May 19, 2025 • 36 mins
The stage is set for an electric showdown in the 2025 NBA Western Conference Finals as the Minnesota Timberwolves face off against the Oklahoma City Thunder. In this special episode of The Baseline NBA Podcast, we deliver a full breakdown and preview of what’s sure to be a hard-fought battle between two of the league’s most dynamic young teams.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the Baseline discussing the hot button topics of
the NBA. Welcome everybody her tune to the Baseline. Cali
Warrenshaw discussing the hot button topics of the NBA. Special
edition of the Baseline NBA Podcast. I mean, we were
covering the Eastern Conference Finals, so it's only right and
we also have to discuss the Western Conference Finals. And
(00:24):
if people have been paying attention and saw the Oklahoma
City Thunder dismantle the Denver Nuggets to advance to their
first conference finals, I believe since the Durant Westbrook Harden era,
I'm seeing OKC fans are uber happy about it, and
it's the makings for really a surprisingly good matchup all
(00:45):
things considered, And so we would be remiss if we
didn't take the opportunity to kind of highlight some of
the things that we're looking for in this exciting matchup
between the Thunder and the Minnesota Timberwolves. So, as always,
let me go ahead, roll out the red carpet to
my right hand man Www. Dot Shaw Sports Done Net,
Big Ahuna, PNC, my man the warren Shaw repping out
of Fort Lauda of Florida. What's good? Shall how are
(01:06):
you holding it together? Now that we have the final
four set? It's exciting times.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
And I think before that I was watching ESPN, you know,
watching the pregame show and just really interesting to kind
of see that the teams the six best teams to
make the finals in terms of odds, five of them
had already been out. So I had okayc ended up losing.
None of the top six teams with the best odds,
if you will, would have got in. But okay, see
gets done in resounding fashion. And now we have a great,
(01:31):
great set here of the final for the NBA.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yeah, And I think I want to start with that,
right shaw, The Oklahoma City Thunder really had a tough
out with the Denver Nuggets, and we'll, you know, obviously
do our coveted autopsy report and we'll cover the Denver
Nuggets in that next edition of our autopsy report. But
I want to give credit to the Oklahoma City Thunder
because they needed this matchup and they also needed to
(01:56):
go through this fire once more. Because I think when
we look at where the remaining teams are, a lot
of them, you probably are saying luck momentum, you know, matchup,
favorable matchups, is what's going to probably catapult them to
(02:17):
this particular point, right, But the Oklahoma City Thunder has
been arguably the only team wire to wire that you
had the full throated belief I probably said that they
weren't gonna be the number one seed. I think maybe
I had somebody else touted as the number one seed,
but no doubt they were still going to be among
one of the major players and contenders. But Oklahoma City
Thunder are the only teams that are remaining to me
(02:40):
have proven by them now getting passed and exercising some
demons and ultimately beating a former NBA champion led team
in the Denver Nuggets, have validated the premise that they
should be the favored to go through and to hoist
that true. Now it's getting ahead of myself, But what
(03:02):
I'm saying is the only way I could actually say
that with confidence. If I'm someone who wants to critique
and analyze, it's because of what they had to do
to get to this point.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah, I don't disagree. I think I tweeted in the
middle of the blowouts, and the Thunder now have been
forged by fire. You know, they beat and then a
former NBA Champion. They beat the runner up presumably to
the MVP and get it done and kind of cast
away a lot of doubts, and I think specifically for
j Dubb, Jileen Williams, his ability to show up in
(03:34):
this game in a meaningful way. You saw all the
things that the reason that they got Hartenstein and Caruso, like,
all those things came into full display throughout the course
of the series and even more so in the final
two games, you know, where okay See really was really
kind of finding themselves even in the last FoST if
you will.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
So I really am a.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Thousand percent with you, you know, and maybe that giving
away a little tipping our cap in terms of how
we think the Western Conference Finals will go.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
But okay See should be.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Now the prohibitive fav after going through this fire, which
was the Denver Nuggets.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, I look at this team Shaw and you know,
they to me remind me very much of what we
saw last year from the Boston Celtics, where I don't
think anyone is questioning the offensive capabilities that they have
at their disposal, especially with a head coach like Mark daganol.
(04:25):
But again, and I think we even alluded to this
with regards to our Eastern Conference Finals previews, right, the
road to prosperity is gonna be how defensively these teams
are going to impose their will against whoever the opposition
is now. I will say this, since we're getting to
(04:47):
the previews between them and the Minnesota Timberwolves. If I'm
the Oklahoma City Thunder, I'd be very careful because while
you've proven even through the regular season that you are
the better team, the motive the Minnesota Timberwolves are on
a high. They're getting back to that defensive presence that
they exhibited that catapulted them last year to be among
(05:10):
one of the best teams in the Western Conference. And
while they struggle offensively, I keep going back to this point, shaw.
I understand that we get enamored with teams that are
you know, that are shooting the lights out and scoring
points upward of one hundred and twenty or whatever the
case may be. But all it takes is a couple
of bad games. And sometimes those bad games is not
(05:31):
just because they had cold nights. It's because of how
players matchups are getting up in them and causing a
lot of that frustration, causing those mental blocks, and you
can see that exhibited at times when you see the
Minnesota Timberwolves through the course of the regular season, and
somehow they figured out a way to exercise those demons.
Currently through the playoffs, they will do this to the
(05:54):
Oklahoma City Thunder. Like the Oklahoma City Thunder just did
this to the Denver Nuggets. The Minnesota Timberwolves are gonna
get up in the Oklahoma City Thunder's chest heirs, And
I think if you are Okay c you have to
be disciplined in your ability to know that you are
among one of the best teams defensively and that you
can equally impose your will on a team that has
(06:14):
shown offensive deficiencies through the course, even during the playoffs.
If they do that, then I think Oklahoma City will
be fine and they should basically coast through this Eastern
this Western Conference finals because I just think that they're
too deep and they have too many talented players. But again,
watch how this Minnesota Timberwolves team operates, and Chris Finch
(06:37):
very heavy kind of guy as far as how he
likes to utilize his players and utilize them to get
the matchups he likes from a defensive perspective, where most
coaches are trying to do it from an offensive perspective.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Yeah, I mean I liked what you said to close
off there.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
You know, Fitch is probably a underrated coach still in
a lot of ways, and I know he has accolades
under his belt per se, but I think it's just like,
all right, well, he kind of gets taken for granted
because the gravity of Anthony Edwards is so great when
it comes to that Minnesota trimble Wolves team say nothing,
not to say anything about the postseason that Julius Randall
specifically is having.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
But I do like this matchup right.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
I do like it for both teams because Minnesota is
probably in the space of like, well, now we're the underdogs.
You know, no one expects us to be here anyway,
and no one is gonna expect us to be okay see.
So in a lot of ways, they're gonna be playing
with a lot of house money and some someone's freedom,
but they have that internal belief I think within their
locker room.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
And on the flip side, I.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Think this is where okay See is really going to
have to, you know, kind of dig down a little
bit and not necessarily in terms of offensive versatility, but
relying on those defensive principles. Because one of the things
that we can get into here is that Minnesota, of
the playoff teams remaining, they are still the most playoffs sorry,
they're the most turnover prone of these teams. They're also
one of the better defensive teams remaining too. That hen's
(07:54):
why they're in the Final four, if you will. But
you know, okay see, is there's nobody better and there's
been nobody better turning points off of turnovers in okay see.
So that's where Minnesota is really gonna have to take
care of the care of the basketball and understanding that
the thunder don't really have a lot of They don't
have a lot of drop off.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Even when they go to their bench.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
You can say maybe offensively, but everybody who comes in
plays defense and plays defense like a dog, and that
can you know, kind of wear on Minnesota while they're
not you know, necessarily like they're shallow, but they're not
as skilled offensively. Once you kind of get into that
seventh eighth man, you know, so to speak. Sorry, that
seventh eighth man, so to speak. So that's where I
think Okac can really really try to turn the tide
of this series at some point is with their defensive
(08:34):
versatility and the fact that they have so much depth
in their defense all the way, basically for all the
eight nine guys they play.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah, and one of the things that I saw, especially
from this last game that really impressed me about dagonaal
because you know, you were just talking about Chris Finch,
I'm gonna speak about Mark Daganall and his growth process,
his maturity. I've noticed this trend. Shaw It It bothers me.
