Episode Transcript
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What's that scared? There's too manyof you, brother, Brother, there's
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far too many of you. Dad. I think anyone who puckers up their
lips and brushes it against their bossesbuttocks and then smooshes it's an ask kiss.
I seem to think and at everythingexcept my work. I'm good at
my work. Confine myself to that. All I want out of life is
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thirty shard and a twenty rating.Demand's enlarged my mind. He's a poet
bowyer and in the classic sense,I'm a little man. I'm a little
man. He's a great man.Think of it as colors. There's black,
and it's white, and in betweenis mostly gray. That's us now.
Gray is a tough color because it'snot as simple as black and market
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and for the media certainly not asinteresting. But that's who we Arezord does
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Dallas always have to mean Doomsday LeaderFan Fan Radio Network, but later and
k f A N dot Com.One minute, eighteen seconds past three o'clock
Central daylight time, Welcome back toa Tuesday Wednesday edition. A Wednesday edition
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of the Bumper Bumper Program on acalm after the rain Nami Wednesday afternoon here
in the twin cities of Minneapolis andSaint Paul. My name is Dan Barrero.
I am the A Hole in theAfternoon Guards. He as the producer
of the broadcast as well, andwe are delighted to have you be a
part of what I think should bea very memorable ride between now and six
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point thirty this evening. Some ofyou may already be on your way towards
downtown Minneapolis for Target Center to makeit to Target Center in time for tonight's
seven thirty tap Game one Western ConferenceFinals. The fan has learned the Timberwolves
will be hosting the Dallas Mavericks tonight, and obviously that'll be a big part
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of our conversation today. We areon the Skyway level inside Well next I
guess you could say adjacent tech.Technically, is this technically Target Center or
not? I don't think as Skyway? Yeah, next to Target Center,
it's the Skyway. It's our Weaffectionately over the years have called this studio,
this remote studio, the cage,right the much improved cage from the
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old days, I might add.And it obviously it's nice to be here
for guests who are going to joinus from Target Center. They just you
know, make the short walk up, including Johnny Athletic, who's going to
join us in about thirty minutes here. We hope Tim Conley is going to
join us late in the broadcast.And then we have two phone related guests.
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They can't be here, although theymight be here in spirit. We'll
give you more details on them injust a minute. In addition, we
have well it's when we're done atsix thirty, Max is back for the
pregame, to the pregame, andthen the regular pregame will start at seven
o'clock tonight. Is that correct?It is shirts on for the pregame show
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with Max Fuller, But that couldchange. That definitely could change, even
though apparently his grandmother texted him andasked him to please stop stripping because so
many people she knows have been listeningto them. But it's Max, you
can't stop at this point now.I think, Yeah, the genies out
of the box. The shirt isoff. Yeah, the shirt is.
The tarps are off, and they'renot going back on d We should think
early and often. Our sponsor forthe Cage Show, Crazy Fresh Produce,
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who's jumping on for every single CageShow ecrazyfresh dot com and we're excited that
they want to be a part ofthis deal. And we'll be here today
and obviously on Friday too. Soif it goes well, might they commit
to extending it into the NBA Final. I think it's extended and perfect as
long as they're playing in the postseason. Pretty good deal and we're at the
cage. That's a win win foreverybody. Crazy fresh is on board,
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that's outstanding. We thank the goodfolks at crazy Fresh for their support.
Every little bit helps the cause forsure. So that's the question. Early.
We think Dallas historically, and wedidn't really talk much about this yesterday,
but over the years we certainly havebecause we love history on this program.
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When we think Dallas, we thinkDallas Minnesota Sports connection. It's doom.
It's a lot of it now thatDallas Cowboys used to call their defense
of doomsday defense, but this isdoomsday in a different way. This is
that it seems that almost every timethese two cities have teams that match up,
we end up embarrassed, devastated,outraged. That would go back to
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the Hail Mary, the Drew Pearsonpush off, et cetera, and Obviously
I haven't even mentioned the herschel Walkertrade yet, first time in a long
time, and none of it's related. I think to whatever is going to
take place starting tonight at Target Center. But it is uncanny just how much
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better Dallas has I could say,fared whenever these two towns have come together,
whether it's via trade, whether it'svia playoff series whatever, or how
about stealing the local hockey team.I was thinking franchise, relow cation ye,
and then the Stanley cop they gotthere. We got Madonna back at
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least that's that's true. It's good, get good to have him. It
took a while, but we gothim. So does that give you any
does one thing have anything to dowith the other, or do we look
at it as God? This wouldbe nice to finally, because I don't
think winning this series nullifies the past, not any stretch of the imagination.
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And I wouldn't look at it ason the wall sweep the Dallas Mavericks with
brooms in four like okay, nowwe're even no, we're now exacting enough
revenge to say Dallas and Minneapolis SaintPaul as sports markets, they're even no,
not gonna work that way, notyet. It would at least get
us on the board because we haven't. We routed them in nine in the
playoffs, right when Romo was thequarterbacks. True at the Metro Dome,
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that's true, and they were comingin. Everybody was picking them because they
had won the very fast correct andFarv in the Gang just absolutely blew their
doors off. That was nice.I mean that goes in the hopper.
Yeah, but it didn't you doa super Bowl. Now, it didn't
lead to a championship, and thiswould I think, go. It's nice
to at least get on the boarda little bit, but it wouldn't make
up for everything. You know,if you go back, how many times
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have we played in the postseed theWolves and Mavericks is just a one time
yeah, with Dirk and Steve Nash, And I remember that series well,
I remember to a couple of thingsabout that series because you remember the Joe
Smith fiasco which one well we theillegal yes, the illegal deal that we
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got caught signing and he ended uplosing. Originally it was gonna be like
I think five number ones. Ithink eventually David Stern or two back whatever
it was, which I'm sure wewasted. We as you recall, we
were so fixated on Joe Smith thatwe ended up we have to get him
back later anyway, right, yep. And he barely played in that series,
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and that was the ultimate indignity ontop of everything else, to say,
well, it's just about man becauseDallas is multiple and Joe just doesn't
really fit. But then you're backto if Joe was that Joe Smith was
that limited in how you could playhim or who you could play him against,
wouldn't that be another reason to notbeyond the first time with the secret
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deal, insist that we got toget him back, no matter what,
we got to get him back.And I can also remember I might have
written that at the time. I'mnot sure. I can also remember in
that series between games, because Idon't did we I think we got swept.
It was back in the three outof five days. These are the
Wally Zerbiak days too, And Iran into Wally. This was I think
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on the road, this was atpractice whatever, and I don't know what
he was bitter about, but hehe looked at me and he said,
you know, he said hi,you know, because we had a decent
relationship most of the time. Iwas one of the few guys who occasional
would stand up for him, becauseWally would get blamed by Flip for everything,
even stuff he had nothing to dowith. Because every team's got to
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have a whipping boy. Wall wasthe whipping boy. He was, so
you could just hear Flip ay andthen you'd say, well, he's not
even in the game, Flip,I mean he's on the on the bench.
Oh, I forgot I gotta riphim. And he looked at me,
and I may have it may havebeen after I wrote the what's wrong
with this picture? You're consumed withgetting Joe Smith and you say, well,
can't play them in this series,which was ridiculous. In any case,
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he said, thank god, youknow there's somebody around here will tell
the truth about this team. AndI'm going that's not a good sign.
Wow, that he is convinced thatthe Wolves are going to find a way
to steal this series and we didn'tand we have not played since in the
playoffs. Correct that if I readit correctly today, And that was in
the stretch where we were one anddone? Was it five years? In
a real four years and a hardI think it was like six or seven,
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and we'd have almost every year goodrecords, great record, fifty wins,
sometimes forty eight wins, and wegave him the honeymoon period. I
mean early it was like, well, you know, you're not going to
break through the first year, butas it accrued, it got very frustrating
and very very difficult. So Ithink for the long the older fans,
there would be beyond the biggest issue, which is just advancing for the first
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time in the history of the franchiseto the NBA Finals, there would be
something a little extra about the enjoymentif it could come at the expense of
a market that has just had itsway with us right uncannily, over and
over, and I think over again, I'm not sure there's another market in
that regard that matches, because it'sjust some of this is just circumstance.
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Yeah, Dallas happened to have Herschel. We happen to be obsessed as well
with Joe Smith of getting Herschel,and you know, we all know about
that trade. It's not worth goingthrough the details of it. But I
can't imagine there's any other market thathas abused this market like Dallas has.
First sports stand not like this.I mean, I think about Boston getting
our stars like David Ortiz and KevinGarnett. Now that's close. You're right,
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that's like part of it. Ithink of New York that just the
Yankees owning the Twins. That's isolated. But in terms of totality of every
sport basically being touched in some formor fashion, You're right. It has
been, and through generations, Imean generations of fans that have had their
own little mini era of Dallas meltdowns. One of the greatest moments in Bumper
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to Bumper history involved the anniversary ofone of the anniversaries of the Hail Mary
Game. And if as you recall, we get Drew Pearson on. Yeah,
in fact, I covered Drew inDallas between eighty one and eighty six.
Great guy, great receiver, reallygood go to guy from a media
standpoint. So we got him backon to talk about it, and then
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we also put Chuck Foreman on.Chuck Foreman just called was that what it
was? He just called in becausehe was listening. Okay, there you
go. Yeah, So what madethis so compelling was it started pretty affable,
very between the two of them.You know, you move on with
the rest of your life. Hey, great receiver, Chuck. I always
had great admiration for the way youcould spin the spin doctor, the way
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you could run. But sooner orlater they get back to being so lost
they're in the locker room in theactual moment and the push off, whether
it was a push off or not. Then it started getting a little bit
tense, as you recall. Yeah, and I loved it because it reminded
us of the competitive nature of playersthat never goes away, and just how
devastating a moment all these decades laterit still was to Chuck and quite frankly,
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to old time you know, someof the older, more occagenarian members
of the Vikings fan fit. I'mpretty sure we I'm pretty sure that was
leading up to that game we talkedabout. I don't know if it was
an anniversary, but I think itwas the nine playoffs, because I think
that was the first time they hadplayed in the postseason. Maybe it was,
You're right, And the reason Iremember that because it's early in my
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time on this show, and whichmeans it's not archived. So funny because
the best part about it was whenthey were going back and forth like that,
and Drew Pearson basically just said,you know, hey, Chuck,
touchdown Cowboys. Just goes touchdown Cowboys. And it was basically like we say,
Friday nights on Fox nine. Enoughset, Yeah, touchdown Cowboys is
what I saw. I think itwas just the ultimate Mike Try got it
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all the way back. Yeah,it was great. It was outstandards was
all right. Let me give youa couple more nuggets regarding the guest lineup.
