Episode Transcript
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(00:16):
Mother. There's too many of yourbrother, brother, there's far too many
of you that I think anyone whopuckers up their lips and presses it against
their bosses buttocks and then smooches isn'task us. I don't blackness. I
(00:45):
don't care for inexactitude and shadows.Listen, hot shot, I'm going to
tell you something right now. Idon't care for you or for the future
sludge you're trowling out. Know whatyou look like. I mean, you
look like a road, a wild, scrub using road. You're just absolutely
(01:07):
right and I'm absolutely wrong. Itmust be nice to always believe you know
better, to always think you're thesmartest person in the room. Say this
(02:16):
is your this boon to Quotion updatejust in Leader Fan Fan Radio Network,
Okay and k f a N.That's k fa N dot com. Two
minutes thirty seven seconds past three Centraldaylight time. It's a Tuesday edition of
(02:38):
the Bumper to Bumper Show on arather moist Tuesday afternoon here in the twin
cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul.I am the host of the program.
I am the smartest person in theroom. I am the a hole in
the afternoon. I am even theafternoon ardvark. Not to mention the beasts
lots of names. I'm very millionlike in that regard. Dan Barrero is
(03:01):
what I go by. I wasformerly an inkstain wretch or I think I
wrote a column at the Star Tribune. Started in eighty six, late in
eighty six, finished up, Iwant to say, in two thousand and
two. So sixteen seventeen years atthe Star Tribune went over to the dark
side full time, what we liketo call major market metropolitan radio. And
(03:27):
that's where I sit right now.Guards he is the two times state high
school tennis champion. He's moved onpast that, though, it must be
said, even though he attended fivedifferent colleges, which would seem like a
failure, the fact is he's Ithink most people will agree, made something
of himself. I rebound it.He found a way through all of all
that adversity. One could say selfimposed. You have a bunch of jobs
(03:50):
now that go beyond the producer showand a second voice on this program.
The sideline reporter, go to Gopherfootball, sideline report. You're not silent
report, go to over men's basketball. Are you no, We've discussed it
though from time to time, haveyou yea over the years? Well,
that's gonna be pretty hard though,while at the same time being the radio
voice of the women's basket it'd beproblematic. Now that would be different for
(04:12):
sure. Co host of several Foxnine shows, including the one He and
I do along with Lori Fisher calledEnough Said, which man has learned will
not be preempted. This week they'reputting us back on there, back on
on Friday night, which is verynice. Indeed, the u booon tou
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quotient do we need to explain uboontou in a sports vernacular sports sense?
It was popularized by the Boston Celtics. Their head coach at the time was
Glenn doc Rivers. KG was on. This was the team that ultimately won
a world championship, right, itwas yes, who were there? Big
(04:57):
Three? It was KG obviously yourguy, Paul, it was Paul Pierce
and former Timberwolf ray Al for aminute and a half. You're right,
Ray Allen. And part of whatthe inspiration, part of their calling card
as developed I think by doc Rivers, was a belief in something called Ubuntu,
which is an African expression in whichwell It depends on who you talk
(05:21):
to about how it should be defined. But for Rivers, I think it
was a belief that we trust oneanother, We're in this the whole is
greater than the sum of the parts. Pick at any other series of cliches.
And since then, we've occasionally discussedthe ubutu quotient for want of a
(05:41):
better expression, as it pertains tosome of our teams. And I have
to tell you that if we narrowthe discussion today to the Minnesota Timberwolves and
the Minnesota Twins, I think wecould fairly safely say that the Timberwolves have
a higher UBUNTU quotient, that is, belief in one another, trust,
(06:06):
harmony, et cetera. Then dothe Minnesota Twins. It's not just that
the Twins are losing. They losttheir seventh in a row for Mike Yo
last night in the nation's capital.We know it's not good baseball. It's
they're bickering, they're cranky. Theydon't seem to be outwardly getting along.
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Now they had the do I needto even say the Wolves Ubuntu quotient very
different from a year ago when youhad people punching each other, punching walls,
the whole bit. Yep, it'sall pretty good right now. Right
It's hard to not be pretty goodwhen you reach the final four of the
NBA Playoffs and you find yourselves,not only that, as favorites to advance
(06:54):
to the NBA Finals, trust oneanother. Not a lot of battles going
on. Great rapport, it seems, between the head coach and the players,
as was again discussed by Anthony Edwardsafter the Game seven victory over Denver,
reminding people that what he appreciates themost about Finchy is that if you
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bleep up, no matter how highyou are on the totem pole, you
are going to hear about it fromFinci. That could be you could say
part you have if you have Ubuntuin place, then players don't take offense.
They understand that. Well, no, it's the same for all of
us. Therefore, all he's tryingto do is challenge us and get the
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best out of us. It's allgood right now. For your Minnesota temberlves
We're I mean, Ubuntu is sawutof control that now their star player is
without even really thinking about it,not even doing it purposefully. He's establishing
travel posters for the state of Minnesota. Right, bring ass. I mean,
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it's like it's the Ubuntu. It'slikely it's very possible that the short
of winning the title anytime soon,like this year or next year, the
UBUNTU quotient for the Wolves might notever be higher than it is as we
anticipate the conference finals, which willstart tomorrow night right here on the fan
(08:26):
against the Dallas Mavericks Twins. Meanwhile, now you could say, well,
they're in the regular season, soit's apples and oranges to a degree.
But man, it's hostile out thereright now. I mean, we've talked
about sometimes how exasperated people have becomeregarding Roco's postgame commentary. Right no matter
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how well or badly the team plays, it seems like he has established himself
more than anything else is even keelguy. And occasionally he's been accused of
being a bit robotic yep in thatregard, Well, there's nothing robotic about
what he had to say. Again, last night, after we got drilled.
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What was the final? I thinkit was twelve to three in Washington,
And well, I should have askedyou for the audio. Maybe we'll
get it later. I knew itwas on my list and I forgot,
but I'll read you the quote now, and maybe later for Top five,
we can get some of the audiobecause it may be even more compelling out
(09:35):
of Roco's mouth. His frustration lastnight was with the offensive, the hitting
approach against a rookie starter named MitchellParker, who apparently was throwing a lot
of junk rocco. The guy juststood out there. The guy just stood
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out there and threw off speed pitchesfour straight innings. We didn't know anything
about it. We continued to waiveat them and look for fastballs, which
today they weren't coming, especially forthe first five six innings in this stretch
of games where we've been struggling.That's been a common fame. In fact,
I think he also said it's notgood baseball at another point, I'm
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pretty sure, or something similar tothat. We've got that SoundBite from a
while ago. So mincing no words. As the Twins continued this sort of
exasperating start to the season, right, we started seven to thirteen, then
we go seventeen and three, andsince then we haven't won again. And
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we have. I think we've scoredtwelve runs in the seven game losing streak,
and four of the runs were meaninglessbecause they came in the ninth inning
of a game in which we werealready down eleven to nothing. So we're
doing nothing offensively. First. That'snot the first sign though, in the
last several days that the Ubuntu quotshit ain't impressive. Right now, for
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your Minnesota Twins. Sunday, thecloser, Duran gives up a walk off
home run. This was against theGuardians, the big Showdown series where we
were, you know, had achance to make some hay on them in
the division. Well they made hayon us instead. They opened the gap
dramatically from the start of the seriesto the end of it, and Duran
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gives up the walk off home run. Jackals approach him after the game,
apparently about giving up the home runon a curveball, and Duran says,
not my decision. I thought thathe wasn't good with fastballs. I'm an
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employee here, so whatever I needto throw, I need to throw it.
Eat that he knowing Botu in thosewords, that's like, don't play
me right. I wanted to throwthe guy fastball that's his weakness, but
they forced me, which we'll getto in a minute. What that actually
means. When you're a pitcher onthe mountain, the balls in your hands.
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They forced me to throw a breakingball, Roco noticed before the twelve
to three game. Before his meltdownafter the game last night, Roco says,
I think he's just frustrateds looking fora weight event. Thought it was
unusual. I wasn't expecting it.I like to handle our stuff here with
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a conversation in the clubhouse. AndI think there was a quote from him
later also saying that he look,I mean the pitcher makes the final decision
on this sort of thing, notthe pitching coach or the catcher that got
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my attention to And when you putthe these two things back to back,
it's not surprising noting their own UBUNTUquotient might be in question right now.
The Twins went with the you know, cliched, predictable, obligatory players only
meeting after last night's game. Sometimesmaybe that helps. Sometimes I'm not sure
that it does anything, but Ithink it's fair to say we're a little
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bit of a crisis mode for yourmanager. Seems like it when and when
a player feels pissed off enough togo as public is that How often does
that happen here Sonny Gray. Yeah, you're right, Sonny Gray would be
the other example and not very topof my head, No, not very
many. So you know, wedon't have to do a numerical comparison.
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Let's just go out on a limband say, ubutu quots ain't matching up?
Now between your Minnesota to your favoritebasketball team and your beleaguered favorite baseball
team. Right now, the fanombigdeckdot com, I'm gonna give you shots
to put a grain in your handwith our national cash contest. And the
keyword of the day is happy.Go to kfan dot com and enter the
keyword happy. Now, well,you've heard of Hoodie who and I can't
(14:07):
do it like Max Who Can't.You've heard it all over the airwaves all
Wolf season along especially the postseason.Now you can wear it. Grap your
Hoodie Whose shirt for the Western ConferenceFinals with options for both shifting to home
or to pick up from us startingon Thursday. You can get yours today
KFA dot com Keywords Store. Whenit comes to the subject of kuboon tou,
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if you want to widen out thedefinition to be good vibes related,
you could certainly make the argument.In the case of the Twins, the
Ubuntu vibe has been awful from virtuallythe start of the exhibition season spring training
right the messages set by ownership,both overtly and covertly, set the tone
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the we're going to right size thepayroll all this crap, so right there,
you already kind of have chilled theboon to process. I think,
and now the way the team hasbeen like beyond inconsistent, I don't even
know. I bet you this isfairly unprecedented in recent Twins memory, that
you could go from crappy to dominant, although admittedly against mainly bad teams.
