May 1, 2025 • 25 mins
Minnesota Tim discusses the Minnesota Timberwolves' victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA playoffs. He analyzes key performances, particularly focusing on Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert, and reflects on the implications of this win for the Timberwolves' future. Tim also critiques the national media's perception of the Timberwolves and emphasizes the importance of team dynamics and defensive strategies in their success.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
The Minnesota Timberwolves eliminate the LA Lakers in five games.
ESPN shut your pie hole.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Ten out of ten quote unquote.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Experts decided to pick the Los Angeles Lakers over the
Minnesota Timberwolves to begin this series. Not one single ESPN
expert picked the Minnesota Timberwolves to win this series. We're
gonna dive into it all Game five, this series the Magic,
(00:47):
But first I need to tell you about five Star
Bass Solutions of Minneapolis. My wife and I were in
the market for a bathroom remodel. We needed one desperately
because our bathroom was gross, disgusting, embarrassing, outdated. And we
found five Star Best Solutions of Minneapolis. And the reason
(01:09):
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your bathroom. It could be in as little as twenty
four hours. For us, an entire bathroom took forty eight hours.
Take a look at the video of this old floor
that we had and this old bathroom we had, a
(01:29):
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Speaker 3 (01:31):
Have to outstros didn't this care of everything for us, and.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
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Speaker 2 (02:06):
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(02:32):
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Solutions of Minneapolis. Okay, So the Timberwolves defeated the Los
Angeles Lakers in Game five and eliminated the Lakers from
(02:53):
playoff contention. They won one hundred and three to ninety
six and get off to a hot start. The Lakers
take their first lead in the third quarter because of
a Finny Smith three point shot, and then in the
fourth quarter the Timberwolves have done what they've done all series,
(03:14):
which I think is the most shocking part of the
entire series. I am not surprised that the Timberwolves beat
the Lakers. In fact, going into the playoffs, one of
my premier matchups that I wanted the Timberwolves to face
was the Lakers. I would have rather faced the Lakers
(03:37):
than the Nuggets, even though the Timberwolves have been so
successful against the Nuggets in recent years. I would have
rather faced the Lakers than the Clippers, than even the Warriors,
because they're old, they're slow, and they don't have centers
that can defend the rim. And that's exactly what happened.
(03:59):
But the most surprising thing in this entire series was
how the Timberwolves performed in the fourth quarter of these ballgames.
Because although I love the Timberwolves chances to beat the Lakers,
the one fear that I had was down the stretch
if the games are close. Luka Doncic is a better
(04:23):
clutch time performer than Anthony Edwards and Lebron James is
arguably the greatest player of all time. So you take
those two players down the stretch in clutch basketball games
versus Anthony Edwards, and who are you taking, you're taking
Luca and Lebron one of the time. But what happened
(04:49):
in this series in the fourth quarter. The Timberwolves outscored
the Lakers by forty two this series, and it it
wasn't about Anthony Edwards scoring down the stretch. It was
all about Anthony Edwards getting past these slow poke defenders
that are on the Lakers roster and kicking it out
(05:11):
to three point shooters or finding guys that then find
other guys wide open. Because what the Lakers did in
the series is they basically brought two to Anthony Edwards
every time that he had the ball. And Anthony Edwards
made leaps and bounds in this series because instead of
(05:31):
trying to jack three point shots and play hero ball
like he does throughout the regular season, tries to be
the hero, tries to make that last shot, tries to
do these things that really he shouldn't.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Edwards made the right basketball play.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
He found it to the open guy and trusted that
open guy to find the next open guy.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
And that's how.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
The Timberwolves defeated the Lakers in crunch time. It was
because Anthony Edwards made the right basketball play. Even in
Game five, down the stretch, Ruey Hatchimura knocks down another
three because the guy could not miss in the last
two games of the series. It's ninety seven to ninety four.