I mentioned Johnny Athletics supposed to joinus from the cage here at Target
Center at three thirty. In addition, we hope Tim Conley can join very
very late in the show. He'slike blowing back into town. He is,
he told me today, Edmund backsince the Game seven victory in Denver,
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because he's been doing apparently this yearwe do have a number one pick.
Yes, this is one of theeither other years we got one really
late. He's doing some work onthat very late when that's very true.
In addition, we've got so heI hope if he gets here on time,
we'll get them before we wrap upat six thirty. That's my hope.
No guarantees at this point, butwe'll try. In addition, Michael
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Wilbon is going to join us byphone at four thirty this afternoon, and
five h two we'll check in withmy buddy Tim Kalishaw, who's been a
longtime columnist for the old newspaper,the Dallas Morning News. He's all over
TV as well around the horn Etcetera. Kyle Shaw is actually covering the
Dallas Stars this week, but heobviously has covered plenty of the Mavericks and
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can give us a very good scoutingreport as well. So it's an outstanding,
potentially four deep guest lineup today andwe're excited about all of the guests.
Let's try, though, right now, Brett Blake more to put a
grand in somebody's hand, shall we? Let's do it the fanombig, deck
dot Com. I'm gonna give youshots put that grand in your hand at
the National Cash Contest. Head acafe dot com enter the keyword win for
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this hour. The keyword is win. What the Timberwolves. We'll do Cafe
dot com keyword win one other itemreal quick. We're gonna come back with
it next segment. For all thosepeople starting to get worried about the number
of big name basketball experts and commentatorspicking the Wolves that it was almost getting
too thick. We're gonna come backwith some sound that might make you feel
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better in an odd sort of way. Because the one and only Charles Barkley
has done a one point eighty,he has reversed from his original prediction for
this series. We'll play some soundon that from him from earlier today,
as well as some commentary from himon his guy Anthony Edwards bring you ass
back in minutes from the Cave forthe first time in two decades. Your
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Timberwolves are in the Western Conference Finals. Then you can catch Game one against
Dallas. Tonight is seven thirty righthere on FM one hundred point three Cafe
and anywhere you go on the freeiHeartRadio app presented by scar Audio. Elevate
your ride today out of the hour, we should get a visit on location
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here at the Target Center Cage locationSkyway level, where there's already a decent
amount of activity, not surprising givenit's a seven thirty start tonight. John
Krasinski, Johnny Athletic, we'll stopby and before the show is done,
visits with Mike Wilbond by phone TimKalashaw on the phone as well, and
we hope Tim Conley at our location. No Charles Barkley on location as far
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as we know right now, it'snot confirmed. Yeah, it's unlikely.
Maybe he'll walk by and we'll justbring him in. We'll do a drive
by. Yeah, okay, anyof them. Jam, It's doubly frustrating.
Is we're right here. I know, you know. It's like it's
just a matter of bringing a personover, which we think is gonna happen
with Kevin Harlan Friday game for YEtwo, So keep that in mind as
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well. By the way, SamMitchell is already confirmed that he will join
us tomorrow to react to whatever takesplace in game number one. Charles Barkley
did a preliminary prediction on this seriesthat he is apparently going to reverse.
When the TNT broadcast begins later tonight, we're gonna play some sound from Charles
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on that subject and his ongoing loveaffair with Anthony Edwards. This was from
the The Franken Scale Show on theSerious XM, the NBA channel that we've
quoted from liberally and that I've beenblackballed from from for at least the next
five years where I think it's firstabout Anthony and then it kind of morphs
into ultimately the Chuck Barkley reversal thatwe you know, to a certain extent,
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are getting a little bit of ahead start on. This is apparently
what the his fans are going tohear tonight. So if Brett Blakemore can
play that, will listen to thatright now. It's pretty good stuff.
Frank Yes, yes, hey man, let me tell you something. You
know they're making that the slogan ofMinnesota. It's awesome. I heard,
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you know. I love that's who. I love that kid. Man.
It's like he's just a let merism. I will tell you this.
I looked at Tate, uh.I spent was watching tape the other day
and I got caught up in theexcitement because we had just watched the Timber
was I'm gonna change my pick tonight. I'm going with the Maths to win
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the series. Really they gonna win. I think they're gonna win this series,
I really do. Can you expandon that real quick? And why?
Well? You know, my biggestcriticism of it Wilds have been two
things. Corl Anton Towns for somereason, he wanted to be like Steph
Curve and just stand out there andshoot threes. I said, this is
the most I've ever seen him postup. Against the Suns and against the
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Nuggets. I'm like, yo,man, every time he shoots threes.
It just takes a pressure off thedefense. The Sons had to double him
was really exposed. Their defense gota bunch of guys wide open shots.
So I said, when he playslike a big guy, said, is
standing out there just jacket up threes. That's when the Temple Wills are at
their best. But the one thingthat's gonna hurt them. I don't know
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if they can win with the twonuclear weapons Dallas has I said, you
know what's so funny. You knowwhen people want to actually talk about basketball,
I said, yo, man,the Dallas Mavericks and the Indiana Pacers
had the best trade deadline acquisitions.I said, going out getting gaffered in
PJ, that's the most dangerous teamin the West. And I said,
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man, the Pacers could not scoreit in the half court, but when
they went out and got Siakam,that changed the entire complex of their team.
Because there's nobody else on their team, nobody can get their shot.
One on one. Halliburton gets ashot, but it's gonna be a hell
married three that goes in or out. But you can get that ball to
Tiakam in the half court. Thatwas the only thing they were missing.
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So my thing is, I reallythink the two nuclear weapons Dallas has Rudy
Gobert is going to be a liabilitydefensively, they gonna get so many wide
them three they're probably gonna miss Maxick Kleiba, but Dereck Jones and PJ
shooting that ball extremely well. Ijust think Dallas makes I said, the
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only thing gonna hurt the world thereis three point shooting, and I think
this is just a bad matchup forthem. That's just my personal opinion.
So I'm gonna change my picket.I'm going with the MAVs and the Celtics,
and if the Celtics get Puzingers back, the Boston Septic is gonna win
the championship. Boom. So interestingcommentary from Charles Barkley. There are other
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people who agree with them. Istill do like the Wolves in this series,
but what the issue he brings upis, you know, gonna be
really interesting to see because the differenceis obvious here that Denver runs on what
a center, who can play allover the floor, who orchestrates the point
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center exactly. Dallas runs what runsthe engine two perimeter, big time scorers
and facilitators quite frankly when it's goingwell. So you've got double the problem
in terms of potentially what kinds ofswitches take place, in terms of where
you end up with Rudy on thefloor, you know they're going to try
to create action in which Rudy's guysinvolved, et cetera. So I do
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think there are lots of there aredifferent challenges in this series. And part
of I think why a lot ofpeople have gotten cocky about the Wolves winning
is we haven't really seen in thistown. At least we haven't really seen
Dallas since they kind of in theirown way figured it out right. They
made a couple of big trades thattoughened up their roster, improved their defense
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big time. Their rebounding, whichcarried the day against Oklahoma City, was
in position to at least extend thatseries. But they couldn't get defensive rebounds.
They just couldn't. So the Dallaswe've seen and of course, as
we've all talked about it, KyrieI think missed three of the gamesk Luca
missed two, even though the Wolveswon the season series. So I am
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fascinated to see exactly what in inforyat least the Wolves intend in that regard
what you know, where they doublewhere they don't? Do you? Can
you double Luca? At what cost? What do you do with the big
men? Is it possible that thisis a series that in which nas Reed
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should play more right and maybe Rudya little less, depending on the circumstance.
The reason I'd push back a littlebit on Charles is exactly that,
And also I think because you can, they do have some different options when
it comes to big men. Now, the rule has tended to be when
Rudy, Rudy has tended to play. Is that impossible for the coach to
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say you're gonna play twenty seven minutesinstead of thirty eight. I don't know,
because we just think this matchup isdifficult. But this isn't gonna be
a Joe Smith situation where he's literallyI don't. I think the Wolves are
gonna be very stubborn before they play. They say that the'll deal of of
Rudy's gonna be played off the floor, I agree, and where the Wolves
have the biggest advantages in the depth, as you mentioned, and that's where
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as you're going down the list ofyou know, pros and cons, it's
a series where, just like Denver, I mean we kind of said the
bench is going to be important,the Wolves bench ended up dominating Game seven.
Denver's bench was non existent because asI got caught up, You're right,
you think of Dallas as the teamthat flirted with the play in for
most of the season. Were anunder five hundred team last year, That's
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right, and they ended up tankingthe last two games to get their their
pick. So I'm hoping basketball GUIDs, you know, work like they did
for Jamal Murray. Finally in thefourth quarter, they finally showed up.
And so I'd love to go tothe loon later, I'd love to go
to the loon. Where are wetalking about? I got I got great
bapes on my mind now. Butso they've flirted with the play in basically
all year, but then they gotthese guys and surged in you know,
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to you know, top five spots. So it's it's gonna be I think
they're like twenty one and nine theirlast thirty. They're playing great well,
their defense is good, and asyou say, they do have some MoU
boom too going as well. That'ssays Kyrie. They're in love with each
other now they got the back.They figured it out, and largely because
Kyrie seems willing to say, Iget it. Lucas the man, but
there's still time and room for himto become the man in a given situation.
