#645: LeBron James chokes, Anthony Edwards RISES as Minnesota Timberwolves take 3-1 lead over LA Lakers

Speaker 1 (00:06):
The Minnesota Timberwolves are up against the Los Angeles Lakers
three games to one, and to break it all down,
we have elite basketball mind, a living legend the lamp post. No, okay,
he's there, Okay, he's back. I first I thought to you, Oh,

(00:28):
he brought him the hat.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
I think it's from nineteen ninety seven.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Okay, is that when you were born everywhere? Nineteen ninety seven.
Oh hold on, Oh he's taking off the shirt, pulling
out the J. J. Aber Ran jersey. We're going flashback. Wow.
I remember when the Timberbowls signed Barrea from the Dallas.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Mavericks after he had that title run back in twenty eleven.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
What a signing that was turned out to be?

Speaker 2 (00:56):
All right, Yeah, I mean he's a good role player,
but it doesn't really pay have to be a you know,
an okay role player on a team that wins like
fifteen games.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
But he had he had the series. He had the
series phenomenal.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yeah, again with a specific role, he was phenomenal.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
The question that I didn't ask you, were you wearing
that jersey during the Timberwolves win versus the Lakers today?

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Nope, I was. I didn't. So there's probably still a
curse because I wore this during the Western Conference Finals
last year and that was we decided that that was
a curse. Jersey.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Well, the reason why I asked this is because as
much as you think it might be a curse against
the Timberwolves, it's legitimately a curse against Lebron James because
JJ Berea prevented Lebron was a big part of Lebron
choking in his NBA Finals in twenty eleven. So I
was thinking, if you were in the Jersey, maybe he

(01:51):
sent the vibes to target center and Lebron James was
feeling the jj Berea effect and was choking in the.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
Fourth quarter because he had zero fourth quarter points.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
Wow, when you play forty six minutes as a forty
year old, the legs might feel a little a little
tired in the fourth quarter of a pretty physical game.
I don't know when I texted you, did you get
when I went did you get that I was doing that?

Speaker 1 (02:17):
That's what it was, Okay, I didn't understand that. It
took me a second. It took me a second, and
I know.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
I can explain it. So I was like, I just
hope they get it that it's the Steve.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
For those that don't know, you're sending the vibes to
Target Center.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Gonna miss, gonna.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Miss the last second, three at the corner, wide open,
Austin Ree's gonna miss, Luca Donchins is gonna miss five
layups in this ball game. Send it to targets and
you gotta remember that. Like it's all about direction too, okay,
Like if you're south, well you gotta aim in a
little north, and if you're north, gotta lame in a
little south.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
And if you're I was aiming for you, good call,
good call. Straight down twelve, right.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
Down, right down on Highway twelve, got through uh you know,
del No and Maple Plane kind of way through Minnetonkays
and got all the way down to Target Center.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
All right, I mean it worked, it worked.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
It did Timberwolves down double digits to start the fourth quarter.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Mm hm.

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Speaker 1 (05:06):
Right, Timberwolves down double digit start the fourth quarter, had
a rough third, got off scarted thirty six to twenty three. Offense,
did not start off well. Defensive rebounded, rebounding was terrible
to start the quarter. Lakers got an early lead to
start the quarter. But then the fourth quarter comes. Edwards

(05:27):
goes off to start the fourth quarter sets the tone
And I told my wife at the beginning of the
fourth quarter, because it's like a ten point lead. If
the Lakers get off to a hot start in the
fourth quarter, we'll turn it off.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
We'll go outside and we'll have a good time outside.

Speaker 1 (05:42):
But it's one of those things where it's like, Okay,
this could go either way. If the Timberwils start out good,
we're back in the ball game. If the Lakers start
out good, the game's over well. Edwards goes off, starts
off well, gets the Timberrels back in it, and.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
Then it was crunch time.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
So your reaction to the fourth quarter and what you
saw in this ball game, and we'll dive into more
and more as this podcast continues.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, I mean to your point, the third quarter. I mean,
the Lakers hit seven threes in the third quarter. You know,
that's a huge difference considering they made you know, nineteen
for the game. That's a big chunk of third threes.
Obviously in the third quarter they were hot. Those threes
did not continue to follow in the fourth quarter. And
you kind of can feel that, right And I mean
we were talking a little bit like you could feel

(06:30):
it was kind of on the the edge. The Lakers
were just kind of barely holding on is what it
felt like. And obviously, you know, bias Minnesota fans, but
it felt like the Lakers were kind of throwing all
their punches that they could and it was only a
ten point lead, and it's like, yeah, we can just
hit a few shots. If An can get going, if
any of our role players hit anything. For once, it

(06:51):
felt like nobody was making much besides Julius, you know,
then we could get it done. And naswe comes in
saves day.