(06:14):
The Timberwolves got to put him away. You don't want
to give Luca and Lebron a chance to tie. With
about a minute left, Anthony Edwards fine to see him,
gets into the paint, kicks it out to.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Mike Conley for the corner three, who.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Wouldn't have even been in the game if Jaden McDaniels
did not file.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Out earlier in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
So somehow, despite the Lakers having the two most clutch
players on their roster in this series, the Timberwolves outscored
the Lakers by forty two in the fourth quarter. And
that happened because of Anthony Edwards' decision making, because of
his willingness to be a ladymaker four others down the
(07:03):
stretch in the fourth quarter, he was not playing hero ball.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
And although Anthony.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Edwards was shooting horrifically airballs bricks clank here, clank there,
zero for eleven from a three point line, he had
eleven rebounds impacted the game from that front, and he
(07:34):
had eight assists which doesn't include all of the hockey
assists that he had in the first half of that ballgame.
The second half wasn't as pretty, but that first half
Anthony Edwards brought to he found a guy who would
then find a guy and that guy knocked down the
shot or the dunk. And although that doesn't show up
(07:58):
in the stat sheet and Edwards isn't gonna credited with assists,
Edwards was making plays so that a teammate could make
an easy read to another teammate in that first half.
And although statistically Edwards had a poor game and from
a decision making standpoint, I would have preferred him to
(08:20):
shoot less three point shots when he did not have
it going, he still made the right decision down the
stretch to find guys and also define players in the
first half. So as far as a shooting performance goes
five for nineteen, zero for eleven, barely hit the front
(08:43):
rim on a few free throws, just did not have
the stroke in Game five for whatever reason, but he
still was actively being a playmaker offensively for himself and
mostly four teammates, so he still played really, really good
(09:05):
despite the terrible shooting performance from Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
One of the big talking.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Points after this game after Edwards knocked off Lebron was
the superstar players that Anthony Edwards has now knocked out
of the playoffs these last two years. He knocked off
one of his favorite players ever, Kevin Durant. Last year
(09:34):
in the first round of complete sweep, knocked off Devin Booker,
Bradley Beal, but Durrant is that top name. Second round
comes knocks off Nikole Jokic in seven games, loses to
Luca in the conference finals, and now this season he
(09:58):
knocks off Lebron ja games and also gets his sweet
revenge against Luka Doncic. So in the last two years,
Edwards has beaten Durant, Lebron, and Jokic and Luca to
advance to another playoff series. And I don't think that
(10:24):
I gravitate towards that statistic as much as everybody else does,
because everyone wants to make it a big deal that
Edwards knocked off Durant and Lebron. But Lebron is forty.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
I get that you have to knock out the king
to be the king whatever, But Lebron's forty and is
still playing at an elite basketball level.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Despite him being forty years old, and Durant.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Is what thirty five six years old and isn't the
player that he once was and isn't in a great
situation like he was with Golden State.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
So as much as people want to make this.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
About Edwards knocking off Lebron and knocking off Kevin Durant,
I pushed back against that a little bit because it's
not like these guys are in their prime. The win
versus Jokic in Game seven and over the Denver Nuggets
to go and advance to the Western Conference Finals, to me,
was way more impressive than knocking off Lebron James and
(11:36):
Kevin Durant because Nikola Jokic is in the prime years
of his career. He knocks off Durant, he knocks off Lebron,
huge basketball names, a generation of talent, top talents in
the NBA for years one A and two A as
far as you know, the years from what twenty ten
(11:59):
to like two twenty. These guys are the two top
players in the league, but they're not the top players
in the league anymore. They're not thirty years old in
the prime of their career. Edwards knocked them off, but
I don't think it's some amazing accomplishment. He knocked out
(12:20):
Jokic last year, which was an amazing accomplishment, but beating Lebron,
beating Durant when they're outside their prime years, it reminds
me a little bit of Michael Jordan beating Magic Johnson.
They don't talk about the torch being passed from Magic
to Michael.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Oh. Michael was already better than Magic.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
He hadn't won the title yet, but Magic wasn't in
the prime of his career in nineteen ninety one. Magic
Johnson was at the tail end of his career in
the nineteen ninety one NBA Finals, and it wasn't so
much about.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Michael beating Magic Johnson.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
He was already the better basketball player. It was about
Michael winning a title. And I get it. It was
Michael beating Magic Oh. He overthrew one of the greatest
talents in NBA history. But it's like, dude, it's not
like he beat Magic when Magic was twenty seven years old,
in the prime state of his career. It's not like
(13:22):
he beat the nineteen eighty six Los Angeles Lakers basketball
team with a ton of great players on the team.