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And those two I mean Kyrie,it's been a while, but he's
won a title right and obviously hitthe big shot in Game seven that lifted
Cleveland over the Warriors that year.And this is the third time Luca's been
to this spot a memory serves,so they do have a little bit of
the experience factor going into it aswell. If we if we were able
to get Charles Barkley on, Iwould try to push back also on his
(24:37):
ongoing rhetoric regarding Cat because agree generally, historically I tend to agree with him
big man. We don't want himto throw on a float, you know,
we want him to use that bulkand frankly good footwork down low.
He's a good low post score.But this whole deal has run in part
because he's your best three point shooter. I think in the postseason this year,
he's shooting forty four percent. He'staking and looking, he's averaging looks
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like, is it four of threepointers a game? That makes her attempts
two point zero makes four and ahalf. Yeah, that's not a crazy
no, that's not a crazy no. So the idea that that means he's
just constantly floating out there, no, And it's part of what they have
to do in part because of whatyou know Rudy is involved with. So
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he goes down that road all thetime, leaving out a lot of the
details about that. He's not floatingbecause he just wants to. He's floating
because they've directed him. But that'spart of how this offense when he was
getting to the basket in Game seventoo, by the way, very very
true. Davy, Johnny's in thehouse. We can talk about a lot
of the defensive matchups. I'm actuallyinterested in who the Wolves are going to
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try to make Luca guard to acertain extent, and can that be can
you make Luca work on the otherend in a way that he runs into
foul trouble. We'll get to thatsome more nuggets from him when we return
from the cage. Target Center.It's time, Johnny, Tony, Johnny
(26:08):
ahead, I didn't do something aboutright now brought to you by RBC Wealth
Management. Johnny is indeed in thecage. If you have a question for
Johnny, don't do the old uhbreche on Bryant a text line because I
won't get it. But you couldtweet me Dan Barrero cafe in and I'll
(26:30):
be glad to try to pass thatalong to you. Regular pregame at seven.
The pre to the pre is sixpoint thirty. Tim Conley, we
think before we're done. That's along shot based on his schedule, but
there's a shot. We do know. Mike will Bondell join in about an
hour and Tim Kyleishaw will join atfive o'clock as well. So, Johnny,
(26:53):
a lot of discussion about who's goingto guard who in terms of who
the Wolves are going to assign someof the mavericks best players. So let's
look at it the other way.Who is Luca likely to guard, let's
say, in the Wolves starting five? Yeah, I mean generally, if
you what the Wolves have seen isthe worst defender goes takes Jaden McDaniels,
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and what we saw from Jaden insix and seven would say that is very
beneficial for the if you get thatversion of Jaden McDaniels, who can create
his own shot a little bit,who can knock down the open three doubled
no and that so that would behuge. So I could see him either
on Jayden or possibly on Mike Conleybecause he is still a little more catch
and shooting than than you know,anyone else out there that for him to
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guard. But what I really willbe looking for is how often does Aunt
hunt Luca in a pick and rollsituation and see you know that I do
believe is something that the Timberwolves canuse to try to exploit. Get the
switch onto h Luca and then goto work. Anthony will start on Kyrie.
We expect correct most of the time, and Jadon and Luca as well.
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Jayden can get into foul trouble,yes, right, so, and
Luca is artful, whether it's whiningwith the officials are just creating you know,
space and attracting files and so forth. How challenging is that part gonna
be very You know, I thinkif if you want to get into scouting
the referees, they have Mark DavisTonight, who generally has allowed a more
(28:27):
physical game, which would favor theWolves because Jayden likes to get physical on
the perimeter. But if he doesget into foul trouble, that will be
a real problem because you know,when against Denver, if like if it's
Porter or really if it's Jamal Murray, Nikil Alexander Walker is a more natural
(28:48):
matchup for Jamal Murray than Luka Dancebecause of the size. And so if
Jaden gets into foul trouble against Luka, you're probably seeing more Kyle Anders.
And now he could play better againstDallas than he did against Denver, but
he's really struggled against Denver, soyou might have to that might be more
(29:08):
minutes for Kyle and more challenge foryou offensively to create things. So how
Jaden is officiated, in how disciplinedhe is in not picking up some of
those tiki taki fouls that he does, is going to be really key to
their success. So we played thelast segment some sound from earlier today from
(29:30):
Charles Barkley, who had originally pickedthe Wolves and now is reversing and has
picked Dallas, and for him,a lot of it had to do with
a belief that this is actually theseries more than more likely than the first
two, in which it's going tobe harder to keep the two to play
Rudy and Cat given the two reallygreat prolific perimeter players, shot makers,
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distributors, et cetera. So Iwant to get your reaction to that,
whether you think the challenge is greaterin that regard against the way Dallas runs
offense as opposed to the way Denverdoes. Well, I mean, I
mean, I don't know about that, Dan, because I think that as
long as they have an option forRudy to guard someone who is not a
(30:22):
stretch shooter. And so if Rudyis on Derek Lively, who is a
lob threat but not a shooter,and he can linger and and and kind
of hang out in the paint,I think that they can still do a
lot of the things that they wantto do defensively. You know, Carl
Towns will be challenged from a movementperspective with Derek Jones Junior, with PJ.
(30:45):
Washington, they are more, Yeah, they move and they get on.
So I think that will be abit of a challenge. You may
see a little bit more Naserid formobility and things. But but I do
think that the Wolves can still dowhat they do well against this offense.
And you know, the key willbe they have to exploit that size.
(31:11):
On the other end. They haveto force the Mavericks to play lively a
lot and not go super small withWashington at the center and Jones and that
and really spread out that way.Then they could get into a little bit
of trouble. But if Carl Townscan post up and punish on the block,
if Rudy can hit the offensive glassand catch lobs and really make it
(31:33):
hard, then I think they canstill keep the game where they want to
keep it. I think to yourpoint that this is the part Charles sometimes
forgets about, is there are twoends of the court. Yeah. So,
in fact, even if you buythe notion that there are some challenges
that this that the Dallas offense presentsthat might make it a little bit tougher
for your big man, you do, as you say, have to make
(31:56):
them pay on the other end then, right, And that to me is
that's just as important and so ifyou do that well enough, maybe that
even changes who they're putting out thereas well. And I do think once
again, and Nas Reed's been veryinconsistent. I would say in the postseason
he obviously he had his best stretchin Game seven. He was the difference.
(32:17):
I thought in Game seven he wasridiculous on both sides of the ball.
But again, he does give youthat option where you say, Okay,
maybe Cat sits a little more,maybe Rudy sits a little more.
Because nas represents a different kind ofmovement for a big man. You're back
to the versatility having three big mendepending on foul trouble, depending on who's
(32:37):
playing better, and even what thematchup might be. Yeah, and what
Chris Finches said all season long ishe feels like he has the options available
to him to combat very different looks. And this is a very different look
for Dallas than Denver. I thinkone thing that is going to be I
think indicative of what this series isgoing to look like is both Phoenix and
(33:00):
Denver did not shoot a ton ofthrees. They're not a volume a three
point shooting team, and I thinkthat worked to the Timberwolves advantage. Dallas
is going to shoot more threes ifDerek Jones and PJ. Washington and even
hardway to an extent, if theyknocked down a bunch of threes like they
did against Okay, see, theWolves are going to have their work cut
(33:22):
out for them. If they lookmore like Michael Porter Junior and Jamal Murray
very inconsistent in that regard and reallyactually kind of revert to who they have
been throughout their whole careers as lowthirty percent three point shooters, then I
think the Wolves are going to bein great shape because if you cannot spread
them out and make them pay forhanging in the paint, I think they're
(33:44):
going to be able to make ita lot harder on Luca and Kyrie when
they are trying to drive and getget to the paint and score. That
way. One of for the folkswho are picking Dallas to win this series,
and I think it's minority nationwide,but there are some they're viewing it
through this prison. Okay, weget it. Ant is great, Luca
is great, but who's the nextgreat star or the next best player.
(34:08):
Dallas has that player, and ifhe goes off the way he frankly didn't
largely in the last series, butcan that that it's still a game of
It's still a game largely outcomes determinedlargely by stars, and they have the
next guy. What do you think? Yeah, Well, first of all,
I want to say that Dallas isreally freaking good like this is.
(34:30):
I think that some Timberwolves fans lookedat the Denver win and said they climbed
the mountain. Then it's only goingto be easier from here on. I
think that Denver is a little bitbetter team than Dallas, but it ain't
by much, not with the waythat Dallas has been very better than a
five seed, the way they noishedthe question. Yes, they're very,
(34:50):
very good, so this is goingto be I think a difficult series for
them. But I also look atYes and Luka well established playoff killers,
big moment guys, tough shot makers, all true, but also the Wolves
have Ant and Jayden and Nikhil,Alexander Walker, and even Mike Conley is
(35:14):
underrated at for what he can justdo defensively to bother guards, and so
they are going to have a verydifficult time against the Timberwolves in getting to
what they want to get to andthere's going to be times where they make
a bunch of shots because they arethat good. But if the Wolves can
limit the other guys around them fromhurting them like they did in Denver with
(35:37):
you know, with Gordon and Porterand KCP, then I think they're going
to be in good shape. Ithink that the Wolves top to bottom one
through eight are more talented than theMavericks. And I also think that if
you get the composed Karl Anthony Townsthat they have had throughout these playoffs,
(35:59):
he can absolutely be a better numbertwo than Kyrie Irving in this series.
I think that's absolutely on the table. Who does Dallas used to guard Anthony?
I think right now they're gonna startwith Derek Jones Junior on him.
Now. He is incredibly long andincredibly athletic, so it will be I
think ann is gonna have to usehis strength a lot in this in this
(36:20):
matchup, and I'm sure they'll doubleyou know some as well. But I
think that Ant has enough quickness toexploit and enough strength to use against Jones.