I think this goes as far back to the to
(09:00):
the Mark D'Antonio days. Okay, Mark D'Antonio would get, you know,
a really savvy to D'Antoni. I'm sorry, I said D'Antonio,
Mark D'Antoni. That's how far removed he's been. Almost can't
Mike or Mike or Mark. Mike his aliens is probably Mark.
(09:20):
You probably wish he had a you know what I'm saying,
he had a he had a twin, Yeah, exactly so.
So Mike was notorious of getting a savvy veteran player
and refused to play the guy. You know, you get
a guy you know on your roster, and I don't listen.
I understand he may not fit the I the ideal scheme,
(09:44):
but there comes a point where you have to basically
empty out the toolkit, man, when some things are just
not effective, some things are not consistent. You gotta get
that run. There's a reason why he's on the roster.
You figure out a way to use him on the roster.
One of the things that worried me a lot about
dagonal is while he has a treasure trove of talent,
(10:05):
even last year, you saw him heavily depend on the
shoulders of his starters to try to figure certain things
out and not position that team where he levies his
knowledge and his understanding of what he wants to do,
how he wants to implement so that the guys can
don't have to worry about that aspect of it. Now,
these guys have a year under their belt. But I
(10:27):
gotta tell you, man, I truly appreciate what Dagonall did
running Caruso out there and having him defend Biggs, right
like you brought him there for a reason, and you're
using him for that reason right and regardless of what
people may say or think it might compromise the flow
of the offense, He's not there to score the basketball.
(10:47):
He's there to get defensive He's there to make defensive plays. Right,
He's there for those fifty to fifty balls that other
guys have the capacity are not in a position to
be able to make. And it says something thing when
a guy like Rusa goes out there and is unafraid, unabashed,
he says, I'm gonna take the joker, I'm gonna take
the NBA three time MVP, and I'm gonna guard him up,
(11:10):
and I'm gonna I'm gonna be a pest to him.
Do you know what that says to the rest of
the guys up and down that line. It just speaks volumes.
So I you know, I say that all of that
to say, now we're now beginning to add that quote
unquote X factor the coaches, right, and and the implementation
of what they're doing and how they want to do
(11:30):
it to the to the full breadth of what we're
expecting when we get to this point of the conference finals,
because sometimes I think the desperation in them just allows
them to say, We're just gonna keep running out the
same guys. We're gonna keep running out the same plays.
We're gonna ep runnut the same systems and they don't
make adjustments. And I don't think that you're gonna get
anywhere closer to eventually winning that NBA Finals until you
(11:51):
make those necessary adjustments and you utilize the players on
your roster as what you brought them in there for.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah, I mean, I love the fact that, you know,
there's a lot of cross matching that's been happening throughout
the course of the NBA Playoffs, and we're seeing a
lot more Smalls trying to guard Biggs, And I think
your point. Even Cruso did a decent enough job on Joker,
you know here in Game seven. You know, Joker still
got to the rim a couple of times, but you know,
you just you even kind of like just want to
(12:20):
see what some of those things could look like. So
while I can see Dort guarding some Julius Randall, I
can see guarding some Anthony Edwards, but I can also
see Cruso doing the exact same thing, and then maybe
Jayalen Williams doing the exact same thing. So you know,
as long as they can stay out of foul trouble.
But that's where I think, you know, the thunder just
have more defensive versatility kind of throughout flipping it to
(12:41):
the other side though. I mean, I think Minnesota is
going to be able to do some things obviously with
with McDaniel's as well, right, and while he is obviously
the primary creator of offense, he's also rather are better defenders
on the floor. So you know, Anthony Edwards and McDaniels
trying to maybe switch turns on SGA and then maybe
you know Jadub as well too. I think those are
(13:02):
things that we're going to continue to watch kind of
throughout this Like, so we're talking a lot about the
defense in this series because I think it's where both
of these teams and it is kind of their bread
and butter at the end of the day. But that's
nothing to say about the star power that is Anthony Edwards,
that is SGA as well too. And I think you know,
we might get some some dueling, you know, with some
of those guys as well, not necessarily in the one
(13:22):
on one, you know, type of situation, but kind of
like SGA goes down to the scores and it's gonna try
to score, you know, back on the other side, we
may get a couple of moments of that too, But
I think this is going to be a fun and
exciting series throughout. One last thing, though, is I want
to kind of throw to you who do you think
wins the true battle of the biggs, right, you know,
with harn Stein and Cheded Holmgren versus Gobaar and Julius Randall.
Even when you go into the depths you know from
(13:43):
Minnesota with now as Reed, you know, playing kind of
as a stretch for as well.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
You know, who do you.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Think has the the advantage when it comes to the
front court.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
I believe the advantage will lie with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
I think the key is going to be offensive rebounding
and play repositioning. And when we return, haha, when we return,
I'm gonna give you that. And then I'm also gonna
come back to your point about the Stars finally getting
(14:14):
their moment to shine in head to head matchup between
Edwards and Sga, what that's gonna look like. And we
also have to give our predictions about who's gonna ultimately
advance out of the Western Conference to play in the
NBA Finals. So you don't want to miss it here.
Cali Warrenshaw baseline, don't go anywhere. We are back Cali
(14:47):
Warrenshaw Basline NBA podcast. We're doing our special edition of
the Western Conference preview between the Oklahoma City Thunder and
the Minnesota Timberwolves. So I was just mentioning that I
leave it the advantage between the bigs between the Thunders
Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein versus the Timberwolves Julius Randall
(15:11):
and Rudy Gobert. I give the nod to Hartenstein and
Holmgren because of their ability to offensively rebound. Okay, but
there's also something that I noticed that I truly loved
and appreciated about the level of execution that ok Se
is capable of showing you that I think can be
(15:33):
a deterrent to the Minnesota Timberwolves, especially with the style
of defense at the Timberwolves place. If you're watching this game, Shaw,
I notice a lot if home Gren and or Hartenstein
find themselves on the receiving end of an offensive rebound
and or find themselves about four or five feet just
(15:59):
below or just above the free throw line. Oka See
always had someone cutting from the baseline straight to the basket,
and there would be that nice little bounce pass because
the opposition defensively is realizing that both Homegrin and Hartenstein
are looking, you know what I'm saying, to get deeper penetration,
(16:22):
to get that easy basket or that easy bucket, and
in most cases it makes sense to probably foul them
because even though Homegren is a decent and a solid
free throw shooter as well as Hartenstein, you probably would
rather see them get to the free throw line rather
than seeing them basically again an a one or get
easy bucket. But they were running this play so many
times against the Denver Nuggets, and I would not be
(16:44):
surprised if that kind of movement that the Oklahoma City
Thunder exhibit with their wing players or even their guards
camped out in the corners, because the notion is they're
still gonna shoot it, They're gonna let it fly, but
they don't give enough respect to the fact that they
all cut to the basket with a sense of purpose.
(17:04):
And as long as those guys are distributing the basketball
the way that they've been distributing it throughout the course
of this series, they will be just fine. And they're
going to actually put the Minnesota Timberwolves front court players
or their front court tandem on their heels because now
they got to pay attention to the guys that are
cutting behind them when they should technically be in front
(17:25):
of them. I can see that.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
I mean, I think, you know, I would I would
differ only because I think there's a maybe slightly more
depth because of the Nas Reid aspect from Minnesota. So
I think schematically what you're talking about makes sense for
the OKC side, But I think you know where Minnesota
can make some hay is that nas Reed can space
the floor. If you believe Julius Randalls three point shooting
in the playoffs, well then he can also space the floor,
(17:49):
which could be problematic for Hartstein and check right because
they're not really joker plays kind of at all levels. Right,
So like the gout obviously a fair test, but I
think you know, in the times where we go be
off the floor and they're going with Randall and nas Read,
that's going to give some problems I think for Okay,
see just trying to figure out like, all right, well,
make sure can we make sure that we team get
back and rebound if both of these guys are kind
(18:10):
of spacing or whatever. If Randall's kind of drive off
the bounce and even sprang out to a nas Read
on the wing one way or the other. So this
is where I think, you know, Fitch can really try
to design some things that you know, puts Okayc's players
in action. I think Hartnstein kind of just he gets
let off right, and I don't think he's I don't
think he's a bad defender in any sitch of the imagination,
but he's not running a whole lot of various actions.