Speaker 1 (06:59):
You know, a ten point lead evaporates so quickly too.
Oh yeah, a ten point lead is like two possessions
and you're right back in the game. Two threes and
it's a four point game and it's like okay, here
we go.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
Yeah, and that's exactly what happened.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Think about old what like the old kind of early
two thousands era where it'd be like the final score
was seventy two to sixty eight and how much such
a like if you had a ten point in that era,
it was like make it back right now. It's just yeah,
I mean, they don't even the swings of a normal
NBA game. It's not just Wolves Lakers obviously, it's just
the NBA in general. Like, yeah, it's ten points. It
is just ban bang. You missed a couple of shots,

(07:34):
You make a couple of shots, and all of a sudden,
it's a two point game.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
You know, even twenty point leads aren't safe anymore.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
No, even like yeah, when we were up like fifteen,
even that Ken game one, it got to fifteen or euros,
and you know, the Wolves are feeling a little gold
totally sniffing around, you know, there were there's no lead.
That's too safe. Yeah, it doesn't feel like it, I
guess unless you're the Thunder winning by fifty whatever in
game one. But you know, besides that, yeah, no, it's
you know, and then that's I mean even for what

(08:03):
was it one to eleven one o uh seven, I
think it was. We're up four with like a minute
and a half left, and you kind of think, you said, wow,
you know, it's seems like not in you know, not
instrum lastly plenty of possessions, but you're like, ah, this
feels pretty safe, Like, you know, alls we gotta do
is probably make one more basket or maybe get foul,
like make a couple of free throws and this should
be in the bag. And alson we were down when
thirteen one eleven just you know't drop of a hat, right,

(08:26):
So things, yeah, things things change quick.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
They do change quick.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
Well, let's go all the way back to the end
of the game and we'll talk about other things as
this podcast goes forward, about other plays at the end
of the game. But the big talking point at the
end of the game is going to be Lebron James's
foul and Anthony Edwards. That was originally called out of
bounds on Edwards and this is a rule that got

(08:50):
changed because of Jade and McDaniels last year. McDaniels, I
think it was the Nuggets series or the Dallas series.
He was fouled last year in the playoffs, and you
could not review fouls in those circumstances, and they went

(09:12):
to the review center. You could see Kyrie, it must
have been the Dallas series. You could see Kyrie Irvings's
arm all over Jaden's. But the ball went out on
Jaden and you can't change the call into a foul. Well,
the Timberwolves just received the benefit of their own failures
last year because the play gets changed from out of

(09:35):
bounds on Anthony Edwards to a foul on Lebron James.
And the thing that I just want to mention here
is before this series began, even think back ten years
ago when Lebron's in his prime. Fast forward, we're in
twenty fifteen. If I told you ten years from now,

(09:57):
the Timberwolves will be competing against the Lake because Lebron
James is on the Lakers. There was a referee that
called the play out of out of bounce on Anthony Edwards,
but Lebron playing for the Lakers, fouled Edwards, and then
they reviewed the call and they call the fall on Lebron.

Speaker 3 (10:16):
You are going to call me.

Speaker 1 (10:18):
Ten different times, ten different kinds of crazy. We're saying
something like that, but that's exactly what happened.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
Mm hmm. But I was wondering. I mean, you know,
we watched the fairmount of NBA. They showed like all
these different camerangles, like ten different times. They kept looking
at it. You know, it's like, oh, it's it's clean,
it's off edwards clearly, and all of a sudden, it
was like from the heavens, this like skycam comes out
of nowhere.

