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Speaker 1: You're at the volume. Happy Friday, everybody, hop all of
Speaker 1: you guys have had a great week. Game two of
Speaker 1: the Western Conference Finals goes to the Dallas Mavericks on
Speaker 1: a game winner from Luka Doncics in a hell of
Speaker 1: a game. With three seconds left, Lucas steps back over
Speaker 1: ride Goobert. Now Dallas is up to oh and they're
Speaker 1: headed home and Minnesota is in a world of trouble.
Speaker 1: We're gonna break it down from the perspective of both teams.
Speaker 1: You guys know the joke before we get started. Subscribe
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Speaker 1: under Hoops Tonight, and keep dropping mail back questions in
Speaker 1: those YouTube comments so we can keep hitting them throughout
Speaker 1: the rest of the postseason. All right, let's talk some basketball.
Speaker 1: So obviously, from the Minnesota perspective, it would be easy
Speaker 1: to talk yourself into kind of a positive outlook for
Speaker 1: being down two oh, right, like you led late in
Speaker 1: game one, you lead late in game two, just as
Speaker 1: easily be up two oh as you are currently in
Speaker 1: your situation where you're down oh two right. I mean,
Speaker 1: just look at tonight, Like if Luca misses a step back,
Speaker 1: or if nas Reid hits his three from the right wing,
Speaker 1: then it's one to one, right, or something goes differently
Speaker 1: in game one, maybe you're up to oh right. I
Speaker 1: see it very differently, And like, for the record, I
Speaker 1: picked Minnesota to start the series, but like, I don't
Speaker 1: care about being right. That means nothing to me. To
Speaker 1: quote the great Colin Coward. What really matters is getting
Speaker 1: it right to me, and I genuinely feel that way.
Speaker 1: I take this job very seriously, and I just my
Speaker 1: job is to look at what's happening on the basketball
Speaker 1: court and try to interpret it into something right. And
Speaker 1: regardless of what may or may not have happened to
Speaker 1: Minnesota to be in this predicament down two oh, the
Speaker 1: reality is is that Dallas is way more capable of
Speaker 1: manipulating Minnesota's defense and getting what they want then Minnesota
Speaker 1: is on the other end of the floor. Nas three
Speaker 1: with I think it was like a couple minutes left.
Speaker 1: I can't remember, but they put them up one oh
Speaker 1: two to one oh one, and I tweeted at that moment,
Speaker 1: I was like, Minnesota's up one. They very well might
Speaker 1: win this game, but it doesn't matter. Dallas is going
Speaker 1: to win the series. And it's because of these specific
Speaker 1: dynamics that I'm talking about. We're gonna get into the
Speaker 1: the to the details, but like it just it wouldn't
Speaker 1: have mattered if they would have won this game. I
Speaker 1: had a mail bad question last night. Someone asked me
Speaker 1: about overreacting to game ones, Right, Like that's always what happens, right,
Speaker 1: Like somebody wins a game one, and then everybody that
Speaker 1: picked that particular team to win starts running on victory laps,
Speaker 1: and then everyone else is like scared that they're wrong,
Speaker 1: and it's like, actually, a lot can just be weird
Speaker 1: in a game one, Right, You need a substantial sample
Speaker 1: size of basketball to really interpret what the advantages are
Speaker 1: for either team, and regardless of the result, forget about
Speaker 1: like beause Dallas, what did Dallas win one oh nine
Speaker 1: to one oh eight tonight? Forget about the scoreboard. If
Speaker 1: you actually just look at what was happening on the court,
Speaker 1: it's very clear that Dallas has more advantages than Minnesota
Speaker 1: does in this series. Let's talk them through Luca versus
Speaker 1: Jada McDaniels and then Anthony Edwards versus Derek Jones Jr.
Speaker 1: Who looks more comfortable getting to their spots Against those
Speaker 1: individual matchups. Luca's too big and strong for Jada McDaniels.