(18:32):
So you know, I can see Ant and Randall, Ant
and nas Read, you know, kind of doing that and
trying to put a hard sign in some some pick
and rolls, and then does that necessarily not negate him
to some degree, but does it limit him some throughout
the course of the series where they're forced to kind
of go with Chet more as a five, and then
you know, you know, bringing in some of their bench
guys off the bench, bringing some of their bench guys
rather to the starting lineup like Isiah Isaiah Joe or
(18:56):
you know whatever case in Wallace. Maybe they're getting more
run in some of those different lineups. So again, I
think Minnesota has some things they can play with the
try to attack okay see, but they just need to
be careful, Like even when you're running that pick and
roll that okay See's guards and their wings are there
are coming into help. They are coming in to swipe
and strip at the ball whatever, and you have to
pay attention to where Caruso is. So this is where
I think Minnesota is really not only from that trying
(19:18):
to get a hard signed in action, but this is
where that three point shooting for Minnesota is going to
become extremely impactful for them.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Offensively.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Guys are going to have to make shot in this
series because I think Okayc's gonna be like, you know what,
we don't believe you as you're trying to drive to
the rack. We'll let you know whoever out here, kind
of like fire away as long as it's not like Nasriz.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yeah, so you made some excellent points. I will say this,
and it's not really to push back but maybe accentuate
a little bit of what you're talking about. For me,
the key is gonna definitely be Julius Randall, but it's
not in the way that I think you're talking about.
I feel like Julius Randall, who to me, of all
of the bigs has the better body of work on
(19:56):
one on one situations. Now, I don't know if Chris
Finch is gonna like the idea of isolating Julius Randall
to start working you know, the Oka See front court
players and then him start playing bullyball, but you could
appreciate it because he is more likely the type of
guy to get the front court players in foul trouble right,
(20:18):
and that opens up everything for the nas reasons NAS
reads and as well too for Anthony Edwards, who obviously
he's been shooting the three ball a whole lot more.
But I don't want to only put this on Julius
Randall to do that. I just think that he is
the best equipped that he can literally get the OKAC
Thunder team in foul trouble because he has a bevy
(20:38):
of moves that he can play below the below the
rim that can force that action. But I think it
comes down to equally, uh Alexander Walker and and UH McDaniels,
they and their length have to also challenge the front
court of the Oklahoma City Thunder get these guys in
(20:59):
quick foul trouble. I understand again, we fall in love
with the idea that we space the floor out and
like to shoot the three. But if you look at
the way that the playoffs have been called right have
been refed, there is a level of physicality that I
think can play to the favor of the Minnesota Timberwolves
that could put the Oklahoma City Thunder on their heels.
(21:19):
So if they don't sit there and just jack up
shots hoping that their three ball lands, they could actually
force the action force Dagonault to reach into his bag
in his roster and try to mix and matchmans in play,
because then I think that he may overdo it, which
plays into the hands of a guy like Chris Finch,
because I think these guys have already been battle test
to given what they went through last year. So it's
(21:40):
just an interesting dynamic to look at because I think
that if Oklahoma City plays the way that they're supposed
to play, Hartenstein and Holmgren will absorb a ton of
minutes and not have to exhort a ton of work
because the action that most of the Timberwolve players have
been playing kind of bails them out from being committed.
It's so wholeheartedly defensively because of the propensity to shoot
(22:03):
the basketball as much as they do. That's why I
want to see more action and aggressiveness from their players.
I'm not saying IO all the time, but I'm saying
if you're gonna ISO, be aggressive in your ISO. Go
to the cup, go to the rim, force that call
to get played. Even if you get blocked, that's fine,
but you got to force the action. If you bail
them out, okayc is gonna not only get the calls,
(22:23):
but they're gonna get the transition. And we've seen where
the Minnesota Timberwolves have been marginalized defensively in transition because
the Oklahoma City Thunder are just a better passing team
when they're in the open floor and they got numbers
on the court.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Yeah, but we've also seen okay See has again sometimes
struggled to score. So I think another thing that can
happen is that, you know, if they are figure out
a way to get Sga involved in a lot of
actions right and make him work defensively so that he's
not that then you're forcing you know, Jdubb and Chat
to be more focused offensively and having to you know,
(23:01):
be more even efficient in that. If you're making Eshay
work on the other side hopefully, But actually I mean
that he's an MVP, you know, presumably, so like you're like,
there's not a You're not going to bank on that
as your entire strategy, but I think you do need
to try to put him and make him work so
that maybe he is a little bit more tired and
maybe some of these other guys just kind of fear
a step up. What I'm really interested though as well, too,
(23:21):
is these are two really good teams that have, you know,
more than just kind of their star players, right, but
we know kind of like who the top level guys are,
and I'm just trying to figure out from you know,
I know the X factor conversation, you know, is something
that a lot of people have tap into, and I
guess that's what I want to do here now. I
don't know if it's an X factor, but I just
kind of think about the most important role players for
(23:44):
some of these teams, right, And I don't know if
McDaniel's from Minnesota or you know, Nikael Alesona Walker is
maybe more important because I don't know what we're even
going to get from my colleague this series. Conversely, you know,
is it is it case and Wallace or does Isaiah
Joe you know, coming in from from the OKAC side
or what or so just kind of like what he
does defensively, There's so many ways I think these guys
(24:05):
can't contribute to the game that can swing momentum, like
in a real meaningful way, especially with some of the
guys I mentioned, more so even defensively than offensively. But
if those guys are also hitting shots, you know, that
can really swing you know, a game, and you know
a four or five point, you know swing in a
situation where hey, the tied teams will be going the
other way and then these guys come in with a
truly momentum changing play.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
What version of Anthony Edwards do you want to see
in this series against the Oklahoma City Thunder is Yeah,
I think the one that we saw in the Golden
State series. You know where he was I'd say patient,
you know, he didn't force things, he understood. Hey, I
gotta get other guys going, Hey, Randall's got it cooking cool.
(24:48):
I can necessarily get mine whenever, but I can get
mine within the flow, so where he's more facilitating even
as a as a secondary playmaker, you know, kind of
like the swing swinging.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Type of situation, or you off of driving kicks. If
he's not having to force that, I guess what we
think we know is already going to be a very
good Oklahoma City defense. Then I think that's the version
of Anthony Edwards that can be ultimately successful because if
he gets other guys going, then okay, see he has
to react to those other guys and that will make easier,
make life easier for long term.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Yeah, I want to see that version of Anthony Edwards
where I'm not saying he's got to be struggling. I'm
saying people are going to be asking a question about, oh,
why is he this looks like he's having a quiet night,
yet the Minnesota Timberwols are within striking distance or the
Minnesota timber was actually up. And then when the time
comes that we need to see an explosion. We need
(25:39):
someone to say I'm shouldering the heavy load in the
second half of the game, because I think we've already
seen that enough times to say that is a part
of SGA's repertoire. Right, we know that he basically scores
with brutal efficiency and so with confidence. The only time
that you recognize that he struggles is when the team
collectively has struggled and they're using him as the de
(26:02):
facto savior sort to speak, and teams defensively have bottlenecked him,
so he's not really getting quality shots that normally he
needs in order for him to get himself going. I
often look at Anthony Edwards and I say, it's not
necessarily the shot. It's a play. It's a defining play.
It could be a dunk, it could be a steal,
it could be a block, something happened, something triggers where
(26:25):
when Anthony Edwards is involved, it sets the whole thing off.
You know, it's like an instagram, you know, sensation. With
Anthony Edwards, all it takes is one. And I think
if he has that confidence of knowing at any given time,
he can explode and just do what he does. I
think that bodes well for the Minnesota Timberwolves, because again,
(26:46):
the concentration should be making sure his guys are in
the right space in order for them to hang and
compete with the Oklahoma City Thunder on both sides of
the basketball. They don't have to score a ton of points,
but they cannot allow the oklahol City Thunder to score
a ton of points in doing so you're now asking
this to be a shootout and they are not gonna win.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Yeah, I think the notion of allowing the game to
kind of come to you for for both the stars,
if you will, we'll we'll see.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
See he is a little less reliant on that, like
they kind of always expect to kind of get going.
But we've seen the conversity for Minnesota, especially in this
last series with Golden State whore of Minnesota, and Antoniana
is like, all right, well, let's let's let me feel
things out because someone's gonna expect me to kind of
do this thing. But that's what the beauty of these
playoffs are, right, And we don't know, like there could
be some random star here who emerges, you know, even
(27:37):
like Julius Strawther, you know in.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Game six and different like where did that come from?