Now, He's long arms will bea bother for him. So the
Wolves are going to have to becareful in how they scheme and what they
(36:42):
what they look for. But he'sgonna see a lot of Derek Jones Junior,
and he's going to have to justreally be physical with him and impose
his will that way, like hedid against KCP Game seven. We didn't
make as much of it as wewould have because they won the game,
but he did go six for twentyfour. So and look, there were
he was not a consistently great scorerthroughout the Denver series. There were games
(37:06):
where they took Denver did a prettygood job, it seems, of taking
him away. There's that viral videowhere he's talking to Jamal and said stop,
you know, stop doubling the man, leave me alone. And I
think Jamal said, well, wegot to right. So what lessons might
Dallas have learned from there? Andis it possible? I mean, how
likely is it? Do you thinkthat Denver that Dallas could have at least
(37:30):
in two or three of the gamesthe same impact on what he what Anthony
brings as a scorer. Yeah,I mean, I do think that the
blueprint was out there for Denver putit out there in terms of aggressively doubling
him and making him make decisions earlyand I think that KCP is a better
(37:50):
defender than Derek Jones, but DerekJones is good so and is going to
see I think a lot of thesimilar looks. And this is going to
be another series where it's going tohave to be a Jade McDaniels knight,
it's going to have to be aKarl Anthony Towns night. It's going to
have to be nas Red nights sometimesto help alleviate some of that pressure.
And that's what we saw in thesecond half of Game seven, when his
(38:14):
shots weren't falling. It was Cat, it was Mike Conley hitting threes at
certain at big points, it wasNaz Reed getting getting things going, and
then that opened things up. Theother big challenge for Ant in this series
that was not there in Denver isDallas is very good at rim protection.
(38:34):
Uh you know, they have alot of long arms and a lot of
toughness, and so getting to therim and scoring there is going to be
much more difficult for Ant. Sothis might be more of a jump shot
series for him, and he's goingto have to have that locked in to
be effective. Yeah. In fact, there were two or three times during
the last series where I think viaTwitter you were, yeah, begging the
(38:54):
Wolves to go to the basket morefor that very reason that they there's no
one. There is no rim protectionthere at all. Yep. Joker didn't
want to get and found in troubleand he can't do it, and so
it was like an Ola kind ofa thing. And that's where I think
Denver was good at limiting his opportunitiesbecause anytime that he could turn the corner
and get there, it was abucket. And I think that's going to
(39:15):
be harder against Dallas. So there'sgoing to be more emphasis on swinging the
ball, maybe getting it back laterin the clock and attacking that way.
There's going to have to be morepatience I think in this series in terms
of being able to get your ownshot and get good looks. Uh,
you're one of us. So wewere talking early about the sordid history from
(39:39):
a minister perspective between these two sportsmarkets. If the Wolves are able to
take care of business here are thetwo markets even would you say it would
need probably a few more victories overeither Dallas teams or stealing one of their
teams. Yes, yeah, yeah, could we take back or something?
It would take more than the asas big as this would be obviously,
(40:00):
because you're advancing to the NBA Finals, would you say we're still not going
to be even Yeah, I meanprobably on the ledger you they'd still be
behind, especially given that they literallydid steal a team from us. That
said, I think some of thethe most traumatic things are now further and
(40:21):
further in the rear view. Youhad Farva beat them in nine, and
then if you get this win,that's more recent success, and maybe it's
a little bit easier to kind ofbury some of those demons and and and
not worry as much about it whenwhen that happens. But yeah, if
you want to just do the checklist, I think Dallas would still have a
(40:42):
pretty big advantage. Co wins.How many games, Yeah, I mean,
I'm going to say Wolves and six. It's you know, I just
think they're the more talented team.I think that they are a very tough
team that is going to hang inthis thing. That said, I would
not be shocked if tonight Dallas deals. One what I want to see from
the Wolves is where they got introuble against Denver was in that three day
(41:07):
break between two and three, sortof believing a lot of the hype that
was around them, and then theygot caught flat footed and it was hard
to get them back in the series. I think they've had a couple of
days now again where there's a lotof analysis that hey, Wolves are title
favorites. Look at Boston doesn't lookimpressive, like it's it's all right there
for them. So they're going tohave to be really locked in tonight and
(41:30):
in a euphoric environment. But Ithink they can do it. I just
I believe in these guys. I'veseen it too much all season long,
and I think that I think thisis their time. Are you aware of
this date on the Minnesota Sports calendarof calamity as it pertains to the Timberwolves.
I am not on this date intwo thousand and nine, So fifteen
(41:52):
years ago. Yeah, Minnesota Timberwolveshired David Kohnboy to run their organization.
Oh man, think about it.I don't bring it up to depress people.
I actually bring it up to inspirethem to think of what era that
ushered in? Just the utter nineand you covered a lot yeah nonsense with
(42:13):
it, for sure. It's along way from the meerkat David Kahn being
hired that day show of hands towhere we are today, think about it.
That's what I was going to askyou, Dan, did you like
we are here now it's game oneof the Western Conference Finals are did you
ever think we were going to gethere? No? Yeah, I really
didn't. Yep. Yeah. Tobe honest with you, I will be
(42:35):
honest as well, like I wasalways hopeful to get an opportunity like this
to cover. We want to coverthe games and big events. But yes,
there were plenty of times over thelast twenty years where I'm just like,
you know what, it's just notthere's something here. It wasn't Gangelar,
and it wasn't even maybe necessarily thatI don't think that they could do
it. I just couldn't envision itright. I could not wrap my head
(42:55):
around that imagination. No sleeping andgetting up and driving to the arena for
Game one with Charles Barkley here andwith who knows who else is going to
be showing up, and and sothis is really darn cool, like to
see this come to fruition and andlike it'll be a pinch me moment,
I think, just to see whatthis means and and how the town reacts
(43:21):
to it and and all those things. I Uh, if the Wolves win
Game one, I think my firsttweet is going to be for the meerkat
for David Wolves tonight did it?He would appreciate it, even though they
don't even probably know most of themwho the hell he is or was?
Has he surfaced the last few weeks? He's teaching again in New York?
Isn't he was? Yeah, hewas in France and he was he was
(43:47):
at Summer League this year. Idon't know why. Yeah, but he
was lurking around as he as heis wont to do. But yeah,
he's he's trying to hang around alittle bit, by the way. One
last quick thing and I and anduh, I know Tim Conley won't answer
this question. Yeah, it's inaside, But should Wolves fans have any
trepidation about even a remote possibility thatTim Conley is not going to be around
(44:13):
to run this team next year?The way that I read it is,
I think that's very unlikely. Idon't think it's impossible. The Pistons off
from fifteen millionear Yeah, I meanyou know that that's you make now,
is it? Nine eight eight Okay, that's right. So he's well paid,
but in the last couple of yearsexecutive pays or isn't up. So
(44:34):
so you look at that and justgiven the volatility of the ownership situation,
Uh, yeah, I think ithas to be taken seriously. And I
do think that if the Wolves areaggressive and get ahead of the curve and
say, hey, Tim, weknow you have this right thing coming,
let's just take care of this rightnow. And that hasn't happened yet to
your knowledge, No, it hasnot that to my knowledge. Now they're
in the middle of this series andall that stuff, and that's fine,
(44:58):
but what if they what if theywin the title? Perish the thought?
What if the Wolves actually finished thejob this year? Do you think that
actually might make it easier for himto say, you know what if Tim
Connolly leads the Wolves to a title, retire leave like there is literally nothing,
there's nothing you can do in professionallyfrom there in your professional sports,
(45:22):
then to say, I know theodid the Cubs, but this would be
as impressive as theo Epstein leading theCubs to a World Series title. This
Tim Connolly leaving leading the Minnesota Timberwolvesto an NBA this team hired a sports
writer to run. Yes, hethink about it because I mentioned David Conna,
like everybody know that was what hewas. And he wasn't a good
(45:42):
sports writer. He was not.They wouldn't hire me. They didn't hire
a good sports exactly, they hireda bad sports writer to do it.
Like how many times do we havehim on? So many times and to
the point where he wore me outso much that I couldn't even ask tough
questions. Is because he just woreme. I just I didn't. He
was just kind of meander around somethingI would just uncle you win. I
(46:06):
can't. I can't keep up withthe mirakat David conn The only thing I
guess the one thing that I didappreciate is he was at least available.
Was he did not yes when henever hid from anything. He took it
all on. But yeah, thosewere the days. That's why he's americat
he I'll never forget the day hesat me down. They for a long
time. He's like, you know, you got to come to the office.
Come on, I want to say, I don't want to chat,
(46:27):
want to get to know you.All that kind of crap. And he
sat me down and he said,this was the Johnny Flynn here. And
he said, Dan, I'm justtelling you there's something about this kid.
Yes, you're gonna like him,Dan, You're gonna you know, just
trying really, really hard. AndI think back to those days and I
say, again, the Wolves haven'twon the title yet, but to a
certain extent, to be in theconference finals with that in the rear view
(46:52):
mirror and those memories, it's like, I almost feel like there should be
a banner for this, no question, no question. I mean, it's
it's impossible to overstate the depths thatthey have reached. Oh my god,
in those days. You know,there's plenty of them, like I said,
they have in their in their history. They have twelve playoff appearances,
(47:13):
two times they've been out of thefirst round. They have nine sixty plus
lost seasons. Nine in thirty twentyfive percent of their existence is sixty lost
seasons. Like that's that's where they'reat. Like it's it's unfathomable to see
them here and take the ownership stuffaside as well, run an organization right
(47:36):
now with Connolly, with Finch,with the stars that they have like as
stable and well run with the youknow, even Casson all those like it
is great other other than that,but that's where they're at right now.
And the transformation from those days tohere, it's it's it's apples and monkey
(47:58):
wrenches. Like Johnny, we'll seeyou downstairs, man. Thanks as always,
Thanks Johnny Krasinski helping us out asonly he can, indeed do.
We'll make this the top of thehour pause. As I said, Mike
Wilbon scheduled to join us at aboutfour thirty this afternoon by phone, Tim
Kleishaw from Dallas, and we hopebefore we're done Tim Conley, between now
(48:19):
as I said, and when wewrap things up tonight from the cage at
six thirty, don't go away,
What's that scared? There's too manyof you, brother, Brother, there's
(00:30):
far too many of you. Dad. I think anyone who puckers up their
lips and brushes it against their bossesbuttocks and then smooshes it's an ask kiss.
I seem to think and at everythingexcept my work. I'm good at
my work. Confine myself to that. All I want out of life is
(00:53):
thirty shard and a twenty rating.Demand's enlarged my mind. He's a poet
bowyer and in the classic sense,I'm a little man. I'm a little
man. He's a great man.Think of it as colors. There's black,
and it's white, and in betweenis mostly gray. That's us now.
