ.
Washington really really struggled to shoot tonight. Staman Gunny I
thought did a really nice job on the broadcast of
talking specifically about how he was struggling above the break
but making shots in the corner. And by the way,
that's a schematic thing, like Carl Anthony Towns was guarding him,
and so when Luca would call Karl Anthony Towns into
(19:55):
the ball screen, when Carl Anthony Towns shows, Pj's at
the top of the the key setting the screen, and
then he's slipping, but he's slipping to the three point line,
and when he's slipping to the three point line, he's
at the above the brake. Rather than if Luca's attacking
somebody else in a ball screen and Pj's sitting in
the corner, then he can be the beneficiary of short
roll passing when Luca gets trapped, or if Luca is
(20:18):
in a drop coverage and they'd end up tagging the roller,
he can throw that skip pass right. So like by
virtue of PJ being involved in the screening action, so
Luca could attack Karl Anthony Towns. That was what put PJ.
Washington in a bunch of above the break three point
shooting situations where he hasn't been as good, but to
his credit, for as much as he struggled shooting, I
thought he hit the biggest shout of the night, that
one in that left, the one in the left corner.
(20:39):
I think Minnesota had gone up one o two, one
oh one if I remember correctly, Jaden McDaniels made this
like absolutely preposterous decision. I genuinely don't know what he
was thinking, or he kind of caught the ball in
that middle flash and then like just made an aggressive
driving move out of bounds and then like jumped and
(21:01):
went flying into camera row and then turned to throw
like a jump pass to somebody and ended up throwing
it right into one of the guys underneath the basket.
But in that sequence they immediately had a five on four.
Going out the other way, PJ. Washington got wide open
in the left corner and knocked down the biggest shot
of the game, which turned the It turned that Minnesota
(21:21):
lead into into something that was I can't remember if
it made a four point game into a one point
game or for a game in the lead. It was
a huge shot though, that PJ. Washington hit there in
the left corner. Again, I'll have a better fear for
feel for this stuff after we rewatched the game tomorrow,
But anyway, shout out PJ.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Washington.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
I thought that was a huge shot, especially after you
didn't shoot well throughout the rest of the game. Minnesota
so much stuff that they need to clean up, first
of all the ball screens. So I think that, like
I talked about earlier, there's nothing that's gonna work, right,
nothing works against a top three player in the world.
(21:56):
It just you just try to make it more difficult, right,
And so what do we know about Luka Doncicic right now?
With what he's doing well right now? Right, all his
short range shot making is dialed in. All the push shots,
hook shots, short range jumpers, those are all dialed in.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
We know he's gonna hick you apart with the lob
pass or the drop off pass to the big guy
underneath the basket, right, So I think the drop where
you chase over the top probably not a good idea anymore,
right because Jada McDaniels just doesn't bother Luca from behind,
and he just can methodically work down and bait in
the rim protector and throw those drop off passes. Right,
(22:35):
the blitz comes with its own share of issues. Now,
I think Minnesota can blitz for stretches as long as
their rotations are sharp. I did not think Minnesota played
a very good defensive game tonight in any facet. I
didn't think Gobar protected the rim as well as Lively
and Gafford did. I didn't think Aunt and Jade McDaniels
defended on the perimeter as well as Derek Jones Junior
(22:56):
and PJ.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Washington did.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Like, I didn't think they did nearly as good a
jo in any phase of the game. Right, So, like
that that's a big part of it. And I think
that Minnesota can do a better job blitzing than they did.
But I think the chasing over the top drop coverage
is no longer an option that they can go to.
What is Luca struggling with right now? He made I
think one tonight, maybe two he made the step back
(23:19):
off of the kickout, but like, uh, he hasn't been
shooting the three balls super well in this postseason, right, So, like,
one thing you can do is just have Luca operate
in pick and roll without Jaden on his backside, but
rather Jayden on his front side. Right, So one option
you can do there is just go underneath screens. So
obviously Luca could get going as a three point shooter.
(23:41):
If you do that, then you can react right again,
none of these coverages work. It's just about finding It's
like the it's like the cliche lesser of two evils, right,
you're looking for the best way to try to make
things difficult for Luca. Luca's not shooting the three super
well right now. Most of his misses tonight were way off.
So try ducking underscreens as opposed to chasing over the top.
