Locked On Wolves POSTCAST: T-Wolves REACTION After 108-106 Loss To Orlando

Locked On Wolves POSTCAST: T-Wolves REACTION After 108-106 Loss To Orlando

T-wolves blow a 17o first half lead and lose to the magic they dropped a 34 and 15 on the year and I got the expert Tyler meaf he’s going to help us break it all down and it’s all coming up next the lockdown wolves Postcast you are locked on wolves postcast part of locked on Minnesota on the locked on podcast Network your team every day what’s up what’s up back in the lab back at it another t-wolves postcast episode right here on the lockdown Sports Minnesota Network you got myself

Luke Inman lukor spin that’s the man Ben a wild Tyler metf on Twitter at teaf 11 and Tyler before we jump into all the action quick reminder tonight’s episode brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more with America’s number one Sportsbook and official Sportsbook partner of the NBA right now new

Customers you’re getting 200 $100 in bonus Bets with any $5 bet that’s $200 when you bet just five check it all out visit fanduel.com lockon NBA all right man here’s your uh here’s your quick elevator 32nd pitch summary wolves up 17 in the first half ant leaves the game with a little knee

Injury scare there for a little bit magic give them credit man magic they clawed their way back they outscored the Wolves by 10 in the fourth quarter they end up winning at 108 106 offense defense turnovers everything that could have went wrong did for the wolves in

That second half but you know I’ll just kick things off and hand it over to you what what’s the big takeaways here and I guess bigger picture too how important was it to win a game like this on paper you’re supposed to win that four out of five times especially knowing you got

The Nuggets Thunder and Clippers all nipping at your heels that’s got to eat them up right yeah and it’s just a kind of a a missed opportunity to get what should be a relatively easy win Orlando’s a solid team they’re big they’re physical they’re athletic they’re young um and they’re feisty as

We saw tonight and they’ve been that way all year but just you execute your stuff you run it they execute it on defense the defense was good tonight it was the offensive let down yet again and it’s just kind of similar trends that we keep seeing popping up game by game um and

It’s not just the late game stuff where it’s it’s popping up in the middle and you know big chunks in the middle of the game too so it it’s just kind of that consistent lackluster approach to the offensive end that continues to um kind of that they just kind of keep shooting

Themselves in the foot withd uh wolves shot 21% in the fourth quarter I believe 21% maybe 22 maybe I’m short changeing them a little bit let’s call 22 22% in the fourth quarter uh the defense fell apart too man and really didn’t play their part like we’re used to seeing

Anyways this year again give Orlando credit they really fought and battled back but who gets the most blame tonight especially when the wheels fell off in that second half and at the end of the game too um we can go into that a little bit more here later on but the offense

The defense a specific player or two the coaching who gets the most blame in that one um yeah easy answer is jayen McDaniels and Mike Conley uh brutal shooting nights for both of them um game lows you know Jaden was a minus 12 Conley was a minus 13 uh Conley one of n

Shooting Jaden four of 10 um questionable foul at the end there I I can kind of understand what his thought processes there where Paulo turns on him he doesn’t want to give up an open dunk so you know save a couple seconds try and force him to miss a free throw uh

Still wasn’t the right call Rudy was in the paint but regardless those are the easy answers I I still think it comes down to Anthony Edwards though if this is going to be your team if you’re going to be the next face of the league if you’re going to be this perennial all

Star you you can’t dribble the air out of the ball on every possession from halftime through the end of the game and the the offense got completely bogged down the ball movement disappeared and we saw possession after possession of just maybe one maybe at best two passes

Um and a lot of that was an not moving the ball he was looking for his own shot he was settling for um a lot of jump shots that were heavily contested he was two of eight from three um and seven of 10 from two-point range so would have

Liked to see that kind of shift more towards the rim because when he got downhill he was getting whatever he wanted wanted he was patient he was navigating uh traffic but he settled for so many tough jumpers that he just never got into rhythm in and they all felt really