Gray is a tough color because it'snot as simple as black and market
(01:15):
and for the media certainly not asinteresting. But that's who we Arezord does
(01:38):
Dallas always have to mean Doomsday LeaderFan Fan Radio Network, but later and
k f A N dot Com.One minute, eighteen seconds past three o'clock
Central daylight time, Welcome back toa Tuesday Wednesday edition. A Wednesday edition
(02:00):
of the Bumper Bumper Program on acalm after the rain Nami Wednesday afternoon here
in the twin cities of Minneapolis andSaint Paul. My name is Dan Barrero.
I am the A Hole in theAfternoon Guards. He as the producer
of the broadcast as well, andwe are delighted to have you be a
part of what I think should bea very memorable ride between now and six
(02:23):
point thirty this evening. Some ofyou may already be on your way towards
downtown Minneapolis for Target Center to makeit to Target Center in time for tonight's
seven thirty tap Game one Western ConferenceFinals. The fan has learned the Timberwolves
will be hosting the Dallas Mavericks tonight, and obviously that'll be a big part
(02:46):
of our conversation today. We areon the Skyway level inside Well next I
guess you could say adjacent tech.Technically, is this technically Target Center or
not? I don't think as Skyway? Yeah, next to Target Center,
it's the Skyway. It's our Weaffectionately over the years have called this studio,
this remote studio, the cage,right the much improved cage from the
(03:09):
old days, I might add.And it obviously it's nice to be here
for guests who are going to joinus from Target Center. They just you
know, make the short walk up, including Johnny Athletic, who's going to
join us in about thirty minutes here. We hope Tim Conley is going to
join us late in the broadcast.And then we have two phone related guests.
(03:30):
They can't be here, although theymight be here in spirit. We'll
give you more details on them injust a minute. In addition, we
have well it's when we're done atsix thirty, Max is back for the
pregame, to the pregame, andthen the regular pregame will start at seven
o'clock tonight. Is that correct?It is shirts on for the pregame show
(03:52):
with Max Fuller, But that couldchange. That definitely could change, even
though apparently his grandmother texted him andasked him to please stop stripping because so
many people she knows have been listeningto them. But it's Max, you
can't stop at this point now.I think, Yeah, the genies out
of the box. The shirt isoff. Yeah, the shirt is.
The tarps are off, and they'renot going back on d We should think
early and often. Our sponsor forthe Cage Show, Crazy Fresh Produce,
(04:14):
who's jumping on for every single CageShow ecrazyfresh dot com and we're excited that
they want to be a part ofthis deal. And we'll be here today
and obviously on Friday too. Soif it goes well, might they commit
to extending it into the NBA Final. I think it's extended and perfect as
long as they're playing in the postseason. Pretty good deal and we're at the
cage. That's a win win foreverybody. Crazy fresh is on board,
(04:35):
that's outstanding. We thank the goodfolks at crazy Fresh for their support.
Every little bit helps the cause forsure. So that's the question. Early.
We think Dallas historically, and wedidn't really talk much about this yesterday,
but over the years we certainly havebecause we love history on this program.
(04:55):
When we think Dallas, we thinkDallas Minnesota Sports connection. It's doom.
It's a lot of it now thatDallas Cowboys used to call their defense
of doomsday defense, but this isdoomsday in a different way. This is
that it seems that almost every timethese two cities have teams that match up,
we end up embarrassed, devastated,outraged. That would go back to
(05:18):
the Hail Mary, the Drew Pearsonpush off, et cetera, and Obviously
I haven't even mentioned the herschel Walkertrade yet, first time in a long
time, and none of it's related. I think to whatever is going to
take place starting tonight at Target Center. But it is uncanny just how much
(05:44):
better Dallas has I could say,fared whenever these two towns have come together,
whether it's via trade, whether it'svia playoff series whatever, or how
about stealing the local hockey team.I was thinking franchise, relow cation ye,
and then the Stanley cop they gotthere. We got Madonna back at
(06:04):
least that's that's true. It's good, get good to have him. It
took a while, but we gothim. So does that give you any
does one thing have anything to dowith the other, or do we look
at it as God? This wouldbe nice to finally, because I don't
think winning this series nullifies the past, not any stretch of the imagination.
(06:26):
And I wouldn't look at it ason the wall sweep the Dallas Mavericks with
brooms in four like okay, nowwe're even no, we're now exacting enough
revenge to say Dallas and Minneapolis SaintPaul as sports markets, they're even no,
not gonna work that way, notyet. It would at least get
us on the board because we haven't. We routed them in nine in the
playoffs, right when Romo was thequarterbacks. True at the Metro Dome,
(06:49):
that's true, and they were comingin. Everybody was picking them because they
had won the very fast correct andFarv in the Gang just absolutely blew their
doors off. That was nice.I mean that goes in the hopper.
Yeah, but it didn't you doa super Bowl. Now, it didn't
lead to a championship, and thiswould I think, go. It's nice
to at least get on the boarda little bit, but it wouldn't make
up for everything. You know,if you go back, how many times
(07:10):
have we played in the postseed theWolves and Mavericks is just a one time
yeah, with Dirk and Steve Nash, And I remember that series well,
I remember to a couple of thingsabout that series because you remember the Joe
Smith fiasco which one well we theillegal yes, the illegal deal that we
(07:31):
got caught signing and he ended uplosing. Originally it was gonna be like
I think five number ones. Ithink eventually David Stern or two back whatever
it was, which I'm sure wewasted. We as you recall, we
were so fixated on Joe Smith thatwe ended up we have to get him
back later anyway, right, yep. And he barely played in that series,
(07:54):
and that was the ultimate indignity ontop of everything else, to say,
well, it's just about man becauseDallas is multiple and Joe just doesn't
really fit. But then you're backto if Joe was that Joe Smith was
that limited in how you could playhim or who you could play him against,
wouldn't that be another reason to notbeyond the first time with the secret
(08:15):
deal, insist that we got toget him back, no matter what,
we got to get him back.And I can also remember I might have
written that at the time. I'mnot sure. I can also remember in
that series between games, because Idon't did we I think we got swept.
It was back in the three outof five days. These are the
Wally Zerbiak days too, And Iran into Wally. This was I think
(08:35):
on the road, this was atpractice whatever, and I don't know what
he was bitter about, but hehe looked at me and he said,
you know, he said hi,you know, because we had a decent
relationship most of the time. Iwas one of the few guys who occasional
would stand up for him, becauseWally would get blamed by Flip for everything,
even stuff he had nothing to dowith. Because every team's got to
(08:58):
have a whipping boy. Wall wasthe whipping boy. He was, so
you could just hear Flip ay andthen you'd say, well, he's not
even in the game, Flip,I mean he's on the on the bench.
Oh, I forgot I gotta riphim. And he looked at me,
and I may have it may havebeen after I wrote the what's wrong
with this picture? You're consumed withgetting Joe Smith and you say, well,
can't play them in this series,which was ridiculous. In any case,
(09:20):
he said, thank god, youknow there's somebody around here will tell
the truth about this team. AndI'm going that's not a good sign.
Wow, that he is convinced thatthe Wolves are going to find a way
to steal this series and we didn'tand we have not played since in the
playoffs. Correct that if I readit correctly today, And that was in
the stretch where we were one anddone? Was it five years? In
a real four years and a hardI think it was like six or seven,
(09:43):
and we'd have almost every year goodrecords, great record, fifty wins,
sometimes forty eight wins, and wegave him the honeymoon period. I
mean early it was like, well, you know, you're not going to
break through the first year, butas it accrued, it got very frustrating
and very very difficult. So Ithink for the long the older fans,
there would be beyond the biggest issue, which is just advancing for the first
(10:09):
time in the history of the franchiseto the NBA Finals, there would be
something a little extra about the enjoymentif it could come at the expense of
a market that has just had itsway with us right uncannily, over and
over, and I think over again, I'm not sure there's another market in
that regard that matches, because it'sjust some of this is just circumstance.
(10:31):
Yeah, Dallas happened to have Herschel. We happen to be obsessed as well
with Joe Smith of getting Herschel,and you know, we all know about
that trade. It's not worth goingthrough the details of it. But I
can't imagine there's any other market thathas abused this market like Dallas has.
First sports stand not like this.I mean, I think about Boston getting
our stars like David Ortiz and KevinGarnett. Now that's close. You're right,
(10:54):
that's like part of it. Ithink of New York that just the
Yankees owning the Twins. That's isolated. But in terms of totality of every
sport basically being touched in some formor fashion, You're right. It has
been, and through generations, Imean generations of fans that have had their
own little mini era of Dallas meltdowns. One of the greatest moments in Bumper
(11:16):
to Bumper history involved the anniversary ofone of the anniversaries of the Hail Mary
Game. And if as you recall, we get Drew Pearson on. Yeah,
in fact, I covered Drew inDallas between eighty one and eighty six.
Great guy, great receiver, reallygood go to guy from a media
standpoint. So we got him backon to talk about it, and then
(11:37):
we also put Chuck Foreman on.Chuck Foreman just called was that what it
was? He just called in becausehe was listening. Okay, there you
go. Yeah, So what madethis so compelling was it started pretty affable,
very between the two of them.You know, you move on with
the rest of your life. Hey, great receiver, Chuck. I always
had great admiration for the way youcould spin the spin doctor, the way
(11:58):
you could run. But sooner orlater they get back to being so lost
they're in the locker room in theactual moment and the push off, whether
it was a push off or not. Then it started getting a little bit
tense, as you recall. Yeah, and I loved it because it reminded
us of the competitive nature of playersthat never goes away, and just how
devastating a moment all these decades laterit still was to Chuck and quite frankly,
(12:24):
to old time you know, someof the older, more occagenarian members
of the Vikings fan fit. I'mpretty sure we I'm pretty sure that was
leading up to that game we talkedabout. I don't know if it was
an anniversary, but I think itwas the nine playoffs, because I think
that was the first time they hadplayed in the postseason. Maybe it was,
You're right, And the reason Iremember that because it's early in my
(12:46):
time on this show, and whichmeans it's not archived. So funny because
the best part about it was whenthey were going back and forth like that,
and Drew Pearson basically just said,you know, hey, Chuck,
touchdown Cowboys. Just goes touchdown Cowboys. And it was basically like we say,
Friday nights on Fox nine. Enoughset, Yeah, touchdown Cowboys is
what I saw. I think itwas just the ultimate Mike Try got it
(13:07):
all the way back. Yeah,it was great. It was outstandards was
all right. Let me give youa couple more nuggets regarding the guest lineup.