You know?
Speaker 2 (27:42):
So I that to me while the stars are going
to make the headlines, and I agree with you for
thousand percent, especially on Minnesota's home floor. You know, if
Anthoniana Worth goes and does one of those wild dungs,
so those momentum changing you know, you know, plays one
way or the other. It really can kind of somewhat
be demoralizing. But where I think both teams have shown
some someones of maturity in the first two rounds is
(28:03):
that these players happen to them and they're able to
kind of respond, you know what I mean, and not
let that momentum, you know, go too far. For the
for the most part, I remember was that Game five,
you know where Joker hit the pure wet three, you know,
like the shot cluck running down or whatever, and you
know that put Denver up and whatever X amount of
(28:25):
time that was left, and then j Jane Williams came
right back down and hit a letter right up to
that and put them right back up. But for a
lot of other teams, like Joker doing that would have
been like, oh my god, bro, like what are we
talking about?
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Like how does he make that?
Speaker 3 (28:36):
And okay, see was unfazed you know in that too.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
So I like the fact that these teams are you know,
kind of tried and true. And I think even if
you take Minnesota's experience last year, you know, in the
Western Conference Finals against you know, the the Dallas Mavericks
and Luca and Luca doing what he did to them
at times as well. You can just say, you know what,
we've seen this before, right, We're not new to this.
So how do you respond now and overcome and get
(29:00):
to the next step and still execute your actions that
get you, you know, the efficient shots that you hopefully
want want, you know, for for your roster and your team.
So I think it's gonna be a great finals. Man,
I'm really really excited.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Yeah, I'm really I'm excited about it. One last thing, Sean,
and I want to get your your predictions for the series.
Rudy Gobert. I know we don't talk enough about it,
but we got to give this guy his kudos. Man.
He has been targeted so many times and I think,
you know, look, maybe okay see has got the elixir,
the right elixir in order to neutralize Rudy Gobert, but
(29:36):
his presence and his and his team play. Let me
let me put emphasis on what I'm saying, man, team play,
because I think at times people get lost in the
fact that just because your the stifle tower, you're supposed
to be blocking everybody. You know. He obviously put into
work in the off season, worked on his footwork for
him to be able to maintain and stabilize as best
(29:57):
as he could some of these matchups in which they
clearly were targeting to put a guard or put a
point forward on him and basically get him, you know,
on a in a spin cycle. And he played, He
played them, he played their egos, and he also played
them out of out of their offensive set and their
offensive sorts. And I got to give credit to to
(30:19):
to Rudy Gobert, and if he maintains that same kind
of discipline, he very much could affect a little bit
of what the Okac Thunder loved to run top end
screen because now you don't have the luxury of having
all of that kind of open space when you've got
all of that girth and length to work with as
you're in Minnesota symbols. He doesn't get in silly fouls
(30:40):
or doesn't put himself in silly foul troubles. So now
the onus is being put back on the guards or
if not, the dribble penetration, the Okac Thunder is gonna
have to have from you know, their point forwards and guards.
You know, again, there's gonna be a lot of a
lot of chess and checkers being played here. And I
love it because a lot of it comes down to
the guys playing that kind of dis playing basketball.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
This got us to this point, man, Yeah, I think
this has been the Rudy Gobert Playoff revenge tour, right,
you know, being able to kind of like collect the gems.
I think I saw I think something with Anthony Edwards
right that like he's collecting the Infinity Stones. But you know,
of those who have wronged Rudy Gobert, you know, he's
been able to kind of do this and really has
kind of stepped up in a way that Yeah, he's
(31:22):
much maligned and maybe some of it has been even
deserved previously, but it's been a great playoff run for
him alongside Julius Ridle to two guys that think are
redefining their playoff you know, kind of resumes you know,
throughout the course of this run here right now. But
this is a tall task. This is all very much
is so what what level of contribution can he can
he do? No matter what the role ultimately is, whether
(31:43):
that means he's going to play thirty five minutes a
night or you know there's something nice where he's playing
maybe twenty two. Right, I think it's just going to
be how the how is the flow of the game
going in that individual night, and make sure he doesn't
get down on the thing that he does the best
in terms of his ability to rebound, his ability to
shot block and deter shots as well too. So I
(32:05):
think okay See can do some things that will counter
and probably bother him, but I think at the same time,
staying out of foul trouble will be immense and providing
that level of you know, rebounding and shot deteration something
that they Minnesota Gon need throughout the course of this year.
Especially with the way okay See loves to drive, and
especially as she hitting those mid range as well too.
You got to make sure there's a defferent, a deterrent,
(32:27):
and somebody in his face to make those shots more difficult.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Absolutely, all right, seaw, let's get into it, man thunder
Wolves series in who walks away as the Western Conference champion? Yeah, So,
I'll go back to what we said in the beginning.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
I think the thunder here have been forged bot fire,
although the two Wolves are no slouches. But I'm gonna
take okay See in six in a very very tough
six games as well.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
I don't know fu'll see blowouts one way or the other.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
But I think okay See understands the task at hand,
esecially with what's happened in the Eastern Conference as well,
like they can you know that they can't look ahead
per se, but they have to realize, like, yo, we
have a really a really great shot at an NBA
championship if we can get out of this Western Conference situation.
So I don't think they take this for granted and
get it done in six, although Minnesota will be a
(33:16):
very very tough challenge.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
What about you, Yeah, I don't take for granted. I
don't think that the okay See thunder is going to
take for granted this opportunity. I just think that they
have the better team, and I agree with you, I
think it's gonna be six. I do think that there
may be one or two blowout games. I just think
that some one of these teams is going to force
the other team. They're gonna kind of roll the dice
(33:38):
or to speak and allow what you know OKAC does best,
or maybe allow Minnesota to do what they do best.
Like I could see maybe one blowout game in okay See.
In one blowout game in Minnesota, but for the for
the most part, it should be pretty tightly contested. I
think at the end of the day, man, they just
have a much better squad on both sides of the basketball.
(33:58):
And as long as Mark d Agonaut doesn't try to
over coach, doesn't try to get cute, employ the same
kind of physicality on on the Minnesota Timbles as he
just did to the Denver Nuggets, within reason, don't get
into the chatter with Anthony Edwards handle business. They should
wind up walking away as the Western Conference champions.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Yeah, you know, I'm right there with you. And again
I think we're gonna have a really good series. But
I'm intrigued. Like I said, I want to see how
Randall plays in this, it does does it continue?
Speaker 1 (34:29):
You know?
Speaker 2 (34:29):
I want to see how Jay Doll plays in this,
you know, And Caruso and Hartens. I think there's just
so many layers that I think this can go and
and two really great coaches, you know, going at it,
and what adjustments need to be made about the course
of the series. Uh, but I think we're in the
store for a good one and both conferences, to be
honest with you, but ultimately without maybe giving too much away.
I think the winner of this conference is probably going
(34:49):
to be DEMBIA champion.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
Yeah yeah, And I know we will have our opportunity
to give our prediction, our preview and predictions for the
for the NBA Finals. But I gotta tell you, if,
if what we've seen from both the Minnesota Timberwolves and
the Oklahoma City Thunder and what they did to their
previous teams it got them to this point to be
among the remaining two, It's hard pressed for me to
(35:11):
buy into whatever's going on over there in the Eastern
Conference that they got something better than it. Literally will
have to take some significant injuries or some brain fark
fatigue that that's gonna make me think differently, you know,
Or I got to be completely overwhelmed of what I
see on the other side of that pine for me
to buy into not thinking that somebody here in the
(35:31):
Western Conference is gonna probably be the champion for twenty
twenty four to twenty five season.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Yes sir, yes, sir, Well let's line them up, roll
them out and see what happens.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Absolutely man. So once again, we'd like to thank you
and yours for hopping on board with this a special
edition of the Baseline NBA podcast. We hope you guys
enjoyed the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference Finals respectively,
and obviously keep us locked in because you know, we
got a lot of autopsy reports to get into, and
then we also got the NBA Draft coming up. A
lot happening as we started lying, you know, pushing in,
(36:00):
forging ahead towards the NBA Finals and ultimately the NBA
offseason in the summer. So so much happening, And again
we appreciate everybody for hanging tight with your people's man
once again for the Baseline Callie warn y'all, we appreciate
you guys, you know we do, and we'll catch up
with you next time.
