Wolves Fanline - Wolves Mavs Game 1 Western Conference Finals

Max Fuller, Parker Fox, Mark Rosen, and John B take your calls after the Wolves fall to the Mavs in Game 1. 

Episode Transcript

(00:37):
I believe it was Rob Bass andDJ Eazy Rock that one said it takes
two to make a thing go right. Well, it only took two for
the MAVs to make this game onego wrong for your Minnesota Timberwolves. Luka,
Doncicic and Kyrie Irving combined for sixtythree points to lead the Dallas Mavericks

(01:03):
to a one oh five upset victory. Right here at the Target Center in
Minneapolis. This is Howling with theHomies AK Wolves, a fan line presented
to you by ABC American Building Contractors. Max Fuller here alongside Parker Fox,
Mark Rosen and John Barby Fellas.We were running high after that big Game

(01:27):
seven win on Sunday, and thenthe Wolves and the rest of the Twin
Cities were promptly brought back down toEarth. And the Earth is not flat,
despite what Kyrie Irving says, butthe Wolves game was indeed a little
flat tonight, y'all? Yeah,you know, we really, uh,
Parker, we really haven't had aclose game where we like broke down the

(01:51):
final minutes of the fourth quarter.Right. Obviously, the Wolves had that
incredible comeback, but they ended uppulling away and winning comfortably. In Denver
in Game seven. We had oneof those tonight. Yeah uh, and
that's that's hopefully what the way thisseries is going to go, except with
the result. And I think theturning point for me was the Wolves led
one o two to ninety eight threeand a half minutes to go. They
got to stop and then they gaveup an offensive board which turned into a

(02:15):
three pointer. H and then theygot to steal. Then they turn it
over again. They gave up anotherthree pointers. So they went from a
one o two to ninety eight leadall of a sudden, they're down one
oh four to one oh two ina heartbeat. And that was to me
the killer moments, and this iswhat's gonna happen where you have to maintain
your composure and do the things thatgot you here. But it was it

(02:37):
was a nice test because we haven'thad a game like this where it came
down to the last minute or twoParker. Yeah, and same thing happened
at the end of the half aswell, you know exactly, you know,
and Finch, you know, hementioned that as well. But yeah,
it's that composure thing. You know, this is this is the Western
Conference Finals, you know, thisis this is when everything starts to get
serious and you gotta you gotta buckledown and limit mistakes. And I just

(03:00):
think I think there was too much, too much little things that we didn't
do great. You know, youholding one hundred eight points, you live
with that. You know, aMavericks team that's very offensive, but tonight
we just weren't able to kind ofget over that home. It felt like
we let them hang around when theWolves were hot early and then the matter
that's this team you just can't lethang around. Kyrie Irving looked like vintage
Kyrie from the jump, and thenLuka Doncics was just an absolute stone cold

(03:24):
killer down the stretch. And likeyou said, Rose, the Wolves just
made a couple of brutal mistakes thereat the end. I mean, that
offensive interference call was just that's tough. Yeah, that's real tough. They
reviewed it, and I was talkingto Parker Bob to get his basketball intuition
to figure out what you felt aboutthat call. It certainly was a big

(03:46):
one. Yeah, I mean itjust you know, anytime you're I find
myself in that position too as well. You're trying to time that up and
you're trying to get it to getoff the cylinder, and I think Kat's
done such a good job of that. We saw it, you know,
at the end of Game seven againstDenver in Denver, and he had a
couple of those putbacks and offensive rebounds, and it looked like he did a
pretty good job of it tonight.But you know, the rest decided else

(04:06):
elsewhere with that one. But whenyou look at the replay, you kind
of see the ball off the cylinder, and you know that adds up with
the little calls that Luca got andthe little ones that Kyrie got. And
as a Wolves van, you youthink that, you know, Dallas kind
of got a favored whistle tonight.But yeah, I can't blame it on
that. Let's face it, thereare two big guns. Donchington and Irving

(04:28):
put up sixty three points and forthe Wolves, you know, Town's end
up with sixteen, An ended upwith just nineteen. And then he even
said, and so did coach Finchafter the game, that there are more
opportunities for Ant to go downhill inthat game. And that's something that I
think we're going to see and Antwill probably you know, be the most
harshest critic of himself needs to asserthimself a lot more in Game two.

