May 15, 2024 • 37 mins
Trent Tucker in studio with big Wolves opinions and analysis following last night's game, what the outlook is to extend/win the series and more!
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(00:09):
Mandy and gentlemen from the fighting cityof Flint, Michigan by way of the
NYC and the City with broad Shouldersor the second city, the Windy City,
Chicago, Illinois, Ladies and gentlemen. The professor of hoopology, Trent
Tucker double T has joined nine toNoon Trent Tucker in the six five to
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one Carpets Plus Studios. So wewere we were going to do this this
chat over the phone. And you, because you're one of the kinder people
I've met in the twenty five years. I've known you all the way back
to the Dark Star days. DoubleT joining us now to talk about the
Nixon the Bulls last night in theplayoffs. You're very kind to come by,
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but I'm believing like many in mylife or many in the lives of
NFL, people follow the NFL orhave access to things. Let me guess
you're here to get some hints onthe Viking schedule. No, I always
love that onell. I know thatAaron Rodgers is going to San Francisco for
the first game of Monday Night Football, so I'm trying to see you know
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where where the Vikings I headed onthe on the second weekend. Yeah,
and we're trying and we we season, we are trying to figure out and
or hoping to figure out as travelwould go. If our Minnesota Timberwolves are
going to be making a trip tothe Mile get High City for game number
seven, which means they'd have towin game number six, and that means
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they would not lose four consecutive inthe playoffs to the World champions. So
the itinerary, I'm not gonna You'renot big prediction guy, and I don't
like to put you in that spot. What will it take for the Minnesota
Timberwolves to a win a freaking gameagainst these guys and b get to Denver
and good morning. Well, youknow, thanks for having me, Paul.
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It's going to take a perfect gamefor them to knock off this basketball
team. I think come up ingame number six, and you know,
it seems like mentally this is whatthe Wolves has gotten off track. And
start of game number five, therewas some mishaps on defense that led to
some easy baskets here or there,and I think they had to get back
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to paying attention to the small detailsand the small details. It's all about
your mental toughness and your discipline anddoing the right things all the time.
Physically, you know the Wolves areright there. You know they match up
pretty well with the Denver Nuggets.But when it comes to winning at this
time of the year, it's allabout making sure that you're disciplined and consistent
with your game plan. And andyou know, when you and I exchanged
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thoughts about what the game would belike last night, you a couple of
days ago, didn't You're not again. Trent Tucker double T Professor of Upology,
is not splashy prediction guy. He'snever going to be on Twitter saying,
you know, splashing and trying towatch the retweets or the likes.
Role you laid it out contextually andanalytically for me in that the problems they
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are having through four all are correctible. So that would be the like the
little things and stuff like that thatyou know they are correctable, but clearly
a lot of them were corrected lastnight. And the thing is, how
are the coaches getting that message overto the players and helping them stay in
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the moment. I take you backto nineteen ninety three when we played the
Phoenix Sarta and I went to ChicagoBulls and game number six, we're down
by two points with about thirty fiveforty seconds left in the ball game.
Hold down memory lane, we goand you know we're down too, and
we said we need one more stop, we need one more stop. And
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we know that Scottie Pippen is aball chaser and he loves to double team
the ball and at this time he'sgotten damn Robby won the best three points
shoes in the game at that time. You have to be disciplined. You
have to stay home. And notonly were the coaching staff preaching to him
to stay home, the entire thebench was doing the same thing. But
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somehow, some way, you know, they're going to have to get the
message across that, you know,doing the little things. It's hard work.
It's hard work, and we're goingto have to be consistent the good
we're doing the little things. Ifwe want to have a chance to get
back to Denver, I can guaranteeyou one thing. Man Denver is going
home Thursday night, will they becarrying the wolves with him? You set
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that up in the parking lot lines, Greg Okay, let me well.
Jim Peterson analyzing with Alan Horton onKFA and we played a highlight in the
montage the sky is falling by haulingOates to begin things and Jim Peterson because
he gets basket played in the NBAFinals with the Rockets. Man college teammate,
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you were what is my college?Oh? Yeah college? I was
like, when did you play forthe Rockets? I thought that was I
thought that was Granville Waiters, Danmemory Lane we Go? Is that lou
Lloyd or Trent Tucker Dahn memory Lanewe Go? But the the Jim Peterson
at the end of a you know, an end of a highlight. He's
like, right at the end ofthe game. Now, that's how you
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spend a night paraphrasing winning, acceptingyour MVP trophy and then coming out with
forty and thirteen and whatever and whatever. That's how you do it right there,
And I'm like, man, that'show you do it. But like,
how do you do him? Imean, how were they slowing him
so that like, okay, AaronGordon game one or two both maybe here
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he comes from from the wing,three point wing and it's either going to
be Jokic with a little push shotor an alley oop to Gordon for a
dunk and they got one. Nexttime they tried it, Jokic thought he
had that easy alley oop and hegot all discombobulated and threw it away because
it was taken away. Yes,why isn't that stuff taken away anymore?
Well, I say, it's payingattention to the details. You know,
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what was so good and what wasworking so well for this team in games
one and two, and I feltlike games three, four and five they
have gotten away from doing the littlething and as I mentioned before, the
little things they are hard to do. And are you committed to doing the
hard things? I last night,when he got it going in the third
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quarter, I thought, you know, before he got it going the critical
play for me that turned the tidein the third quarter, Rudy Goldbert blocks
Aaron Gordon's shot yep, and therewas a loose ball on the floor.
Aaron Gordon picks up the loose balland scores the basket to tie the game
at fifty five. They got thecrowd back into the game. That to
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me, turn turned the game overto the Denver Nuggets because there was the
small thing there. Wolves come outin the third quarter to a good start.
Goldbert gets a dunk puts them upby two or whatever. It's a
fifty five fifty three game. Youmake a good defensive play, but you
don't finish off the defensive sequence bycollecting the rebound. And when Aaron Gordon
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put that ball back in the basket, you know, things began to fall
apart right there for the Wolves.No love from the Golden State Warriors.
Through each of these three games,these losses for the Nuggets, each of
entailed significant runs in spots by theNuggets. It was twenty nine to nine
first half Game three, twenty sixto four first half in Game four,
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and you mentioned that moment in thethird take the lead gets tied up.
It was the beginning of a twentythree to eight run by the Nuggets.
Is there anything in particular that you'veseen where I'm watching my favorite squad and
quicksand and shots aren't falling and allof that. Is there anything that you've
seen that has helped expand those runsor increase the margin and the devastation within
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those runs in those three games?Well, for sure, I mean,
and that's a good observation because whena team goes on the run, you
need a run stopper, and Ifelt like whenever the Denver Nuggets have gone
on those large runs, the Wolvesplay too fast, they play too quick,
they come down and take a quickshut off for one pass. And
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that's where you have to have aplay that you can set up someone to
either take the ball to the basketor get a good shout. And if
you feel like that you don't havethat play at that time, use your
timeouts. That's why you have them. Use your time out. Slow the
pace of the game down, takethe crowd out of the game, get
your players back onto the bench,get your thoughts back together, and start
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over once again. You know,you can't allow a team to put four
or five, six and seven basketstogether, especially on their home floor.
That's Trent Tucker, professor of Hoopology, co host of In the Zone Saturdays
with Dave Syennegan of the Sultan ofSmug And the Professor was nice enough to
stop by these six five to onecarpets plus studios chat how well, and
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I'm glad you mentioned those timeouts.And I think it's it's probably in some
ways unfair to say Mike Malone versusChris Finch or Mike Malone versus Mike and
Norri given the circumstances around the kneewith Chris Finch. But it is something
I've seen a little bit of whereMike Malone is quick with that timeout.