This is the Baseline discussing the hot button topics of
the NBA. Welcome everybody her tune to the Baseline. Cali
Warrenshaw discussing the hot button topics of the NBA. Special
edition of the Baseline NBA Podcast. I mean, we were
covering the Eastern Conference Finals, so it's only right and
we also have to discuss the Western Conference Finals. And
(00:24):
if people have been paying attention and saw the Oklahoma
City Thunder dismantle the Denver Nuggets to advance to their
first conference finals, I believe since the Durant Westbrook Harden era,
I'm seeing OKC fans are uber happy about it, and
it's the makings for really a surprisingly good matchup all
(00:45):
things considered, And so we would be remiss if we
didn't take the opportunity to kind of highlight some of
the things that we're looking for in this exciting matchup
between the Thunder and the Minnesota Timberwolves. So, as always,
let me go ahead, roll out the red carpet to
my right hand man Www. Dot Shaw Sports Done Net,
Big Ahuna, PNC, my man the warren Shaw repping out
of Fort Lauda of Florida. What's good? Shall how are
(01:06):
you holding it together? Now that we have the final
four set? It's exciting times.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
And I think before that I was watching ESPN, you know,
watching the pregame show and just really interesting to kind
of see that the teams the six best teams to
make the finals in terms of odds, five of them
had already been out. So I had okayc ended up losing.
None of the top six teams with the best odds,
if you will, would have got in. But okay, see
gets done in resounding fashion. And now we have a great,
(01:31):
great set here of the final for the NBA.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yeah, And I think I want to start with that,
right shaw, The Oklahoma City Thunder really had a tough
out with the Denver Nuggets, and we'll, you know, obviously
do our coveted autopsy report and we'll cover the Denver
Nuggets in that next edition of our autopsy report. But
I want to give credit to the Oklahoma City Thunder
because they needed this matchup and they also needed to
(01:56):
go through this fire once more. Because I think when
we look at where the remaining teams are, a lot
of them, you probably are saying luck momentum, you know, matchup,
favorable matchups, is what's going to probably catapult them to
(02:17):
this particular point, right, But the Oklahoma City Thunder has
been arguably the only team wire to wire that you
had the full throated belief I probably said that they
weren't gonna be the number one seed. I think maybe
I had somebody else touted as the number one seed,
but no doubt they were still going to be among
one of the major players and contenders. But Oklahoma City
Thunder are the only teams that are remaining to me
(02:40):
have proven by them now getting passed and exercising some
demons and ultimately beating a former NBA champion led team
in the Denver Nuggets, have validated the premise that they
should be the favored to go through and to hoist
that true. Now it's getting ahead of myself, But what
(03:02):
I'm saying is the only way I could actually say
that with confidence. If I'm someone who wants to critique
and analyze, it's because of what they had to do
to get to this point.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah, I don't disagree. I think I tweeted in the
middle of the blowouts, and the Thunder now have been
forged by fire. You know, they beat and then a
former NBA Champion. They beat the runner up presumably to
the MVP and get it done and kind of cast
away a lot of doubts, and I think specifically for
j Dubb, Jileen Williams, his ability to show up in
(03:34):
this game in a meaningful way. You saw all the
things that the reason that they got Hartenstein and Caruso, like,
all those things came into full display throughout the course
of the series and even more so in the final
two games, you know, where okay See really was really
kind of finding themselves even in the last FoST if
you will.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
So I really am a.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Thousand percent with you, you know, and maybe that giving
away a little tipping our cap in terms of how
we think the Western Conference Finals will go.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
But okay See should be.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Now the prohibitive fav after going through this fire, which
was the Denver Nuggets.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, I look at this team Shaw and you know,
they to me remind me very much of what we
saw last year from the Boston Celtics, where I don't
think anyone is questioning the offensive capabilities that they have
at their disposal, especially with a head coach like Mark daganol.
(04:25):
But again, and I think we even alluded to this
with regards to our Eastern Conference Finals previews, right, the
road to prosperity is gonna be how defensively these teams
are going to impose their will against whoever the opposition
is now. I will say this, since we're getting to
(04:47):
the previews between them and the Minnesota Timberwolves. If I'm
the Oklahoma City Thunder, I'd be very careful because while
you've proven even through the regular season that you are
the better team, the motive the Minnesota Timberwolves are on
a high. They're getting back to that defensive presence that
they exhibited that catapulted them last year to be among
(05:10):
one of the best teams in the Western Conference. And
while they struggle offensively, I keep going back to this point, shaw.
I understand that we get enamored with teams that are
you know, that are shooting the lights out and scoring
points upward of one hundred and twenty or whatever the
case may be. But all it takes is a couple
of bad games. And sometimes those bad games is not
(05:31):
just because they had cold nights. It's because of how
players matchups are getting up in them and causing a
lot of that frustration, causing those mental blocks, and you
can see that exhibited at times when you see the
Minnesota Timberwolves through the course of the regular season, and
somehow they figured out a way to exercise those demons.
Currently through the playoffs, they will do this to the
(05:54):
Oklahoma City Thunder. Like the Oklahoma City Thunder just did
this to the Denver Nuggets. The Minnesota Timberwolves are gonna
get up in the Oklahoma City Thunder's chest heirs, And
I think if you are Okay c you have to
be disciplined in your ability to know that you are
among one of the best teams defensively and that you
can equally impose your will on a team that has
(06:14):
shown offensive deficiencies through the course, even during the playoffs.
If they do that, then I think Oklahoma City will
be fine and they should basically coast through this Eastern
this Western Conference finals because I just think that they're
too deep and they have too many talented players. But again,
watch how this Minnesota Timberwolves team operates, and Chris Finch
(06:37):
very heavy kind of guy as far as how he
likes to utilize his players and utilize them to get
the matchups he likes from a defensive perspective, where most
coaches are trying to do it from an offensive perspective.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Yeah, I mean I liked what you said to close
off there.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
You know, Fitch is probably a underrated coach still in
a lot of ways, and I know he has accolades
under his belt per se, but I think it's just like,
all right, well, he kind of gets taken for granted
because the gravity of Anthony Edwards is so great when
it comes to that Minnesota trimble Wolves team say nothing,
not to say anything about the postseason that Julius Randall
specifically is having.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
But I do like this matchup right.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
I do like it for both teams because Minnesota is
probably in the space of like, well, now we're the underdogs.
You know, no one expects us to be here anyway,
and no one is gonna expect us to be okay see.
So in a lot of ways, they're gonna be playing
with a lot of house money and some someone's freedom,
but they have that internal belief I think within their
locker room.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
And on the flip side, I.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Think this is where okay See is really going to
have to, you know, kind of dig down a little
bit and not necessarily in terms of offensive versatility, but
relying on those defensive principles. Because one of the things
that we can get into here is that Minnesota, of
the playoff teams remaining, they are still the most playoffs sorry,
they're the most turnover prone of these teams. They're also
one of the better defensive teams remaining too. That hen's
(07:54):
why they're in the Final four, if you will. But
you know, okay see, is there's nobody better and there's
been nobody better turning points off of turnovers in okay see.
So that's where Minnesota is really gonna have to take
care of the care of the basketball and understanding that
the thunder don't really have a lot of They don't
have a lot of drop off.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Even when they go to their bench.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
You can say maybe offensively, but everybody who comes in
plays defense and plays defense like a dog, and that
can you know, kind of wear on Minnesota while they're
not you know, necessarily like they're shallow, but they're not
as skilled offensively. Once you kind of get into that
seventh eighth man, you know, so to speak. Sorry, that
seventh eighth man, so to speak. So that's where I
think Okac can really really try to turn the tide
of this series at some point is with their defensive
(08:34):
versatility and the fact that they have so much depth
in their defense all the way, basically for all the
eight nine guys they play.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah, and one of the things that I saw, especially
from this last game that really impressed me about dagonaal
because you know, you were just talking about Chris Finch,
I'm gonna speak about Mark Daganall and his growth process,
his maturity. I've noticed this trend. Shaw It It bothers me.
