Locked On Wolves POSTCAST: T-Wolves Bounce Back Strong In Houston 122-95

Locked On Wolves POSTCAST: T-Wolves Bounce Back Strong In Houston 122-95

Bounceback game for the te- Wolves they snaap their two game losing Street I got wolves expert Jack Borman he’s going to help me break it all down it’s all coming up next on the lock on wolves Postcast you are locked on wolves postcast part of locked on Minnesota on the locked on podcast Network your team every day t-wolves bounce back strong in Houston tonight 12295 they snaap their only two game losing streak of the season they moved to 25- n on the year what’s happening

Everyone back in the lab back at another t-wolves postcast episode right here on the lockdown Sports Minnesota Network myself Luke Inman at lukor spin that’s the man Jack Borman on Twitter Jr Borman 13 he claims he’s in a Michael Jordan flu game tonight so we’ll see what type

Of performance we get from him but before we jump into all that quick reminder tonight’s episode brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase that’s locked on NBA for $20

Off your first purchase all right man let’s jump right into this one lots to cover really I mean this this is the game I think wolves fans wanted to see right after losing two in a row everybody was getting after it tonight they they just looked a lot more active

A lot more fresh tonight and really played with that that new gear really that’s been missing these last two games that coach Finch told us about in his last press conference uh start here though give us your major headlines big observations just to kick things off yeah nice to see the Timberwolves get

Out to their their largest lead of the season so far 33 points um just one game after the season ended um that was uh that was great obviously to to see that um yeah I mean my biggest thing in this game was just the way that the the

Timberwolves were able to force the Rockets to take shots that uh that the Timberwolves wanted them to take I think that uh the Rockets took a lot of ill-advised shots early in the shot clock and the Timberwolves did an excellent job of of rebounding I believe they won the rebound B the rebound

Battle here what was it 52 to 38 um that’s going to play every single night um you know and they just didn’t let any of uh Houston’s guys really establish a Rhythm that that lasted more than one quarter um Jaden McDaniels was phenomenal um in disrupting Fred Van vet

Early on I know that you know alperin shenon um really really talented Center really Burly dude um tough guy to to get over screens on for for someone like Jaden but um but he did a great job Fred Van vet seven points on on two of nine

Shooting um that that’s a great that’s a great thing um and then with shenon too I mean you look at Rudy goar um you know played really soft on shenon early in the game that first quarter allowed 11 points on five of seven shooting kind of in that short mid-range

Area that little floater area we saw shenon really get going and then the rest of the game uh I believe shenon had what was it eight points on three of 10 shooting with two turnovers um so you know really really great job uh especially from the the Timberwolves to

Defensive stars for for really setting the tone and then you know you had guys like Kyle Anderson who came in and played in the gaps off the ball really well moved their feet um you know Kyle I believe had three steals tonight but but certainly um you know impacted uh you

Know even more turnovers I would say that he probably created six or seven turnovers just with his defensive activity Alone um which is obviously a great thing and you know amidst all the conversation about know Kyle Anderson potentially being a trade t or you know a trade ship that the Timberwolves move

Out um you know I I have certainly been one that’s been pounding the drum of I don’t think people fully understand just how important he is defensively and I think he’s a really important piece to to the Timberwolves being able to play to their truly like huge really big um

You know lineups and especially defensively where those have been so successful he’s been such an important you know Lynch pin of that and um and tonight was another example of that and and tonight you know the Timberwolves two stars didn’t didn’t play all that particularly well uh offensively uh it

Was just really kind of all over the place up and down but you know when the Timberwolves have their defensive fastball like to did tonight um and then rebound the ball you know or active off the ball you know I believe what was it they created 15 turnovers turned it into

18 points ran really well won the Fast Break battle I think 20 to6 um or 20 to eight excuse me so um you know really just a defense first game and and the rest kind of fell into place and that’s exactly what the Timberwolves needed um

You know over this last stretch of five six games with their defense has has really slipped and has been pretty pedestrians hopefully now the wolves can kind of turn it on here um you know against two more really really good teams before their schedule gets um or