He beat an olding and aging Los Angeles Lakers roster,
and this is the same thing for Anthony Edwards. He
beat an aging a still impactful but not quite as
(13:43):
impactful Lebron James.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
When Lebron James is forty.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
It'd almost be embarrassing if Lebron James at forty still
beat Anthony Edwards at the age of twenty three.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Yeah, Lebron's got the experience.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
But the explosiveness is just not there anymore as much
as it used to be, and it shouldn't be there.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
The dude's forty and.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Has played twenty two NBA seasons, which doesn't include what
the two hundred and ninety five playoff games that he's
played throughout his career, which adds on what three and
a half more NBA seasons to his career, So in totality,
he's played like twenty five NBA seasons including playoffs. Anthony
(14:34):
Edwards should win that matchup. The Timberwolves should have beaten
the Los Angeles Lakers because the Timberwolves are just the
better team top to bottom. The Timberwolves were better and
the Lakers right now are not designed for Luca to
(14:54):
perform his best at his best moments because they don't
have the rim protectors and the wing that the Dallas
Mavericks had that could help Luca tremendously on the defensive
side of the ball.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Lebron's old and slow. He doesn't guard anybody.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Luca is old, well, not old, but slow, and he
doesn't guard anybody. The Lakers don't have guys that can defend,
and that's a major problem when it comes to the playoffs.
So I was never afraid of the Lakers. And the
national media wants to hail the Lakers and pick them
(15:35):
to beat the Timberwolves, and we all want to push
back against that talking about how unfair it is, and
to a degree it is, because, let's face it, the
national media is not going to pay as much attention
to small market basketball teams or small market sports teams
like the Vikings or the Timberwolves or the Wild or
(15:58):
the Twins unless they get a guy like Brett Favre
or Aaron Rodgers or whatever the case may be. That's
the only time that they really give the time and
day to franchises in Minnesota if a major marquee player
plays for that team. So everyone just kind of bypassed
(16:19):
the Timberwolves and said yeah, yeah, Lakers and five, Lakers
and six and to be fair, to defend the national
media a little bit. This is the same Timberwolves basketball
team that was struggling to find their footing all season long,
(16:39):
all season long, at the end of the year, they
started to find it a little bit versus some crabby competition.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
They beat Utah, they beat Brooklyn, they beat a.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Falling out of the sky in Memphis Grizzlies team, They
beat Philadelphia, they beat Brooklyn, they beat Denver, and over
time beat Detroit, beat Phoenix, beating New Orleans. It's like
at the end of the year, it's not like the
Timberrels were wiping out the best of competition. The Timbrels
got a huge break in the fact that at the
end of the year they had one of the easiest
(17:14):
basketball schedules to finish off the season and to slide
into that number six seed. But here's some losses. At
the end of the year, they lost to the Indiana
Pacers bench in overtime. The Pacers rested their starters and
played their bench, and the Timberwolves lost. On May seventeenth,
(17:36):
the very next game against New Orleans, who had won
like nineteen games all year. They lost one hundred and
nineteen to one hundred and fifteen. A few days later,
versus Indiana, they decided to play everybody. The Timbrels get
blown out one hundred and nineteen two one all three.
(17:57):
Earlier in the year, the Timberwolves lose to a Milwaukee
Bucks team that sat Yannis. So it's not like the
Timberwolves were coming into this series with a bunch of
pedigree on their table or like.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah, they just wiped out the league. They had lost
to some of the.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Worst teams in the league throughout the year and lost
some mashups they had no right losing during the season.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
So let's just remember.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
What the Timberwolves were coming with into this playoff series.
What kind of resume throughout the regular season did they have?
Speaker 2 (18:38):
It wasn't pretty.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
I remember earlier on in the season, Julius rand a
whip they passed to Rudy Gobaert and there was a
big conflict. I think it's against the Toronto Raptors. Well,
he whipped the ball at go Bear. What's going on here?