I think this goes as far back to the to
(09:00):
the Mark D'Antonio days. Okay, Mark D'Antonio would get, you know,
a really savvy to D'Antoni. I'm sorry, I said D'Antonio,
Mark D'Antoni. That's how far removed he's been. Almost can't
Mike or Mike or Mark. Mike his aliens is probably Mark.
(09:20):
You probably wish he had a you know what I'm saying,
he had a he had a twin, Yeah, exactly so.
So Mike was notorious of getting a savvy veteran player
and refused to play the guy. You know, you get
a guy you know on your roster, and I don't listen.
I understand he may not fit the I the ideal scheme,
(09:44):
but there comes a point where you have to basically
empty out the toolkit, man, when some things are just
not effective, some things are not consistent. You gotta get
that run. There's a reason why he's on the roster.
You figure out a way to use him on the roster.
One of the things that worried me a lot about
dagonal is while he has a treasure trove of talent,
(10:05):
even last year, you saw him heavily depend on the
shoulders of his starters to try to figure certain things
out and not position that team where he levies his
knowledge and his understanding of what he wants to do,
how he wants to implement so that the guys can
don't have to worry about that aspect of it. Now,
these guys have a year under their belt. But I
(10:27):
gotta tell you, man, I truly appreciate what Dagonall did
running Caruso out there and having him defend Biggs, right
like you brought him there for a reason, and you're
using him for that reason right and regardless of what
people may say or think it might compromise the flow
of the offense, He's not there to score the basketball.
(10:47):
He's there to get defensive He's there to make defensive plays. Right,
He's there for those fifty to fifty balls that other
guys have the capacity are not in a position to
be able to make. And it says something thing when
a guy like Rusa goes out there and is unafraid, unabashed,
he says, I'm gonna take the joker, I'm gonna take
the NBA three time MVP, and I'm gonna guard him up,
(11:10):
and I'm gonna I'm gonna be a pest to him.
Do you know what that says to the rest of
the guys up and down that line. It just speaks volumes.
So I you know, I say that all of that
to say, now we're now beginning to add that quote
unquote X factor the coaches, right, and and the implementation
of what they're doing and how they want to do
(11:30):
it to the to the full breadth of what we're
expecting when we get to this point of the conference finals,
because sometimes I think the desperation in them just allows
them to say, We're just gonna keep running out the
same guys. We're gonna keep running out the same plays.
We're gonna ep runnut the same systems and they don't
make adjustments. And I don't think that you're gonna get
anywhere closer to eventually winning that NBA Finals until you
(11:51):
make those necessary adjustments and you utilize the players on
your roster as what you brought them in there for.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah, I mean, I love the fact that, you know,
there's a lot of cross matching that's been happening throughout
the course of the NBA Playoffs, and we're seeing a
lot more Smalls trying to guard Biggs, And I think
your point. Even Cruso did a decent enough job on Joker,
you know here in Game seven. You know, Joker still
got to the rim a couple of times, but you know,
you just you even kind of like just want to
(12:20):
see what some of those things could look like. So
while I can see Dort guarding some Julius Randall, I
can see guarding some Anthony Edwards, but I can also
see Cruso doing the exact same thing, and then maybe
Jayalen Williams doing the exact same thing. So you know,
as long as they can stay out of foul trouble.
But that's where I think, you know, the thunder just
have more defensive versatility kind of throughout flipping it to
(12:41):
the other side though. I mean, I think Minnesota is
going to be able to do some things obviously with
with McDaniel's as well, right, and while he is obviously
the primary creator of offense, he's also rather are better defenders
on the floor. So you know, Anthony Edwards and McDaniels
trying to maybe switch turns on SGA and then maybe
you know Jadub as well too. I think those are
(13:02):
things that we're going to continue to watch kind of
throughout this Like, so we're talking a lot about the
defense in this series because I think it's where both
of these teams and it is kind of their bread
and butter at the end of the day. But that's
nothing to say about the star power that is Anthony Edwards,
that is SGA as well too. And I think you know,
we might get some some dueling, you know, with some
of those guys as well, not necessarily in the one
(13:22):
on one, you know, type of situation, but kind of
like SGA goes down to the scores and it's gonna try
to score, you know, back on the other side, we
may get a couple of moments of that too, But
I think this is going to be a fun and
exciting series throughout. One last thing, though, is I want
to kind of throw to you who do you think
wins the true battle of the biggs, right, you know,
with harn Stein and Cheded Holmgren versus Gobaar and Julius Randall.
Even when you go into the depths you know from
(13:43):
Minnesota with now as Reed, you know, playing kind of
as a stretch for as well.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
You know, who do you.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Think has the the advantage when it comes to the
front court.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
I believe the advantage will lie with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
I think the key is going to be offensive rebounding
and play repositioning. And when we return, haha, when we return,
I'm gonna give you that. And then I'm also gonna
come back to your point about the Stars finally getting
(14:14):
their moment to shine in head to head matchup between
Edwards and Sga, what that's gonna look like. And we
also have to give our predictions about who's gonna ultimately
advance out of the Western Conference to play in the
NBA Finals. So you don't want to miss it here.
Cali Warrenshaw baseline, don't go anywhere. We are back Cali
(14:47):
Warrenshaw Basline NBA podcast. We're doing our special edition of
the Western Conference preview between the Oklahoma City Thunder and
the Minnesota Timberwolves. So I was just mentioning that I
leave it the advantage between the bigs between the Thunders
Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein versus the Timberwolves Julius Randall
(15:11):
and Rudy Gobert. I give the nod to Hartenstein and
Holmgren because of their ability to offensively rebound. Okay, but
there's also something that I noticed that I truly loved
and appreciated about the level of execution that ok Se
is capable of showing you that I think can be
(15:33):
a deterrent to the Minnesota Timberwolves, especially with the style
of defense at the Timberwolves place. If you're watching this game, Shaw,
I notice a lot if home Gren and or Hartenstein
find themselves on the receiving end of an offensive rebound
and or find themselves about four or five feet just
(15:59):
below or just above the free throw line. Oka See
always had someone cutting from the baseline straight to the basket,
and there would be that nice little bounce pass because
the opposition defensively is realizing that both Homegrin and Hartenstein
are looking, you know what I'm saying, to get deeper penetration,
(16:22):
to get that easy basket or that easy bucket, and
in most cases it makes sense to probably foul them
because even though Homegren is a decent and a solid
free throw shooter as well as Hartenstein, you probably would
rather see them get to the free throw line rather
than seeing them basically again an a one or get
easy bucket. But they were running this play so many
times against the Denver Nuggets, and I would not be
(16:44):
surprised if that kind of movement that the Oklahoma City
Thunder exhibit with their wing players or even their guards
camped out in the corners, because the notion is they're
still gonna shoot it, They're gonna let it fly, but
they don't give enough respect to the fact that they
all cut to the basket with a sense of purpose.
(17:04):
And as long as those guys are distributing the basketball
the way that they've been distributing it throughout the course
of this series, they will be just fine. And they're
going to actually put the Minnesota Timberwolves front court players
or their front court tandem on their heels because now
they got to pay attention to the guys that are
cutting behind them when they should technically be in front
(17:25):
of them. I can see that.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
I mean, I think, you know, I would I would
differ only because I think there's a maybe slightly more
depth because of the Nas Reid aspect from Minnesota. So
I think schematically what you're talking about makes sense for
the OKC side, But I think you know where Minnesota
can make some hay is that nas Reed can space
the floor. If you believe Julius Randalls three point shooting
in the playoffs, well then he can also space the floor,
(17:49):
which could be problematic for Hartstein and check right because
they're not really joker plays kind of at all levels. Right,
So like the gout obviously a fair test, but I
think you know, in the times where we go be
off the floor and they're going with Randall and nas Read,
that's going to give some problems I think for Okay,
see just trying to figure out like, all right, well,
make sure can we make sure that we team get
back and rebound if both of these guys are kind
(18:10):
of spacing or whatever. If Randall's kind of drive off
the bounce and even sprang out to a nas Read
on the wing one way or the other. So this
is where I think, you know, Fitch can really try
to design some things that you know, puts Okayc's players
in action. I think Hartnstein kind of just he gets
let off right, and I don't think he's I don't
think he's a bad defender in any sitch of the imagination,
but he's not running a whole lot of various actions.
