May 5, 2026 • 46 mins
Dan Barreiro opens the show discussing the news that the Wild are taking the Gus Bus out of the garage for Game 2 before Wolves assistant coach Micah Nori joins to talk about the massive Game 1 win in San Antonio.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I don't care what happened in the first three quarters.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You know, fourth quarter, thirty minutes, four minutes left, let
me see fourth quarter.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Bring it to the ticket.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
This is your and garn laughed at me for the
goaltending question. Leader fan Fan Radio Network, you know what
and k fa N dot com. Two minutes and thirty
four seconds past the hour of three o'clock Central daylight time,
(00:34):
we welcome you back to a Tuesday edition of the
Afternoon Ardvark. My name is Dan Burrero. I host the program,
guards he produces the show, and we are delighted that
you are a part of today's festivities. As long as
you are a part of them, and even if you're not,
you can always get back to it later. You can
podcast the parts you miss later, or if you love
(00:57):
certain parts of the program so much, you can go
back and listen to the show a second time.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
I do it every once in a while.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
Why wouldn't you?
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Sometimes it Are you in ore when you go back
and listen? Are you in awe of ourselves? I'm just impressed?
Oh yeah, I'm impressed.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Awe.
Speaker 5 (01:15):
Maybe not, maybe not to that level. I'm definitely impressed. Okay,
I'm definitely impressed.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I'm impressed with the guest lineup that we have today
via theuglydeck dot com guest lineup.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
It's and I'm a little bit.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Nervous about proclaiming our four or two guest as confirmed.
It's kind of semi confirmed. More on that in a minute,
but we do know confirmed at three thirty bout of
the hour is Wolve's lead assistant coach, Mike and Nori.
He will join in about twenty five minutes or so.
We also know that Luigi lu Nani will join us
(01:52):
at five thirty. We'll give you more details on our
hope for four oh two today as well. The bratch
on Brian Caffean text line is open at six four
six eight six. Here's how weird my mind works. I
could have sworn earlier today via I Think Russo that
(02:19):
I read a tweet indicating that the Wild we're sticking
with valstat at goalie for game two. Obviously I must
have been doing some projecting, because that wasn't the case.
I don't think at any point was that proclamation made
a lot of people believe or believed that's what the
(02:42):
Wild we're going to do. There are a number of
people who believe that's what they should do.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
But not so fast, my friend.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
The change for tonight's game two, all the action right
here on the fan seven o'clock puck drop, I think.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Has been made. Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (03:04):
We have made the We've gone We're climbing on the
gus bus tonight, taking it out of the garage in
game number two. I hope they hope the battery do
they do? They have to use jumper cables on the battery?
Do like a five thousand mile check up?
Speaker 4 (03:19):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Rotate the tires?
Speaker 4 (03:21):
I am? You know me.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
I'm obsessed with goaltending. I can't get enough goaltending talk.
I did apparently annoy Bill Garon by asking goaltending questions
in the wake of the Wild wrapping up their their
six game victory, the series victory over the Dallas Stars.
I can't get enough of what this kind of decision
(03:45):
represents to me. And of course there'll be plenty of
Wolves discussion today. The yet another mythic victory for your
favorite basketball team, in which it was there for the
San Antonio Spurs. David to Steele, It's interesting because I
heard the play by play guy from the Spurs and
(04:05):
he makes the final call the missshot, who missed the shot?
Speaker 4 (04:10):
The three pointer?
Speaker 5 (04:11):
It depends on how you pronounce it, but it's spelled
like champagne, champagne, Shanagney, champagnee.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
I think champagnee. He misses the.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Shot, and I hear their big voice guy say, and
the Wolves steal game one. I would argue the opposite
that if the Spurs had won the game, that would
have been the steal, especially with the way through much
of the fourth quarter the Wolves not only had the lead,
(04:38):
but built upon the lead, actually built it to its
highest level while Anthony Edwards was on the bench. He
did come back. Of course, on had a couple of
mishaps that she talked about after the game.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
So that's all going to be part of what we
get into today.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Again, a lot of while talking, a lot of Wolves
talk as well, this is a moment this.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Is it's a momentous.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
There is no more momentous decision in hockey than what
you do at the goaltender position. Right, It's not like
the quarterback position in the NFL. Right, I mean there
are times where well how many times in the UH
by definition, in the postseason it never happens. It might
happen within a game that the starter gets benched if
(05:28):
he's terrible, but they're not going to go to another
quarterback in the next game if he plays a bad game,
because if he plays a bad game, this series, this
season is over right because it's best of one in
the National Football League playoffs for now, for now that's true,
that's likely to change, so they can get maybe a
couple extra billion or no, that would be trillions. Put
a couple on Prime, probably be trillion Netflix correct, how
(05:49):
much more is one trillion?
Speaker 5 (05:50):
What's the how much more is a billion than a trillion?
I'm out and just continue your thought. Let's not do this.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
I honestly, I'm fascinated by it because you can read
it any way you want, you can second guess it
any way you want, and.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Yet it's and it's why it's it's so vital.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
It could literally cost the wild their best chance to
get back in this series, or it could get them
back in this series. And of course, what really makes
it interesting in hockey to me is, let's say tonight
Gus bus is brilliant, not just good. Let's say he's brilliant.
(06:33):
Let's Let's say the Wild win three to nothing tonight,
they dominate all right, one to nothing, dreaded, two to nothing, whatever.
But he is good, he is spectacular. There's no other
sport where then the conclusion will be, well, you got
to stay with Gus Bus in game three, right, wouldn't
(06:55):
that be what the hot The unofficial unwritten hockey rules
would almost dictate that if he's brilliant tonight, you're gonna
come back and play them in game three, don't you think?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (07:06):
I would. So there's no other sport.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
In which these the thing can bounce back and forth
the way this can. I'm gonna be honest with you,
and I'm gonna say if I were a Wild fan,
I would be nervous. But what this comes down to,
and we'll get into this with Louis, is we don't
know what's going on behind the scenes. The assumption is
(07:30):
the head coach and presumably his staff and presumably Garren
know the team closely, follow the team closely, and maybe
they go back, maybe livetime or after they look back
on game one and they they say, or in their
minds they saw some stuff from Vaalseta that they hadn't
(07:52):
seen in a number of weeks that maybe they even
felt like he looked jittery or he looked like he
had been stripped of his confidence to a point where
maybe they felt just like to a large degree. As
far as I'm concerned, I think that gus Buss's mediocrity
pretty much made the decision going into the first round inevitable.
(08:16):
I didn't even think it had to be an agonizing decision.
I think the goaltenders made the decision for the staff,
for the head coach, for whoever was in on the discussion,
and maybe in their mind they're gonna say, Denny, you're
right behind the scenes, that's exactly how we feel right now.
We saw some stuff we haven't seen from him lately.
(08:40):
He's also obviously playing a very explosive team, more explosive
than the.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Dallas Stars, better five on five.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
That much is certain, and so we're doing what we
think we have to do. They may even be doing
it with trepidation because they may say, we really don't
know if gus Buss has come out of it. We
really don't, but we saw enough that we feel like,
in good conscience, this is the direction that we need
to go in. And you know how this is going
(09:08):
to play out. If he's brilliant, the coaching staff will
get praised, and if he struggles the way he did,
say against the Dallas Stars in that last regular season game,
it'll be what are you guys doing? Panic move, you're
no good. You're now down two games to nil. Comeback
Hall you exactly it?
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Who do you play?
Speaker 3 (09:29):
And you have you have reduced your margin for error
to just about zero. It's a fascinating tale the way
it plays out, and when these decisions are made the
way they were now, I think you thought yesterday you
would lean towards keeping volstet in.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Yeah, I leaned that way too. I thought it was.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
More he earned one more game, And in the back
of my mind, I'm thinking, if he's terrible again in
game two, you have to win game three, and then
I think you probably have to have to give the
other goalie a chance that you wait one more game
before you make the switch. Now, is it possible the
(10:15):
team in front of him can play better defensively in
a way that takes some of the pressure off of
Gus Buss. That's what your hope is as a coach.
Right again, though we're still down two of our best
defensive players right want to forward one of defenseman that
leads leads you to wonder how much better we can
(10:37):
be in front of whoever the goaltender is defensively.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
So I am.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
I'm fascinated by this, and I think I am surprised.
I think Russo is surprised. I don't know if Luigi
will be surprised. But the X factor to me is
something behind the scenes that we don't you know, we
just don't know anything about that a tell.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
You know, I'm.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Assuming coaches and maybe even the goaltender coach they have
they probably have their list of what they call that's
a tell that he's he's he's off it a little
bit now and we're we're going to go to the
other guy. I, like most people assumed. That's why when
I read what I thought I read, I was projecting.
Speaker 5 (11:23):
I guess, well, you know what you read what somebody
sent it to us okay on Twitter, and it was
Joe O'Donnell, the play by play voice, who who saw
it first. Joe Smith and Russo both tweeted out the
same story, but I think Russo had tweeted out an
old headline or like a headline that they had just
ready to go.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Oh, and that's what I might have read.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
Yes, So it says why Russo's headline said wild, sticking
with yes, pervalstad In that over Augustuson in game two.
Joe Smith, his headline was wild, turned to Philip Gustison
in that for game two, so they had him both
in the chamber ready to go, and Russo must have
fired the wrong bullet.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
That's that's what you saw that I did that. I
didn't imagine it.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
I didn't project though, and I have to admit I
kind of nodded my head and said, yeah, that's what
I think.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
That makes sense.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
That's what I kind of I think that's what the
hockey insiders kind of expected. So that's what obviously then
got my attention. I'll go, wait a minute, I read
elsewhere it's the other guy. What did I Did I
make that up? Or did I just want to believe it?
You're not crazy? I'm not well, I am crazy, but
it might not be for that reason.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Better.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Best of all, again, I want to keep celebrating this.
This is May fifth. I just love that we have
this kind of stuff to bounce around, whether it's the
right decision, the wrong decision.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
It's good fodder.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
It's good stuff to talk about, it's good stuff to debate.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
And in many hockey communities they do this all the time.
In May, we don't.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
So that's what I like about it, don't you? And
we haven't, even, like I said, gotten much beyond the
surface on a terrific game one Wolves victory in which
they were in pererless danger of the home team stealing
it at the buzzer the.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
Number one text I've sent this week, certainly in the
last two days. The playoffs are a drug. They are
I am addicted to the playoffs. I love everything about it.