Forced how about that last possession or two magic up two 30 seconds left I know you kind of just touched on it but let’s go a little bit further Deep dive into that I mean you can let them run out the clock you know that that 24 seconds just

Try to D up which it looked like they were trying to do uh you mentioned it McDaniels ends up following with like 9 seconds left I know Jim Pete didn’t like it on the broadcast were you in the same boat or or what was your thoughts the

Way they played out that final minute or so yeah and I I I almost would have rather had them just foul right away with like 27 away yeah um because you know Jim kept mentioning that that you don’t need to and and technically they didn’t because there was like that one

And a half to three-ish Second Gap between the game clock and the shot clock so in a perfect scenario you get a stop you get a rebound you immediately call timeout you advance the ball um I I just think that that leaves you so little room for error though and with

How brutal the offense would look tonight I almost would have rather had them just foul Orlando right away put them on the line early apply that pressure right away and maybe they miss a shot there and then you’re able to either get a quick two foul again or put

Up a three and tie it um so I I I think just fouling right away would have kind of been my Approach fouling when they did though it was the wrong decision I I kind of like I mentioned I think I’m pure speculation here think that Jaden’s

Thought process was crap Pao turned on me I’m now out of position I don’t want to give up a free dunk here sure just try and make him earn both of these and save two seconds that he would have you know ran off the clock on a drive but

You know Rudy’s in the paint you gotta just let him go there so it it was tough it was tough it was just really poor execution all around what frustrates you the most when you watch games like these games that again I’m not saying there’s any gimmies in this league I know that

Everybody’s a professional but three games in a row at home playing a sub 500 team now these are supposed to be these you know kind of tuneup games here I mean these are the teams that not only are you supposed to win but games you’re supposed to feel like you’re in control

For the large majority of the game and it felt like that in the first half again up 17 that was their largest lead um you know all of a sudden you look though ant had to leave the game there for a little bit we’ll get into that

Here later on in segment to but you know you look up and it’s like oh my God it’s a tie game all of a sudden you know what what was the most frustrating part of the way the Wolves played tonight though again turnovers defense communication at

Times what made you pull your hair out the most tonight just the lack of effort um yeah they were just kind of the the the starters mainly were just really sleepwalking and just going through the motions um Jaden minus 12 on the night cat minus 8 on the night uh Conley minus

13 on the night and you know Anthony Edwards one rebound tonight that’s inexcusable and there were a lot of times in this game where either cat or Anthony Edwards were just ball watching and not boxing out and it immediately led to a Tiffin or a back cut to a layup

Um just really basic stuff that’s 100% just effort-based and that kind of stuff continuously popping up um is brutal and it’s why it’s a direct cause to why you lose this type of game uh they shot 31.6% from three tonight no one had a good shooting

Night that’s G to happen that you know it is what it is those types of games happen you can’t always avoid that but what you can’t avoid is just not trying and not giving a crap on defense and for long stretches that’s what they did and

We saw in at the end of the third quarter how much different the offense look how much better the defense looked when Kyle Anderson uh nikil Alexander Walker and N Reed came in there was that injection of energy and passion and give a crap factor and they built back up

Like an eight to 10o lead uh to close out the quarter starters came back in immediately went away and they ended up losing the game because they weren’t boxing out they lost the second chance points uh 18 to1 uh they lost the offensive rebounding rate 28.6 to

15 not great not not great Bob not great you know it’s going to be a a weird night when Kyle Anderson leads the team in plus minus with plus 10 Kyle Anderson what’s going on just full moon out there or what’s going on something goofy is

Going on uh Jim P talked about in the pregame interview that they had to win the rim tonight had to win at The Rim talked about how you know Orlando loves to attack the basket so you knew that’d be a big key in this one and in turn the

Battle of The Bigs right I mean that was going to play a big role in the outcome how’d they do in that phase specifically tonight because Rudy tied with the team lead 22 points man and we don’t first of all we just don’t say that often Rudy