I mentioned Johnny Athletics supposed to joinus from the cage here at Target
Center at three thirty. In addition, we hope Tim Conley can join very
very late in the show. He'slike blowing back into town. He is,
he told me today, Edmund backsince the Game seven victory in Denver,
(13:31):
because he's been doing apparently this yearwe do have a number one pick.
Yes, this is one of theeither other years we got one really
late. He's doing some work onthat very late when that's very true.
In addition, we've got so heI hope if he gets here on time,
we'll get them before we wrap upat six thirty. That's my hope.
No guarantees at this point, butwe'll try. In addition, Michael
(13:54):
Wilbon is going to join us byphone at four thirty this afternoon, and
five h two we'll check in withmy buddy Tim Kalishaw, who's been a
longtime columnist for the old newspaper,the Dallas Morning News. He's all over
TV as well around the horn Etcetera. Kyle Shaw is actually covering the
Dallas Stars this week, but heobviously has covered plenty of the Mavericks and
(14:18):
can give us a very good scoutingreport as well. So it's an outstanding,
potentially four deep guest lineup today andwe're excited about all of the guests.
Let's try, though, right now, Brett Blake more to put a
grand in somebody's hand, shall we? Let's do it the fanombig, deck
dot Com. I'm gonna give youshots put that grand in your hand at
the National Cash Contest. Head acafe dot com enter the keyword win for
(14:39):
this hour. The keyword is win. What the Timberwolves. We'll do Cafe
dot com keyword win one other itemreal quick. We're gonna come back with
it next segment. For all thosepeople starting to get worried about the number
of big name basketball experts and commentatorspicking the Wolves that it was almost getting
too thick. We're gonna come backwith some sound that might make you feel
(15:00):
better in an odd sort of way. Because the one and only Charles Barkley
has done a one point eighty,he has reversed from his original prediction for
this series. We'll play some soundon that from him from earlier today,
as well as some commentary from himon his guy Anthony Edwards bring you ass
back in minutes from the Cave forthe first time in two decades. Your
(15:24):
Timberwolves are in the Western Conference Finals. Then you can catch Game one against
Dallas. Tonight is seven thirty righthere on FM one hundred point three Cafe
and anywhere you go on the freeiHeartRadio app presented by scar Audio. Elevate
your ride today out of the hour, we should get a visit on location
(15:48):
here at the Target Center Cage locationSkyway level, where there's already a decent
amount of activity, not surprising givenit's a seven thirty start tonight. John
Krasinski, Johnny Athletic, we'll stopby and before the show is done,
visits with Mike Wilbond by phone TimKalashaw on the phone as well, and
we hope Tim Conley at our location. No Charles Barkley on location as far
(16:14):
as we know right now, it'snot confirmed. Yeah, it's unlikely.
Maybe he'll walk by and we'll justbring him in. We'll do a drive
by. Yeah, okay, anyof them. Jam, It's doubly frustrating.
Is we're right here. I know, you know. It's like it's
just a matter of bringing a personover, which we think is gonna happen
with Kevin Harlan Friday game for YEtwo, So keep that in mind as
(16:37):
well. By the way, SamMitchell is already confirmed that he will join
us tomorrow to react to whatever takesplace in game number one. Charles Barkley
did a preliminary prediction on this seriesthat he is apparently going to reverse.
When the TNT broadcast begins later tonight, we're gonna play some sound from Charles
(17:02):
on that subject and his ongoing loveaffair with Anthony Edwards. This was from
the The Franken Scale Show on theSerious XM, the NBA channel that we've
quoted from liberally and that I've beenblackballed from from for at least the next
five years where I think it's firstabout Anthony and then it kind of morphs
into ultimately the Chuck Barkley reversal thatwe you know, to a certain extent,
(17:27):
are getting a little bit of ahead start on. This is apparently
what the his fans are going tohear tonight. So if Brett Blakemore can
play that, will listen to thatright now. It's pretty good stuff.
Frank Yes, yes, hey man, let me tell you something. You
know they're making that the slogan ofMinnesota. It's awesome. I heard,
(17:48):
you know. I love that's who. I love that kid. Man.
It's like he's just a let merism. I will tell you this.
I looked at Tate, uh.I spent was watching tape the other day
and I got caught up in theexcitement because we had just watched the Timber
was I'm gonna change my pick tonight. I'm going with the Maths to win
(18:11):
the series. Really they gonna win. I think they're gonna win this series,
I really do. Can you expandon that real quick? And why?
Well? You know, my biggestcriticism of it Wilds have been two
things. Corl Anton Towns for somereason, he wanted to be like Steph
Curve and just stand out there andshoot threes. I said, this is
the most I've ever seen him postup. Against the Suns and against the
(18:37):
Nuggets. I'm like, yo,man, every time he shoots threes.
It just takes a pressure off thedefense. The Sons had to double him
was really exposed. Their defense gota bunch of guys wide open shots.
So I said, when he playslike a big guy, said, is
standing out there just jacket up threes. That's when the Temple Wills are at
their best. But the one thingthat's gonna hurt them. I don't know
(18:59):
if they can win with the twonuclear weapons Dallas has I said, you
know what's so funny. You knowwhen people want to actually talk about basketball,
I said, yo, man,the Dallas Mavericks and the Indiana Pacers
had the best trade deadline acquisitions.I said, going out getting gaffered in
PJ, that's the most dangerous teamin the West. And I said,
(19:21):
man, the Pacers could not scoreit in the half court, but when
they went out and got Siakam,that changed the entire complex of their team.
Because there's nobody else on their team, nobody can get their shot.
One on one. Halliburton gets ashot, but it's gonna be a hell
married three that goes in or out. But you can get that ball to
Tiakam in the half court. Thatwas the only thing they were missing.
(19:42):
So my thing is, I reallythink the two nuclear weapons Dallas has Rudy
Gobert is going to be a liabilitydefensively, they gonna get so many wide
them three they're probably gonna miss Maxick Kleiba, but Dereck Jones and PJ
shooting that ball extremely well. Ijust think Dallas makes I said, the
(20:04):
only thing gonna hurt the world thereis three point shooting, and I think
this is just a bad matchup forthem. That's just my personal opinion.
So I'm gonna change my picket.I'm going with the MAVs and the Celtics,
and if the Celtics get Puzingers back, the Boston Septic is gonna win
the championship. Boom. So interestingcommentary from Charles Barkley. There are other
(20:26):
people who agree with them. Istill do like the Wolves in this series,
but what the issue he brings upis, you know, gonna be
really interesting to see because the differenceis obvious here that Denver runs on what
a center, who can play allover the floor, who orchestrates the point
(20:48):
center exactly. Dallas runs what runsthe engine two perimeter, big time scorers
and facilitators quite frankly when it's goingwell. So you've got double the problem
in terms of potentially what kinds ofswitches take place, in terms of where
you end up with Rudy on thefloor, you know they're going to try
to create action in which Rudy's guysinvolved, et cetera. So I do
(21:12):
think there are lots of there aredifferent challenges in this series. And part
of I think why a lot ofpeople have gotten cocky about the Wolves winning
is we haven't really seen in thistown. At least we haven't really seen
Dallas since they kind of in theirown way figured it out right. They
made a couple of big trades thattoughened up their roster, improved their defense
(21:36):
big time. Their rebounding, whichcarried the day against Oklahoma City, was
in position to at least extend thatseries. But they couldn't get defensive rebounds.
They just couldn't. So the Dallaswe've seen and of course, as
we've all talked about it, KyrieI think missed three of the gamesk Luca
missed two, even though the Wolveswon the season series. So I am
(22:00):
fascinated to see exactly what in inforyat least the Wolves intend in that regard
what you know, where they doublewhere they don't? Do you? Can
you double Luca? At what cost? What do you do with the big
men? Is it possible that thisis a series that in which nas Reed
(22:22):
should play more right and maybe Rudya little less, depending on the circumstance.
The reason I'd push back a littlebit on Charles is exactly that,
And also I think because you can, they do have some different options when
it comes to big men. Now, the rule has tended to be when
Rudy, Rudy has tended to play. Is that impossible for the coach to
(22:45):
say you're gonna play twenty seven minutesinstead of thirty eight. I don't know,
because we just think this matchup isdifficult. But this isn't gonna be
a Joe Smith situation where he's literallyI don't. I think the Wolves are
gonna be very stubborn before they play. They say that the'll deal of of
Rudy's gonna be played off the floor, I agree, and where the Wolves
have the biggest advantages in the depth, as you mentioned, and that's where
(23:07):
as you're going down the list ofyou know, pros and cons, it's
a series where, just like Denver, I mean we kind of said the
bench is going to be important,the Wolves bench ended up dominating Game seven.
Denver's bench was non existent because asI got caught up, You're right,
you think of Dallas as the teamthat flirted with the play in for
most of the season. Were anunder five hundred team last year, That's
(23:29):
right, and they ended up tankingthe last two games to get their their
pick. So I'm hoping basketball GUIDs, you know, work like they did
for Jamal Murray. Finally in thefourth quarter, they finally showed up.
And so I'd love to go tothe loon later, I'd love to go
to the loon. Where are wetalking about? I got I got great
bapes on my mind now. Butso they've flirted with the play in basically
all year, but then they gotthese guys and surged in you know,
(23:52):
to you know, top five spots. So it's it's gonna be I think
they're like twenty one and nine theirlast thirty. They're playing great well,
their defense is good, and asyou say, they do have some MoU
boom too going as well. That'ssays Kyrie. They're in love with each
other now they got the back.They figured it out, and largely because
Kyrie seems willing to say, Iget it. Lucas the man, but
there's still time and room for himto become the man in a given situation.