Speaker 1: Darrek Jones Jr. Is another top tier NBA athlete with length,
Speaker 1: and he can actually match up with Anthony Edwards a
Speaker 1: little bit better. Obviously, there's a team scheme element to it,
Speaker 1: and we'll get a little bit into that in a
Speaker 1: little bit, but there's no doubt that even just on
Speaker 1: an island, Luca has a better matchup. Minnesota does not
Speaker 1: have a guy that can make Luca feel uncomfortable. Dallas does,
Speaker 1: at least to a certain extent with Anthony Edwards. The
Speaker 1: Kyrie matchup Kyrie versus Anthony Edwards, and then Carl Anthony
Speaker 1: Towns versus PJ. Washington. Those are your secondary stars, right
Speaker 1: who looks more comfortable getting to their spots and contributing
Speaker 1: offensively Kyrie Irving or Karl Anthony Towns. Very clearly, Karl
Speaker 1: Anthony Towns right. I pulled these stats because these are
Speaker 1: absolutely crazy. Game one, Dallas got one point one point
Speaker 1: one points per ISO, Minnesota got zero point three to nine.
Speaker 1: Game two Dallas gets one point two to nine points
Speaker 1: per ISO, Minnesota gets zero point four to four points
Speaker 1: per ISO. So even just on an island scoring, Luca
Speaker 1: and Kyrie clearly have better advantages in this series than
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards and Karl Anthony Towns do. Right. Look at
Speaker 1: the pick and roll. When the MAVs run pick and roll,
Speaker 1: Luka Nancic can very easily get Jaden McDaniels into trail
Speaker 1: position where he can put him into jail and either
Speaker 1: operate somewhere in the mid range or get downhill and
Speaker 1: manipulate Rudy Gobert into helping in some way, shape or
Speaker 1: form so that he can throw a drop off pass
Speaker 1: or he's making the kickout reads the other end of
Speaker 1: the floor. Derek Jones and PJ. Washington go for seven
Speaker 1: from three tonight. They're still not shooting well by the way.
Speaker 1: Jump shooting in this game. It was really bad. In
Speaker 1: Game one, Minnesota one point one four points per jumper,
Speaker 1: Dallas zero point nine to three. So Dallas is still
Speaker 1: on the short end of the stick in terms of
Speaker 1: shooting result in this areas we've seen in this playoff run, PJ.
Speaker 1: Washington and Derek Jones Junior convert spot up possessions at
Speaker 1: a hell of a higher rate than they have so
Speaker 1: far in this series. Dallas looks way more comfortable in
Speaker 1: pick and roll. Look at the Wolves. On the Wolves front,
Speaker 1: it's like high drop against Anthony Edwards. They're able to
Speaker 1: contest his pull up three better than Denver did. There,
Speaker 1: Like literally, Anthony Edwards is incapable of getting into the lane.
Speaker 1: He is two for eight in the restricted area so
Speaker 1: far in this entire series through two games. So that's
Speaker 1: bad no matter how you look at it. The percentages
Speaker 1: twenty five percent in the restricted area. That's bad. Eight
Speaker 1: attempts in two games. He averaged over seven attempts in
Speaker 1: the restricted area per game in the entire seven game
Speaker 1: Denver Nugget series. So like, no matter how you look
Speaker 1: at it, the only opportunity for Minnesota to score effectively
Speaker 1: is to get out in transition off of stops, Whereas
Speaker 1: anytime Dallas wants to, they can methodically execute and get
Speaker 1: to a high quality shot in the half court They've
Speaker 1: been up over one hundred points per one hundred half
Speaker 1: court plays in both games. They are dominating the half
Speaker 1: court battle in the series. The only reason that it
Speaker 1: has appeared as close as it has is because of
Speaker 1: the fact that they've knocked down three point shots. Guys
Speaker 1: like Jade McDaniel's hitting in Game one, guys like naseried
Speaker 1: Hitten in Game two. They've shot the ball better and
Speaker 1: it's the only reason it is looked as close as
Speaker 1: it has. But the advantages are very clear. Dallas is
Speaker 1: more capable of manipulating Minnesota's defense and getting quality shots
Speaker 1: than Minnesota is capable of doing on the other end
Speaker 1: of the floor. So regardless of what would happen tonight,
Speaker 1: and by the way, Dallas is up to oh so
Speaker 1: it's manifested in the result. But regardless of what would
Speaker 1: have happened tonight, or if Minnesota would have split it
Speaker 1: to split the two games, or if Minnesota would have
Speaker 1: been up to to OH, I think Dallas would have
Speaker 1: gone home and one two and regained control of the series. Anyway, now,
Speaker 1: who knows if Dallas will relax in some sort of
Speaker 1: profound way going home in Minnesota manages to steal one
Speaker 1: of those games. But I think this series is over.
