Locked On Wolves POSTCAST: T-Wolves Stay Hot vs. Portland Trail Blazers

Locked On Wolves POSTCAST: T-Wolves Stay Hot vs. Portland Trail Blazers

T-wolves stay red hot with their fourth Road win in a row I got the expert Tyler meaf he’s going to help us break it all down and it’s all coming up next on 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 locked on Sports Minnesota Network you got myself Luke

Inman lukor spinon that’s the man Tyler metf he’s on Twitter tmf1 and Tyler before we jump into all the action quick reminder tonight’s episode brought To Us by prize picks the fastest and most easiest way to play daily fantasy sports go to priz fix.com lockon NBA and use code all lowercase

Locked on NBA for first deposit match up to $100 all right man wow wolv start this one with a bang 44- 14 after one quarter most points they’ve scored in an opening quarter this season it was also the fewest points they’ve allowed in an opening quarter this

Entire season so they’re up 30 after one Blazers kind of chew into that they cut it down by half wolves do what they almost always always do they win the third quarter 33-25 rest was history ant with 34 cat with 23 Jaden McDaniels bouncing back strong with 17 and the Wolves stay in

First place tonight they moved to 39 and 16 on the season kick us off though Tyler what what’s like the the headline read tomorrow what were you know your top two or three biggest observations from this one just Anthony Edwards is a Flatout Superstar I mean he just took this game

Over whenever he wanted to in the first quarter he came out firing um is like 16 points in the first quarter got whatever shot he wanted uh six of eight shooting did whatever he wanted uh second quarter kind of faded third quarter early third quarter kind of faded and that’s where

Portland kind of chipped away at it it never really felt like the Wolves were in danger but then to close out that third quarter Anthony Edwards yet again was like all right let’s be done with this um I’m getting bored and you guys are hanging around too long so I’m yet again

Going to get whatever shot I want and I’m just going to bury you and finishing with 34 points seven assists six rebounds a game high plus 36 he was absolutely dominant tonight uh the the the middle kind of portion of that game you know you’d like to see a

Little more efficiency and a little more energy from everyone but this was just kind of a game that best teams in the league constantly go through around this time of the year where they come out hot they think they buried a team young feisty team you know they slowly chip

Away and then when it’s time to just end things they put them out of their misery uh down the stretch and put them away early enough where they can kind of sit guys and rest him and they did that this entire road trip yeah shout out to Jeff

Via Michael Grady which by the way I I just love our broadcasting crew we get to watch every night but the Wolves scored over 120 in all five games on the road like first time in franchise history unbelievable um I want to jump back here though not you know we’re

Going to talk about this four game heater that they’re on I want to jump to that here in a sec maybe next segment but let’s just stick with this one here first talk to me about ant just a little bit more man 34 points seven assists six

Rebounds like stop it dude lately it just seems like when he gets going he’s virtually Unstoppable like how would you grade his game over the last few weeks from what you’ve seen and and where did he impress you the most tonight a lot to choose from yeah and just that that willingness

To consistently get downhill I I know he had seven threes tonight but you know three of seven that’s you know just under 43% that that’s more than good enough for him because it opens up everything getting to the Lane and when he can get to the Lane consistently we

See him consistently get 25 plus 30 plus uh eight free throw attempts again tonight there wasn’t a single player on the Trailblazers who could keep him who could keep him in front of them or even frustrate him from getting to his spot anytime he wanted to get to get a pain

Touch he got one and what that opens up is Euro steps uh deceleration floaters uh him going through contact drawing fouls um and then the more of those that He executes the more defensive attention that he attracts the more the defense collapses and that’s when he starts

Flaring it out to the corner to Jaden McDaniels throwing lobs to Rudy goar kicking out to Mike Conley and that’s where the assists jumped from three to four to 5 six seven eight plus um so that that real just understanding of the situation reading the defense and that

The game just really slowing down for him mentally over these past hand or you know handful of weeks has been so incredibly impressive yeah another shout out here I’m going to give this one to random Planet even though Jeff had this one as well but

First team in the in the league in the NBA to 20 road wis2 and8 you can see it right there on the screen verus the West it’s insane let me give Jeff some love as well he also got that one and and I guess why I bring that up is because I’m

