May 25, 2024 • 49 mins
The nerds discuss Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals between Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks against Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert and the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Timestamps
00:00:23 - Mavericks-Timberwolves
#Volume #Herd
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. Oh my god, how could he do that?
Don't what Charles Darwin, The nerves is where it's at.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Welcome everybody back into Nerd Sesh as always on. Carson
Brever in alongside me is Logan Camden And what an
incredible basketball game. We just saw the Dallas Mavericks take
a two to zero lead over the Timberwolves, take both
games on their home floor in the Western Conference Finals.
And this one ends on a big time game winning
(00:45):
step back three from Luka Doncic to cap off a
very very impressive night from him. Logan, what's your biggest
takeaway from this game?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
I mean, we can just start with the Timberwolves. They
have now lost their first two games at home by
a total of four points. And I put this squarely
on the shoulders of Anthony Edwards and Karl Anthony Towns,
more specifically Anthony Edwards, like he just has to be better.
Carson in round one versus the Suns and was giving
you thirty one, eight and six on sixty five percent
(01:16):
true shooting. Against the Nuggets, he gave us twenty eight
five and six on sixty one percent true shooting in
the first two games of this series. He's at twenty points,
eight boards, eight assist on fifty two percent true shooting.
Like he has been a complete and utter letdown, and
it's all in the fourth quarter. Dude, like him not
wanting to get downhill. When he does get downhill, he
(01:37):
is passing out of point blank opportunities at the rim
where he could at least get an attempt up and
maybe get fouled, being more passive letting the shot clock
dwindle down. And dude, he makes the two most crucial
turnovers in this basketball game. The first one the kick
to Jayden McDaniels where he's scrambling and you can say
what you want about that foul. I don't agree with
(01:58):
the outcome. Rightyrie clearly hits McDaniel's hand. It should be
Minnesota ball. That should have been a foul on Kyrie.
Whatever Aunt makes that error pass that forces Jaden McDaniels
to make that adjustment that's on Anthony Edwards in his passing.
And then he makes the crucial error at the end
where he throws the ball out of bound to nas Reed. Like,
those are two possessions where you can at least get
(02:19):
up a shot, maybe get downhill to the rim and
get some free throws. You just pissed those possessions away, Like,
this is all on Anthony Edwards. Man, the Timberwolves shouldn't
have been in this game. Mike Conley and nos Reed
give you the superhero performances of the night.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Man.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Mike Conley's getting into the teeth of the defense, hitting
big floaters, playmaking. Nas Reed is springing threes all night. Like,
I don't know, man, I was really encouraged by the
Timberwolves first half. They had made some crucial defensive adjustments.
They were humming, they were turning defense into offense, and
they absolutely crumble in the fourth quarter, man, to Luke
(02:59):
and Kyrie. To me, this is the most embarrassing loss
of the playoffs for them. Man, they had some bad
losses in Denver. This is the worst one, dude, And
I put it squarely on the shoulders of the Stars.
And like even Carl Anthony Town's not being on the
floor in the fourth Carson likes, that's big, right, your
second best player should never be off the court. But
I get that one a little bit, right. Nasrita is
(03:20):
spraying the hell out of the ball. You gotta have
nas out there. But I put it on those two guys, man, Like,
this is in embarrassing loss for Minnesota, but more over, man,
the two stars here, Like, I don't know, there's a
small part of me that feels like this is gonna
be too much to overcome. Dude, losing two at home,
(03:42):
I don't know, Man, this is a real demoralizing loss.
And like I said, Dude, I put it all on
the shoulders aunt, Dude.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I don't think it's an overstatement to say that this
too o deficit just in terms of what's gone wrong
with Minnesota. I want to give a bunch of props
to Luca in particular and Kyrie in this Dallas team.
But Soda facing this two to zero deficit is one
hundred percent on Anthony Edwards and Karl Anthony Towns because
they have just proven, they have cemented how awesome this
(04:12):
roster is, how good up and down this roster is,
how complete they are, the advantage that they have over
every other team in the league in terms of like
your six through eighth guys, the lineup versatility, the contributions
they get from Jade McDaniels in Game one, Kyle Anderson
in Game one, Nasried in both these games, Mike Conley
in this game, everybody around them is doing their job
(04:33):
at a very high level. These two are getting absolutely
dogged and they are getting embarrassed by the two best
dudes on the other side of the court. And that
was the biggest concern for this Minnesota team really throughout
the regular season. Man, it was, Yes, they have this
phenomenal team defense. Yes they check boxes in terms of depth,
in size and rebounding. Do they have that tier one
(04:54):
sort of guy that you need to win titles? And
my thought throughout the regular season was, I really like Minnesota,
I don't think that they have that guy yet. And
then in this playoff run, Ant moved me. He was
so consistently through the first two rounds, playing as well
as just about anybody in the field. I thought he's
playing like a top five sort of guy right now.
And then considering the collective strength of this roster, I
(05:16):
was like, yeah, I think they can win this series.
I think they can win the title, like very legitimately.
And he has just been a complete letdown. There's so
many areas in which he's struggled. Obviously, Game one was
just brutal for him defensively, but in this one he
comes out with the right approach in that he is
very aggressive downhill early, particularly in transition, when he can
(05:37):
take advantage of not having to face a set defense
that is loaded up on all his drives and he's
eating up free throws. Now, he really struggles to finish
around the rim in this game, and I want to
give props to Gafford and Lively there for just their
constant presence as deterrence. He also just misses some good
looks at layups in this game, so that's costly. But
as you mentioned, like you have to remain aggressive getting
(06:00):
downhill because there is always value in doing so, even
if you aren't finishing at the rim. The various outcomes
are mostly positive. Right, you draw help, you get a
shot up on the rim, that's an offensive rebound for
your team, that's another possession, very likely a putback. You
just drive hard. An athlete like ant is very likely
gonna draw foul and like he figured that out for
(06:22):
brief stretches of this game at the start of the game,
a couple possessions late in the fourth quarter, but for
the most part, he's just overwhelmed. Like he is way
too overwhelmed seeing the levels of help that he is
right now, where he is literally just throwing the ball
all around the floor as you mentioned, and he passes
up a wide open short range jumper at one point
(06:42):
in the fourth quarter out of drop just like a
gimme look for him throughout these playoffs and he's consistently
passing out without creating an advantage whatsoever. Just reset the offense, Hey, Mike,
can you do something? Can you bail us out? Mike
Conley was way better offensively in this game than Anthony Edwards.
Logan like that is so so inexcusable. I know that
he's twenty two, but come on, man, your roster is there.
(07:05):
We have given you the respect of being one of
these dudes. You are not playing anything close to that
right now. If nas Reed doesn't make seven threes in
this game, if he doesn't bail you out on several
possessions like you wouldn't be in position and the possession
where he throws the ball away trying to get it
to Nas after the Jade mcgangiels one that you mentioned.
It's like I get that he and Nas miscommunicate. Whatever
(07:26):
he wants Nas to stay in one spot but like,
think about where that possession was at. He picks up
his dribble against Derek Lively and he's just pivoting. He's
just pivoting without a plan. Like it is so so
bad from Anthony Edwards. These are consecutive chokes like these
are bad performances all around, but particularly in the fourth quarter.
(07:46):
Just nothing close to what this Timberwolves team needs him
to be. There's no excuse for passing up good looks.
There's no excuse for being this uninvolved offensively. And Dallas's
defense is really good. But again, Mike Conley is kind
of torching the coverage and you can't figure it out.
There's no excuse, SGA. Logan was facing incredibly packed paints.
(08:07):
Nobody else on his team could make a shot. It
was the inverse where ant you're getting the help right
now in terms of your supporting cast, SGA, nobody was
stepping up, and guess what, he's still balled out. He
created those good shots for his teammates consistently. He dazzled
as a shot maker. He found a way to dominate
that series offensively. James Harden was way better offensively than
you have been. Anthony Edwards in this series and now
(08:29):
it's like you've lost your opportunity. I tweeted out with
thirty something seconds to go after the second bad Ant
turnover in those last couple of minutes, like win or lose.
Ant is completely overwhelmed right now and he has to
be one hundred times better if Minnesota wants to win
this series. And ultimately his mistakes were too costly and
now you're down to Oh, you're going on the road.
(08:49):
It's an incredibly difficult spot to come back from, and
without Ant stepping his level up multiple times over, like
you obviously just don't have a chance because this roster
is so good and you are the dude letting your
team right now. You are not ready. That is the
thing holding this team back. And at the same time,
Kat also just sucked, and particularly to me, it was
(09:10):
his offensive approach in this game. We talked after last
game about how just straight up going at PJ Washington
with these isolations is not really the move. Kat is
not a good isolation player. He's a very good post
up player when it comes to mismatch attacking, and generally
he's really good when he has a clear overwhelming size
(09:31):
and strength advantage when he is dealing with somebody who
can match up physically. There's a lot of ways for
those possessions to go wrong if he just gets stonewalled,
loses his handle over dribbles, settles for a tough floater
in this game multiple times, is settling for these tough
one legged fallaways. You see that on the first two
possessions of the game, and it's like, this should not
be the offensive direction for Minnesota. That's just not a
(09:53):
matchup for him to be aggressive in. And that was
where the overwhelming majority of his shots in this game
came straight up against PJ Washington. He's not winning that matchup.
He lost it convincingly in this game. So shout out
nas Reed again for keeping you in this game, because
Kat could have played you right out of it single handedly,
and he didn't deserve to be on the floor in
the fourth quarter of this game. So it's funny because
(10:14):
I think back to my prediction for this series beforehand,
and I talked about some of the precedents that I
normally lean on, and I'm like, normally, the team whose
offensive formula I trust more normally, the team that has
clearly two of the three best players in the series.
I'm gonna pick them and that would be Dallas. But
I said, Minnesota is so great at this other stuff,
so great defensively, so huge, such great depth, that I
(10:35):
think that they can pull through. And I was wrong.
But it wasn't about the supporting cast. It wasn't about
the totality this roster. It's about the two dudes. It
is about two dudes in Dallas staring down two dudes
in Minnesota and absolutely dogging them. That is the story
of this series completely.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Man. You have to recognize the moment and know that
there's not margin against these two dudes. These are veterans,
and more importantly, they are killers their assassins like these
are the guys that you want to go to in
the fourth quarter, and you just have to feel the
gravity of the moment. It's all Kyrie irving in the
fourth quarter. I know Luca hits the big shot. We'll
get to that in a minute. Kyrie has thirteen fourth
(11:13):
quarter points and generates all kinds of offense for them.
Comes out three over Conley, next time, Down hits over
nas Reed has that trailing catch and shoot. Three from deep,
has a couple of drives, leads one to a Daniel
Gafford easy dunk, has another one where he gets down
hill and it's a Derek Lively alley oop, and then
of course he relocates off of what in Minnesota's playing
(11:36):
such great defense, and Kyrie just SLINKs right out.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
To the quarter. Everything possession that was I thought a
really good adjustment for that one possession to take him
out of the rhythm a little.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
And Luca still finds him for the corner three, and
it just felt like, oh man, Kyrie missed those free throws,
He's not missing this one. Man, He's gonna take advantage.