Speaker 3 (10:45):
Seriously, like I don't think I've.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
Ever seen that camerangle before in an NBA game, and
it's just like, oh, totally just you just see the
Lebron Han like right just right on that wrist, and
it was just like right away else and all three.
I was like, no, that's foul.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
Just came out of nowhereating and the courage to overcome
and change the call against Lebron James. We're talking about
arguably the greatest player ever has a call go against him, yep.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
And I mean, Lebron's still way more important than Ant,
But there's there's probably an argument to be made that
Ant ascending and making some sort of run and you'd
have to finish it off, of course, you know. But
Ant winning a title again, Lebron winning a title would
be a bigger deal. But it's not like My point is,
it's not like Ants and nobody, you know, it's not

(11:40):
like we are, you know, even like the Detroit Pistons
where it's Cape Cunningham and no one cares, you know,
or if you're the Orlando Magic, right Orlando Magic, no
one really cares about Polo. They're fun, great, but like
no one would want to see them succeed, like people
in the world want to watch Anthony Edwards. Like obviously
Lebron's number one, he's above Ant still, but Ant's like

(12:01):
in that tier. So I mean, maybe we haven't going
for us. They're not going to ring again this I
don't know.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
Ro during his postgame pres conference says, the hand is
a part of the ball. You see these plays all
the times, a little different because your hand hit Edwards's
risks bulk risks. In fact, when they really slowed it down,
they show Lebron's hand hitting the left wrist of Edwards

(12:27):
and then as it comes across it hits the right.

Speaker 3 (12:30):
Rist of Edwards.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
And I don't know if there's a player that I
trust less on the Timberwolves, to tell a coach to
review a play than Anthony Edwards, because he complains a lot,
and he's talking a lot to the officials, to the coaches,
telling them to review a play that he thinks should

(12:52):
be reviewed and he thinks should have been a foul.
And there's a lot of times when the coaches don't
listen to Anthony Edwards. But this time they did, and
this time Edwards actually was right for a change, which
was huge.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
It does show I mean finchy right. I mean in
the playoffs especially, and then regular season game it's kin
go out itever who cares. But in a playoff game,
there's I would, I mean, there's almost zero situations where
it's worth reviewing anything in the first second or third
quarter totally, and like even the first.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
Half, I wasn't so obvious that you know you're gonna
get right and right then you'll still have one left
at the end of the correct correct right.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
If it's something like that, sure, but yeah, anything that's
like even if you anybody says a question about it, yeah,
I don't even bother because you know, if we don't
have a challenge there, it's well, you know, Lakers ball
eight seconds left, and you know how different things might be. So,
I mean, that's a simple thing. But again, Finch Finch
doing finchy things. He seems like he's always pretty prepared.

Speaker 3 (13:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:51):
At the end of the game, during the final few possessions,
for some reason, the Timberwolves offensive strategy was to go
Dante DiVincenzo versus Lebron, naz Red versus Lebron.

Speaker 3 (14:08):
So Lebron was lethal.

Speaker 1 (14:09):
Defensively, they called that foul on him, which was a
huge break for the Timberrols, and it was a foul, yep.
But offensively, Lebron scores zero points in the fourth quarter.
In the second half, the Los Angeles Lakers do not
sub a single player. In fact, it goes all the

(14:33):
way back to the second quarter with two minutes and
thirty seven seconds left, the Los Angeles Lakers do not
take out any of their players. So you got Lebron,
Luca Tachimara, Finny Smith, and.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
Austin Reeves going the distance.

Speaker 1 (14:58):
I mean, obviously they're your best f and if they
win the game, nobody's saying boo about Reddick's decision to
leave those players.

Speaker 3 (15:06):
In for the entire game.

Speaker 1 (15:08):
But Vanderbilt is serviceable and he could give you a
two minute run. Gabe Vincent is serviceable and can give
you a two minute run. It was a smart decision
by the Lakers to sit Jackson Hayes because why is
he in the game to begin with? It's one of
those classic situations where he plays the.

Speaker 3 (15:26):
First two minutes of the first quarter, in the third quarter.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
For what reason, he doesn't see any time after that,
So like, why is he in the game at all?

Speaker 3 (15:34):
It makes no sense. And he didn't play it all
in the second half, which makes sense.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
But the Lakers have at least two or three serviceable
bench pieces and Reddick not going to them at all
in the second half when Lebron and Luca had to
pour so much effort and energy in the first half

(15:59):
is going to be a high controversial subjects following this game.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
Yeah, I mean, it's just from Redicks perspective. This is
what I gotta imagine they were talking about. Now. First
of all, if Lebron wants to sit, you know he's
gonna say. And if Lebron told Reddick, hey, I'm playing
the whole second half, you know Redick, Redick's not gonna
tell him no.

Speaker 3 (16:20):
But because Lebron knows how important this game is.

