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Karl-Anthony Towns’ offense, Anthony Edwards’ defense key Minnesota Timberwolves win over Nets



Karl-Anthony Towns’ offense, Anthony Edwards’ defense key Minnesota Timberwolves win over Nets

Hello and welcome another episode of lock on wolves this is the postgame podcast for the Tiber wolves narrow win over the Brooklyn Nets we’re going to talk all about the late game offensive struggles why Carl Anthony towns appears to be the right answer for who the late

Game offense should run through and also how incredible was the defense in last possession by Minnesota especially Anthony Edwards we’ll break the whole thing down on the show today welcome in you are locked on wolves you are locked on Timberwolves your daily Minnesota Timberwolves podcast part of the locked on podcast

Network your team every Day hello and welcome to the lockdown wolves podcast part of the lockdown podcast Network your team every day my name is Ben Beacon I’m the host of lockedown wolves happy Friday everybody happy weekend and it’s a victory Friday after a big wolves win over the Nets on

Thursday night it was not pretty well some of it was most of it was not pretty but the result was fantastic Minnesota ends up winning by two we’ll break the whole thing down here today on the show first of all though a big thank you for making lockdown wolves your first listen

Every day of course this show is free and available everywhere including YouTube as well as all of your favorite audio platforms wherever you like to listen to podcast you can find Lock done wolves you can also watch on the lock done Sports Minnesota app on both Roku

And Amazon Fire te and you can follow on X at lockon T wolves and also at B Beacon with two B’s two e’s cken all right uh so this one the final of course 96 to 94 so one could assume one one could assume this was a defensive struggle it it was

I think maybe another way to look at this is that this was just the this was the second time in four games that the Wolves scored under 100 points they scored just 97 and the lost of the Thunder last weekend and only the third time all year they’ve scored under 100

Points the only other game was the very first game of the season the loss at Toronto so I think the broader picture here actually I think there’s kind of two big picture takeaways and neither one of them are are Earth shattering but if you wanted to sum up this game with a couple

Of themes that we’ve seen for the majority of the season the two are the Tims defense is suffocating it’s fantastic it is um a revelation and and Superior to every other defense in the entire NBA and it’s not close right that’s been clear from

The jump I mean they gave up they had a horrible off night and the lost to Charlotte the other night and uh gave up what 128 or something to Charlotte and yet their defensive rating and opponent effective field goal percentage of all that stuff still stayed very clear like

In first place uh League wide ranking not even second third fourth place not even close they come into this game and Brooklyn has actually a middle of the- pack offense they’re’s 16 an offensive rating they’ve got some really talented talented offensive players especially Mel Bridges um you know Spencer Denwood

He’s not having the season that he’s you know a season like he has in the past but he’s still a talented offensive player cam Thomas averaging 20 points per game like this is a uh Cameron Johnson obviously like they’ve got some guys on this team and Minnesota other than like the

Weird Nick Claxton stuff at the beginning of the game and I mean I guess ultimately what they scored 31 in the first quarter they scored 17 Brooklyn scored 17 in the second quarter 26 in the third and just 20 points in the fourth quarter Minnesota held them to N9

94 points on 45% shooting and about 30% from outside the arc also forced them into 13 turnovers uh but I want to talk more about the last possession here later so that’s number one number two this clutch time offense is rough that’s also not ground breaking Earth

Shattering whatever you want to call it like we’ve known this right and it was very clunky once again in this game I mean Minnesota had 92 points to three minutes left and they finished with 96 points they scored Four Points over the final three minutes but they won the game because their defense

Was suffocating on that final possession so I want to break all that down real quick though some I guess like uh I guess overarching the uh the flow of the game the in general here before we get to some of the more in the weeds topics on

The end of the game um overall early in the game the defense was not good and the offense was good it was a complete reversal of how the Wolves closed the game they did commit I think four turnovers in the first quarter which obviously is is far too many sloppy

Stuff but they scored 26 points in the first frame I thought the ball movement was good I thought the decision making was good um and hit some shots early which was good after you know he’s struggled with the shot here recently but they allowed a ton of paint