They don't like each other And I remember having an
opinion earlier in they're saying the Timberwls don't like playing
with each other.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
There's no joy there.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
The Edwards has no energy and he is not having
fun because the two Wolves are struggling to figure out
how to play with one another. Well, then it came
together at the end of the year Versus Crabby competition
where they got some confidence, and they took that right
into the Los Angeles Lakers series. Because Julius Randall was
(19:20):
a beast, Anthony Edwards for the most part was a
beast offensively and definitely sensational as a playmaker in this series.
And then Game five, Game five.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Rudy Rudy, Rudy, Rudy Gobert.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
And the TNT guys had a entertaining show talking about
Rudy Gobert because, let's face it, offensively, Gobert's garbage. He
gets the ball down low and he's weak for the
most part. He gets stripped a ton, he gets stripped.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
A lot.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
He gets stripped more than a stripper at our strip club.
Rudy Gobert twenty seven points and twenty four rebounds in
Game five when the Timberwolves needed them most, when the
Lakers went small, Rudy Gobert dominated the Lakers inside. The
(20:21):
amount of offensive rebounds go Beart had in this basketball game.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Was crazy.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
He had nine offensive rebounds and fifteen defensive rebounds. The
Lakers went small, and Rudy Gobert punished them going into
game five. Here are Rudy Gobert statistics games won through
game four total. Entering game five, he had fourteen points
(20:55):
in game one through four four for thirteen shooting, twenty
five total rebounds, and two blocks.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
In game five alone, go Bear.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Twelve for fifteen, twenty seven points, twenty four rebounds, and
two blocks.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Go Bear had.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Eleven more points in game five than he did in
games one through game four combined. He only accumulated one
less rebound in game five as he had in games
one through four, and he accumulated this same amount of
(21:42):
blocks in game five as he's had in games one
through four.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Gobart stepped up when the Timberwolves.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Desperately needed him, because the Timberwolves were clanking threes seven
for forty seven, a fourteen point nine percent three point
five percentage in a closed out game versus the Lakers,
which is also another lesson. The Timberwolves defensively were spectacular
(22:13):
against a Lakers team with Luka Doncic at guard and
Lebron James on the wing and Ruy Hashimura coming alive
at the end of the series. Because you look at
what the Timberwolves did defensively against the Lakers, and in
this series, Game one, Lakers scored ninety six. No that's
(22:37):
game five. Game one, the Lakers scored ninety five. Game two,
the Lakers scored ninety four. Game three the Lakers score
one oh four, Game four they score one to thirteen,
and Game five the Lakers score one.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
All three.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
There was never at any moment in this series where
I thought the Lakers were getting with ever they wanted offensively,
And that's how good the Timberwolves were defensively. And really,
the NBA Playoffs severely favor the Timberwolves because there's a
(23:15):
lot of grabbing, a lot of pulling that they do
not allow during the regular season, which makes this NBA
Playoffs experience so much more entertaining across the board, not
just the Timberwolves Lakers series, but the Warriors Rocket Series,
the Pacers Bucks Series, the Knicks Piston series. The amount
(23:37):
of physicality in these playoffs has been something to adore
because you don't see this during the regular season. It
barely touched a guy. It's a foul. So it's been
pretty cool Timberwolves. They'll have home court advantage if the
(23:58):
Warriors beat the Rockets in Game six and then will
likely face the Thunder in the Western Conference Finals if
they can get past Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler. And
they know so many people make so much about home
court advantage, and I think home court advantage is overrated
(24:19):
because it only takes one win on the road for
a team to get home court advantage in their favor.
And you see teams win on the road lose on
the road all the time. So home court advantage, Why
do they face the Rockets or the Warriors. Honestly, you'd
rather probably face the Rockets. Doesn't matter, but it is
(24:43):
cool that the Timberwls would have homecre that Games one
end Games two would be played in Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Wow, here we.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Go to imagine where the Timberwolves were earlier on in
the year and to look at where they're at now.
It's nothing short of amazing because they were sensational in
this series.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Thank you for watching, and remember five star Bass.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Solutions of Minneapolis. Check them out today. I hope you've
enjoyed this podcast. Hit that subscribe button, rate and review
the show wherever you're watching or listening. Everyone, have a
great day.
The Minnesota Timberwolves eliminate the LA Lakers in five games.