Excuse me three more pretty good teams here before their schedule gets really soft yeah well said and and you know you lose two in a row all of a sudden oh my gosh the sky is falling and it kind of put things into perspective a little bit

And just taking a step back here for a second man you win by what 32 33 tonight just such a fun run for this team this year beating the teams they’re supposed to beat first and foremost some great Road wins along the way my mind immediately goes to at Dallas at Miami

At Sacramento no cat in that game maybe the best win of the Year arguably anyways and and they’re doing it in so many different ways too which is again what the best teams in this league do so a great Get Right game tonight taking care of business and and speaking of a

Clean game too cat man Carl Anthony towns he was crispy tonight and and he was doing all the little things you want to see too not just the points and the box score but rebounding handful of assists good defense on the other and evaluate his game tonight and how

Important he was in this one and in the big picture when he pays attention to the finder details how important is that guy yeah I mean I I obviously think he’s a really important player um you know I I I would probably give tonight like a c

Minus or a c honestly um I think that you know Carl had four turnovers he was pretty chaotic and pretty all over the place for half the minute is that anything new though uh not in the last handful of games really since he’s come back for that that injury that he

Suffered you know right above his left knee um that caused him to miss that Sacramento game that you mentioned um you know obviously he was really important in the second half of just like helping the Wolves extend the lead and um and had some timely baskets but

Man there were a lot of times where he took some kind of ill-advised shots on the drive where he passed up some wider than wide openen threes to drive into double triple coverage turn it over or throw up just a a crazy layup hoping that there was a foul and then he’s on

The ground and and the know Rockets out and running and you know thankfully the the Rockets weren’t able to convert as much on that as you know other teams have been able to in the past that really makes some of that um some of that kind of chaotic play from from Carl

Stand out a little bit more but um you know got to give credit to Carl he really you recovered pretty nicely with uh with some good defensive plays when he checked in um at the end of the third quarter had that um you know that great

Take to get to the free throw line made a couple free throws had a great shot block and and rebound on the other end and then um and then found slowmo for that that cutting poster dunk you know all three possessions in a row which was which was phenomenal um and then and

Then obviously kind of kept it rolling into the fourth quarter to really um you know Stamp Out the Rockets but but I think offensively um The Wolves just you know have to get through to whether it’s whether they’ve tried to get through to Carl or Carl won’t listen or um or they

Haven’t tried to get through to Carl I don’t know I shooting four three-pointers in a game for Carl Anthony towns is unacceptable um he should be shooting threes twice as much as he’s posting up twice as much as he’s driving and that’s just not the case right now um he’s driving way more

Than he’s shooting threes I mean Carl Anthony town is one of the best Shooters in the league shooting over 40% from three um almost every single time he takes a three-pointer it’s a good shot and um and he’s just passing up way too many wideopen threes to drive I’m

Totally cool with him passing up you know a good three-pointer for to you know to kick an extra pass like you did to ant or Jaden a few times today and he’s he’s a super unselfish dude and that’s obviously a great thing we we want him to keep doing that but um but

Some of these drives man um just driving in double triple coverage with charges and turnovers are frustrating so that’s that’s where you kind of got to clean up on the margins but um but again his 22 points and six rebounds had some really awesome passes out of the post to find

Um you know three-point Shooters on the perimeter which was sweet um or the or the cut to to Kyle a couple times had a great cut um past to Rudy for for a dunk which was great um so um we we’ll get there Sam don’t you

Worry um but yeah again I just think it’s all the stuff on the margins for Carl and but again I think you gota you got to take a night like tonight a c a c or C minus might be a little harsh I’d

Probably say like a b b or B minus no I I appreci especially consider the way he’s been playing of Lady hasn’t been as good sure kind of this is a good kind of step in the right direction for sure well I was going to say I appreciate

That evaluation because when you win by 33 it’s easy to smell the roses but like you pointed out still plenty to clean up from his game as he again still tries to get back up to his aame so to speak nonetheless though overall clean game that you wanted to see where every

Offensive statistic went the Wolves way tonight including jmck yes Sam xtram that’s right J jmck uh kind of been waiting for him to pop off a little bit more consistently right 16 points tonight Ultra efficient though seven for 10 from the floor two of three from Deep

