Wolves Guard Mike Conley - Bumper to Bumper 5/20/24 Hour Two

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
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(00:46):
what I do an unfun, believableplay. I have been inspired by one
of our regular listeners, and it'sa TP two K guy who suggests that

(01:11):
as he's watching the wolves spirited secondhalf comeback, it feels to him like
an extended version of the Minneapolis Miracle. And I'll expand on that. I
in my effort to try to geta number one seed in the PST for

(01:32):
twenty twenty four, I'm here tosubmit to the audience this afternoon that I
believe what the Wolves did to theDenver Nuggets, the defending world champions,
in the second half, as asports thrill, was greater than the Minneapolis

(01:52):
miracles. Excuse me, I don'tthink it's insane. And now a lot
of it is going to depend onwhat your favorite sport is. And the
Vikings have always been Kings in thistown, which I understand. But I
will tell you that as unique asthe miracle moment was as stunning as it
was because it looked like they're done, they're done, it's over, They're

(02:14):
gonna lose to your favorite coach athome in the playoffs, that a miracle
that it keeps happening in slower motionover several minutes, over two quarters is

(02:34):
actually more rewarding and more exciting,especially and you all had maybe a different
moment when this happened. If youwere watching on TV, there's that moment
you know, you're maybe you're you'reyou're losing interest, but you still got
it on, You're still kind ofpaying attention. You're probably on your phones
commiserating with other people because it doesn'tlook very good, and then you look

(02:57):
up and maybe it was when nasReed made several of those plays. It
probably would have been earlier. Itprobably would have been maybe even the stretch
where they scored ten in a rowto cut the double digit lead down to
a more manageable number. I thinkat that point it was was it six
' seven whatever it was when Conleyhit the three. But eventually you get

(03:22):
to that place where it dawns onyou these sobs might win this thing.
They might actually pull this off.This is impossible. It's never been done
in the history of the NBA Playoffsin a game seven. That's the part
we can't underestimate. No team cameback from that deficit, and I don't

(03:49):
even know if they've distinguished road orhome. This is again in their building.
And so that moment when that startsclicking in where you where you suddenly
where you were slumped over in yourbarka and now you know, you're straightening
up your back, you're sitting upa little bit, and if you have
people in the house, you go, hey, Someth's going on here.

(04:15):
I think that actually makes it morepleasurable, especially when there's a payoff when
they complete it, not just theyget there or get close and you go,
oh, they made a nice run. They cut it to five,
but then Denver took over again.No, they come back all the way.
They come back so far they're upten, and as we said,
outscoring. This is unprecedented territory.They outscored the defending champions in a game

(04:41):
seven fifty four to twenty four.They went from twenty down to at one
point ten ahead. So I amhere to say, no matter how you
know what seed, I'll end upwith that. I believe what took place
last night in Denver colleg Dodo isactually superior to the Minneapolis Miracle. Because

(05:05):
the miracle you could say, yeah, it was great, but you could
also say it was some kind offluky about it. For sure, it's
fluky. Defensive guy basically dives outof the way he airmailed it. Yes.
Meanwhile, the Wolves had to makeplay after play after play after play,
defensive play, shot making putbacks.So that's my story I'm sticking to

(05:31):
it. Is it preposterous? Idon't think it is. No, because
of the sustained part of it thatyou had to do it over and over
and less fluky. The Vikings hadto That was really like the only play
they made the entire exactly half.They were up seventeen rip in that game,
if I remember correctly, and weall remember Ky Forbath's field goal that
nobody remembers anymore. Because New Orleanswent right down the field and kicked it,

(05:53):
and then the Vikings had no choice. I mean their back was completely
against the wall. It was totallyfluky. The Wolves essentially had to make
that play or something similar over andover and over and over again for thirty
forty five minutes of real sure pleasure. I had nobody home, and I'm
screaming, Hey, this is thisis unbelievable. They might pull the I

(06:15):
mean, I remember the moment whenthe miracle happened, and similarly, I'm
screaming upstairs, you're not gonna believethis. I think I did have both
my wife and daughter home on thatoccasion, neither of them were watching.
But this one was that slow thatI think the most pleasurable moment for a

(06:36):
sports fan. And I don't havea rooting interest in the Wolves. I
have a rooting interest in the story. That's why I'm glad to see them
win, because it's a great storyfor us, and obviously I'm very happy
for the fans. I think thegreatest satisfaction for a fan is that creeping
sense of something's up. Something theymight the sobs might be able to do

(07:00):
it. So should we start callingthis the mile high miracles, all the
mile high miracle. I kind oflike that. I kind of like that.
I'm not gonna lie. Maybe weneed a different word, because miracle
does seem to I think cannote oneplay kind of right, this is on
going, This took two quarters.It did now, I'm koa right now