(15:16):
We all at White Sox season thatmay well be true as we look back
on it to almost unwatchable, whichagain might be a blessing that many of
you don't have access to. Ballyand Corey Provis. By the way,
speaking of Corey Provis, we delveinto all of this with him in great
detail, as Corey Provis is,to his credit, very willing to do
(15:39):
at four thirty. Provis at fourthirty we taped the interview before the show
because he's got a game to broadcastto prepare for, which I believe starts
Central time at five point forty tonightout of Washington, so provis at four
thirty this afternoon. Louis in studioin the five o'clock hour, and Mitch
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Lawrence is going to join us atthe bottom of the hour dayline Dallas.
He moved back from New York toDallas area a few years ago, and
so we'll get the I know hehas his finger on the pulse of the
Dallas Mavericks and can size up thisparticular matchup as well. There is,
as some of you probably know bynow. I don't know what time exactly
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it broke, but for the record, Minnesota Timberwolves have two players who've made
the All Defensive Team, Rudy Gobertfirst Team, Jaden McDaniel's second team.
You can make the argument they're bothworthy of first team. I'm not offended
that McDaniel. I just I likehe got on the board. Yes,
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because it's that game that I thinkthe voters play about how many guys from
one team are going to put on, you know, the first team.
They're both richly deserved, and weprobably didn't spend enough time on just how
excellent McDaniels was for the second consecutivegame in Game seven on the road,
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that means back to back games.He was absolutely marvelous offensively. We kind
of have come to expect what he'sgoing to do defensively. You were reminded
you probably already This might not bea tough quiz question. In the history
the often sordid history of the MinnesotaTimberwolves, how many players have ever made
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any first, second, third teamAll Defensive team. KG had to be
the only other one. You're forgettingone other one. I'm forgetting one other
one. Recent Jimmy Butler Buckets.Yeah, that's it, Garnett. I
think it was seven times. Yeah, no know what the number might have
even been more than that. Itwas at least seven and Buckets the only
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other one. Think about that fora minute, think about it makes sense.
It checks out with what I rememberannexota from the team over thirty five
years. Now. Again, sometimesyou can be a good defensive player on
a really, really horrible team surethat loses most of its games, and
you're not gonna get recognized the way. It tends to be that that players
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from better teams end up getting recognizedand noticed. But that's probably not wrong.
I mean I think back to thecage. You know, Trenton Hassel
was considered a nice defensive, youknow, one way player. He couldn't
score for his life, but hewas out there for D. But he
was out there for DN and wasa pretty good defensive player. And they
had a couple of yars. ButI mean, it's not surprising, but
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it's an interesting reminder. And now, and this has to be I assume
this is the first time in teamhistory that the Wolves have had two players
on the same team, right,make all defense. It is first team
and second team, but nevertheless alldefense. So kudos to both of them.
I would be willing to bet thismight be the last time Jaden's on
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the second team. Wouldn't be atall surprised. I would think it's sequential
given how many eyes have been onthis postseason and what the Wolves have done
defensively, and everybody kind of knowsnow that, of course it's Rudy,
but what Jaden's been doing is prettyremarkable too. How's the UBUNTU quotion going
for the Wolves ownership? Are weback to Lasagna? Dinner and dinners?
(19:18):
Three too old guys? Right?So that's a great, very good callback.
And yeah, I guess in thecase of the Wolves, you almost
need two Ubuntu quotients, right,because it is the Wolves. There's got
to be an astertar. There's alwaysgot to be something that's like, oh
god, yeah, I forgot aboutit. I got to eye roll about
that. And fortunately for the organizationand the players and the fans, let's
be honest, one thing has notgotten in the way or the other whatever
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the ongoing battles are between the newowners who would be owners, and the
current old owner, it has not, in any way, shape or form
clearly distracted the club there. Ithink they're utterly and completely bored with the
whole thing, and that's the wayto be. It's probably it's gotten maybe
a little easier to do that becausewe had that one. It seemed like
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there was one three or four daystretch where the leakage from both parties was
going to fight the battles publicly andas meanly and viciously as possible, which
is not very Obuntu like No,But I think that dried up pretty quickly
and now and maybe for the jackalsthe national media reporters, they're too distracted
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by other issues like the playoffs themselves. But it is cooled. Whatever the
hatred is apparently palpable. That hasnot gone away, was what I've heard.
But they're keeping it on the downlow, relatively speaking to that one
four or five day stretch where itfelt like, oh my god, is
this gonna be like open warfare everyweek with you know, each side leaking
(20:48):
stuff to either WOJE for a wojbomb or who's the other guy? Sean,
Yeah, exactly. We haven't hadas much of that, right,
So they're trying not to make ascene at the kid's birthday party. Essentially
it's divorced parents and they're just tryingto make sure that the kids have a
good time. We talked about thisearlier in the season a Cup during a
couple of exasperating Wolves moments, especiallyfourth quarter, where I talked about the
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players need to stop playing with theirfood. They're no longer playing with their
food. It's the owners, Yeah, on another level, who are playing
with their food. The team isin the clean plate club to watch exactly
what they do. You just putthem back in the in the drawer.
And did you see that KG saidhe wants to come back to Minnesota for
a game. Yes. In fact, I think later, we're going to
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play some sound to that effect.I was gobsmacked by it. If he
means it, I really, Ireally. I had been told over and
over that he was never going tocome back here again until the ownership change
took place, and and and andwhen and if Glenn Taylor, you know,
passes away. This is not mewashing for any of that. I
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hope he live to be older thanSid. I really do. But now
so, I don't know if thisthis indicates a change or he's just saying
it to say it. I'm notexactly sure. It would be monumental,
There's no question. I mean,I can't I can't imagine what the what
that would do to the building orlet me ask you something. Has he
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been gone long enough now where thekids wouldn't necessarily be as moved as the
previous generation of Wolves fans. IfKG showed up, they'll be moved.
Do you think those still everybody knows, Yeah, everybody knows. Everybody will
be moved. It would be ridiculous. Did did KG say I gotta go
with Steven A? Oh? Oh? I thought he meant the sound by
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where he's like trying to wrap upthe interview. He say I gotta go
to the game, yes, okay, and he says he's got tickets available
if yeah, somebody, if hecan pull the trigger and figure it out.
He also said in the same bitthat he wants to get to Boston
as well. And obviously the ball end all would be if it was
a Wolve Celtic YA final, right, how crazy that would be? That
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would be pretty pretty interesting. MisterChili behind home plate last night texts us
one hundred and forty six dollars allyou can eat Twins. There is no
ubum too. I say trade CC. That means Korea, so yep.
For two bullpen relievers, one ortwo of them are lefties. Brooksley is
ready. Watch from behind home plate, row one, one hundred and forty
six bucks. All you could eatwas the highlight, not the Twins themselves.
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Edged twelve to three last night.And by the way, I'll give
you a pret a quick sneak previewof our conversation with provis. I can't
remember who's starting for Washington tonight.We you see if you can find that
on the fly to night is PatrickCorbin. He basically said, if the
offense doesn't get better against Corbyn shutit down, so because he said everybody
(23:47):
he's been miserable, He's been terrible. Is there? I think is our
average is approaching seven? It's fivepoint five six? Okay, fair enough,
so interesting litmus test being offered upby mister provis you'll or the extended
version at about four point thirty thisevening. Let's check in with the Metroplex.
Yeah, dayline, Dallas Fort Worth. That's where Mitch Lawrence has returned
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to. We were colleagues of theDallas Morning News back in the day.
He's back there now these days.He still works extensively for the serious XM
NBA channel. He's joined us intermittentlyfor years. He'll give us a good
scouting report of the Mavericks and he'llsize up this particular series which will start
tomorrow night. Right here on thefan. Mitch Lawrence's next got questions on
(24:48):
the Dallas Mavericks, our next guest. I'm sure he'll be glad to answer
them. Hit the Bratshaw on BrianKfean text line six or six eighty six.