(04:49):
But I think it's gonna be agreat series. I mean it's a series
and it's not one game. AndI think we're taking a back a little
bit by the fact that we hadthis emotional win against Denver and Dallas come
in here. Dallas a very goodbasketball team, and they're long, they're
lean, they're young, they're hungry, and they got two superstars and nerving
and dunsage. Yeah, one hundredpercent, and it's not all bad for

(05:11):
the timber Wolves, though. Itstill was a very close game, and
they just missed a lot of shots. I mean a lot of shots that
normally would have went in. Theywere eighteen for forty nine from three.
It definitely felt like they got alittle two three point happy there through it,
especially towards the end and just throughoutthe game in general. Fifty threes
and only thirty six percent, andDallas wasn't hitting their three pointers. They

(05:33):
were six of twenty five, right, I mean that's the They hit a
couple of late ones in the fourthquarter, which I mentioned, Uh,
turn things around when they will looklike the Wolves were about to put their
foot down, and yeah, andwith the crowds urging them on and finish,
finish them off, because you know, you can have games like this.
But you know, kudos to Dallas, they were the better team down

(05:53):
the stretch. Yeah, a lotof three point shooting, but you look
at you know, you look atthe two headed snake over in Dallas and
you know, Kyrie Irving, LukaDancic. They score, like you said,
sixty three points, only nine ofthose were from three, So you
know, they were getting inside thelane, you know, they were they
were being able to finish around therim, something that I thought and we
talked about it, you know,pregame. I thought the Wolves would do

(06:15):
that kind of stuff. Just justwhen you look at, you know,
our front line and Kat and Nasand Rudy, you know, you think,
why would people want to come inthere? You know, but that's
what Kyrie and look at it allgame. And we didn't go into them,
We didn't go into Gafford, wedidn't go into Lively. You know,
I think that's something that that thisWolves team is going to watch and
say, hey, we need tofind a way to play inside out basketball.
And anybody that you know lives thegame and sees the game. Anytime

(06:39):
you can start getting things to goin around the rim, then you can
spray it out. Defense is collapsinginto out. We taught them inside outside
threes. They're just they always playat a higher percentage. You know.
It's just like when you're when you'reshooting in the gym and somebody's rebounding for
you. It's the same kind ofshot. Somebody's kicking it out to you
and you're shooting it and you're knockingit down. Those are the shots you
want to have versus those awkward crosscourt skips and you know, ball being

(07:01):
deflected around the perimeter. But Ijust want to see us goingside a little
bit more, be more aggressive,kind of set the tone when it comes
it out. Yeah, it feelslike just like in that Nugget series,
that that inside alley up to RudyGobert, it's there almost every time.
I would have liked to see Rudyget involved in the offense a little bit
more. But Kyrie r Ving andLuka Doncics were just incredible. It felt
like every time we sent two atthem, they found a wide open guy

(07:25):
in the paint. And every timewe had it was one on one,
then they just that's exactly what theywant. They just cooked. Yeah,
I mean I think it's gonna looklike that all series long. They are
two tremendous players well, and you'regonna have to have unexpected sources of offense,
and the Wolves got that tonight withboth you know, Jade McDaniels and
nothing. You know that he youknow, he was hotter than a pistol
the first half, and then KyleAnderson slowmoll chipped in eleven points and was

(07:46):
doing the right things and really washelping you give this team some depth off
the bench, and which is whatyou thought would happen. But they were
not good at the rim as youmentioned, being able to shut them down,
and when Rudy Gobert was out,Uh, boy, Doncis really knows
how to He's got great vision,doesn't he. Part. He really sees
that open man underneath and finds himfor an easy basket when especially when Rudy

(08:09):
wasn't in there. Yeah, he'slike he's like Yolkicen that way where he's
always finding and making the right play. And then you know, when it
came down the stretch, you justknew he's gonna make big shots. I
think the rest helped him a littlebit too, because I was watching the
end of their last series and hewas hobbling. He's had a bad knee.
Uh. He looked a lot freshertonight. Yeah, he did.
Yeah, in general, I mean, in general, the Mavericks looked just

(08:30):
a little more fresh than we did. I think there was a play where
I saw Anthony Edwards kind of justswing it and go to the corner,
and it's like, I don't everreally see that. You know, Aunt
usually wants the ball in his handsand he wants to be you know,
he said it publicly, I wantto be the guy that makes a shot.
I want to be this and that, and then I just you know,
a couple possessions where it just wasn'twasn't all there, And maybe that's
fatigue, maybe that's you know,tiredness. But I think Ann's gonna watch