Tied with the team lead 22 points added another 16 boards I think he had two blocks as well he was on a mission tonight after not getting that Allstar not yes and through like the first twoth thirds or so of the game uh it was really good and the the shot selection

From both teams was it felt very you know 1990s early 2000 esque where everything was in the paint everything was attacking the rim uh and both teams were really um finishing there and kind of executing in those areas of the floor and Orlando kept to their game plan they

Kept attacking the rim they kept utilizing their physicality and their size they ended up with 43 or 43% of their shots coming at the rim and they shot 72% there uh conversely Minnesota shot 74% at The Rim which is incredible but for the first two-thirds of the game

About 60% of their shots are coming at The Rim that ended up at 33% and 43% of their shots came from three on an off shooting night that’s where the offens of feel and decision-making issues really come into play because you see that shot distribution shift from an

Area where you’re killing them where you are finishing almost everything you put up to an area where you’re having zero success and that’s what happened tonight and that’s really where we saw that offensive um kind of collapse come from yeah okc1 tonight as well by by the way

That means the wolves are now tied for first place with the Clippers and Nuggets man just just breathing down their neck I got that kind of top tier right there all four of those teams kind of clumped together all right plenty more Deep dive from this one including

Ants play tonight and that’s all coming up right after this quick reminder tonight’s episode brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more with America’s number one Sportsbook and official Sportsbook partner of the NBA right now check this out new customer MERS you’re getting $200 in bonus bets when you place any $5

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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 I just want to touch on this real quick because it was kind of a big talker the last 24 36 hours or so an

Find 40K for calling out the rest after that OKC game I I want to know if you think there’s any Merit to the frustration this year not getting some calls that a lot of other guys seem to get on a nightly basis that’s kind of the big talking point there and I know

They come out with that last two-minute report after every game and tell you what they got wrong which is great gotta love that but it really hasn’t seemed to fix anything as far as ants concerned so to speak from what I’ve seen anyways but you tell me I’m just curious your take

On Ant the fine the fouls and you know really at the end of the day how beneficial is that report really when it comes down to getting more calls right on the court more consistent night in and night out I I I think the last two-minute report is pretty useless

Because it it doesn’t change anything and at best it’s like hey you’re right to be disgruntled about how we screwed up our jobs it’s like what what are we accomplishing here it’s you know I I I don’t know and the fact that you know that that’s that no call on Shay was

Still considered the correct call I I don’t know but I regardless and the overall the complaining um about foul calls it’s it’s just how about the complaining man because like first of all you I say this all the time you could not pay me enough to be a ref it’s

Like a lose lose job man you do everything perfect and nobody even gives you a pat on the back you make one call wrong and boom it’s the end of the world people are calling for your head but the complaining man you see it with cat you

Still do see with cat all the time but ant specifically you know and it’s ramped up even more so it feels like as The Season’s gone on is that almost just as frustrating as not getting the calls and I get it from ant’s perspective man that’s brutal but at a certain point

Maybe you try something different try something new and just you know going a little bit more tight lipped easy for me to say I get it but what’s your thoughts on that yeah and it it just doesn’t accomplish anything it it players complaining to the refs has never

Overturned a call in the history of youth to professional sports a referee has never gone you know what after I called it this way and you complained about it I think you’re right I’m going to overturn it and switch it back to this other thing and a lot of the times

It just it creates this to this toxic relationship between the players and the refs and it just makes things so much worse and you know I know the rebuttal to that is well look at guys like James Harden and you know sure sh Shay and ID

And how much they kind of gravel to the refs and them and get to the line and a lot of that is because of how crafty they are at drawing the foul at drawing fouls it’s a real skill that they’ve developed and yeah some of them the the

Disparity between you know we see ant get clobbered on the forearm or hit over the head and there’s no whistle and then embiid gets you know a brush foul and is falling into the third row it’s rough it’s frustrating I get why they’re frustrated but it’s not going to change