Speaker 1: I think it's over regardless of what happened down the
Speaker 1: stretch tonight. Dallas just it's a lot of it's matchup based.
Speaker 1: And that's the fascinating piece of this right, Like looking back,
Speaker 1: Minnesota goes up against a couple of really poor rim
Speaker 1: protection teams in Phoenix and Denver, and their offense wakes
Speaker 1: up in a wait, never did all season, right, And
Speaker 1: Dallas has the ability to kind of play them into
Speaker 1: those situations, right, But like that's how it goes, right,
Speaker 1: Like matchups are are what determines basketball games in so
Speaker 1: many different ways, and Dallas is just very well equipped
Speaker 1: to beat this Minnesota Timberwolves team. And the Timbrelves do
Speaker 1: not have many more cards they can play. They can
Speaker 1: try benching Rudy Gobert and playing their shooting bigs instead
Speaker 1: to try to space the floor for ant. That might
Speaker 1: get them going offensively. But I think they're gonna get picked,
Speaker 1: like they're getting picked apart now with Rudy go bear
Speaker 1: on the floor. Just wait until you see what it
Speaker 1: looks like when you ditch Rudy Gobert. And here's the thing,
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert. He's getting slandered all over the place. And
Speaker 1: by the way, he did a very poor job on
Speaker 1: that final possession. I clipped a little screenshot you guys
Speaker 1: can see where Rudy Gobert like they're down two. Everybody
Speaker 1: in the entire world knows Luca's hunting the three there,
Speaker 1: everybody except for Rudy Gobert, apparently, because on the last
Speaker 1: move that Luca Adanci hits, Rudy takes a negative step
Speaker 1: with his right foot, so he's got his back turned
Speaker 1: to Luca. I took a screenshot of this and put
Speaker 1: on my Twitter feed. His right foot is about seventeen
Speaker 1: feet from the rim, so just behind the foul line,
Speaker 1: and his back is turned as he's getting ready to
Speaker 1: turn back to close out on Luca. He bit on
Speaker 1: a dribble drive fake on a possession where everybody knew
Speaker 1: that the dribble drive doesn't hurt you, because at the
Speaker 1: worst case scenario, you are going to overtime and everybody
Speaker 1: knows Luca's a psychopath and he's gonna be going for
Speaker 1: the three point shot. But here's the thing, Rudy Gobert
Speaker 1: did a poor job on that final possession. But he's
Speaker 1: a very good defensive player, and Minnesota has fared better
Speaker 1: in this series when he's been on the floor. So
Speaker 1: if you think that benching Rudy Gobert is just going
Speaker 1: to magically solve all of your problems, I disagree. I
Speaker 1: think that your defense will just get substantially worse than
Speaker 1: any sort of increase you might get on the offensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor. Minnesota can try switching in pick
Speaker 1: and roll more, right, that's an option they could go to. Well,
Speaker 1: we just saw that on the final possession of today's game,
Speaker 1: and my guess is Luca would just figure out Rudy
Speaker 1: Gobert as well over the course of some sort of
Speaker 1: large sample size. They can try to blitz more. Dallas
Speaker 1: still hasn't really shot well though, And you know, Derek
Speaker 1: Jones and PJ. Washington went zero for seven from three tonight.