Even got three boards tonight watch out three rebounds from jmck which as of late that’s a monster game from him um I guess why is it so important to keep getting these kind of games from JM consistently again something that we really haven’t seen consistently as of late it’s really important because it

Allows the Timberwolves to really you know still score well I mean they scored 122 points despite both of their best players shooting eight of 17 from the floor um and turning the ball over nine times um so you know my thing with Jaden is is frankly a little disappointed with

What we’ve seen from Jaden so far offensively how if we want to do a little blame pie you know I don’t know how much of that is on the coaching staff for not helping him you know get the ball in places where he can attack

From like they did tonight um or or how much of it is just on Jaden with his confidence in going and and getting the ball and just confidently attacking the rim and getting to his spots in the mid-range and scoring like we saw tonight I think the biggest difference

Tonight compared to earlier in the season um or those nights that he isn’t scoring um is that you know he caught the ball in an empty Corner quite a lot uh the Timberwolves got him the ball either in handoff situations where he could attack the Baseline which he’s

He’s been really good at um for pretty much his entire career um or they just got the ball to him in the corner and really spaced out um and let him attack in in a spread floor in a one-on-one situation um in which he was also really successful tonight I think the biggest

Thing for Jaden is if you can kind to set you know a pin down screen like we saw Rudy goar do for Anthony Edwards quite a bit in the fourth quarter where you can throw him the ball when he was kind of catching it on the Move coming

Out of the corner and into the middle of the floor and either can curl into a shot uh or can then drive U right into the teeth of the de teeth of the defense because he does have really good touch around the rim and we’ve seen that his

Long arms kind of unlock all these crazy finishing angles that are really tough to stop and you kind of saw the full bag from Jade McDaniels tonight and then you know the the three times that he was open um from Beyond The Arc and you know

Wanted to let it rip he let it rip and he was two or three from Beyond The Arc so um for Jaden I just think it’s a confidence thing all right now you scored 16 points do it again against Dallas you know Dallas is a pretty small team um that’ll probably stick Kyrie

Irving I’d imagine Kyrie Irving would guard uh or Luca would guard um would guard Jaden uh on Sunday and that’s a matchup that jadeen McDaniel should should absolutely look to exploit um you know go getting you know downhill off the dribble to uh you know to make those

Guys work and the more that Jaden McDaniels is able to score the better the Timberwolves offense is going to be because they won’t be as you know topheavy and reliant on an or Carl or you know even Mike Conley I think this was kind of like a night that Mike

Didn’t even really play that much he only played 25 minutes but they were pretty low usage minutes he wasn’t fighting over screens that much he wasn’t initiating a ton of offense um and you know again the the more the Timberwolves are able to get scoring from from guys not named Carl Anthony

Towns or Anthony Edwards um you know the better they’re going to be and and when they can get it that efficiently from Jaden and what seemed like really repeatable offense right it didn’t seem like it was anything crazy weren’t a ton of Lucky crazy shots that went in um he

Was getting to his spots and and connected so we need we need a lot more of that from from Jay ni the timber was want to you know start a new winning streak and U try to improve their offense the second half of the Season ah great breakdown right there and and and

And well said um plenty more to to Deep dive into tonight’s 33-point victory in Houston right after a quick word from game time quick reminder tonight’s episode brought to you by game time because you should never have to worry when buying tickets to any big event that’s why game

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Account and redeem your code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase download game time today last minute tickets lowest prices guarantee game time terms apply all right let’s pick back up here uh one of the issues lately and and Tyler and I were talking about this

After that two game losing streak just the Wolves kind of shooting themselves in the foot maybe you guys touched on this on the uh Minnesota basketball party which you can check out every uh Wednesday afternoon as well but the turnovers right like they were cooking

In a good way in the first half tonight but then things started to kind of even out at the end 14 for the Wolves 15 for Houston uh when they did look better and were getting the steals playing some clean defense I’m curious if you thought

It was more I guess just in general tonight sloppy play by Houston or great defense by the Wolves because I guess I I know it’s just one game but the turnovers you saw tonight were that sustainable I guess long run I’m just curious your two cents on these