And that's exactly what he does. And then the final possession,
you know, I don't even mind having go bear on
the floor in that situation. I get it a little bit.
If you're gonna funnel him into the rim, like if
you're gonna blitz Luca off of the three, Like, dude,
(12:07):
I just got PTSD from Big Zoo Garden Him and
the Clippers series. It is what you feel it coming
through the screen. I literally told my boy, who's sitting
on the couch we're watching it. I said, that's in
the second at Gobert got switched on Luca. I told
him the three is in and bay them like everybody
in the build and everybody watching your TV nude that
(12:30):
Luca was putting that ball up. I don't get how
Minnesota doesn't blitz him in that situation, How Gobert doesn't
just get up in his mouth and try to run
him off the line, man, dude, Like, you're right, dude.
The two dudes were just better tonight, man, and they
clicked into gear like And this is not about the
(12:50):
supporting cast, Like shout out to Gaffer and Lively for
big play, finishing and great defense through out. I think
you're exactly right. Their rim protection has completely changed this series.
It's not just being passive. It's a mental thing now, right,
And it's facing all of these crowded paints with these
long arms, this great collective Dallas defense, something that he
hasn't faced in the first two series. Phoenix and Denver
(13:12):
just don't have these kind of deterrence or defensive schemes
that can really deter him at the rim. Dallas does.
And so part of ants passivity is an effect of
this awesome Dallas interior defense. And so I do want
to give a ton of credit to those guys for
what they have done in finishing plays of locking up
and playing great defense on the inside, but it is
(13:33):
LUKEA and Kyrie dragging them across the finish line in
schooling these young boys. I use the word schooling because
it's like they feel like they're this is elementary shit, man, this.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Is teachable moment. It's also a teachable moment.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
A very teachable moment, man.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
So impressive from both Luca and Kyrie. And Kyrie absolutely
stepped up in the late stages of this game. You
mentioned like his you're shot making dude. You just have
such immense faith in him, Like there is not a
pull up jumper, There is not a catch and shoot
three that I see from Kyrie irving in the wait
stages of a game that I don't think is going
to go in. And he was also facilitating as you mentioned,
(14:14):
thirteen points and three assists in that fourth quarter. It
was a rough start, but boy did he come in huge.
And you always knew that there's the possibility that these
two would be the best offensive players on the floor,
and they have been by far in this series. But
I do want to give the most props to Luca
because he was absolutely phenomenal, and he was phenomenal in
(14:34):
Game one of this series. He has been on a
tear over these last four games. Shot making was sensational
all night long. He's raining step back threes and he
carried them in the first half when Kyrie was struggling considerably,
and then the game winner over Gobert. You talk about
the different coverages. I thought Minnesota did some really good
(14:55):
creative things defensively in the fourth quarter, like taking Gobart
off the floor for that one possession, switching everything. Kyrie
hits a three, but you get that possession into the
final couple seconds of the shot clock, it's a contested
corner three like that was well defended. And then the
possession before when they switched Gobert onto Luca, I thought
that was really well done because once Luca gets a
(15:16):
step Gobert peel switches off to the roller. Nas Reed
steps up, challenges Luca. It's just an unexpected look and
it's a way for them to still get a great contest,
even when Gobert gets beaten off the dribble by obviously
a quicker, better offensive player. But then the next possession,
it's like you cannot just leave him on a complete
island with Luca. I'm not cool with that. I get
(15:39):
that Rudy holds up well on switches. Man, this is
Luka Dancic, and he just had him on skates on
that possession. He's just too great an offensive player. The
scoring was really really impressive, But my favorite part of
this Luca performance was just how surgical he was as
a passer. And we saw him absolutely toast Minnesota in
drop in Game one of this series, where he is
(16:00):
just consistently getting into that painted area and he's so
great as a touch shot maker. He's getting deep into
the teeth of the defense and then still feeding the
bigs with these lobs, and we saw a decent amount
of that in this game as well. But it was
dealing with the other coverages as well, where we've talked
about something that we saw in the OKC series, something
that we saw even a couple times in Game one
(16:20):
of this series, where you send two to the ball
if you're playing Rudy in a higher drop or if
you're blitzing some sort of coverage where the big is
up at the level, you can basically challenge Dallas's bigs
to make good decisions and maintain their composure when they're
confronted with a lowman. Luca basically negated that just by
moving the lowman so many times in this game where
(16:43):
he is staring down that skip pass, and so the
lowman eventually is going to leave his spot and he
is going to think that that ball as going to
the weak side shooter, and then it just opens up
a wide open role for the big and Luca's delivering
these no look jump passes like they're nothing with perth
accuracy every time. I just thought that that was absolutely outstanding.
(17:05):
He made it impossible to guard the pick and roll
regardless of what coverage he played in this game. He's
just an offensive maestro at his absolute best right now,
and he is playing a level above everybody else in
the field. And he has had his struggles in this
playoff run, but he has worked his way completely out
of that. The jumper is looking as good as ever,
(17:26):
and obviously he's still dealing with the knee thing, which
makes this so impressive because we see him going to
the locker room in multiple stretches of this game. But
I shure didn't seem to matter in this one man.
He was just completely, completely dominant last four games, averaging
thirty one to nine and ten and a half on
sixty five percent true shooting. I just wasn't sure if
(17:47):
we would see this Luca, considering the trouble that he
had had with his knee in these playoffs. I thought
that his mobility looked too hampered Earlier in this run.
He was too tentative getting downhill. And he has risen
to a special and that's the difference in this series. Like,
he is truly one of the best offensive players ever.
I've said many times that he's off to probably the
(18:08):
best offensive start to a career through six seasons we've
ever seen. It's him and Oscar Robertson going neck and neck.
But when you factor in how young Luca was coming
into the league, Like, if you want to say best
offensive start to a career by twenty five years old,
then it's Luca. The stuff that he has accomplished regular
season in postseason is just so so historically impressive, and
(18:29):
this is now a real opportunity for him to continue
to build on that special start. We've seen all this
stuff about how he's made five straight All NBA First teams,
and there are great all time NBA players who haven't
even accomplished that. I think Dirk is four time first
team All NBA. I think Steph is four time first
Team All NBA. But now it's like you put a
(18:50):
championship caliber roster around him, and honestly, still a roster
than in terms of offensive skill is lacking outside of
Kyrie and Luca, but they're defending it ahigh level. They
have good enough athletes and those two are so great,
and he's taking you to the promised Land right now.
It's just a really impressive flip as well, because last
series was so much about that supporting cast stepping up,
(19:12):
and this series so far through two games, has just
been about Luca and Kyrie being overwhelmingly great. It's a
hell of a formula. They have two shot makers, two
shot creators of this caliber, and a team defense that
is playing at this level. I was optimistic about this
Dallas team. I thought they it'd get them to the
conference finals. That was my pick. But again I thought
that Minnesota had the more complete team and I thought
(19:33):
that would pull them through. But these dudes are just
too damn good and they're doing it against a really
great defense, a defense that made some costly mistakes in
Game one, didn't play their best, but I thought played
considerably better tonight. And you still get this sort of
performance from Luka Doncic. Again, it's just one of the
best scorers alive, one of the best passers alive. There
(19:54):
isn't a read, there isn't a shot that he can't
make out of pick and roll, and ultimately, great off
defense oftentimes beats great defense.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
And that's what we're seeing, we are And I want
to give him extra props to Carson. You mentioned that,
you know, he's clearly hampered, and I think I downplayed
that through the first two rounds, Like I was flabbergasted,
for lack of better term, watching him cook. He's so
tired at different points in this game, and it just
like I really don't think he's anywhere close to one
(20:25):
hundred percent at all, man, and the fact that he
is still capable of doing this, and it's it's the brain, man,
you know, some of this is the IQ, the manipulation,
Like that's the beauty is like Luca hampered like this,
he's injured, but he's still freaking strong. You can't turn
you know, you can't take that away. The way he
operates like his game. That's the beauty of it is
that even though he's at seventy to eighty percent, whatever
(20:47):
number you want to put on it, he can still
be this effective in a single game because his game
isn't predicator in athleticism and explosiveness. It's being methodical, it's
making great decisions, it's opening things up, it's manipulating guys
with his eyes and playmaking. It's phenomenal stuff, and he
is the best guy in the field. You talk about
some of the adjustments at Minnesota made Carson, and that's
(21:10):
where I'm really worried about Minnesota, right. I think they
can make I think they can continue to make these
adjustments and slow down Dallas. But if Anthony Edwards and
Karl Anthony Towns aren't gonna play at a different level,
like you are literally crossing your fingers praying to the
basketball gods that Kyrie and Luca are missing shots. Like,
(21:30):
if they're not going to carry your offense, that is
what you're left to, right. I liked a lot of
the adjustments at Minnesota made in this game. Go Bear,
coming out in a higher drop, mixing in more blitzes
and traps, I think you made a key point. I
think the little man has to be so much better
off of Luca in Big Pick and Roll. I get
it's tough when Luca's manipulating you with that weak side guy,
(21:53):
but at a point, like Karl Anthony Towns got picked
on bad a couple of times in this game where
I'm just screaming at my television, Dude, you have to
recognize that you're the hot guy. You got a slide
and well.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Also you just have to be more willing to concede yes,
a corner three to Derek Jones Jr. Like as opposed
to a wide open dunk over and over again. Like,
I get it's tough, man, he is selling the shit
out of these passes, but like, you just have to
be more disciplined in that spot. You have to understand, Okay,
my responsibility is to tag the roller, and if Luca
(22:25):
is looking towards that skip pass, let him make it.
Let Derek Jones Junior make a three. Let PJ. Washington
make a three. I'm not giving up a ninety nine
percent dunk attempt to Daniel Gafford or Derek Lively. And
too many times Luca's just been too good. He's out
smarter them, and he's gotten exactly what he wants.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Like he always does. Man, And it's hard Gardon to
pick and roll right, like if you step up too far,
Lively and Gafford are flying in behind you at all
kinds of speed, ready to jam it in like yeah,
And I honestly wonder because I thought, uh, I want
to give credit to nas red on one of the
final possessions. I was also screaming in my television as
I was throughout this game, you're hot, like you gotta
(23:01):
be the slide guy. And I thought he made a
really good slide on a Luca floater at the end
of the game. I wonder if it's worth having I
don't know, man, just a smarter if Nas might be
better in that situation instead of Carl.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Anthony made a lot of mistakes in Game one, though
he got Nas bad a few times. It's it's tough, man,
it's against Luca great offense.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
And the point is that it did work for a
little bit, right, Like in the first half, Minnesota holds
Dallas scoreless for four plus minutes at a point like
it was working. They were turning defense into offense. They
were crashing the hell out of the glass. They were
out working them. But at the end of the first half,
man Dallas clicked into gear, their defense started playing better.
(23:42):
They got a ton of transition buckets and they carried
it over. But that's my point, man, is that all
these great defensive adjustments, no matter how bad they battle
on the offensive, class like Minnesota can do all the
little things, they can do all of them, and they
can limit the Dallas by that much. But it really
(24:02):
is not going to matter whatsoever if Anthony Edwards and
Karl Anthony Towns snap out of this. And my biggest concern,
Carson is something that you mentioned earlier, is that they're
too young, man, Like I wonder if this is just
gonna be a growing experience for both of these two.