(08:52):
that and be like, hey,that's not that's not who I am and
come back game too ready to reallyyou know, put it put it on
him. Yeah, I would fullyexpect it. Anthony Edwards not super effective
scoring wise, but found other waysto make his impact on the game.
Eight assists and eleven rebounds, almosta triple double for Anthony Edwards, even
on a bad game, and we'reall we're holding it, we're holding the
crazy high standard, and it's likeyou got to you gotta take a step

(09:13):
back and realize he's still you know, he played forty one minutes. You
know, he has eleven rebounds,he's two assists, shy of a triple
double. You know, he dida lot of really good things out there
today, And then you got tokind of take that into you know,
account as well. And even justlooking at the box score, this is
normally a box score that you seewhen the Wolves win. We got six
different guys in double digits. Theypassed the rock around. It wasn't like

(09:35):
the Dallas Mavericks. It wasn't justBatman and Robin. It was the entire
team that was picked. I meaneven slow Mo had an incredible first half,
but it just it just didn't workout and did and in the Wolves
favorite towards the end there real quickbefore we go to break the obviously,
like the obvious highlight of the forthe game for the Wolves was Jade McDaniels
twenty four points, three assists,four rebounds. I know, my god,

(09:56):
John Barry super positive and feeling upbeatabout Jade McDaniel's game. Absolutely,
he came out firing and you knowwhat, that's what we want from Jayden
and that helps everybody else. Imean, you got to make Luca work
on defense. Luca doesn't do anything. He does what I do on defense.
Watch it looks like there's been thatvideo of him smoking the hookah outside.
He's just right. You got tomake him work. And so that's

(10:18):
what Jayden. That's why James canbe so important for the rest of this
series for sure. And Parker,does it look like Jade mcdan I mean,
this is three games in a rownow that Jade McDaniels has been making
his impact offensively. As are weseeing anything different from Jade mcdan's or is
it just a mindset We wouldn't beable to see it because he's so stowing.
But no, I think it's justhe's kind of that when you talk

(10:41):
about these playoff series, you talkabout those others and you always need one
of those guys to step up,and I think Jayden's kind of recognized that.
You know, throughout the year,he's you know, he's toted as
this defensive guy and this defensive stopper, and yeah, that's what we need
him to be. But hey,now you're granted these these open threes because
so much attention is you know,attracted to an, so much attention to
stracted to Carl, and it's likeyou need somebody else to step up and

(11:03):
first of all make open shots,but then also you know, be able
to create a little bit as well. You know, I thought, yeah,
he made some really good shots tonight, and you did some really good
things. But you know, defensively, he made Luca work and then Luca
was Luca tonight, and just youknow, was able to create space and
make shots. And that's something youknow, I grew up. My dad
would always tell me, Hey,if you played good defense and the guy
made the shot, you just youknow, go down next possession. You

(11:24):
can't you can't dread about it,you can't worry. It's always that next
possession of mentality. And that's somethingI always see from Jaden. So you
know, I think we got tocontinue to see a really good Jaden offensively
and defensively. Yeah, I thinkin summary, what Chris Finch said near
the end of his news conference waswe just have to be better in clutch
moments. We just haven't had agame like this to go. Okay,

(11:45):
learn from this, because I knowthere are probably a lot of fans were
hugely disappointed, especially after the Denvergame. But yeah, you have to
remember it's a series and we've seenthis time and time again. Ask the
Indiana Pacers, right what happened thegame last night in Boston where they literally
let that one get out of theirfingertips, you know, And I think

(12:05):
they'll bounce back, I really do. But I mean, you know,
we obviously Friday Night's game becomes alot more important for Minnesota right now.
But I think these teams match upreally well. I don't think it's any
big surprise that this was the typeof game that we had. Right from
a basketball standpoint, I didn't lovethe result, but I love the competitive
aspect of it and seeing these theseteams hammer it at each other in a

(12:26):
very you know, clean kind ofway. It was nothing cheap that happened,
just a really good basketball game.H Parker. I like to ask
you, like, they got alot of points from the mid range,
how do you because the Wolves defenseis about stopping threes and stopping inside.
How do you stop that mid rangegame from Kyrie and Lucas and they're so
good at it. Yeah, theydefinitely took advantage of it. That's like,

(12:46):
you know, I think I'd loveto see a shot breakdown of where
they were taking their shots, butI think so much of it was in
that mid range. And you couldtell the Wolves came out knowing that,
hey they're two point shooters, areKyrie and Uka And and if PJ.
Washington or Derek Jones makes a coupleof threes, then so be it.
You know, you shake your handand then they know, hey, we
got Rudy Gobert, we got youknow, Corinthine Towns at the rim.