ESPN shut your pie hole.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Ten out of ten quote unquote.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Experts decided to pick the Los Angeles Lakers over the
Minnesota Timberwolves to begin this series. Not one single ESPN
expert picked the Minnesota Timberwolves to win this series. We're
gonna dive into it all Game five, this series the Magic,
(00:47):
But first I need to tell you about five Star
Bass Solutions of Minneapolis. My wife and I were in
the market for a bathroom remodel. We needed one desperately
because our bathroom was gross, disgusting, embarrassing, outdated. And we
found five Star Best Solutions of Minneapolis. And the reason
(01:09):
why we found them is because they promised to remodel
your bathroom. It could be in as little as twenty
four hours. For us, an entire bathroom took forty eight hours.
Take a look at the video of this old floor
that we had and this old bathroom we had, a
(01:29):
MOULDI shower, didn't.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Have to outstros didn't this care of everything for us, and.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
They'll take care of it for you too, modern updated
new floor, bathtub, shower, surround, new vanity, double sync. Everything
that we could have dreamed of, and they remodeled this
in forty eight hours. No more cramming into your teeny
tiny bathroom downstairs getting ready for a worker for the day.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
No more oh crap, can you go? Pe? I got
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Our bathroom is fully remodeled. Then now we have two bathrooms.
We're not stuck in one. Five Star Bass Solutions of
Minneapolis is the best bathroom remodel for you. Three consultations, available,
affordable payment plans. Here's the thing about five Star Bass Solutions.
They got quotes from other places too. It was the
(02:32):
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most obvious decision you could ever make. Five Star Bass
Solutions of Minneapolis. Okay, So the Timberwolves defeated the Los
Angeles Lakers in Game five and eliminated the Lakers from
(02:53):
playoff contention. They won one hundred and three to ninety
six and get off to a hot start. The Lakers
take their first lead in the third quarter because of
a Finny Smith three point shot, and then in the
fourth quarter the Timberwolves have done what they've done all series,
(03:14):
which I think is the most shocking part of the
entire series. I am not surprised that the Timberwolves beat
the Lakers. In fact, going into the playoffs, one of
my premier matchups that I wanted the Timberwolves to face
was the Lakers. I would have rather faced the Lakers
(03:37):
than the Nuggets, even though the Timberwolves have been so
successful against the Nuggets in recent years. I would have
rather faced the Lakers than the Clippers, than even the Warriors,
because they're old, they're slow, and they don't have centers
that can defend the rim. And that's exactly what happened.
(03:59):
But the most surprising thing in this entire series was
how the Timberwolves performed in the fourth quarter of these ballgames.
Because although I love the Timberwolves chances to beat the Lakers,
the one fear that I had was down the stretch
if the games are close. Luka Doncic is a better
(04:23):
clutch time performer than Anthony Edwards and Lebron James is
arguably the greatest player of all time. So you take
those two players down the stretch in clutch basketball games
versus Anthony Edwards, and who are you taking, you're taking
Luca and Lebron one of the time. But what happened
(04:49):
in this series in the fourth quarter. The Timberwolves outscored
the Lakers by forty two this series, and it it
wasn't about Anthony Edwards scoring down the stretch. It was
all about Anthony Edwards getting past these slow poke defenders
that are on the Lakers roster and kicking it out
(05:11):
to three point shooters or finding guys that then find
other guys wide open. Because what the Lakers did in
the series is they basically brought two to Anthony Edwards
every time that he had the ball. And Anthony Edwards
made leaps and bounds in this series because instead of
(05:31):
trying to jack three point shots and play hero ball
like he does throughout the regular season, tries to be
the hero, tries to make that last shot, tries to
do these things that really he shouldn't.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Edwards made the right basketball play.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
He found it to the open guy and trusted that
open guy to find the next open guy.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
And that's how.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
The Timberwolves defeated the Lakers in crunch time. It was
because Anthony Edwards made the right basketball play. Even in
Game five, down the stretch, Ruey Hatchimura knocks down another
three because the guy could not miss in the last
two games of the series. It's ninety seven to ninety four.