(07:20):
in Denver they're calling it the milehigh meltdown. I'm sure, yeah,
that that fits. So what's theopposite of meltdown that has an M?
That's great, that's a very goodquestions. We're going to need that,
uh here at the text or likethe elevation elation or something like that.
You know, we're just just spitballinghere, like Craig Kilbourne would nice try
right? Six to one to two? Guy, Oh my goodness, there's

(07:41):
quite a few here. Hold ona second. The problem with doing this
right now also is that we knowthe resolution of the miracle, we know
what happened after it. That's fair. We're a fair right now. That's
what the world is. Always aone shot deal. Yeah, we got
obliterated. Not only lose, notwe lose, we gotta blitterate. Yeah,
thirty eighty seven. I remember,well, I was at that game
too, I scored for we didit was great. Yeah, But when

(08:01):
I was on the power trip fromthe airport today, I talked about that
part of it, that it's gonnabe interesting to see how they do bounce
back from this, Yes, fromthat game and this series, because it
was so emotional, it was sodraining, and now you're coming back and
you got a couple of days toget yourself right. But most people,
you know, PA talks about itall the time, kind of the emotional
toll of the Minneapolis miracle, whathappened after it, you know that week,

(08:26):
how they just didn't respond the rightway after that play and got their
ass handed to him in the NFCChampionship game. I don't think the Wolves
are going to operate like that.I think they've got enough adults in the
room. But it's I'm gonna beinterested to see how they bounce back from
it. Mile High, Masterpiece,mile High Mayhem. Oh. I like
Masterpiece, Mile High Magic because magiccould be I guess more than although magic

(08:48):
I think still makes you feel likeone or two plays. Yeah, I
like Masterpiece. The second Rudy hit, fadeaway, spinning jumper with no time
in shock, like I started tobelieve in the serotonin high that started has
not gotten gone away yet here onMonday. Yeah, it could have been
that play. That's when Ant said, felt like they were living right.
Could have been that play. ButI I just like, I'm like,

(09:09):
because I I thought it was Ithought they were buried. I really did.
I thought it was gonna be very, very difficult. At that point,
I was talking so many people offthe ledge for you. Yeah,
I mean people haven't heard from inyears. People texted me like, what
are we doing here? This isterrible? My high school friends, my
wife, my nine year old.It's like these guys have found a way
to hang around. They just haveto. They have to hang around enough
to try to figure it, tofigure it out. Credit they figured it

(09:33):
out From New Jersey, Dan,Are you're kidding me? Vikings win was
much more impressive. Uh, youjust read my mind with what you were
describing last night. Nothing miraculous aboutthis Maneaples miracle was a lucky break.
But the Wolves defeat of Dender wasbetter because we just outright beat them because
we were better. I don't knowif they're better, I know that they
were better in this series that's whatmatters, and in the moment of truth

(09:56):
in Game seven, they absolutely were. I like this one. I don't
think we can use it because it'sa it's a throwback to another Vikings meltdown
from the seventies, the mile Highmatriculation. Oh. I like that.
It's a little too fancy for thebit, but I like the thought and
the idea. Any chance to getRyan Saunders on this week, I'm going
to try. I I I don'tknow. I mean, I'm sure he's

(10:18):
a competitive guy, but I'm surehe's got to have some mixed feelings because
of the love he has for thisfranchise as well. The fanom big deck
dot com' and'll give you a shotto put a grain in your hand with
our national cash contest and you canenter the keyword grand at kfan dot com.
That's your shot at winning this hour. Go to kfa in dot com
and enter the keyword grand six toone to two. Guy, Yeah,
you crazy for that one. RodeoYa. I have not been in Minnesota

(10:46):
in probably twenty years, Brian,yeahs Hey, hey, freak, tell
you send me a less some goodrestaurants. We're gonna beat there for like
five days. I want you tosend me a lift. That's some good
restaurants. Okay, yeah, yeah, I'm A'm gonna find your number through
somebody. I'm gonna send them toyou. I appreciate it, my brother,
Congratulations, I'll see you Wednesday.Appreciate it. Baby. Well,

(11:07):
if you want his number, it'sfive five number. So put of clarification
because it's already become a bit ofa bone of contention. If I,
as I listened to that sound bite, it's not bring your ass, it's
bring your asss Why bring your ass? That's y a? Why not?
Y Oh? I've seen it both. And if we're being accurate here,

(11:30):
which I think we should be,I think it's y A. It is,
and it's already showing up. Obviouslyit's gonna be a shirt. I'm
sure. Nine. Yeah, it'sit's it's it's on billboards already, the
whole bit. And it was perfectlyplayed by by Edwards, as we said
the other day, absolutely has nofilter. By the way, I what

(11:54):
would really be preposterous would be tosuggest, for me to suggest that this
Suppliants what happ and last night inDenver Supplants Game seven ninety one Game seven
eighty seven. It can't by definitionbecause those game sevens and those finishes were
obviously to win the whole thing.So I'm not attempting to be that preposterous.