Wolves hit a couple of buckets andMike Malone's like, no, I'm bailing
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out of this, go to TVtimeout. Let's reset this thing. Where
it did feel like at times onthe other end of things, it was
four or five six made buckets andthen the timeout is there is and this
is a dumb question and my ownanswer I could answer myself. But the
savvy of Mike Malone, it feltlike, even drawing that technical folly tried
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to get one in Game one ortwo, couldn't get it, and we
got heat pads being thrown all overthe place. But the savvy and the
and the coaching and the expertise ofMike Malone in those moments I think has
showed up a few times in thisyear. Oh for sure. I mean,
you know he's been here before,he on this. You know,
he understands the flow of the game. Man. He was not going to
allow the Wolves, you know,to make a run to get themselves back
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into this game. And that's whatgood coaching. Do you know they call
the time out, they stop theflow. Hey, let's come to the
bench. Let's that's settle down,let's regather our thoughts. Let's come out
of this timeout situation and run agood player. Let's make sure that we
get a good shot when we getourselves back onto the floor. And you
know, it comes down to thistime of the year. You know,
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coaches, you know, have tomake adjustments not only from game to game,
but within side the game as well. And when Yokis got it going
in the third quarter, at thattime, you know, call a time
out and come out with a newplan or a new look on the defensive
end, because he was making shotslast night, and I thought Rudy played
him well to contest those shots.But at this level, when a great
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player gets to go on the offensively, I don't care whether the defensive player
of the year for this year,next year, or year before that.
When a guy like Jokis gets itgoing and he's allowed to to take multiple
dribbles four, five, six dribbles, there's no one in the league that
can can defend him. That's howslow they are too. Four yeah,
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five, He's setting you up right, yeah, I mean he's setting,
yeah, because you know, hebumps you and he bangs you in all
of a sudden, he's looking,so where's the double team coming from?
Nobody is coming, and all ofa sudden, you know, he's keep
throwing that body blow boom boom,and it's four or five six, and
all of a sudden, now hegets to his spot. And by the
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time he gets to his spot,he's won you down with those body blows,
and there's no way that you candefend him. Was Bill cart right
a good offensive rebounder? Uh?Not really? Okay? Was Patrick Ewing?
Now? He was? Okay,okay, can you name an offensive
can you name a center who?Well, here's the here's here's the point.
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Is Rudy Gobert and offensive rebounding.I mean, it's like been a
common thread since he's been here,just wondering how you can be that big
and that strong and then they can. It's not it's not like getting pushed
off your spot, which does happen, but I ain't talking about that.
It's they clank off his hands.It's they're right there in his hands and
they clank off. And Okay,he's not the first center in the history
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of the NBA to become discombobulated withhis feet when he's trying to make a
dream shake or whatever. All right, that's happened before, and these people
are big. It's the offensive reboundingwith Rudy Gobert, It's just it's it's
not a good facet of his game. Would you agree, it's it's a
problem. It's a net. Who'sthe best offensive rebind that you know,
Dennis Robmin Oh ever, yeah,Dennis Robin Robinson, Charles Oakley, Yeah,
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Hassan Whiteside, just kidding. Thebest offensive rebounding center, Yeah,
Mitchell Robinson for the Knicks is thebomb. By the way, it all
ever played against was Moses Malone.Oh wow, So most of your big
guys are not really great great offensiverebounded you know, those second third chances
come from not just the guys upfront. Yeah, you know, your
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small forwards and your guards got tohave to get back in there and pick
up some some offensive rebounds as well. But you know, you get Karl
Anthony Towns that thought got off toa good start, but he got in
foul trouble. Yeah, I know, And I think nas Reed got in
foul trouble and that's where the mentalpart comes in at. But that's also
where then you would know more ofthan nus Man because you played at McNichols
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Arena, which is now ball Arena. I mean, it's the altitude when
you're over playing minutes in Denver becauseother players are in foul trouble, you're
going to get tired and wear downif you're the visiting team, and that
absolutely happened to Rudy and some Wolveslast night. Well that's where the mental
toughness comes into play, right,because Karl Anthony town has picked up a
third file against against against Jo Kischthirty five feet away from the basket.
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Oh lord, and now the shoulders, yeah, the shoulder things right,
so aportable. This is this is, this is what I'm talking about mental
toughness. You got two files.That's Anthony ed was right now is being
double teamed on every play. You'rethe one guy who's carrying us offensively and
we need you on the floor.So you have to understand time is situation
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to make sure that you don't putyourself in harm's way to set the team
back going forward throughout the rest ofthe game. You mentioned Anthony Edwards getting
double teamed. I've almost texted youwith this last night, but I wanted
to save it. Really excited topresent this to you because you played with
absolutely the best player in the historyof the NBA who was double teamed almost
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every single big play and he beatthem. Now, now, Michael and
Anthony, Anthony and Michael, youcan put the videos next to each other
with the spins and the dunks andall that. Yeah, they do look
the same. And nobody in theright mind with a twenty two year old
is saying he's Jordan. You knowhe's as good an so. But that's
popped up a little bit when youwere to So that's not nine to noon,
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as you know, and I knowit's not. You correct me if
I'm wrong here, as specifically lastnight with Edwards is he wasn't dominating the
doubles enough because he wasn't doing enoughoff the catch, isn't it catch?
And then something has to happen fastto beat these double teams because he'd like
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catch and dribble and there they are. It's how can he better beat double
teams? And how did MJ beatdouble teams? Aaron once in a while.
You got to take him off theball and run a screen for him,
you know, set him up,free him up to get some good
easy looks at the basket, becausethis is very it's very hard to beat
the double team every single time.But also I thought the Wolves made a
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mistake by continuing to run pick androll with him. Oh good, because
that allowed the Denver Nuggets now tosend that second defender. You know,
they weren't worried about anybody else.And and Mike Malone made a point that
Anthony Edwards was not going to beathim in game number five. Wow,
we didn't make that point in gamenumber five. We allowed Nicola Jokis to
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beat us in game number five.And Mike and Norry on the TV broadcast
with Jew Ludlow whatever versus Omegan orsomething, the sideline analyst, she was
talking to Mike and Norry, andhe said it early. He said,
you know, the plan was isthat not to let Jokic score, but
go ahead and get yours and weare going to stop your passing and facilitating,
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which gets so much going. Butthen they shot like sixty nine percent
and everybody was hot, you know, So that was that approach. At
least what he shared, well,what he got going, he got everybody
in File Trouble and see and allof a sudden, now the only guy
that stayed disciplined defensively last night walkerAlexander Walker, was Rudy Gobert. And
even though Yokis put up the bignumbers, Gobert was not on the bench
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in File Trouble. I mean,like I said before, yeah, I
mean when he went one way thisway and then through the right hand hook
off the top of the backboard andhit the rim but three times and went
in. I mean, you knowall you said, the new seat of
him, he may know what ato nice your night. The professor's playing
fast today? How could he onlygive us seventeen seconds to Chaka Khan?
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You mentioned Aunt in those picking rolls. Is there an element of that where
Aunt is calling his own like he'spulling them in to do that? Is
that decision making on Ant's part?Because I felt when because like a run
pass option, I like that.Well, I'm just curious because because when
he's handling, you know who's who'sinitiating the pick and roll and what's his
part in that? And then kindof dovetailing off of that. Did you
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feel at times at all last nightthat frustration was kind of setting him.
I thought he was a little passivein moments when when things weren't going his
way because of those double teams andnot being able to beat them. You
know, he was he was undecisiveof what to do. Like Paul said,
from a quick stamp, yeah,by the catch, Yeah, but
the players are caugh from the benchand they're running that pick and roll,
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So they were trying to get himin a pick and roll situation to see
if they may switch. But lastnight they came with the double team and
he hadn't seen that before. Soyou're hoping that, you know, that
Mike Conney Junior can play in gamenumber six, and that will allow Anthony
Ewis now to go back to hisnormal position. But if Mike Conney Jr.
Cannot play in game number six,you're going to see that double team
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as well. So I'm hoping thatthe Wolves coaching staff can make some adjustments
on what they're going to do offensively. But once again, you know,
the major key is that some ofyour best offensive players have to stay out
of foul trumble and they have tobe mentally tough to understand time and situation.
Karl Anthony Towns last night, youknow it should have been his game.