Speaker 2 (16:24):
They all know the difference between three to one, and
you know, we all three games as a chance to
finish them off versus two two. Going back to l A,
I mean that's.

Speaker 3 (16:34):
That if you're two Lakers are favored, then two out
of three at.

Speaker 2 (16:38):
Home one hundred percent, because he's got to win two
out of three at home. Yep, correct, And so I
mean I think it's reddick all of them obviously recognizing
that we have to push all our chips on the
table right now. Otherwise, you know, if we lose, there's
no you know, the odds that we are going to
do anything is you know, slim to none. But at
the end of the day too though, you know, even

(17:00):
Lebron had zero points. Luca didn't have a great fourth quarter.
He hat a couple of shots, but it wasn't amazing.
You know, they just ran out of gas.

Speaker 3 (17:08):
And like you said, they almost started nineteen points in
the fourth quarter. They had no legs left.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
Nope. I was talking to your brother about the same thing.
It was like Vanderbilt, like he's not amazing, but he's
an instigator. He rebound every single shot that goes up.
He is getting his hand on. You could box him
out to half court, and it seems like he's just
like flying in somehow and either gets it or tries
to tip it to somebody or something just causes us,
you know, again, makes the Wolves actually box out, which

(17:35):
you know, Reeves isn't crashing, Lebron's not really crashed, and
Luca's never crashed. Like those guys are crashing for rebounds.
That's obviously not their game. But you know, you get
my point where Vanderbilt can serve a roll like he's
not gonna shoot on her times, he's gonna set screens,
rebound and hustle. That's serviceable. Gabe Vincent when he was
with the Heat, you know, he was unstoppable during that

(17:56):
like finals it was, you know, and obviously it's a
couple of years later different whatever. I get that, but like, yeah,
thirteen minutes from him, seven from Vanderbilt, and I know
Jackson Hayes has gotten ripped and you know he's not good.
But I mean, if you go back to the Math
series and obviously again what's his face, I can't remember

(18:17):
who did get Gafford and the.

Speaker 3 (18:19):
Other guy, Oh yeah, Lively, Lively.

Speaker 2 (18:23):
That's fine, but What makes Lucas so elite as a
pastor usually is his ability to hit any kind of
lob or dunker spot of guys. I know, Jackson Hayes
is not amazing, but when Rudy Gobert's on the floor,
I don't see how you couldn't give that look a
chance for Jackson Hayes is setting a screen seeing if
you can get him in that role, get him in

(18:43):
that dunker spot, get him you know, the allyute type situation,
and still have your three shooters around Luca besides him again,
just as something to try, and so you're not playing
these guys forty six minutes.

Speaker 1 (18:54):
But I wonder if the Lakers first offered or even
thought about offering Finny Smith for Luca Dontrich, because there's
a chance that the Dallas Mavericks would have done that
trade and you could have kept Luca, Lebron and Anthony
Davis on the same team for a title run.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
There's a chance, there's a chance. You never know. I mean,
who else you got, Mark Keith Morris, the veteran presence,
veteran presidence James, you.

Speaker 3 (19:20):
Know, hey, we traded for Lebron.

Speaker 2 (19:28):
Oh, she's taking your fantasy draft back in the day
when like you didn't have the full name, so you
like accidentally drafted the Adrian Peterson that played for the Bears,
who was like the third stream running back.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
No no, I thought, like drafted Adrian Peterson in the
seventh round.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
Even like Dalton Connect, I know, he kind of faded
out of the rotation. It's like he probably can't play
in a playoff series, but dude can shoot. I mean, granted,
they shot forty percent from three today, so that wasn't
their main problem. But I don't know, it just seem
go ahead. I was gonna say, it doesn't seem like
they needed those guys to play forty six minutes because
they they I mean they Luca was coming off his sickness,

(20:07):
he was dying Lebron's forty. I mean, it's just and
it's not like both the way the Wolves play the Lakers.
I mean it's not nineties esque quite, but Randall is
a physical presence.

Speaker 3 (20:22):
He's building a playoffs.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
Yeah, McDaniel's picking guys up, you know, ninety four feet
ants picking Luca up ninety four feet, Like the Wolves
have a young tireless energy and physicality that Luca has.
No interest in matching, and Lebron just can't match for
forty six minutes. I mean again in spurts, Lebron still
can't for sure, you know, but for forty six minutes,

(20:45):
he can't bang with Randall and bang with Nasried and
and and all this. It's just he can't do it anymore.