Like that was one glaring thing that stuck out to
me in the fourth quarter, is just the composure of
(24:24):
these players. I didn't like Anthony Edwards body language. Like
there was one where he went to the rack in
a transition layup and I think he got fouled, right,
and he's complaining to the refs and he puts his
head down and like you can just tell he's a
little frustrated. And that's a little detail, right, but it's
just something.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I don't like.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Kyrie and Luca the entire game are scanning, they are looking,
they are locked in, and I just feel like that
slipped a little bit with Ant.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Man.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Like the first two series, Draymond mentioned, I saw a
slight bit of weakness in Ant and the press or
right when he was talking about he's tired, and I
just wonder if Ant is mentally ready for the situation.
Man the first two series made it seem like he
was like, yeah, you know, he's locked in through these
first two games. I have not gotten the composed Anthony
(25:10):
Edwards that you know the Timberwolves need to win this series.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Not even close, dude, not even close. And it's really
hard to go through your first extended playoff run as
a number one option. We know that there's no denying
that it wears on you physically. You are seeing coverage
after coverage that are different but are all in some
way designed to take you out of rhythm, force the
(25:35):
ball out of your hands, take the rim away, which
is his greatest strength as a scorer. But you just
have to be way better than this. And like you said,
you have to hang in there mentally, and you have
to remain the aggressor. Once you stop attacking, the defense
is won, the other team has won. And it really
just comes down to that one fact. This doesn't say
anything final about who Anthony Edwards can be, but it
(25:57):
does say something very real about the gap between him
and a Luka Doncic right now. And there is a
big old gap there right now. And because of the knee,
I thought, well, in this specific series, there might not
be that big of a gap. There's a big old gap.
Man like Luca just again is infallible as a decision maker.
He is in such complete control of the game, whereas
(26:19):
Aunt it is very much the opposite. He is out
of control. He is the one who feels as though
he is being hunted. And dude, I just want to
give you the combined stats between these two star tandems
through two games. Luke and Kyrie are combining for fifty
seven and a half points per game on fifty eight
percent through shooting. Ant and Kat are combining for thirty
(26:41):
five and a half points per game on forty six
percent for shooting. Karl Anthony Towns logan is twenty eight
percent from the field in these two games. You never
have a chance. You never have a chance. If that's
the case.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
The final thing I was gonna mention those are absurd numbers. Again,
that just speaks to the fact like they are getting
so clearly out laid by these guys. The one final
thing I was gonna mention, Man, it just feels like
you hit on the key there.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Man.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
The reason that I had faith and in this matchup
specifically and in this series was because of Luca's knee injury.
And ironically, I think Luca has played himself up to
the Western Conference finals and into being ready for this matchup.
And I wonder if Anthony Edwards blew his wad in
the first two series going all out and it's tough, right,
Like you are gonna be a little spent at this
(27:28):
point in the playoffs, right, You don't battle through two
really hard series. You just went through a Game seven
in Denver. But I wonder if, like this his first run,
Like I wonder if the exhaustion in the toll is
just taking too much on him man at this point
in these playoffs. But Luca has played up to here, man,
and he's been here before too. Man, That is a
(27:49):
component of it, the experience aspect. Like Kyrie mentioned it
in Game one, I knew I had to put the
offense on my back out of the gates here and
we had to get it started. And they just have
such a better feel for the moment, man, even like
a Mike Conley. Mike Conley steps up in this game
because he's.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Pier before he knows it.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
And uh, I wonder if their youth is gonna get them. Man.
We harked on Oklahoma City being the young team in
these playoffs and it was gonna cost them, and uh,
I wonder if we overlooked that aspect a little bit
with this Minnesota team.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Man, Dude, I feel like I was concerned about it
in the regular season and then Ant just wiped my concerns.
And the sample size ultimately just wasn't big enough with
what he was doing in those first two rounds. But
my goodness, like just the consistency with which he stepped
up to the moment. That's how to say that he
(28:38):
was perfect every single game, but there were a lot
of dominant ant games and he's still gonna be a
top three player in the world down the line. In
my opinion, again, I think that there's clearly three dudes
you would want to build your franchise around going forward.
It's Wemby, It's Luca, and then to me it's Ant.
But there is a very clear precedent throughout NBA history
that teams with twenty two year olds. Is there player
(29:01):
just don't win it all? And Minnesota does a lot
at an exceptional level. But if Ant just isn't that
guy at this moment, if he's not ready to be
that in this series, then that's kind of it. That's final.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Outside of hitting shots. Is there anything you think that
Ant can aunt OrCAD both of them the payer that
they can do, if differently schematically or mentally offensively, to
do better things moving forward in the series.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Absolutely. I think Ant just needs to be more relentless
downhill and just needs to take more shots. Also, right
he is seeing some really good pull up looks out
of drop and Rudy is setting some really good screens
to spring him free, and he's not taking all of them.
But I really want to see him asserting himself physically,
(29:48):
because when he attacked the bucket, even without making his
shots around the rim, he saw good results. In this game,
he also just needs to be way more composed as
a playmaker, and that's been in consistent for him, but
it was really, really bad some of the decisions that
he made late in this game. Kat, it's just stopped
going at PJ Washington one on one. It's pretty simple, like,
(30:10):
if you have a legitimate mismatch, fantastic, go to work
as a post up player. Other than that, I want
you spotting up. I want you attacking the offensive glass.
Like the worst thing that Kat can do as an
offensive player is start forcing the issue and kind of
wasting these possessions with these out of control isolations, and
there was just too much of that in this game.
All right, guys, we're gonna take a quick break. Then
on the other side, we'll talk about some of the
(30:32):
other keys and things that stood out to us from
this game. After some quick words from DraftKings, we are
this close to crowning an NBA champ, and with the
action heating up on the court, it's even hotter at
DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
There's only so many games left, and Draftings Sportsbook has
you covered with same game parlays, live bettings, odd boosts
and so much more. Don't miss out or you'll have
to wait until next NBA season to place your bets.
It's super easy for first times to get started. Try
betting on something simple like picking a team to win.
Go to the DraftKings Sportsbook app, select your squad and
place your first bet. It's that simple.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
New to DraftKings listen up. New customers can get a
no sweat bet up to fifteen hundred bucks. Just deposit
at least five bucks and you'll get a bonus bet
back equal to your first bet if it doesn't hit.
Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now and use code nerds.
That's code Nerds for new customers to get a no
sweat bet up to fifteen hundred bucks if your first
(31:29):
bet doesn't hit. Only on DraftKings. The Crown is yours.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler or in West
Virginia visit one eight hundred gambler dot net. In New
York call eight seven seven eight open wired text hope
and y four six seven three six nine. In Connecticut,
help is available for problem gambling. Call eight eight eight
seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG
dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino
(31:53):
Wan Resorting Kansas twenty one and over age varies by jurisdiction,
Void and Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and six
eight hours after issuance. See DKNG dot co slash bball
for eligibility and depositive restrictions, terms and responsible gaming resources.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
I do want to give some props to the supporting
cast for this Dallas team, because I just love how
they've built this team. We've talked about it many times
throughout these playoffs, but the value adds that they have
made with all of these wings and these bigs, adding athletes,
adding defensive minded guys, just so many diamonds in the
rough that they found. Derrek Jones Junior has been so great.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
PJ.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Washington has had some really big moments, but this game
is just about the bigs, and they completely overhauled that group.
And you can look at these two and I don't
think anybody diminishes what they do, but you can view
some of the things that they do as being just
like rudimentary, like classic big man stuff, right, rim running,
(32:52):
rim protection, not necessarily skills on their own that are
uncommon for starting level placement level bigs. These two are
just really, really damn good at both those things, man,
and the vertical spacing is so valuable, so valuable. Luca
has always been one of the absolute best lob passers
(33:13):
in the league. Now he has two of the best
lob finishers in the league. And it really doesn't require
much of a window at all, like we have seen
it many times against Drop, which by design is meant
to take away shots around the rim right, and it's
meant to keep the roller from getting behind you and
(33:33):
keep the pick and roll ball handler in front of you,
so you're forcing guys into those intermediate shots. And yet
it's like Rudy is in good position to play both
of these dudes at various points, and Luke and Kyrie
can just throw the ball up so obscenely high that
it's like Rudy can't play it. You just put that
ball anywhere in the vicinity of the rim, and Gafford
(33:53):
and Lively both can go up there and get it.
That is incredible. And Gafford his touch was good in
this game, the sequence where he had like the skilled
catch and finish off the lob then blocks the Conley
three out of drump, which was so impressive. Then hits
that falling layup in transition and he has five blocks
in this game. This has been the best interior defense
(34:15):
in the playoffs. Opposing teams are shooting something like fifty
five percent inside of six feet against Dallas, which is
a really really low number. And it's about the collective
of those two and really depending on the night, we've
seen one of them step up and be the stud.
It's mostly been Lively recently. I do think he's a
more complete defensive player and a better playmaker offensively. But
(34:36):
Gafford was awesome in this game. And I mentioned their
combined stats last game this one, they combined for thirty
and fourteen on fourteen of sixteen shooting. They're getting a
lot of good looks around the rim spoon fed to them.
But that vertical spacing logan, there's not a lot of
bigs in the league who you can actually just throw
a lob up to no matter what like that and
they'll catch and finish. And both these dudes do that
(34:58):
and it really adds an incredibly valuable to mention to
this offense.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
It's huge. You can't uh, you can't understate it. And
what I really like two, Carson, is you mentioned how
was one of the best lob passers in the league.
It's really permeated to the rest of the roster too, right,
Kyrie will do it, Jaydon Hardy gets a lob in
this one. Yeah. And what's so crazy to me, man,
is that it's at any angle. Like, dude, Kyrie's falling
out of bounds at one point in this game and
(35:24):
just lobs one up.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
And you see them the handle.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Yeah, well two of them. Actually I forgot about that play. Yeah,
he had the other one where almost loses the ball
and still gets it up there. To me, it's like
must watch basketball. Like I assume if you're here you
love basketball, but like it's can't miss it is a
it's a freaking circus out there. And I want to
give extra props to Lively two. Just how long he is, Like, dude,
(35:49):
that dude vacuums in just rebounds and uh, if you
throw it in his vicinity too, like he's he's just
so freaking long, man, that's a real weapon. I also,
like I did think the Timberwolves did a good job
of blitzing and getting the ball in his hands live
he's a good short roll pass or two. Like. I
don't know if he gets an assist in this game though,
but he's got a nice swing to the wing. It
(36:11):
opens up a PJ corner three. Obviously, that's what Minnesota's
defense is conceding. But having a big that is looking
for that pass after the catch immediately is really valuable.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
And he's been better at it later in this run,
because early in the OKC series he really struggled there.