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It should have been his game becausewith Malone's approach to Anthony, because
when he went inside time and timeagain early in the part of the game,
no one could guard him. Butthe real tough, no toughness comes
in where he could not stay outof file trouble. He has to understand
that him being on the basketball courtis very important to this team and it's
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going to give him the best chanceto win the With the charges three consecutive,
I mean the crowd like with numberone, number two, uh,
number three, ah McNichols, Imean ball going nuts. It's okay,
So we can agree or disagree onwhether it was a charge or not,
justin holiday with good bravery taking acouple there. But what bugged me the
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most is at this level to haveyour head down when you're dribbling and to
be the metaphorical bull in a Chinacloset and absolutely reckless that that that's gonna
happen. Okay, human nature getsto win. Meanwhile, we got guys
wide open for three just waiting forthe kick, and I don't care if
it's low. Mo can't shoot threes. It's better than taking the charge and
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getting the crowd into it. Butthat whole sequence there drove me nuts,
man, and you hit here wego once again. It's the mental part
of the game. You're right,man, Were you coached by Phil Jackson
one day or something Z came in? Is an understanding time and situation.
I mean when you put the balldown on the floor, I mean you
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have to know. You have toknow if you pick up one charge,
what that second defender is going tobe there the second time. And you
have to recognize that if I makethis move, who's open? So I
got to see what's in front ofme. If the defense steps up,
and if I can draw two guys, that means that somebody else is open
with a with a quick pass,and I have to know where that pass
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should be going. Last one,I can't let you go without asking about
the knicks, man, I meanyou want to talk about professor came by
the studio unannounced. That's the ball, Absolutely it is. And and PA
was too shy to bring up IsaiahHartenstein and his twelve offensive boards last night.
But when you're watching Jalen Brunson,you know your mental part of the
game. Is there anybody tougher maybewith what they're going through with Tibbs's team
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in Madison Square Garden right now?No? I mean, you know Bronson
was a backup three years ago.Look at him. Now. Let's let's
go back to three years ago whenDallas got past Utah in the first round.
Luca Dogs was hurt. Oh wow? Who stepped up and carred the
Dallas and marriage passing Utah? Jazzthe Professor were the students I forgot about
that. Jalen Bruston. Jeez,Jalen Brunston stepped up and he showed at
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that time you know that he couldbe this type of player When he went
to the Knicks and signed that longterm contract, I didn't know that he
was he would be able to elevatethe New York Knicks like he has.
But when you talk about mental toughnessa guy, I understand the moment.
Yeah, Jalalen Bruston is that guy. That's a great, great question and
elite take because you can see itwith Jalen, even on a bad foot
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trying to go Willis reed on thething, coming back doing the best he
can. All right. So sotomorrow night, yes they can win.
They can't win. They can,but I mean, we've seen it.
It's a age old time and timeagain. As you would say, when
you're getting punched this way three consecutivetimes, it's human nature. You can
start to see and feel the offseason. I really hope that's not the
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case tomorrow night. What do youexpect. Well, I think it starts
with the head coach to Monck,the one with the bad legs hitting behind
the assistant. It starts with him. He has to deliver the message.
And maybe it starts today, right, is that this is what it's going
to take, yep, for fortyeight minutes to get this done. And
I've said this over the last fewdays, Big I'm strong. In nineteen
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ninety three, on the bus rideover to America Western at that time,
and hold on down memory lane wego, and he sat beside me on
the bus and he says, oldhead, old head, oldhead, that's what
they called you. Because I wasa veteran. Got the bomb. I've
never heard that old head, right, And he said, uh, he
said today, he said, giveme everything you got. Oh, Wow
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to you. Yeah, he said, give me everything you got, he
said, he said, we're gonnalose today. Wow, when you walk
off the floor, Wow, makesure that you left nothing on the table.
And what happened in the game andwe won by one point? And
did you and we left nothing onthe table that day? I went fourth
to four from the field. Holyout bj Armstrong. Don't leave home without
(23:19):
him. And that would also bewant to be with the understanding that you
know, like he knew with Michaeland Scottie and you know, so the
ancillary guys, the Paxton's, theCurs, the double t's, those the
worms, the grants, those arethe ones you need to have to win
championships, right, yes, nodoubt about it. And but your best
two players in the biggest game ofthe year, they have to be at
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the absolute best. And then you'rehoping a third or fourth guy can emerge,
Yes, sir, and clearly itdid so for that does sneaky little
appearance. Thank you, Minneapolis,Thank you for coming by. That was
a wonderful treat. God bless you, my friend, you and your family.
Best of luck with the hockey kids, and we'll talk sooner, right,
all right? Thanks man, yepdouble team Frent Tucker, co host
(24:04):
of in the Zone this Saturday eightam with the Sultan of Smug. We
got some money to give away rightnow. Thefanom big deck dot com want
to give you a chance to puta grand in your hand with the National
Cash Contest. Go to k Fa N dot com into the keyword bills
my one one thousand dollars in paysome bills with the keyword bills at KFA
and doc why do you build meup? Timberwolves baby, just to let
(24:44):
me down? Mess me around?And the worst of all is that we
were up to gamester zero, comingback home to the Target Center thinking nothing
was going to stop us. Nowwe bought our brooms. Are you ready
to sweep? Until we ran intothe MVP Yokic playing his MVP caliber basketb
Once again, we're running into AaronGordon playing his best basketball of his life,
and now we can't seem to doanything right up, guys, Dylan
(25:08):
here man the Wolves, it's tough. I just don't understand. Three games.
It looks like Denver has made someserious adjustments and the Wolves just are
trying to do the same thing overand over. And Denver is shut them
down. It sucks Joker MVP hasshown he's different, very different. All
(25:33):
Right, thanks guys, this,thanks for the talkbacks. I'm sure we
have more, but yeah, this, this, this, the whole thing
saddens me a little bit, youknow, like like to do at least
how sports potentially as a distraction factorcan sadden somebody in that. You know,
the relationship Nine to Noon has developedwith Chris Finch over three years where
(26:02):
you know, he's been nice enoughto join the show weekly during the season.
Likewise for Mike and Norri uh andjust and then this this this is
not the first time, you know, for me really from a fan standpoint,
and and I and we are fans, but you know, the it's
not the first time where you getto know people, you feel good for
people. They're good people and theyhaven't experienced something in quite some time.
(26:25):
And the exaltation and the jubilation asyou're shutting down Bradley Beal and there goes
Grayson Allen back to the locker roomand he's not going to return, and
you know, then you kill thechamps two in a row. Is is
you always feel good for those peopleand you want things to go well for
them, but then you know whenit when it crashes and and metaphorically burns,
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and then backs indeed are against theproverbial wall with this Thursday thing tomorrow.
I just found myself feeling bad lastnight. It's like felt bad that
it's going this way the Timberwolves,and also quite honestly because it's you know,
like Chad Abbott, the program director, he cochaat dabb In and over
(27:10):
at a double t he when hehe produced Nine to Noon when it was
pa in Dubay and Sam Cassell wasa weekly guest Latrelle's Freewell. Garnett and
Wally played with each other and wewent to the Western Conference finals. And
you know it's at that time Abbottand some others you know, weren't necessarily
(27:32):
big basketball fans. But I hadgotten here four years previous full time in
nineteen ninety eight, as you know, having lived in Los Angeles for fifteen
years, arriving there the same year. Magic Johnson was a rookie out of
Michigan State, and he won theNBA Championship playing center against the Philadelphia seventy
(27:55):
six ers. Because Kareem Abdul Jabbarhad a migraine problem. We had to
miss games in the NBA Finals.So Magic's playing center, It's playing all
five spots. So I'm bit bythe NBA in basketball in the first place
when I get here. But it'slike, it was so much fun seeing
(28:15):
Minneapolis back in the day twenty yearsago with block Ee and game Works and
Belenote and the band Boogie Wonderland withHeidi Chrissy Love is her stage name as
the front person for Boogie Wonderland,the cover band, and it was packed
to get ready for rob Weed Wallaceand the Portland Trailblazers or Dirk Novitsky and
(28:41):
Michael Finley in the Dallas Mavericks,and then playing the games and seeing Kevin
Garnett, one of the great defensiveplayers in the history of the NBA,
watching KG throttle or do his verybest to hold down Dirk Novitsky, and
then in the fourth quarter the kidfrom Wisconsin or the former Badger Michael Finley,
(29:02):
Well, now he's getting off fromthree or we're gonna put KG on
him. And that was I'm likeKG, some put hey, Michael Finley
small and he would just shut himdown. And like those were the storylines.