Speaker 1 (20:51):
For thea is rigged crowd, for the NBA, the for
for Minnesota sports fans that are so victim, that has
such a victim mindset. Of leagues going out to get
Minnesota sports teams. Oh we're Minnesota, woe is us?

Speaker 3 (21:10):
Weekend catch up.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
Break and a Lakers must win game, they changed and
out of bounds, call out Edwards and called the foul
on Lebron.

Speaker 3 (21:23):
And during this game, Lebron.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
James shot eighteen free throws, but as a team, the
Lakers shot twenty five, Anthony Edwards shot seventeen free throws,
and as a team, the timberwol shot thirty three, eight
more free throw attempts than the Los Angeles Lakers in

(21:48):
a must win game for the Lakers.

Speaker 3 (21:51):
And there were also several calls in this game.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
I think about the kick off of Julius Randalls foot
that then went out of bounds and they called a
shot clock violation that should have been a fresh fourteen
for the Lakers.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
I think about the end of game situation, Luca dribbling
the ball up the court.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
Falls on Jaden McDaniel's foot, and whether it's a foul
or not, I think it is. But NBA officials ninety
nine times out of one hundred are going to call
that a foul in an open floor.

Speaker 3 (22:29):
And they did earlier, and they don't call it on Jayden.

Speaker 1 (22:33):
Luca would have had two free throws for the lead
to go up by a one with thirty three seconds left,
no whistle. So as much as Minnesota sports fans not me,
I am you know, I'll be honest, I do not
fall for the victimhood of referees coming out to get
us and being against leagues hating Minnesota sports fans. This

(22:57):
game is tremendous evidence that the officials don't hate Minnesota
sports teams.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
Mm hm, I agree. I mean, obviously we were joking,
you know, getting into it about the reffing and whatever
it's fun to do in the moment because it's like,
I don't know, it's about to do a little bit. Yeah,
that wasn't a kick. It's like, well he's yeah, he
literally kicked it. It was a k o Oh No,
that wasn't a kick.

Speaker 1 (23:23):
Plus the elite free throw shooting from the Timberwolves late,
the Jaye and McDaniel's and one converted the free throw
Timberwolves down to Edwards gets fouled by a Luca on
a three with about three minutes left.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
Edwards drills all three three throws.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
So clutch free throw shooting from the Timberwolves late, which
is something that should not be overlooked.

Speaker 2 (23:46):
Yeah, I mean the percentage overall wasn't I think it's
like seventy percent the game, right, right, or seventy eight percent? Sorry,
but yeah, the fourth quarter was a lot better obviously
than the rest. Yeah, Luca and Lebron were the only
two to take free throws for the Lakers. But I
mean that's not shocking, right, You basically have Austin Reeds
shooting threes, Brewie shootings threes, and then you have two

(24:07):
guys shooting all the rest of the shots. I mean right,
Lebron technically only had nine attempts just because he had
eighteen free throws.

Speaker 3 (24:13):
Yeah, is that crazy?

Speaker 2 (24:14):
Eighteen three throw attempts I should say. So, Yeah, it's
it's crazy. Yeah, it's just the Lakers do not have
a you know, even if they got past the Wolves,
they are definitely not a team that's built to make,
you know, win multiple rounds.

Speaker 1 (24:27):
You know, they just don't have enough Luka Doncics needs
a specific team around him, and with the Dallas Mavericks,
he had that specific.

Speaker 3 (24:35):
Team around him.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
He had the secondary scorer one a one a guy
Kyrie Irving. But then he had athletic wings to guard
the likes of Anthony Edwards, and he had the bigs
like Derek Lively and who's.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
The other one had Daniel Gafford or Daniel.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
Gafford, So like guys that could contest Edwards at the rim.
Edwards gets into the paint versus the Lakers, and who
is meeting him at the rim?

Speaker 3 (25:00):
If Jackson Hayes is not on the floor.