(12:20):
I'm just attempting to be semi preposterous. Although I don't even think it
is that I would rank the thrilleven if it's a sneaky, growing thrill
that took time for you to realizeof what the Wolves did last night over
the so called Minneapolis miracle, Barkleyideas for what we expect Barkley's going to

(12:43):
rip us on. I figured thisway, we're ahead of it and it
won't hurt as much if he actuallyarticulates these particular sentiments about what he's not
going to like, because we're veryinsecure. Here. Here are some ideas.
Not enough food. I don't thinkthat would be a problem. Weather

(13:05):
could be if it gets if wehave like a cooling trend. Mosquitoes.
I don't think he's going to bein a position where he'll have to deal
with mosquitoes, do you. I'mguessing no. I don't think he's hanging
anybody's backyard. I think that,well, that'd be an interesting story unless
it's a Rods. They probably havecitronella candles there, you think they do.

(13:26):
I'm guessing. I'm guessing his yardhas been sprayed. By the way,
Mike Conley is going to join usnext segment. I have to scroll
down here because we've got so many. The Denver Disembowlment, the Mile High
slow Burn, Mile High Massacre,Rocky Mountain Revival. That's pretty good.

(13:48):
That might be my favorite thus far. That's that's not bad at all.
I'm trying to scroll down to someother ideas here. They this is a
one of this is one of thoserecord breaking days at the BRANSHAWNT. Brian
Caffin text line that I can indeedtell you, uh, if Chuck says

(14:09):
anything bad about Minnesota and the Wolveslose, our insecurities will win over.
We'll start to disparage Chuck's lack oftinyals and to make personal attacks towards him
in order to feel better about ourselves. Probably some truth to that. Sir
Charles will say he's bored unless youcan get him out on the links.
Maybe maybe at Hazel Team Chuck willget mad at one the Potholes two,

(14:35):
roadwork three, Sonny and Hot theCloudy random weather changes for cyclist. Barkley
will hear the Cars for Kids commercialsand think it's the music. It's all
the music that we have here.Charles will not like the lack of sports
betting here. That's that's that's agood one. I have to get him
down to Diamond Joe's or it doesn'tlook like. Shockingly, we made the

(14:56):
deadline again and I saw that.Surprised, I did see that. But
we got uber back that. Yeah, yeah, I think we did get
apparently, So that's good news foreveryone trying to go to this series.
Chuck will Savage Target Center call itbarely a Dollar General, not even a
Walmart. Glenn Taylor would disagree.He thinks it's just fine and maybe needs
a few upgrades. You'll probably ripour street meet. Yeah, they did

(15:20):
talk about that last night. Wherewill the TNT crew have their outdoor studio?
Do we know? Is that beenestablished? I don't know if they
do outdoors for the finals? Dothat conference final? They wait for those
just for the finals. I thoughtthey always did it in the arena.
But they don't always have the finalsthough, do they? No, that's
true. Yeah, I don't evenknow if this shoe do they have the
finals this year? No, you'rethey never have the finals. I'm the
idiot. So I think they kindof mixed it up because I there's always

(15:43):
those shots where they're in the arenaand people are still milling around and hanging
around during their show. I wouldassume their set's going to be where the
Bally Sports and Arts set usually is. That would be my assumption. That's
yeah, that's probably one of thoseareas. Charles Barkle would probably turn on
local, the local sports station tosee what they're talking about, only to
hear Dan talking about politics and getany apparently Common had a deep lawnmower discussion

(16:07):
or something today. That could beyou'll complain the Minnesota and smile too much
and hold the door for him toooften. Lots of dirty, homeless people
and hippies that are just as dirty. That's clements. That's I don't think
that's a little special. That's alittle aggressive there. It was just in
Denver, a lot of ganja,a lot of maui wawe. Yeah,

(16:32):
but that's not atypical. I mean, how about the smells. Yeah,
but that's every city. Now,Barkley would complain is the most about the
most about his favorite selfie spot,the stone Arch Bridge being closed. What
that was going to be doing?In same poll, there's no reason for
him to have to go to sink, so let's be serious. Yeah,
bike paths thrown out there. Thatwas the low hanging fruit. I took
it immediately. Yeah, I'm notsure of it, but I didn't get

(16:53):
you'll complain it's the Mall of Americais too big and he can't find anything.
I don't I guess says he'll notget anywhere near the mall of hysteria.
Do you think? I don't know. I remember seeing him in the
city Center mall. So it's goingto be in the sixties, is that
what? Because somebody said if he'llhe'll rip the weather if we're only in
the sixties. Problem is it's goingto rain tomorrow, that's my concerning It's