Points for Brooklyn I mentioned uh Nick Claxton had a I keep wanting to call him Speedy claxon which tells you what generation uh I started like really following the NBA was right U Nick Claxton you know made like five of his first six shots and had a crazy

Efficient night was really good early Rudy seemed just a half step slow um the defense just wasn’t where it needed to be and so the wolves are actually down at the end of the first quarter by by four I believe uh no sorry they were

Down by seven at the end of the first quarter but then they flipped the script in the second quarter and they were awesome on both ends of the floor they allowed just 17 points the Nets ended up just turning it over one time themselves offensively scored 36 in the quarter

Were a plus 19 in the third in the second quarter and went into halftime with a uh with a 12-point lead early third quarter Anthony Edwards was awesome hit a bunch of really tough shots hit some tough threes hit an impossible Banker that looked exactly like Kobe Bryant on the right side of

The floor um like just stuff that we know ant can do and then all of a sudden the shot selection devolved for the team not just ant the ant heater put them up by 17 points at one point in the third quarter and it felt like they could run

Away with it but then the shot selection devolved I mean it started Jade McDaniels hit you know one of his tough like seven Footers that he shoots right at the edge of the paint and he made it but it was like why is he shooting that

Shot at this point in the game on this possession you know why is like it was just a weird shot and then from there it was like you know more tough contested ant shots forced passes turnovers but it was really more shot selection than anything else uh Nas just didn’t have a

Very good game he had some bad bad attempts in there and by the time the third quarter ended it was only a seven-point game Minnesota had been up 12 at the halftime 17 early early mid third quarter and then by the end of the third it was only a seven-point game and

Then fourth quarter it just like the Nets kind of slowly creeped closer and and slowly crept closer and it got down to crunch time and this is where the Wolves had been getting tight here recently right I mean like they obviously did not close as well in

Charlotte um we or against Charlotte at home I should say and you know last time out was was touch and go there for a little while before they put the Wizards away but you know it was kind of the same thing where the Wizards just kind

Of lingered and that was what the fourth quarter felt like here and and overall the Wolves defense was good throughout obviously we talked about that already um but it was the offensive execution that was extremely clunky and and ant never really found his shot after he had

That big um the big third quarter uh I don’t know he made a couple of shots in the fourth quarter I know he went to the line but like the fourth quarter scoring like I’m just kind of scrolling through it right here I don’t did anybody besides

Um yeah no Anton scored all in the fourth quarter um it was all cat a little bit of n Alexander Walker and The Rudy dunk off of the cat lob that we’ll talk about here in a minute uh there was no ant in the fourth quarter but I mean

That’s not to say he didn’t try right he forced a couple of shots we’ll talk more about uh about that here in a minute so what I want to get into next though is is exactly that it’s the lake game offense it’s it’s the offense running through carony towns instead of

Ant not all the time I know this is controversial to say this it shouldn’t be and I’ll talk about why and this is probably a topic for another show because I think um I do think it’s a legitimate debate and I feel pretty strongly about it uh but I you know I

Think it’s worth unpacking a bit more but specifically to this game which I think was a good window into the bigger picture I want to talk about the late game offense running through cat I also want to talk about how incredible a was specifically on and the team as a whole

But on that final Brooklyn offensive possession so I want to cover that too before we get to individ individual studs and Duds uh we’ll do all that here next today’s episode of lock out wolves is brought To Us by our friends at eBay Motors our partners at eBay motors have

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Subscribe to the first ever National Sports 247 streaming Channel all right uh late in the game the Tim rules were up by I think they’re up four yeah so the wolves are up up well actually let’s do this yeah the wolves are up four with four minutes to play

And the offense had been clunky cat had just turned it over a couple of times um and they come down carony towns misses a floater basically in the lane um not uh well actually first on that same possession the Timberwolves got a rebound and Spencer DW he got