I love the conversation we just had. I loved watching
the game last night. I'll love at seven o'clock tuning
to the fan watching the game. I love everything about it.
It's something I do not, certainly having lived here for
(13:30):
so many years. Take it for granted. It is so
much fun. Bonus Bucks the fanom big deck dot com.
I wanna give you a shot to win bonus Bucks.
It is our national cash contest. First keyword of the
afternoon is media. Go to kfhand dot com and enter
the keyword.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Media Assistant Micah Nori scheduled to join us in just
about ten or fifteen minutes from San Antonio. Davey Louis,
I'm assuming from Florida. I don't know where he is.
(14:06):
He is this morning, okay, sounds good. He made it
back nicely from Bermuda, as he told us on a
Bonus Louis edition during Sunday sermons. And we'll give you
more details on our four h two guests as well.
That has, if it happens in this case, is our
daily reminder that the State Fair is right around the corner.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
It really is. It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
It brings it all home in a way that I
didn't expect until you sent me that particular press release.
So now it is being noted by a few of
the textures. And this came up yesterday, I think with
do we have russo on yesterday we did. Yes, the
suggestion that some members of the home team of the
(14:54):
lanch we're talking about a tell.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
They were the ones that kind of what you were
talking about, Yes, they did we notice something?
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Did the coaches noticed something?
Speaker 5 (15:03):
Yes, they were the ones that did kind of peacock
a little bit about it, which to me is stupid. Yeah,
you keep that yourself. You're saying I would in a
seven game series, yeah, or in series.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Maybe this is their way.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Their mission was to try to get him out of there,
that they actually still fear him more than Gus Buss
and now they can say we want maybe I don't know,
we'll find out, but that that part of it is
coming up as well. Then there's the other suggestion, which
we do get a lot, and I'll ask Louis about
this one too. It's a statement that this theory is
(15:36):
that the statement has really less to do with the
goaltender and more to do with the team in front
of the goaltender. That you guys played terribly, at least defensively,
and therefore we're trying to make that point. Now you
cut your nose off to spite your face. That's the
part I don't know, because this isn't the middle of
(15:59):
the regular season.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
This is the.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Postseason, and you're trying to get back to the conference finals.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
So we will indeed have to see.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
While I should say that's the wild Wolves now up
one game to none, stealing one is the way the
San Antonio Spurs Davy announcer put it. I would say,
based on the way the fourth quarter went, it would
have been the Spurs out and out thievery. It was
a disastrous final minute for the Wolves, no question about that.
(16:34):
It was I think instructive that Anthony Edwards, being given
the chance to basically strut and separate his shoulder, patting
himself on the back for being there, chose to do
none of that in his brief postgame interview, but instead
(16:54):
to hold himself accomfortable, for it was about as full
of pelf as you can get from a star player
at a time where he could have said, you know,
a lot of other things. Because in the end, the
Wolves did win the game, and by the way, Anthony
Edwards had a lot to do with that. Eleven points
in the fourth quarter, I think it was five to
seven from the floor. It was a scary finish. Twice
(17:22):
the Wolves gave up offensive rebounds because Edwards did not
do his job there. That's part of what kept San
Antonio alive and then, and for the life of me,
I still don't understand why, with I believe two timeouts left,
the Wolves do not advance the ball to the front
(17:42):
court right when Anthony hesitated and then try to throw
kind of a lob pass over the top, it gets tipped,
it gets picked, and leads to a basket that suddenly
means the Spurs have a chance with a defensive hold
on the next possession, which they got. That was the
(18:04):
Randall jumper from like the right side, which I didn't love.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
And now after the game that Finchy did say I
got to call the time out there.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
I don't even think here's the other thing. And I
don't remember who else we had on the court, Edwards said,
And I think he's right. I don't think he's a
great inbounder, So why do we even why do we
even have him inbounding?
Speaker 5 (18:24):
It's exactly what I thought, because in that situation the passer,
Why does Joe Ingles go in four times a year
in a critical inbound situation because he's good at it? Yes,
it's exactly when he said that, I thought the same thing.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
And that's like a mistake.
Speaker 5 (18:41):
I made my first sophomore of the year coaching basketball
sophomores when I was twenty two years old.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
And you knew that much.
Speaker 5 (18:47):
You have the right, Well, no, you go, I guess
I should worry about the inbound Yes, yes, like that's
why it was so stunning. Now I'm glad Finchy ful
Pelton and we can laugh about it now, but agree.
And Randall's not the most diligent cutter, you know what
I mean? Now, he didn't, I wouldn't call it cut sharp. No,
he had some. He also had some great physical moments.
No doubt in the game that that it was the classic.
(19:09):
Whole is greater than the sum of the parts. How
many how many guys that we have in double figures?
Speaker 4 (19:12):
Was it six? I don't know. The exact balance was outstanding.
It wasn't on any one guy.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Although and we're going to talk about this with our
next guest, Shannon. You put his numbers for the last
two games together, now, yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
And TJ Shannon.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Forty points, by the way, thirteen free throw attempts. That
should not be understated. That's big because they're free throws,
which well most Knights gives you a chance to get
some extra points, which the Wolves did not take full
avange of. But he's eleven for thirteen and two games
of the line, eleven rebounds and zero turnovers in seventy minutes.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
I mean, you can't put a price on that. And
you can't possibly predicted.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
There's no way that you could possibly predict that he
might be not that you can't predict he be capable
of it, but that it would be something you could
count on at the most important moments, at the end
of one series and the beginning of another, in which
you immediately I don't care how they want it, I
don't care how.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Lucky they got it.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
The finish immediately gets the San Antonio Spurs attentions. There's
no way around it. And I think what we were
reminded of about the Spurs a little bit too. Obviously,
they won sixty two games. They're really good, but they
they've got some players who've not gone through any of
this yet, right, and now you've added to their pressure
(20:42):
by however you did it, holding on and winning Game one,
a terrific victory filed up by one of the best,
one of the guttiest victories in this team's history. Let's break,
we'll come back and we'll get Mike and Norri's view
on all of it, including a fascinating quote after the
game from Jaden to Daniel. So we'll talk to him.
If you have questions, let us know, and we'll also
(21:03):
talk with Louie. As I said about five.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
I mean everybody in the arena is against us. Heah,
I think that's the best thing in the Like, that's
the best thing about it. You start on the road,
everybody got on pink blue and whatever the colored shirts.
Day is chanting ghostpurs go and doing all that. And
you know, I'm with Minnesota, like I got Minnesota back
at all times. So I'm out there with my brothers
(21:28):
and we're going to war. There's always a role for
Mike Conley.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
The first voice you heard, obviously was that of Anthony Edwards,
and then you heard Finchy talk about the methusel like
point guard who's a regular on this show, Mike Conley
as well. Please to be joined by Mike and Nora,
I should say Micah Nori from San Antonio Davy after
the Wolves big victory last night, Micah, welcome back to
(21:56):
the program. Thank you for giving us a couple of minutes.
Appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Yeah, thank you for having me, Dan, I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
I want to read you a quote after the game
from another member of your club. This is from Jaden
I think asked about the Wemby factor. Here's what Jaden
was quoted as saying, you just got to act like
he's not there. I mean, he's gonna get blocks. He's
the tallest person in the world. Just keep consistently attacking him.
Sometimes he might not be there and sometimes he might
(22:23):
catch you, but just keep going. I love that approach,
as dangerous as it can be. Is that the approach
that you guys as coaches put in front of them
on the chalkboard.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
I think that the way we put it in front
of them was to the biggest thing with all these
rim protectors, Wemby, Rudy, all these guys as deterrence is
what we kind of talked about in the fact that
so what happens is guys don't go in there whether
they're there to engage them and kick out, and then
they end up settling for tough shots. So our mantra
to them was, hey, continue to go and then make
(22:58):
the right decision at the rim, whether it's a you know,
if you have the lamp and you can finish over him, great,
if not, draw him in and then kick it out.
So but yes, our mentality is to go to the rim.
I know that he is obviously a force as you
can see from the block record that he set last night.
But at the end of the day, we don't want
to let them off the hook by just simply him
patrolling the paint and us taking a bunch of jump shots.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
I love that approach because again, there's gonna be times
you're gonna get burned by it. Early what I think
Shannon had two shots blocked within the first minute. But
to me, like you say, if you concede too much
and just turn yourself into a jump shooting team, you're
asking for trouble. And ultimately, I think the stat I
saw is you guys got fifty two points in the paint,
(23:43):
which is pretty damn good, is it not?
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Yeah, for sure, it's really good. And then the other
thing too, on the flip side of that is if
you continue to engage him, not necessarily just go and
continue to challenge him recklessly at the rim, but that
makes him have to defend and work, and I think
that that leads into you see him having to play
more minutes. It's a play off game. I think it
was only the fifth time all year he played over
thirty six minutes, and you know he struggled to make
his jump shots, so does all that challenging at the
(24:07):
rim and all that activity on the defensive end, does
that take something out of him and his energy late
in the game, much like you saw in the Denver series.
I thought with Jokic and with Murray, just with making
them have to defend and engaging and involving them, you know,
it's kind of like a prize fight. If you just
keep body blowing and body blowing guys, they kind of
wear down a little.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Bit cumulative a fact, Yeah, I get that. Do you
think it could work to your advantage? The fact that
you know Wemby is not used to these minutes. I
think he was over forty last night. I don't know
how often he played that many, but he was. He
averaged much much lower. Do you think that could end
up being to your benefit in this series?
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Yeah? I think so for sure. And especially like I say,
with his jump shot when he needs his legs late
in the game, or even just does it slow him
down to beat late in the fourth quarter when you
do he's coming from the weak side to block a shot.
But the other thing that it does is by making
those minutes, not letting him just sit in the paint
rest on the defensive end as again as a deterrence,
but making him have to work and those minutes and
(25:07):
all that running around and moving around adds up. And
especially the way that this series itself is set up
where essentially it's playing every other day, so it's not
like you have two three games at times to rest
and gather yourself again. So I do think the more
active we can make him and make his minutes that
he's on the floor to your point where he uses
a lot of his energy, yes, that is very beneficial
(25:29):
to us.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
I know you guys have a million stats that I
would never have access too, but one of them I
read earlier today was that you know, obviously Wemby ended
up with an NBA playoff record twelve block shots, but
that on five of those possessions, you guys got the
ball back and either scored or got free throws, which
(25:51):
I guess to me, the message then also is don't
give up on the play just because he blocks your
initial shot.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Exactly right, and the one thing he's coming across to
block a shot usually he's not the primary defender. What
I mean by that is it's not like he's guarding
Anthony Edwards or TJ add on the primer or Jaden
and they drive in and he's blocking it. He's coming
across the lane. He's leaving somebody to block that shot.