(18:32):
So you know, I can see Ant and Randall, Ant
and nas Read, you know, kind of doing that and
trying to put a hard sign in some some pick
and rolls, and then does that necessarily not negate him
to some degree, but does it limit him some throughout
the course of the series where they're forced to kind
of go with Chet more as a five, and then
you know, you know, bringing in some of their bench
guys off the bench, bringing some of their bench guys
rather to the starting lineup like Isiah Isaiah Joe or
(18:56):
you know whatever case in Wallace. Maybe they're getting more
run in some of those different lineups. So again, I
think Minnesota has some things they can play with the
try to attack okay see, but they just need to
be careful, Like even when you're running that pick and
roll that okay See's guards and their wings are there
are coming into help. They are coming in to swipe
and strip at the ball whatever, and you have to
pay attention to where Caruso is. So this is where
I think Minnesota is really not only from that trying
(19:18):
to get a hard signed in action, but this is
where that three point shooting for Minnesota is going to
become extremely impactful for them.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Offensively.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Guys are going to have to make shot in this
series because I think Okayc's gonna be like, you know what,
we don't believe you as you're trying to drive to
the rack. We'll let you know whoever out here, kind
of like fire away as long as it's not like Nasriz.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yeah, so you made some excellent points. I will say this,
and it's not really to push back but maybe accentuate
a little bit of what you're talking about. For me,
the key is gonna definitely be Julius Randall, but it's
not in the way that I think you're talking about.
I feel like Julius Randall, who to me, of all
of the bigs has the better body of work on
(19:56):
one on one situations. Now, I don't know if Chris
Finch is gonna like the idea of isolating Julius Randall
to start working you know, the Oka See front court
players and then him start playing bullyball, but you could
appreciate it because he is more likely the type of
guy to get the front court players in foul trouble right,
(20:18):
and that opens up everything for the nas reasons NAS
reads and as well too for Anthony Edwards, who obviously
he's been shooting the three ball a whole lot more.
But I don't want to only put this on Julius
Randall to do that. I just think that he is
the best equipped that he can literally get the OKAC
Thunder team in foul trouble because he has a bevy
(20:38):
of moves that he can play below the below the
rim that can force that action. But I think it
comes down to equally, uh Alexander Walker and and UH McDaniels,
they and their length have to also challenge the front
court of the Oklahoma City Thunder get these guys in
(20:59):
quick foul trouble. I understand again, we fall in love
with the idea that we space the floor out and
like to shoot the three. But if you look at
the way that the playoffs have been called right have
been refed, there is a level of physicality that I
think can play to the favor of the Minnesota Timberwolves
that could put the Oklahoma City Thunder on their heels.
(21:19):
So if they don't sit there and just jack up
shots hoping that their three ball lands, they could actually
force the action force Dagonault to reach into his bag
in his roster and try to mix and matchmans in play,
because then I think that he may overdo it, which
plays into the hands of a guy like Chris Finch,
because I think these guys have already been battle test
to given what they went through last year. So it's
(21:40):
just an interesting dynamic to look at because I think
that if Oklahoma City plays the way that they're supposed
to play, Hartenstein and Holmgren will absorb a ton of
minutes and not have to exhort a ton of work
because the action that most of the Timberwolve players have
been playing kind of bails them out from being committed.
It's so wholeheartedly defensively because of the propensity to shoot
(22:03):
the basketball as much as they do. That's why I
want to see more action and aggressiveness from their players.
I'm not saying IO all the time, but I'm saying
if you're gonna ISO, be aggressive in your ISO. Go
to the cup, go to the rim, force that call
to get played. Even if you get blocked, that's fine,
but you got to force the action. If you bail
them out, okayc is gonna not only get the calls,
(22:23):
but they're gonna get the transition. And we've seen where
the Minnesota Timberwolves have been marginalized defensively in transition because
the Oklahoma City Thunder are just a better passing team
when they're in the open floor and they got numbers
on the court.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Yeah, but we've also seen okay See has again sometimes
struggled to score. So I think another thing that can
happen is that, you know, if they are figure out
a way to get Sga involved in a lot of
actions right and make him work defensively so that he's
not that then you're forcing you know, Jdubb and Chat
to be more focused offensively and having to you know,
(23:01):
be more even efficient in that. If you're making Eshay
work on the other side hopefully, But actually I mean
that he's an MVP, you know, presumably, so like you're like,
there's not a You're not going to bank on that
as your entire strategy, but I think you do need
to try to put him and make him work so
that maybe he is a little bit more tired and
maybe some of these other guys just kind of fear
a step up. What I'm really interested though as well, too,
(23:21):
is these are two really good teams that have, you know,
more than just kind of their star players, right, but
we know kind of like who the top level guys are,
and I'm just trying to figure out from you know,
I know the X factor conversation, you know, is something
that a lot of people have tap into, and I
guess that's what I want to do here now. I
don't know if it's an X factor, but I just
kind of think about the most important role players for
(23:44):
some of these teams, right, And I don't know if
McDaniel's from Minnesota or you know, Nikael Alesona Walker is
maybe more important because I don't know what we're even
going to get from my colleague this series. Conversely, you know,
is it is it case and Wallace or does Isaiah
Joe you know, coming in from from the OKAC side
or what or so just kind of like what he
does defensively, There's so many ways I think these guys
(24:05):
can't contribute to the game that can swing momentum, like
in a real meaningful way, especially with some of the
guys I mentioned, more so even defensively than offensively. But
if those guys are also hitting shots, you know, that
can really swing you know, a game, and you know
a four or five point, you know swing in a
situation where hey, the tied teams will be going the
other way and then these guys come in with a
truly momentum changing play.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
What version of Anthony Edwards do you want to see
in this series against the Oklahoma City Thunder is Yeah,
I think the one that we saw in the Golden
State series. You know where he was I'd say patient,
you know, he didn't force things, he understood. Hey, I
gotta get other guys going, Hey, Randall's got it cooking cool.
(24:48):
I can necessarily get mine whenever, but I can get
mine within the flow, so where he's more facilitating even
as a as a secondary playmaker, you know, kind of
like the swing swinging.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Type of situation, or you off of driving kicks. If
he's not having to force that, I guess what we
think we know is already going to be a very
good Oklahoma City defense. Then I think that's the version
of Anthony Edwards that can be ultimately successful because if
he gets other guys going, then okay, see he has
to react to those other guys and that will make easier,
make life easier for long term.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Yeah, I want to see that version of Anthony Edwards
where I'm not saying he's got to be struggling. I'm
saying people are going to be asking a question about, oh,
why is he this looks like he's having a quiet night,
yet the Minnesota Timberwols are within striking distance or the
Minnesota timber was actually up. And then when the time
comes that we need to see an explosion. We need
(25:39):
someone to say I'm shouldering the heavy load in the
second half of the game, because I think we've already
seen that enough times to say that is a part
of SGA's repertoire. Right, we know that he basically scores
with brutal efficiency and so with confidence. The only time
that you recognize that he struggles is when the team
collectively has struggled and they're using him as the de
(26:02):
facto savior sort to speak, and teams defensively have bottlenecked him,
so he's not really getting quality shots that normally he
needs in order for him to get himself going. I
often look at Anthony Edwards and I say, it's not
necessarily the shot. It's a play. It's a defining play.
It could be a dunk, it could be a steal,
it could be a block, something happened, something triggers where
(26:25):
when Anthony Edwards is involved, it sets the whole thing off.
You know, it's like an instagram, you know, sensation. With
Anthony Edwards, all it takes is one. And I think
if he has that confidence of knowing at any given time,
he can explode and just do what he does. I
think that bodes well for the Minnesota Timberwolves, because again,
(26:46):
the concentration should be making sure his guys are in
the right space in order for them to hang and
compete with the Oklahoma City Thunder on both sides of
the basketball. They don't have to score a ton of points,
but they cannot allow the oklahol City Thunder to score
a ton of points in doing so you're now asking
this to be a shootout and they are not gonna win.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Yeah, I think the notion of allowing the game to
kind of come to you for for both the stars,
if you will, we'll we'll see.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
See he is a little less reliant on that, like
they kind of always expect to kind of get going.
But we've seen the conversity for Minnesota, especially in this
last series with Golden State whore of Minnesota, and Antoniana
is like, all right, well, let's let's let me feel
things out because someone's gonna expect me to kind of
do this thing. But that's what the beauty of these
playoffs are, right, And we don't know, like there could
be some random star here who emerges, you know, even
(27:37):
like Julius Strawther, you know in.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Game six and different like where did that come from?