Mitch Lawrence does not cover the Maverickson a daily basis like many many
years ago. He did cover thisparticular team, but he's based there,
he pays attention to what's going on, and he's covered the league for decades
(25:10):
and he is now joining us viathe Connectico Water Systems Hotline. Mitch Lawrence,
here's my toss up question to you. Did you expect the Mavericks to
get here to at least the conferencefinals? What was your view of this
team as the season played out,and how does it match up with the
position they now find themselves in.Yeah. Chance, once they started to
(25:37):
play defense. Believe it or not, they actually play some defense here for
Jason Kidd. They made some keytrade acquisitions and their defense got a lot
better. Dan, and so Ifigured, you know what, going into
the playoffs with two closers, twoguys who can close games and Luka Doncicch
and Kyrie Irving and the requisite defensedepending on their matchups, they could probably
(26:02):
go deep, maybe make another conferencefinals run, which they did two years
ago with a different team with JalenBrunson and Lo and behold, they got
a great draw. I mean theClippers once again, Kawhi Leonard doesn't can't
answer the bell in games. PaulGeorge and James Harden just don't have it
now. If you want to getJay, if you want to get Paul
George like the Sixers do, he'llbe great as your third option. You
(26:23):
don't want them as the second option. And you know, although James Harden
did a great job in Game fouragainst Dallas, games five and six,
he was nowhere, which is kindof his playoff meltdown history. And then
you know, then they get thenthey draw Oklahoma City, who earned their
number one seeding. But you know, if you had a rank at you
probably put them as the third mostdangerous team at the top of the West,
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starting with Denver then Minnesota, atleast in my mind, because they
had no experience and they don't havea lot of size, and they basically
won that series with incredible play fromObviously you have Luke and Kyrie, but
PJ. Washington and Jerrick Jones Juniorcame out of nowhere to have significant scoring
games there and they closed them out. So I'm not shocked that they're actually
in the conference finals. I willbe though if they make a final,
(27:08):
if they beat Minnesota. Yeah,so you expect you think the Wolves,
well we know they are favored inthis series. You think they should be
you expect them to win wy.Yeah. Well, first of all,
anytime a team like Denver beat Minnesota, excuse me, beats the defending champs,
and the way they did it ina historic first of all, Game
(27:30):
six was a gigantic just you couldn'tbelieve what you were seeing in terms of
them blowing out Minnesota. I stilllike Denver's chances Game seven, but the
way they came back from twenty down, the way they imposed their will defensively
and won that game, and justtaking the whole series into account of how
their defense shut down Joki Chamuri.I think they're the two best players won
(27:52):
two punch in the league. Yeah. I like their chances a lot with
the home court coming off that seriesagainst a minute against the Dallas team that
you know from Dallas's standpoint. Youlove the fact that Minnesota got Denver out
of the way. Yeah, butstill, Anthony Edwards is going to be
a handful. The two bigs aregoing to be a handful, and I
just think that the defense that Minnesotashowed against Denver, they can come up
(28:17):
with ways to deal with doncheting Kyrie. I believe every series to until until
and maybe even after if they wereto win the NBA title nationally end up
being a referendum about well, canyou continue to play two big men in
a league that's gone small? Andis there sooner or later is Rudy going
to be played off the floor andis a team going to make him pay
(28:37):
for having two big men? Itobviously has not happened or come close to
happening up till now. But oneof the working theories is what's different about
Dallas is they've got not one,but they're two. Obviously their two best
offensive players are perimeter players, andthat that might make it trickier about what
combination of big men that you know, when we're talking about switches, when
(29:00):
we're talking about hunting matchups, etcetera, more difficult for Finch, Chris
Finch to figure out who to play. And when do you buy that theory
that with Luca and Kyrie that itmight be a little bit tougher to have
Rudy and another big man on thecourt all of time, or do you
look at it differently? I don'tthink I think they're gonna go with the
(29:22):
what they what brought them here,played to their strengths, go with their
base, go with Karl Anthony cownsgo with go there they did. I
mean, listen, I know they'vebeat against Denver this year. They were
tremendous defensively, and Denver doesn't havea Donchee Kyrie, but they do have
some guys on the perimeter. Andlook with the job that Timberwolves did against
(29:47):
Michael Porter Junior. Yeah, andthe job against Aaron Good. So I
think no, at this time,I don't think they're gonna get cute.
I think they'll play to their straints, and I think that's one of the
areas where they're going to have successbecause I think their bigs are going to
be have I think Gobert, whojust was named unanimous All Defense Team whatever.
(30:07):
I guess Raymond Green didn't get avote, but I guess you know
they're gonna have a I would thinkthey're gonna have a big series. Listen,
I think Dallas is gonna win afew games here, could go seven.
But I do like where Minnesota's intotality is a team their depth.
They can throw a few guys atLuca and they've got I think Anthony Edwards.
I don't think. I don't putKarl Anthony towns into kind of a
(30:30):
traditional closer role. We saw inGame seven they got a lot of different
things from different guys late in thegame, but they do have Anthony Edwards.
Now Dallas has two guys, butwe'll see if they have some games
where it's nip and tucked down thestretch and and we'll see if done if
the combination of those two are betterthan Anthony Edwards. I still like Minnesota.
So you mentioned, you know,the Dallas did a very good,
(30:52):
very good job at the deadline.They ad PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford.
I think Washington is obvious see moreabout the offense Gafford defense as well,
But speak to us about how thatkind of changed the calculus in Minnesota or
in Dallas, and whether that's directlyrelated to a better ability to be a
little bit more rugged or play.Because I you know, if I go
(31:15):
back to the Oklahoma City the seriesagainst the Thunder, to me, that
told the tale the offensive, reboundingdiscrepancy, the second shot opportunities that that
the Mavericks kept getting at the handsof the Thunder, that a team that
still clearly does have a size issue. That kind of told the story of
that series. So that's what's madethem. I think the Mavericks a much
(31:37):
bigger threat than they otherwise would havebeen. Correct, right, They're a
bigger team, they're more rugged.And the thing about PJ Washington too,
besides helping him on the board,is listen, here's a guy he had
never been in the playoffs in fiveyears in Charlotte. He comes back home.
He's a Dallas kid, Dan andyou know, he's a thirty one
(31:59):
three point shooter. In the regularseason, he's at forty one percent now
good point averaging fourteen points a gameand seven rebounds he has played. I
don't think anybody expected him to havethe type of impact in his first playoff
series. But you know, whenyou can position yourself in the corner behind
a three point line and you gotDonci and Irving working outside, drawing double
(32:21):
teams, you're gonna get a lotof great looks, a lot of open
looks. And that's one thing thatMinnesota has to be very, very concerned
about. Guys shooting forty one percentfrom three is just crazy. And you
saw what he did in games three, score and five against Oklahoma City,
went for twenty nine, twenty sevenand twenty one, which is ridiculous,
including the big free throws at theend when he was found in the corner
by Shay Gildershalas And I mentioned DerekJones junior too. Here's a guy he
(32:45):
did nothing in the regular season interms of scoring. His last twenty two
regular season games March and April,they had seven games and double figures.
In the twelve playoff games they played, he's had seven double figure games and
against Oklahoma City he went nuts ingames four, five, and six.
Those are things that nobody, nationalmedia, even local media is probably thinking
(33:05):
they're not going to get that printof production out of a Derrek Jones share,
and they did. So They're playinggreat, they're paying their best ball.
But a lot of it does starton the defensive end, which is
if you watch Dallas play last yearor even when they went to the conference
finals against Golden State the year before, their defense is not even fifty percent
of what it is now in termsof they really shut teams down getting to
the basket. That's where Gaffers comesin lively, the rookie just tweaking their
(33:31):
rough. Yeah, for sure,it's a good lesson in you know,
there's always this assumption of all,we got to add another star, or
we got to add another huge name. No, the roster building, lineup
building is about getting pieces that fittogether, and Dallas, I think has
indeed finally figured that thing out.All right, let's let's talk a little
(33:52):
more depth about Luca, because,as you well know, the Wolves calling
card is defense, and the Wolvescalling card is you know, physical defense.
Not necessarily cheap, but they getinto people. That's what they like
to do. They've got a lotof wing players who are very long and
and they like to get into yourchest. We all know how bothered Luca
(34:14):
can be by any of that,and how obsessed he is with the officials.
How is that gonna be? Howare these games going to be officiated?
You know, because do you thinksome officials, whether they want to
admit it or not, do endup giving Lucas some calls even though it
almost seems counterintuitive that it would bethe opposite because of a he winds.
(34:36):
Because these guys, you could argue, the Wolves, you know, they
need They needed the change that theleague either directly or indirectly brought about,
which was we're gonna let people playa little bit more and we're not gonna
we don't care about one hundred andeighty to one hundred and sixty two games.
We don't like that look. SoWolves need that again, and I
would think they definitely needed against aguy like Luco. How's that going to
(35:00):
shape up and play out? That'sgonna be a fascinating thing to watch.
You know, he does complain,although in the series, at least a
lone against Oklahoma City and some ofthe against the Clippers, he wasn't complaining
after every single play. And inthe regular season, the guy drives you
nuts when you watch it because thereare times when he just complains and he'll
(35:20):
trail the play after something doesn't goright offensively, and all of a sudden,
the Mavericks are playing four on fivedefensively. Somebody got to them or
something. Because it seems like he'stoned that down. He's a little more
focused, not crying as much tothe officials. But I think you're right.
I think Minnesota's length is going tobe a problem for him. I
think he's still going to score.He's still gonna you know, to me,
(35:45):
if they turn him into a passor we're gonna scene now on a
level of the Conference finals, whetherthe other guys can deliver like they did
against Oklahoma City, the Derk Jonesjuniors, PJ Washington's as I mentioned the
other because they just had these flatout will scoring games. Who knows how
they're going to react to the pressureof being one step away from an NBA
(36:05):
Finals. We say, you know, Kyrie is gonna handle it, well,
guy's been in a million big games, yep, and nothing really,
you know, nothing really scares himor intimidates him. So he's gonna have
a big series. Luca, youknow what it's gonna be. It's gonna
be tough, and I'm sure he'llcomplain when he has to, and we'll
see how many times he gets tothe free throw line. But that's gonna
(36:25):
be obviously a huge thing, andwe'll see after games how Jason Kidd addresses
that with the media, because youknow, that's always a talking point with
these coaches. If they don't feellike their stars are getting calls, they
will start working with through media forthe next game. So it's funny because
immediately after winning Game seven, AnthonyEdwards goes on with Charles and the Boys
(36:51):
and he announces that he already knowsthat his matchup is going to be Kyrie
Irving, which which I gotta chuckleout of. Uh that somebody has already
been thinking about it. But theso does that mean Kyrie is gonna have
to guard Anthony Edwards? I mean, who do you think it's likely that
they're gonna use there? And isKyrie? I know, again you mentioned
Dallas' defense is being viewed as betteracross the board. Even Kyrie seems more
(37:15):
interested in it. But is thatthe way they would go? Is that
do they have another do they havea defensive backcourt person they could they could
try on him? Or what?What's what do you see regarding that matchup?
You know what, I don't knowwhat they're gonna do, and it'd
be interesting to see. You know, you probably saw in the regular season.
I didn't see these teams play.But Anthony Edwards is going to be
(37:37):
a big problem. I think he'sgonna have a major series. Uh,
this is a big assignment, obviouslyfor Jason Kidd and his guys. So
who played him in the regular season? Part of it? Part of it.
I'll tell you Kyrie missed I believethree of the games in the regular
season, so and and by theway, all those did those games were
played before the trade deadline, Sonothing probably that happened in the regular season
(38:00):
is going to have any any connectionwith whatever takes place. Well, I
don't think Kyrie can play Anthony Edwards. He's just jump thinking enough. I
think Anthony Edwards can overpower him Kyrie. But I'll say this. You know
we've seen play you know, hegets knocked a lot for his defense.