So if he's leaving that body, usually it's Rudy or
another big then we have those guys being very active
(26:19):
on the offensive glass and going to get that and
if there's someone that cracks down on those, then it's
got to be the perimeter guys to go get it.
So absolutely get it up on the glass. Obviously, try
to make it. If he does block it, pursue it,
get it back and to your point, to get back
five of those and convert those into points as been huge.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
What did you see from Anthony last night?
Speaker 1 (26:41):
I mean it sounds crazy, but do you see Ant
being ant? I think that's the best thing about it
is when you look out there and you see that
he's still aggressive. I think that's what we were kind
of worried about, or myself was worried about a little bit,
was is he just going to settle for jump shots
and pull up. But he played with the same aggression
getting himself downhill, and I think when he saw I
think it was the very first bucket when he caught
it in the corner and then finished at the rim.
(27:02):
So you saw that he didn't you know, he really
wasn't favoring the leg number one, but he still had
his explosiveness, and I think that that was it he was. Obviously,
we knew he would be winded just because he hasn't
done basketball activity. And you can do all the treadmills
and bike riding you want, but until you're up and
down in an NBA game doing that. So he was
a little bit tired, especially his last stretch we saw,
(27:23):
but that'll continue to get back. But I thought Ant
was ant and I know that he wasn't. I think,
I mean, you look at the plus minus, he was
a minus two. But obviously, if we don't have Anthony
Edwards in those moments in last night's game, it'd be
a big, you know, a larger hill to climb, if
you will. But I thought he was phenomenal, especially just coming.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
Back eleven points.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
I believe in the fourth quarter five for seven from
the floor. It is I thought, instructive about the balance
you guys are getting going really back to the Denver finish,
but then this game as well, that he goes out
midway through the fourth quarter. I think you guys are
up four then and in the mid and it's he's
out before he comes back, you've increased the lead from
(28:03):
four to nine, getting contributions from another of people. I
think that that run was punctuated by Mike Conley hitting
a three in the right corner.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Yeah. I think that's the one thing. I mean, obviously
you missed Dante, you missed we missed Ant. But the
one thing it did do, and especially in the playoff
game situation, was you see guys like TJ Shannon have
those opportunities, Jade mcdainiels have those opportunities. So you know,
all that does is it's just like what the Spurs
are dealing with. The TJ's a young guy that hasn't
had a whole lot of playoff experience. But the more
they get in those moments the than the the better
(28:34):
they are at them and they're not in the moment
becomes not too big for them. And I thought it
was great the way that TJ and Jaden let alone
stepped up when Ant was out. But even in those
minutes last night, like you're talking about, when Ant was
off the floor and we needed someone to go make
a bucket.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
The stat I mentioned earlier Mico is that in the
last two games, the games the clinching game against Denver
and Game one last night, Shannon has played seventy minutes
and he's got zero turnovers. That's one of those subtle
stats that I'm assuming you coaches love, right that go
beyond whether he's scoring or what everything he's doing. It's
(29:08):
the old valuing possessions of valuing the ball. And by
the way he's had going backs early to Game six,
he had the ball in his hands a pretty good
amount of time.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah, And I think Finchy alluded to that, you know,
in his press conference after Game six, where at the
beginning of the year we kind of had him in
the corner and now we've got him with the ball
at the top of the floor and he doesn't really
need a screen. That's one thing great about TJ. So
you're not bringing another defender into the action where he
has to navigate two bodies per se. It's just one
on one, get himself downhill, look to finish, or if
(29:37):
there's someone that comes across in this series, it'd be
Winby most likely to kick it out and he is
making the easy play, and he's making the right play,
and he's doing it early. And what I mean by
that is he's not waiting until he gets into a
crowd and trying to create something. If they're putting two
on it, he gets off of it early and that
leads to on time on target passes as opposed to
playing in the crowd, and that's where a lot of
times the turnovers will happen.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Can you guys, well, you know the Spurs did this
season if they ended up winning sixty two games, the
hell of a story Wemby's coming out, you know, the
whole bit highly regarded. A lot of people had already conceded, Well,
it's going to be either Oklahoma City or San Antonio
coming out.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
Of the West.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
But you guys have been through the wars, right, You've
been through the Wars. Now this is the third playoff
run in a row, and now they're down one zero.
So how much do you think you guys can can
maximize their or count on perhaps a little tension building
for them, Not that they're not good, but as a group,
(30:37):
they're not necessarily used to this. They haven't gone through
this in the postseason, No matter how good the regular
season is.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
Can you guys use that to your advantage?
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Yeah, I think so. I think the one thing that
you said, they're very, very talented, they're just no, I guess,
substitution for experience. And if you kind of look back,
we were in the same situation when we went down
to Memphis I think it was four or five years
ago that first time. We won game one, and then
we lose Game two, and then we lost a lot
of close games and and that we end up losing
that series. So, yes, we have been here, for sure.
(31:09):
They have not. So this is a situation where they
have not been in a situation with this group, this
young group, being down one to oh, so they probably
are a little bit of unsure of what to expect
and how to go through things. And we are. We're
battle tested now the last four or five years, being
in the playoffs, last two Western Conference finals. There's really
nothing we haven't seen. And the other thing I think
Finchy made a great point to our group today. You know,
(31:31):
we have a lot of talent, We're very very deep,
but we're not one dimensional. I'm not saying the Spurs
are one dimensional, but just it's a different series from
what Denver presented to us, from what the Spurs are
trying to do. But we're fortunate to have very talented
players and a great staff around led by Finchy that
just we can we can win, and we can do
things in different ways and how teams are presented to us.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Well, how different is Rudy's role defensively in this series
compared to the Denver series.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
Well, I think the Denver series he was absolutely phenomenal.
I mean he's basically single handley did as good a
job on Jokich as one person can do, and he
was also dominant in pick and roll. The one thing
that these guys don't do as much is the Denver
series was more Jamal and Jokic two man game. Everybody
else kind of on the peripheral, and so it really
(32:21):
came down to a two on two game. It was
essentially at the defensive end. It was Jaden and Rudy
against Jamal and Nicola, and we were the beneficiary of
that over the course of that series. However, this one
is different because Wemby's all over the floor. It's not
basically just a pick and roll or post uff series.
He's more at the elbows than the very top of
the floor like Jolkic was. And Jokic was always looking
(32:42):
to pass and distribute and do those type of things,
and he was the hub of everything. Wemby's still the hub,
but it's in different spots, and so it's a very different,
I guess series, if you will, and it changes drastically
for Rudy. Rudy was the primary guy in the in
the Denver series. In this one, he's still the main
(33:03):
guy as he always is, but it's just not as prevalent,
if you will, because Jokic literally had the ball every
single possession.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
Wolves lead assistant Mike and Norri joining us from San Antonio, Texas.
Speaker 4 (33:13):
Uh, let me.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Let's get back to Anthony for a second and the
process of determining when he was going to come back
and whether last night was the night. We spent a
lot of time on this subject on the show that
the natural human reaction, fan reaction is hell, yeah, get
your butt out there. You're showing us something, You're showing
(33:35):
how much you care about the team, You're showing your toughness,
et cetera. But I got to believe when it's a
player that good and that important, to a franchise. It's
it's more complicated than that. I told the story about
when Tim Duncan had a knee issue before the two
thousand playoffs and was cleared and Popovich basically said, you're
(33:56):
not playing. I'm I'm shutting you down and different injury
I will grant.
Speaker 4 (34:02):
But it's a reminder.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
I'm sure you guys had to have a lot of
pretty serious conversations about how you determine when the right
time is, what the risks are that might be involved.
How did can you get us on the inside a
little bit about how that ensues, how that took place.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Yeah, I think you're right. I think it's very, very involved.
It's much more involved than I mean, all these athletes,
especially a guy like Anthony and the competitor that he is,
he'd go out there with one leg. I think he
even said that walking into the one game. But at
the one thing that the franchise, into summing up, is
not going to do. It's kind of like what pop did,
We're not going to win a battle to lose the war,
meaning we're not going to try to win one basketball
game and then put in jeopardy of Ant getting hurt
(34:40):
and to be a detrimental to him number one, and
then also to the franchise of losing him for a
longer period of time. So at no point would he
been out there had he not gone through all of
his return to play protocols. I mean his doctors, his
second opinions, his agent, the coaching staff, Tim Conley, and
his front off. So there're to your point. There are
a ton of conversations and all of it, and then
(35:02):
the single most important part of it is Anthony's health
and Anthony's well being moving forward. If all those box
are checked and he's good to go, then we'll put
him out there. And then it's just that, you know,
you always want to put him underneath a little bit
of a minute's you know, a target minutes number rather
than a minutes restriction, and we were able to coach
Finish did a phenomenal job of manipulating that too. I
(35:22):
think he was twenty four to twenty five minutes, and
it was really right in that range. And there's a
lot of communication, even all the way to the minuscule
communication of talking to ant Hey, listen, I know you
want to start, but it's much easier to play a
guy and manage twenty four minutes over a thirty six
minute game, if you will. The reason I say thirty
six minutes because if he starts, you know, it's forty eight.
It's really hard to play a guy twenty four minutes
(35:44):
in a forty eight minute game. But when you bring
him in halfway through the first now he's essentially playing
a thirty six minute game, and his rotations are much
more consistent with what he's used to.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
Yeah, the minute manipulation last night, I think was masterful
in that regard. You're exactly right, and then you got
that you have the chance then to bring him for
that last push and for significant time in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 4 (36:03):
Is that the plan for game two? Same situation off
the bench?
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Well, hopefully, I think you know, he'll get checked up
today and just make sure that there's nothing there that
needs any more maintenance, and then assuming he will be
able to go tomorrow, and then depending on how he feels,
then they'll all sit down and say, Okay, well, here's
kind of the same thing. Whether it's twenty four minutes,
whether it's thirty minutes, I don't we don't know that. Yeah,
we'll find that out tomorrow. But it'll be the same
process to what you were speaking of, to make sure
that he's good to go.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
How stunned were you that he was?