And I think he's gotten definitely better and more comfortable
as a decision maker.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Just because he's ready for it. Yeah, of Corson, I
have one idea for the Minnesota offense to open up
maybe easier shots or something to exploit. I want to
run it by you and hear what you think. I
just had a thought during this game that you know,
Luca has been kind of deteriorated, right his knee is
banged up. What about just going at him like every
(36:53):
defensive possession man and trying to wear him down throughout
the game. One I thought in the first half there
were a lot of open three where Luca's not even
trying on defense, like his man just gets lost in
the corner where he's not trying What do you think
about Minnesota's offense, like setting screens with his man and
deliberately attacking him or trying to wear him down as
(37:14):
the game goes along, maybe just to limit his effectiveness
and just wear him out as the game and series
goes along.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
We haven't seen a ton of success from Minnesota doing
that yet, and we do know that Luca is better
as an isolation defender, then I would say he is
consistently as a team defender. That's not to say that
he doesn't make like his high impactful roam or free
safety plays where he just has really good instincts and
(37:42):
he jumps a passing lane. But ultimately that's just gonna
come down to Ant being super aggressive, like if he
hunts that switch, because the problem has been that regardless
of the matchup, Like there's a couple spots where he
gets Luca on him in this game, and it's the
packed paint that is to him from getting downhill. So
I don't think that that's a bad strategy at all,
(38:04):
simply because putting the other team's best offensive player in
the action defensively repeatedly, like unless they're a really good
defensive player just generally a good strategy, right try to
wear down the opposing team's best offensive player. But ultimately,
like all of this stuff, to me, is just gonna
come down to Ant changing his mentality, Ant being better
(38:24):
because he's had better offensive opportunities in this series than
he's shown. And that's not even saying that like he
should be feasting right now. It's just the dude's been like, really, really,
really bad. I do want to give some more props
to the Minnesota supporting cast, even though they don't win
this game. And I feel bad for these dudes because,
like the story of three quarters, at least of both
(38:46):
these games has just been oh my god, and and
Kat suck in Minnesota might still win because everybody else
is stepping up. And then it ends up being that
you just have two special closers, two special shot makers,
which again the ability to get a self created shit
of the quality that either Luca or Kyrie can. To
have two dudes like that, it's invaluable, and Ant hasn't
(39:06):
shown that he's capable of that, and certainly nobody else
on this Minnesota roster is. But what Conley did man
against Drop, He's just getting fantastic looks. I mean, he's
such a good pull up shooter. He's so comfortable with
the floaters. Everybody's been enamored with his righty floater for
over a decade. Oh my god, he's a lefty and
he shoots righty floaters. But he hits a big one
in this game. Like, in the most important stretches of
this game, it was mostly Conley holding down the offense.
(39:28):
He has that give and go with ant, which honestly,
I thought was a smart way of utilizing Ants a
lack of offensive aggression, just being like, hey, what if
we got our offensive or our best offensive player of
the ball. But he's obviously not going to shoot it,
but at least the defense will have their eyes on
him for a second. I just thought, in a game
where Aunt clearly wasn't ready, Conley did a lot to
(39:49):
put them in a position to win regardless. And then
Nasri Dude seven threes in this game. It's tied for
the most ever by a center in a playoff game.
I saw some people say that he's not a when
I tweeted that out. He's a big guard. I understand
he identifies as a big guard. He is the bench
center for this team plays a lot of minutes at
the four in the playoffs, because why would they have
(40:10):
a lineup that doesn't have go bear or cat out there, Like,
they just don't do that very much at all. But
his versatility is a shooter, it's just outstanding, like you
see in this game, coming off a screen, off kickouts
opposite side, picking roll from really anywhere above the break.
I mean, this is what you've talked about, Logan. You
love the stat that he shoots forty percent or better
from three from every area above the break, both corners,
(40:33):
and you see it from the corners like from deep
and it's the release speed, dude. I mean, the guy
doesn't have to even leave his feet like that ball
is just immediately up and at his size you can't
affect it. He puts the ball on the floor, attacks
the closeout gets a big dunk in this game. Minnesota
is so so good, dude. They are so so good.
They are so well constructed, and I think that that's
(40:56):
probably the toughest thing for Timberwolves fans to stomach seeing
all of these guys who are key players for your
team delivering. And that's not enough because the two guys
are letting you down. And I don't want to sound
like a broken record, but like that's the story man,
all these other dudes. J McDaniels doesn't have a good
offensive game in this one. Neither does Nikie Alexander Walker,
but like they've both had huge moments. McDaniel's especially obviously
(41:18):
has been huge offensively in the last few games.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
I was just gonna add, you, look at all of
the stretches where Minnesota doesn't have it offensively, where they
let go of the rope. It's all minutes without Mike Conley,
they were going to have any Edwards and Naw on
the court, and look, I understand it for maybe defensive purposes.
That's what was so frustrating about those stretches is it's like, okay,
well Mike Conley's out, and you hear SVG on the
(41:42):
broadcast mentioned Anthony Edwards is the only ball handler on
the group. And what is Anthony Edwards doing not taking
the ball and taking over on offense, We get cat
iso possessions. We just get foolish offensive process that you
cannot have in the Western Conference finals. Man, and huge
shut up to NASA. I'm so glad you mentioned the
release down to the last shot of this game, which
(42:05):
just catches from super deep top of the key, ends
up getting it off and almost Yeah, it was you know,
in and out like NAS's a special special weapon man.
Shout out, Shout out Big Jelly, shout out nas Reed man,
and those are the only again, not to beat a
dead horse, not to be a broken record, but back
(42:25):
to back games. Now, you don't get special role players
performances like this every game. You got it from Jaden
McDaniel's last game. You get it from Nas Reed this game,
and they are completely gone to waste. Do you think
that Minnesota is completely chopped Carson? Are they cooked? Well?
Speaker 2 (42:45):
I think it's pretty unlikely that any team comes down
from to nothing when they lose both games on their
home floor. We saw Denver nearly do it last series.
But winning four out of five against a really good
team is just hard, and it's especially hard when they
simply have the better offensive formula right now, when when
they have at this moment the two best players on
(43:05):
the floor in this series. I definitely see avenues to
Minnesota getting back into this because I do think top
to bottom they are the more complete basketball team and
That's where I think people will probably freak out about
the composition of this team, even though they're in the
conference finals if they lose, because that's just what tends
to happen. And maybe Cat is so brutal that you
(43:27):
are like, Okay, can he really be a number two?
But Gobert, by the way, I thought was really good
in this game. I thought he played a really good
basketball game, was awesome on the offensive glass, was generally
efficient offensively. Yes, he has some tough misses, but he
draws his fouls, he gets a mismatching transition, steals the
guy off, and he was really good defensively. Like I
(43:48):
understand that the meme is gonna be Luca putting him
on skates on the last possession. That's a crazy thing
to ask any center in basketball to do. If it's
not bam Adebayo, Like anybody could look silly. Think about
Anthony Davis, who's one of the most switchable bigs. Jamal Murray,
how many times has he out in space? Just been
a little bit too shifty? Right, That threat of the
downhill drive when you just are at a quickness disadvantage,
(44:11):
opens up a lot for the pull up shooting Rudy
looks a little bit goofy, there's no deny. It's a
bit more draft like than ad more graceful, but that
just can't possibly define this. He played a really good game.
I still think the construction of this team is correct.
It is going to be okay. Cann't get to the
level necessary, and also can you do it fast enough?
(44:31):
Because Mike Conley Logan, as you say, is so important,
so so important as just a consistent secondary ball handler
in this game, primary ball handler, just the decision making,
the shot making. It's something that this Minnesota offense desperately needs.
And obviously the man was drafted in two thousand and seven,
so he just doesn't have that much time left in
the league. It's not an impossible role to supplement, but
(44:53):
he is really really good at it, and just even
though his shot making hadn't been very good over the
last couple games, as generally such a steady basketball player.
So I can't say that they're totally done, because it's
like if Ant and Kat had played decent basketball, they
would be up to nothing right now. But obviously I
(45:13):
think that they have a very very long road to
climb back, and there's just no reason not to have
the utmost faith in Luca and Kyrie right now. And
you can't say that about Ant and Kat whatsoever.
Speaker 1 (45:24):
For real. Uh, big dude, go bear blew up a
ton of stuff defensively, like it is gonna be to Meme,
like he looks like big baby out there trying to
guard Luca. It's tough, like you said, it's gonna happen
to anybody you put on Luca in that situation. And
Mike Conle, even though he's missing, Dude, he's stepping into amazing, great,
high quality shots. That's all you can ask out of
(45:44):
the guy. They're all open pull up threes off screens
where he's facing drop coverage. They're all open floaters in
the lane out valuable shots against drop. They're steady ears man.
And to me, yeah, you're right, bro, Like I think
this team is really well equipped to stay here. It's
about the young guys getting better and doing their thing. Man.
I I know they're young, and these first two games
(46:07):
are really discouraging, but I gotta think that I gotta
see that fire man that, like, like angry Pod, we
gotta go take it. And I think Minnisota's response in
game three obviously is massive. This is the game where
like you need a resounding, just mean kind of response,
(46:27):
man like Minnesota has to come back with a vengeance.
And yeah, every time Anthony Edwards has been faced with it,
he has answered to call I'm waiting on it. I
can't imagine they go out without a fight.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
This is a team that has more competitive fire than
they know what to do with. This is a team
that has come out tenacious and vicious and they runner
dogs against Denver and once they went down three two,
it's like, boy, that is difficult to overcome mentally, and
they did it, and they dogged Denver in game six
and they came back from down twenty in game seven.
So you can't count out the mental fourrtitude of this
(47:01):
team and just how the physicality and defensive intensity can
be so valuable to them. And by the way, I
do want to address that this was a physical basketball
game and that's something that should favor in Minnesota. And
they still don't win this one, but I did think
that that was beneficial to their defense, and they were
just sharper defensively in this game than they were last game.
I want to be clear, like this roster construction isn't
(47:23):
perfect because you are sacrificing some offensive skill just inherently
having Rudy out there and you're big, and it's clunky sometimes,
but again, like those physical advantages, having so much size, like,
it's not always the prettiest offensively, but for the most part,
it's been good enough and then you ride that great
defense just comes down to the best dudes not playing
(47:44):
up to their level. So we'll see if they can
get there, but as of right now, it's on them,
So huge win for Dallas. Props to them. What a
season for the Mavericks. What a season and a half
of front office work, dude, I mean just home run
after home run. And I will just say that when
they made the Kyrie trade, I did not think they
(48:06):
could be in this spot this quickly. When they let
Jalen Brunson walk, that is supposed to be the nail
in the coffin. You can't just survive letting a top
fifteen player walk with no value when you could have
had him on the best value contract imaginable, and they're
doing it. They have built, to me a significantly better
(48:27):
team than the one that went to the conference finals
in twenty twenty two, a team that has a much
realer chance of winning the NBA title, and they just
continue to impress me more and more and more. Shout
out Dallas, Shout out all you guys for joining us
on this journey. Appreciate you listening as always, if you
want more of our content, I did a video on
how Kyrie and Luca destroyed this Minnesota defense in Game
(48:51):
one that you can check out. Diving deep with some film,
you can watch all of our full shows. We're consistently
going live with these nightly reactions throughout the playof on
our YouTube page. You can listen to them across all
audio platforms. You can follow us across social TikTok and
Instagram at nerd Sash, Twitter at nerd Underscore, sessh to
see our trivia content, to see clips from the full show,
(49:12):
and you can check out our merch if you want,
at the Volume dot com. You can also join our
discord at the link tree that is across our social
media bios. So with that, as always, appreciate you guys.