Called for loose ball F the rebound then cat misses a shot the Nets come down and score it’s a two-point game with three and a half minutes left the wolves come down Jaden takes something of an ill-advised shot and misses it but Carlon towns gets the rebound and the

Put well misses the putback but gets fouled makes one of two at the line so the wolves are now up three they get called for uh a bogus 3 second call on the defensive end Rudy had cleansed at the free throw line just above the free

Throw line it was like two and a quarter seconds was called for defensive three seconds uh but they still get a stop on the Nets on the other end cat just takes it straight in and scores makes this a four-point game back on the other end

It’s back it’s now a tie game after a couple of possessions by the way uh or or I should say Bridges makes a shot ant hits ant decides to shoot a tough step back from the corner it was a it didn’t make any sense actually let me rewind a

Little bit I I I did this kind of disjointedly so on the play where cat made that layup um I you know I I need to rewatch The play I don’t think there was a play call I think it was basically cat has the ball essentially like a like a middle of

The floor almost like a middle of the floor post up for cat I think it really was actually thinking back on it and it was basically hey clear out let cat do what he wants to do cat almost had a three-pointer but pump faked drove all

The way to the no this wasn’t even a postup he just had the ball outside the arc he looked like he was going to shoot the three jab stepped and then drove all the way made the bucket a tough bucket to put them up four okay so that

Possession ran entirely through cat a got him the ball and got out of the way the Nets come down make a tough shot the wolves come down they clear out for ant and ant dribbles himself got the ball in a similar place on the floor that cat did The Possession before and for

Whatever reason dribbled himself into the corner and shot a step back corner three which is like how often do you see anybody try a step back corner three in an ISO situation and he missed it get the ball come down tough call on Rudy uh and cam Thomas makes a pair of

Free throws it’s now a tie game with a minute left wolves Nets this is not a game that should be tied with one minute to play the wolves come down they run a a play that actually has cat with the ball in his hands and Rudy diving to the rim

Cat takes a few dribbles looks like he’s going to take his man to the basket but shows the playmaking chops that we’ve always known cat has and has shown itself or has shown up a little bit more in his game last year and this year even

Though the assist rate is down this year um and the turnover rate’s up a little bit last year and this year cat has been a more willing passer and a less I’ll just say less crazy passer right like we’re not seeing those underhand softball passes from one you know the

Low post on the left side of the floor to the right corner right like he’s not doing that stuff anymore he did have a couple terrible passes in this game there was one lob that wasn’t even close but this was a perfect lob pass in the perfect situation when everyone’s

Expecting him to put his head down and go to the rim he starts to do that but so when he knows that Rudy’s available to throw him the lob he throws a perfect pass Rudy slams at home the wolves go up to and then on the other end actually C

Gets a big defensive rebound the wolves come down and ant in isolation shoots another tough pull-up jumper the Nets get the ball call timeout and then it comes down to this defensive possession at the end that I want to talk about in a second so the first

Point I’m not at all saying Carlon towns is like this isn’t what I’m saying this is another debate we could have certainly and I’d be happy to uh to to to to parse this with somebody with anybody um I’m not saying Carlon towns is a better player than Anthony Edwards I’m

Not saying he’s a better isolation player than Anthony Edwards I’m not saying he’s more clutch than Anthony Edwards what I’m saying is that the Timberwolves should run their late game crunchtime offense through Carlon towns okay right now cat is a I would say a better playmaker than Anthony Edwards his decisionmaking I

Know the turnovers weren’t great the last couple games games but the decision making of when to pass and when to shoot and I dare to I dare dare I say self-awareness of Carl 3 towns which is one of his weaknesses self-awareness in terms of what am I doing with the

Basketball in my hands right I know he got called for a couple offensive fouls in this game one of them was a bad call um the other one I think he probably deserved uh the one where he he pinned I think it was DW’s arm against him that

Should have been an it was an offensive foul um but overall there’s been a lot of prog press there and ants decision- making lately awareness of when to shoot when to pass who to pass to in those situations has been bad it just hasn’t been good for the last few