Speaker 3 (36:31):
I mean when you go back to when that injury
took place and what it looked like and what I'm
sure you knew about it on the inside, how stunned
were you that it was even a possibility that he
would actually play, not you know, later in the series,
like I think everybody assumed, but in Game one.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
I would you know, it's funny if you're talking about
normal human beings, and I'm not just saying this, I
would be stunned. But when you talk about Anthony, nothing
he does is surprising. And I think the fact that
he is, I mean, he's an elite athlete even by
NBA standards, and just the strength and he is. He's
a guy that that heals up quick. And I think
that the way that he fought to get back with
his you know, in his rehab and those times things
(37:08):
and doing all the right things and the nature of
the beast meaning playoffs. Stunned, yes, But then when you
look and sit down, you're look at Anthony Edwards and
what he's done and what he's all about you're not,
but just from a from the blow that he took
and then you saw even as very similar to what
happened to Jokic when he was out for like I
think he missed ten or twelve games in the regular season.
Just similar with the with the going back in that
(37:28):
bone bruise, which is very painful. But to see him
be able to get back and then not only that,
but then to see him come back after missing time
last night in a in a playoff series, and to
perform as he did other than him being a little
bit winded entire, which is to be expected, was just
I thought was a phenomenal feat by him.
Speaker 4 (37:48):
What's you like to coach Mike Conley?
Speaker 1 (37:51):
You know what, I don't even know if it's I mean,
it's it's a it's I mean, it's unbelievable. I was
gonna say, it's not even like coaching, because he's just
like he knows what you're gonna say to him before
he sees things. He's like the even when you were
you know, back in high school or wherever, and you know,
the coach doesn't really talk to the star players because
you're worried about everybody else. That's kind of like you
are with Mike. You just tell Mike, hey, here's what
(38:13):
we need you to do. We need you to chase
this guy or be here there, And he's there and
he is truly an extension of coach Finch on the floor.
He's always in the right spot. And to think that
he's been doing this for eighteen years and I always
laugh and talk to him. I say, man, I can't
imagine what it had been like to coach you when
you first came out, or even fifteen years ago when
you were spry and all this. But the things that
(38:33):
he does for our team and the way that the
time and stuff that he does to get himself ready
to play too, after eighteen years of running up and
down in the NBA, he's special and he's a special individual.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
Let's talk about Julius Randall as well. I thought he
had some great moments last night, like everybody did. I mean,
you had you had great balance and it was different times,
it was different people. So we all talk about Randall's
physicality and how that can bother teams. Is that something
that you saw from him last night, is that something
(39:05):
you think can be used even with wemby getting into.
Speaker 4 (39:09):
His body a little bit. What do you guys want
from Julius Randle in this series?
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Exactly what you said. I think that the one thing
that Julius does do is he is a luxury for us.
And it kind of goes back to what we were
talking about and what Coach Finn said, where we can
there's a lot of situations that we can handle just
because of our depth in our talent. And what I
mean by that is Rudy is obviously a very good
matchup for Wemby just from the sheer size and that
type of thing. But then Julius's physicality, even though he
(39:34):
doesn't have the length and the height, but just the
physicality of being able to get into Wemby, being able
to move him off of his spots, being able to
when Wenby puts the ball on the floor, to impact
that whether he is moving him off of his spot
or standing him up on his drive so he can't
get to the paint. So I even think that the
defense of end this series is where he was very,
(39:54):
very impactful because what that allowed us to do was
if Julius is guarding Wemby, then that's where we could
get all that shooting on the floor, which makes it
much more difficult for Wimby just to hang out in
the paint.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
Last item for today, I want to actually go back
to the Denver series and after Game one, because later
I don't remember when exactly Finchy said this publicly to
the reporters, but he basically said, you know, look, we
were as coaches as frustrated as anybody by the ups
and downs during the season, the inconsistency of performance, the
(40:29):
maddening nature of that, and a lot of the pushback
That response from players was we'll get to it. We're
going to take care of that in the postseason. And
then I think Finchy felt like, well, no, I saw
a lot of the same bad habits in Game one
that we'd had, and it sounds like he called everybody out. Basically,
the quote was, well, they lied to us, you know,
(40:50):
they said it was going to be different in the playoffs.
Playoffs start in game one, and it's exactly the same.
So will you take us back to that? And what
the fit is. You're around finch you know him as
well as anybody, what his approach was, how tough he
was in terms of the message that he delivered to
the team, And what kind of impact do you think
you have in the fact that we're sitting here talking.
(41:11):
You're now in Round two, having despite the injuries, found
a way to knock off Denver and even in position
now where you took game one of the second round series.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
Yeah, I think I could take you back even further
to the beginning of the year. And I think the
one thing that Finchy hit the players with was the
fact that, you know, we've been to two Western Conference
finals and we can't get bored with the regular season.
And what he meant by that was you can't be
just going through the motions on a Tuesday night game
against Washington and January or Brooklyn. And we kicked off
(41:42):
some of those, you know, we kicked those off, but
just and that goes with the habit of making sure
I wouldn't say professionalism, but it's just the effort. In
the consistent effort, you're not really playing against the opponent,
you're playing against yourselves. And I know that's cliches, but
that's factual. And it's just getting these guys to play
and lock in and do what we need them to
do the course of eighty two games. And then I
think it was in a film session later in the
(42:03):
year and all this, and Finchy reminded them and then
I don't know if it was one of the players.
I can't remember who or what or whatever. They were
just like, well, you know, and he even said and
alluded to it, it's not just gonna take care of itself.
There's not just a switch you can turn on the wall.
We have to get these things going. And then they said, well,
once the playoffs come, you know, then we're gonna box
out or then we're gonna execoot this and that. And
after Game one, I thought it was phenomenal. The one
(42:24):
thing everybody in Minnesota knows for sure is about Finchy.
Finchy's gonna tell brutal truth and he's gonna, you know,
and he's just gonna tell it like it is, which
is great. And I think that that's one of his superpowers,
if you will, is that he just calls it like
he sees it. He's usually right, and he doesn't care,
he's not worried about feelings and doesn't do it and
then from a bad light, and he can do it
because of the equity that he's built up with these
(42:45):
guys but I think at the end of the day,
it's like, Hey, you lied to us. You said that
it was going to be different in the playoffs, and
you're treating this like a Tuesday night in January, and
this is Round one of the playoffs against whatever you
want to say, a division rival or a team that
obviously we've we've had some great battles with over the years.
And it's funny. Usually when Finci says something and I'm
(43:06):
not just saying this, it usually comes to fruition and
it kind of lit a fire unto the guys and
got them going and carried us throughout that series.
Speaker 4 (43:13):
No question.
Speaker 3 (43:14):
And I would say, and this is all goes maybe
back to what we're talking about the beginning regarding the
approach with Wemby. What I'm hearing a lot nationally from
people who are now paying more attention to a team
that we pay attention to every day is that it's
hitting folks, how fearless you guys play. That doesn't necessarily
mean you always play well, but there's a fearlessness to
(43:34):
the approach that I think is getting people's attention and
that in a series like this as well, and even
moving forward, it can serve you well. There's not a
lot of hesitation or shrinking violence involved in the way
this operation seems to be going at this point.
Speaker 4 (43:52):
It seems to be we're going after it.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
Yeah, And I think the one thing that what people
are starting to realize is we're not a one or
two trick pony. When you look at a lot of
these teams and these superstar laden teams, all they talk
about the top two guys, and I think when you
look at the Denver series and if you follow the
Wolves on any given night, there's always you know, it
doesn't matter one through eight. We have guys that can
take over games, or takeover quarters, or go through spurts,
(44:17):
and we're not just constantly lying on two guys. And
that's a luxury that we do have. And I think
that to your point, they are fearless. They're battle tested,
just having in the continuity of being together for the
last three years and two of those going to the
Western Conference finals, and hopefully we can get back there
with another strong performance in this series. But absolutely fearless.
Guys play hard, they care about each other, they want
(44:39):
to win, and they and they do. They leave it
all on the line. They take what Finchy's whatever the
coaches come up with, and then Finchy implements as far
as game plow, they try to game plan, they try
to implement that and execute it at a high level.
And we try to keep it simple so that we
don't have them thinking and being a step slow and
just reacting. Because the one thing these guys are they're athletic,
they're long, they play hard, and to your I think
(45:00):
it's a great term, they're fearless.
Speaker 3 (45:01):
There was that late turnover, obviously, and then the late
three pointer there was a damn good look. I mean,
is your is your heart down in your stomach at
that point?
Speaker 4 (45:08):
What are you thinking? What are you seeing?
Speaker 1 (45:11):
Absolutely, just like all of Minnesota, you sit there and
think like, thank God for three inches because otherwise, you know,
we could be sitting here today. I wouldn't have let
Free put me on the show because I'd have been
in tires. We'd have been purled up in the corner.
But you know, it's just amazing, like it's a make
or miss league, And it was not more evident than
it was last night when again, what a great look
by a three point guy that if they drew up
a play they probably couldn't have got a better look,
(45:31):
so I know that they were talking should they have
taken time out this or that, But beside the point
they got a good look, they missed and absolutely stomach
in your you know, down hard down in your stomach
just and then it was funny. I mean, I hate
to say it, but even when he missed, you're like,
oh crap, that's it, it's over. We want you know,
because you're like I mean, and then you're just making
sure and then it's just a big sigh of relief.
(45:52):
And thankfully we were able to win that one. And
and I know they feel the same way. I don't
think either team played as good as that they could have,
so there's a lot of you know, I think Fincy
made the comment too, that there's a lot of things
that we can clean up. I know they feel the
same way and should be for an exciting game too.
Speaker 3 (46:07):
I hope you guys today and whatever coaches means you've had,
have decided to take Aunt off of the inbound making
the inbound pass.
Speaker 1 (46:15):
In the future, he's much better. He's much better at
catching those inbounds and shooting him and taking them out.
And but yeah, you know, so that was a discussion
and I think what was great even about that was
I think Aunt even called himself out this game, so
that was. Yeah, it was great, great.
Speaker 4 (46:31):
To catch up.
Speaker 3 (46:32):
Congratulations on a terrific Game one victory and we'll say
in touch.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Thanks Michaeh, Thank you, Dan, I really appreciate the time.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (46:39):
Absolutely, Mike and Norry lead assistant Minnesota, Timberwols dateline, San Antonio, Davey, Texas.