Speaker 2 (25:03):
Even if Jackson Hayes is on the floor, he doesn't
a lot of protection compared to Lively or Gafford for example. Yeah, no,
they don't have a defensive answer. I mean they don't.
You know, again, long term, you gotta do the trade
because obviously because Lucas a generational talent that makes the
Lakers relevant for the next ten years. But yeah, as

(25:24):
a team, you know, they got some building to do
around you know, maybe well Lebron until he holds out,
you know, until he's gone, but Luca and making a
team that's better for him. I mean, Reds is a
good sidekick. But at the end of the day, I mean,
you always have two guys you can go at and
if you have the guys that can do it, or

(25:44):
even just one. That's one thing. Think about all the
years you know, we had KG, we had Kevin Love,
even I would they come big al but well even Towns.
The issue we always had that people always talked about, right,
it's it's a big how when it gets down to it,
the last five minutes a game? How are you gonna

(26:05):
get those guys shots? AG could do it a little bit,
you know, a little bit mid post kind of stuff. Whatever.
Obviously he was phenomenal, but just interm you know, Kevin
Love again kind of similar, like we can get them
some shots. Towns. You know, none of those three are
breaking anybody down. They can't go get a bucket just
when you need a bucket. We saw and how many
times today. I mean, granted, somewhere some tough step back,

(26:27):
side step three kind of situations, but he can get
to the rim almost whenever he want. I mean, he
was passing two guys on his own and then like
side stepping around the bottom three guys in the zone
to get a basket. You know the difference between having
a guy and not having a guy, right, I mean,
it's the difference between looking like a genius and look

(26:48):
like an idiot. Well, you look like a genius when
you got a guy like ant run the show because
he just makes things happen that most guys can't make happen. Right.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
The best offense for the ten Rolls down the stretch
was Anthony dar breaking him down, getting two defenders towards
him and a double team or whatever, finding a guy
in the open slot near the free throw line or
in the corner, whether that's Jada McDaniels or nos Reed
or Dante di vincenzo, and those guys get a wide

(27:18):
open look and then it's up to them to knock
down the shots. And nos Reed has been terrible in
Game three end Game four. In the first three and
a half quarters of the game. Game three comes in,
knocks down two huge threes. Game four comes in, knocks
down two huge threes in the final five minutes.

Speaker 3 (27:40):
Plus.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
As crazy as it sounds, the Timberwols defensively down the
stretch are actually better with nas Red than.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
Rudy Gobert, because even though Gobert.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
Is the four time defensive player of the Year and
that's all deserved, nos Reed can be a little bit
more physical with Luca with Lebron and the Timberwolves can
switch one through five without having to hedge, without having
to manipulate the offense a different way by using different

(28:16):
defensive techniques. They can just switch, and Nosried can handle
Luca enough and go Beart has his moments. He's had
his moments throughout the series where he's handled Luca, but
when Gobert guards Luca, he needs to almost seg off
a little bit and rely on his length, and when
Luca takes that step back three, Gobart's cooked, whereas Nosried

(28:40):
can press up against Luca and shifts side to side
just as quick as Luca can.

Speaker 2 (28:48):
You took all the words out of my mouth that
I was gonna bring up, basically, because again it's very overstated,
like if you watch Twitter, you'd assume or like x
or whatever, you know, if you just kind of consumed
the content online and only you'd assume that Gobert's defense
has just been awful. It's really not. I mean, he's
been very good on the perimeter. But the difference is

(29:09):
what you're just what you said at the end, where
in order for him to guard Lebron or more so
Luca in a switch he has he takes that extra
kind of step back, and that's the only way that
Luca creates space. Because Luca is not an elite speed guy.
He doesn't, you know. His game is either getting ahead
of steam or just getting to a step back. And Rudy,

(29:31):
when you seg off just a little bit, that gives
him both options. Right, he can either go full speed
at you, in which case, now Rudy's on his heels
and he's gonna he almost always has a good contest.
But Luca is obviously one of the best offensive players
in the world. Like doesn't matter if Rudy, but Gobert
is contesting his little runner or again or a step back,
you know, because even the step back three is Rudy's

(29:52):
usually there, but it's too late. Like Luca is that good.
So the difference is when Nasrit gets into the switch,
he's he's by and Luca thirty feet from the hoop. Well,
Luca can't get the head of steam that he's used
to and his step back is still over a six
foot eleven dude. So I mean, yeah, nas again not
an amazing defensive player. He's fine whatever, But in this series,

(30:14):
especially for what they were trying to do, who they
have to stop, Nasried is perfectly capable. Yeah, I mean
I wouldn't mind seeing Rudy play twenty six and nas
played twenty I mean yeah, that could definitely be flipped.
Let alone on offense, I.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
Mean right, because Gobert is on the offensive side, and
what are they gonna do? And they're gonna leave him
and double Edwards And the problem with that is when
Edwards finds go Beart Go Bear's lost with the ball.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
Versus weird like you'd think being as seven to two
for your whole adult life. I get not being whatever,
having a whole you know, pocket full of moves. That
was the lay up he tried to shoot today. I
remember his first or second quarter.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
Right there, you're seven to dunk the he kind.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
Of bumbled the first one, Fine, it's whatever, and then
the second one he like flat hand like finger rolled.