Then it's the timber you know,because they they they're they're different,
but they're all the same in thatit's the same game and and same style
(29:25):
of game, a lot of thesame rules. But you know, it's
not the same in that the Timberwolveshaven't been that good for twenty some odd
years and they had identity. Thisteam has identity. Anthony Edwards is an
identity piece, specifically at twenty twoyears of age. Rudy Gobert is big
identity guy. He has an identitythat that meshes with the team. So
(29:49):
but like back then, it wasthe craziest thing in the world, man.
I mean, they're winning like fiftyfive fifty eight eightish games, most
in the history of the team.But like they had in season identity with
Sunday games at Target Center at twoin the afternoon, they lose every single
one to the worst teams in theNBA, and it's it was like that
(30:10):
was a bit. Then they playedSunday in the afternoon at home, They're
heavily favored and they lose the game. It's like Spree didn't like to play
on Sunday. You know, thebou Ray games the night before morning Up
might have run a little long.They didn't care about those matinee games.
But it was a push button bitbecause the veteran nature of Sam Cassell,
who had won a championship or maybetwo of them with the Houston Rockets,
(30:33):
playing next to Vernon Maxwell with theteam Olajawan. They you know, they
they Latrell Spree, Well, Idon't think he hadn't won a championship,
but I mean Latrell had veteran savvy. Garnett had not won a championship,
veteran savvy Wally a tough as nailswith his role Anthony Peeler kid played at
Missouri, left handed shooter from three, didn't give you much off the bench,
(30:56):
but maybe the last guy on theteam you'd want to fight, just
one of those super tough minded guys. So they were just dripping with identity
and this team is not dripping withidentity. And I don't really know if
you, overall in this day andage, can have that type of identity
anymore because everything's in and out soquickly, and if somebody does put an
(31:18):
identity on you and it doesn't comewith a sponsorble, then they won't accept
the identity, but the Timberwolves haveidentity, and so they've reclaimed that.
But it just goes to prisoner ofthe moment. Terrorism with me and with
a lot of people is you seethings and they're good, and you want
(31:40):
it to be creed so badly thatyou know, you trick yourself into believing
things like the champions don't have achance to swing back, stuff like that,
and then you see it on theother side, which is this,
and then you trick yourselves into believing, well, okay, the first two
weren't true. What makes me thinkthese three are true? These three are
(32:02):
reality, These three are fact.These three are by Front Court Gospel.
It just feels they are you know, it feels they are man. And
you hear me say things more thananybody in my life. So you've heard
this a million times. Human naturegets to win. And that's in personal
(32:22):
and professional lives. It's like,Wow, I can't explain why I can't
get going. I can't explain whyI'm tired, got ten hours sleep,
blah blah blah. It tomorrow night, Tomorrow's of human nature game, man.
I mean it's I'm not going tobe one tomorrow when we crack the
mics at nine to be like,Okay, well show us your metal,
show us your fortitude, show usyour tenacity, which is what we all
(32:45):
will want, show us all ofthat, or we believe you are this
you know, not worthy. No, they're absolutely worthy of everything they have
achieved and a short period of timeagain against one of the great players in
the history of the NBA and absolutelyone of the best centers in the NBA,
(33:06):
with a group that knows how tohandle pressure and how to handle these
moments, and it's new for alot of Timberwolves. That has to be
taken into account too. But Ijust I don't know about you, mad
producer man, but I really enjoythe talker. I really enjoy the interviews.
I really enjoy the fan reaction.I really enjoy attending the games when
I get the opportunity. I've justreally really enjoyed this run and quite honestly,
(33:29):
I don't want it to end.Well. LFL reinvigorated my love for
the NBA. And I was ata couple of games of the Sacramento series
twenty years ago. Oh wow,I had a mesh kg jersey. Oh
yeah, oh yeah, A littlenineteen year old Nordo. You see,
that's where I met Josh Jumel ishe was he was sitting like three rows
in front of when he was onoh, Days of Our Lives General Hospital,
(33:52):
one of those two Okay, yeah, soap opera guys. So that's
like where I met Joshjummel. Absolutely, and I love that team. It
drifted, My interest drifted, andI became negative on the team, and
I became all in on the onall the jokes in a bit, so
lfl reinvigorates me. What I whatI've seen over the last couple of months
here with the team and a chanceand a chip and a chair in a
(34:14):
muddy West, It's been awesome.Man. How cool is it when the
city with hoops and finches the bomb? So is Mike and No. So
you know, I just look atit like this, like if things go
the wrong way tomorrow, or ifthe Wolves win and they go the wrong
way on Sunday, look at ateam, Look at a guy and Anthony
Edwards. That's ascending, you know. Now we're we're talking about a team
by the way, in the DenverNuggets. How good is it? This
(34:35):
has really become a nasty, asweet but a nasty rivalry where these teams
not only in the playoffs last year, however, the series works this year.
All the Beasts regular season matchups,and you think about where the West
is at, where dynasties are dying, and you have champs in front of
your face and a team on thecome with a young superstar like let's let's
(34:57):
soak that in a little bit.We're gonna be pissed, right fully,
so, but soak that in interms of we're talking for the next several
years, we're gonna be uh,we're gonna be talking about the Howl and
how they match up in the postseasonagainst whatever this thing is. And you'll
catch that is just unworldly. Smilefor me. I have some really good
news for you around the corner.Oh sweet, We'll be right back.
(35:22):
Gut wit ackt wait until the morrow, all right, quickly the good news.
Yeah, are you ready? Wewill all right? Russell erk Slaban
drafted kickers, saved for tomorrow andwritten out. We wonder what the hit
rate is undrafted kickers all the wayback to Sea Bass at seventeen, back
(35:44):
in the day with Roberto Aguayo andnow our new guy Will Reicherd that that
gem is saved until tomorrow. Thanksgoodness, Russell Erkslaban on the side,
thank you very much for listening.We serve you. You choose to listen
to us, and hopefully we dowell today. Thank you very much.
I'm Paul Allen Nordo is here toput a wrap on the show. And
(36:06):
thanks to Cases for presenting the nineto noon show. Wraps Bogo deals on
pizza. You got medium found andfrozen drinks on sale. It's always good
at Cases. Last night Masterclass fromthe Joker, it's worse than a monster
from the mind to Bram Stoker asa kid, he was fluffier than a
younger Al Roker willin to Bailo onthat howl called the Broker, and we
(36:27):
all love Rudy Gobert, but hewas disarmed by that lethal serbian stare.
Lack of grid on the defensive classman, does he really care to maybe
at home? Don't blame the oldpair last week man, nothing can stop
us now, Rubes hoping that stationwill out drop us like dead air.