We'll come back with a very special, we think, surprise
guest and it's not Wolves related, but it kind of is.
Speaker 4 (46:53):
That's
I don't care what happened in the first three quarters.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You know, fourth quarter, thirty minutes, four minutes left, let
me see fourth quarter.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Bring it to the ticket.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
This is your and garn laughed at me for the
goaltending question. Leader fan Fan Radio Network, you know what
and k fa N dot com. Two minutes and thirty
four seconds past the hour of three o'clock Central daylight time,
(00:34):
we welcome you back to a Tuesday edition of the
Afternoon Ardvark. My name is Dan Burrero. I host the program,
guards he produces the show, and we are delighted that
you are a part of today's festivities. As long as
you are a part of them, and even if you're not,
you can always get back to it later. You can
podcast the parts you miss later, or if you love
(00:57):
certain parts of the program so much, you can go
back and listen to the show a second time.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
I do it every once in a while.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
Why wouldn't you?
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Sometimes it Are you in ore when you go back
and listen? Are you in awe of ourselves? I'm just impressed?
Oh yeah, I'm impressed.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Awe.
Speaker 5 (01:15):
Maybe not, maybe not to that level. I'm definitely impressed. Okay,
I'm definitely impressed.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I'm impressed with the guest lineup that we have today
via theuglydeck dot com guest lineup.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
It's and I'm a little bit.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Nervous about proclaiming our four or two guest as confirmed.
It's kind of semi confirmed. More on that in a minute,
but we do know confirmed at three thirty bout of
the hour is Wolve's lead assistant coach, Mike and Nori.
He will join in about twenty five minutes or so.
We also know that Luigi lu Nani will join us
(01:52):
at five thirty. We'll give you more details on our
hope for four oh two today as well. The bratch
on Brian Caffean text line is open at six four
six eight six. Here's how weird my mind works. I
could have sworn earlier today via I Think Russo that
(02:19):
I read a tweet indicating that the Wild we're sticking
with valstat at goalie for game two. Obviously I must
have been doing some projecting, because that wasn't the case.
I don't think at any point was that proclamation made
a lot of people believe or believed that's what the
(02:42):
Wild we're going to do. There are a number of
people who believe that's what they should do.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
But not so fast, my friend.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
The change for tonight's game two, all the action right
here on the fan seven o'clock puck drop, I think.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Has been made. Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (03:04):
We have made the We've gone We're climbing on the
gus bus tonight, taking it out of the garage in
game number two. I hope they hope the battery do
they do? They have to use jumper cables on the battery?
Do like a five thousand mile check up?
Speaker 4 (03:19):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Rotate the tires?
Speaker 4 (03:21):
I am? You know me.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
I'm obsessed with goaltending. I can't get enough goaltending talk.
I did apparently annoy Bill Garon by asking goaltending questions
in the wake of the Wild wrapping up their their
six game victory, the series victory over the Dallas Stars.
I can't get enough of what this kind of decision
(03:45):
represents to me. And of course there'll be plenty of
Wolves discussion today. The yet another mythic victory for your
favorite basketball team, in which it was there for the
San Antonio Spurs. David to Steele, It's interesting because I
heard the play by play guy from the Spurs and
(04:05):
he makes the final call the missshot, who missed the shot?
Speaker 4 (04:10):
The three pointer?
Speaker 5 (04:11):
It depends on how you pronounce it, but it's spelled
like champagne, champagne, Shanagney, champagnee.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
I think champagnee. He misses the.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Shot, and I hear their big voice guy say, and
the Wolves steal game one. I would argue the opposite
that if the Spurs had won the game, that would
have been the steal, especially with the way through much
of the fourth quarter the Wolves not only had the lead,
(04:38):
but built upon the lead, actually built it to its
highest level while Anthony Edwards was on the bench. He
did come back. Of course, on had a couple of
mishaps that she talked about after the game.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
So that's all going to be part of what we
get into today.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Again, a lot of while talking, a lot of Wolves
talk as well, this is a moment this.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Is it's a momentous.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
There is no more momentous decision in hockey than what
you do at the goaltender position. Right, It's not like
the quarterback position in the NFL. Right, I mean there
are times where well how many times in the UH
by definition, in the postseason it never happens. It might
happen within a game that the starter gets benched if
(05:28):
he's terrible, but they're not going to go to another
quarterback in the next game if he plays a bad game,
because if he plays a bad game, this series, this
season is over right because it's best of one in
the National Football League playoffs for now, for now that's true,
that's likely to change, so they can get maybe a
couple extra billion or no, that would be trillions. Put
a couple on Prime, probably be trillion Netflix correct, how
(05:49):
much more is one trillion?
Speaker 5 (05:50):
What's the how much more is a billion than a trillion?
I'm out and just continue your thought. Let's not do this.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
I honestly, I'm fascinated by it because you can read
it any way you want, you can second guess it
any way you want, and.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Yet it's and it's why it's it's so vital.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
It could literally cost the wild their best chance to
get back in this series, or it could get them
back in this series. And of course, what really makes
it interesting in hockey to me is, let's say tonight
Gus bus is brilliant, not just good. Let's say he's brilliant.
(06:33):
Let's Let's say the Wild win three to nothing tonight,
they dominate all right, one to nothing, dreaded, two to nothing, whatever.
But he is good, he is spectacular. There's no other
sport where then the conclusion will be, well, you got
to stay with Gus Bus in game three, right, wouldn't
(06:55):
that be what the hot The unofficial unwritten hockey rules
would almost dictate that if he's brilliant tonight, you're gonna
come back and play them in game three, don't you think?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (07:06):
I would. So there's no other sport.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
In which these the thing can bounce back and forth
the way this can. I'm gonna be honest with you,
and I'm gonna say if I were a Wild fan,
I would be nervous. But what this comes down to,
and we'll get into this with Louis, is we don't
know what's going on behind the scenes. The assumption is
(07:30):
the head coach and presumably his staff and presumably Garren
know the team closely, follow the team closely, and maybe
they go back, maybe livetime or after they look back
on game one and they they say, or in their
minds they saw some stuff from Vaalseta that they hadn't
(07:52):
seen in a number of weeks that maybe they even
felt like he looked jittery or he looked like he
had been stripped of his confidence to a point where
maybe they felt just like to a large degree. As
far as I'm concerned, I think that gus Buss's mediocrity
pretty much made the decision going into the first round inevitable.
(08:16):
I didn't even think it had to be an agonizing decision.
I think the goaltenders made the decision for the staff,
for the head coach, for whoever was in on the discussion,
and maybe in their mind they're gonna say, Denny, you're
right behind the scenes, that's exactly how we feel right now.
We saw some stuff we haven't seen from him lately.
(08:40):
He's also obviously playing a very explosive team, more explosive
than the.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Dallas Stars, better five on five.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
That much is certain, and so we're doing what we
think we have to do. They may even be doing
it with trepidation because they may say, we really don't
know if gus Buss has come out of it. We
really don't, but we saw enough that we feel like,
in good conscience, this is the direction that we need
to go in. And you know how this is going
(09:08):
to play out. If he's brilliant, the coaching staff will
get praised, and if he struggles the way he did,
say against the Dallas Stars in that last regular season game,
it'll be what are you guys doing? Panic move, you're
no good. You're now down two games to nil. Comeback
Hall you exactly it?
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Who do you play?
Speaker 3 (09:29):
And you have you have reduced your margin for error
to just about zero. It's a fascinating tale the way
it plays out, and when these decisions are made the
way they were now, I think you thought yesterday you
would lean towards keeping volstet in.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Yeah, I leaned that way too. I thought it was.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
More he earned one more game, And in the back
of my mind, I'm thinking, if he's terrible again in
game two, you have to win game three, and then
I think you probably have to have to give the
other goalie a chance that you wait one more game
before you make the switch. Now, is it possible the
(10:15):
team in front of him can play better defensively in
a way that takes some of the pressure off of
Gus Buss. That's what your hope is as a coach.
Right again, though we're still down two of our best
defensive players right want to forward one of defenseman that
leads leads you to wonder how much better we can
(10:37):
be in front of whoever the goaltender is defensively.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
So I am.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
I'm fascinated by this, and I think I am surprised.
I think Russo is surprised. I don't know if Luigi
will be surprised. But the X factor to me is
something behind the scenes that we don't you know, we
just don't know anything about that a tell.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
You know, I'm.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Assuming coaches and maybe even the goaltender coach they have
they probably have their list of what they call that's
a tell that he's he's he's off it a little
bit now and we're we're going to go to the
other guy. I, like most people assumed. That's why when
I read what I thought I read, I was projecting.
Speaker 5 (11:23):
I guess, well, you know what you read what somebody
sent it to us okay on Twitter, and it was
Joe O'Donnell, the play by play voice, who who saw
it first. Joe Smith and Russo both tweeted out the
same story, but I think Russo had tweeted out an
old headline or like a headline that they had just
ready to go.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Oh, and that's what I might have read.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
Yes, So it says why Russo's headline said wild, sticking
with yes, pervalstad In that over Augustuson in game two.
Joe Smith, his headline was wild, turned to Philip Gustison
in that for game two, so they had him both
in the chamber ready to go, and Russo must have
fired the wrong bullet.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
That's that's what you saw that I did that. I
didn't imagine it.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
I didn't project though, and I have to admit I
kind of nodded my head and said, yeah, that's what
I think.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
That makes sense.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
That's what I kind of I think that's what the
hockey insiders kind of expected. So that's what obviously then
got my attention. I'll go, wait a minute, I read
elsewhere it's the other guy. What did I Did I
make that up? Or did I just want to believe it?
You're not crazy? I'm not well, I am crazy, but
it might not be for that reason.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Better.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Best of all, again, I want to keep celebrating this.
This is May fifth. I just love that we have
this kind of stuff to bounce around, whether it's the
right decision, the wrong decision.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
It's good fodder.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
It's good stuff to talk about, it's good stuff to debate.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
And in many hockey communities they do this all the time.
In May, we don't.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
So that's what I like about it, don't you? And
we haven't, even, like I said, gotten much beyond the
surface on a terrific game one Wolves victory in which
they were in pererless danger of the home team stealing
it at the buzzer the.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
Number one text I've sent this week, certainly in the
last two days. The playoffs are a drug. They are
I am addicted to the playoffs. I love everything about it.
I love the conversation we just had. I loved watching
the game last night. I'll love at seven o'clock tuning
to the fan watching the game. I love everything about it.