(17:14):
going to rain a little bit Wednesday, perhaps Thursday is Sunday in seventy five,
he'll probably be an interlocking with Luigi. I got Barkley out here today.
You know Louis is gonna get involved. Impossible if he's not already.
So I think before the game,I tweeted, did I tweet one oh
six ninety nine wolves or one Ofour ninety nine. I'm mad at myself

(17:37):
because that's pretty close. But obviouslyno one got to one hundred. It
was it ninety eight ninety ninety eightninety and I actually considered, I go,
well, maybe this game ain't gonnago into the hundreds at all,
so we'll get it. We'll geta little bit over to the uh closest.
So I did feel pretty good aboutthat. Interestingly, I mean,
I think the entire T and Tcrew did pick. I know Barkley obviously

(17:59):
picked her. Kenny, you couldtell, seemed to be equivocating more and
I don't remember does any make apick? He does? I think he
picked tender at home. Oh hedid, and I think it was split.
It was a split decision. Yeah, and wor shock. I don't
know what he's up to. Isthere anything mysterious about this? That's a
key time. Yeah. He's beenkind of in and out the last few

(18:21):
weeks. I know, and Idon't like it because I do think he
matters. And did you see thenote? It's official? Yeah, we'll
save it for a little bit latermore day day. That's probably what you
have to brace for more than whatCharles is going to say about it.
Well, that's what I want.We need to have a deep discussion heart
that we will. We will wehandle it as Minnesotan's here's another possible Charles

(18:44):
complaint to many damn white people,as Chris Rock says, Prince and Kirby
Pucket. Yeah, very very possible. All right, We've got Johnny athletic
in about an hour, and onthe other side of a very short break,
we've got point guard Mike Conley's andwe're holding beyond the arc against court

(19:08):
right hand at dribble drive stop.Now he's doubled for KCP Towns with it
out of McDaniels to the corner.Coffy lets him ry and berries it.
Six boy game. It's a fifteento one Timberwolves run here. Midway through
the third, we've got ourselves agame. Here's hand off the un Christian
brown watching and so is Yoki.Now Yoki's backs away, why sets the

(19:30):
high screen? He zips it lefsize Conley comes down with a tough catch.
He's got it against Jamal Murry's tryingto free himself, rise up of
the triple and rains it at theshock block buzzer, and Mike turns over
to the Wolves fence and says,yeah, three fingers down. Timberwolves are
up seventy five to seventy two.The elation at Elevation's pretty good too.

(19:52):
The elation at Elevation seven oh one. Guy Dan Charles is a flaming liberal
and hates Trump like you do.He will come on your show. We
should maybe lead with that. Maybewe do. Yeah, but look,

(20:14):
I can turn political as hell ifit'll help us get Charles Barkley. Huh,
how to play the hits? Yeah, we got to do what we
can do. I mean, Iif not now when we've talked about having
him on for years, but thismight be the best shot. Obviously local
you know TV station. He's goingto be in town. He doesn't I

(20:34):
don't think. I don't think heneeds the pub. He's okay there,
but who's to say might work out. We expect a phone call any minute
from Mike Conley, the triumphant Timberwolvespoint guard, who you just heard well,
he certainly heard part of Alan Horton'shighlight reel from last night's ball games.

(20:56):
We expect him any minute. RatchewanBrian Cafe in text line open six
four six eighty six. John Krasinski, who was there in Denver as well
last night, will join in aboutone hour. We've got a lot of
good stuff planned this week. KevinHarlan very good shot. Michael Wilbond's going
to join us before the week isdone. I'm sure we'll play the hits.
That'll include another visit with Sam Mitchell. I'm sure Craiger's will be back

(21:21):
with us as well, Craig Kilbourneand I maybe even some new guests as
well to be part of the conversation. Mike Conley joins US now via the
Connectico Water Systems hotline. Mike,thanks for joining as always, and congratulations
on reaching the conference finals. Thankyou, thank you very much. So

(21:42):
take me back. I don't wantto go back eventually, I want to
talk about halftime, but take meback to the end of game five,
because this is what I heard frompeople who were there. There were people
I who observed the team after thegame or late in the game and felt
like the body language didn't look promising, that it looked like okay, maybe

(22:07):
not that you were defeated, butthat something was off a little bit and
then maybe even some doubts had creptin. Are people or then were people
reading too much into it? Oryou've got a good you know, you
got your finger on the pulse ofthis team. What was the mood like
immediately or maybe in the minutes aftergame five when you guys fall down three

(22:30):
games to two. Yeah, Ithink just you know, normal frustrations,
you know, when you lose toa team three times in a row,
and especially having started the series theway we did, when you lose like
that, it's frustrating. But Ithink that guys were never in a state
where or a space where they were, you know, doubting what we are