Anything and what it constantly does and we saw it again tonight it takes them out of the play it takes them out of the game because now instead of just worrying about getting a bucket they’re worried about trying to get a call and then immediately complaining about it

They’re not getting back in on defense they’re botching the layup they’re yelling at the refs while the other teams going the other direction and now they’re out of the play so it’s just annoying it it it really really is yeah tough to watch for sure uh he had that

Injury scare as well I wanted to touch on that hobbled off to the locker room looked like a knee injury had everyone one holding their breath in the Target Center for 20 minutes or so he comes back though ends up putting up 22 points Wednesday though that was the first time

He didn’t have double digit scoring he ended the uh game with eight points I think he went a full two quarters without even attempting a shot Jack said so Jack let out a little frustration on the postcast after that one totally get it I did notice though a lot of people

In the Stream and in the comments I always check these comments the next morning push back a little bit on Jack saying he still affected the game in a big way in the positive uh facilitating the ball soaking up double coverage and attention getting Other Guys open looks

Just curious your overall thoughts on ANS performance as of late you know Wednesday night and tonight what grade maybe are you handing out and I guess what’s been the biggest area of concern or Improvement I guess you’d like to see with ant as of

Late yeah and I I kind of get where both sides are coming from there I do too like you look at the box score and you see ant have seven assists and four rebounds like all right solid solid performance um but it never really feels like in these games where he just

Completely Tunes out offensively and he’s still able to kind of get some of those numbers it doesn’t it doesn’t feel like he’s totally engaged and he’s totally there um it and he’s had a couple of those recently where he’s just kind of checked out almost um so may

Maybe the optimistic view is it’s the do Drums of the Season these guys are just eager for that All-Star break they need a week off um and you know we’re just kind of crawling to the Finish Line there and then as the season R you know comes to

An end stuff starts picking back up um but it it’s for him he just kind of needs to find that that balance between being this Uber um high volume scorer and facilitating and doing the little things and affecting the game in different ways when his shot isn’t

Always falling and a lot of the time that’s just attacking the rim more um and that kind of feeds into what we just talked about with the fowls it gets a little harder to do that when you’re not getting foul calls because the mentality shifts from okay I can attack the rim

Create for others potentially draw a follow to God I have to go throw my body into these seven Footers right and get nothing out of it so I I think it’s a mix of frustration and just he’s still 22 it’s he’s really young and we’re expecting stuff from that we would

Expect from a 27y old battling for MVP awards yeah easy to forget man 22 years old and again uh still going through some es and flows still developing still progressing Year bye game by game but clearly and this is his own fault in a

Great way he has set the bar so high for himself we expect greatness now uh on a nightly basis for sure and and you’re right I think everybody on this team just itching for that All-Star break finally I don’t even want to say it out loud but what would this team look like

If he were to go out and miss some time for say a week two three weeks whatever you know it may be because that was a real possibility running through everybody’s head there while they hobbled off to the uh locker room there checking on that knee like who are the

Two or three guys you immediately think of that would have to step up the most and you know how much would the game plan change the scheme change without his presence and just Raw Talent let alone helping run everything on the court yeah and I I don’t mean to be

Dramatic here but if he goes down like let’s just say let’s just say he has like a miniscus injury and he’s done for the season like Jo might have um season’s over their their offense I think right now their offensive rating is like 19th in the

League which is really bad um if he goes down that’s I would expect that to plummet to bottom five um because no one else on this team can consistently get their own shot and create for others uh he’s really the only reliable off the dribble threat um you know at we we see

Carl do some of it we see n Reed do some of it but a lot of that is off of drive and kick stuff where they’re attacking a rotating defense so yeah and if let’s just say worst case scenario Anthony Edwards had torn his ACL there that it