It's something I do not, certainly having lived here for
(13:30):
so many years. Take it for granted. It is so
much fun. Bonus Bucks the fanom big deck dot com.
I wanna give you a shot to win bonus Bucks.
It is our national cash contest. First keyword of the
afternoon is media. Go to kfhand dot com and enter
the keyword.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Media Assistant Micah Nori scheduled to join us in just
about ten or fifteen minutes from San Antonio. Davey Louis,
I'm assuming from Florida. I don't know where he is.
(14:06):
He is this morning, okay, sounds good. He made it
back nicely from Bermuda, as he told us on a
Bonus Louis edition during Sunday sermons. And we'll give you
more details on our four h two guests as well.
That has, if it happens in this case, is our
daily reminder that the State Fair is right around the corner.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
It really is. It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
It brings it all home in a way that I
didn't expect until you sent me that particular press release.
So now it is being noted by a few of
the textures. And this came up yesterday, I think with
do we have russo on yesterday we did. Yes, the
suggestion that some members of the home team of the
(14:54):
lanch we're talking about a tell.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
They were the ones that kind of what you were
talking about, Yes, they did we notice something?
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Did the coaches noticed something?
Speaker 5 (15:03):
Yes, they were the ones that did kind of peacock
a little bit about it, which to me is stupid. Yeah,
you keep that yourself. You're saying I would in a
seven game series, yeah, or in series.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Maybe this is their way.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Their mission was to try to get him out of there,
that they actually still fear him more than Gus Buss
and now they can say we want maybe I don't know,
we'll find out, but that that part of it is
coming up as well. Then there's the other suggestion, which
we do get a lot, and I'll ask Louis about
this one too. It's a statement that this theory is
(15:36):
that the statement has really less to do with the
goaltender and more to do with the team in front
of the goaltender. That you guys played terribly, at least defensively,
and therefore we're trying to make that point. Now you
cut your nose off to spite your face. That's the
part I don't know, because this isn't the middle of
(15:59):
the regular season.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
This is the.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Postseason, and you're trying to get back to the conference finals.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
So we will indeed have to see.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
While I should say that's the wild Wolves now up
one game to none, stealing one is the way the
San Antonio Spurs Davy announcer put it. I would say,
based on the way the fourth quarter went, it would
have been the Spurs out and out thievery. It was
a disastrous final minute for the Wolves, no question about that.
(16:34):
It was I think instructive that Anthony Edwards, being given
the chance to basically strut and separate his shoulder, patting
himself on the back for being there, chose to do
none of that in his brief postgame interview, but instead
(16:54):
to hold himself accomfortable, for it was about as full
of pelf as you can get from a star player
at a time where he could have said, you know,
a lot of other things. Because in the end, the
Wolves did win the game, and by the way, Anthony
Edwards had a lot to do with that. Eleven points
in the fourth quarter, I think it was five to
seven from the floor. It was a scary finish. Twice
(17:22):
the Wolves gave up offensive rebounds because Edwards did not
do his job there. That's part of what kept San
Antonio alive and then, and for the life of me,
I still don't understand why, with I believe two timeouts left,
the Wolves do not advance the ball to the front
(17:42):
court right when Anthony hesitated and then try to throw
kind of a lob pass over the top, it gets tipped,
it gets picked, and leads to a basket that suddenly
means the Spurs have a chance with a defensive hold
on the next possession, which they got. That was the
(18:04):
Randall jumper from like the right side, which I didn't love.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
And now after the game that Finchy did say I
got to call the time out there.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
I don't even think here's the other thing. And I
don't remember who else we had on the court, Edwards said,
And I think he's right. I don't think he's a
great inbounder, So why do we even why do we
even have him inbounding?
Speaker 5 (18:24):
It's exactly what I thought, because in that situation the passer,
Why does Joe Ingles go in four times a year
in a critical inbound situation because he's good at it? Yes,
it's exactly when he said that, I thought the same thing.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
And that's like a mistake.
Speaker 5 (18:41):
I made my first sophomore of the year coaching basketball
sophomores when I was twenty two years old.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
And you knew that much.
Speaker 5 (18:47):
You have the right, Well, no, you go, I guess
I should worry about the inbound Yes, yes, like that's
why it was so stunning. Now I'm glad Finchy ful
Pelton and we can laugh about it now, but agree.
And Randall's not the most diligent cutter, you know what
I mean? Now, he didn't, I wouldn't call it cut sharp. No,
he had some. He also had some great physical moments.
No doubt in the game that that it was the classic.
(19:09):
Whole is greater than the sum of the parts. How
many how many guys that we have in double figures?
Speaker 4 (19:12):
Was it six? I don't know. The exact balance was outstanding.
It wasn't on any one guy.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Although and we're going to talk about this with our
next guest, Shannon. You put his numbers for the last
two games together, now, yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
And TJ Shannon.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Forty points, by the way, thirteen free throw attempts. That
should not be understated. That's big because they're free throws,
which well most Knights gives you a chance to get
some extra points, which the Wolves did not take full
avange of. But he's eleven for thirteen and two games
of the line, eleven rebounds and zero turnovers in seventy minutes.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
I mean, you can't put a price on that. And
you can't possibly predicted.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
There's no way that you could possibly predict that he
might be not that you can't predict he be capable
of it, but that it would be something you could
count on at the most important moments, at the end
of one series and the beginning of another, in which
you immediately I don't care how they want it, I
don't care how.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Lucky they got it.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
The finish immediately gets the San Antonio Spurs attentions. There's
no way around it. And I think what we were
reminded of about the Spurs a little bit too. Obviously,
they won sixty two games. They're really good, but they
they've got some players who've not gone through any of
this yet, right, and now you've added to their pressure
(20:42):
by however you did it, holding on and winning Game one,
a terrific victory filed up by one of the best,
one of the guttiest victories in this team's history. Let's break,
we'll come back and we'll get Mike and Norri's view
on all of it, including a fascinating quote after the
game from Jaden to Daniel. So we'll talk to him.
If you have questions, let us know, and we'll also
(21:03):
talk with Louie. As I said about five.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
I mean everybody in the arena is against us. Heah,
I think that's the best thing in the Like, that's
the best thing about it. You start on the road,
everybody got on pink blue and whatever the colored shirts.
Day is chanting ghostpurs go and doing all that. And
you know, I'm with Minnesota, like I got Minnesota back
at all times. So I'm out there with my brothers
(21:28):
and we're going to war. There's always a role for
Mike Conley.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
The first voice you heard, obviously was that of Anthony Edwards,
and then you heard Finchy talk about the methusel like
point guard who's a regular on this show, Mike Conley
as well. Please to be joined by Mike and Nora,
I should say Micah Nori from San Antonio Davy after
the Wolves big victory last night, Micah, welcome back to
(21:56):
the program. Thank you for giving us a couple of minutes.
Appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Yeah, thank you for having me, Dan, I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
I want to read you a quote after the game
from another member of your club. This is from Jaden
I think asked about the Wemby factor. Here's what Jaden
was quoted as saying, you just got to act like
he's not there. I mean, he's gonna get blocks. He's
the tallest person in the world. Just keep consistently attacking him.
Sometimes he might not be there and sometimes he might
(22:23):
catch you, but just keep going. I love that approach,
as dangerous as it can be. Is that the approach
that you guys as coaches put in front of them
on the chalkboard.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
I think that the way we put it in front
of them was to the biggest thing with all these
rim protectors, Wemby, Rudy, all these guys as deterrence is
what we kind of talked about in the fact that
so what happens is guys don't go in there whether
they're there to engage them and kick out, and then
they end up settling for tough shots. So our mantra
to them was, hey, continue to go and then make
(22:58):
the right decision at the rim, whether it's a you know,
if you have the lamp and you can finish over him, great,
if not, draw him in and then kick it out.
So but yes, our mentality is to go to the rim.
I know that he is obviously a force as you
can see from the block record that he set last night.
But at the end of the day, we don't want
to let them off the hook by just simply him
patrolling the paint and us taking a bunch of jump shots.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
I love that approach because again, there's gonna be times
you're gonna get burned by it. Early what I think
Shannon had two shots blocked within the first minute. But
to me, like you say, if you concede too much
and just turn yourself into a jump shooting team, you're
asking for trouble. And ultimately, I think the stat I
saw is you guys got fifty two points in the paint,
(23:43):
which is pretty damn good, is it not?
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Yeah, for sure, it's really good. And then the other
thing too, on the flip side of that is if
you continue to engage him, not necessarily just go and
continue to challenge him recklessly at the rim, but that
makes him have to defend and work, and I think
that that leads into you see him having to play
more minutes. It's a play off game. I think it
was only the fifth time all year he played over
thirty six minutes, and you know he struggled to make
his jump shots, so does all that challenging at the
(24:07):
rim and all that activity on the defensive end, does
that take something out of him and his energy late
in the game, much like you saw in the Denver series.
I thought with Jokic and with Murray, just with making
them have to defend and engaging and involving them, you know,
it's kind of like a prize fight. If you just
keep body blowing and body blowing guys, they kind of
wear down a little.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Bit cumulative a fact, Yeah, I get that. Do you
think it could work to your advantage? The fact that
you know Wemby is not used to these minutes. I
think he was over forty last night. I don't know
how often he played that many, but he was. He
averaged much much lower. Do you think that could end
up being to your benefit in this series?
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Yeah? I think so for sure. And especially like I say,
with his jump shot when he needs his legs late
in the game, or even just does it slow him
down to beat late in the fourth quarter when you
do he's coming from the weak side to block a shot.
But the other thing that it does is by making
those minutes, not letting him just sit in the paint
rest on the defensive end as again as a deterrence,
but making him have to work and those minutes and
(25:07):
all that running around and moving around adds up. And
especially the way that this series itself is set up
where essentially it's playing every other day, so it's not
like you have two three games at times to rest
and gather yourself again. So I do think the more
active we can make him and make his minutes that
he's on the floor to your point where he uses
a lot of his energy, yes, that is very beneficial
(25:29):
to us.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
I know you guys have a million stats that I
would never have access too, but one of them I
read earlier today was that you know, obviously Wemby ended
up with an NBA playoff record twelve block shots, but
that on five of those possessions, you guys got the
ball back and either scored or got free throws, which
(25:51):
I guess to me, the message then also is don't
give up on the play just because he blocks your
initial shot.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Exactly right, and the one thing he's coming across to
block a shot usually he's not the primary defender. What
I mean by that is it's not like he's guarding
Anthony Edwards or TJ add on the primer or Jaden
and they drive in and he's blocking it. He's coming
across the lane. He's leaving somebody to block that shot.