Weeks I’m painting with broad Strokes here admittedly but carony towns like in any situation is a more efficient score than Anthony Edwards and I’m not even going to spend more than 10 seconds on that because it’s not it’s inarguable effective field goal percentage true shooting percentage three-point percentage field goal percentage uh um

Free throw percent any percentage any percentage you want to use the turnover rates are basically identical cats is a tick higher than Anthony Edwards they’re they’re pretty much the same and ant assist rate is higher because he initiates so much more offense than cat but in close late game situations you

Can also put cat anywhere on the floor you could post him up they never do this but you can put him in the low post you can put him in the high post you can put him at the nail you can put him outside the arc you could have him with the ball

In his hands you could put cat anywhere on the floor and run ant off of that action I’m not saying ant shouldn’t touch the ball I’m saying you know ant can get you into the offense like he did actually on the possession where cat hit the tough layup

In traffic to put the Wolves up by a bucket ant can bring the ball up the floor the defense is going to be keed up to stop him get the ball to cat make the defense choose what are we going to do are we going to double cat on the catch

Are we going to double him on the drive are you are they going to give the ball to him outside the perimeter like they did in or on the perimeter like they did in this game where you can’t really try and double him there and if they do guess what a lob to

Rudy a pass to ant for a spot up three or a drive a pass to Conley for a spot of three Jade M like the options are pretty endless at that point and worst case scenario you have a guy who um is just all around a better shooter

Than Anthony Edwards with the ball in his hands right and also like I don’t I don’t want to turn that like I I love Anthony Edwards and he’s obviously an incredible talent and and this is his team it just is right but he’s been having a lot of lost ball turnovers

Where just dribbles the ball off his foot or gets it taken from him happened again in this game like he’s averaging this is this is entirely unscientific but I promise you he’s averaging one and a half of these like just losing the handle turnovers a game and that doesn’t happen when cap

Puts the ball on the floor because he’s just StraightLine driving right or he’s backing somebody down he might get an offensive foul call but late in the game you’re not probably GNA get that call either so for all of those reasons I just run the offense through cat down the stretch that’s obviously

Oversimplifying it and you know I talked to some on Twitter with this about this right before recording like obviously play calls are better than no play calls and they there was a play call on that set where goar gets the lot pass from cat that was a designed set

That’s always better and I it always floes me when teams including the Wolves call a timeout late in Games The Wolves didn’t do that here but call a timeout late in games or have a timeout that the other team calls and they have time to draw something up and they just flatten

Out and go ISO I just don’t get it you know there’s some situations where that might make a little bit of sense depend you know if it’s if it’s if it’s somebody who’s that good of an ISO player and you could argue to do that with ant but like that’s your fallback right

If if the action doesn’t work you can fall back to isolation and that’s where a guy like ant is such a luxury to have late in games but that shouldn’t be your first move and the offense should be running through Carl thony Town’s late in games because of all those reasons I

Don’t think there’s any question about it and I’m not there like I don’t know I shouldn’t have to defend this anymore I like Anthony Edwards is an incredible isolation player and that’s always like I guess this is another way of saying what I just said that’s always going to

Be there you can always get that ISO for ant but right now we can’t trust his decision- making when teams bring doubles and triples and and if anybody wants to like you know bring up Charlotte I saw people saying on Twitter oh cat went one on four it wasn’t one-on four when he

Turned it went to the basket by the time they had a bunch of guys on him he had already been fouled once and was in the process of getting filed a second time per the League’s last two-minute report and there weren’t clear passing Lanes there might have been a kickout I think

It was Jaden in the right corner on that play against Charlotte that would have been a really good pass right I think cat in general his decision- making is superior and in those situations like start there and if it ends up with an

Ant if it if it ends up with an ant ISO fine there’s a lot worse things that can happen but you know what’s better than just a strict ISO with ant shooting a fallway jumper is cat with the ball his hands attacking a close out or you know

Uh punishing a switch right which we saw him do quite a bit early in this game all right next I do want to get into the defense at the end I have to give credit where credit is due to the Timberwolves as a team I’ve complained enough about