Wouldn’t shock me if they fell into a playing game scenario all right quick look at the schedule on deck and that’s all coming up right after this quick reminder this episode brought to you by quiz quiz it’s the Next Generation trivia experience it’s also the world’s first platform where you can

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Just like a three-pointer play now showcase your skills and take home cash prizes app. quiz.com where fans become Champions we always do this usually on a on a game to game nightly basis but just give me a quick 60 seconds on this magic team man I I know they’re in the East we

Don’t see them a lot we see him at um sub 500 team but between Vagner benero guys like Suggs I mean they got a nice little core nice little young nucleus it feels like to build around do you think they’re close or have the parts if they

Can just keep developing some of those young guys yeah yeah I I they’re are really on the the right track um they got off to an incredible start the first 30ish games of the season in a bad way no very good they were like a top four

Top five seed in the through about 30 games um and they’ve really relied on their size and their defense they’ve been a really really really good defensive team all season and you know Minnesota’s own Jaylen Suggs has been a big reason for that we saw how obnoxious

He was defending Conley tonight um he’s incredibly physical and now he’s starting to figure out his shot too Pao banero has really been that kind of all-around franchise Star Building Block that you would hope to get with the number one pick he’s in his second year

Just made his first allar game uh then France Vagner just one of those toolsy wings so those three guys are really the the building blocks for them going forward Timberwolves fans have been really frustrated with the Wolves offense the Magics has been even worse this year they just have no shooting on

This team at all and once they kind of start finding those off ball Shooters they have some young guys in the wings uh like a Caleb Houston like a jet Howard where if they hit they’re really going to change the fortunes and the outlook for this team going forward but

Once they had some shooting around those um jumbo wings like fron and Paulo uh that their their fans should be really really excited about their future and my apologies Jeff called me out here uh Orlando is not a Sub sub 500 team my bad 2523 and they have been injured quite a

Bit but but to your point man uh being injured still have the record that they have you’re right man they the trajection is is pointing up for sure with them and you know I’m a big NFL draft guy and I know it doesn’t equate NFL draft to NBA draft but Suggs what

Are we talking top five pick top 10 pick voner was what a top three pick and thenner in there as well top 15 pick again I know it’s different NFL draft verus NBA draft but when you’re hitting on those early first round picks man

That’s all it takes in the NBA to hit on two or three of those guys right yeah and I we saw with the timber rols that they hit on one I yeah I two w with Carl but um recently with Anthony Edwards yeah completely flipped the fortunes and

The Outlook and projection of this franchise so it it’s like you said it’s very different because in the NFL I’m I’m a big lions fan so this last year they you know they hit on four guys in the top 40 picks Lions maning these drafts dude crushing and that’s such a

Huge part of their turnaround obviously as well and uh yeah it’s just been crazy to see I mean you know I know the the you know kind of the running joke or theme is like after in the NBA draft after like picked 13 or 15 doesn’t

Really matter when you hit on like a Jaden McDaniels too at the end of round one I forget what pick he was 27 28 somewhere in there boy that just helps so much as well uh and it’s kind of in comparison like hitting on those third

Fourth fifth round picks in the NFL as well just kind of the glue to the roster glue to your team and it just helps that development and progresses that team so much faster uh we got to talk about the All-Star uh reserves were announced um Jack said I think on Wednesday he

Expected two of these three Aunt cat Rudy to get the nod he was obviously right ant with his second nod cat now with his fourth um how snub should Rudy feel though like probably Defensive Player of the Year playing arguably the best ball of his career is the All-Star

Game just not the place we recognize great defensive players or did he truly get snubbed what do you think um I yes you know I just sorry to cop out but I and I I can understand both sides of it um and you know you you we we look at

Some of the other you know quote unquote snubs with like Lori marinin Deus sabonis Darren Fox Rudy goar those would probably be the top four and it’s kind of where this shift back to Western Conference versus Eastern Conference has really kind of hurt some of these guys