But when they won a title inCleveland, I know it's a long time
(38:20):
ago, eight years ago, andin other playoff situations when Kyrie needed to
step up his defense he has andhe seems like you know, one of
the great stories here for the Mavericksgoing into during the playoffs is Kyrie has
not gone off the reservation at allabout anything. He's totally focused. It's
all about the team, it's allabout winning. He's not worried about what's
going on in the rest of theworld, which you have to just sometimes
(38:43):
worry about with Tim. So we'llsee how they match up. I don't
know. I mean, that's goingto be a fascinating thing to see how
they deal with Anthony Edwards. Idid like Anthony Edwards when Barkley asked him
about you got to you know,give me a few restaurants. Where am
I going to be? He said, yeah, he yeah, he was.
He's got no filter, Mitch,and and it makes it fun.
(39:07):
He'll get him in trouble from timeto time, but after games, man's
got absolutely no filter. He generallybrings a lot of truth to the discussion.
But it's it's a it's I thinkit's part of why he you know,
look, there's other really good youngplayers in the league, but I
think it's part of why people nationallyare gravitating towards him is he's got that
(39:28):
that that extra gene there where.Man, it's just that charisma that is
It's even if you're going on God, he really shouldn't say that, you
still chuckle as at the fact thathe's willing to say it. Yeah,
young guy, not jaded, notunhappy, seems to be really happy.
So many stars in the NBA whoare miserable, you know, but listen,
(39:51):
this is a great stage for him. I mean, this is an
unbelievable chance for the Minnesota franchise.I mean, you know, if they
get past Dallas, there's no reasonin the world why they can't beat the
team that emerges from the east.We all think it's going to be Boston
and they're pretty flawed, or youknow, if it's Indiana, I mean
it'd be you know, first timefor this crews, second time in franchise
(40:15):
history. So I'm sure Anthony,you know, I have a lot of
faith that a guy like Anthony Edwardsis going to live up to the moment
and get his team to a placethat's never been before, which would be
just another in his you know,feather in his captain to the rightfulled age
of what twenty two Mitch Lawrence joiningus a text coming all the way from
Mark in Palatine, Illinois, presumablylisting on the iHeartRadio app. He asked
(40:39):
a good question, are we stillsupposed to hate Mark Cuban? Seems like
he isn't in the news as muchanymore. I know he sold the team,
but he's still spotted next to thebench. He doesn't seem as animated.
Now maybe I haven't watched enough,but it looks like he's a little
bit more under controls he has.He purposefully lowered his visibility. Question,
(41:00):
what do you think, well theguy I saw who's stormed the court was
a Rod the other night right outin Denver. That's correct, So I
think it's going to be interesting tosee those guys in action. I think
Cuban will be amped up for thisseries. He still goes out on there.
You know, he's still sitting wherehe sits, very close to the
(41:22):
court. He's still pretty animated.I think he's toned it down with the
officials. He hasn't been fined inthe longest time. Maybe he's getting tired
of that. But he has soldthe team. So it's interesting to note
that the Edelson family from Vegas whois now part owners of this team.
The talk here in Dallas is howthey've had a greater run in one year
(41:45):
than Jerry Jones of the Cowboys hashad in the last three decades, and
people are making a lot of hairout of that. By the way,
the Stars, as you know,are in the conference finals here. The
Mavericks are in the conference trials.But one of the big stories today,
maybe the biggest stories, the Cowboysstarted their OTAs and Michael Parsons is now
(42:07):
doing a lot of boxing lessons typethings for football. That's that's been the
bigger story than the stars in themask. Some things never change in Big
d do they. Mitch, You'reright, yeah right, And I gotta
tell you this. They have astation down here, radio station called the
Fan. They had PM Washington onand they might have mad him on for
you know, five six, sevenminutes, and I was listening to him.
(42:29):
I was pretty intent. I wantedto hear what he had to say
about the whole series. They neverasked him one question about the Timberwolves.
Really yeah, wow, interesting real, Well to that point, you know,
you're getting admonished a bit here.Let me get to this other text.
Wow, Mitch is not helping withtempering wolves fans expectations. There's this
(42:49):
concern that too many people are youknow, are jump jumping on picking the
wolves, and that's when we're gonnaget our asses handed to us. Whenever
we start, you know, theold fat cats get slow. I'm not
expecting you to lie, though youhave to. We have you on to
offer your opinion. So what wouldyou say to the person who's a little
worried about your you're not being helpfulin tempering teams expectations for this series.
(43:14):
Well, I didn't. I didn'tsay they've sweeped it, I think it's
going to be a tough, longseries. I think they're the better team
right now, and I'm basing thata lot off of the you know,
the quality of the opponent they justknocked off. And by the way,
I know you Minnesota people in apologybecause I came on. The last time
I was on, I talked abouthas this team lost the belief that they
(43:35):
can get the nugget right? Ifyou remember that, and they certainly didn't
do that. And when a teamwins a series like that, and you
know historically when the Bulls get bythe Pistons, when and the Knicks could
never get past the Bulls. Butwe've seen other teams, Yep, you
had to make that climb. Uhfor Minnesota. That team was Denver.
And I think they're not gonna lookat Dallas as like they're going to be
(43:58):
easy pickings. But you know,that's a huge thing that they've overcome here,
not Hurtle, and now I thinkthey're gonna really they're gonna hone in
on Dallas correctly and have the rightmindset. I think Mike Conley will have
a lot to do with that,and hopefully his Achilles will hold up and
if they get to the finals,I think they'll have a great chance against
the Eastern Conference teams. So youknow, Boston is still they haven't done
(44:20):
anything. They have They've been toa final, so they haven't won.
And Indiana, of course is playingwith house money. Yeah, no question
about that. Let Another good texthas come in, noting the Wolves have
tended to grind down their opponents inboth series. By the end of the
Denver series, Denver looked gassed.They really did. They look defeated,
and he mentions, you know theydid it to Joker and Murray repeatedly.
(44:44):
Luca, he writes, does notappear to be a man in tip top
shape. Does Mitch have any insideinfo on the Luca b m I.
That's j marsh in Saint Paul.Can you can you wear down Luca?
Or is he still tireless even ifhe looks like he needs a blow?
Texting that is proof they are listeningobviously, b m I. Which is
(45:08):
a big term during COVID body massindex. Look, it looks like and
we saw this from the in thein the season, it looks like he
came in in better shape, hasbeen better. He can be. You
know, he's still Look, he'snot Karl Malone, he's not a Donas,
He's not He's more along the linesof Jokic. Yeah, but listen,
(45:30):
I don't see why their defense can'timpose their will in this series too.
And you know, they played Imean you saw, we all saw.
They just had an outstanding seriesly anddefensively. But the other thing was
they made shots when they had toand it wasn't just oh, Anthony Andrews
clear out for him. So thathas to give Minnesota people a lot of
(45:51):
a lot of faith in what theycan do. And you know, here's
the other thing. Dallas's road hasbeen easier I think. I mean,
you know, you're playing the Cliffsand you're playing you're playing Oklahoma City and
Oklahoma City. I mean, listen, they have to add a lot and
you know, Dallas is gonna findthat this this, this is a Now
they're in for a real battle.Yeah, And you know, the other
games were six games series. Youknow, it's not like they swept the
(46:14):
either team. So they have theirflaws obviously, and we'll see what We'll
see what how everybody handles the pressureof the expectations I think in a lot
of ways, Dallas is playing withsome house money here, but Minnesota too.
You know, listen, this iswhat this is where you want to
be. This is the year fora breakthrough season when you get by the
defending champs and there's nobody on theother half of the bracket who's you know.
(46:35):
Know's the thing about the Celtics isnobody's scared of the Celtics. Nobody's
intimidate. But that's it. Andand and do you I assume you do
expect the Celtics to get there.Oh, I think it's gonna be a
yeah, but I think it's gonnabe worse. It's gonna be for Celtics
fans. It's gonna be a miserableIt's like six game series, right yeah.
I think Indiana's got they know howto score. So it against the
(46:58):
Knicks and they now play under RickCarlisle. Okay, you know they play
good enough defense. They that's whatyou have to do in the playoffs,
and and and and they are absolutelyand you know, here's the thing about
here's the thing about Boston. Bostonwill have played if they get to the
finals, to play a bad numbereight Miami team, a number four Cavalier
(47:22):
team, four seed cat team withoutDonovan Mitchell at points and then now Indiana
number sixteen seed. Just think aboutthat playoff though. They should be a
real sixty four win team. Tome, the old traditional sixty four win
team is eight to o and rackingup you know, double disgiti wins along
the way. And the Celtics alwayshave that ability to melt down at the
(47:44):
end of these games and the playoffsand the finals and one other thing.
And I don't think this is thisis this is what's going to happen.
If Indiana gets by Boston, theCeltics will be looking for a new head
coach because Joe Mizzoula will not survivethis. Probably right. Excellent work is
always, my friend. We willbe in touch later in this series or
perish the thought in the NBA finals. Who's to say? How about that?
(48:07):
Crazy? I broached the question already. Uh, if it is the
time for the Wolves to send thepodium and get the trophy, what which
owner is going to get him afight over the trophy? Say, it's
a very good question. I'm surethere are Wolves fans out there saying they
(48:27):
would love for it. To haveto be answered right because and yeah,
it's there. I'm I'm not sureif it'd be fair to in a in
like in a in a wrestling match. I'm not sure that's fair to mister
Taylor, to be honest with you. He's got some scrap you think he
does. He might need a littlebit of help that he's got some scrap.
A couple of lawyers that might bethe answer. Exactly. Thank you,
(48:50):
my friend will chat soon. Thanks, appreciate you. Take care Mitch
Lawrence, outstanding work from him asuh as always. And there it is,
God it is. That's the position. It's it's scary, the rare
fight air you get into, andit's it's hard to be comfortable in this
air. And it actually is agood transition for what I wanted to get
(49:13):
to. Next guards you when wecome back, Let's play the gravy game.
Can we play the grave? Whatthe gravy game is? I'm intrigued.