Turnovers from the wolves and if you’re seeing some steady Improvement throughout the way yeah I I you mean I don’t know that I’ve seen steady improvement from the Timberwolves you know in terms of their own turnover issues I I think that those are well documented and the problem with the

Timberwolves is that a lot of their turnovers are live ball turnovers uh meaning that you know they’re steals which the other team can tick the other way and more easily convert into points that’s why a lot of times you see the Timberwolves lose uh the points off

Turnover battle even if they have a similar number of turnovers as the opponent that did not happen tonight the script was kind of flipped so um the 12 of the 15 Rockets turnovers were live ball turnovers which is a huge reason why the Timberwolves were able to score

You know 20 fast break points 12 or I think they scored what was it 18 points off those 15 turnovers so um that was great and only seven of the Timberwolves 14 were lifeball turnover so they did a good job of um kind of limiting their bad pass turnovers that that become

Steals that uh the Rockets turn the other way but but yeah in terms of the Rockets I think it was a good combination of both in terms of them just being kind of loose and careless with the basketball and the Timberwolves really did a great job playing in the

Gaps I think they were trying to you know lull the Rockets into throwing some of these risky passes I think the Rockets are a team that um you know really struggle with length when you think about you know pretty skinny uh or small guys and Fred Van vet and Jaylen

Green who are your main ball handlers and that you know when they see length they’re going to have to try to jump to make passes or um you know jump stop and then try to you know throw passes at tough angles and the Wolves did a good

Job of capitalizing on that I mean when you put a guy at seven feet with a seven foot two or three wingspan in McDaniels on a guy like van Fleet who’s maybe 62 Maybe um you know you’re going to you’re going to you know be able to create some

Turnovers and then they just have a lot of inexperienced guys that are playing in that rotation um you know that that are probably being asked to do a little bit too much offensively um and so but but like I said I mean the Tims did a

Great job of you know forcing a shot profile from from the rockets that works for them they they took a lot of really tough mid-range shots um contested three-point shots which was great um but again you just you have feel like the the Timberwolves defensive activity I

Think that they can do more of that um they can try to get out and run and and force turnovers more because it’s something that that we’ve seen a lot of these players be able to do you know when Anton Carl and um and Jaden and Nas

All played in that that system two years ago that that team was really um know it’s BR and butter was really forcing turnovers and getting out and run and playing really aggressive active defense off the ball and so those guys are all still capable of doing that and they

Have even better Defenders now when you think about guys like you know Nel Alexander Walker had two steals uh Kyle Anderson had two steals goar had two Steals and then and then our boy Jordan mcclaflin also had two steals in in 13 minutes and he’s always been a a guy

That’s been right up there in terms of Steel percentage um I would imagine he’s right up there near the top of of the NBA again so far this season with two and 13 minutes tonight so um yeah they can do it it’s just a matter of how much

You want to move off of that pretty conservative drop coverage defense for everybody’s staying home on the outside to you know playing a little bit more up at the level of the screen and U and trying to be active with your hands and force turnovers that way yeah when you

Lose two in a row most teams lean on the veterans right kind of cliche but it’s true kind of clean everything back up rally everybody back together and you knew even though the media if you listen to the media after these two losses that again like the sky is f falling Charles

Barkley says I don’t believe in the Wolves anymore because they lost two in a row big deal dude relax but uh you knew we were going to get back to our bread and butter right and rely on the veteran during these tough stretches like we had this week I know he only had

Eight points and you touched on Mike Conley already but how much of an impact do you think he has during those kind of quote unquote bounceback situations gluing the team back together a little bit because I thought tonight was going to be a a great litmus test versus kind

Of a Juiced up Rockets team and they obviously delivered we said 33-point victory 27o victory my apologies but connley and Rudy and the veteran specifically how much did they impact the box score or otherwise because because I know I’m getting ahead of myself way ahead of myself I mean call

Me out tell me to pump the brakes but I’m thinking about this team in the playoffs right and the teams are the best of the best in the NBA and you could easily find yourself kind of in a hole you got to dig your way out of how