In the west because the West is absolutely loaded and I would assume that at least two to three of those guys would get in over some of the guys in the East if they hadn’t split it up like that so I I think the Wolves deserve to

Have two um from an All-Star game just like event standpoint Cap’s gonna be the better draw just because he’s a little more offensively focused and guys like Rudy don’t ever do much in the All-Star game but from an Accolade standpoint I it’s tough to say anyone’s been more

Valuable to this team and their identity this year than Rudy so if he was upset if he’s you know discouraged by it and frustrated by the lack of recognition I get it I can understand it and you know I I don’t think he’s off a but you know

I I I always struggle with snubs because it’s all right who are you taking out it’s tough man it it’s so tough D I didn’t realize how small those all-star rosters were and it obviously it makes sense too you know the more you think

About it but yeah I mean you add him who you taking out it’s it’s not a game you would have very much fun playing if if that was your job to figure out who goes in and who goes out um just give me your quick 60 seconds I mean aunt and Cat

Should you know get their flowers here tonight as well um you know just just how welld deserved I guess is that just speak to how impressive they’ve been this year compared to the rest the league like what areas of the game have they really stuck out and excelled

Amongst their peers yeah with cat it’s a real Testament to the sacrifice he’s made by taking that step back being that actual second option and still putting up really impressive numbers where he’s averaging over 20 points he’s averaging I 8ish rebounds I forget off the top of

My head and almost on the 50490 shooting season as a seven-footer that’s incredible um so and on top of that I know it’s kind of been struggling recently but for the entirety of the Season he’s playing the best defense of his career so it’s cool to see him get

Rewarded for all of that and then you know Anthony Edwards he’s one of the brightest young stars in the league um he is the kind of end all Beall with their offense his on ball defense has improved a ton this year the playmaking has taken a big jump the scoring

Versatility has taken a big jump and back-to-back All-Star games at 22 it it’s really exciting for you know what the next handful of years of his career could look like uh schedule coming up now on Deck let me pull it up here let’s see we got Rockets coming up next at home then

Bulls bucks Clippers all on the road what’s something that just sticks out the most or you know which matchup or game you most intrigued or excited about yeah and I I think those back-to-back matchups with Milwaukee and the Clippers are going to be fascinating um just two

Of the best teams in the league Milwaukee is still trying to figure out what they’re doing to defensively so maybe hopefully that could be a nice little opportunity to spark plug the offense a little bit um keeping my hopes low on that one but who knows um and and

Then you know the this team just always steps up and plays to the level of their competition so I’m expecting the best in those back-to-back games um and then fingers crossed so they they they don’t throw one one of those uh games against Portland away yeah well said going to be

Interesting stretch here for sure again just itching for that Allstar break so they can get a little rest and a big breather there and and hopefully going into that second half of the Season strong uh well done tonight as always great to see you always love talking

Ball with you wolves give one away tonight after a 17-point first half lead they lose to the magic 108 106 they dropped a 34 and 15 on the year they lose that one game lead now in the west now tied with OKC for first place back

At home Friday verse Houston tip off for that one 6 PM Central Standard Time as always huge shout out to everyone that hopped in the postcast with us always love all the feedback the comments the engagement rest assured we’ll be back each and every game same time same place

Right here to break it all down quick reminder you got to go check out all of Tyler’s work on Twitter at tetap 11 and make sure you check out the full crew on the Minnesota basketball party that’s each and every Wednesday afternoon SAM extrom running the show goer Legend Ron

Johnson Carol Evans Reggie Wilson and one last plug if you haven’t already you got to go check out Ben B and he’s just ripping it up over on the lock on wolves podcast each and every day as well that’ll do it for us tonight he’s Tyler metf I’m Luke Inman on Twitter lukor

Spin until next time signing out

The Minnesota Timberwolves blew a 17-point first half lead and lost to the Orlando Magic tonight. Join Luke Inman and Tyler Metcalf for the full breakdown and reaction.