We'll play it. When we were
Mother. There's too many of yourbrother, brother, there's far too many
of you that I think anyone whopuckers up their lips and presses it against
their bosses buttocks and then smooches isn'task us. I don't blackness. I
(00:45):
don't care for inexactitude and shadows.Listen, hot shot, I'm going to
tell you something right now. Idon't care for you or for the future
sludge you're trowling out. Know whatyou look like. I mean, you
look like a road, a wild, scrub using road. You're just absolutely
(01:07):
right and I'm absolutely wrong. Itmust be nice to always believe you know
better, to always think you're thesmartest person in the room. Say this
(02:16):
is your this boon to Quotion updatejust in Leader Fan Fan Radio Network,
Okay and k f a N.That's k fa N dot com. Two
minutes thirty seven seconds past three Centraldaylight time. It's a Tuesday edition of
(02:38):
the Bumper to Bumper Show on arather moist Tuesday afternoon here in the twin
cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul.I am the host of the program.
I am the smartest person in theroom. I am the a hole in
the afternoon. I am even theafternoon ardvark. Not to mention the beasts
lots of names. I'm very millionlike in that regard. Dan Barrero is
(03:01):
what I go by. I wasformerly an inkstain wretch or I think I
wrote a column at the Star Tribune. Started in eighty six, late in
eighty six, finished up, Iwant to say, in two thousand and
two. So sixteen seventeen years atthe Star Tribune went over to the dark
side full time, what we liketo call major market metropolitan radio. And
(03:27):
that's where I sit right now.Guards he is the two times state high
school tennis champion. He's moved onpast that, though, it must be
said, even though he attended fivedifferent colleges, which would seem like a
failure, the fact is he's Ithink most people will agree, made something
of himself. I rebound it.He found a way through all of all
that adversity. One could say selfimposed. You have a bunch of jobs
(03:50):
now that go beyond the producer showand a second voice on this program.
The sideline reporter, go to Gopherfootball, sideline report. You're not silent
report, go to over men's basketball. Are you no, We've discussed it
though from time to time, haveyou yea over the years? Well,
that's gonna be pretty hard though,while at the same time being the radio
voice of the women's basket it'd beproblematic. Now that would be different for
(04:12):
sure. Co host of several Foxnine shows, including the one He and
I do along with Lori Fisher calledEnough Said, which man has learned will
not be preempted. This week they'reputting us back on there, back on
on Friday night, which is verynice. Indeed, the u booon tou
(04:33):
quotient do we need to explain uboontou in a sports vernacular sports sense?
It was popularized by the Boston Celtics. Their head coach at the time was
Glenn doc Rivers. KG was on. This was the team that ultimately won
a world championship, right, itwas yes, who were there? Big
(04:57):
Three? It was KG obviously yourguy, Paul, it was Paul Pierce
and former Timberwolf ray Al for aminute and a half. You're right,
Ray Allen. And part of whatthe inspiration, part of their calling card
as developed I think by doc Rivers, was a belief in something called Ubuntu,
which is an African expression in whichwell It depends on who you talk
(05:21):
to about how it should be defined. But for Rivers, I think it
was a belief that we trust oneanother, We're in this the whole is
greater than the sum of the parts. Pick at any other series of cliches.
And since then, we've occasionally discussedthe ubutu quotient for want of a
(05:41):
better expression, as it pertains tosome of our teams. And I have
to tell you that if we narrowthe discussion today to the Minnesota Timberwolves and
the Minnesota Twins, I think wecould fairly safely say that the Timberwolves have
a higher UBUNTU quotient, that is, belief in one another, trust,
(06:06):
harmony, et cetera. Then dothe Minnesota Twins. It's not just that
the Twins are losing. They losttheir seventh in a row for Mike Yo
last night in the nation's capital.We know it's not good baseball. It's
they're bickering, they're cranky. Theydon't seem to be outwardly getting along.
(06:30):
Now they had the do I needto even say the Wolves Ubuntu quotient very
different from a year ago when youhad people punching each other, punching walls,
the whole bit. Yep, it'sall pretty good right now. Right
It's hard to not be pretty goodwhen you reach the final four of the
NBA Playoffs and you find yourselves,not only that, as favorites to advance
(06:54):
to the NBA Finals, trust oneanother. Not a lot of battles going
on. Great rapport, it seems, between the head coach and the players,
as was again discussed by Anthony Edwardsafter the Game seven victory over Denver,
reminding people that what he appreciates themost about Finchy is that if you
(07:18):
bleep up, no matter how highyou are on the totem pole, you
are going to hear about it fromFinci. That could be you could say
part you have if you have Ubuntuin place, then players don't take offense.
They understand that. Well, no, it's the same for all of
us. Therefore, all he's tryingto do is challenge us and get the
(07:42):
best out of us. It's allgood right now. For your Minnesota temberlves
We're I mean, Ubuntu is sawutof control that now their star player is
without even really thinking about it,not even doing it purposefully. He's establishing
travel posters for the state of Minnesota. Right, bring ass. I mean,
(08:05):
it's like it's the Ubuntu. It'slikely it's very possible that the short
of winning the title anytime soon,like this year or next year, the
UBUNTU quotient for the Wolves might notever be higher than it is as we
anticipate the conference finals, which willstart tomorrow night right here on the fan
(08:26):
against the Dallas Mavericks Twins. Meanwhile, now you could say, well,
they're in the regular season, soit's apples and oranges to a degree.
But man, it's hostile out thereright now. I mean, we've talked
about sometimes how exasperated people have becomeregarding Roco's postgame commentary. Right no matter
(08:50):
how well or badly the team plays, it seems like he has established himself
more than anything else is even keelguy. And occasionally he's been accused of
being a bit robotic yep in thatregard, Well, there's nothing robotic about
what he had to say. Again, last night, after we got drilled.
(09:13):
What was the final? I thinkit was twelve to three in Washington,
And well, I should have askedyou for the audio. Maybe we'll
get it later. I knew itwas on my list and I forgot,
but I'll read you the quote now, and maybe later for Top five,
we can get some of the audiobecause it may be even more compelling out
(09:35):
of Roco's mouth. His frustration lastnight was with the offensive, the hitting
approach against a rookie starter named MitchellParker, who apparently was throwing a lot
of junk rocco. The guy juststood out there. The guy just stood
(09:58):
out there and threw off speed pitchesfour straight innings. We didn't know anything
about it. We continued to waiveat them and look for fastballs, which
today they weren't coming, especially forthe first five six innings in this stretch
of games where we've been struggling.That's been a common fame. In fact,
I think he also said it's notgood baseball at another point, I'm
(10:18):
pretty sure, or something similar tothat. We've got that SoundBite from a
while ago. So mincing no words. As the Twins continued this sort of
exasperating start to the season, right, we started seven to thirteen, then
we go seventeen and three, andsince then we haven't won again. And
(10:41):
we have. I think we've scoredtwelve runs in the seven game losing streak,
and four of the runs were meaninglessbecause they came in the ninth inning
of a game in which we werealready down eleven to nothing. So we're
doing nothing offensively. First. That'snot the first sign though, in the
last several days that the Ubuntu quotshit ain't impressive. Right now, for
(11:05):
your Minnesota Twins. Sunday, thecloser, Duran gives up a walk off
home run. This was against theGuardians, the big Showdown series where we
were, you know, had achance to make some hay on them in
the division. Well they made hayon us instead. They opened the gap
dramatically from the start of the seriesto the end of it, and Duran
(11:30):
gives up the walk off home run. Jackals approach him after the game,
apparently about giving up the home runon a curveball, and Duran says,
not my decision. I thought thathe wasn't good with fastballs. I'm an
(11:52):
employee here, so whatever I needto throw, I need to throw it.
Eat that he knowing Botu in thosewords, that's like, don't play
me right. I wanted to throwthe guy fastball that's his weakness, but
they forced me, which we'll getto in a minute. What that actually
means. When you're a pitcher onthe mountain, the balls in your hands.
(12:15):
They forced me to throw a breakingball, Roco noticed before the twelve
to three game. Before his meltdownafter the game last night, Roco says,
I think he's just frustrateds looking fora weight event. Thought it was
unusual. I wasn't expecting it.I like to handle our stuff here with
(12:37):
a conversation in the clubhouse. AndI think there was a quote from him
later also saying that he look,I mean the pitcher makes the final decision
on this sort of thing, notthe pitching coach or the catcher that got
(12:58):
my attention to And when you putthe these two things back to back,
it's not surprising noting their own UBUNTUquotient might be in question right now.
The Twins went with the you know, cliched, predictable, obligatory players only
meeting after last night's game. Sometimesmaybe that helps. Sometimes I'm not sure
that it does anything, but Ithink it's fair to say we're a little
(13:22):
bit of a crisis mode for yourmanager. Seems like it when and when
a player feels pissed off enough togo as public is that How often does
that happen here Sonny Gray. Yeah, you're right, Sonny Gray would be
the other example and not very topof my head, No, not very
many. So you know, wedon't have to do a numerical comparison.
(13:45):
Let's just go out on a limband say, ubutu quots ain't matching up?
Now between your Minnesota to your favoritebasketball team and your beleaguered favorite baseball
team. Right now, the fanombigdeckdot com, I'm gonna give you shots
to put a grain in your handwith our national cash contest. And the
keyword of the day is happy.Go to kfan dot com and enter the
keyword happy. Now, well,you've heard of Hoodie who and I can't
(14:07):
do it like Max Who Can't.You've heard it all over the airwaves all
Wolf season along especially the postseason.Now you can wear it. Grap your
Hoodie Whose shirt for the Western ConferenceFinals with options for both shifting to home
or to pick up from us startingon Thursday. You can get yours today
KFA dot com Keywords Store. Whenit comes to the subject of kuboon tou,
(14:28):
if you want to widen out thedefinition to be good vibes related,
you could certainly make the argument.In the case of the Twins, the
Ubuntu vibe has been awful from virtuallythe start of the exhibition season spring training
right the messages set by ownership,both overtly and covertly, set the tone
(14:52):
the we're going to right size thepayroll all this crap, so right there,
you already kind of have chilled theboon to process. I think,
and now the way the team hasbeen like beyond inconsistent, I don't even
know. I bet you this isfairly unprecedented in recent Twins memory, that
you could go from crappy to dominant, although admittedly against mainly bad teams.