(06:14):
The Timberwolves got to put him away. You don't want
to give Luca and Lebron a chance to tie. With
about a minute left, Anthony Edwards fine to see him,
gets into the paint, kicks it out to.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Mike Conley for the corner three, who.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Wouldn't have even been in the game if Jaden McDaniels
did not file.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Out earlier in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
So somehow, despite the Lakers having the two most clutch
players on their roster in this series, the Timberwolves outscored
the Lakers by forty two in the fourth quarter. And
that happened because of Anthony Edwards' decision making, because of
his willingness to be a ladymaker four others down the
(07:03):
stretch in the fourth quarter, he was not playing hero ball.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
And although Anthony.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Edwards was shooting horrifically airballs bricks clank here, clank there,
zero for eleven from a three point line, he had
eleven rebounds impacted the game from that front, and he
(07:34):
had eight assists which doesn't include all of the hockey
assists that he had in the first half of that ballgame.
The second half wasn't as pretty, but that first half
Anthony Edwards brought to he found a guy who would
then find a guy and that guy knocked down the
shot or the dunk. And although that doesn't show up
(07:58):
in the stat sheet and Edwards isn't gonna credited with assists,
Edwards was making plays so that a teammate could make
an easy read to another teammate in that first half.
And although statistically Edwards had a poor game and from
a decision making standpoint, I would have preferred him to
(08:20):
shoot less three point shots when he did not have
it going, he still made the right decision down the
stretch to find guys and also define players in the
first half. So as far as a shooting performance goes
five for nineteen, zero for eleven, barely hit the front
(08:43):
rim on a few free throws, just did not have
the stroke in Game five for whatever reason, but he
still was actively being a playmaker offensively for himself and
mostly four teammates, so he still played really, really good
(09:05):
despite the terrible shooting performance from Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
One of the big talking.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Points after this game after Edwards knocked off Lebron was
the superstar players that Anthony Edwards has now knocked out
of the playoffs these last two years. He knocked off
one of his favorite players ever, Kevin Durant. Last year
(09:34):
in the first round of complete sweep, knocked off Devin Booker,
Bradley Beal, but Durrant is that top name. Second round
comes knocks off Nikole Jokic in seven games, loses to
Luca in the conference finals, and now this season he
(09:58):
knocks off Lebron ja games and also gets his sweet
revenge against Luka Doncic. So in the last two years,
Edwards has beaten Durant, Lebron, and Jokic and Luca to
advance to another playoff series. And I don't think that
(10:24):
I gravitate towards that statistic as much as everybody else does,
because everyone wants to make it a big deal that
Edwards knocked off Durant and Lebron. But Lebron is forty.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
I get that you have to knock out the king
to be the king whatever, But Lebron's forty and is
still playing at an elite basketball level.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Despite him being forty years old, and Durant.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Is what thirty five six years old and isn't the
player that he once was and isn't in a great
situation like he was with Golden State.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
So as much as people want to make this.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
About Edwards knocking off Lebron and knocking off Kevin Durant,
I pushed back against that a little bit because it's
not like these guys are in their prime. The win
versus Jokic in Game seven and over the Denver Nuggets
to go and advance to the Western Conference Finals, to me,
was way more impressive than knocking off Lebron James and
(11:36):
Kevin Durant because Nikola Jokic is in the prime years
of his career. He knocks off Durant, he knocks off Lebron,
huge basketball names, a generation of talent, top talents in
the NBA for years one A and two A as
far as you know, the years from what twenty ten
(11:59):
to like two twenty. These guys are the two top
players in the league, but they're not the top players
in the league anymore. They're not thirty years old in
the prime of their career. Edwards knocked them off, but
I don't think it's some amazing accomplishment. He knocked out
(12:20):
Jokic last year, which was an amazing accomplishment, but beating Lebron,
beating Durant when they're outside their prime years, it reminds
me a little bit of Michael Jordan beating Magic Johnson.
They don't talk about the torch being passed from Magic
to Michael.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Oh. Michael was already better than Magic.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
He hadn't won the title yet, but Magic wasn't in
the prime of his career in nineteen ninety one. Magic
Johnson was at the tail end of his career in
the nineteen ninety one NBA Finals, and it wasn't so
much about.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Michael beating Magic Johnson.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
He was already the better basketball player. It was about
Michael winning a title. And I get it. It was
Michael beating Magic Oh. He overthrew one of the greatest
talents in NBA history. But it's like, dude, it's not
like he beat Magic when Magic was twenty seven years old,
in the prime state of his career. It's not like
(13:22):
he beat the nineteen eighty six Los Angeles Lakers basketball
team with a ton of great players on the team.