Speaker 3 (31:16):
In, Yeah, that's what's he doing. I know exactly what
the one you're.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
Talking about, and then rolled around it out and it
was just like yeah, I just sat and look at
the TV like, that's an NBA guy getting paid how
much to do?

Speaker 1 (31:28):
What?

Speaker 2 (31:29):
Like it? Because again I get he's not gonna have
twenty moves in his bag. Whatever. Okay, you know your.

Speaker 1 (31:35):
First possession of the game too, it was it's just
designed go bear post up against the Austin frees, then
go beart stripped and the Lakers are going the other way.
If you want to catch the Lakers off guard, have
your opening possession being designed post up on Gobert. They
will never see it coming, and they're glad that they'll

(31:57):
never see that coming.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
They will welcome that on predictability.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
I just want to know, like, what what does he practice?
If he like does he not like why? I mean,
it's I don't know whatever, it's not worth getting into,
but yeah, just human being it is worth getting into.
And he just mean amongs everybody like you just you know,
just because I mean, at the end of the day too.
The Wolves had some dumb, dumb, dumb things.

Speaker 3 (32:21):
Go bear reality, the Timberwolves are not the smartest i
Q team.

Speaker 2 (32:25):
On the phone. No, no, nor would anyone claim them
to be. But yeah, Rudy Gobert just like elbows, the
crap out of Lebron, the Randall foul on Luca on
that three, you know, just stuff where it's like you
want to be mad as a fan saying like, oh,
what a dumb fun like or you know, like that's
not a foul and you're like, what are you doing?
That's the dumbest thing you could have done, Like, I mean,

(32:45):
Lebron just boxed him out. It wasn't like an overly
no aggressive box out, and then Rudy just got mad
about it. Yeah, how much adrenaline? I asked a question
for you. How much adrenaline was pumping through your veins
when Ant started shoving Lebron ninety That's one of.

Speaker 1 (33:04):
My notes that was so entertaining to watch, and I
wasn't even watching the ball anymore. There was like three
possessions in a row where these two guys were going
at it on both ends of the floor, and what
is up the officials butthole, because how could you not.

Speaker 3 (33:23):
See what was happening there the first posion, I was
like right in front of the officials, right down the sidelines,
right in front of the God it was.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
And it wasn't suddle. It wasn't like they were like
you know, it was like Ant was three quarter fronting
and like giving like the you know, the little arm
that they would do.

Speaker 3 (33:40):
Two hands shoves.

Speaker 2 (33:40):
They both were just like two I mean, Aunt obviously
started it and Lebron was retaliating, but Ant was literally
just two hands and just like shove right in Lebron's
chest and he kind of put up with it the
first couple of times, and then he started shoving back,
and then the second possession he tried to post them up. Yeah,
he just watched his butt right down to the block
and Ann had no answer. An was buried. I don't

(34:00):
know how they didn't feed the ball because Lebron just
I mean it was just like moved him like ten
feet down to the block and had his arm up.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
But I do love the competitiveness from Edwards, and I
think it got him going because I was in the
second quarter and then Edwards went off and gave the
Timberwolve the lead late.

Speaker 2 (34:20):
Yep, he got himself. I mean that's one hundred I almost.
That's had to be why he was he was getting
himself going. I mean that's like like Holly said, she
was watching it with us or with me and like, yep,
my wife. Sorry. Like he is so confident, Like I
can't even imagine even just having like an ounce of

(34:40):
the level of like confidence that he.

Speaker 3 (34:43):
Has, just like sometimes a little too confident.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
Well of course, yes, but like you know, going way
back to like when he's a rookie, right, Marty Galloner
interviewing him, and he's like, yeah, I could go pro
in every sport, it wouldn't matter. And it's like you
hear it, and then you hear the way he says it,
and you're like he actually kind of believes that, like
he thinks if he just practiced other sports that he
would be able to do it all and then happen

(35:06):
with the Olympics too, Like with Pink was a ping
pong that he's like, I could do that, totally, No,
you can't. These people are Olympic ping pong. It's like
they devote their lives to it. And he's like, I
could do that, and obviously there's a shred of Yeah,
what's the word the delusion, says Holly from the other room.