You know?
Speaker 2 (27:42):
So I that to me while the stars are going
to make the headlines, and I agree with you for
thousand percent, especially on Minnesota's home floor. You know, if
Anthoniana Worth goes and does one of those wild dungs,
so those momentum changing you know, you know, plays one
way or the other. It really can kind of somewhat
be demoralizing. But where I think both teams have shown
some someones of maturity in the first two rounds is
(28:03):
that these players happen to them and they're able to
kind of respond, you know what I mean, and not
let that momentum, you know, go too far. For the
for the most part, I remember was that Game five,
you know where Joker hit the pure wet three, you know,
like the shot cluck running down or whatever, and you
know that put Denver up and whatever X amount of
(28:25):
time that was left, and then j Jane Williams came
right back down and hit a letter right up to
that and put them right back up. But for a
lot of other teams, like Joker doing that would have
been like, oh my god, bro, like what are we
talking about?
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Like how does he make that?
Speaker 3 (28:36):
And okay, see was unfazed you know in that too.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
So I like the fact that these teams are you know,
kind of tried and true. And I think even if
you take Minnesota's experience last year, you know, in the
Western Conference Finals against you know, the the Dallas Mavericks
and Luca and Luca doing what he did to them
at times as well. You can just say, you know what,
we've seen this before, right, We're not new to this.
So how do you respond now and overcome and get
(29:00):
to the next step and still execute your actions that
get you, you know, the efficient shots that you hopefully
want want, you know, for for your roster and your team.
So I think it's gonna be a great finals. Man,
I'm really really excited.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Yeah, I'm really I'm excited about it. One last thing, Sean,
and I want to get your your predictions for the series.
Rudy Gobert. I know we don't talk enough about it,
but we got to give this guy his kudos. Man.
He has been targeted so many times and I think,
you know, look, maybe okay see has got the elixir,
the right elixir in order to neutralize Rudy Gobert, but
(29:36):
his presence and his and his team play. Let me
let me put emphasis on what I'm saying, man, team play,
because I think at times people get lost in the
fact that just because your the stifle tower, you're supposed
to be blocking everybody. You know. He obviously put into
work in the off season, worked on his footwork for
him to be able to maintain and stabilize as best
(29:57):
as he could some of these matchups in which they
clearly were targeting to put a guard or put a
point forward on him and basically get him, you know,
on a in a spin cycle. And he played, He
played them, he played their egos, and he also played
them out of out of their offensive set and their
offensive sorts. And I got to give credit to to
(30:19):
to Rudy Gobert, and if he maintains that same kind
of discipline, he very much could affect a little bit
of what the Okac Thunder loved to run top end
screen because now you don't have the luxury of having
all of that kind of open space when you've got
all of that girth and length to work with as
you're in Minnesota symbols. He doesn't get in silly fouls
(30:40):
or doesn't put himself in silly foul troubles. So now
the onus is being put back on the guards or
if not, the dribble penetration, the Okac Thunder is gonna
have to have from you know, their point forwards and guards.
You know, again, there's gonna be a lot of a
lot of chess and checkers being played here. And I
love it because a lot of it comes down to
the guys playing that kind of dis playing basketball.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
This got us to this point, man, Yeah, I think
this has been the Rudy Gobert Playoff revenge tour, right,
you know, being able to kind of like collect the gems.
I think I saw I think something with Anthony Edwards
right that like he's collecting the Infinity Stones. But you know,
of those who have wronged Rudy Gobert, you know, he's
been able to kind of do this and really has
kind of stepped up in a way that Yeah, he's
(31:22):
much maligned and maybe some of it has been even
deserved previously, but it's been a great playoff run for
him alongside Julius Ridle to two guys that think are
redefining their playoff you know, kind of resumes you know,
throughout the course of this run here right now. But
this is a tall task. This is all very much
is so what what level of contribution can he can
he do? No matter what the role ultimately is, whether
(31:43):
that means he's going to play thirty five minutes a
night or you know there's something nice where he's playing
maybe twenty two. Right, I think it's just going to
be how the how is the flow of the game
going in that individual night, and make sure he doesn't
get down on the thing that he does the best
in terms of his ability to rebound, his ability to
shot block and deter shots as well too. So I
(32:05):
think okay See can do some things that will counter
and probably bother him, but I think at the same time,
staying out of foul trouble will be immense and providing
that level of you know, rebounding and shot deteration something
that they Minnesota Gon need throughout the course of this year.
Especially with the way okay See loves to drive, and
especially as she hitting those mid range as well too.
You got to make sure there's a defferent, a deterrent,
(32:27):
and somebody in his face to make those shots more difficult.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Absolutely, all right, seaw, let's get into it, man thunder
Wolves series in who walks away as the Western Conference champion? Yeah, So,
I'll go back to what we said in the beginning.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
I think the thunder here have been forged bot fire,
although the two Wolves are no slouches. But I'm gonna
take okay See in six in a very very tough
six games as well.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
I don't know fu'll see blowouts one way or the other.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
But I think okay See understands the task at hand,
esecially with what's happened in the Eastern Conference as well,
like they can you know that they can't look ahead
per se, but they have to realize, like, yo, we
have a really a really great shot at an NBA
championship if we can get out of this Western Conference situation.
So I don't think they take this for granted and
get it done in six, although Minnesota will be a
(33:16):
very very tough challenge.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
What about you, Yeah, I don't take for granted. I
don't think that the okay See thunder is going to
take for granted this opportunity. I just think that they
have the better team, and I agree with you, I
think it's gonna be six. I do think that there
may be one or two blowout games. I just think
that some one of these teams is going to force
the other team. They're gonna kind of roll the dice
(33:38):
or to speak and allow what you know OKAC does best,
or maybe allow Minnesota to do what they do best.
Like I could see maybe one blowout game in okay See.
In one blowout game in Minnesota, but for the for
the most part, it should be pretty tightly contested. I
think at the end of the day, man, they just
have a much better squad on both sides of the basketball.
(33:58):
And as long as Mark d Agonaut doesn't try to
over coach, doesn't try to get cute, employ the same
kind of physicality on on the Minnesota Timbles as he
just did to the Denver Nuggets, within reason, don't get
into the chatter with Anthony Edwards handle business. They should
wind up walking away as the Western Conference champions.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Yeah, you know, I'm right there with you. And again
I think we're gonna have a really good series. But
I'm intrigued. Like I said, I want to see how
Randall plays in this, it does does it continue?
Speaker 1 (34:29):
You know?
Speaker 2 (34:29):
I want to see how Jay Doll plays in this,
you know, And Caruso and Hartens. I think there's just
so many layers that I think this can go and
and two really great coaches, you know, going at it,
and what adjustments need to be made about the course
of the series. Uh, but I think we're in the
store for a good one and both conferences, to be
honest with you, but ultimately without maybe giving too much away.
I think the winner of this conference is probably going
(34:49):
to be DEMBIA champion.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
Yeah yeah, And I know we will have our opportunity
to give our prediction, our preview and predictions for the
for the NBA Finals. But I gotta tell you, if,
if what we've seen from both the Minnesota Timberwolves and
the Oklahoma City Thunder and what they did to their
previous teams it got them to this point to be
among the remaining two, It's hard pressed for me to
(35:11):
buy into whatever's going on over there in the Eastern
Conference that they got something better than it. Literally will
have to take some significant injuries or some brain fark
fatigue that that's gonna make me think differently, you know,
Or I got to be completely overwhelmed of what I
see on the other side of that pine for me
to buy into not thinking that somebody here in the
(35:31):
Western Conference is gonna probably be the champion for twenty
twenty four to twenty five season.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Yes sir, yes, sir, Well let's line them up, roll
them out and see what happens.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Absolutely man. So once again, we'd like to thank you
and yours for hopping on board with this a special
edition of the Baseline NBA podcast. We hope you guys
enjoyed the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference Finals respectively,
and obviously keep us locked in because you know, we
got a lot of autopsy reports to get into, and
then we also got the NBA Draft coming up. A
lot happening as we started lying, you know, pushing in,
(36:00):
forging ahead towards the NBA Finals and ultimately the NBA
offseason in the summer. So so much happening, And again
we appreciate everybody for hanging tight with your people's man
once again for the Baseline Callie warn y'all, we appreciate
you guys, you know we do, and we'll catch up
with you next time.
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