Huge though could these veterans like Conley be late in the year deep in the playoffs in those big moments and I guess more importantly how confident are you with who they’ve got running the show yeah I mean I mean when you look at those two guys they’ve got more playoff

Experience than aunt Carl and Jaden and Nas combined um so you’re obviously going to want to lead on them and I think you know where those two are really really helpful is that um they’re both excellent communicators and organiz organizers where where Mike is really taking care of that on the offensive end

Of the floor and knows you know basically how to spread the ball around so that you know everybody is kind of getting um the necessary amount of touches that they need in order to be successful um especially between uh Carl ant and Rudy uh and then with Mike too obviously you

Know he’s the guy who best activates goar um and when goar is able to play Above the Rim like he was tonight um he’s just much more effective and he’s got a lot more energy to give um when he’s pumped up offensively on the defensive end of the floor so uh and

Then the thing with Rudy is he’s just such a tone Setter defensively that I think you know he makes all these plays that may not show up in the box score of getting guys to you know kind of u-turn on their drives to the rim or or pass it

Up on on drives to the rim uh or or just take really tough shots I mean you you can look at defensive field goal percentage but those you know you don’t have those uh single game numbers until you know generally the day after the game so I can’t look at those right now

But he contested a ton of shots in the lane I mean if you’re looking at at Houston here Houston took half 45 of their 90 shots were in the paint but they shot 51% on those paint shots and a lot of it is because you look at

Basically their shots you know away from the rim so you want to look at their shots from four to 14t they took 20 of those shots they shot 35% on those shots and League average is much closer to you know 42 45% on those shots and and that’s where the wolves have been

Thriving all year it’s not just Rudy too but Carl has done a great job of contesting those shots um so far this season and so I think with those two guys it’s just communication the organization the tone that they can set um and just the trust right that the you

Know the uh the earned trust that they have from all these guys all these guys you know really respect Mike and and Rudy as Leaders as guys that have done things in the NBA that they have never done before um you know they have the credibility of of the playoff series

Wins Mike you know being a teammate of the Year guy that everybody everybody loves being you know one of the best you know floor General point guards and and then the the three Defensive Player of the Year trophies speak for themselves um with with Rudy goar so no question

That those guys are going to be helpful and and another thing too that that Rudy talked about a couple weeks ago postgame is the need for the Timberwolves to kind of practice uh within games meaning they’re going to try a bunch of different things whereas fans might be

Banging their heads against the wall saying you know why aren’t they running more pick and roll with Mike and Rudy why aren’t they you running this play or that play if it’s been successful and Rudy spoke like hey like I’ve been in the playoffs like you’ve got to be able

To do different things like when you look at that the Jazz teams like they were only really good at running spread pick and rolling they weren’t really good at doing anything else and and the Timberwolves are trying to be good at that everything else that those jazz

Teams weren’t good at um so it’s really important that those two guys are also leading the charge and like hey we know that the play that involves the two of us works really well but we want to get everyone else involved and make sure that we can find things with you guys

That also works Beyond just with what works with the two of us which I think is going to be really important here um you know as the Timberwolves have this you know 45 50 game on-ramp whatever it is here before they hit the playoffs to

To kind of find what works find a rhythm and and be able to to kind of stow away and things that they can get back to in the playoffs yeah well one of the luxuries too when you build such a large uh lead right in the standings like you

Have the luxury all of a sudden to experiment practice on the court try some new things during the regular season that maybe some other teams don’t have that same luxury that could potentially benefit you exponentially come playoff time or at least late in the season so love hearing that um I

Always learn a lot from you about not just the Wolves but around the NBA as well just a quick 60c on this Houston team van Fleet okay not the game we’re used to seeing I think he got a little hobbled later in the game but you already talked about shenon ja green you

Can kind of see the nucleus they have now they started to impress some people I think around the the rest of the League what what’s your quick Scouting Report though uh on another potential Western Conference playoff team here yeah um I I personally think that they

Are going to they’re going to fall off and they’re going TOS but but again you have to give them credit for for how they they’ve started this season I mean when you look at uh when you look at what they’ve been able to do defensively according to cleaning