So if he's leaving that body, usually it's Rudy or
another big then we have those guys being very active
(26:19):
on the offensive glass and going to get that and
if there's someone that cracks down on those, then it's
got to be the perimeter guys to go get it.
So absolutely get it up on the glass. Obviously, try
to make it. If he does block it, pursue it,
get it back and to your point, to get back
five of those and convert those into points as been huge.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
What did you see from Anthony last night?
Speaker 1 (26:41):
I mean it sounds crazy, but do you see Ant
being ant? I think that's the best thing about it
is when you look out there and you see that
he's still aggressive. I think that's what we were kind
of worried about, or myself was worried about a little bit,
was is he just going to settle for jump shots
and pull up. But he played with the same aggression
getting himself downhill, and I think when he saw I
think it was the very first bucket when he caught
it in the corner and then finished at the rim.
(27:02):
So you saw that he didn't you know, he really
wasn't favoring the leg number one, but he still had
his explosiveness, and I think that that was it he was. Obviously,
we knew he would be winded just because he hasn't
done basketball activity. And you can do all the treadmills
and bike riding you want, but until you're up and
down in an NBA game doing that. So he was
a little bit tired, especially his last stretch we saw,
(27:23):
but that'll continue to get back. But I thought Ant
was ant and I know that he wasn't. I think,
I mean, you look at the plus minus, he was
a minus two. But obviously, if we don't have Anthony
Edwards in those moments in last night's game, it'd be
a big, you know, a larger hill to climb, if
you will. But I thought he was phenomenal, especially just coming.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
Back eleven points.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
I believe in the fourth quarter five for seven from
the floor. It is I thought, instructive about the balance
you guys are getting going really back to the Denver finish,
but then this game as well, that he goes out
midway through the fourth quarter. I think you guys are
up four then and in the mid and it's he's
out before he comes back, you've increased the lead from
(28:03):
four to nine, getting contributions from another of people. I
think that that run was punctuated by Mike Conley hitting
a three in the right corner.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Yeah. I think that's the one thing. I mean, obviously
you missed Dante, you missed we missed Ant. But the
one thing it did do, and especially in the playoff
game situation, was you see guys like TJ Shannon have
those opportunities, Jade mcdainiels have those opportunities. So you know,
all that does is it's just like what the Spurs
are dealing with. The TJ's a young guy that hasn't
had a whole lot of playoff experience. But the more
they get in those moments the than the the better
(28:34):
they are at them and they're not in the moment
becomes not too big for them. And I thought it
was great the way that TJ and Jaden let alone
stepped up when Ant was out. But even in those
minutes last night, like you're talking about, when Ant was
off the floor and we needed someone to go make
a bucket.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
The stat I mentioned earlier Mico is that in the
last two games, the games the clinching game against Denver
and Game one last night, Shannon has played seventy minutes
and he's got zero turnovers. That's one of those subtle
stats that I'm assuming you coaches love, right that go
beyond whether he's scoring or what everything he's doing. It's
(29:08):
the old valuing possessions of valuing the ball. And by
the way he's had going backs early to Game six,
he had the ball in his hands a pretty good
amount of time.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah, And I think Finchy alluded to that, you know,
in his press conference after Game six, where at the
beginning of the year we kind of had him in
the corner and now we've got him with the ball
at the top of the floor and he doesn't really
need a screen. That's one thing great about TJ. So
you're not bringing another defender into the action where he
has to navigate two bodies per se. It's just one
on one, get himself downhill, look to finish, or if
(29:37):
there's someone that comes across in this series, it'd be
Winby most likely to kick it out and he is
making the easy play, and he's making the right play,
and he's doing it early. And what I mean by
that is he's not waiting until he gets into a
crowd and trying to create something. If they're putting two
on it, he gets off of it early and that
leads to on time on target passes as opposed to
playing in the crowd, and that's where a lot of
times the turnovers will happen.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Can you guys, well, you know the Spurs did this
season if they ended up winning sixty two games, the
hell of a story Wemby's coming out, you know, the
whole bit highly regarded. A lot of people had already conceded, Well,
it's going to be either Oklahoma City or San Antonio
coming out.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
Of the West.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
But you guys have been through the wars, right, You've
been through the Wars. Now this is the third playoff
run in a row, and now they're down one zero.
So how much do you think you guys can can
maximize their or count on perhaps a little tension building
for them, Not that they're not good, but as a group,
(30:37):
they're not necessarily used to this. They haven't gone through
this in the postseason, No matter how good the regular
season is.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
Can you guys use that to your advantage?
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Yeah, I think so. I think the one thing that
you said, they're very, very talented, they're just no, I guess,
substitution for experience. And if you kind of look back,
we were in the same situation when we went down
to Memphis I think it was four or five years
ago that first time. We won game one, and then
we lose Game two, and then we lost a lot
of close games and and that we end up losing
that series. So, yes, we have been here, for sure.
(31:09):
They have not. So this is a situation where they
have not been in a situation with this group, this
young group, being down one to oh, so they probably
are a little bit of unsure of what to expect
and how to go through things. And we are. We're
battle tested now the last four or five years, being
in the playoffs, last two Western Conference finals. There's really
nothing we haven't seen. And the other thing I think
Finchy made a great point to our group today. You know,
(31:31):
we have a lot of talent, We're very very deep,
but we're not one dimensional. I'm not saying the Spurs
are one dimensional, but just it's a different series from
what Denver presented to us, from what the Spurs are
trying to do. But we're fortunate to have very talented
players and a great staff around led by Finchy that
just we can we can win, and we can do
things in different ways and how teams are presented to us.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Well, how different is Rudy's role defensively in this series
compared to the Denver series.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
Well, I think the Denver series he was absolutely phenomenal.
I mean he's basically single handley did as good a
job on Jokich as one person can do, and he
was also dominant in pick and roll. The one thing
that these guys don't do as much is the Denver
series was more Jamal and Jokic two man game. Everybody
else kind of on the peripheral, and so it really
(32:21):
came down to a two on two game. It was
essentially at the defensive end. It was Jaden and Rudy
against Jamal and Nicola, and we were the beneficiary of
that over the course of that series. However, this one
is different because Wemby's all over the floor. It's not
basically just a pick and roll or post uff series.
He's more at the elbows than the very top of
the floor like Jolkic was. And Jokic was always looking
(32:42):
to pass and distribute and do those type of things,
and he was the hub of everything. Wemby's still the hub,
but it's in different spots, and so it's a very different,
I guess series, if you will, and it changes drastically
for Rudy. Rudy was the primary guy in the in
the Denver series. In this one, he's still the main
(33:03):
guy as he always is, but it's just not as prevalent,
if you will, because Jokic literally had the ball every
single possession.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
Wolves lead assistant Mike and Norri joining us from San Antonio, Texas.
Speaker 4 (33:13):
Uh, let me.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Let's get back to Anthony for a second and the
process of determining when he was going to come back
and whether last night was the night. We spent a
lot of time on this subject on the show that
the natural human reaction, fan reaction is hell, yeah, get
your butt out there. You're showing us something, You're showing
(33:35):
how much you care about the team, You're showing your toughness,
et cetera. But I got to believe when it's a
player that good and that important, to a franchise. It's
it's more complicated than that. I told the story about
when Tim Duncan had a knee issue before the two
thousand playoffs and was cleared and Popovich basically said, you're
(33:56):
not playing. I'm I'm shutting you down and different injury
I will grant.
Speaker 4 (34:02):
But it's a reminder.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
I'm sure you guys had to have a lot of
pretty serious conversations about how you determine when the right
time is, what the risks are that might be involved.
How did can you get us on the inside a
little bit about how that ensues, how that took place.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Yeah, I think you're right. I think it's very, very involved.
It's much more involved than I mean, all these athletes,
especially a guy like Anthony and the competitor that he is,
he'd go out there with one leg. I think he
even said that walking into the one game. But at
the one thing that the franchise, into summing up, is
not going to do. It's kind of like what pop did,
We're not going to win a battle to lose the war,
meaning we're not going to try to win one basketball
game and then put in jeopardy of Ant getting hurt
(34:40):
and to be a detrimental to him number one, and
then also to the franchise of losing him for a
longer period of time. So at no point would he
been out there had he not gone through all of
his return to play protocols. I mean his doctors, his
second opinions, his agent, the coaching staff, Tim Conley, and
his front off. So there're to your point. There are
a ton of conversations and all of it, and then
(35:02):
the single most important part of it is Anthony's health
and Anthony's well being moving forward. If all those box
are checked and he's good to go, then we'll put
him out there. And then it's just that, you know,
you always want to put him underneath a little bit
of a minute's you know, a target minutes number rather
than a minutes restriction, and we were able to coach
Finish did a phenomenal job of manipulating that too. I
(35:22):
think he was twenty four to twenty five minutes, and
it was really right in that range. And there's a
lot of communication, even all the way to the minuscule
communication of talking to ant Hey, listen, I know you
want to start, but it's much easier to play a
guy and manage twenty four minutes over a thirty six
minute game, if you will. The reason I say thirty
six minutes because if he starts, you know, it's forty eight.
It's really hard to play a guy twenty four minutes
(35:44):
in a forty eight minute game. But when you bring
him in halfway through the first now he's essentially playing
a thirty six minute game, and his rotations are much
more consistent with what he's used to.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
Yeah, the minute manipulation last night, I think was masterful
in that regard. You're exactly right, and then you got
that you have the chance then to bring him for
that last push and for significant time in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 4 (36:03):
Is that the plan for game two? Same situation off
the bench?
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Well, hopefully, I think you know, he'll get checked up
today and just make sure that there's nothing there that
needs any more maintenance, and then assuming he will be
able to go tomorrow, and then depending on how he feels,
then they'll all sit down and say, Okay, well, here's
kind of the same thing. Whether it's twenty four minutes,
whether it's thirty minutes, I don't we don't know that. Yeah,
we'll find that out tomorrow. But it'll be the same
process to what you were speaking of, to make sure
that he's good to go.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
How stunned were you that he was?