I've been Carson Braber
Speaker 1 (49:26):
I have been Logan Camden, and this was Nerd Sash
The volume. Oh my god, how could he do that?
Don't what Charles Darwin, The nerves is where it's at.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Welcome everybody back into Nerd Sesh as always on. Carson
Brever in alongside me is Logan Camden And what an
incredible basketball game. We just saw the Dallas Mavericks take
a two to zero lead over the Timberwolves, take both
games on their home floor in the Western Conference Finals.
And this one ends on a big time game winning
(00:45):
step back three from Luka Doncic to cap off a
very very impressive night from him. Logan, what's your biggest
takeaway from this game?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
I mean, we can just start with the Timberwolves. They
have now lost their first two games at home by
a total of four points. And I put this squarely
on the shoulders of Anthony Edwards and Karl Anthony Towns,
more specifically Anthony Edwards, like he just has to be better.
Carson in round one versus the Suns and was giving
you thirty one, eight and six on sixty five percent
(01:16):
true shooting. Against the Nuggets, he gave us twenty eight
five and six on sixty one percent true shooting in
the first two games of this series. He's at twenty points,
eight boards, eight assist on fifty two percent true shooting.
Like he has been a complete and utter letdown, and
it's all in the fourth quarter. Dude, like him not
wanting to get downhill. When he does get downhill, he
(01:37):
is passing out of point blank opportunities at the rim
where he could at least get an attempt up and
maybe get fouled, being more passive letting the shot clock
dwindle down. And dude, he makes the two most crucial
turnovers in this basketball game. The first one the kick
to Jayden McDaniels where he's scrambling and you can say
what you want about that foul. I don't agree with
(01:58):
the outcome. Rightyrie clearly hits McDaniel's hand. It should be
Minnesota ball. That should have been a foul on Kyrie.
Whatever Aunt makes that error pass that forces Jaden McDaniels
to make that adjustment that's on Anthony Edwards in his passing.
And then he makes the crucial error at the end
where he throws the ball out of bound to nas Reed. Like,
those are two possessions where you can at least get
(02:19):
up a shot, maybe get downhill to the rim and
get some free throws. You just pissed those possessions away, Like,
this is all on Anthony Edwards. Man, the Timberwolves shouldn't
have been in this game. Mike Conley and nos Reed
give you the superhero performances of the night.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Man.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Mike Conley's getting into the teeth of the defense, hitting
big floaters, playmaking. Nas Reed is springing threes all night. Like,
I don't know, man, I was really encouraged by the
Timberwolves first half. They had made some crucial defensive adjustments.
They were humming, they were turning defense into offense, and
they absolutely crumble in the fourth quarter, man, to Luke
(02:59):
and Kyrie. To me, this is the most embarrassing loss
of the playoffs for them. Man, they had some bad
losses in Denver. This is the worst one, dude, And
I put it squarely on the shoulders of the Stars.
And like even Carl Anthony Town's not being on the
floor in the fourth Carson likes, that's big, right, your
second best player should never be off the court. But
I get that one a little bit, right. Nasrita is
(03:20):
spraying the hell out of the ball. You gotta have
nas out there. But I put it on those two guys, man, Like,
this is in embarrassing loss for Minnesota, but more over, man,
the two stars here, Like, I don't know, there's a
small part of me that feels like this is gonna
be too much to overcome. Dude, losing two at home,
(03:42):
I don't know, Man, this is a real demoralizing loss.
And like I said, Dude, I put it all on
the shoulders aunt, Dude.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I don't think it's an overstatement to say that this
too o deficit just in terms of what's gone wrong
with Minnesota. I want to give a bunch of props
to Luca in particular and Kyrie in this Dallas team.
But Soda facing this two to zero deficit is one
hundred percent on Anthony Edwards and Karl Anthony Towns because
they have just proven, they have cemented how awesome this
(04:12):
roster is, how good up and down this roster is,
how complete they are, the advantage that they have over
every other team in the league in terms of like
your six through eighth guys, the lineup versatility, the contributions
they get from Jade McDaniels in Game one, Kyle Anderson
in Game one, Nasried in both these games, Mike Conley
in this game, everybody around them is doing their job
(04:33):
at a very high level. These two are getting absolutely
dogged and they are getting embarrassed by the two best
dudes on the other side of the court. And that
was the biggest concern for this Minnesota team really throughout
the regular season. Man, it was, Yes, they have this
phenomenal team defense. Yes they check boxes in terms of depth,
in size and rebounding. Do they have that tier one
(04:54):
sort of guy that you need to win titles? And
my thought throughout the regular season was, I really like Minnesota,
I don't think that they have that guy yet. And
then in this playoff run, Ant moved me. He was
so consistently through the first two rounds, playing as well
as just about anybody in the field. I thought he's
playing like a top five sort of guy right now.
And then considering the collective strength of this roster, I
(05:16):
was like, yeah, I think they can win this series.
I think they can win the title, like very legitimately.
And he has just been a complete letdown. There's so
many areas in which he's struggled. Obviously, Game one was
just brutal for him defensively, but in this one he
comes out with the right approach in that he is
very aggressive downhill early, particularly in transition, when he can
(05:37):
take advantage of not having to face a set defense
that is loaded up on all his drives and he's
eating up free throws. Now, he really struggles to finish
around the rim in this game, and I want to
give props to Gafford and Lively there for just their
constant presence as deterrence. He also just misses some good
looks at layups in this game, so that's costly. But
as you mentioned, like you have to remain aggressive getting
(06:00):
downhill because there is always value in doing so, even
if you aren't finishing at the rim. The various outcomes
are mostly positive. Right, you draw help, you get a
shot up on the rim, that's an offensive rebound for
your team, that's another possession, very likely a putback. You
just drive hard. An athlete like ant is very likely
gonna draw foul and like he figured that out for
(06:22):
brief stretches of this game at the start of the game,
a couple possessions late in the fourth quarter, but for
the most part, he's just overwhelmed. Like he is way
too overwhelmed seeing the levels of help that he is
right now, where he is literally just throwing the ball
all around the floor as you mentioned, and he passes
up a wide open short range jumper at one point
(06:42):
in the fourth quarter out of drop just like a
gimme look for him throughout these playoffs and he's consistently
passing out without creating an advantage whatsoever. Just reset the offense, Hey, Mike,
can you do something? Can you bail us out? Mike
Conley was way better offensively in this game than Anthony Edwards.
Logan like that is so so inexcusable. I know that
he's twenty two, but come on, man, your roster is there.
(07:05):
We have given you the respect of being one of
these dudes. You are not playing anything close to that
right now. If nas Reed doesn't make seven threes in
this game, if he doesn't bail you out on several
possessions like you wouldn't be in position and the possession
where he throws the ball away trying to get it
to Nas after the Jade mcgangiels one that you mentioned.
It's like I get that he and Nas miscommunicate. Whatever
(07:26):
he wants Nas to stay in one spot but like,
think about where that possession was at. He picks up
his dribble against Derek Lively and he's just pivoting. He's
just pivoting without a plan. Like it is so so
bad from Anthony Edwards. These are consecutive chokes like these
are bad performances all around, but particularly in the fourth quarter.
(07:46):
Just nothing close to what this Timberwolves team needs him
to be. There's no excuse for passing up good looks.
There's no excuse for being this uninvolved offensively. And Dallas's
defense is really good. But again, Mike Conley is kind
of torching the coverage and you can't figure it out.
There's no excuse, SGA. Logan was facing incredibly packed paints.
(08:07):
Nobody else on his team could make a shot. It
was the inverse where ant you're getting the help right
now in terms of your supporting cast, SGA, nobody was
stepping up, and guess what, he's still balled out. He
created those good shots for his teammates consistently. He dazzled
as a shot maker. He found a way to dominate
that series offensively. James Harden was way better offensively than
you have been. Anthony Edwards in this series and now
(08:29):
it's like you've lost your opportunity. I tweeted out with
thirty something seconds to go after the second bad Ant
turnover in those last couple of minutes, like win or lose.
Ant is completely overwhelmed right now and he has to
be one hundred times better if Minnesota wants to win
this series. And ultimately his mistakes were too costly and
now you're down to Oh, you're going on the road.
(08:49):
It's an incredibly difficult spot to come back from, and
without Ant stepping his level up multiple times over, like
you obviously just don't have a chance because this roster
is so good and you are the dude letting your
team right now. You are not ready. That is the
thing holding this team back. And at the same time,
Kat also just sucked, and particularly to me, it was
(09:10):
his offensive approach in this game. We talked after last
game about how just straight up going at PJ Washington
with these isolations is not really the move. Kat is
not a good isolation player. He's a very good post
up player when it comes to mismatch attacking, and generally
he's really good when he has a clear overwhelming size
(09:31):
and strength advantage when he is dealing with somebody who
can match up physically. There's a lot of ways for
those possessions to go wrong if he just gets stonewalled,
loses his handle over dribbles, settles for a tough floater
in this game multiple times, is settling for these tough
one legged fallaways. You see that on the first two
possessions of the game, and it's like, this should not
be the offensive direction for Minnesota. That's just not a
(09:53):
matchup for him to be aggressive in. And that was
where the overwhelming majority of his shots in this game
came straight up against PJ Washington. He's not winning that matchup.
He lost it convincingly in this game. So shout out
nas Reed again for keeping you in this game, because
Kat could have played you right out of it single handedly,
and he didn't deserve to be on the floor in
the fourth quarter of this game. So it's funny because
(10:14):
I think back to my prediction for this series beforehand,
and I talked about some of the precedents that I
normally lean on, and I'm like, normally, the team whose
offensive formula I trust more normally, the team that has
clearly two of the three best players in the series.
I'm gonna pick them and that would be Dallas. But
I said, Minnesota is so great at this other stuff,
so great defensively, so huge, such great depth, that I
(10:35):
think that they can pull through. And I was wrong.
But it wasn't about the supporting cast. It wasn't about
the totality this roster. It's about the two dudes. It
is about two dudes in Dallas staring down two dudes
in Minnesota and absolutely dogging them. That is the story
of this series completely.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Man. You have to recognize the moment and know that
there's not margin against these two dudes. These are veterans,
and more importantly, they are killers their assassins like these
are the guys that you want to go to in
the fourth quarter, and you just have to feel the
gravity of the moment. It's all Kyrie irving in the
fourth quarter. I know Luca hits the big shot. We'll
get to that in a minute. Kyrie has thirteen fourth
(11:13):
quarter points and generates all kinds of offense for them.
Comes out three over Conley, next time, Down hits over
nas Reed has that trailing catch and shoot. Three from deep,
has a couple of drives, leads one to a Daniel
Gafford easy dunk, has another one where he gets down
hill and it's a Derek Lively alley oop, and then
of course he relocates off of what in Minnesota's playing
(11:36):
such great defense, and Kyrie just SLINKs right out.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
To the quarter. Everything possession that was I thought a
really good adjustment for that one possession to take him
out of the rhythm a little.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
And Luca still finds him for the corner three, and
it just felt like, oh man, Kyrie missed those free throws,
He's not missing this one. Man, He's gonna take advantage.
And that's exactly what he does. And then the final possession,
you know, I don't even mind having go bear on
the floor in that situation. I get it a little bit.