Speaker 1: That might be their best strategy for Minnesota to try
Speaker 1: to sell this offense down, but it hasn't yielded good results. Like,
Speaker 1: I don't think that that's going to be some sort
Speaker 1: of magical fix in this series. Again, jump shooting tonight,
Speaker 1: Minnesota was better again. Dallas dominated points in the paint again, like,
Speaker 1: I don't think that there's some sort of magical hard
Speaker 1: that Minnesota can play that can flip the obvious dynamic
Speaker 1: that Dallas is a better half court offense. And this
Speaker 1: is where we got to get to Luca. He just
Speaker 1: unbelievably amazing again, you know, in terms of like actually
Speaker 1: operating from the perimeter, Like I think, I think that
Speaker 1: you can we can get into arguments about this kind
Speaker 1: of thing over the summer. But like Nikola Jokic is
Speaker 1: the guy that you would point to as someone who
Speaker 1: might be better than Luka Doncic. But in terms of
Speaker 1: like operating from the perimeter in the ball with the
Speaker 1: ball in your hands, live dribble, there is nobody in
Speaker 1: the NBA that can dissect an elite defense in the
Speaker 1: half court the way that Luka Doncic can. There aren't
Speaker 1: very many perimeter defenders that can even make him feel
Speaker 1: remotely uncomfortable, Like lou Dort did about as good of
Speaker 1: a job as he could, and Lucas still found a
Speaker 1: way with the with with the strength of their defense
Speaker 1: and with support from Kyrie Irving, they knocked off the
Speaker 1: one seed. Even with a perimeter defender that is like
Speaker 1: built in some bizarre NFL lab to be the guy
Speaker 1: who guards Luka dancis right, So you can't find a
Speaker 1: guy who can guard him on an island. There's no
Speaker 1: coverage that works. You try switching, he's gonna barbecue you're
Speaker 1: big man. That's the That's what I don't. I don't
Speaker 1: think Rudy Gobert is as good defensively as his accolades
Speaker 1: would lead you to believe. But he's still a very
Speaker 1: good defensive player. Is he as good as Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: or bam Adebayo or Victor Webbin Yama or Draymond Green.
Speaker 1: Probably not, but he's still damn good. And Luca barbecued
Speaker 1: his ass. Right. You can try blitzing, He's gonna make
Speaker 1: the read every single time, and it's gonna end in
Speaker 1: either lob dunks or corner threes. Again, Derek Lively in particular,
Speaker 1: has has been so damn good on the short roll,
Speaker 1: making decisions when he kind of gets into space off
Speaker 1: of those blitzes, Like there's literally nothing you can do
Speaker 1: with Luca, He's gonna find a way. The amount of
Speaker 1: comically easy shots that he generated against Minnesota's defense in
Speaker 1: these first two games is insane Dallas hasn't shot nearly
Speaker 1: as well as they are capable of. It hasn't even
Speaker 1: manifested in the way that it can manifest. But still,
Speaker 1: when push comes to shove late in these games, he's
Speaker 1: found a way to keep the ball in his hands
Speaker 1: through straight iso and he's been able to get the
Speaker 1: looks that he needs to close the deal. Kyrie Irving
Speaker 1: once again came up huge when it mattered. Hits three
Speaker 1: threes at the beginning of the fourth quarter that kind
Speaker 1: of like erased any sort of benefit that Minnesota got
Speaker 1: out of nas Reed's hot streak. He missed those two
Speaker 1: clutch free throws late, they were weird two kind of
Speaker 1: his release looked kind of weird. That was kind of
Speaker 1: a funky sequence. But then he makes up for it
Speaker 1: by hitting that huge corner three later that cuts the
Speaker 1: lead to two. And like, once again, like there's always
Speaker 1: the shot before the shot that gets looked over right.
Speaker 1: It's like it's like the Ray Allen corner three in
Speaker 1: the twenty thirteen finals, Lebron hit a three on the
Speaker 1: previous possession, Like it's there's always like a shot before
Speaker 1: the shot. Kyrie's three in that corner was the shot
Speaker 1: before the shot that Luca hit that like put them
Speaker 1: in a position where they could get there. That was
Speaker 1: a massive, massive bucket. And it's been kind of a
Speaker 1: theme in this postseason that he can kind of ease
Speaker 1: into games and then like he just finds a way.