(13:09):
So we're not gonna be able toget great stuff around there. Where where
can we find our offense? Andthat's in that mid range. So I
think the biggest thing is shrinking thefloor. You know, if you're guarding
to PJ. Washington in the corner, hey, how can I kind of
be you know, two places atonce. Our coaches always say it,
you know, it's like, ifyou want to win games, if you
want to be great, you gotto be two places at once, and
we're like, what the hell doyou mean you can't you can't be But
then you watch on film, you'rethat's like, you're right, It's all

(13:31):
about that extra effort. It's canI swipe at a loose one? Yeah?
You know, Jaden's working his tailoff to get around ball screens and
get in front of the ball.But hey, if I'm if I'm nos
reading, I'm guarding some in thecorner, can I sell out just a
little bit more to make you know, his vision blurried? And then you
know that's that's you know, hindsighttwenty twenty with that kind of stuff,
and you're like, that's not goingto necessarily make him miss, but it's
like doing those little extra things,that's what it takes to be a championship

(13:54):
team. And I think that's somethingthey're going to see in film, is,
Hey, what else can we do? Because we were pretty good?
Yeah, but how can we beeven better to win a series? And
this Wolve's team is gonna be ina dog fight of a series. But
this team has shown us they gotthat dog in them all year long.
So don't give up, hope.It's one game, y'all. This is
the most resilient Minnesota Timberwolves team thatwe have ever seen in franchise history.

(14:18):
They will be back and they willbe barking, and we will be back
right after this. This is Howlandwith the Homies, presented to you by
A B C American Building Contractors,and we'll be right back after this.

(15:03):
Welcome back to Howland with the Homies, presented to you by ABC American Building
at Contractors. Your Minnesota Timberwolves findthemselves down oh one after a close one
away to one zero five laws tothe Dallas Mavericks, and all of a

(15:24):
sudden Fridays came is looking real mustwin is, isn't it? Rosie?
Well, yeah, of course.You know. I don't know if the
home court will mean all that much. We saw that in the Denver series.
But I think when you lose thefirst one at home. I remember
even against the Lakers in two thousandand four, the Wolves lost the first
game to LA and they came backin one game two, and that just

(15:46):
gives you that impetus to go onthe road. And you know, I
mean Dallas and we've seen the Wolvesplay some phenomenal basketball. I don't think
they're going to be shaking to theirboots going to Dallas. And we were
just talking about during the break thatwe got an every other day situation right
now. So it's a game ofadjustments. Chris Finch and his staff will
be going back to work and theteam will be looking at a lot of

(16:07):
film in the WORROLWD and trying tofigure out you know, this was a
whole different you know, this Dallasteam that they played this season is not
the Dallas team that they played tonight. No, they played all four of
their games against the Mavericks before thetrade. Correct, Yeah, and they
have a different look to them,and so there's an adjustment period. Yet
it still was a very competitive game. As I mentioned, the Wolves had
an opportunity I thought to close itout with about three and a half minutes

(16:29):
to go. They were maybe oneor two baskets away, I think from
from really putting the pressure on Dallas, and we had the turnovers and the
offensive rebound and you know, acouple three point shots for Dallas and that
was kind of that stem the tidefor them. You mentioned adjustments, Parker.
We were talking off there about someof the things that Dallas did defensively
to frustrate the Wolves. What whatdid you see from the Mavericks. Well,

(16:52):
a lot of people, I mean, they we think of the Dallas
Mavericks as this high end offensive team, but they're a pretty solid defensive team
as well. They were ten inboth categories. Yeah, they were really
handsy. You know, that wasone of the best defensive efforts I've seen
from Kyrie Irving, you know,Garden, Anthony Edwards, you know,
I you know he Bleacher Reports talksabout how, you know, Kyrie,
you kind of wanted that matchup andthat kind of stuff. But now they
were super No, no, no, right, no, they were super