(22:53):
capable of doing. I think,you know, part of that, even
being with me being out in gamefive, was understanding that, hey,
you know, we might not wingame five, but we plan on winning
games six and seven. I guessthat's where our minds were. And if
we weren't able to steal game five, so never really, you know,

(23:14):
looked at across the locker room andthought that there was any doubt in there.
Six. There was a lot oftalk after six about a reel of
highlights that apparently Finchy showed Anthony talkedabout it after the game. I think
you did as well. And itwas interesting because you know, you guys
are almost of different generations. Obviouslyyou and Anthony sharing the same locker room,

(23:38):
and so I was fascinated by thefact that almost two different generational players
are players from two different generations.Both seemed to feel like that was really
effective. Look back on that andtell me what you think that ultimately did.
Yeah, honestly, you know forme that you said two different generations.

(24:02):
For me, it doesn't really likeI don't really care. But but
for I know, for our youngguys, and you know the way things
can be viewed for them, andyou see your positive highlights. You see
you know, the good that you'vedone, all the work that you've kind
of put in, you know,the games where we were hounding on defense

(24:23):
and getting stills and getting Alue dunks, and just the excitement from you know,
our fans and our arena all builtinto that video. You get,
you know, a little burst energy, you get a little burst of like
confidence and the fact that you know, this is who we are, this
is who we've been, this iswhy we're in this this and never in
so just kind of getting back tothat state. And I think that those

(24:45):
videos and you know, you havethose kind of moments where you can kind
of help bring you back to thatmindset as opposed to worrying about how you
might have been playing lately, oryou might have been, you know,
in a slump or individually, justwhatever you're dealing with, you can kind
of hang back to that those momentsthat you know you're watching on that film.

(25:06):
So for you, the positivity youexpressed about it had more to do
with the impact you thought it wasit had on the younger players. You're
the veteran guy. You've been througha million wars, so it wasn't necessarily
that it inspired you. There wasmore what you thought it could do for
younger players. Is that the keyto it? Yeah? I think so.
I think that they really just tookto it. And for me,

(25:30):
I kind of knew once the videostarted. I'd probably seen like twenty thirty
of those videos before it. Iknew, you know, at some point
it was going to come out,and yeah, but you know, the
guys really really liked it. Yousaid after the game last night that you
wanted the team to better perhaps understandwhat the hell they had done, And

(25:51):
again I thought it was it wasa good veteran moment because it's a lot
of what we've talked about the firsthour of the show today. Go back
to games and you're down nine totwo, and over the next forty one
minutes you outscore Denver one twelve tofifty five. And then game seven,
you're down twenty fifty eight to thirtyeight, and you then outscore them fifty

(26:15):
four to twenty four, thirty points. There. This is rarefied air.
Do you think your teammates do theyfully appreciate exactly how unusual not just winning,
but winning this way is in thepostseason? Yeah, I said,
we have a team that we don'tknow any better as far as the whole

(26:38):
sum of the team. We don'tknow exactly what we're doing as far as
accomplishments so far in this postseason,Like you said, it's not something that
you see every day. You know, being able to build big leis like
that and even come back from indeficits and you know, big games and
against great teams. So you know, as part of our maybe that's part

(27:02):
of our superpower. We just don'tknow any better. We don't have the
history to be worried looking up atthe scoreboard and seeing that we're down twenty
and this doesn't look good, youknow, it's that it's like, hey,
we're going to keep our head downand keep working and keep keep being
aggressive, and that's what's been workingfor so I think our guys just have
been locked in even you know,throughout the good and the bad of the

(27:26):
series and through the playoffs. Youguys were down fifteen, still down fifty
nine to forty three with a littleless than eight minutes to go in the
third, and then you score ten. The team scores ten in a row.
You punctuate that by hitting a threepointer with five forty eight to go,
So now it's a ballgame. Nowit's fifty nine fifty three. How

(27:48):
essential is that stretch because we've talkedabout all the heroics in the fourth quarter
from several individuals, but you gotto get the game back to being a
game, right And to me,that was slow, but it was steady,
and it was a combination of justenough offense and good defense, but

(28:08):
even better defensive rebounding because in thatstretch, Denver, you guys got every
defensive rebound. In fact, yougot one of them as well, and
to me, that was none ofthe rest happens unless you bring the game
back to you. Yeah, itwas a very important stretch for us.
It was It's exactly what we needed. You needed to have that run early

(28:30):
mid third. That gives your teamthat hope and you know, shows your
you know, the guys on thebench and the crowd and everybody that we're
not going away, that we're righthere, this is the ballgame, and
more importantly, shows the you know, shows the nuggets that you know,
you don't mess up, don't turnit over. It might be you know,
knocking on the door. It mightbe one point game here at three