(15:16):
We all at White Sox season thatmay well be true as we look back
on it to almost unwatchable, whichagain might be a blessing that many of
you don't have access to. Ballyand Corey Provis. By the way,
speaking of Corey Provis, we delveinto all of this with him in great
detail, as Corey Provis is,to his credit, very willing to do
(15:39):
at four thirty. Provis at fourthirty we taped the interview before the show
because he's got a game to broadcastto prepare for, which I believe starts
Central time at five point forty tonightout of Washington, so provis at four
thirty this afternoon. Louis in studioin the five o'clock hour, and Mitch
(16:00):
Lawrence is going to join us atthe bottom of the hour dayline Dallas.
He moved back from New York toDallas area a few years ago, and
so we'll get the I know hehas his finger on the pulse of the
Dallas Mavericks and can size up thisparticular matchup as well. There is,
as some of you probably know bynow. I don't know what time exactly
(16:23):
it broke, but for the record, Minnesota Timberwolves have two players who've made
the All Defensive Team, Rudy Gobertfirst Team, Jaden McDaniel's second team.
You can make the argument they're bothworthy of first team. I'm not offended
that McDaniel. I just I likehe got on the board. Yes,
(16:44):
because it's that game that I thinkthe voters play about how many guys from
one team are going to put on, you know, the first team.
They're both richly deserved, and weprobably didn't spend enough time on just how
excellent McDaniels was for the second consecutivegame in Game seven on the road,
(17:06):
that means back to back games.He was absolutely marvelous offensively. We kind
of have come to expect what he'sgoing to do defensively. You were reminded
you probably already This might not bea tough quiz question. In the history
the often sordid history of the MinnesotaTimberwolves, how many players have ever made
(17:30):
any first, second, third teamAll Defensive team. KG had to be
the only other one. You're forgettingone other one. I'm forgetting one other
one. Recent Jimmy Butler Buckets.Yeah, that's it, Garnett. I
think it was seven times. Yeah, no know what the number might have
even been more than that. Itwas at least seven and Buckets the only
(17:52):
other one. Think about that fora minute, think about it makes sense.
It checks out with what I rememberannexota from the team over thirty five
years. Now. Again, sometimesyou can be a good defensive player on
a really, really horrible team surethat loses most of its games, and
you're not gonna get recognized the way. It tends to be that that players
(18:12):
from better teams end up getting recognizedand noticed. But that's probably not wrong.
I mean I think back to thecage. You know, Trenton Hassel
was considered a nice defensive, youknow, one way player. He couldn't
score for his life, but hewas out there for D. But he
was out there for DN and wasa pretty good defensive player. And they
had a couple of yars. ButI mean, it's not surprising, but
(18:36):
it's an interesting reminder. And now, and this has to be I assume
this is the first time in teamhistory that the Wolves have had two players
on the same team, right,make all defense. It is first team
and second team, but nevertheless alldefense. So kudos to both of them.
I would be willing to bet thismight be the last time Jaden's on
(18:57):
the second team. Wouldn't be atall surprised. I would think it's sequential
given how many eyes have been onthis postseason and what the Wolves have done
defensively, and everybody kind of knowsnow that, of course it's Rudy,
but what Jaden's been doing is prettyremarkable too. How's the UBUNTU quotion going
for the Wolves ownership? Are weback to Lasagna? Dinner and dinners?
(19:18):
Three too old guys? Right?So that's a great, very good callback.
And yeah, I guess in thecase of the Wolves, you almost
need two Ubuntu quotients, right,because it is the Wolves. There's got
to be an astertar. There's alwaysgot to be something that's like, oh
god, yeah, I forgot aboutit. I got to eye roll about
that. And fortunately for the organizationand the players and the fans, let's
be honest, one thing has notgotten in the way or the other whatever
(19:41):
the ongoing battles are between the newowners who would be owners, and the
current old owner, it has not, in any way, shape or form
clearly distracted the club there. Ithink they're utterly and completely bored with the
whole thing, and that's the wayto be. It's probably it's gotten maybe
a little easier to do that becausewe had that one. It seemed like
(20:06):
there was one three or four daystretch where the leakage from both parties was
going to fight the battles publicly andas meanly and viciously as possible, which
is not very Obuntu like No,But I think that dried up pretty quickly
and now and maybe for the jackalsthe national media reporters, they're too distracted
(20:26):
by other issues like the playoffs themselves. But it is cooled. Whatever the
hatred is apparently palpable. That hasnot gone away, was what I've heard.
But they're keeping it on the downlow, relatively speaking to that one
four or five day stretch where itfelt like, oh my god, is
this gonna be like open warfare everyweek with you know, each side leaking
(20:48):
stuff to either WOJE for a wojbomb or who's the other guy? Sean,
Yeah, exactly. We haven't hadas much of that, right,
So they're trying not to make ascene at the kid's birthday party. Essentially
it's divorced parents and they're just tryingto make sure that the kids have a
good time. We talked about thisearlier in the season a Cup during a
couple of exasperating Wolves moments, especiallyfourth quarter, where I talked about the
(21:14):
players need to stop playing with theirfood. They're no longer playing with their
food. It's the owners, Yeah, on another level, who are playing
with their food. The team isin the clean plate club to watch exactly
what they do. You just putthem back in the in the drawer.
And did you see that KG saidhe wants to come back to Minnesota for
a game. Yes. In fact, I think later, we're going to
(21:36):
play some sound to that effect.I was gobsmacked by it. If he
means it, I really, Ireally. I had been told over and
over that he was never going tocome back here again until the ownership change
took place, and and and andwhen and if Glenn Taylor, you know,
passes away. This is not mewashing for any of that. I
(21:59):
hope he live to be older thanSid. I really do. But now
so, I don't know if thisthis indicates a change or he's just saying
it to say it. I'm notexactly sure. It would be monumental,
There's no question. I mean,I can't I can't imagine what the what
that would do to the building orlet me ask you something. Has he
(22:21):
been gone long enough now where thekids wouldn't necessarily be as moved as the
previous generation of Wolves fans. IfKG showed up, they'll be moved.
Do you think those still everybody knows, Yeah, everybody knows. Everybody will
be moved. It would be ridiculous. Did did KG say I gotta go
with Steven A? Oh? Oh? I thought he meant the sound by
(22:41):
where he's like trying to wrap upthe interview. He say I gotta go
to the game, yes, okay, and he says he's got tickets available
if yeah, somebody, if hecan pull the trigger and figure it out.
He also said in the same bitthat he wants to get to Boston
as well. And obviously the ball end all would be if it was
a Wolve Celtic YA final, right, how crazy that would be? That
(23:02):
would be pretty pretty interesting. MisterChili behind home plate last night texts us
one hundred and forty six dollars allyou can eat Twins. There is no
ubum too. I say trade CC. That means Korea, so yep.
For two bullpen relievers, one ortwo of them are lefties. Brooksley is
ready. Watch from behind home plate, row one, one hundred and forty
six bucks. All you could eatwas the highlight, not the Twins themselves.
(23:23):
Edged twelve to three last night.And by the way, I'll give
you a pret a quick sneak previewof our conversation with provis. I can't
remember who's starting for Washington tonight.We you see if you can find that
on the fly to night is PatrickCorbin. He basically said, if the
offense doesn't get better against Corbyn shutit down, so because he said everybody
(23:47):
he's been miserable, He's been terrible. Is there? I think is our
average is approaching seven? It's fivepoint five six? Okay, fair enough,
so interesting litmus test being offered upby mister provis you'll or the extended
version at about four point thirty thisevening. Let's check in with the Metroplex.
Yeah, dayline, Dallas Fort Worth. That's where Mitch Lawrence has returned
(24:11):
to. We were colleagues of theDallas Morning News back in the day.
He's back there now these days.He still works extensively for the serious XM
NBA channel. He's joined us intermittentlyfor years. He'll give us a good
scouting report of the Mavericks and he'llsize up this particular series which will start
tomorrow night. Right here on thefan. Mitch Lawrence's next got questions on
(24:48):
the Dallas Mavericks, our next guest. I'm sure he'll be glad to answer
them. Hit the Bratshaw on BrianKfean text line six or six eighty six.
