Anthony Edwards & Timberwolves IMPRESSIVE win over Kawhi Leonard & Clippers | Hoops Tonight Reaction

Anthony Edwards & Timberwolves IMPRESSIVE win over Kawhi Leonard & Clippers | Hoops Tonight Reaction

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So you guys don’t miss any of our content over the course of this season all right let’s talk some basketball all right Clippers wolves first of the two crazy Clippers tests that we talked about this week they play the Thunder tomorrow which we’ll learn a lot about the Wolves

Completely controlled this game there was a late comeback from the Clippers in the fin minutes but they never actually had the ball with the chance to tie the game and it was a lot of the classic stuff you see in the NBA where like a

Team controls and gets up by 15 and then they kind of let their foot off the gas a little bit and the other team kind of gets going and they make it semi close late but then the other team gets a couple of key stops and a couple of key

Plays and they win the game right the uh Timberwolves defense held the Clippers to a 113 offensive rating Jade McDaniels did an awesome job on kawh Leonard Rudy goar had four blocks including blocking kawhai twice um they the the Minesota Timberwolves ran this like one random

Possession of Zone and Rudy goar got a block on kawhai on it Anthony Edwards guarding Paul George flying around in general just Anthony Edwards was like his ability to like dig down and help and then like contest a three-point shot with his athleticism is just insane Kyle

Anderson had a bunch of good defensive possessions all these guys can switch onto any of the other guys that are on the floor and I want I want to get to this in a minute when we talk clippers because this is a specific Dynamic that I think is troubling for the Clippers

Anthony Edwards completely dominated the third quarter he started by like uh cuz I talked earlier about Terence man’s back pressure and the job he was doing against ant and pick and roll well one of the things that Anthony Edwards did which I thought was really smart was he

Came out to start the third quarter and just started posting up teren man and he’s too big and strong for him specifically low center of gravity and quick lateral movement so he’s able to make these like quick pivot moves to get around Terence man and get at the rim

And and finish close to the basket that actually forced the Clippers to uh to make a uh to to make a switch and to put Kawhi Leonard on Anthony Edwards which kind of changed some of the configuration of their defense he also hit the two biggest shots of the game in

My opinion at the end of the third quarter this ridiculous pullup bank shot over Kawhi Leonard and then a transition three after a pretty ugly Russell Westbrook turnover I you know one of the things that’s really interesting to me about ant long term we talk a lot about

His defense but like this dude straight up against the best defenders in the league can get to his shot like he can get to a relatively high quality High separation pullup two anytime he wants or pullup three and because like I talked about the the pull-up jump shot

Over kawhai like kawi’s guarding him one-on-one and he just hits a hard move to the right and elevates and when he elevates he’s got clear as day vision of the rim like kawh Leonard isn’t smothering Anthony Edwards in isolation I ants getting to his spots and every

Everyone in the league is like I hope he misses that that that’s basically what’s happening with Anthony Edwards there’s a possession a couple possessions before this one where he hit like this half spin move step back against Paul George and like it’s crazy footwork and it

Looks tough but when he elevates he gets Great Lift and great separation and a great look at The Rim he just smokes a bank shot and it’s really interesting to me because like as we go into the long term with Anthony Edwards like when I think about Anthony Edwards in like his

Mid to late 20s that’s what gets really exciting cuz what if he does get to a point where he can knock that shot down 55% of the time like consistently especially the ones close to the rim I really like close to the rim shot making because that’s such a

Valuable tool and you get to later rounds of the playoffs that’s what gets exciting to me with Anthony Edwards like right now uh we’re going to talk big picture wolves here in a minute but they’re done with this tough part in their schedule and they did really well

Uh over this 18 game stretch but their offense still struggle their 20th and offense in this 18 18 game stretch which we’ll talk about in a little bit but like in the future the you know kind of C for that could just be Anthony Edwards becoming one of the better half court

Shot makers in the league based on the fact that no one can keep him from getting to his spots which I think is encouraging Carl towns just playing really good basketball he was operating a lot as a hub from the elbow in this game beating mismatches he had this like

Kind of like chicken wing move on Russell Westburg where he dunked it with his right hand that was super nasty and then running high low with Rudy goar there again you imagine a situation where Carl catches at the top of the key and the floor spread around him he has

An opportunity to like kind of make post entries to Rudy goar underneath the basket there was a play Rudy goar like pushed Daniel Ty I think it was up the lane and created a passing angle and Carl towns threw the pass over the top uh he drove a close out late um against

Paul George in that third quarter run that he get where he got all the way to the rim against the Clippers in particular because they’re somewhat undersized and they do a lot of switching having that kind of like matchup attacking forward that can do work closer to the basket with bully

Ball is super super valuable on the Clippers front this is why I was looking at these two particular teams because because the Clippers are a team you have kawh Leonard and Paul George as healthy as they’ve been in a regular season forever so they’re like just more locked

In and engaged you have James Harden and a new destination right new team also in a contract year like he’s got to take this regular season seriously because it could dramatically affect how much he gets paid this summer right like so much more is motivating the Clippers on a