(28:52):
point game. You never know,so and maybe it puts a little bit
of pressure on them. So forus to make that run when we did,
and start doing the little things throughoutthat point in the game. You
talked about defensive rebounding, you talkedabout pushing the tempo, getting stills,
getting you know, layups and easybuckets and timely threes like all that stuff

(29:15):
was super important for us, andwe just put it all together at the
right time. What was Finshi's messageto you guys at halftime honestly was to
you know, he continued to saythis over and over again, that our
best basketball is going to beat theirbest basketball, and we hadn't played that.
In the first half. We wereplaying our best basketball. We weren't

(29:37):
doing the small things that lead tobig wins. And for us, it
was just like trying to relax alittle bit, trying to relax and make
the right reads, make the rightplays, make them on time. We
talked about this all year long,but that's what what we are when we
play to our best any night,where we can be better than any team.
And that's what we needed. Thateffort in that third quarter and fourth

(30:02):
quarter, and you know, hewas able to get that out of us.
What was your personal message, ifany, to Anthony Edwards on a
night where obviously he was struggling.Well, he ended up, you know,
I think six for twenty four forthe game, but was especially early
having difficulty even getting shots off andmaking shots. What was your message to
him? Man, I really didn'thave to give him any messages. I

(30:22):
looked at him one time and Isaid, I guess I don't have to
say nothing to you, all right, dang, all right, you don't
got to say that to me,I'm gonna keep shooting. I'm gonna keep
you know, being aggressive, andI said, that's what we need.
We need to be aggressive means youcontinue to do what you do. But
you know, he made a statementthat you know, on the bench that
he was going to try to takeover this game on the defensive end,

(30:44):
you know, for those possessions wherehe was just picking up and guarding and
trying to steal the ball. Andthat showed more to me than anything,
his his mindset and what he wantedto accomplish in winning and winning in a
different way than what people are normallyjust to you know, superstars winning And
that was super impressive to me tosee that, you know, he was
willing to you know, take thatside of the game and make that the

(31:08):
point that he was going to tryto be great at because his shot wasn't
falling. We've talked a lot overthe months with you about Rudy. I
don't want to get back to someRudy stuff in a minute, but I
want to talk about somebody we haven'ttalked about as much, you and I
at least, and that's Karl AnthonyTowns, who I thought the last two
games were as well as he's playedwith something significant on the line, and

(31:30):
in game six it wasn't you know, he didn't have big scoring totals.
I think he had ten in Gamesix, but it looked to me like
he played the right way. Hestayed out of foul trouble, so you
could continue to have him more likelyon Jokic. And then to me,
you know, among the starters,you guys all were struggling, I thought,
except for him in the first half. What are your observations of you

(31:52):
know, Karl Anthony Towns, theimprovements he's made and and sort of you
know, his contributions to this thing. He's been. He's been, you
know, one of the biggest keysfor us this postseason, not just this
this series, but last series aswell. You know, we talked to
him beforehand, just saying how importantyou know, him being the best cat

(32:15):
for us is for our team andwhat that means can be something different every
game, and he's been able tomorph into that at different moments, at
different times, you know, whetherthat is being the guy we throw the
ball to to force a double teamand him make the correct reads to get
us open looks and get our offensehumming, whether that's guarding their best player

(32:37):
in the post, whether that's spacingin the corner or just you know,
being a decoy here and there,or just going to work when it's time
time for you to go to work. He's had a great balance of that,
and I think that's a big reason, you know, why we're able
to have these runs and come backthe way we do is when he when
he gets going, and he's hekind of like a fel safe in a

(32:58):
sense where you just know he canget a Bucky. You know you can,
cause you know Havoc down there inthe pain. You know he stretched
the floor. But he's been superimpressive and we just need more of that,
Mike. They seemed they being denveras the game went on and you
guys are starting to get back intoit. They look tired to me.
They look beaten down as the gamewore on, which I know is something

(33:21):
you guys kind of pride yourselves on. You guys keep coming and you keep
coming, especially defensively, and theimpact that can have. What did you
see on the court, because itlooked to me almost like they were out
of gas. Yeah, honestly,we saw that we did see that.
You know, they were you know, hands on, hands on knees,
hands on hips, you know,just really kind of moved the ball up

(33:44):
a little bit slower than they werethe first half. You know, shots
for getting becoming shorter there, youknow, everything that all those signs of
fatigue were starting to show. Andthat's when we were in the huddle.
You hear every guy in our bedsaying, hey man, you know this
is our time to push it.Keep pushing and keep pushing it up and
keep pushing our aggressiveness. And youknow, because we're you know, we

(34:05):
feel like we were, you know, in shape, and they're going to
continue to play this way and that'sthe way we've played all year, and
just implement that part of our gameand we'll have a chance to win.
And and you know, luckily wewere able to scratch back into that game
because of that and then and takeit home from there. I want you
to listen. We got a soundbite. This was This was Joker after