As a listener, you can't seethat I had to move live spots as
Pa went to pee and tomorrow Makeor Break Game six Downtown of Live Again,
(36:52):
hurting those candle wicks. Hold yourhand over the flame. Please don't
let it die, and if itdoes, all good. It's back to
one Last Crime Now, What DidI Do Wrong? Podcast? Today's Paul
Allen Show. We're listening back toprevious show and interviews like going to the
iHeartRadio app or kf a n dotcom
Mandy and gentlemen from the fighting cityof Flint, Michigan by way of the
NYC and the City with broad Shouldersor the second city, the Windy City,
Chicago, Illinois, Ladies and gentlemen. The professor of hoopology, Trent
Tucker double T has joined nine toNoon Trent Tucker in the six five to
(00:32):
one Carpets Plus Studios. So wewere we were going to do this this
chat over the phone. And you, because you're one of the kinder people
I've met in the twenty five years. I've known you all the way back
to the Dark Star days. DoubleT joining us now to talk about the
Nixon the Bulls last night in theplayoffs. You're very kind to come by,
(00:55):
but I'm believing like many in mylife or many in the lives of
NFL, people follow the NFL orhave access to things. Let me guess
you're here to get some hints onthe Viking schedule. No, I always
love that onell. I know thatAaron Rodgers is going to San Francisco for
the first game of Monday Night Football, so I'm trying to see you know
(01:15):
where where the Vikings I headed onthe on the second weekend. Yeah,
and we're trying and we we season, we are trying to figure out and
or hoping to figure out as travelwould go. If our Minnesota Timberwolves are
going to be making a trip tothe Mile get High City for game number
seven, which means they'd have towin game number six, and that means
(01:38):
they would not lose four consecutive inthe playoffs to the World champions. So
the itinerary, I'm not gonna You'renot big prediction guy, and I don't
like to put you in that spot. What will it take for the Minnesota
Timberwolves to a win a freaking gameagainst these guys and b get to Denver
and good morning. Well, youknow, thanks for having me, Paul.
(01:59):
It's going to take a perfect gamefor them to knock off this basketball
team. I think come up ingame number six, and you know,
it seems like mentally this is whatthe Wolves has gotten off track. And
start of game number five, therewas some mishaps on defense that led to
some easy baskets here or there,and I think they had to get back
(02:21):
to paying attention to the small detailsand the small details. It's all about
your mental toughness and your discipline anddoing the right things all the time.
Physically, you know the Wolves areright there. You know they match up
pretty well with the Denver Nuggets.But when it comes to winning at this
time of the year, it's allabout making sure that you're disciplined and consistent
with your game plan. And andyou know, when you and I exchanged
(02:45):
thoughts about what the game would belike last night, you a couple of
days ago, didn't You're not again. Trent Tucker double T Professor of Upology,
is not splashy prediction guy. He'snever going to be on Twitter saying,
you know, splashing and trying towatch the retweets or the likes.
Role you laid it out contextually andanalytically for me in that the problems they
(03:08):
are having through four all are correctible. So that would be the like the
little things and stuff like that thatyou know they are correctable, but clearly
a lot of them were corrected lastnight. And the thing is, how
are the coaches getting that message overto the players and helping them stay in
(03:29):
the moment. I take you backto nineteen ninety three when we played the
Phoenix Sarta and I went to ChicagoBulls and game number six, we're down
by two points with about thirty fiveforty seconds left in the ball game.
Hold down memory lane, we goand you know we're down too, and
we said we need one more stop, we need one more stop. And
(03:50):
we know that Scottie Pippen is aball chaser and he loves to double team
the ball and at this time he'sgotten damn Robby won the best three points
shoes in the game at that time. You have to be disciplined. You
have to stay home. And notonly were the coaching staff preaching to him
to stay home, the entire thebench was doing the same thing. But
(04:10):
somehow, some way, you know, they're going to have to get the
message across that, you know,doing the little things. It's hard work.
It's hard work, and we're goingto have to be consistent the good
we're doing the little things. Ifwe want to have a chance to get
back to Denver, I can guaranteeyou one thing. Man Denver is going
home Thursday night, will they becarrying the wolves with him? You set
(04:34):
that up in the parking lot lines, Greg Okay, let me well.
Jim Peterson analyzing with Alan Horton onKFA and we played a highlight in the
montage the sky is falling by haulingOates to begin things and Jim Peterson because
he gets basket played in the NBAFinals with the Rockets. Man college teammate,
(04:58):
you were what is my college?Oh? Yeah college? I was
like, when did you play forthe Rockets? I thought that was I
thought that was Granville Waiters, Danmemory Lane we Go? Is that lou
Lloyd or Trent Tucker Dahn memory Lanewe Go? But the the Jim Peterson
at the end of a you know, an end of a highlight. He's
like, right at the end ofthe game. Now, that's how you
(05:21):
spend a night paraphrasing winning, acceptingyour MVP trophy and then coming out with
forty and thirteen and whatever and whatever. That's how you do it right there,
And I'm like, man, that'show you do it. But like,
how do you do him? Imean, how were they slowing him
so that like, okay, AaronGordon game one or two both maybe here
(05:43):
he comes from from the wing,three point wing and it's either going to
be Jokic with a little push shotor an alley oop to Gordon for a
dunk and they got one. Nexttime they tried it, Jokic thought he
had that easy alley oop and hegot all discombobulated and threw it away because
it was taken away. Yes,why isn't that stuff taken away anymore?
Well, I say, it's payingattention to the details. You know,
(06:04):
what was so good and what wasworking so well for this team in games
one and two, and I feltlike games three, four and five they
have gotten away from doing the littlething and as I mentioned before, the
little things they are hard to do. And are you committed to doing the
hard things? I last night,when he got it going in the third
(06:25):
quarter, I thought, you know, before he got it going the critical
play for me that turned the tidein the third quarter, Rudy Goldbert blocks
Aaron Gordon's shot yep, and therewas a loose ball on the floor.
Aaron Gordon picks up the loose balland scores the basket to tie the game
at fifty five. They got thecrowd back into the game. That to
(06:46):
me, turn turned the game overto the Denver Nuggets because there was the
small thing there. Wolves come outin the third quarter to a good start.
Goldbert gets a dunk puts them upby two or whatever. It's a
fifty five fifty three game. Youmake a good defensive play, but you
don't finish off the defensive sequence bycollecting the rebound. And when Aaron Gordon
(07:09):
put that ball back in the basket, you know, things began to fall
apart right there for the Wolves.No love from the Golden State Warriors.
Through each of these three games,these losses for the Nuggets, each of
entailed significant runs in spots by theNuggets. It was twenty nine to nine
first half Game three, twenty sixto four first half in Game four,
(07:30):
and you mentioned that moment in thethird take the lead gets tied up.
It was the beginning of a twentythree to eight run by the Nuggets.
Is there anything in particular that you'veseen where I'm watching my favorite squad and
quicksand and shots aren't falling and allof that. Is there anything that you've
seen that has helped expand those runsor increase the margin and the devastation within
(07:55):
those runs in those three games?Well, for sure, I mean,
and that's a good observation because whena team goes on the run, you
need a run stopper, and Ifelt like whenever the Denver Nuggets have gone
on those large runs, the Wolvesplay too fast, they play too quick,
they come down and take a quickshut off for one pass. And
(08:16):
that's where you have to have aplay that you can set up someone to
either take the ball to the basketor get a good shout. And if
you feel like that you don't havethat play at that time, use your
timeouts. That's why you have them. Use your time out. Slow the
pace of the game down, takethe crowd out of the game, get
your players back onto the bench,get your thoughts back together, and start
(08:39):
over once again. You know,you can't allow a team to put four
or five, six and seven basketstogether, especially on their home floor.
That's Trent Tucker, professor of Hoopology, co host of In the Zone Saturdays
with Dave Syennegan of the Sultan ofSmug And the Professor was nice enough to
stop by these six five to onecarpets plus studios chat how well, and
(09:01):
I'm glad you mentioned those timeouts.And I think it's it's probably in some
ways unfair to say Mike Malone versusChris Finch or Mike Malone versus Mike and
Norri given the circumstances around the kneewith Chris Finch. But it is something
I've seen a little bit of whereMike Malone is quick with that timeout.