The glass they’re the third best team uh defensively coming into this season which is pretty remarkable when you consider you know obviously they they have a new coach coming in and EM udoka who led the Celtics to the finals a couple years ago in his first season

There but when you want to look at Houston last year they had you know pretty much the exact same Personnel outside of adding Fred Van vet and uh and Dylan Brooks who’s a really important defensive player for them on the perimeter that did not play tonight

And has not played the last handful of games but um they were 29th in defense last year they were eight points per 100 possessions better defensively this season than they were last year which is an astronomical jump um and adding one perimeter Defender and a point guard

That doesn’t really play defense um it you know should not be the reason why you jump eight points like adding Rudy goar uh you know and nikil Alexander Walker the same season could certainly help do that but not but not guys like that and so EA udoka deserves a ton of

Credit for for how he’s getting these guys to play defense they’ve been really active defensively uh which has been nice to see and they’re a really really young team still um and so I think for them the challenge is um you know how do they kind of get all these guys fed

Offensively right like you have Jabari Smith Jr who’s more of a stretch four that’s kind of still trying to find his way after you know maybe a disappointing rookie season offensively and um and Jaylen green is just really kind of been all over the place but is really you

Know bought into to playing defense at a higher level this season when his offense isn’t there which has been important for them and um and then you just bring some guys off the bench like Jeff Green a you know grizzled veteran kind of like Mike connley that um you

Know all those guys really respect and look up to and has helped these guys play at a higher level defensively for sure um and then you you have guys like Jon Tate and Dylan Brooks on the perimeter that can really fly around tar een as well so they’ve got a lot of

Length which helps them on the perimeter defensively that’s really where their their bread is butter defensively is you know hounding ball handlers and and playing active off the ball things like that because shenon is not really a rim protector so um you know but but really

Impressive from them to be able to turn it around the way they have and at least play more com competitive basketball they’ve got to they’ve got to turn it up you know away from the Toyota Center where they haven’t been very good but um yeah this year’s been a great step in

The right direction for them so far that’s a great snapshot right there love that all right couple quickies to close before we wrap up but first a quick word from FanDuel quick reminder tonight’s episode brought to you by FanDuel right now new customers you’re getting $150 in bonus

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Far the easiest and simplest betting app to use go check it out for yourself visit fanduel.com lockon that’s fanduel.com lockon today America’s number one sports book FanDuel official partner of the NBA all right alls we hear about is this tough schedule man all right still going Mavs again next magic Celtics Blazers

Clippers what’s just the one thing one thing that jumps out to you the most when you hear those next five games whether it’s a specific game a specific player a matchup I don’t know what sticks out the most I think it’s got to be the Clippers um the Clippers are a

Capital P problem um with with the way that James Harden has been playing and has been able to you know really breathe some life into into the offense um they they made a change to uh send Russell Westbrook back to the bench um and so they’ve they’ve really had um you know

Their big three of of kawhai Paul George and James Harden really humming uh over the last month or so I mean if you just take a take a quick look at at what they’ve been able to do in the in the last month if you just look at their

Schedule it’s a lot of green a lot of W’s I think they’ve only lost one game uh since they played the Warriors which was oh boy when was that game they’ve lost one game since December 2nd um I want to say they’re like 17- one or 16-

One in that frame something like that um so so they’re really coming on strong I’m really excited to see how they play because they’re a team that can really spread you out and um and they’ll really challenge this offense so um so that’ll be really fun to see for me um and then

You know I I really want to see how how competitive they’re going going to be able to be um you know in Boston I know it’s a second night of a back toback but but that first game was just such a banger um a Target Center that you’d

Hope that that they don’t just completely mail that in but man Orlando and then Boston is a really tough back-to-back um when you’re when you’re just talking in terms of Miles traveled so um that’ll be interesting but again I mean if if you can if you can get the

Bench to play how they played tonight you know 39 bench points um you look at you know Nas had 16 Nila had 11 uh Jordan mlin had had three points and three assist I mean when you look at them I the bench alone had what six

Eight 13 assists um and moved the ball really well and played the way they did they’re going to really need the bench um you know in this next next week or so uh 10 days or so um just because I this it’s going to be a game where the