The offense the defense was great it was awesome ant was fantastic all of it was great at the end of the game uh Rudy was very good I want to break all that down next then we’ll do individual studs and Duds and that’s how we’ll close out the show here today

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At work go to grammarly.com podcast to download for free today that’s grammarly g r mm r l y.com podcast all right let’s talk defense at the end of the game The Wolves were only up by two and Brooklyn called a timeout this was after the ant miss the Nets call time out with

25 seconds left so effectively uh you know they’re looking to get a shot usually in that situation you want to run it you know a little bit down so you’re not uh I mean you want to run the clock a little bit because you don’t want to

Score with 22 seconds left and give the Wolves all that time to win the game right but you also want to give yourself if you’re the Nets time for an offensive rebound so you want to run a little bit of clock get a shot up with some time

Left on the clock and they couldn’t get a shot off they inbounded the ball um and Anthony Edwards was guarding Mel Bridges and simply did not let him get past him it was incredible he the way he moved his feet was an absolute clinic and I wish I could show it to every

Single youth basketball player um ants hands got a little bit involved to the point where I was I was a little nervous they you know um we’ve seen an get called for fouls when he’s being aggressive but at that stage in the game and the way he was moving his feet and

At times he he was clearly trying to show his hands right move your feet show your hands and he never really reached a little bit right at the end of of it was like a 10-second stretch where he just moved his feet guarded Bridges across the floor it was almost like a defensive

Gauntlet drill that you see um in like basketball camps and stuff it was incredible and then when Bridges they tried to set a screen for him on the left side of the floor right in front of the Wolves bench and Rudy came out and stunted and they briefly trapped but

Then Rudy recovered to guard the roller it was just a perfect perfectly timed um stunt and and kind of mini Trap from Rudy and ant and then ant just stuck right with it all the way back to the other side of the floor like like it was

Like a gauntlet drill like to one side and back to the other side and then eventually the ball gets knocked out of bounds uh Conley pokes it out of bounds and the Nets call another timeout because they still had one left and why not call it at that point with seven

Seconds left and I think they had like five on the shot four on the shot clock and uh you know they they still didn’t get a good shot off um Jay McDaniels ended up on Mel Bridges in this case and bridges lost the ball on the way up

Picked it up and then knew that McDaniels had stepped up to try and contest the shot so he just leaned into him and allowed kind of McDaniels momentum and the lean from bridges made him lose the ball again it tough foul call letter of the law and like that

Situation if you’re the Wolves you you know on offense you’d want that call I understand why it was called a foul it’s a tough one for McDaniels um but Bridges misses the first free throw and then of course has to miss the second one uh on

Purpose they ended up calling a a lane violation on Bridges which I actually thought was a bad call um but either way I don’t think the Nets would have gotten that rebound um so wolves end up winning by two the defense on the last possession specifically by ant but

Passing it off briefly to Rudy and then also Conley poking the ball out of bounds like across the board it was an incredible defensive possession and an absolute Clinic talked about this already but the Wolves held Brooklyn a 30% shooting from three and dwy was really the only one hurt them that hurt

Them there and he hit one like actually I was making fun of ant step back three earlier didn’t he had a step back three over cat in the corner that was crazy like he’s not that good of a three Point Sho he’s like 33% on the year or

Something like that um they did a good job on Bridges took Bridges 18 shots to get 21 points he was only two of eight outside the arc three turnovers and just three assists for mcel Bridges Claxton was the only one that like weirdly had a

Good game Kim Thomas was good too uh but he also turned it over five times like I thought overall uh the Wolves defensively were were very good in this game and especially down the stretch props to ants props to Rudy uh you know Rudy allowed claxon to do some stuff but

I thought did an okay job otherwise in the paint I mean the wol still ended up what were they a plus uh plus eight in points in the paint uh in this game and only allowed five offensive rebounds so in general they did a pretty good job controlling the paint all right real