If you're gonna funnel him into the rim, like if
you're gonna blitz Luca off of the three, Like, dude,
(12:07):
I just got PTSD from Big Zoo Garden Him and
the Clippers series. It is what you feel it coming
through the screen. I literally told my boy, who's sitting
on the couch we're watching it. I said, that's in
the second at Gobert got switched on Luca. I told
him the three is in and bay them like everybody
in the build and everybody watching your TV nude that
(12:30):
Luca was putting that ball up. I don't get how
Minnesota doesn't blitz him in that situation, How Gobert doesn't
just get up in his mouth and try to run
him off the line, man, dude, Like, you're right, dude.
The two dudes were just better tonight, man, and they
clicked into gear like And this is not about the
(12:50):
supporting cast, Like shout out to Gaffer and Lively for
big play, finishing and great defense through out. I think
you're exactly right. Their rim protection has completely changed this series.
It's not just being passive. It's a mental thing now, right,
And it's facing all of these crowded paints with these
long arms, this great collective Dallas defense, something that he
hasn't faced in the first two series. Phoenix and Denver
(13:12):
just don't have these kind of deterrence or defensive schemes
that can really deter him at the rim. Dallas does.
And so part of ants passivity is an effect of
this awesome Dallas interior defense. And so I do want
to give a ton of credit to those guys for
what they have done in finishing plays of locking up
and playing great defense on the inside, but it is
(13:33):
LUKEA and Kyrie dragging them across the finish line in
schooling these young boys. I use the word schooling because
it's like they feel like they're this is elementary shit, man, this.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Is teachable moment. It's also a teachable moment.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
A very teachable moment, man.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
So impressive from both Luca and Kyrie. And Kyrie absolutely
stepped up in the late stages of this game. You
mentioned like his you're shot making dude. You just have
such immense faith in him, Like there is not a
pull up jumper, There is not a catch and shoot
three that I see from Kyrie irving in the wait
stages of a game that I don't think is going
to go in. And he was also facilitating as you mentioned,
(14:14):
thirteen points and three assists in that fourth quarter. It
was a rough start, but boy did he come in huge.
And you always knew that there's the possibility that these
two would be the best offensive players on the floor,
and they have been by far in this series. But
I do want to give the most props to Luca
because he was absolutely phenomenal, and he was phenomenal in
(14:34):
Game one of this series. He has been on a
tear over these last four games. Shot making was sensational
all night long. He's raining step back threes and he
carried them in the first half when Kyrie was struggling considerably,
and then the game winner over Gobert. You talk about
the different coverages. I thought Minnesota did some really good
(14:55):
creative things defensively in the fourth quarter, like taking Gobart
off the floor for that one possession, switching everything. Kyrie
hits a three, but you get that possession into the
final couple seconds of the shot clock, it's a contested
corner three like that was well defended. And then the
possession before when they switched Gobert onto Luca, I thought
that was really well done because once Luca gets a
(15:16):
step Gobert peel switches off to the roller. Nas Reed
steps up, challenges Luca. It's just an unexpected look and
it's a way for them to still get a great contest,
even when Gobert gets beaten off the dribble by obviously
a quicker, better offensive player. But then the next possession,
it's like you cannot just leave him on a complete
island with Luca. I'm not cool with that. I get
(15:39):
that Rudy holds up well on switches. Man, this is
Luka Dancic, and he just had him on skates on
that possession. He's just too great an offensive player. The
scoring was really really impressive, But my favorite part of
this Luca performance was just how surgical he was as
a passer. And we saw him absolutely toast Minnesota in
drop in Game one of this series, where he is
(16:00):
just consistently getting into that painted area and he's so
great as a touch shot maker. He's getting deep into
the teeth of the defense and then still feeding the
bigs with these lobs, and we saw a decent amount
of that in this game as well. But it was
dealing with the other coverages as well, where we've talked
about something that we saw in the OKC series, something
that we saw even a couple times in Game one
(16:20):
of this series, where you send two to the ball
if you're playing Rudy in a higher drop or if
you're blitzing some sort of coverage where the big is
up at the level, you can basically challenge Dallas's bigs
to make good decisions and maintain their composure when they're
confronted with a lowman. Luca basically negated that just by
moving the lowman so many times in this game where
(16:43):
he is staring down that skip pass, and so the
lowman eventually is going to leave his spot and he
is going to think that that ball as going to
the weak side shooter, and then it just opens up
a wide open role for the big and Luca's delivering
these no look jump passes like they're nothing with perth
accuracy every time. I just thought that that was absolutely outstanding.
(17:05):
He made it impossible to guard the pick and roll
regardless of what coverage he played in this game. He's
just an offensive maestro at his absolute best right now,
and he is playing a level above everybody else in
the field. And he has had his struggles in this
playoff run, but he has worked his way completely out
of that. The jumper is looking as good as ever,
(17:26):
and obviously he's still dealing with the knee thing, which
makes this so impressive because we see him going to
the locker room in multiple stretches of this game. But
I shure didn't seem to matter in this one man.
He was just completely, completely dominant last four games, averaging
thirty one to nine and ten and a half on
sixty five percent true shooting. I just wasn't sure if
(17:47):
we would see this Luca, considering the trouble that he
had had with his knee in these playoffs. I thought
that his mobility looked too hampered Earlier in this run.
He was too tentative getting downhill. And he has risen
to a special and that's the difference in this series. Like,
he is truly one of the best offensive players ever.
I've said many times that he's off to probably the
(18:08):
best offensive start to a career through six seasons we've
ever seen. It's him and Oscar Robertson going neck and neck.
But when you factor in how young Luca was coming
into the league, Like, if you want to say best
offensive start to a career by twenty five years old,
then it's Luca. The stuff that he has accomplished regular
season in postseason is just so so historically impressive, and
(18:29):
this is now a real opportunity for him to continue
to build on that special start. We've seen all this
stuff about how he's made five straight All NBA First teams,
and there are great all time NBA players who haven't
even accomplished that. I think Dirk is four time first
team All NBA. I think Steph is four time first
Team All NBA. But now it's like you put a
(18:50):
championship caliber roster around him, and honestly, still a roster
than in terms of offensive skill is lacking outside of
Kyrie and Luca, but they're defending it ahigh level. They
have good enough athletes and those two are so great,
and he's taking you to the promised Land right now.
It's just a really impressive flip as well, because last
series was so much about that supporting cast stepping up,
(19:12):
and this series so far through two games, has just
been about Luca and Kyrie being overwhelmingly great. It's a
hell of a formula. They have two shot makers, two
shot creators of this caliber, and a team defense that
is playing at this level. I was optimistic about this
Dallas team. I thought they it'd get them to the
conference finals. That was my pick. But again I thought
that Minnesota had the more complete team and I thought
(19:33):
that would pull them through. But these dudes are just
too damn good and they're doing it against a really
great defense, a defense that made some costly mistakes in
Game one, didn't play their best, but I thought played
considerably better tonight. And you still get this sort of
performance from Luka Doncic. Again, it's just one of the
best scorers alive, one of the best passers alive. There
(19:54):
isn't a read, there isn't a shot that he can't
make out of pick and roll, and ultimately, great off
defense oftentimes beats great defense.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
And that's what we're seeing, we are And I want
to give him extra props to Carson. You mentioned that,
you know, he's clearly hampered, and I think I downplayed
that through the first two rounds, Like I was flabbergasted,
for lack of better term, watching him cook. He's so
tired at different points in this game, and it just
like I really don't think he's anywhere close to one
(20:25):
hundred percent at all, man, and the fact that he
is still capable of doing this, and it's it's the brain, man,
you know, some of this is the IQ, the manipulation,
Like that's the beauty is like Luca hampered like this,
he's injured, but he's still freaking strong. You can't turn
you know, you can't take that away. The way he
operates like his game. That's the beauty of it is
that even though he's at seventy to eighty percent, whatever
(20:47):
number you want to put on it, he can still
be this effective in a single game because his game
isn't predicator in athleticism and explosiveness. It's being methodical, it's
making great decisions, it's opening things up, it's manipulating guys
with his eyes and playmaking. It's phenomenal stuff, and he
is the best guy in the field. You talk about
some of the adjustments at Minnesota made Carson, and that's
(21:10):
where I'm really worried about Minnesota, right. I think they
can make I think they can continue to make these
adjustments and slow down Dallas. But if Anthony Edwards and
Karl Anthony Towns aren't gonna play at a different level,
like you are literally crossing your fingers praying to the
basketball gods that Kyrie and Luca are missing shots. Like,
(21:30):
if they're not going to carry your offense, that is
what you're left to, right. I liked a lot of
the adjustments at Minnesota made in this game. Go Bear,
coming out in a higher drop, mixing in more blitzes
and traps, I think you made a key point. I
think the little man has to be so much better
off of Luca in Big Pick and Roll. I get
it's tough when Luca's manipulating you with that weak side guy,
(21:53):
but at a point, like Karl Anthony Towns got picked
on bad a couple of times in this game where
I'm just screaming at my television, Dude, you have to
recognize that you're the hot guy. You got a slide
and well.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Also you just have to be more willing to concede yes,
a corner three to Derek Jones Jr. Like as opposed
to a wide open dunk over and over again. Like,
I get it's tough, man, he is selling the shit
out of these passes, but like, you just have to
be more disciplined in that spot. You have to understand, Okay,
my responsibility is to tag the roller, and if Luca
(22:25):
is looking towards that skip pass, let him make it.
Let Derek Jones Junior make a three. Let PJ. Washington
make a three. I'm not giving up a ninety nine
percent dunk attempt to Daniel Gafford or Derek Lively. And
too many times Luca's just been too good. He's out
smarter them, and he's gotten exactly what he wants.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Like he always does. Man, And it's hard Gardon to
pick and roll right, like if you step up too far,
Lively and Gafford are flying in behind you at all
kinds of speed, ready to jam it in like yeah,
And I honestly wonder because I thought, uh, I want
to give credit to nas red on one of the
final possessions. I was also screaming in my television as
I was throughout this game, you're hot, like you gotta
(23:01):
be the slide guy. And I thought he made a
really good slide on a Luca floater at the end
of the game. I wonder if it's worth having I
don't know, man, just a smarter if Nas might be
better in that situation instead of Carl.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Anthony made a lot of mistakes in Game one, though
he got Nas bad a few times. It's it's tough, man,
it's against Luca great offense.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
And the point is that it did work for a
little bit, right, Like in the first half, Minnesota holds
Dallas scoreless for four plus minutes at a point like
it was working. They were turning defense into offense. They
were crashing the hell out of the glass. They were
out working them. But at the end of the first half,
man Dallas clicked into gear, their defense started playing better.
(23:42):
They got a ton of transition buckets and they carried
it over. But that's my point, man, is that all
these great defensive adjustments, no matter how bad they battle
on the offensive, class like Minnesota can do all the
little things, they can do all of them, and they
can limit the Dallas by that much. But it really
(24:02):
is not going to matter whatsoever if Anthony Edwards and
Karl Anthony Towns snap out of this. And my biggest concern,
Carson is something that you mentioned earlier, is that they're
too young, man, Like I wonder if this is just
gonna be a growing experience for both of these two.