Wolves hit a couple of buckets andMike Malone's like, no, I'm bailing
(09:24):
out of this, go to TVtimeout. Let's reset this thing. Where
it did feel like at times onthe other end of things, it was
four or five six made buckets andthen the timeout is there is and this
is a dumb question and my ownanswer I could answer myself. But the
savvy of Mike Malone, it feltlike, even drawing that technical folly tried
(09:45):
to get one in Game one ortwo, couldn't get it, and we
got heat pads being thrown all overthe place. But the savvy and the
and the coaching and the expertise ofMike Malone in those moments I think has
showed up a few times in thisyear. Oh for sure. I mean,
you know he's been here before,he on this. You know,
he understands the flow of the game. Man. He was not going to
allow the Wolves, you know,to make a run to get themselves back
(10:07):
into this game. And that's whatgood coaching. Do you know they call
the time out, they stop theflow. Hey, let's come to the
bench. Let's that's settle down,let's regather our thoughts. Let's come out
of this timeout situation and run agood player. Let's make sure that we
get a good shot when we getourselves back onto the floor. And you
know, it comes down to thistime of the year. You know,
(10:28):
coaches, you know, have tomake adjustments not only from game to game,
but within side the game as well. And when Yokis got it going
in the third quarter, at thattime, you know, call a time
out and come out with a newplan or a new look on the defensive
end, because he was making shotslast night, and I thought Rudy played
him well to contest those shots.But at this level, when a great
(10:52):
player gets to go on the offensively, I don't care whether the defensive player
of the year for this year,next year, or year before that.
When a guy like Jokis gets itgoing and he's allowed to to take multiple
dribbles four, five, six dribbles, there's no one in the league that
can can defend him. That's howslow they are too. Four yeah,
(11:15):
five, He's setting you up right, yeah, I mean he's setting,
yeah, because you know, hebumps you and he bangs you in all
of a sudden, he's looking,so where's the double team coming from?
Nobody is coming, and all ofa sudden, you know, he's keep
throwing that body blow boom boom,and it's four or five six, and
all of a sudden, now hegets to his spot. And by the
(11:35):
time he gets to his spot,he's won you down with those body blows,
and there's no way that you candefend him. Was Bill cart right
a good offensive rebounder? Uh?Not really? Okay? Was Patrick Ewing?
Now? He was? Okay,okay, can you name an offensive
can you name a center who?Well, here's the here's here's the point.
(11:56):
Is Rudy Gobert and offensive rebounding.I mean, it's like been a
common thread since he's been here,just wondering how you can be that big
and that strong and then they can. It's not it's not like getting pushed
off your spot, which does happen, but I ain't talking about that.
It's they clank off his hands.It's they're right there in his hands and
they clank off. And Okay,he's not the first center in the history
(12:20):
of the NBA to become discombobulated withhis feet when he's trying to make a
dream shake or whatever. All right, that's happened before, and these people
are big. It's the offensive reboundingwith Rudy Gobert, It's just it's it's
not a good facet of his game. Would you agree, it's it's a
problem. It's a net. Who'sthe best offensive rebind that you know,
Dennis Robmin Oh ever, yeah,Dennis Robin Robinson, Charles Oakley, Yeah,
(12:46):
Hassan Whiteside, just kidding. Thebest offensive rebounding center, Yeah,
Mitchell Robinson for the Knicks is thebomb. By the way, it all
ever played against was Moses Malone.Oh wow, So most of your big
guys are not really great great offensiverebounded you know, those second third chances
come from not just the guys upfront. Yeah, you know, your
(13:07):
small forwards and your guards got tohave to get back in there and pick
up some some offensive rebounds as well. But you know, you get Karl
Anthony Towns that thought got off toa good start, but he got in
foul trouble. Yeah, I know, And I think nas Reed got in
foul trouble and that's where the mentalpart comes in at. But that's also
where then you would know more ofthan nus Man because you played at McNichols
(13:28):
Arena, which is now ball Arena. I mean, it's the altitude when
you're over playing minutes in Denver becauseother players are in foul trouble, you're
going to get tired and wear downif you're the visiting team, and that
absolutely happened to Rudy and some Wolveslast night. Well that's where the mental
toughness comes into play, right,because Karl Anthony town has picked up a
third file against against against Jo Kischthirty five feet away from the basket.
(13:56):
Oh lord, and now the shoulders, yeah, the shoulder things right,
so aportable. This is this is, this is what I'm talking about mental
toughness. You got two files.That's Anthony ed was right now is being
double teamed on every play. You'rethe one guy who's carrying us offensively and
we need you on the floor.So you have to understand time is situation
(14:16):
to make sure that you don't putyourself in harm's way to set the team
back going forward throughout the rest ofthe game. You mentioned Anthony Edwards getting
double teamed. I've almost texted youwith this last night, but I wanted
to save it. Really excited topresent this to you because you played with
absolutely the best player in the historyof the NBA who was double teamed almost
(14:39):
every single big play and he beatthem. Now, now, Michael and
Anthony, Anthony and Michael, youcan put the videos next to each other
with the spins and the dunks andall that. Yeah, they do look
the same. And nobody in theright mind with a twenty two year old
is saying he's Jordan. You knowhe's as good an so. But that's
popped up a little bit when youwere to So that's not nine to noon,
(15:01):
as you know, and I knowit's not. You correct me if
I'm wrong here, as specifically lastnight with Edwards is he wasn't dominating the
doubles enough because he wasn't doing enoughoff the catch, isn't it catch?
And then something has to happen fastto beat these double teams because he'd like
(15:22):
catch and dribble and there they are. It's how can he better beat double
teams? And how did MJ beatdouble teams? Aaron once in a while.
You got to take him off theball and run a screen for him,
you know, set him up,free him up to get some good
easy looks at the basket, becausethis is very it's very hard to beat
the double team every single time.But also I thought the Wolves made a
(15:43):
mistake by continuing to run pick androll with him. Oh good, because
that allowed the Denver Nuggets now tosend that second defender. You know,
they weren't worried about anybody else.And and Mike Malone made a point that
Anthony Edwards was not going to beathim in game number five. Wow,
we didn't make that point in gamenumber five. We allowed Nicola Jokis to
(16:07):
beat us in game number five.And Mike and Norry on the TV broadcast
with Jew Ludlow whatever versus Omegan orsomething, the sideline analyst, she was
talking to Mike and Norry, andhe said it early. He said,
you know, the plan was isthat not to let Jokic score, but
go ahead and get yours and weare going to stop your passing and facilitating,
(16:32):
which gets so much going. Butthen they shot like sixty nine percent
and everybody was hot, you know, So that was that approach. At
least what he shared, well,what he got going, he got everybody
in File Trouble and see and allof a sudden, now the only guy
that stayed disciplined defensively last night walkerAlexander Walker, was Rudy Gobert. And
even though Yokis put up the bignumbers, Gobert was not on the bench
(16:56):
in File Trouble. I mean,like I said before, yeah, I
mean when he went one way thisway and then through the right hand hook
off the top of the backboard andhit the rim but three times and went
in. I mean, you knowall you said, the new seat of
him, he may know what ato nice your night. The professor's playing
fast today? How could he onlygive us seventeen seconds to Chaka Khan?
(17:19):
You mentioned Aunt in those picking rolls. Is there an element of that where
Aunt is calling his own like he'spulling them in to do that? Is
that decision making on Ant's part?Because I felt when because like a run
pass option, I like that.Well, I'm just curious because because when
he's handling, you know who's who'sinitiating the pick and roll and what's his
part in that? And then kindof dovetailing off of that. Did you
(17:41):
feel at times at all last nightthat frustration was kind of setting him.
I thought he was a little passivein moments when when things weren't going his
way because of those double teams andnot being able to beat them. You
know, he was he was undecisiveof what to do. Like Paul said,
from a quick stamp, yeah,by the catch, Yeah, but
the players are caugh from the benchand they're running that pick and roll,
(18:03):
So they were trying to get himin a pick and roll situation to see
if they may switch. But lastnight they came with the double team and
he hadn't seen that before. Soyou're hoping that, you know, that
Mike Conney Junior can play in gamenumber six, and that will allow Anthony
Ewis now to go back to hisnormal position. But if Mike Conney Jr.
Cannot play in game number six,you're going to see that double team
(18:25):
as well. So I'm hoping thatthe Wolves coaching staff can make some adjustments
on what they're going to do offensively. But once again, you know,
the major key is that some ofyour best offensive players have to stay out
of foul trumble and they have tobe mentally tough to understand time and situation.