Quick individual studs and Duds from this one for the Wolves Carlton towns 27 points 12 of 15 shooting I don’t care about six turnovers if you’re only going to miss three shots and score 27 points and the crazy thing is he only attempted two free throws in this game 27 points

On 15 shots with only two attempted free throws and it was off on offensive rebound too by the way it wasn’t any of his straight line drives he only shot three threes so if Charles Barkley looks at this box score and says you know how did he only attempt two free throws well

You know look at the three look at the number of three-pointers he attempted 12 twos in this game and only got to line one time and it was off of his only offensive rebound so a good game from cat he persevered persevered well in this game 27- 10 three assists he did

Have the six turnovers but he was really good uh Rudy goar um no I’m not going to give him a stud I uh I yeah no no we’ll talk about we’ll talk more about that here in a second ant I I’m still going to give him a stud I know that the

Shooting was bad and I already talked about the shot selection not being good but that flurry in the third quarter that gave the wolv some Breathing Room it turned out to be important and just his gravity too helped cat like it helped open the floor up a little bit

And that’s you know the whole thing with having two guys like this is that teams have to consider doubling both of them and so a got it going and they were so worried about him it opened things up a little bit for other players you know 23

Shots to get 24 points that’s not efficient but you know other than a few of those those shots like and then also the defense at the end like the combination of his third early third quarter performance and the defense that a played at the end absolutely he

Deserves a stud for this game 24 points on eight of 23 shooting three of seven outside the arc five of six on free throws only one Rebound in 36 minutes which is gross three assists one steal three turnovers for ant but again defense matters too it’s not just a box

Score award um you know for for an to this one uh my last stud’s going to go to Nik Alexander Walker uh only 17 minutes off the bench he’s been playing a little bit less lately but I thought he was vital to this win six points four assists no

Turnovers in this game hit a couple of big shots in the fourth quarter um down the stretch I mentioned earlier it was only him and Cat and then that Rudy dunk that’s like all the scoring the Wolves did in the fourth quarter they only had 15 points but Alexander Walker came up

Big late and defensively again the Wolves were good he was a big part of it when he was on the floor um I thought Rudy overall played okay I mentioned earlier first quarter Claxton kind of had his way but on the glass late Rudy was very good

Defensively late he was very good 10 points 13 rebounds just four of nine shooting and only two free throw attempts for Rudy he did make them both though a couple of blocks in this game um jayen was good as well Conley was solid I don’t really have any Duds for

This game either I didn’t last game I don’t this game I mention Nas didn’t play all that well I think this is this game’s a pretty good example of how uh I I’ve gotten crap from people for for always prefacing listing single game plus minus by saying I don’t like it but

Then I still list it a lot of the time because I think it can help tell a story but in the example of this game The Wolves best plus minus was Nas Reed he was not their best player tonight like you could make the argument Nas had the

Roughest game of anybody on the roster he had five points four rebounds two assists uh two of seven overall from the floor one of three from outside the arc he kind of salvaged things a little bit with that late three that he had U but I thought defensively he was a

Little slow uh he got called for three fouls in those 23 minutes and fumbled the ball a couple of times missed a couple of layups like it just you know he was fine like again no Duds for this game clearly I want to be clear about

That but uh I thought it was more a function of some of the guys he was playing with that played better like he was part of that bench lineup That included mlin and and partial bench lineup with mcgoffin with goar at the five so Nas at the four goar at the five

Mlin running the offense I think Anderson with Anderson and McDaniels both kind of got some run in that lineup too and then also some minutes where Conley and mcgoffin shared the floor um they did that for uh you a couple minutes in this game and and those minutes were good

Too so across the board a strong win for Minnesota I know Brooklyn’s not great and they’ve struggled mightily here lately but they’ve still got some scorers it was still a back-to-back on the road and uh I think we have to um you know we have to like it’s tough to

Win on the road it’s tough to win back-to-backs it’s tough to win period in the NBA this was a fine win for Minnesota now they get the San Antonio Spurs the Spurs are still the I guess now they’re the third worst team in the league I think Charlotte actually has