(24:02):
It's the exact same coverage right like go Bear is
still in drop, but what you're doing is instead of
chasing Luke over the top and getting into trail position,
you're ducking under and meeting him at spots on the
other side of the screen. So Luca's counter to that
will be to use pullback dribbles as soon as Jaden
Duck's under the pick to try to shoot a pull
up three there. But maybe he's not making it well
(24:24):
enough for it to matter. That's one thing you can try. Switching.
They got to stop in the fourth quarter of this
game by just switching Gobart onto the ball right, Lively
and Gafford are not guys that typically attack in the
post super well. So you just put a put Jada
McDaniels switch onto the post guy, right, and then you
ask Rudy Gobert to try to defend Luca down to
john An Island. Yes, I know Luca can do damage
(24:45):
to go bear on An Island, but again, it's just
about trying to find something different that that does a
better job. Right, So I think I get the actual
deep drop chasing over the top. I just think lucas
too good for that. I think he's comfortable and too
big for Jaden McDaniels. I think he's too good at
baiting Gobert to where he needs Gobert to get for
(25:05):
him to throw that drop off pass or that lob
pass that I don't think is an option. I think
you mix coverages up with ducking, underpicks, switching and blitzing,
because those are gonna at least make things a little
bit tougher on Luca defensive rotations. In general, the game
of sixty two points in the paint tonight, I don't
care how good Luca is in ball screens. You just
have to do a better job in general in rotations.
(25:26):
You guys heard Rudy Gobert at the start of the
fourth quarter doing his interview. He specifically mentioned the lowman
has to be more engaged. What that means is when
Gobert steps up, you need to not make that a lob.
It needs to be a corner three because here's the thing,
or a drop off pass. I mean, the corner three
is gonna be worth for know pj WA Like for
shooters that are shooting really well, it might be worth
(25:48):
one point two points per possession. Right, A lob dunk
or a drop off dunk is worth two points per possession,
So you at least got to make him make a
jumper instead of having an easy dunk. That means when
Gobert's up on Luca, the guy guarding, the guy in
the opposite corner has to step in and guard the
center rolling to the rim. In general, I did not
think Minnesota had nearly the level of defensive intensity and
(26:11):
engagement that they had at the tail end of the
Denver series. That's your bread and butter. That's why you're here.
You're in the conference finals because you defend. So that
needs to be where they devote the majority of their
resources they have to do a much better job. And
then lastly, their offensive process. And this goes in two
different phases. Like I'll start with crunch time. A lot
of classic Minnesota Timberwolves crunch time offense that we saw
(26:34):
in the regular season in this game.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
They've been much.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Better in the postseason, but in the regular season this
was a god awful offense. In the in crunch time
they had a one h four offensive rating. It was
one of the worst in the league. In A big
part of it was just silly decision making from a
bunch of key players. Like I mentioned the Jada McDaniels
play like Ant's tired, so he throws the ball up
to Jade and he ends up kind of co opting
(26:58):
a possession. He drives out of bounds and then throws
some bizarre kick back pass underneath the basket that Mike
Conley play drives into the lane. If you watch that one,
Luca is kind of splitting the difference between Gobert and
Conley as he's driving. But Jaden, I think it was
Derek Jones, Yeah, Derek Jones. I can't remember who was
guarding Ant on the weak side. I think it was
(27:19):
Derek Jones. Derek Jones was guarding Anthony Edwards on the
weak side, and he left ant to come into the
lane to help on Mike Conley. So Mike Conley looked
and saw Luca in front of Gobert and saw Derek
Jones coming and Anthony Edwards was wide open on the
right wing. Is a poor decision. That's Mike Conley. That's
what he's out there for is to make good decisions.
He forces a lob that's not open, Luca turns it,
(27:40):
turns it back and they go the other way. Throw
a kickout past to Anthony Edwards for catching choo three.
He's been getting one point three points per catching chew
jumper in this postseason. Anthony Edwards again in crunch time
either completely disengaged or just looking for a pull up three.
So like in general, in their offensive offensive processing crunch time,
it looked way too much like the regular season. They
(28:01):
have to do a much better job on in the
meat and potatoes of the game. There was a lot
of good stuff. Carl Anthony Towns looked great throughout. They
had a lot of success running Horn's chest. Those of
you guys who've watched What's the Mind the game the
Show with JJ Redick and Lebron they've broken it down before.