He beat an olding and aging Los Angeles Lakers roster,
and this is the same thing for Anthony Edwards. He
beat an aging a still impactful but not quite as
(13:43):
impactful Lebron James.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
When Lebron James is forty.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
It'd almost be embarrassing if Lebron James at forty still
beat Anthony Edwards at the age of twenty three.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Yeah, Lebron's got the experience.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
But the explosiveness is just not there anymore as much
as it used to be, and it shouldn't be there.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
The dude's forty and.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Has played twenty two NBA seasons, which doesn't include what
the two hundred and ninety five playoff games that he's
played throughout his career, which adds on what three and
a half more NBA seasons to his career, So in totality,
he's played like twenty five NBA seasons including playoffs. Anthony
(14:34):
Edwards should win that matchup. The Timberwolves should have beaten
the Los Angeles Lakers because the Timberwolves are just the
better team top to bottom. The Timberwolves were better and
the Lakers right now are not designed for Luca to
(14:54):
perform his best at his best moments because they don't
have the rim protectors and the wing that the Dallas
Mavericks had that could help Luca tremendously on the defensive
side of the ball.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Lebron's old and slow. He doesn't guard anybody.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Luca is old, well, not old, but slow, and he
doesn't guard anybody. The Lakers don't have guys that can defend,
and that's a major problem when it comes to the playoffs.
So I was never afraid of the Lakers. And the
national media wants to hail the Lakers and pick them
(15:35):
to beat the Timberwolves, and we all want to push
back against that talking about how unfair it is, and
to a degree it is, because, let's face it, the
national media is not going to pay as much attention
to small market basketball teams or small market sports teams
like the Vikings or the Timberwolves or the Wild or
(15:58):
the Twins unless they get a guy like Brett Favre
or Aaron Rodgers or whatever the case may be. That's
the only time that they really give the time and
day to franchises in Minnesota if a major marquee player
plays for that team. So everyone just kind of bypassed
(16:19):
the Timberwolves and said yeah, yeah, Lakers and five, Lakers
and six and to be fair, to defend the national
media a little bit. This is the same Timberwolves basketball
team that was struggling to find their footing all season long,
(16:39):
all season long, at the end of the year, they
started to find it a little bit versus some crabby competition.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
They beat Utah, they beat Brooklyn, they beat a.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Falling out of the sky in Memphis Grizzlies team, They
beat Philadelphia, they beat Brooklyn, they beat Denver, and over
time beat Detroit, beat Phoenix, beating New Orleans. It's like
at the end of the year, it's not like the
Timberrels were wiping out the best of competition. The Timbrels
got a huge break in the fact that at the
end of the year they had one of the easiest
(17:14):
basketball schedules to finish off the season and to slide
into that number six seed. But here's some losses. At
the end of the year, they lost to the Indiana
Pacers bench in overtime. The Pacers rested their starters and
played their bench, and the Timberwolves lost. On May seventeenth,
(17:36):
the very next game against New Orleans, who had won
like nineteen games all year. They lost one hundred and
nineteen to one hundred and fifteen. A few days later,
versus Indiana, they decided to play everybody. The Timbrels get
blown out one hundred and nineteen two one all three.
(17:57):
Earlier in the year, the Timberwolves lose to a Milwaukee
Bucks team that sat Yannis. So it's not like the
Timberwolves were coming into this series with a bunch of
pedigree on their table or like.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah, they just wiped out the league. They had lost
to some of the.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Worst teams in the league throughout the year and lost
some mashups they had no right losing during the season.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
So let's just remember.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
What the Timberwolves were coming with into this playoff series.
What kind of resume throughout the regular season did they have?
Speaker 2 (18:38):
It wasn't pretty.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
I remember earlier on in the season, Julius rand a
whip they passed to Rudy Gobaert and there was a
big conflict. I think it's against the Toronto Raptors. Well,
he whipped the ball at go Bear. What's going on here?