Less wins than them this is only the third time the wolves have seen the Spurs this year even though it feels like it’s already the fourth um remember Minnesota’s kind of had a tough time they’ve won each game the first game they won by seven the second game they

Won by eight again San Antonio um San Antonio did win a couple nights ago yeah they won at Washington pretty recently here uh but overall they’ve lost six out of seven uh before that stretch they beat Charlotte and they won at Detroit so the only teams that they’re beating

Are the other terrible teams right the Wizards who are the fourth worst team in the league the Hornets who are the second worst the Pistons who are the worst those are the only teams they’ve beaten you have to go back uh to a Trailblazers game like a month ago a

Little over a month ago that they won uh when they split a pair of games in Port so um obviously a game the Wolves should win and you know I’m not going to go too deep into the matchup here today but you know of course wyas who you got to look

Out for um you know rebound the basketball force them into jumpers they’re not a good shooting team they do turn it over a lot so good opportunity to uh to get some extra possessions that way as well there’s no line yet um that I’m seen because over at FanDuel because

The Spurs still play here tonight and also I guess now we’re talking about two days from now um so no line yet at FanDuel but I would imagine that the Wolves will be um I don’t know maybe not double yeah probably double digit favorites right like ninepoint favorites

Maybe in this game nine or 10 um something like that anyway we the live postcast at the lockdown Sports Minnesota Channel on YouTube and then of course that will post here to this feed locked on wolves wherever you listen to your audio podcast I’ll be back on

Monday it’ll be kind of a hybrid uh we’ll talk about Saturday’s game against the Spurs we’ll also preview Monday’s game against the OKC Thunder the fourth and final regular season matchup between the wolves and thunder a big one if they lose OKC gets the tiebreaker if they win

You know they’ll have split the season series with OKC and sitting here right now at this moment the wolves are half game up on OKC in the west although um as I’m recording this OKC and the Pelicans I guess they play Friday night so the wolves are a half game up in the

Western Conference as of right now um and we’ll uh of course revisit that on Monday so that’s all we have for you today here on the show a big thank you for making lock that wolves your first listen every single day of course this show is free and available

Everywhere wherever you like to listen to podcast you can also watch on YouTube and also on the lockon sports Minnesota app on Roku and Amazon Fire TV you can also follow at X at lockon wolves and also at B Beacon with two B’s Two e cken of course the lockdown wolves

Podcast is part of the lockdown podcast Network remember the lockdown network is your local experts on all the biggest stories once again I’m Ben Beacon this is the lockdown wolves podcast and we’ll catch you next time for

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The Minnesota Timberwolves hung on for a two-point win over the Brooklyn Nets on the second night of a road back-to-back. Ben Beecken (@bbeecken) breaks down the victory, including why the crunchtime offense should run through Karl-Anthony Towns. Plus, thoughts on the fantastic defense down the stretch from Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert, and the entire Wolves’ lineup. Lastly, individual studs and duds from the win.

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7 Comments

  1. The turnovers by ANT and KAT are out of hand. They are 7th and 17th in the league in turnovers with 6+ between them.
    It's 8-10 per game lately and half of them in the 4th quarter
    Selfish play by both.

  2. I would prefer to have the offense going through Conley and have him decide who should get the open shot. Edwards is far more clutch than KAT, but neither is good at iso ball. KAT is so bad at securing his defender behind him (how many TO have been due to a pass to KAT that gets taken away?). Play calls are always better. Watching the end of the Quarter offense, is so brutal. They need more guys involved.

  3. ANT defense was key because his offense was terrible. I know he wants to take over games, but you can't miss 8-10 shots in a row and continue to take bad shots. That's Jordan Poole like. He threw the game away again but luckily Mikal Bridges bricked the free throw. I'm starting to think that this "superstar" talk is getting to his head. You can't say you'll do better next time and continue to do the same thing that got you to that point.

  4. Ant is a turn over machine and would like for him to touch less ball in the fourth quarter.

  5. Ant is much further away from being a “superstar” than people think, if our solution is to run the offense through Conley rather than Ant.

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