Night in and Night Out basis in the NBA and they went and won what 17 out of their last 20 games before this wolves won right so like they’re kicking everybody’s ass so how do we sort through that noise and try to figure out the Clippers as a playoff team now with

The Harden trade right when it happened remember they lost six games in a row and one of the things I said on the show is like don’t overreact yes I have concerned about the the Clippers as a playoff team but if you remember in that moment I said like James Harden is way

Too good of a regular season offensive player and Paul George Ando way too good as regular season players these guys are going to figure it out and win a lot of regular season games now they’ve won more than I expected but I did expect them to be a good regular season team I

Mean like during the ow and six stretch they couldn’t score was anybody under the impression that the Clippers weren’t going to be able to score the basketball this year like again like that was obviously one of the things that was taking place during that 0 and six

Stretch so they have been a better regular season team than I have expected but I did expect them to kind of turn things around but as we look through a playoff lens it gets very different what typically goes wrong for the Clippers in the playoffs over the years

One of two things has happened to them either one or both of their Stars gets hurt right or they run into a big strong bully ball team and they miss pull up jump jump shots while the other team generates really high quality shots at the rim and catch and shoot threes out

Of double teams right that’s basically what happened with Denver in 2020 now you might tell me long time ago and I agree with you but same exact principle and un fortunately every year since then the stars have gotten hurt so it’s hard to say so I’m not even going to talk

About the injury thing cuz there’s no point if I want it’s not brave to sit up there and be like oh the Clippers are going to lose because they’re going to get hurt like that that to me is not basketball analysis so that’s not what I’m going to say in the event where

They’re healthy though this is the type of matchup that can cause them problems Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are two guys that don’t get to the rimat ton and they take a lot of Pull-Up jump shots right James Harden is a guy that generates a ton of quality shots but

Tends to not do so when he gets to the postseason one of the main reasons why is is when the intensity picks up in the physicality picks up in the overall athletic kind of profile of the defense they’re going against goes up a level James Harden’s impact declines we saw

That last year when he suddenly couldn’t finish at The Rim when he got to the post season right well last night James Harden four for 14 from the field four turnovers typically in his career this is what happens against the really really good physical defenses in these

Really big games he can struggle to generate quality shots that doesn’t have anything to do with the regular season for the most part because you don’t play the Timberwolves every night and that’s why they can go 17 and three over a 20 game stretch right but they might have to beat Minnesota four

Out of seven they might have to beat the Lakers four out of seven they might have to beat the gets four out of seven right those three matchups are what concerned me for the clippers because they have big perimeter Defenders that can offer really good contests on their pull-up

Jump shots right Aaron Gordon on Kawhi Leonard right like the the Lakers they’re they’re slow on the perimeter but they’re big on the perimeter so they have guys that can contest shots against these Clippers guys right Minnesota Jaden McDaniels and Anthony Edwards and Kyle Anderson it’s like a a when teams

Have really long perimeter Defenders that can contest Paul George and kawhai and pull up jump shots and physical guards that can take James Harden out of his typical regular season efficacy and real Rim protection on the backside while on the other end of the floor being able to punish a switching

Clippers team with physical interior play like Denver does like the Lakers do that’s where the Clippers start to have some problems I don’t think it’s a coincidence that kawh Leonard and Paul George Went what were they uh 14 for 38 from the field last night that’s a

Really good defense and kawh Leonard and Paul George typically take a lot of tough shots right um even further guys six games this year for the Clippers against the Lakers the Timberwolves and the Nuggets they’re one in five in those matchups so that’s what’s concerning to me they play the Thunder tomorrow the

Thunder team is right up their alley they will have significant size advantages in terms of their over-the-top shot making they’re not going to be shooting over over long Defenders they’re going to be shooting over short stocky Defenders right on the other end of the floor it’s going to be

Other guys trying to do what they do mix them up off the dribble they have the perimeter defensive talent to handle that right Oklahoma City is a small interior team they’re not going to be the team that bullies the Clippers inside the way that some of these other

Teams can so like I actually expect them to Faire really well against the Thunder wouldn’t be surprised if they won at all as a matter of fact I’ll pick the Clippers to win that game but I think that’s a great example of the matchups in the different types teams and why

It’s different when we’re evaluating a playoff opponent it’s like like on the Lakers front really quickly to kind of tie this idea together like I like them against skinny smaller teams like the Thunder but when they play against other big teams that they can’t bully but on

The other end have a better offensive players like Denver they get their ass kicked all the time you know and so it’s it’s a pretty it’s a pretty consistent issue down the line when we’re evaluating these teams like what that’s something I’m going to factor in when we

Do add the Clippers to our contenders list I’m just going to wait until after that Thunder Game

Jason Timpf reacts to Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves 109-105 win over Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and the Los Angeles Clippers. Jason explains how the Wolves have been so impressive this year with the emergence of Anthony Edwards as a superstar. When healthy, both the Clippers and Wolves will be tough outs in the Western Conference.

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