Speaker 3 (36:31):
I mean when you go back to when that injury
took place and what it looked like and what I'm
sure you knew about it on the inside, how stunned
were you that it was even a possibility that he
would actually play, not you know, later in the series,
like I think everybody assumed, but in Game one.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
I would you know, it's funny if you're talking about
normal human beings, and I'm not just saying this, I
would be stunned. But when you talk about Anthony, nothing
he does is surprising. And I think the fact that
he is, I mean, he's an elite athlete even by
NBA standards, and just the strength and he is. He's
a guy that that heals up quick. And I think
that the way that he fought to get back with
his you know, in his rehab and those times things
(37:08):
and doing all the right things and the nature of
the beast meaning playoffs. Stunned, yes, But then when you
look and sit down, you're look at Anthony Edwards and
what he's done and what he's all about you're not,
but just from a from the blow that he took
and then you saw even as very similar to what
happened to Jokic when he was out for like I
think he missed ten or twelve games in the regular season.
Just similar with the with the going back in that
(37:28):
bone bruise, which is very painful. But to see him
be able to get back and then not only that,
but then to see him come back after missing time
last night in a in a playoff series, and to
perform as he did other than him being a little
bit winded entire, which is to be expected, was just
I thought was a phenomenal feat by him.
Speaker 4 (37:48):
What's you like to coach Mike Conley?
Speaker 1 (37:51):
You know what, I don't even know if it's I mean,
it's it's a it's I mean, it's unbelievable. I was
gonna say, it's not even like coaching, because he's just
like he knows what you're gonna say to him before
he sees things. He's like the even when you were
you know, back in high school or wherever, and you know,
the coach doesn't really talk to the star players because
you're worried about everybody else. That's kind of like you
are with Mike. You just tell Mike, hey, here's what
(38:13):
we need you to do. We need you to chase
this guy or be here there, And he's there and
he is truly an extension of coach Finch on the floor.
He's always in the right spot. And to think that
he's been doing this for eighteen years and I always
laugh and talk to him. I say, man, I can't
imagine what it had been like to coach you when
you first came out, or even fifteen years ago when
you were spry and all this. But the things that
(38:33):
he does for our team and the way that the
time and stuff that he does to get himself ready
to play too, after eighteen years of running up and
down in the NBA, he's special and he's a special individual.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
Let's talk about Julius Randall as well. I thought he
had some great moments last night, like everybody did. I mean,
you had you had great balance and it was different times,
it was different people. So we all talk about Randall's
physicality and how that can bother teams. Is that something
that you saw from him last night, is that something
(39:05):
you think can be used even with wemby getting into.
Speaker 4 (39:09):
His body a little bit. What do you guys want
from Julius Randle in this series?
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Exactly what you said. I think that the one thing
that Julius does do is he is a luxury for us.
And it kind of goes back to what we were
talking about and what Coach Finn said, where we can
there's a lot of situations that we can handle just
because of our depth in our talent. And what I
mean by that is Rudy is obviously a very good
matchup for Wemby just from the sheer size and that
type of thing. But then Julius's physicality, even though he
(39:34):
doesn't have the length and the height, but just the
physicality of being able to get into Wemby, being able
to move him off of his spots, being able to
when Wenby puts the ball on the floor, to impact
that whether he is moving him off of his spot
or standing him up on his drive so he can't
get to the paint. So I even think that the
defense of end this series is where he was very,
(39:54):
very impactful because what that allowed us to do was
if Julius is guarding Wemby, then that's where we could
get all that shooting on the floor, which makes it
much more difficult for Wimby just to hang out in
the paint.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
Last item for today, I want to actually go back
to the Denver series and after Game one, because later
I don't remember when exactly Finchy said this publicly to
the reporters, but he basically said, you know, look, we
were as coaches as frustrated as anybody by the ups
and downs during the season, the inconsistency of performance, the
(40:29):
maddening nature of that, and a lot of the pushback
That response from players was we'll get to it. We're
going to take care of that in the postseason. And
then I think Finchy felt like, well, no, I saw
a lot of the same bad habits in Game one
that we'd had, and it sounds like he called everybody out. Basically,
the quote was, well, they lied to us, you know,
(40:50):
they said it was going to be different in the playoffs.
Playoffs start in game one, and it's exactly the same.
So will you take us back to that? And what
the fit is. You're around finch you know him as
well as anybody, what his approach was, how tough he
was in terms of the message that he delivered to
the team, And what kind of impact do you think
you have in the fact that we're sitting here talking.
(41:11):
You're now in Round two, having despite the injuries, found
a way to knock off Denver and even in position
now where you took game one of the second round series.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
Yeah, I think I could take you back even further
to the beginning of the year. And I think the
one thing that Finchy hit the players with was the
fact that, you know, we've been to two Western Conference
finals and we can't get bored with the regular season.
And what he meant by that was you can't be
just going through the motions on a Tuesday night game
against Washington and January or Brooklyn. And we kicked off
(41:42):
some of those, you know, we kicked those off, but
just and that goes with the habit of making sure
I wouldn't say professionalism, but it's just the effort. In
the consistent effort, you're not really playing against the opponent,
you're playing against yourselves. And I know that's cliches, but
that's factual. And it's just getting these guys to play
and lock in and do what we need them to
do the course of eighty two games. And then I
think it was in a film session later in the
(42:03):
year and all this, and Finchy reminded them and then
I don't know if it was one of the players.
I can't remember who or what or whatever. They were
just like, well, you know, and he even said and
alluded to it, it's not just gonna take care of itself.
There's not just a switch you can turn on the wall.
We have to get these things going. And then they said, well,
once the playoffs come, you know, then we're gonna box
out or then we're gonna execoot this and that. And
after Game one, I thought it was phenomenal. The one
(42:24):
thing everybody in Minnesota knows for sure is about Finchy.
Finchy's gonna tell brutal truth and he's gonna, you know,
and he's just gonna tell it like it is, which
is great. And I think that that's one of his superpowers,
if you will, is that he just calls it like
he sees it. He's usually right, and he doesn't care,
he's not worried about feelings and doesn't do it and
then from a bad light, and he can do it
because of the equity that he's built up with these
(42:45):
guys but I think at the end of the day,
it's like, Hey, you lied to us. You said that
it was going to be different in the playoffs, and
you're treating this like a Tuesday night in January, and
this is Round one of the playoffs against whatever you
want to say, a division rival or a team that
obviously we've we've had some great battles with over the years.
And it's funny. Usually when Finci says something and I'm
(43:06):
not just saying this, it usually comes to fruition and
it kind of lit a fire unto the guys and
got them going and carried us throughout that series.
Speaker 4 (43:13):
No question.
Speaker 3 (43:14):
And I would say, and this is all goes maybe
back to what we're talking about the beginning regarding the
approach with Wemby. What I'm hearing a lot nationally from
people who are now paying more attention to a team
that we pay attention to every day is that it's
hitting folks, how fearless you guys play. That doesn't necessarily
mean you always play well, but there's a fearlessness to
(43:34):
the approach that I think is getting people's attention and
that in a series like this as well, and even
moving forward, it can serve you well. There's not a
lot of hesitation or shrinking violence involved in the way
this operation seems to be going at this point.
Speaker 4 (43:52):
It seems to be we're going after it.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
Yeah, And I think the one thing that what people
are starting to realize is we're not a one or
two trick pony. When you look at a lot of
these teams and these superstar laden teams, all they talk
about the top two guys, and I think when you
look at the Denver series and if you follow the
Wolves on any given night, there's always you know, it
doesn't matter one through eight. We have guys that can
take over games, or takeover quarters, or go through spurts,
(44:17):
and we're not just constantly lying on two guys. And
that's a luxury that we do have. And I think
that to your point, they are fearless. They're battle tested,
just having in the continuity of being together for the
last three years and two of those going to the
Western Conference finals, and hopefully we can get back there
with another strong performance in this series. But absolutely fearless.
Guys play hard, they care about each other, they want
(44:39):
to win, and they and they do. They leave it
all on the line. They take what Finchy's whatever the
coaches come up with, and then Finchy implements as far
as game plow, they try to game plan, they try
to implement that and execute it at a high level.
And we try to keep it simple so that we
don't have them thinking and being a step slow and
just reacting. Because the one thing these guys are they're athletic,
they're long, they play hard, and to your I think
(45:00):
it's a great term, they're fearless.
Speaker 3 (45:01):
There was that late turnover, obviously, and then the late
three pointer there was a damn good look. I mean,
is your is your heart down in your stomach at
that point?
Speaker 4 (45:08):
What are you thinking? What are you seeing?
Speaker 1 (45:11):
Absolutely, just like all of Minnesota, you sit there and
think like, thank God for three inches because otherwise, you know,
we could be sitting here today. I wouldn't have let
Free put me on the show because I'd have been
in tires. We'd have been purled up in the corner.
But you know, it's just amazing, like it's a make
or miss league, And it was not more evident than
it was last night when again, what a great look
by a three point guy that if they drew up
a play they probably couldn't have got a better look,
(45:31):
so I know that they were talking should they have
taken time out this or that, But beside the point
they got a good look, they missed and absolutely stomach
in your you know, down hard down in your stomach
just and then it was funny. I mean, I hate
to say it, but even when he missed, you're like,
oh crap, that's it, it's over. We want you know,
because you're like I mean, and then you're just making
sure and then it's just a big sigh of relief.
(45:52):
And thankfully we were able to win that one. And
and I know they feel the same way. I don't
think either team played as good as that they could have,
so there's a lot of you know, I think Fincy
made the comment too, that there's a lot of things
that we can clean up. I know they feel the
same way and should be for an exciting game too.
Speaker 3 (46:07):
I hope you guys today and whatever coaches means you've had,
have decided to take Aunt off of the inbound making
the inbound pass.
Speaker 1 (46:15):
In the future, he's much better. He's much better at
catching those inbounds and shooting him and taking them out.
And but yeah, you know, so that was a discussion
and I think what was great even about that was
I think Aunt even called himself out this game, so
that was. Yeah, it was great, great.
Speaker 4 (46:31):
To catch up.
Speaker 3 (46:32):
Congratulations on a terrific Game one victory and we'll say
in touch.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Thanks Michaeh, Thank you, Dan, I really appreciate the time.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (46:39):
Absolutely, Mike and Norry lead assistant Minnesota, Timberwols dateline, San Antonio, Davey, Texas.
We'll come back with a very special, we think, surprise
guest and it's not Wolves related, but it kind of is.
Speaker 4 (46:53):
That's
Popular Podcasts
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.
Hey Jonas!
Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.
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.