(24:15):
And those two I mean Kyrie,it's been a while, but he's
won a title right and obviously hitthe big shot in Game seven that lifted
Cleveland over the Warriors that year.And this is the third time Luca's been
to this spot a memory serves,so they do have a little bit of
the experience factor going into it aswell. If we if we were able
to get Charles Barkley on, Iwould try to push back also on his
(24:37):
ongoing rhetoric regarding Cat because agree generally, historically I tend to agree with him
big man. We don't want himto throw on a float, you know,
we want him to use that bulkand frankly good footwork down low.
He's a good low post score.But this whole deal has run in part
because he's your best three point shooter. I think in the postseason this year,
he's shooting forty four percent. He'staking and looking, he's averaging looks
(25:02):
like, is it four of threepointers a game? That makes her attempts
two point zero makes four and ahalf. Yeah, that's not a crazy
no, that's not a crazy no. So the idea that that means he's
just constantly floating out there, no, And it's part of what they have
to do in part because of whatyou know Rudy is involved with. So
(25:25):
he goes down that road all thetime, leaving out a lot of the
details about that. He's not floatingbecause he just wants to. He's floating
because they've directed him. But that'spart of how this offense when he was
getting to the basket in Game seventoo, by the way, very very
true. Davy, Johnny's in thehouse. We can talk about a lot
of the defensive matchups. I'm actuallyinterested in who the Wolves are going to
(25:45):
try to make Luca guard to acertain extent, and can that be can
you make Luca work on the otherend in a way that he runs into
foul trouble. We'll get to thatsome more nuggets from him when we return
from the cage. Target Center.It's time, Johnny, Tony, Johnny
(26:08):
ahead, I didn't do something aboutright now brought to you by RBC Wealth
Management. Johnny is indeed in thecage. If you have a question for
Johnny, don't do the old uhbreche on Bryant a text line because I
won't get it. But you couldtweet me Dan Barrero cafe in and I'll
(26:30):
be glad to try to pass thatalong to you. Regular pregame at seven.
The pre to the pre is sixpoint thirty. Tim Conley, we
think before we're done. That's along shot based on his schedule, but
there's a shot. We do know. Mike will Bondell join in about an
hour and Tim Kyleishaw will join atfive o'clock as well. So, Johnny,
(26:53):
a lot of discussion about who's goingto guard who in terms of who
the Wolves are going to assign someof the mavericks best players. So let's
look at it the other way.Who is Luca likely to guard, let's
say, in the Wolves starting five? Yeah, I mean generally, if
you what the Wolves have seen isthe worst defender goes takes Jaden McDaniels,
(27:15):
and what we saw from Jaden insix and seven would say that is very
beneficial for the if you get thatversion of Jaden McDaniels, who can create
his own shot a little bit,who can knock down the open three doubled
no and that so that would behuge. So I could see him either
on Jayden or possibly on Mike Conleybecause he is still a little more catch
and shooting than than you know,anyone else out there that for him to
(27:40):
guard. But what I really willbe looking for is how often does Aunt
hunt Luca in a pick and rollsituation and see you know that I do
believe is something that the Timberwolves canuse to try to exploit. Get the
switch onto h Luca and then goto work. Anthony will start on Kyrie.
We expect correct most of the time, and Jadon and Luca as well.
(28:06):
Jayden can get into foul trouble,yes, right, so, and
Luca is artful, whether it's whiningwith the officials are just creating you know,
space and attracting files and so forth. How challenging is that part gonna
be very You know, I thinkif if you want to get into scouting
the referees, they have Mark DavisTonight, who generally has allowed a more
(28:27):
physical game, which would favor theWolves because Jayden likes to get physical on
the perimeter. But if he doesget into foul trouble, that will be
a real problem because you know,when against Denver, if like if it's
Porter or really if it's Jamal Murray, Nikil Alexander Walker is a more natural
(28:48):
matchup for Jamal Murray than Luka Dancebecause of the size. And so if
Jaden gets into foul trouble against Luka, you're probably seeing more Kyle Anders.
And now he could play better againstDallas than he did against Denver, but
he's really struggled against Denver, soyou might have to that might be more
(29:08):
minutes for Kyle and more challenge foryou offensively to create things. So how
Jaden is officiated, in how disciplinedhe is in not picking up some of
those tiki taki fouls that he does, is going to be really key to
their success. So we played thelast segment some sound from earlier today from
(29:30):
Charles Barkley, who had originally pickedthe Wolves and now is reversing and has
picked Dallas, and for him,a lot of it had to do with
a belief that this is actually theseries more than more likely than the first
two, in which it's going tobe harder to keep the two to play
Rudy and Cat given the two reallygreat prolific perimeter players, shot makers,
(29:55):
distributors, et cetera. So Iwant to get your reaction to that,
whether you think the challenge is greaterin that regard against the way Dallas runs
offense as opposed to the way Denverdoes. Well, I mean, I
mean, I don't know about that, Dan, because I think that as
long as they have an option forRudy to guard someone who is not a
(30:22):
stretch shooter. And so if Rudyis on Derek Lively, who is a
lob threat but not a shooter,and he can linger and and and kind
of hang out in the paint,I think that they can still do a
lot of the things that they wantto do defensively. You know, Carl
Towns will be challenged from a movementperspective with Derek Jones Junior, with PJ.
(30:45):
Washington, they are more, Yeah, they move and they get on.
So I think that will be abit of a challenge. You may
see a little bit more Naserid formobility and things. But but I do
think that the Wolves can still dowhat they do well against this offense.
And you know, the key willbe they have to exploit that size.
(31:11):
On the other end. They haveto force the Mavericks to play lively a
lot and not go super small withWashington at the center and Jones and that
and really spread out that way.Then they could get into a little bit
of trouble. But if Carl Townscan post up and punish on the block,
if Rudy can hit the offensive glassand catch lobs and really make it
(31:33):
hard, then I think they canstill keep the game where they want to
keep it. I think to yourpoint that this is the part Charles sometimes
forgets about, is there are twoends of the court. Yeah. So,
in fact, even if you buythe notion that there are some challenges
that this that the Dallas offense presentsthat might make it a little bit tougher
for your big man, you do, as you say, have to make
(31:56):
them pay on the other end then, right, And that to me is
that's just as important and so ifyou do that well enough, maybe that
even changes who they're putting out thereas well. And I do think once
again, and Nas Reed's been veryinconsistent. I would say in the postseason
he obviously he had his best stretchin Game seven. He was the difference.
(32:17):
I thought in Game seven he wasridiculous on both sides of the ball.
But again, he does give youthat option where you say, Okay,
maybe Cat sits a little more,maybe Rudy sits a little more.
Because nas represents a different kind ofmovement for a big man. You're back
to the versatility having three big mendepending on foul trouble, depending on who's
(32:37):
playing better, and even what thematchup might be. Yeah, and what
Chris Finches said all season long ishe feels like he has the options available
to him to combat very different looks. And this is a very different look
for Dallas than Denver. I thinkone thing that is going to be I
think indicative of what this series isgoing to look like is both Phoenix and
(33:00):
Denver did not shoot a ton ofthrees. They're not a volume a three
point shooting team, and I thinkthat worked to the Timberwolves advantage. Dallas
is going to shoot more threes ifDerek Jones and PJ. Washington and even
hardway to an extent, if theyknocked down a bunch of threes like they
did against Okay, see, theWolves are going to have their work cut
(33:22):
out for them. If they lookmore like Michael Porter Junior and Jamal Murray
very inconsistent in that regard and reallyactually kind of revert to who they have
been throughout their whole careers as lowthirty percent three point shooters, then I
think the Wolves are going to bein great shape because if you cannot spread
them out and make them pay forhanging in the paint, I think they're
(33:44):
going to be able to make ita lot harder on Luca and Kyrie when
they are trying to drive and getget to the paint and score. That
way. One of for the folkswho are picking Dallas to win this series,
and I think it's minority nationwide,but there are some they're viewing it
through this prison. Okay, weget it. Ant is great, Luca
is great, but who's the nextgreat star or the next best player.
(34:08):
Dallas has that player, and ifhe goes off the way he frankly didn't
largely in the last series, butcan that that it's still a game of
It's still a game largely outcomes determinedlargely by stars, and they have the
next guy. What do you think? Yeah, Well, first of all,
I want to say that Dallas isreally freaking good like this is.
(34:30):
I think that some Timberwolves fans lookedat the Denver win and said they climbed
the mountain. Then it's only goingto be easier from here on. I
think that Denver is a little bitbetter team than Dallas, but it ain't
by much, not with the waythat Dallas has been very better than a
five seed, the way they noishedthe question. Yes, they're very,
(34:50):
very good, so this is goingto be I think a difficult series for
them. But I also look atYes and Luka well established playoff killers,
big moment guys, tough shot makers, all true, but also the Wolves
have Ant and Jayden and Nikhil,Alexander Walker, and even Mike Conley is
(35:14):
underrated at for what he can justdo defensively to bother guards, and so
they are going to have a verydifficult time against the Timberwolves in getting to
what they want to get to andthere's going to be times where they make
a bunch of shots because they arethat good. But if the Wolves can
limit the other guys around them fromhurting them like they did in Denver with
(35:37):
you know, with Gordon and Porterand KCP, then I think they're going
to be in good shape. Ithink that the Wolves top to bottom one
through eight are more talented than theMavericks. And I also think that if
you get the composed Karl Anthony Townsthat they have had throughout these playoffs,
(35:59):
he can absolutely be a better numbertwo than Kyrie Irving in this series.
I think that's absolutely on the table. Who does Dallas used to guard Anthony?
I think right now they're gonna startwith Derek Jones Junior on him.
Now. He is incredibly long andincredibly athletic, so it will be I
think ann is gonna have to usehis strength a lot in this in this
(36:20):
matchup, and I'm sure they'll doubleyou know some as well. But I
think that Ant has enough quickness toexploit and enough strength to use against Jones.