Starters are really going to have to work um defensively and other guys are going to have to work defensively um and it’s not going to be a night where ant and Carl can just kind of be scores and not play on the other end so I think the

More well-rounded and balanced they can be um you know playing some of these teams that uh that can really make life difficult for you on both ends of the floor in Orlando Boston and and and oh my goodness and La um you know that that you know well-rounded attack is going to

Be really important and um and will be fun to watch because you know I mean if you’re just going up and down and looking at the schedule here the Timberwolves you know don’t play all that many really solid teams um you know until the trade deadline on on February

8th when they’re going to be in Milwaukee so um and there’s some playoff teams you know they play Oklahoma City twice in that span they play Memphis um who’s got jawb back obviously but but the majority of these games are very winable against non-playoff teams so um

You know if they can just kind of get through with seeing the light at the end of the tunnel here it’ll be um it’ll be uh coasting at least a little bit um and hopefully their their play doesn’t slip and they can kind of um you know find

Themselves a little bit more offensively in ways that they haven’t been able to against these you know these teams over 500 that for the majority have have really strong defenses that they’ve uh hey even if when they haven’t played their best offensively they’ve still found ways to win these games and I

Think they’re what like know eight and five in in these games against play over teams so hey man I mean anything above 500 you’ll certainly take that with the way they started let’s end with this one Ricky Rubio announces he’s retired after the season 421 games Seven Seasons With

The Wolves 30 60 seconds at the most what you remember the most I guess about Pretty Ricky his time in Minnesota and his career as a whole yeah I just an amazing human being um first and foremost uh I think that he he is an incredibly easy dude to root for because

He just had this such a positive spirit um infectious personality that really came out in the way that he played I mean one of the mo most unselfish guys you’ll find as a player in a person uh teammate uh and it’s no surprise when you look around the league to hear guys

Like you know donin Mitchell dein Booker Anthony Edwards Carl Anthony towns um you know all these guys just speak glowingly of Ricky Rubio as a teammate and what he helped them do uh and learn as players in this league um you know he’s a mentor to a lot of great dudes um

And I’ll just never forget just how much Pizzazz and flare he played with when he first came over um and just you know the kind of the youthful Spirit uh and the way that that uned the crowd at Target Center and uh made so many great passes

That led to incredible dunks from guys like Andrew Wiggins and uh always that remember that that dump off pass he had to to kg to dunk over Blake Griffin um and uh just just a a really fun player uh that that played the game the right way really competed defensively and and

Made everyone around him better and uh I think when you have a guy that that plays with that much joy and and you hear about you know and has had such a positive impact on people and you hear about what he’s been dealing with the

Last you know six eight months or so uh with with his mental health issues just root for the guy and hope hope that um you know he kind of finds his peace and uh you know and really can enjoy uh you know being a dad and um and living back

Home in in Spain with his family so um you know great dude great player um and hopefully uh a guy who I think should should absolutely have that number nine retired in the South End of Su absolutely well said we’ll end on that well done tonight as always let’s get

You out of here so you can grab a Gatorade and ice up wolves bounce back strong though they get their mojo back 12295 victory over Houston they scoop up their 25th win of the year and look it’s only the first week of 2024 as always huge shout out to everyone who joined us

In the postcast in the comment section rest assured we’ll be back each and every game same time same place right here to break it all down quick reminder as well go check check out Jack’s work on Twitter Jr Borman 13 and by the way you can always check out Jack on the

Minnesota basketball party with our guy Sam extrom Ron Johnson Reggie Wilson from car 11 every Wednesday afternoon as well that’ll do it for us tonight next on Deck Maverick Sunday night tip off 6:30 p.m Central Standard Time Again join us right here for the entire recap

And follow all our work over at the lockdown Sports Minnesota Network one more quick plug if you haven’t already you got to go check out Ben Beacon too over on the lockdown Wes podcast as well he’s Jack Borman I’m Luke imman on Twitter lukor spin until next time signing out

The Minnesota Timberwolves looked fresh and balanced snapping their first two-game losing streak. Join Luke Inman and Jack Borman for the immediate breakdown after the game.