Mitch Lawrence does not cover the Maverickson a daily basis like many many
years ago. He did cover thisparticular team, but he's based there,
he pays attention to what's going on, and he's covered the league for decades
(25:10):
and he is now joining us viathe Connectico Water Systems Hotline. Mitch Lawrence,
here's my toss up question to you. Did you expect the Mavericks to
get here to at least the conferencefinals? What was your view of this
team as the season played out,and how does it match up with the
position they now find themselves in.Yeah. Chance, once they started to
(25:37):
play defense. Believe it or not, they actually play some defense here for
Jason Kidd. They made some keytrade acquisitions and their defense got a lot
better. Dan, and so Ifigured, you know what, going into
the playoffs with two closers, twoguys who can close games and Luka Doncicch
and Kyrie Irving and the requisite defensedepending on their matchups, they could probably
(26:02):
go deep, maybe make another conferencefinals run, which they did two years
ago with a different team with JalenBrunson and Lo and behold, they got
a great draw. I mean theClippers once again, Kawhi Leonard doesn't can't
answer the bell in games. PaulGeorge and James Harden just don't have it
now. If you want to getJay, if you want to get Paul
George like the Sixers do, he'llbe great as your third option. You
(26:23):
don't want them as the second option. And you know, although James Harden
did a great job in Game fouragainst Dallas, games five and six,
he was nowhere, which is kindof his playoff meltdown history. And then
you know, then they get thenthey draw Oklahoma City, who earned their
number one seeding. But you know, if you had a rank at you
probably put them as the third mostdangerous team at the top of the West,
(26:45):
starting with Denver then Minnesota, atleast in my mind, because they
had no experience and they don't havea lot of size, and they basically
won that series with incredible play fromObviously you have Luke and Kyrie, but
PJ. Washington and Jerrick Jones Juniorcame out of nowhere to have significant scoring
games there and they closed them out. So I'm not shocked that they're actually
in the conference finals. I willbe though if they make a final,
(27:08):
if they beat Minnesota. Yeah,so you expect you think the Wolves,
well we know they are favored inthis series. You think they should be
you expect them to win wy.Yeah. Well, first of all,
anytime a team like Denver beat Minnesota, excuse me, beats the defending champs,
and the way they did it ina historic first of all, Game
(27:30):
six was a gigantic just you couldn'tbelieve what you were seeing in terms of
them blowing out Minnesota. I stilllike Denver's chances Game seven, but the
way they came back from twenty down, the way they imposed their will defensively
and won that game, and justtaking the whole series into account of how
their defense shut down Joki Chamuri.I think they're the two best players won
(27:52):
two punch in the league. Yeah. I like their chances a lot with
the home court coming off that seriesagainst a minute against the Dallas team that
you know from Dallas's standpoint. Youlove the fact that Minnesota got Denver out
of the way. Yeah, butstill, Anthony Edwards is going to be
a handful. The two bigs aregoing to be a handful, and I
just think that the defense that Minnesotashowed against Denver, they can come up
(28:17):
with ways to deal with doncheting Kyrie. I believe every series to until until
and maybe even after if they wereto win the NBA title nationally end up
being a referendum about well, canyou continue to play two big men in
a league that's gone small? Andis there sooner or later is Rudy going
to be played off the floor andis a team going to make him pay
(28:37):
for having two big men? Itobviously has not happened or come close to
happening up till now. But oneof the working theories is what's different about
Dallas is they've got not one,but they're two. Obviously their two best
offensive players are perimeter players, andthat that might make it trickier about what
combination of big men that you know, when we're talking about switches, when
(29:00):
we're talking about hunting matchups, etcetera, more difficult for Finch, Chris
Finch to figure out who to play. And when do you buy that theory
that with Luca and Kyrie that itmight be a little bit tougher to have
Rudy and another big man on thecourt all of time, or do you
look at it differently? I don'tthink I think they're gonna go with the
(29:22):
what they what brought them here,played to their strengths, go with their
base, go with Karl Anthony cownsgo with go there they did. I
mean, listen, I know they'vebeat against Denver this year. They were
tremendous defensively, and Denver doesn't havea Donchee Kyrie, but they do have
some guys on the perimeter. Andlook with the job that Timberwolves did against
(29:47):
Michael Porter Junior. Yeah, andthe job against Aaron Good. So I
think no, at this time,I don't think they're gonna get cute.
I think they'll play to their straints, and I think that's one of the
areas where they're going to have successbecause I think their bigs are going to
be have I think Gobert, whojust was named unanimous All Defense Team whatever.
(30:07):
I guess Raymond Green didn't get avote, but I guess you know
they're gonna have a I would thinkthey're gonna have a big series. Listen,
I think Dallas is gonna win afew games here, could go seven.
But I do like where Minnesota's intotality is a team their depth.
They can throw a few guys atLuca and they've got I think Anthony Edwards.
I don't think. I don't putKarl Anthony towns into kind of a
(30:30):
traditional closer role. We saw inGame seven they got a lot of different
things from different guys late in thegame, but they do have Anthony Edwards.
Now Dallas has two guys, butwe'll see if they have some games
where it's nip and tucked down thestretch and and we'll see if done if
the combination of those two are betterthan Anthony Edwards. I still like Minnesota.
So you mentioned, you know,the Dallas did a very good,
(30:52):
very good job at the deadline.They ad PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford.
I think Washington is obvious see moreabout the offense Gafford defense as well,
But speak to us about how thatkind of changed the calculus in Minnesota or
in Dallas, and whether that's directlyrelated to a better ability to be a
little bit more rugged or play.Because I you know, if I go
(31:15):
back to the Oklahoma City the seriesagainst the Thunder, to me, that
told the tale the offensive, reboundingdiscrepancy, the second shot opportunities that that
the Mavericks kept getting at the handsof the Thunder, that a team that
still clearly does have a size issue. That kind of told the story of
that series. So that's what's madethem. I think the Mavericks a much
(31:37):
bigger threat than they otherwise would havebeen. Correct, right, They're a
bigger team, they're more rugged.And the thing about PJ Washington too,
besides helping him on the board,is listen, here's a guy he had
never been in the playoffs in fiveyears in Charlotte. He comes back home.
He's a Dallas kid, Dan andyou know, he's a thirty one
(31:59):
three point shooter. In the regularseason, he's at forty one percent now
good point averaging fourteen points a gameand seven rebounds he has played. I
don't think anybody expected him to havethe type of impact in his first playoff
series. But you know, whenyou can position yourself in the corner behind
a three point line and you gotDonci and Irving working outside, drawing double
(32:21):
teams, you're gonna get a lotof great looks, a lot of open
looks. And that's one thing thatMinnesota has to be very, very concerned
about. Guys shooting forty one percentfrom three is just crazy. And you
saw what he did in games three, score and five against Oklahoma City,
went for twenty nine, twenty sevenand twenty one, which is ridiculous,
including the big free throws at theend when he was found in the corner
by Shay Gildershalas And I mentioned DerekJones junior too. Here's a guy he
(32:45):
did nothing in the regular season interms of scoring. His last twenty two
regular season games March and April,they had seven games and double figures.
In the twelve playoff games they played, he's had seven double figure games and
against Oklahoma City he went nuts ingames four, five, and six.
Those are things that nobody, nationalmedia, even local media is probably thinking
(33:05):
they're not going to get that printof production out of a Derrek Jones share,
and they did. So They're playinggreat, they're paying their best ball.
But a lot of it does starton the defensive end, which is
if you watch Dallas play last yearor even when they went to the conference
finals against Golden State the year before, their defense is not even fifty percent
of what it is now in termsof they really shut teams down getting to
the basket. That's where Gaffers comesin lively, the rookie just tweaking their
(33:31):
rough. Yeah, for sure,it's a good lesson in you know,
there's always this assumption of all,we got to add another star, or
we got to add another huge name. No, the roster building, lineup
building is about getting pieces that fittogether, and Dallas, I think has
indeed finally figured that thing out.All right, let's let's talk a little
(33:52):
more depth about Luca, because,as you well know, the Wolves calling
card is defense, and the Wolvescalling card is you know, physical defense.
Not necessarily cheap, but they getinto people. That's what they like
to do. They've got a lotof wing players who are very long and
and they like to get into yourchest. We all know how bothered Luca
(34:14):
can be by any of that,and how obsessed he is with the officials.
How is that gonna be? Howare these games going to be officiated?
You know, because do you thinksome officials, whether they want to
admit it or not, do endup giving Lucas some calls even though it
almost seems counterintuitive that it would bethe opposite because of a he winds.
(34:36):
Because these guys, you could argue, the Wolves, you know, they
need They needed the change that theleague either directly or indirectly brought about,
which was we're gonna let people playa little bit more and we're not gonna
we don't care about one hundred andeighty to one hundred and sixty two games.
We don't like that look. SoWolves need that again, and I
would think they definitely needed against aguy like Luco. How's that going to
(35:00):
shape up and play out? That'sgonna be a fascinating thing to watch.
You know, he does complain,although in the series, at least a
lone against Oklahoma City and some ofthe against the Clippers, he wasn't complaining
after every single play. And inthe regular season, the guy drives you
nuts when you watch it because thereare times when he just complains and he'll
(35:20):
trail the play after something doesn't goright offensively, and all of a sudden,
the Mavericks are playing four on fivedefensively. Somebody got to them or
something. Because it seems like he'stoned that down. He's a little more
focused, not crying as much tothe officials. But I think you're right.
I think Minnesota's length is going tobe a problem for him. I
think he's still going to score.He's still gonna you know, to me,
(35:45):
if they turn him into a passor we're gonna scene now on a
level of the Conference finals, whetherthe other guys can deliver like they did
against Oklahoma City, the Derk Jonesjuniors, PJ Washington's as I mentioned the
other because they just had these flatout will scoring games. Who knows how
they're going to react to the pressureof being one step away from an NBA
(36:05):
Finals. We say, you know, Kyrie is gonna handle it, well,
guy's been in a million big games, yep, and nothing really,
you know, nothing really scares himor intimidates him. So he's gonna have
a big series. Luca, youknow what it's gonna be. It's gonna
be tough, and I'm sure he'llcomplain when he has to, and we'll
see how many times he gets tothe free throw line. But that's gonna
(36:25):
be obviously a huge thing, andwe'll see after games how Jason Kidd addresses
that with the media, because youknow, that's always a talking point with
these coaches. If they don't feellike their stars are getting calls, they
will start working with through media forthe next game. So it's funny because
immediately after winning Game seven, AnthonyEdwards goes on with Charles and the Boys
(36:51):
and he announces that he already knowsthat his matchup is going to be Kyrie
Irving, which which I gotta chuckleout of. Uh that somebody has already
been thinking about it. But theso does that mean Kyrie is gonna have
to guard Anthony Edwards? I mean, who do you think it's likely that
they're gonna use there? And isKyrie? I know, again you mentioned
Dallas' defense is being viewed as betteracross the board. Even Kyrie seems more
(37:15):
interested in it. But is thatthe way they would go? Is that
do they have another do they havea defensive backcourt person they could they could
try on him? Or what?What's what do you see regarding that matchup?
You know what, I don't knowwhat they're gonna do, and it'd
be interesting to see. You know, you probably saw in the regular season.
I didn't see these teams play.But Anthony Edwards is going to be
(37:37):
a big problem. I think he'sgonna have a major series. Uh,
this is a big assignment, obviouslyfor Jason Kidd and his guys. So
who played him in the regular season? Part of it? Part of it.
I'll tell you Kyrie missed I believethree of the games in the regular
season, so and and by theway, all those did those games were
played before the trade deadline, Sonothing probably that happened in the regular season
(38:00):
is going to have any any connectionwith whatever takes place. Well, I
don't think Kyrie can play Anthony Edwards. He's just jump thinking enough. I
think Anthony Edwards can overpower him Kyrie. But I'll say this. You know
we've seen play you know, hegets knocked a lot for his defense.