Karl Anthony Towns last night, youknow it should have been his game.
(18:48):
It should have been his game becausewith Malone's approach to Anthony, because
when he went inside time and timeagain early in the part of the game,
no one could guard him. Butthe real tough, no toughness comes
in where he could not stay outof file trouble. He has to understand
that him being on the basketball courtis very important to this team and it's
(19:10):
going to give him the best chanceto win the With the charges three consecutive,
I mean the crowd like with numberone, number two, uh,
number three, ah McNichols, Imean ball going nuts. It's okay,
So we can agree or disagree onwhether it was a charge or not,
justin holiday with good bravery taking acouple there. But what bugged me the
(19:33):
most is at this level to haveyour head down when you're dribbling and to
be the metaphorical bull in a Chinacloset and absolutely reckless that that that's gonna
happen. Okay, human nature getsto win. Meanwhile, we got guys
wide open for three just waiting forthe kick, and I don't care if
it's low. Mo can't shoot threes. It's better than taking the charge and
(19:55):
getting the crowd into it. Butthat whole sequence there drove me nuts,
man, and you hit here wego once again. It's the mental part
of the game. You're right,man, Were you coached by Phil Jackson
one day or something Z came in? Is an understanding time and situation.
I mean when you put the balldown on the floor, I mean you
(20:15):
have to know. You have toknow if you pick up one charge,
what that second defender is going tobe there the second time. And you
have to recognize that if I makethis move, who's open? So I
got to see what's in front ofme. If the defense steps up,
and if I can draw two guys, that means that somebody else is open
with a with a quick pass,and I have to know where that pass
(20:36):
should be going. Last one,I can't let you go without asking about
the knicks, man, I meanyou want to talk about professor came by
the studio unannounced. That's the ball, Absolutely it is. And and PA
was too shy to bring up IsaiahHartenstein and his twelve offensive boards last night.
But when you're watching Jalen Brunson,you know your mental part of the
game. Is there anybody tougher maybewith what they're going through with Tibbs's team
(21:00):
in Madison Square Garden right now?No? I mean, you know Bronson
was a backup three years ago.Look at him. Now. Let's let's
go back to three years ago whenDallas got past Utah in the first round.
Luca Dogs was hurt. Oh wow? Who stepped up and carred the
Dallas and marriage passing Utah? Jazzthe Professor were the students I forgot about
that. Jalen Bruston. Jeez,Jalen Brunston stepped up and he showed at
(21:25):
that time you know that he couldbe this type of player When he went
to the Knicks and signed that longterm contract, I didn't know that he
was he would be able to elevatethe New York Knicks like he has.
But when you talk about mental toughnessa guy, I understand the moment.
Yeah, Jalalen Bruston is that guy. That's a great, great question and
elite take because you can see itwith Jalen, even on a bad foot
(21:48):
trying to go Willis reed on thething, coming back doing the best he
can. All right. So sotomorrow night, yes they can win.
They can't win. They can,but I mean, we've seen it.
It's a age old time and timeagain. As you would say, when
you're getting punched this way three consecutivetimes, it's human nature. You can
start to see and feel the offseason. I really hope that's not the
(22:11):
case tomorrow night. What do youexpect. Well, I think it starts
with the head coach to Monck,the one with the bad legs hitting behind
the assistant. It starts with him. He has to deliver the message.
And maybe it starts today, right, is that this is what it's going
to take, yep, for fortyeight minutes to get this done. And
I've said this over the last fewdays, Big I'm strong. In nineteen
(22:34):
ninety three, on the bus rideover to America Western at that time,
and hold on down memory lane wego, and he sat beside me on
the bus and he says, oldhead, old head, oldhead, that's what
they called you. Because I wasa veteran. Got the bomb. I've
never heard that old head, right, And he said, uh, he
said today, he said, giveme everything you got. Oh, Wow
(22:56):
to you. Yeah, he said, give me everything you got, he
said, he said, we're gonnalose today. Wow, when you walk
off the floor, Wow, makesure that you left nothing on the table.
And what happened in the game andwe won by one point? And
did you and we left nothing onthe table that day? I went fourth
to four from the field. Holyout bj Armstrong. Don't leave home without
(23:19):
him. And that would also bewant to be with the understanding that you
know, like he knew with Michaeland Scottie and you know, so the
ancillary guys, the Paxton's, theCurs, the double t's, those the
worms, the grants, those arethe ones you need to have to win
championships, right, yes, nodoubt about it. And but your best
two players in the biggest game ofthe year, they have to be at
(23:42):
the absolute best. And then you'rehoping a third or fourth guy can emerge,
Yes, sir, and clearly itdid so for that does sneaky little
appearance. Thank you, Minneapolis,Thank you for coming by. That was
a wonderful treat. God bless you, my friend, you and your family.
Best of luck with the hockey kids, and we'll talk sooner, right,
all right? Thanks man, yepdouble team Frent Tucker, co host
(24:04):
of in the Zone this Saturday eightam with the Sultan of Smug. We
got some money to give away rightnow. Thefanom big deck dot com want
to give you a chance to puta grand in your hand with the National
Cash Contest. Go to k Fa N dot com into the keyword bills
my one one thousand dollars in paysome bills with the keyword bills at KFA
and doc why do you build meup? Timberwolves baby, just to let
(24:44):
me down? Mess me around?And the worst of all is that we
were up to gamester zero, comingback home to the Target Center thinking nothing
was going to stop us. Nowwe bought our brooms. Are you ready
to sweep? Until we ran intothe MVP Yokic playing his MVP caliber basketb
Once again, we're running into AaronGordon playing his best basketball of his life,
and now we can't seem to doanything right up, guys, Dylan
(25:08):
here man the Wolves, it's tough. I just don't understand. Three games.
It looks like Denver has made someserious adjustments and the Wolves just are
trying to do the same thing overand over. And Denver is shut them
down. It sucks Joker MVP hasshown he's different, very different. All
(25:33):
Right, thanks guys, this,thanks for the talkbacks. I'm sure we
have more, but yeah, this, this, this, the whole thing
saddens me a little bit, youknow, like like to do at least
how sports potentially as a distraction factorcan sadden somebody in that. You know,
the relationship Nine to Noon has developedwith Chris Finch over three years where
(26:02):
you know, he's been nice enoughto join the show weekly during the season.
Likewise for Mike and Norri uh andjust and then this this this is
not the first time, you know, for me really from a fan standpoint,
and and I and we are fans, but you know, the it's
not the first time where you getto know people, you feel good for
people. They're good people and theyhaven't experienced something in quite some time.
(26:25):
And the exaltation and the jubilation asyou're shutting down Bradley Beal and there goes
Grayson Allen back to the locker roomand he's not going to return, and
you know, then you kill thechamps two in a row. Is is
you always feel good for those peopleand you want things to go well for
them, but then you know whenit when it crashes and and metaphorically burns,
(26:48):
and then backs indeed are against theproverbial wall with this Thursday thing tomorrow.
I just found myself feeling bad lastnight. It's like felt bad that
it's going this way the Timberwolves,and also quite honestly because it's you know,
like Chad Abbott, the program director, he cochaat dabb In and over
(27:10):
at a double t he when hehe produced Nine to Noon when it was
pa in Dubay and Sam Cassell wasa weekly guest Latrelle's Freewell. Garnett and
Wally played with each other and wewent to the Western Conference finals. And
you know it's at that time Abbottand some others you know, weren't necessarily
(27:32):
big basketball fans. But I hadgotten here four years previous full time in
nineteen ninety eight, as you know, having lived in Los Angeles for fifteen
years, arriving there the same year. Magic Johnson was a rookie out of
Michigan State, and he won theNBA Championship playing center against the Philadelphia seventy
(27:55):
six ers. Because Kareem Abdul Jabbarhad a migraine problem. We had to
miss games in the NBA Finals.So Magic's playing center, It's playing all
five spots. So I'm bit bythe NBA in basketball in the first place
when I get here. But it'slike, it was so much fun seeing
(28:15):
Minneapolis back in the day twenty yearsago with block Ee and game Works and
Belenote and the band Boogie Wonderland withHeidi Chrissy Love is her stage name as
the front person for Boogie Wonderland,the cover band, and it was packed
to get ready for rob Weed Wallaceand the Portland Trailblazers or Dirk Novitsky and
(28:41):
Michael Finley in the Dallas Mavericks,and then playing the games and seeing Kevin
Garnett, one of the great defensiveplayers in the history of the NBA,
watching KG throttle or do his verybest to hold down Dirk Novitsky, and
then in the fourth quarter the kidfrom Wisconsin or the former Badger Michael Finley,
(29:02):
Well, now he's getting off fromthree or we're gonna put KG on
him. And that was I'm likeKG, some put hey, Michael Finley
small and he would just shut himdown. And like those were the storylines.