They don't like each other And I remember having an
opinion earlier in they're saying the Timberwls don't like playing
with each other.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
There's no joy there.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
The Edwards has no energy and he is not having
fun because the two Wolves are struggling to figure out
how to play with one another. Well, then it came
together at the end of the year Versus Crabby competition
where they got some confidence, and they took that right
into the Los Angeles Lakers series. Because Julius Randall was
(19:20):
a beast, Anthony Edwards for the most part was a
beast offensively and definitely sensational as a playmaker in this series.
And then Game five, Game five.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Rudy Rudy, Rudy, Rudy Gobert.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
And the TNT guys had a entertaining show talking about
Rudy Gobert because, let's face it, offensively, Gobert's garbage. He
gets the ball down low and he's weak for the
most part. He gets stripped a ton, he gets stripped.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
A lot.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
He gets stripped more than a stripper at our strip club.
Rudy Gobert twenty seven points and twenty four rebounds in
Game five when the Timberwolves needed them most, when the
Lakers went small, Rudy Gobert dominated the Lakers inside. The
(20:21):
amount of offensive rebounds go Beart had in this basketball game.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Was crazy.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
He had nine offensive rebounds and fifteen defensive rebounds. The
Lakers went small, and Rudy Gobert punished them going into
game five. Here are Rudy Gobert statistics games won through
game four total. Entering game five, he had fourteen points
(20:55):
in game one through four four for thirteen shooting, twenty
five total rebounds, and two blocks.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
In game five alone, go Bear.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Twelve for fifteen, twenty seven points, twenty four rebounds, and
two blocks.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Go Bear had.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Eleven more points in game five than he did in
games one through game four combined. He only accumulated one
less rebound in game five as he had in games
one through four, and he accumulated this same amount of
(21:42):
blocks in game five as he's had in games one
through four.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Gobart stepped up when the Timberwolves.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Desperately needed him, because the Timberwolves were clanking threes seven
for forty seven, a fourteen point nine percent three point
five percentage in a closed out game versus the Lakers,
which is also another lesson. The Timberwolves defensively were spectacular
(22:13):
against a Lakers team with Luka Doncic at guard and
Lebron James on the wing and Ruy Hashimura coming alive
at the end of the series. Because you look at
what the Timberwolves did defensively against the Lakers, and in
this series, Game one, Lakers scored ninety six. No that's
(22:37):
game five. Game one, the Lakers scored ninety five. Game two,
the Lakers scored ninety four. Game three the Lakers score
one oh four, Game four they score one to thirteen,
and Game five the Lakers score one.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
All three.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
There was never at any moment in this series where
I thought the Lakers were getting with ever they wanted offensively,
And that's how good the Timberwolves were defensively. And really,
the NBA Playoffs severely favor the Timberwolves because there's a
(23:15):
lot of grabbing, a lot of pulling that they do
not allow during the regular season, which makes this NBA
Playoffs experience so much more entertaining across the board, not
just the Timberwolves Lakers series, but the Warriors Rocket Series,
the Pacers Bucks Series, the Knicks Piston series. The amount
(23:37):
of physicality in these playoffs has been something to adore
because you don't see this during the regular season. It
barely touched a guy. It's a foul. So it's been
pretty cool Timberwolves. They'll have home court advantage if the
(23:58):
Warriors beat the Rockets in Game six and then will
likely face the Thunder in the Western Conference Finals if
they can get past Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler. And
they know so many people make so much about home
court advantage, and I think home court advantage is overrated
(24:19):
because it only takes one win on the road for
a team to get home court advantage in their favor.
And you see teams win on the road lose on
the road all the time. So home court advantage, Why
do they face the Rockets or the Warriors. Honestly, you'd
rather probably face the Rockets. Doesn't matter, but it is
(24:43):
cool that the Timberwls would have homecre that Games one
end Games two would be played in Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Wow, here we.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Go to imagine where the Timberwolves were earlier on in
the year and to look at where they're at now.
It's nothing short of amazing because they were sensational in
this series.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Thank you for watching, and remember five star Bass.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Solutions of Minneapolis. Check them out today. I hope you've
enjoyed this podcast. Hit that subscribe button, rate and review
the show wherever you're watching or listening. Everyone, have a
great day.
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