Speaker 1: It's always like that early fourth quarter stretch when Luca's
Speaker 1: off the floor that Kyrie just goes super saying and
Speaker 1: finds a way to get baskets for his team and
Speaker 1: put them over the edge. And then I just have
Speaker 1: to shout out Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford. They are
Speaker 1: kicking ass in this series. They're protecting the hell out
Speaker 1: of the rim. I pointed out that Anthony Edwards two
Speaker 1: for eight and the restricted areas that here's another crazy
Speaker 1: stat for you. Minnesota shot sixty five percent in the
Speaker 1: restricted area against Denver. They're shooting fifty four percent in
Speaker 1: the restricted area against Dallas. That is an eleven percent
Speaker 1: reduction inefficiency there, fifty four percent. They're barely making more
Speaker 1: than half of their layups against this minute against this
Speaker 1: Dallas defense. Like, and that's Lively and Gafford. They've been incredible.
Speaker 1: What a Gafford have four blocks tonight? Derek glively had
Speaker 1: a huge stop on a switch against Anthony Edwards late
Speaker 1: in the game. They've just been absolutely awesome. I can't
Speaker 1: I can't say enough about him. Luca's playing like Luca's
Speaker 1: banged up, and he's playing like the best player in
Speaker 1: the world. Kyrie Irving is in a perfectly suited role
Speaker 1: for him on this team where he's contributing on both
Speaker 1: ends of the floor in a big way. They've just
Speaker 1: absolutely hit slam dunk signings in the on the margins
Speaker 1: and the offseason, like Derek Jones Junior, even again, the
Speaker 1: even the Grant Williams signing to sign in trade that
Speaker 1: was a vehicle which with which they used to bring
Speaker 1: back guys like PJ. Washington and Daniel Gafford. Like it
Speaker 1: just they they just look like they just have put
Speaker 1: this together in such a beautiful way to accentuate their stars.
Speaker 1: I just can't say enough about how impressed I've been
Speaker 1: with Dallas in this series. Again, like I very you
Speaker 1: guys know me, I very rarely am like this series
Speaker 1: is over. Guy. Even when Minnesota went up two oh,
Speaker 1: if you guys remember, I was like, yeah, I think
Speaker 1: Minnesota is gonna win. But I can't say the series
Speaker 1: is over. This series is over that like Minnesota cannot
Speaker 1: solve these problems that Dallas presents to them. And it's
Speaker 1: all of these guys. Luca and Kyrie are kicking the
Speaker 1: shit out of Anton Karl Anthony Towns, and Derek Lively
Speaker 1: and Daniel Gafford are kicking the shit out of Rudi Gobert.
Speaker 1: It is a matchup by matchup. Dallas is just outclassing them.
Speaker 1: And the only reason it has appeared as close as
Speaker 1: it has is three point shooting. Like yeah, if PJ.
Speaker 1: Washington and Derek Jones Junior shoot remotely the way they've
Speaker 1: been shooting the remainder of this the rest of this postseason,
Speaker 1: they're They're winning both of these games comfortably, like Minnesota
Speaker 1: is in a world of trouble on the Minnesota front.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about Anthony Edwards for a second.
Speaker 1: I had another nightmare games five or seventeen from the field.
Speaker 1: The main thing that's standing out to me. I talked
Speaker 1: a lot about this dynamic in the Phoenix series, but
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards is such a profoundly gifted downhill athlete that
Speaker 1: his pull up jumper becomes really easy because he's just
Speaker 1: coming downhill at you and every defenders on their heels.
Speaker 1: But because of the way that Dallas can protect the rim,
Speaker 1: it has allowed Derek Jones Junior to press up a
Speaker 1: little bit more on ant in a way that the
Speaker 1: other opponents could not, and it is put him in
Speaker 1: a predicament where now the majority of his shot attempts
Speaker 1: are coming in the form of pull up jump shots.