Then it's the timber you know,because they they they're they're different,
but they're all the same in thatit's the same game and and same style
(29:25):
of game, a lot of thesame rules. But you know, it's
not the same in that the Timberwolveshaven't been that good for twenty some odd
years and they had identity. Thisteam has identity. Anthony Edwards is an
identity piece, specifically at twenty twoyears of age. Rudy Gobert is big
identity guy. He has an identitythat that meshes with the team. So
(29:49):
but like back then, it wasthe craziest thing in the world, man.
I mean, they're winning like fiftyfive fifty eight eightish games, most
in the history of the team.But like they had in season identity with
Sunday games at Target Center at twoin the afternoon, they lose every single
one to the worst teams in theNBA, and it's it was like that
(30:10):
was a bit. Then they playedSunday in the afternoon at home, They're
heavily favored and they lose the game. It's like Spree didn't like to play
on Sunday. You know, thebou Ray games the night before morning Up
might have run a little long.They didn't care about those matinee games.
But it was a push button bitbecause the veteran nature of Sam Cassell,
who had won a championship or maybetwo of them with the Houston Rockets,
(30:33):
playing next to Vernon Maxwell with theteam Olajawan. They you know, they
they Latrell Spree, Well, Idon't think he hadn't won a championship,
but I mean Latrell had veteran savvy. Garnett had not won a championship,
veteran savvy Wally a tough as nailswith his role Anthony Peeler kid played at
Missouri, left handed shooter from three, didn't give you much off the bench,
(30:56):
but maybe the last guy on theteam you'd want to fight, just
one of those super tough minded guys. So they were just dripping with identity
and this team is not dripping withidentity. And I don't really know if
you, overall in this day andage, can have that type of identity
anymore because everything's in and out soquickly, and if somebody does put an
(31:18):
identity on you and it doesn't comewith a sponsorble, then they won't accept
the identity, but the Timberwolves haveidentity, and so they've reclaimed that.
But it just goes to prisoner ofthe moment. Terrorism with me and with
a lot of people is you seethings and they're good, and you want
(31:40):
it to be creed so badly thatyou know, you trick yourself into believing
things like the champions don't have achance to swing back, stuff like that,
and then you see it on theother side, which is this,
and then you trick yourselves into believing, well, okay, the first two
weren't true. What makes me thinkthese three are true? These three are
(32:02):
reality, These three are fact.These three are by Front Court Gospel.
It just feels they are you know, it feels they are man. And
you hear me say things more thananybody in my life. So you've heard
this a million times. Human naturegets to win. And that's in personal
(32:22):
and professional lives. It's like,Wow, I can't explain why I can't
get going. I can't explain whyI'm tired, got ten hours sleep,
blah blah blah. It tomorrow night, Tomorrow's of human nature game, man.
I mean it's I'm not going tobe one tomorrow when we crack the
mics at nine to be like,Okay, well show us your metal,
show us your fortitude, show usyour tenacity, which is what we all
(32:45):
will want, show us all ofthat, or we believe you are this
you know, not worthy. No, they're absolutely worthy of everything they have
achieved and a short period of timeagain against one of the great players in
the history of the NBA and absolutelyone of the best centers in the NBA,
(33:06):
with a group that knows how tohandle pressure and how to handle these
moments, and it's new for alot of Timberwolves. That has to be
taken into account too. But Ijust I don't know about you, mad
producer man, but I really enjoythe talker. I really enjoy the interviews.
I really enjoy the fan reaction.I really enjoy attending the games when
I get the opportunity. I've justreally really enjoyed this run and quite honestly,
(33:29):
I don't want it to end.Well. LFL reinvigorated my love for
the NBA. And I was ata couple of games of the Sacramento series
twenty years ago. Oh wow,I had a mesh kg jersey. Oh
yeah, oh yeah, A littlenineteen year old Nordo. You see,
that's where I met Josh Jumel ishe was he was sitting like three rows
in front of when he was onoh, Days of Our Lives General Hospital,
(33:52):
one of those two Okay, yeah, soap opera guys. So that's
like where I met Joshjummel. Absolutely, and I love that team. It
drifted, My interest drifted, andI became negative on the team, and
I became all in on the onall the jokes in a bit, so
lfl reinvigorates me. What I whatI've seen over the last couple of months
here with the team and a chanceand a chip and a chair in a
(34:14):
muddy West, It's been awesome.Man. How cool is it when the
city with hoops and finches the bomb? So is Mike and No. So
you know, I just look atit like this, like if things go
the wrong way tomorrow, or ifthe Wolves win and they go the wrong
way on Sunday, look at ateam, Look at a guy and Anthony
Edwards. That's ascending, you know. Now we're we're talking about a team
by the way, in the DenverNuggets. How good is it? This
(34:35):
has really become a nasty, asweet but a nasty rivalry where these teams
not only in the playoffs last year, however, the series works this year.
All the Beasts regular season matchups,and you think about where the West
is at, where dynasties are dying, and you have champs in front of
your face and a team on thecome with a young superstar like let's let's
(34:57):
soak that in a little bit.We're gonna be pissed, right fully,
so, but soak that in interms of we're talking for the next several
years, we're gonna be uh,we're gonna be talking about the Howl and
how they match up in the postseasonagainst whatever this thing is. And you'll
catch that is just unworldly. Smilefor me. I have some really good
news for you around the corner.Oh sweet, We'll be right back.
(35:22):
Gut wit ackt wait until the morrow, all right, quickly the good news.
Yeah, are you ready? Wewill all right? Russell erk Slaban
drafted kickers, saved for tomorrow andwritten out. We wonder what the hit
rate is undrafted kickers all the wayback to Sea Bass at seventeen, back
(35:44):
in the day with Roberto Aguayo andnow our new guy Will Reicherd that that
gem is saved until tomorrow. Thanksgoodness, Russell Erkslaban on the side,
thank you very much for listening.We serve you. You choose to listen
to us, and hopefully we dowell today. Thank you very much.
I'm Paul Allen Nordo is here toput a wrap on the show. And
(36:06):
thanks to Cases for presenting the nineto noon show. Wraps Bogo deals on
pizza. You got medium found andfrozen drinks on sale. It's always good
at Cases. Last night Masterclass fromthe Joker, it's worse than a monster
from the mind to Bram Stoker asa kid, he was fluffier than a
younger Al Roker willin to Bailo onthat howl called the Broker, and we
(36:27):
all love Rudy Gobert, but hewas disarmed by that lethal serbian stare.
Lack of grid on the defensive classman, does he really care to maybe
at home? Don't blame the oldpair last week man, nothing can stop
us now, Rubes hoping that stationwill out drop us like dead air.
As a listener, you can't seethat I had to move live spots as
Pa went to pee and tomorrow Makeor Break Game six Downtown of Live Again,
(36:52):
hurting those candle wicks. Hold yourhand over the flame. Please don't
let it die, and if itdoes, all good. It's back to
one Last Crime Now, What DidI Do Wrong? Podcast? Today's Paul
Allen Show. We're listening back toprevious show and interviews like going to the
iHeartRadio app or kf a n dotcom
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