It's a basic horn set where you have two guys
at the at the elbows, a guy at the top
(28:22):
of the key.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
He dribbles off Carl Anthony Towns this way, and Carl
Anthony Town's comes off.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Gobert, Ornazrit, whoever it is, comes off the opposite side.
You throw the skip pass and there's a three point
shot there right. Carl Anthony Town's had a lot of
success with that. He had a lot of success with
four or five pick and roll, which is basically just
have Gobert's at the screen, catworks down hill. He had
some lob passes to go bear that way. So they
had some success with offense run through Karl Anthony Towns.
The main thing they have to get way better at
(28:47):
is the offense run through Anthony Edwards. And again a
couple of key things. First of all, I understand you're fatigued,
but like you weren't defending well enough on Kyrie Irving
to actually justify being as tired as he was Conference finals, man,
and your team needs you to your team needs you
to create shots. So like the fatigue thing, I can't
accept that as an excuse. Like Aunt has to find
(29:08):
a way to power through that right Specifically, like I
mentioned earlier, when he was coming off of those screens,
he was looking at the rim protector in this case
go Gafford or Lively and just not applying any pressure
on them at Like Aunt applied almost no pressure on
the rim in this game, and it's like, that is
your superpower, Man, that is your superpower.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Now.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
To be clear with Ant, I haven't watched any of
the postgame pressers. Aunt's a high character guy and a
great leader. My guess is I'm gonna get on my
phone after this game and I'm gonna see some sort
of quote from Aunt saying like I played like dogshit,
I let my team down tonight. I need to be
better on Friday, and I believe Ant will be better
on Friday. But the reality is is in this game,
I thought Aunt was a major driver of their struggles throughout,
(29:53):
and a big part of it was just because there's
not some sort of clear obvious advantage like there was
against Denver, where you're just slashing down the lane and
getting easy lamps doesn't mean you don't try the rim
protector Again, like I talked about with Kyrie and Luca,
a lot of times, you just need to engage the
rim protector somehow, because if you do, that's where your
your waves of size coming on the weak size or
(30:14):
week side are rolling from the perimeter can do damage.
Right Like, if Gobert's rolling to the rim, he's not
gonna get the offensive rebound if Ant shoots to pull
up three, because if Ant shoots to pull up three,
Gafford or Lively can just turn and box out go
bear right. They're the only way you're gonna get any
sort of benefit there is if you turn the corner
on the ball screen and get into Gafford or Lively
(30:35):
and engage them. That way, you can either throw the
drop off pass or get something up on the rim. Now,
since Gafford or Lively are engaged on Ant, that is
where Karl Anthony Towns and Rudy.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Gobert can do damage on the offensive glass.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
And so again, like you know, a lot of times,
and this is it's a good thing in some ways,
and it's a bad thing in others, because, like ant is,
he did a really good job for stretches of game
Savage and for stretches of the last round and against
the Suns of like, Okay, they're loading up on me,
don't force it, make the extra pass. Let my teammates
go to work. And like, I get that, there's a
(31:10):
certain amount of that that you need to do. But
the reality is is you're the guy have to superpower.
You're the guy that has the ability to break this
defensive part with your downhill athleticism. At a certain point,
you need to force the issue. You need to turn
the corner, get into traffic, gets something on the rim,
or get a drop off pass to your bigs. And
the only way you're gonna do that is if you
turn the corner in those ball screens instead of constantly
(31:31):
settling or just throwing swing passes. Again, just a really
bad game from Anthony Edwards on both ends of the floor.
But again I expect that he will have taken accountability
for it and that he'll be ready to go on
Friday for Game two. So again, Minnesota a lot that
they can clean up. But tip of the cap to
Dallas tonight. I thought they came in and just put
(31:52):
on a clinic. I thought they out played Minnesota in
every phase of the game.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
I thought.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
They deserve to win, and they deserve to be up
one to zero in the series. This is going to
be a super entertain series. I'm super excited. We're gonna
get into the film tomorrow morning, So keep an eye
on my Twitter feed and on my YouTube channel. I'll
have a film breakdown up at some time, you know,
in that mid morning area. Just keep an eye on
my Twitter feed. I'll tweet out the links once it
goes live. As always, sincerely appreciate you guys. It means
(32:17):
a lot to me that you guys have rocked me
over the last couple of years. Has been fun building
this channel out. We will be back tomorrow morning with
the film breakdown, and then again tomorrow night for Game
two of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
I will see you guys.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Then the volume
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