(17:15):
handsy. They they hide Luca asmuch as they can defensively because you know,
he is kind of a you know, a nightmare defensively. But you
know Aunt talked about in his pressureyou know, they they're they're big man's
low, so so Gafford and Livelyaren't really that high, so that that's
creating that they're basically saying, hey, if you want to come off ball
screens and chuck threes and so beit. You know, That's why I

(17:36):
think we saw forty nine threes anight. So I'd love to see us
you know, We often talk abouthow you don't want to defense to dictate
what you do. You don't wantto change how you play. We even
talked about this pregame, right,we got to continue to play Wolves basketball
and whatever that means, stick tothat. So I'd like to see us
get downhill a little bit more.I'd like to see us put pressure on
the rim, kind of play insideout and just force Denver to to work

(17:57):
to I mean Dallas to defensively.You know, No, I just don't
think we made him work as muchas we could defensively. And I think
over a seven game series, Ilike our bench, I like our depth.
This is the ninety fourth game ofthe season, so it's like you've
played a lot of games. Soit's like you got to continue to make

(18:17):
people work. Because lucas a littlehobbled. I think everybody's a little tired.
But how can you kind of getover that hump? And I think
for me, that's something where it'slike you got to put pressure on the
defense. You got to make himwork, and you can't let little things
kind of disturb you as a team. Yeah, and somebody that kind of
had a I mean maybe the mostbrutal game of all was Mike Conley Junior
six points, three assists, threerebounds. He just didn't seem like himself

(18:40):
tonight, you guys, No,he did not. I mean he he
missed some of those alley passes thathe had and we were just talking about
you'd rather see him even have thelittle floater himself, Yeah, and try
to shoot the ball as opposed toget it to Rudy Gobert and then backfired
on him a couple of times.And yeah, it's not when you go
one for one for six three pointshot and Mike's usually really good at that.
And they also missed, you know, he missed three free throws.

(19:04):
And he's the best free throw shootaround the team. They were loving for
eighteen shooting free throws. Let's keepthat in mind. Where Dallas was sixteen
out of seventeen. That's kind ofyour game, right, that's the difference
right there, difference right there.You know, Minnesota missed too many free
throws. And when you come downto a game like this where every little
point, every point matters, yougotta knock on those freebies. We're all

(19:26):
being downers, but mc john bis the he's the most hopeful one.
He's still got that starry look inhis eyes. He's the hype man for
a reason. John Barry, giveWolves fans some hope. This hope is
coming. Just let y'all know.We get a game five now, so
we get three games in this seriesat home. And that's what I love,
like I love seeing the targets atright, just live. I mean,

(19:48):
it's a Wednesday night, it's aschool night, and it was popping
all night. I can't wait forFriday. It's gonna be off the Jane.
You thought Wednesday was crazy, Fridayeven crazier. Let's go right,
we really need to fly Kevin Citiesnow because we need everybody as lit as
they can be. I will say, you know, we just have to
hit shots. That's essentially what itis. If we hit shots, we'll

(20:10):
win Game two. I wasn't madabout them giving up one oh eight,
like they did everything right defensively,almost everything right defensively. But I'll take
that effort once again in game two. Just hit the shots and well we'll
come home with a win. Yeah, it wasn't like they outplayed the Wolves
significantly. It wasn't like the Wolvesshot themselves in the foot a million times.
I had ten turnover exactly. There'snot I'm I'm looking through the box

(20:32):
score coming through it, and I'mlike, I'm trying to find what it's
Literally it was just hitching shots that'sthey normally hit. It's really not that
hard, uh, But I mean, at the end of the day,
you gotta make the shots. We'remaking the shots here. This is Howling
with the Homies ak Wolves fan linepresented to you by ABC, and Corey
from Mendota Heights wants to how withthe Homies. What's good Corey? Hey,

(20:57):
how's it going guys? Fun atmospheretonight. No doubt about Parker.
I think Kit it right on thehead, though you think earlier, think
of a Denver series and how easilyAunt got by the perimeter right and drove
to the basket, was able tothrow some down or lay it up or
pass it to somebody kick it out. They just could not get around the