But when they won a title inCleveland, I know it's a long time
(38:20):
ago, eight years ago, andin other playoff situations when Kyrie needed to
step up his defense he has andhe seems like you know, one of
the great stories here for the Mavericksgoing into during the playoffs is Kyrie has
not gone off the reservation at allabout anything. He's totally focused. It's
all about the team, it's allabout winning. He's not worried about what's
going on in the rest of theworld, which you have to just sometimes
(38:43):
worry about with Tim. So we'llsee how they match up. I don't
know. I mean, that's goingto be a fascinating thing to see how
they deal with Anthony Edwards. Idid like Anthony Edwards when Barkley asked him
about you got to you know,give me a few restaurants. Where am
I going to be? He said, yeah, he yeah, he was.
He's got no filter, Mitch,and and it makes it fun.
(39:07):
He'll get him in trouble from timeto time, but after games, man's
got absolutely no filter. He generallybrings a lot of truth to the discussion.
But it's it's a it's I thinkit's part of why he you know,
look, there's other really good youngplayers in the league, but I
think it's part of why people nationallyare gravitating towards him is he's got that
(39:28):
that that extra gene there where.Man, it's just that charisma that is
It's even if you're going on God, he really shouldn't say that, you
still chuckle as at the fact thathe's willing to say it. Yeah,
young guy, not jaded, notunhappy, seems to be really happy.
So many stars in the NBA whoare miserable, you know, but listen,
(39:51):
this is a great stage for him. I mean, this is an
unbelievable chance for the Minnesota franchise.I mean, you know, if they
get past Dallas, there's no reasonin the world why they can't beat the
team that emerges from the east.We all think it's going to be Boston
and they're pretty flawed, or youknow, if it's Indiana, I mean
it'd be you know, first timefor this crews, second time in franchise
(40:15):
history. So I'm sure Anthony,you know, I have a lot of
faith that a guy like Anthony Edwardsis going to live up to the moment
and get his team to a placethat's never been before, which would be
just another in his you know,feather in his captain to the rightfulled age
of what twenty two Mitch Lawrence joiningus a text coming all the way from
Mark in Palatine, Illinois, presumablylisting on the iHeartRadio app. He asked
(40:39):
a good question, are we stillsupposed to hate Mark Cuban? Seems like
he isn't in the news as muchanymore. I know he sold the team,
but he's still spotted next to thebench. He doesn't seem as animated.
Now maybe I haven't watched enough,but it looks like he's a little
bit more under controls he has.He purposefully lowered his visibility. Question,
(41:00):
what do you think, well theguy I saw who's stormed the court was
a Rod the other night right outin Denver. That's correct, So I
think it's going to be interesting tosee those guys in action. I think
Cuban will be amped up for thisseries. He still goes out on there.
You know, he's still sitting wherehe sits, very close to the
(41:22):
court. He's still pretty animated.I think he's toned it down with the
officials. He hasn't been fined inthe longest time. Maybe he's getting tired
of that. But he has soldthe team. So it's interesting to note
that the Edelson family from Vegas whois now part owners of this team.
The talk here in Dallas is howthey've had a greater run in one year
(41:45):
than Jerry Jones of the Cowboys hashad in the last three decades, and
people are making a lot of hairout of that. By the way,
the Stars, as you know,are in the conference finals here. The
Mavericks are in the conference trials.But one of the big stories today,
maybe the biggest stories, the Cowboysstarted their OTAs and Michael Parsons is now
(42:07):
doing a lot of boxing lessons typethings for football. That's that's been the
bigger story than the stars in themask. Some things never change in Big
d do they. Mitch, You'reright, yeah right, And I gotta
tell you this. They have astation down here, radio station called the
Fan. They had PM Washington onand they might have mad him on for
you know, five six, sevenminutes, and I was listening to him.
(42:29):
I was pretty intent. I wantedto hear what he had to say
about the whole series. They neverasked him one question about the Timberwolves.
Really yeah, wow, interesting real, Well to that point, you know,
you're getting admonished a bit here.Let me get to this other text.
Wow, Mitch is not helping withtempering wolves fans expectations. There's this
(42:49):
concern that too many people are youknow, are jump jumping on picking the
wolves, and that's when we're gonnaget our asses handed to us. Whenever
we start, you know, theold fat cats get slow. I'm not
expecting you to lie, though youhave to. We have you on to
offer your opinion. So what wouldyou say to the person who's a little
worried about your you're not being helpfulin tempering teams expectations for this series.
(43:14):
Well, I didn't. I didn'tsay they've sweeped it, I think it's
going to be a tough, longseries. I think they're the better team
right now, and I'm basing thata lot off of the you know,
the quality of the opponent they justknocked off. And by the way,
I know you Minnesota people in apologybecause I came on. The last time
I was on, I talked abouthas this team lost the belief that they
(43:35):
can get the nugget right? Ifyou remember that, and they certainly didn't
do that. And when a teamwins a series like that, and you
know historically when the Bulls get bythe Pistons, when and the Knicks could
never get past the Bulls. Butwe've seen other teams, Yep, you
had to make that climb. Uhfor Minnesota. That team was Denver.
And I think they're not gonna lookat Dallas as like they're going to be
(43:58):
easy pickings. But you know,that's a huge thing that they've overcome here,
not Hurtle, and now I thinkthey're gonna really they're gonna hone in
on Dallas correctly and have the rightmindset. I think Mike Conley will have
a lot to do with that,and hopefully his Achilles will hold up and
if they get to the finals,I think they'll have a great chance against
the Eastern Conference teams. So youknow, Boston is still they haven't done
(44:20):
anything. They have They've been toa final, so they haven't won.
And Indiana, of course is playingwith house money. Yeah, no question
about that. Let Another good texthas come in, noting the Wolves have
tended to grind down their opponents inboth series. By the end of the
Denver series, Denver looked gassed.They really did. They look defeated,
and he mentions, you know theydid it to Joker and Murray repeatedly.
(44:44):
Luca, he writes, does notappear to be a man in tip top
shape. Does Mitch have any insideinfo on the Luca b m I.
That's j marsh in Saint Paul.Can you can you wear down Luca?
Or is he still tireless even ifhe looks like he needs a blow?
Texting that is proof they are listeningobviously, b m I. Which is
(45:08):
a big term during COVID body massindex. Look, it looks like and
we saw this from the in thein the season, it looks like he
came in in better shape, hasbeen better. He can be. You
know, he's still Look, he'snot Karl Malone, he's not a Donas,
He's not He's more along the linesof Jokic. Yeah, but listen,
(45:30):
I don't see why their defense can'timpose their will in this series too.
And you know, they played Imean you saw, we all saw.
They just had an outstanding seriesly anddefensively. But the other thing was
they made shots when they had toand it wasn't just oh, Anthony Andrews
clear out for him. So thathas to give Minnesota people a lot of
(45:51):
a lot of faith in what theycan do. And you know, here's
the other thing. Dallas's road hasbeen easier I think. I mean,
you know, you're playing the Cliffsand you're playing you're playing Oklahoma City and
Oklahoma City. I mean, listen, they have to add a lot and
you know, Dallas is gonna findthat this this, this is a Now
they're in for a real battle.Yeah, And you know, the other
games were six games series. Youknow, it's not like they swept the
(46:14):
either team. So they have theirflaws obviously, and we'll see what We'll
see what how everybody handles the pressureof the expectations I think in a lot
of ways, Dallas is playing withsome house money here, but Minnesota too.
You know, listen, this iswhat this is where you want to
be. This is the year fora breakthrough season when you get by the
defending champs and there's nobody on theother half of the bracket who's you know.
(46:35):
Know's the thing about the Celtics isnobody's scared of the Celtics. Nobody's
intimidate. But that's it. Andand and do you I assume you do
expect the Celtics to get there.Oh, I think it's gonna be a
yeah, but I think it's gonnabe worse. It's gonna be for Celtics
fans. It's gonna be a miserableIt's like six game series, right yeah.
I think Indiana's got they know howto score. So it against the
(46:58):
Knicks and they now play under RickCarlisle. Okay, you know they play
good enough defense. They that's whatyou have to do in the playoffs,
and and and and they are absolutelyand you know, here's the thing about
here's the thing about Boston. Bostonwill have played if they get to the
finals, to play a bad numbereight Miami team, a number four Cavalier
(47:22):
team, four seed cat team withoutDonovan Mitchell at points and then now Indiana
number sixteen seed. Just think aboutthat playoff though. They should be a
real sixty four win team. Tome, the old traditional sixty four win
team is eight to o and rackingup you know, double disgiti wins along
the way. And the Celtics alwayshave that ability to melt down at the
(47:44):
end of these games and the playoffsand the finals and one other thing.
And I don't think this is thisis this is what's going to happen.
If Indiana gets by Boston, theCeltics will be looking for a new head
coach because Joe Mizzoula will not survivethis. Probably right. Excellent work is
always, my friend. We willbe in touch later in this series or
perish the thought in the NBA finals. Who's to say? How about that?
(48:07):
Crazy? I broached the question already. Uh, if it is the
time for the Wolves to send thepodium and get the trophy, what which
owner is going to get him afight over the trophy? Say, it's
a very good question. I'm surethere are Wolves fans out there saying they
(48:27):
would love for it. To haveto be answered right because and yeah,
it's there. I'm I'm not sureif it'd be fair to in a in
like in a in a wrestling match. I'm not sure that's fair to mister
Taylor, to be honest with you. He's got some scrap you think he
does. He might need a littlebit of help that he's got some scrap.
A couple of lawyers that might bethe answer. Exactly. Thank you,
(48:50):
my friend will chat soon. Thanks, appreciate you. Take care Mitch
Lawrence, outstanding work from him asuh as always. And there it is,
God it is. That's the position. It's it's scary, the rare
fight air you get into, andit's it's hard to be comfortable in this
air. And it actually is agood transition for what I wanted to get
(49:13):
to. Next guards you when wecome back, Let's play the gravy game.
Can we play the grave? Whatthe gravy game is? I'm intrigued.
We'll play it. When we were
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