Like that was one glaring thing that stuck out to
me in the fourth quarter, is just the composure of
(24:24):
these players. I didn't like Anthony Edwards body language. Like
there was one where he went to the rack in
a transition layup and I think he got fouled, right,
and he's complaining to the refs and he puts his
head down and like you can just tell he's a
little frustrated. And that's a little detail, right, but it's
just something.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I don't like.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Kyrie and Luca the entire game are scanning, they are looking,
they are locked in, and I just feel like that
slipped a little bit with Ant.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Man.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Like the first two series, Draymond mentioned, I saw a
slight bit of weakness in Ant and the press or
right when he was talking about he's tired, and I
just wonder if Ant is mentally ready for the situation.
Man the first two series made it seem like he
was like, yeah, you know, he's locked in through these
first two games. I have not gotten the composed Anthony
(25:10):
Edwards that you know the Timberwolves need to win this series.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Not even close, dude, not even close. And it's really
hard to go through your first extended playoff run as
a number one option. We know that there's no denying
that it wears on you physically. You are seeing coverage
after coverage that are different but are all in some
way designed to take you out of rhythm, force the
(25:35):
ball out of your hands, take the rim away, which
is his greatest strength as a scorer. But you just
have to be way better than this. And like you said,
you have to hang in there mentally, and you have
to remain the aggressor. Once you stop attacking, the defense
is won, the other team has won. And it really
just comes down to that one fact. This doesn't say
anything final about who Anthony Edwards can be, but it
(25:57):
does say something very real about the gap between him
and a Luka Doncic right now. And there is a
big old gap there right now. And because of the knee,
I thought, well, in this specific series, there might not
be that big of a gap. There's a big old gap.
Man like Luca just again is infallible as a decision maker.
He is in such complete control of the game, whereas
(26:19):
Aunt it is very much the opposite. He is out
of control. He is the one who feels as though
he is being hunted. And dude, I just want to
give you the combined stats between these two star tandems
through two games. Luke and Kyrie are combining for fifty
seven and a half points per game on fifty eight
percent through shooting. Ant and Kat are combining for thirty
(26:41):
five and a half points per game on forty six
percent for shooting. Karl Anthony Towns logan is twenty eight
percent from the field in these two games. You never
have a chance. You never have a chance. If that's
the case.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
The final thing I was gonna mention those are absurd numbers. Again,
that just speaks to the fact like they are getting
so clearly out laid by these guys. The one final
thing I was gonna mention, Man, it just feels like
you hit on the key there.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Man.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
The reason that I had faith and in this matchup
specifically and in this series was because of Luca's knee injury.
And ironically, I think Luca has played himself up to
the Western Conference finals and into being ready for this matchup.
And I wonder if Anthony Edwards blew his wad in
the first two series going all out and it's tough, right,
Like you are gonna be a little spent at this
(27:28):
point in the playoffs, right, You don't battle through two
really hard series. You just went through a Game seven
in Denver. But I wonder if, like this his first run,
Like I wonder if the exhaustion in the toll is
just taking too much on him man at this point
in these playoffs. But Luca has played up to here, man,
and he's been here before too. Man, That is a
(27:49):
component of it, the experience aspect. Like Kyrie mentioned it
in Game one, I knew I had to put the
offense on my back out of the gates here and
we had to get it started. And they just have
such a better feel for the moment, man, even like
a Mike Conley. Mike Conley steps up in this game
because he's.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Pier before he knows it.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
And uh, I wonder if their youth is gonna get them. Man.
We harked on Oklahoma City being the young team in
these playoffs and it was gonna cost them, and uh,
I wonder if we overlooked that aspect a little bit
with this Minnesota team.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Man, Dude, I feel like I was concerned about it
in the regular season and then Ant just wiped my concerns.
And the sample size ultimately just wasn't big enough with
what he was doing in those first two rounds. But
my goodness, like just the consistency with which he stepped
up to the moment. That's how to say that he
(28:38):
was perfect every single game, but there were a lot
of dominant ant games and he's still gonna be a
top three player in the world down the line. In
my opinion, again, I think that there's clearly three dudes
you would want to build your franchise around going forward.
It's Wemby, It's Luca, and then to me it's Ant.
But there is a very clear precedent throughout NBA history
that teams with twenty two year olds. Is there player
(29:01):
just don't win it all? And Minnesota does a lot
at an exceptional level. But if Ant just isn't that
guy at this moment, if he's not ready to be
that in this series, then that's kind of it. That's final.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Outside of hitting shots. Is there anything you think that
Ant can aunt OrCAD both of them the payer that
they can do, if differently schematically or mentally offensively, to
do better things moving forward in the series.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Absolutely. I think Ant just needs to be more relentless
downhill and just needs to take more shots. Also, right
he is seeing some really good pull up looks out
of drop and Rudy is setting some really good screens
to spring him free, and he's not taking all of them.
But I really want to see him asserting himself physically,
(29:48):
because when he attacked the bucket, even without making his
shots around the rim, he saw good results. In this game,
he also just needs to be way more composed as
a playmaker, and that's been in consistent for him, but
it was really, really bad some of the decisions that
he made late in this game. Kat, it's just stopped
going at PJ Washington one on one. It's pretty simple, like,
(30:10):
if you have a legitimate mismatch, fantastic, go to work
as a post up player. Other than that, I want
you spotting up. I want you attacking the offensive glass.
Like the worst thing that Kat can do as an
offensive player is start forcing the issue and kind of
wasting these possessions with these out of control isolations, and
there was just too much of that in this game.
All right, guys, we're gonna take a quick break. Then
on the other side, we'll talk about some of the
(30:32):
other keys and things that stood out to us from
this game. After some quick words from DraftKings, we are
this close to crowning an NBA champ, and with the
action heating up on the court, it's even hotter at
DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
There's only so many games left, and Draftings Sportsbook has
you covered with same game parlays, live bettings, odd boosts
and so much more. Don't miss out or you'll have
to wait until next NBA season to place your bets.
It's super easy for first times to get started. Try
betting on something simple like picking a team to win.
Go to the DraftKings Sportsbook app, select your squad and
place your first bet. It's that simple.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
New to DraftKings listen up. New customers can get a
no sweat bet up to fifteen hundred bucks. Just deposit
at least five bucks and you'll get a bonus bet
back equal to your first bet if it doesn't hit.
Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now and use code nerds.
That's code Nerds for new customers to get a no
sweat bet up to fifteen hundred bucks if your first
(31:29):
bet doesn't hit. Only on DraftKings. The Crown is yours.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler or in West
Virginia visit one eight hundred gambler dot net. In New
York call eight seven seven eight open wired text hope
and y four six seven three six nine. In Connecticut,
help is available for problem gambling. Call eight eight eight
seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG
dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino
(31:53):
Wan Resorting Kansas twenty one and over age varies by jurisdiction,
Void and Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and six
eight hours after issuance. See DKNG dot co slash bball
for eligibility and depositive restrictions, terms and responsible gaming resources.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
I do want to give some props to the supporting
cast for this Dallas team, because I just love how
they've built this team. We've talked about it many times
throughout these playoffs, but the value adds that they have
made with all of these wings and these bigs, adding athletes,
adding defensive minded guys, just so many diamonds in the
rough that they found. Derrek Jones Junior has been so great.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
PJ.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Washington has had some really big moments, but this game
is just about the bigs, and they completely overhauled that group.
And you can look at these two and I don't
think anybody diminishes what they do, but you can view
some of the things that they do as being just
like rudimentary, like classic big man stuff, right, rim running,
(32:52):
rim protection, not necessarily skills on their own that are
uncommon for starting level placement level bigs. These two are
just really, really damn good at both those things, man,
and the vertical spacing is so valuable, so valuable. Luca
has always been one of the absolute best lob passers
(33:13):
in the league. Now he has two of the best
lob finishers in the league. And it really doesn't require
much of a window at all, like we have seen
it many times against Drop, which by design is meant
to take away shots around the rim right, and it's
meant to keep the roller from getting behind you and
(33:33):
keep the pick and roll ball handler in front of you,
so you're forcing guys into those intermediate shots. And yet
it's like Rudy is in good position to play both
of these dudes at various points, and Luke and Kyrie
can just throw the ball up so obscenely high that
it's like Rudy can't play it. You just put that
ball anywhere in the vicinity of the rim, and Gafford
(33:53):
and Lively both can go up there and get it.
That is incredible. And Gafford his touch was good in
this game, the sequence where he had like the skilled
catch and finish off the lob then blocks the Conley
three out of drump, which was so impressive. Then hits
that falling layup in transition and he has five blocks
in this game. This has been the best interior defense
(34:15):
in the playoffs. Opposing teams are shooting something like fifty
five percent inside of six feet against Dallas, which is
a really really low number. And it's about the collective
of those two and really depending on the night, we've
seen one of them step up and be the stud.
It's mostly been Lively recently. I do think he's a
more complete defensive player and a better playmaker offensively. But
(34:36):
Gafford was awesome in this game. And I mentioned their
combined stats last game this one, they combined for thirty
and fourteen on fourteen of sixteen shooting. They're getting a
lot of good looks around the rim spoon fed to them.
But that vertical spacing logan, there's not a lot of
bigs in the league who you can actually just throw
a lob up to no matter what like that and
they'll catch and finish. And both these dudes do that
(34:58):
and it really adds an incredibly valuable to mention to
this offense.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
It's huge. You can't uh, you can't understate it. And
what I really like two, Carson, is you mentioned how
was one of the best lob passers in the league.
It's really permeated to the rest of the roster too, right,
Kyrie will do it, Jaydon Hardy gets a lob in
this one. Yeah. And what's so crazy to me, man,
is that it's at any angle. Like, dude, Kyrie's falling
out of bounds at one point in this game and
(35:24):
just lobs one up.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
And you see them the handle.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Yeah, well two of them. Actually I forgot about that play. Yeah,
he had the other one where almost loses the ball
and still gets it up there. To me, it's like
must watch basketball. Like I assume if you're here you
love basketball, but like it's can't miss it is a
it's a freaking circus out there. And I want to
give extra props to Lively two. Just how long he is, Like, dude,
(35:49):
that dude vacuums in just rebounds and uh, if you
throw it in his vicinity too, like he's he's just
so freaking long, man, that's a real weapon. I also,
like I did think the Timberwolves did a good job
of blitzing and getting the ball in his hands live
he's a good short roll pass or two. Like. I
don't know if he gets an assist in this game though,
but he's got a nice swing to the wing. It
(36:11):
opens up a PJ corner three. Obviously, that's what Minnesota's
defense is conceding. But having a big that is looking
for that pass after the catch immediately is really valuable.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
And he's been better at it later in this run,
because early in the OKC series he really struggled there.