Now, He's long arms will bea bother for him. So the
Wolves are going to have to becareful in how they scheme and what they
(36:42):
what they look for. But he'sgonna see a lot of Derek Jones Junior,
and he's going to have to justreally be physical with him and impose
his will that way, like hedid against KCP Game seven. We didn't
make as much of it as wewould have because they won the game,
but he did go six for twentyfour. So and look, there were
he was not a consistently great scorerthroughout the Denver series. There were games
(37:06):
where they took Denver did a prettygood job, it seems, of taking
him away. There's that viral videowhere he's talking to Jamal and said stop,
you know, stop doubling the man, leave me alone. And I
think Jamal said, well, wegot to right. So what lessons might
Dallas have learned from there? Andis it possible? I mean, how
likely is it? Do you thinkthat Denver that Dallas could have at least
(37:30):
in two or three of the gamesthe same impact on what he what Anthony
brings as a scorer. Yeah,I mean, I do think that the
blueprint was out there for Denver putit out there in terms of aggressively doubling
him and making him make decisions earlyand I think that KCP is a better
(37:50):
defender than Derek Jones, but DerekJones is good so and is going to
see I think a lot of thesimilar looks. And this is going to
be another series where it's going tohave to be a Jade McDaniels knight,
it's going to have to be aKarl Anthony Towns night. It's going to
have to be nas Red nights sometimesto help alleviate some of that pressure.
And that's what we saw in thesecond half of Game seven, when his
(38:14):
shots weren't falling. It was Cat, it was Mike Conley hitting threes at
certain at big points, it wasNaz Reed getting getting things going, and
then that opened things up. Theother big challenge for Ant in this series
that was not there in Denver isDallas is very good at rim protection.
(38:34):
Uh you know, they have alot of long arms and a lot of
toughness, and so getting to therim and scoring there is going to be
much more difficult for Ant. Sothis might be more of a jump shot
series for him, and he's goingto have to have that locked in to
be effective. Yeah. In fact, there were two or three times during
the last series where I think viaTwitter you were, yeah, begging the
(38:54):
Wolves to go to the basket morefor that very reason that they there's no
one. There is no rim protectionthere at all. Yep. Joker didn't
want to get and found in troubleand he can't do it, and so
it was like an Ola kind ofa thing. And that's where I think
Denver was good at limiting his opportunitiesbecause anytime that he could turn the corner
and get there, it was abucket. And I think that's going to
(39:15):
be harder against Dallas. So there'sgoing to be more emphasis on swinging the
ball, maybe getting it back laterin the clock and attacking that way.
There's going to have to be morepatience I think in this series in terms
of being able to get your ownshot and get good looks. Uh,
you're one of us. So wewere talking early about the sordid history from
(39:39):
a minister perspective between these two sportsmarkets. If the Wolves are able to
take care of business here are thetwo markets even would you say it would
need probably a few more victories overeither Dallas teams or stealing one of their
teams. Yes, yeah, yeah, could we take back or something?
It would take more than the asas big as this would be obviously,
(40:00):
because you're advancing to the NBA Finals, would you say we're still not going
to be even Yeah, I meanprobably on the ledger you they'd still be
behind, especially given that they literallydid steal a team from us. That
said, I think some of thethe most traumatic things are now further and
(40:21):
further in the rear view. Youhad Farva beat them in nine, and
then if you get this win,that's more recent success, and maybe it's
a little bit easier to kind ofbury some of those demons and and and
not worry as much about it whenwhen that happens. But yeah, if
you want to just do the checklist, I think Dallas would still have a
(40:42):
pretty big advantage. Co wins.How many games, Yeah, I mean,
I'm going to say Wolves and six. It's you know, I just
think they're the more talented team.I think that they are a very tough
team that is going to hang inthis thing. That said, I would
not be shocked if tonight Dallas deals. One what I want to see from
the Wolves is where they got introuble against Denver was in that three day
(41:07):
break between two and three, sortof believing a lot of the hype that
was around them, and then theygot caught flat footed and it was hard
to get them back in the series. I think they've had a couple of
days now again where there's a lotof analysis that hey, Wolves are title
favorites. Look at Boston doesn't lookimpressive, like it's it's all right there
for them. So they're going tohave to be really locked in tonight and
(41:30):
in a euphoric environment. But Ithink they can do it. I just
I believe in these guys. I'veseen it too much all season long,
and I think that I think thisis their time. Are you aware of
this date on the Minnesota Sports calendarof calamity as it pertains to the Timberwolves.
I am not on this date intwo thousand and nine, So fifteen
(41:52):
years ago. Yeah, Minnesota Timberwolveshired David Kohnboy to run their organization.
Oh man, think about it.I don't bring it up to depress people.
I actually bring it up to inspirethem to think of what era that
ushered in? Just the utter nineand you covered a lot yeah nonsense with
(42:13):
it, for sure. It's along way from the meerkat David Kahn being
hired that day show of hands towhere we are today, think about it.
That's what I was going to askyou, Dan, did you like
we are here now it's game oneof the Western Conference Finals are did you
ever think we were going to gethere? No? Yeah, I really
didn't. Yep. Yeah. Tobe honest with you, I will be
(42:35):
honest as well, like I wasalways hopeful to get an opportunity like this
to cover. We want to coverthe games and big events. But yes,
there were plenty of times over thelast twenty years where I'm just like,
you know what, it's just notthere's something here. It wasn't Gangelar,
and it wasn't even maybe necessarily thatI don't think that they could do
it. I just couldn't envision itright. I could not wrap my head
(42:55):
around that imagination. No sleeping andgetting up and driving to the arena for
Game one with Charles Barkley here andwith who knows who else is going to
be showing up, and and sothis is really darn cool, like to
see this come to fruition and andlike it'll be a pinch me moment,
I think, just to see whatthis means and and how the town reacts
(43:21):
to it and and all those things. I Uh, if the Wolves win
Game one, I think my firsttweet is going to be for the meerkat
for David Wolves tonight did it?He would appreciate it, even though they
don't even probably know most of themwho the hell he is or was?
Has he surfaced the last few weeks? He's teaching again in New York?
Isn't he was? Yeah, hewas in France and he was he was
(43:47):
at Summer League this year. Idon't know why. Yeah, but he
was lurking around as he as heis wont to do. But yeah,
he's he's trying to hang around alittle bit, by the way. One
last quick thing and I and anduh, I know Tim Conley won't answer
this question. Yeah, it's inaside, But should Wolves fans have any
trepidation about even a remote possibility thatTim Conley is not going to be around
(44:13):
to run this team next year?The way that I read it is,
I think that's very unlikely. Idon't think it's impossible. The Pistons off
from fifteen millionear Yeah, I meanyou know that that's you make now,
is it? Nine eight eight Okay, that's right. So he's well paid,
but in the last couple of yearsexecutive pays or isn't up. So
(44:34):
so you look at that and justgiven the volatility of the ownership situation,
Uh, yeah, I think ithas to be taken seriously. And I
do think that if the Wolves areaggressive and get ahead of the curve and
say, hey, Tim, weknow you have this right thing coming,
let's just take care of this rightnow. And that hasn't happened yet to
your knowledge, No, it hasnot that to my knowledge. Now they're
in the middle of this series andall that stuff, and that's fine,
(44:58):
but what if they what if theywin the title? Perish the thought?
What if the Wolves actually finished thejob this year? Do you think that
actually might make it easier for himto say, you know what if Tim
Connolly leads the Wolves to a title, retire leave like there is literally nothing,
there's nothing you can do in professionallyfrom there in your professional sports,
(45:22):
then to say, I know theodid the Cubs, but this would be
as impressive as theo Epstein leading theCubs to a World Series title. This
Tim Connolly leaving leading the Minnesota Timberwolvesto an NBA this team hired a sports
writer to run. Yes, hethink about it because I mentioned David Conna,
like everybody know that was what hewas. And he wasn't a good
(45:42):
sports writer. He was not.They wouldn't hire me. They didn't hire
a good sports exactly, they hireda bad sports writer to do it.
Like how many times do we havehim on? So many times and to
the point where he wore me outso much that I couldn't even ask tough
questions. Is because he just woreme. I just I didn't. He
was just kind of meander around somethingI would just uncle you win. I
(46:06):
can't. I can't keep up withthe mirakat David conn The only thing I
guess the one thing that I didappreciate is he was at least available.
Was he did not yes when henever hid from anything. He took it
all on. But yeah, thosewere the days. That's why he's americat
he I'll never forget the day hesat me down. They for a long
time. He's like, you know, you got to come to the office.
Come on, I want to say, I don't want to chat,
(46:27):
want to get to know you.All that kind of crap. And he
sat me down and he said,this was the Johnny Flynn here. And
he said, Dan, I'm justtelling you there's something about this kid.
Yes, you're gonna like him,Dan, You're gonna you know, just
trying really, really hard. AndI think back to those days and I
say, again, the Wolves haven'twon the title yet, but to a
certain extent, to be in theconference finals with that in the rear view
(46:52):
mirror and those memories, it's like, I almost feel like there should be
a banner for this, no question, no question. I mean, it's
it's impossible to overstate the depths thatthey have reached. Oh my god,
in those days. You know,there's plenty of them, like I said,
they have in their in their history. They have twelve playoff appearances,
(47:13):
two times they've been out of thefirst round. They have nine sixty plus
lost seasons. Nine in thirty twentyfive percent of their existence is sixty lost
seasons. Like that's that's where they'reat. Like it's it's unfathomable to see
them here and take the ownership stuffaside as well, run an organization right
(47:36):
now with Connolly, with Finch,with the stars that they have like as
stable and well run with the youknow, even Casson all those like it
is great other other than that,but that's where they're at right now.
And the transformation from those days tohere, it's it's it's apples and monkey
(47:58):
wrenches. Like Johnny, we'll seeyou downstairs, man. Thanks as always,
Thanks Johnny Krasinski helping us out asonly he can, indeed do.
We'll make this the top of thehour pause. As I said, Mike
Wilbon scheduled to join us at aboutfour thirty this afternoon by phone, Tim
Kleishaw from Dallas, and we hopebefore we're done Tim Conley, between now
(48:19):
as I said, and when wewrap things up tonight from the cage at
six thirty, don't go away,
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