Speaker 1: He's taken eight shots in the restricted area, eight of
Speaker 1: them in two games. Everything else is from the perimeter,
Speaker 1: everything else. And so as a result, instead of that
Speaker 1: being that give and take of like downhill force pull
Speaker 1: up jump shooting, instead it's like there's nothing downhill and
Speaker 1: it's all pull up jump shooting. By the way, this
Speaker 1: is a credit to Dallas's defense. You don't think Anthony
Speaker 1: Edwards knew coming into the game he needed to get
Speaker 1: downhill more. Early in this game, he had two downhill
Speaker 1: drives in transition where he got fouls. He had a
Speaker 1: playing pick and roll where he got downhill and made
Speaker 1: a kick out pass to Karl Anthony Towns. But like
Speaker 1: when Dallas really really loads up on him, he cannot
Speaker 1: turn the corner, he cannot get into the lane, like
Speaker 1: and there's a like that has manifested in his jumper
Speaker 1: not going in. This is the worst. This series has
Speaker 1: been the worst he's shot from the perimeter in his
Speaker 1: entire playoff career. He's had four series before this where
Speaker 1: he's been deadly as a pull up jump shooter. This series,
Speaker 1: he has not been able to get that part of
Speaker 1: his game going. And to me, it's because there's not
Speaker 1: that balance. He can't turn the corner. So now he's
Speaker 1: he offensively is effectively on his heels, which is allowing
Speaker 1: Derek Jones to be on his toes and more forward aggressive.
Speaker 1: He's not getting good looks, and because he's not getting
Speaker 1: good looks, he's not making them. And this is where, like,
Speaker 1: you know, if it's too early to get into like
Speaker 1: big offseason kind of big picture stuff with Minnesota, but
Speaker 1: this is the go Beart problem, and there is a
Speaker 1: conversation to be had about the compros and cons of
Speaker 1: having him on the floor because he does not have
Speaker 1: good hands. He does not catch and finish everything. He
Speaker 1: does not make good decisions on the roll. How many
Speaker 1: times did he smoke shots at the rim tonight? Like
Speaker 1: that's not his game. He does not provide much in
Speaker 1: the way of spacing at all whatsoever. And so as
Speaker 1: a result, like the game is going to be difficult
Speaker 1: for Aunt whenever he runs into a team that can
Speaker 1: truly protect the rim in a playoff setting. Anytime he
Speaker 1: runs into that problem, this kind of thing will manifest. Now,
Speaker 1: obviously there's an opportunity there based on Gobert's contract, in
Speaker 1: the realities of his limitations, He's probably gonna be a
Speaker 1: timberwolf for a long time. Right, So, if you're Anthony Edwards,
Speaker 1: what's the move there? What does ant have to get
Speaker 1: better at to solve this kind of problem? And again,
Speaker 1: every all time great runs into a certain type of problem, right,
Speaker 1: Like for Luca over the years, it's kind of like
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins in the twenty twenty two Western Conference finals.
Speaker 1: Whenever somebody can actually put on a big, strong athlete
Speaker 1: that Luca can't bully, that's kind of like his big
Speaker 1: Rubik's cube that he has to solve. By the way,
Speaker 1: he solved it against lou Dort and won the series, right,
Speaker 1: didn't in twenty twenty two. He solved it this year, right,
Speaker 1: But like that's his big challenge that they has to
Speaker 1: figure out, what if there's somebody that actually he can't
Speaker 1: bully right every like for Lebron James, what if everyone
Speaker 1: just SAgs back and dares you to shoot jumpers? What
Speaker 1: are you gonna do? For Anthony Edwards, it's what if
Speaker 1: someone can protect the rim and you're this downhill slasher.