(21:18):
perimeter tonight, and I think thatwas surprising. How well Kyrie played offensively.
And then Kyrie in the first rightby us in the perimeter. He
was quicker than us tonight, andI think that was the biggest difference in
the game. You know, whenyou settle for forty nine threes, that's
a sign that you're just not drivingthe ball to the basket. But I'll

(21:40):
hang up fun atmosphere. Great jobguy. Yeah, I mean I think
he's right, you know, Ithink And it's just like it's one of
those things too, where it's likeyou want to dictate how the series is
going to go. You know,a lot a lot of times game one
will kind of dictate and obviously wehave a chance to to flip that.
You finda night and you don't wantto be like, hey, oh it's
over now because we didn't get tothe ram and you know, whatever that
may be. But I think gametwo we got to come out and say,

(22:03):
hey, we're going to dictate howthe flow of this is going to
go. We're going to dictate thephysicality, We're going to dictate the speed,
you know. And I think thatstarts with the guy who's got the
bone in his hands the most ant, you know. I think I think
he'll recognize that and and find waysto get downhill and make plays. Although
you know, the one thing forme with Aunt that I kind of get
so frustrated off and he's he justdoesn't really get that kind of like superstar

(22:23):
whistle very often. You know,we saw it be in the Face of
the League. He's certainly not gettingface of the League call. No,
he's not. And we saw tonight how Luca kind of manipulates these refs
and is able to get calls andif drawn fouls was an art Luca is,
Yeah, he's and he's phenomenal.He's phenomenal with it. But no,
I and I think, you know, inevitable kind of happens with that

(22:45):
kind of stuff. And and youknow, ant I hope he doesn't shy
away because he's not getting calls andI don't see that. But I think
it's a deal where he's got tocontinue to get downhill, trust his work,
and then he's that explosive bunce.There's nobody with the first step like
Anthony Edwards, like I'd love tosee him utilize that. Really, what
it came to onto it, ourtwo stars were not as good as effective
as their two stars, right,And I know Barkley said in the postgame

(23:06):
show, Cat needs to utilize hisside a little bit more too, and
that's that's part of it. Andhe had an off night as well,
six for twenty from the field,two for nine from three point shot,
you know, and he loves heloves to take those three pointers. But
you know, we can talk aboutall the role players, but really,
when it comes down to it,it's about the Big Bow and uh An
Aunt. If they're gonna if they'regonna win this series, those two guys

(23:27):
have to elevate their game and elevatethis team. We got a text on
the text line saying it seemed likethey could not only get nothing down low,
but our defense in the paint wasalso miserable. Can you talk about
that a bit? I think wejust missed some things, Like I thought
there was I mean, you gotto give Kyrie Irving some credit. I
think he's the best finisher of thebasketball of all time. And I'm not

(23:48):
afraid to say that right now.You know, I totally agree, And
that was vintage Kyle. Yeah,he had some stuff where it's like you
take a bump and you just throwit up and kiss it off the glass
and it goes in. Like,you got to give him some credit.
But I also think, like Ithink, if Rudy Gobert goes back and
watches that game. He wants someof those back where he's like, I
could have I could have got thatone right. Maybe I didn't block it,
but I could have you know,altered his angle a little bit,

(24:11):
or you know. I think therewas a couple offensive rebounds too, and
second chance opportunities where it's like thetimberlves have been so good protecting the paint
with that big three down there withwith nas Kat and Rudy, and it's
like we didn't show that today,Like that wasn't prevalent today. So I'd
like to see us find ways tokind of make that a more prevalent thing
in our in our defense. Theplayers just sort of shrug it off.

(24:33):
I mean, they know, what'sthe series you've been through. I mean
I mean it's like one game.Oh yeah, they're used to it.
They got they lost three in arow last time. I left to Denver,
right and had to do overcome alot. So you know, I
don't think one game is going toaffect these guys are going to lose any
sleepover. They just got to goto work tomorrow. Yeah, they're a
resilient team. Even if they loseon Friday. I'm never going to stop

(24:55):
believing in this team. I don'teven want to think about that. But
I'm never going to stop believing thisteam. This team has made more comebacks
than Rocky Balboa himself. I'm alwaysgonna have faith and I, like you
said, Rogie, this is amore mature team. This is a more
mentally and emotionally grounded team. Idon't think they're going to get too down
about themselves. I think they're gonnacome out hot on Friday and it hit
hit the the Dallas Mavericks with acounter punch. This is Wolves fan line.