(35:28):
You know he's a little delusional, right, But again, that's
part of what makes him so good is that he
thinks every single shot is going in from no matter where.
He thinks he's better than Lebron, he thinks he's better
than Luca. He thinks like and again that's part of
what makes him so elite is that he has no conscience.
It's just I am going to go at this best

(35:49):
basketball player of all time, shove him in his face
because I am him. If you're against him, but you
love himhen he's on your team.

Speaker 3 (35:59):
Serious facts.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
Yeah, well, Jacob, thank you for breaking down this. Timberwolves
went up three to one in the JJ Berea uniform.
Thank you for sending the vibes the target center.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
Man, what a game is it going win? Oh?

Speaker 3 (36:22):
I'm scared that it's going seven.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
See, you have the Minnesota thing.

Speaker 3 (36:27):
I do have the Venzula thing I do. I'll say
we get them in six.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
That's I feel like that's the obvious answer they give one.

Speaker 3 (36:39):
I don't. I don't want to be obvious.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
I'll say five is stomp on the throat here.

Speaker 3 (36:43):
Mm hmm. Yeah, we'll stop.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
There's a lot of guys in the Lakers that got
a lot of quitting them. Mm hmm. There is writing
on the wall a little.

Speaker 1 (36:55):
Bit right, But yeah, I'm just looking at her, and
it's not like we shot the lights out today. Fourteen
thirty six from three. It's not bad thirty nine Lakers
for so they look for a discrepancy. It's like, oh, yeah,
like the Lakers shot it way better.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
That's about the same.

Speaker 2 (37:13):
Yeah, we were just a smidge worse than each figer.
We had more shots, just because we had ten more shots.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
They did make five more threes than we did, so
we were able to overcome fifteen more points in threes
by the Lakers, which is pretty significant. But the big
game changer in this game was the amount of offensive
rebounds the Timber was got and the turnovers.

Speaker 3 (37:41):
The Lakers had two, so m Lakers had one.

Speaker 2 (37:46):
I guess.

Speaker 3 (37:46):
I guess they only had ten turnovers, but it was
like ten to nine or something. I thought they had more,
but that all happened in like the first half, I guess.

Speaker 2 (37:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (37:54):
Really, although Lebron had that killer one at the end
of the game, trying to inbound the ball.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
Lucas too, Yeah, your best at least just chuck it
over into the you know, throw it up so that
somebody can get it. He literally shoot it right to
McDaniels and one turnover. Think about how much he handled
the ball tonight.

Speaker 3 (38:12):
Mm hmmm.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
One turnover for.

Speaker 3 (38:14):
The best When he's a playmaker for himself and for others, yep.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
Yeah, himself first and then others if he has to.
But at the end of the day, too, he does
trust his teammates a he'll fan it out there and
he found Jayden and yeah he doesn't care.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
Yeah, big deal, big win. Tim rolls up three to one. Jake,
thanks for taking the time.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
Thank you. We're gonna get into the wild Ah.

Speaker 3 (38:36):
We'll see what happens after game five.

Speaker 1 (38:40):
Although I am being told that I'm the curse because
I worked game one and didn't go home till like
one am in the morning. He played at nine, and
then I worked game four wild lost both of those games.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
Who told you the fondness falness?

Speaker 3 (38:56):
Can you out or what he didn't call me out
is my mother in law? You're the curse?

Speaker 2 (39:06):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (39:07):
Did you even know you watched The Wild. I think
she does.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
I was.

Speaker 2 (39:13):
I had to chaperone prom and I pulled up The
Wild on my phone because we're right over. I was
two to two and within I'm not joking, five seconds
I pulled up the phone watching Go Vegas Gonna holding
that the curse.

Speaker 3 (39:33):
Funny stuff. Well, Jacob, thank you for your time. Everyone.

Speaker 1 (39:35):
Five Star Baths Solutions of Minneapolis check them out if
you want the best bathroom model done in forty eight hours.
Great work, great done, great done, can be done, great done,
great done.

Speaker 3 (39:47):
This podcast is great done. Everyone will tell you greatly done.
Bye bye