(34:27):
game seven. He's meeting the reportersafter the game. I want you to
listen to a couple of comments hemade immediately after the game. I think
that built to beat us in someoneand then just look at the roster they
have basically to all stars too,probably the first defensive players. And he
Mike Only, who is the mostunderrated player in the NBA probably. I

(34:47):
mean, I love the guy.He's so good and you know, he
always made he's the right right evenhe didn't he didn't shoot as well.
This uh thise this was the namesee is this game? You know,
in one moment he was the leadingrebounder in the game for dems. Interesting,
great compliments there from from Joker onon you. I I you know,

(35:13):
you know your worth obviously, butit never, I assume hurts to
hear those kind of that kind ofpraise from a from a player that is,
you know, you've just knocked outof the playoffs. No, that's
I mean, that's awesome. Wehave such, you know, such respect
for for him and have always hadrespect for him a player in personally he
is one of my favorite you know, people to watch Washington as he's grown

(35:34):
throughout the league. So just superrespect for him, and and it's great
because you know, it's it's like, you know, we're kind of on
the level of like we like guyswho play the right way. You know,
Joke Joker is one of those guyswho you look at. If you
double them, he's gonna make theright read. If you don't double him,
he's going to be aggressive. AndI'm kind of like the same guy.
If you go under screen, I'mgonna shoot it. If you go

(35:55):
over it, I'm gonna make theplay for the next guy. If you
double me, I'm gonna swing it. You know, it's just a simple
game of basketball that people take forgranted, and if you're really good at
it, you can last a longtime. And I'm just you know,
completely honored, you know, obviouslyhave those kinds of comments said by a
guy like him. How do youfeel? How? What? What have
the last two games been? Like? We know, you know you missed

(36:16):
game five and and clearly this isan injury that was bothering you because you
ain't gonna miss time if you ifyou don't have to, Uh do you
get through six and seven? Areyou? Would you say you're at eighty
percent, eighty two percent, ninetypercent or even less? How tough is
it to get around on the injury? Yeah, it's it's interesting because it's

(36:37):
one of those that just you know, it's gonna linger. It's been lingering.
I probably honestly had it some versionof it since Phoenix series and just
kind of aggravated it in that game. And I can think it was Game
four and to where you know,I couldn't really walk her do anything like
that for you know, during thegame five. So the last two games

(37:00):
a lot better. I think Gamesix I was a little bit slower than
I wanted to be. Of aGame seven I started, I found a
little bit more burse not saying thatyou're playing without pain or anything. There's
still a lot of pain and stuff, but still can you know, move
within my you know, my movementsand be effective how I need to be
effective. So this next series shouldbe you know, getting these next couple

(37:22):
of days for Wednesday's game would behuge for me. Just arrest it and
you know, let some of thatswelling and pain get out of there and
and kind of recharge it up foranother series. Well, it's interesting that
you say that about, you know, game six, because it looked to
me like this is sort of theclassic case of I know how to play,
and even if I if I'm notmoving as well as I want,

(37:45):
I can still orchestrate and the offenseobviously looks so much better with you back
out there, just sort of surveying, making plays and and so forth.
What's the key to that? What'sthe is it? Is it just the
mental knowledge of what you need todo. Is it taking the pressure off
of Anthony, who the previous gameseemed to feel like he had pretty much

(38:07):
initiate obviously, and also try toworry about his offense because it looks like
you worked all the angles pretty welloffensively. Yeah, you know a lot
of it was that, you know, kind of letting guys fell back into
their roles, you know, lethim be the scorer, get our rotations
back. You know, I thinkthe team obviously looks to me to to
you know, make calls, makeplay calls when we're in tough situations,

(38:30):
and put guys in the best positions. And that's easy for me. Easiest
part of my job is finding that, you know, that that balance and
striking that balance or any game.So playing with the injury is normally pretty
you know, I'm pretty straightforward withit because I know how to control my
pace, Like I literally couldn't sprintthat game, and I knew that if

(38:51):
I just hopped into stuff, andjust you know, kind of scooted into
stuff, and you know, playedoff with two feet more than I normally
would. And and I could stillbe a fighter. I can still knock
down shots that way. I canstill get bigger rolls that way. So
yeah, so I'll limited as faras, like, you know, what
I feel like I can do.But as far as the whole team,
I think I was still able tobe assertive and aggressive at moments and help

(39:15):
the guys for what they needed.I think we call that savvy Mike,
don't we. I guess you justknow your body. How do you use
it? Yeah? For sure?Real quick on Rudy, so the reporters
go to him after the game.You know, at half you guys are
struggling, and naturally the guy whogets ripped by Charles, even though Amp