(25:18):
Ak Howland with the homies. We'regonna take one more call before we
sign off here, Desmond from Rochester. You are our final caller. What
do you want to talk about?Desmond? Hey, Hey, we were
at game six, we were atgame one tonight. It seemed like the
Nuggets and then the MAVs. We'reworking the rest pretty good. During the
timeout, telling them what to watchfor one of your thoughts right before that

(25:41):
call on Conley, that push thatthat got a little bit of feedback from
the crowd. Seemed like it wasa math really telling them to watch for
that one of your thoughts and theWolves coaching staffs maybe push a little bit
themselves. Yeah, I mean Ithink that's a hard It's a hard deal
too, where it's like, youknow, you hope that you can just
you know, win a basketball gamewith some agrity and you know you could
just get it done. But Ididn't love that Mike call. I thought

(26:03):
it was. I thought it wasa very you know, subtle act that
I actually see. It happened tomyself a lot as well, where it's
like you put the hand on adefender, but you're not actually like extending
or pushing off, so you're notactually creating. His jump was late and
that's what that force. And he'skind of saw Mike only walk it off
and be like they missed that call? Yeah, and I think they did.
So, I don't know. Ithink working over the refs is a

(26:25):
hard thing to do. I youknow, I try to. I try
to pep them off every time Ican, and you know, ask them
how the family is and all thatkind of stuff. I don't know exactly
the solution to that. You know, they got they got a guy like
Luga Donchez who's pretty good at it. But I don't know, what do
you think, Well, Jason kiddis to me, his temperament is the
same as it was when he wasa player. Yeah, I mean he's

(26:45):
pretty cool sideline, nearly as demonstrativeas Malone was with Denver. And he
may still be working the refs,but at least officiating crew are all the
veterans. It's they pretty much rotatethroughout the playoffs right now, and you
can always pick a part of playor two, and that's there were certainly
even you know, a couple ofthat you could question. But I don't
think it's the side of the gametonight. I really don't know. Yeah,

(27:07):
and it's it's Mike Conley. It'snot like it's to Wayne the rock
shots and pushing someone down over there. I mean, that was a little
bit ridiculous, but like we said, there's a million other things to blame,
it ain't the ref's fault. Aswe close out Howling with the homies
for the night, what are youguys' final thoughts heading into Game two on
Friday. We'll start with John Berryhere, just make shots and the crowd

(27:29):
needs to come out even fired upon Friday, even more so, like
y'all are fight up tonight. ButI know we can bring it to another
level on Friday. Yeah, continuethat energy, continue that aura. You
know, me and Max have talkedabout it. I think we're a team
that that plays at our best whenwe have that aura, that swag,
that confidence. You know, wherewe're yelling at the crowd. You got
Cat pumping up the crowd, Auntpumping up the crowd. Like That's that's

(27:51):
who I think this team is.And I think this team sets the tone.
I thought the tone is brought tothem tonight. I'd like to see
them kind of flip that script andset the tone game to Friday night.
And to remind yourself, these arethis is the Western Conference Finals, the
two teams standing, that's it,and it's a golden opportunity for the Wolves
to make this a series on Fridaynight and then all bets are off,

(28:12):
as they say, then we're goingto have a hell of a series.
This is a really well matched Imean I enjoyed it from a basketball standpoint,
watching Kyrie and dunstage through their thingand the Wolves trying to counter,
and they had opportunities late. Theydidn't play as well as they have in
many of the Denver games. ButI think it's going to be a long
series. I do as well.I might have to adjust my Wolves and

(28:34):
fives pre series prediction. It's goingto be a hell of a series.
It was a hell of a game, just didn't shake out for your Minnesota
Timberwolves. They lose one O eightto oneh five. This has been a
Wolves fan line. Ak Howland withthe homies and will be Howland and Hoodie
hwin after every single game. Thisseries will be right back on Friday before

(29:00):
and after the game, so youdon't want to miss that. And hopefully
your Minnesota Timberwolves can bounce back andbounce back big and tie this thing up.
No matter what happened tonight, there'sstill just four wins away from the
NBA Finals. Y'all. Don't giveup hope just yet. This is Wolves

(29:21):
fan line signing off for Parker Fox, Mark Rosen, John Berry, this
is Max Fullett. We'll be backwith more hope and hearts and guts on
Friday night. We'll see you the