And I think he's gotten definitely better and more comfortable
as a decision maker.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Just because he's ready for it. Yeah, of Corson, I
have one idea for the Minnesota offense to open up
maybe easier shots or something to exploit. I want to
run it by you and hear what you think. I
just had a thought during this game that you know,
Luca has been kind of deteriorated, right his knee is
banged up. What about just going at him like every
(36:53):
defensive possession man and trying to wear him down throughout
the game. One I thought in the first half there
were a lot of open three where Luca's not even
trying on defense, like his man just gets lost in
the corner where he's not trying What do you think
about Minnesota's offense, like setting screens with his man and
deliberately attacking him or trying to wear him down as
(37:14):
the game goes along, maybe just to limit his effectiveness
and just wear him out as the game and series
goes along.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
We haven't seen a ton of success from Minnesota doing
that yet, and we do know that Luca is better
as an isolation defender, then I would say he is
consistently as a team defender. That's not to say that
he doesn't make like his high impactful roam or free
safety plays where he just has really good instincts and
(37:42):
he jumps a passing lane. But ultimately that's just gonna
come down to Ant being super aggressive, like if he
hunts that switch, because the problem has been that regardless
of the matchup, Like there's a couple spots where he
gets Luca on him in this game, and it's the
packed paint that is to him from getting downhill. So
I don't think that that's a bad strategy at all,
(38:04):
simply because putting the other team's best offensive player in
the action defensively repeatedly, like unless they're a really good
defensive player just generally a good strategy, right try to
wear down the opposing team's best offensive player. But ultimately,
like all of this stuff, to me, is just gonna
come down to Ant changing his mentality, Ant being better
(38:24):
because he's had better offensive opportunities in this series than
he's shown. And that's not even saying that like he
should be feasting right now. It's just the dude's been like, really, really,
really bad. I do want to give some more props
to the Minnesota supporting cast, even though they don't win
this game. And I feel bad for these dudes because,
like the story of three quarters, at least of both
(38:46):
these games has just been oh my god, and and
Kat suck in Minnesota might still win because everybody else
is stepping up. And then it ends up being that
you just have two special closers, two special shot makers,
which again the ability to get a self created shit
of the quality that either Luca or Kyrie can. To
have two dudes like that, it's invaluable, and Ant hasn't
(39:06):
shown that he's capable of that, and certainly nobody else
on this Minnesota roster is. But what Conley did man
against Drop, He's just getting fantastic looks. I mean, he's
such a good pull up shooter. He's so comfortable with
the floaters. Everybody's been enamored with his righty floater for
over a decade. Oh my god, he's a lefty and
he shoots righty floaters. But he hits a big one
in this game. Like, in the most important stretches of
this game, it was mostly Conley holding down the offense.
(39:28):
He has that give and go with ant, which honestly,
I thought was a smart way of utilizing Ants a
lack of offensive aggression, just being like, hey, what if
we got our offensive or our best offensive player of
the ball. But he's obviously not going to shoot it,
but at least the defense will have their eyes on
him for a second. I just thought, in a game
where Aunt clearly wasn't ready, Conley did a lot to
(39:49):
put them in a position to win regardless. And then
Nasri Dude seven threes in this game. It's tied for
the most ever by a center in a playoff game.
I saw some people say that he's not a when
I tweeted that out. He's a big guard. I understand
he identifies as a big guard. He is the bench
center for this team plays a lot of minutes at
the four in the playoffs, because why would they have
(40:10):
a lineup that doesn't have go bear or cat out there, Like,
they just don't do that very much at all. But
his versatility is a shooter, it's just outstanding, like you
see in this game, coming off a screen, off kickouts
opposite side, picking roll from really anywhere above the break.
I mean, this is what you've talked about, Logan. You
love the stat that he shoots forty percent or better
from three from every area above the break, both corners,
(40:33):
and you see it from the corners like from deep
and it's the release speed, dude. I mean, the guy
doesn't have to even leave his feet like that ball
is just immediately up and at his size you can't
affect it. He puts the ball on the floor, attacks
the closeout gets a big dunk in this game. Minnesota
is so so good, dude. They are so so good.
They are so well constructed, and I think that that's
(40:56):
probably the toughest thing for Timberwolves fans to stomach seeing
all of these guys who are key players for your
team delivering. And that's not enough because the two guys
are letting you down. And I don't want to sound
like a broken record, but like that's the story man,
all these other dudes. J McDaniels doesn't have a good
offensive game in this one. Neither does Nikie Alexander Walker,
but like they've both had huge moments. McDaniel's especially obviously
(41:18):
has been huge offensively in the last few games.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
I was just gonna add, you, look at all of
the stretches where Minnesota doesn't have it offensively, where they
let go of the rope. It's all minutes without Mike Conley,
they were going to have any Edwards and Naw on
the court, and look, I understand it for maybe defensive purposes.
That's what was so frustrating about those stretches is it's like, okay,
well Mike Conley's out, and you hear SVG on the
(41:42):
broadcast mentioned Anthony Edwards is the only ball handler on
the group. And what is Anthony Edwards doing not taking
the ball and taking over on offense, We get cat
iso possessions. We just get foolish offensive process that you
cannot have in the Western Conference finals. Man, and huge
shut up to NASA. I'm so glad you mentioned the
release down to the last shot of this game, which
(42:05):
just catches from super deep top of the key, ends
up getting it off and almost Yeah, it was you know,
in and out like NAS's a special special weapon man.
Shout out, Shout out Big Jelly, shout out nas Reed man,
and those are the only again, not to beat a
dead horse, not to be a broken record, but back
(42:25):
to back games. Now, you don't get special role players
performances like this every game. You got it from Jaden
McDaniel's last game. You get it from Nas Reed this game,
and they are completely gone to waste. Do you think
that Minnesota is completely chopped Carson? Are they cooked? Well?
Speaker 2 (42:45):
I think it's pretty unlikely that any team comes down
from to nothing when they lose both games on their
home floor. We saw Denver nearly do it last series.
But winning four out of five against a really good
team is just hard, and it's especially hard when they
simply have the better offensive formula right now, when when
they have at this moment the two best players on
(43:05):
the floor in this series. I definitely see avenues to
Minnesota getting back into this because I do think top
to bottom they are the more complete basketball team and
That's where I think people will probably freak out about
the composition of this team, even though they're in the
conference finals if they lose, because that's just what tends
to happen. And maybe Cat is so brutal that you
(43:27):
are like, Okay, can he really be a number two?
But Gobert, by the way, I thought was really good
in this game. I thought he played a really good
basketball game, was awesome on the offensive glass, was generally
efficient offensively. Yes, he has some tough misses, but he
draws his fouls, he gets a mismatching transition, steals the
guy off, and he was really good defensively. Like I
(43:48):
understand that the meme is gonna be Luca putting him
on skates on the last possession. That's a crazy thing
to ask any center in basketball to do. If it's
not bam Adebayo, Like anybody could look silly. Think about
Anthony Davis, who's one of the most switchable bigs. Jamal Murray,
how many times has he out in space? Just been
a little bit too shifty? Right, That threat of the
downhill drive when you just are at a quickness disadvantage,
(44:11):
opens up a lot for the pull up shooting Rudy
looks a little bit goofy, there's no deny. It's a
bit more draft like than ad more graceful, but that
just can't possibly define this. He played a really good game.
I still think the construction of this team is correct.
It is going to be okay. Cann't get to the
level necessary, and also can you do it fast enough?
(44:31):
Because Mike Conley Logan, as you say, is so important,
so so important as just a consistent secondary ball handler
in this game, primary ball handler, just the decision making,
the shot making. It's something that this Minnesota offense desperately needs.
And obviously the man was drafted in two thousand and seven,
so he just doesn't have that much time left in
the league. It's not an impossible role to supplement, but
(44:53):
he is really really good at it, and just even
though his shot making hadn't been very good over the
last couple games, as generally such a steady basketball player.
So I can't say that they're totally done, because it's
like if Ant and Kat had played decent basketball, they
would be up to nothing right now. But obviously I
(45:13):
think that they have a very very long road to
climb back, and there's just no reason not to have
the utmost faith in Luca and Kyrie right now. And
you can't say that about Ant and Kat whatsoever.
Speaker 1 (45:24):
For real. Uh, big dude, go bear blew up a
ton of stuff defensively, like it is gonna be to Meme,
like he looks like big baby out there trying to
guard Luca. It's tough, like you said, it's gonna happen
to anybody you put on Luca in that situation. And
Mike Conle, even though he's missing, Dude, he's stepping into amazing, great,
high quality shots. That's all you can ask out of
(45:44):
the guy. They're all open pull up threes off screens
where he's facing drop coverage. They're all open floaters in
the lane out valuable shots against drop. They're steady ears man.
And to me, yeah, you're right, bro, Like I think
this team is really well equipped to stay here. It's
about the young guys getting better and doing their thing. Man.
I I know they're young, and these first two games
(46:07):
are really discouraging, but I gotta think that I gotta
see that fire man that, like, like angry Pod, we
gotta go take it. And I think Minnisota's response in
game three obviously is massive. This is the game where
like you need a resounding, just mean kind of response,
(46:27):
man like Minnesota has to come back with a vengeance.
And yeah, every time Anthony Edwards has been faced with it,
he has answered to call I'm waiting on it. I
can't imagine they go out without a fight.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
This is a team that has more competitive fire than
they know what to do with. This is a team
that has come out tenacious and vicious and they runner
dogs against Denver and once they went down three two,
it's like, boy, that is difficult to overcome mentally, and
they did it, and they dogged Denver in game six
and they came back from down twenty in game seven.
So you can't count out the mental fourrtitude of this
(47:01):
team and just how the physicality and defensive intensity can
be so valuable to them. And by the way, I
do want to address that this was a physical basketball
game and that's something that should favor in Minnesota. And
they still don't win this one, but I did think
that that was beneficial to their defense, and they were
just sharper defensively in this game than they were last game.
I want to be clear, like this roster construction isn't
(47:23):
perfect because you are sacrificing some offensive skill just inherently
having Rudy out there and you're big, and it's clunky sometimes,
but again, like those physical advantages, having so much size, like,
it's not always the prettiest offensively, but for the most part,
it's been good enough and then you ride that great
defense just comes down to the best dudes not playing
(47:44):
up to their level. So we'll see if they can
get there, but as of right now, it's on them,
So huge win for Dallas. Props to them. What a
season for the Mavericks. What a season and a half
of front office work, dude, I mean just home run
after home run. And I will just say that when
they made the Kyrie trade, I did not think they
(48:06):
could be in this spot this quickly. When they let
Jalen Brunson walk, that is supposed to be the nail
in the coffin. You can't just survive letting a top
fifteen player walk with no value when you could have
had him on the best value contract imaginable, and they're
doing it. They have built, to me a significantly better
(48:27):
team than the one that went to the conference finals
in twenty twenty two, a team that has a much
realer chance of winning the NBA title, and they just
continue to impress me more and more and more. Shout
out Dallas, Shout out all you guys for joining us
on this journey. Appreciate you listening as always, if you
want more of our content, I did a video on
how Kyrie and Luca destroyed this Minnesota defense in Game
(48:51):
one that you can check out. Diving deep with some film,
you can watch all of our full shows. We're consistently
going live with these nightly reactions throughout the playof on
our YouTube page. You can listen to them across all
audio platforms. You can follow us across social TikTok and
Instagram at nerd Sash, Twitter at nerd Underscore, sessh to
see our trivia content, to see clips from the full show,
(49:12):
and you can check out our merch if you want,
at the Volume dot com. You can also join our
discord at the link tree that is across our social
media bios. So with that, as always, appreciate you guys.
I've been Carson Braber
Speaker 1 (49:26):
I have been Logan Camden, and this was Nerd Sash
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.