Speaker 1: What are you going to do? And that piece for
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards, in my opinion, is going to be very
Speaker 1: similar to what you're seeing from Luca. Ant has to
Speaker 1: learn to add that kind of like in between change
Speaker 1: of pace gear. He has to be able to put
Speaker 1: defenders into jail, manipulate rim protectors, find a way to
Speaker 1: get past Derek Jones in a ball screen, but then
Speaker 1: methodically work downhill and generate some kind of opening where
Speaker 1: you can pick a team apart in the ball screen. Again,
Speaker 1: Dallas is guarding these ball screens three on two. They
Speaker 1: are up at the level and they have somebody tagging
Speaker 1: the roller. It's three on two. The openings are gonna
Speaker 1: be through and dissecting the defense in a similar way
Speaker 1: to what Luca is doing. That's the next step for him.
Speaker 1: He's twenty two years old. He's got a lot of
Speaker 1: time to figure it out. But he's this is not
Speaker 1: the last team that he's gonna run into. That's gonna
Speaker 1: have a seven footer that can jump underneath the rim,
Speaker 1: and a good athlete on the perimeter that can load
Speaker 1: up on him and enough speed around him to kind
Speaker 1: of put three into a ball screen action. Right, So,
Speaker 1: like that's gonna be the that's gonna be the next
Speaker 1: step for it is figuring out how to solve this
Speaker 1: particular type of problem overall for Minnesota. You know, every
Speaker 1: year I cover the NBA, I learn more and uh again,
Speaker 1: Like as as I said at the beginning of the show,
Speaker 1: I don't care about being right. I care about getting
Speaker 1: it right, and so much is about learning from what
Speaker 1: the game is teaching us in these results. And I
Speaker 1: had all of these concerns about Minnesota during the regular season,
Speaker 1: like oh, do they have reels like the real ability
Speaker 1: to space the floor and counter rim protection Anthony Edwards
Speaker 1: and Karl Anthony Towns's decision makers. Look at the decision
Speaker 1: making at the end of this game from Anthony Edwards
Speaker 1: throwing the ball out of bounds, just like inability to
Speaker 1: kind of solve what's happening in front of him. The
Speaker 1: late game offense in general, this team was one of
Speaker 1: the worst late game offenses in the league all year long,
Speaker 1: and I think we myself got dissuaded by virtue of
Speaker 1: Phoenix and Denver's inability to protect the rim into thinking
Speaker 1: that their offense had like figured something out. But all
Speaker 1: that is is like ant superpower is downhill athleticism, and
Speaker 1: those teams just couldn't match up with that problem, whereas
Speaker 1: Dallas has something that can counter that. Now it's kind
Speaker 1: of exposing that issue. And so I mean, matchups determine
Speaker 1: most of this stuff over the course of the NBA.
Speaker 1: But like all you're seeing from Minnesota is the same
Speaker 1: sort of issues they had all season. They've just been
Speaker 1: brought to the forefront by virtue of a matchup that
Speaker 1: can shine a flashlight on those things. But again, I
Speaker 1: think Dallas is gonna go home. I think this series
Speaker 1: is This could very easily be a sweep. I'll say
Speaker 1: in five, just because I have too much respect for
Speaker 1: Minnesota and what they've accomplished to this point. But I
Speaker 1: think this series is over. I do not see a
Speaker 1: move that Minnesota can make to flip the script. The
Speaker 1: pieces are not there, the chess move is not there.
Speaker 1: This is checkmate. There's nothing they can do. So the
Speaker 1: Dallas fans, I think it's I think you a barring injury,
Speaker 1: can start getting a little excited about the fact that
Speaker 1: the NBA Finals is a very realistic goal for you here. Obviously,
Speaker 1: we're going to cover the rest of the series as
Speaker 1: though Minnesota does have a chance, just because that's the
Speaker 1: nature of the profession, and we're gonna give We're gonna
Speaker 1: go live after Game three and see if they can't
Speaker 1: turn it around. But I don't see it. I just
Speaker 1: don't see any sort of of easy fix there on
Speaker 1: the table. All Right, guys, that is all I have
Speaker 1: for tonight. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for
Speaker 1: supporting the show. We will be back tomorrow morning with
Speaker 1: a little bit of film session on this game, and
Speaker 1: then we'll be covering Game three of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Speaker 1: I will so you guys did the volume