(39:39):
was obviously not shooting very well,you were not shooting very well. I
think Kat was really the only guywho's doing that much offensively is Golbert.
Charles goes after Rudy. You gottasit him. They got to go small.
Rudy's asked about it after the game, and you know, he tried
to chuckle and have fun with it, you know, I'm glad the coaches
weren't listening to what they were havingto say. You know him well,

(40:00):
though, does it? Do youthink this stuff cuts at him? Do
you think this this hurts him?That he for whatever reason, as we
talked about before, uh, evenin this series, it feels like became
for Charles and a couple other peopleon the panel, Shiel to a degree,
Draymond green Way too much. Asfar as I'm concerned, it was

(40:22):
like that was the guy. Butno matter what wasn't working, well,
it's got to be Gobert's fault.Do you think that that hurts him at
all? Honestly, I think itdoesn't anymore. I think at some point,
you know, years ago, itmight have you know, met on
his mind or something like that.But now, if anything, it maybe

(40:44):
motivates him more to continually try toshow people, you know, the opposite
of what they may be thinking.You know, that he can do X,
Y and Z that they say hecan't do and and and he lived
by that every day, by theway he works, by the way he
you know, prepares and prepares hisbody every day, takes care of himself

(41:06):
like he truthfully is really locked inon himself, and so I doubt that
you know, anything people say nowadaysreally really affects. You know, what's
he going to do on the court. I think he's self Explanatory's going to
affect the affect the game the wayhe does every night. How different I
know, you're just you know,you're coming up for air after the last
series, but not a lot oftime before the next one starts. How

(41:28):
different of a series? How differentof a challenge do you think the Mavericks
afford You guys, it's gonna bea heck of a challenge. They're obviously
led by Luca and Kyrie. Ithink they got better adding a couple of
wing defenders and two way players likePJ. PJ. Washington, you know,

(41:51):
having Gafford another another big they canroll and you know, be on
the glass stuff like that to helpwith their spacing. Andy, it's going
to be a great series of ofyou know, attrition and you know,
who can implement their will on thegames and who can implement their style in
the game. Obviously there they've alwaysbeen a great offensive team where they're playing

(42:14):
great defense as well, and we'rea team that's you know, hung our
hat on defense. And as ouroffense is going, we feel like we
can we can be anybody. Soit'll be a great matchup, be a
great test for us all because theygot they put a lot of pressure on
you with their guards and who theyhave out there, so you know,
we'll be ready to go. Anthonyalready said that Kyrie is going to be

(42:35):
his the guy he guards. Idon't know if he was giving away any
secrets there or maybe he was,you know, projecting. I have no
idea. So do you know whatyour defensive assignment is going to be.
Who's gonna end up on Luca?I have no idea at the moment.
I think that we'll find out thatout tomorrow or practice. But today we
kind of had an optional deal.But I think coaches, uh, he'll

(43:00):
have some He'll have some cooked upto where we all know where matchups are
and different options on who we canguard, and you know, different groups
that can go into the game andguard those particular players. Last item,
how where you're in the game.I don't know how you know where you
or how much you can pay attentionto this because you're trying to win the
damn game and make the comeback.But how where did you become of the

(43:22):
presence of it seemed like a prettygood number or at least a very enthusiastic
number of Timberwolves fans in Denver.Man, we recognized that that was crazy.
I'm not gonna lie. I don'tthink I've ever been in many playoff
games. We might have maybe Gameone or two, we had a similar

(43:42):
turnout down there in Denver, AndI mean it was unreal last night.
At moments during that game, youknow, you'd make a shot and it
would sound like the arena what heerupped? And I was like, whoa,
what was that? Like, that'snot supposed to be supposed to be
like booze and aws and stuff likethat. Instead it's like just complete like
cheers and chance going on, andlike it sounded like the Timberwolves. You

(44:04):
know, the fans just took overhalf the arena and new honestly that that
stuff gets us through, It getsus going, it gets us excited.
And to see that, you knowhow how well Wolf's fans travel, Wolves
fans travel and support is it meansa lot virtue also performance, my friend,
we appreciate h Like I said,the talks all year round and we
hope we can continue it through thisround into the next round as well.

(44:28):
Good luck against Dallas, but thankyou very much, Sall. We get
Mike Conley, the point guard,the adult in the room. It's almost
become a cliche. You're here nownationally all the time. We've been talking
about that for months on this club. But it's true. There's no doubt
about the value that Conley has broughtto the equation almost from the moment he

(44:51):
got here. But I think evenmore so this year than last year as
he got more acclimated. Johnny Athleticwas in Denver as well. He can
speak to what the crowd was like. Guards. He he can speak to
what the crowd was like he wasthere. Johnny will be at five thirty
Guards. He's gonna be coming upnext with the top five Wolves, Wolves,
Wolves, and apparently the twins arealso playing