Curious what you think that says about this team right now because first and foremost you got to win your games at home right everybody knows that but this is where the good gets separated from the elite when you can win like this and this I mean dare I say dominant at times

These last four games specifically versus some of the best ball clubs in the league as well um this is where you really separate yourself from the good to the elite in this league so what does this last little stretch say about this wolves team right now heading into the All-Star

Break yeah and the was I saying the defense travels and that’s what we’re seeing the defense has been the identity of this team all year they’ve been the best defense by a wide margin all year and that’s a big reason why they have the record they do why they have the net

Rating that they do that they have the advanced ratings that they do um because they have this identity that travels uh you can’t have a you know rough offensive night and we’ve seen that for quite a bit this season but what we rarely see from them is bad offensive

Night so the the 120 plus points in all five of these Road games is awesome awesome but when you look at these four wins 105 points 100 points 109 points and 91 points most of those 100 points were in garbage time that’s basically four straight blowout wins scoring 120

Plus and holding your opponent to almost under 100 points that is super impressive and when we think about the playoffs that’s where I think this team is more than the real deal because when you go into an opposing Arena you know that that defense is going to be there

And Jaden cat they might have brutal off offensive nights they might not be able to buy a shot but we know at this point that that defense should be there night in and night out how huge was it too to see Jade McDaniels bounce back from

Tuesday’s game I think he went 0 for seven something like that 17 points tonight though and five rebounds am I reading that right Jade McDaniel’s had five rebounds you had more than two rebounds love it I I joke I kid I digress but how huge is it though for

Them and how much more Dynamic really is this offense when they’ve got Jaden doing the things we saw him do tonight yeah I thought what he did so well tonight was he still kind of had that willingness to shoot from outside which pulls the the the defense out makes them

Respect him forces you know a close out in some form or fashion but then he really started attacking those Closeouts taking the space that the defense was giving him and we saw him with some really tough tough adjustment finishes a couple big dunks he was showcasing the

Handle a little bit so that willingness to attack the rim and get into the paint and utilize that kind of short mid-range jumper the floater the touch at The Rim all of that opens up by that willingness to continue shooting so I I know the outside shooting is a frustration with

Him we’d love it if he was a 40 plus percent three-point shooter doesn’t really seem like that’s who he’s going to be but he has to keep letting it Fly because you know once every five games he’s going to go five of six from three have that big game and the defense knows

That they’re going to have to keep respecting the shot and that’s what it opens up everything for him inside the ark yeah absolutely I want to talk about again this this four game stretch here just because it’s been so impressive now just kind of when you look at the

Overhead kind of aerial view of what they’ve done eighth Road win of at least 15 points this season they had four all of last season coming into tonight though the last three Road games they were shooting 42% from three that they’ve been outstanding at taking care

Of the rock which at times has you know caused fans to pull their hair out 91 assists to 33 turnover ratio assisted on 68% of those field goals and the last four games now we we’ve seen some of the more I should say better balance scoring

We’ve seen all year from this team I mean six players averaging 10 or more points per game I guess when you hear some of those numbers right over these last four games what sticks out the most or what have you been most impressed with given not only the fact they’ve won

All these games but the fact that they’ done it on the road every night and beat a couple really good teams in the process I the I I I think it’s the ball security they really stands out um and you like just looking at tonight’s line Anthony Edwards one turnover that’s huge

Uh a month ago he was up around five or six uh in this type of game we’ see you know 30 plus points five rebounds eight assists but then four or five turnovers it’s like oh okay well that’s a killer because that’s a quarter of the team’s

Turnovers right there and then you know accounting for 8 to 10 fast break points that in itself is an absolute killer and that’s so hard to kind of adjust the mentality and um it’s a real Testament to this team’s maturity um all season after some of those rough games where

They had you know near 20 turnovers ants Mantra and you know message to the media the entire time was ah we’re good we’re fine it’s not a big deal we’ll figure it out and you know some of that just feels like bravado and um may just a lack of

Awareness of what the team is doing but these last couple weeks it seems like they figured it out so you know I kind of want to knock on wood here hopefully it’s the real deal but he’s just kind of simplified things and that spreads to everyone else because we’ve even seen

Cat kind of cut down he had one tonight one of those over the shoulder horrible turnovers but he’s just the driving engine for everything on this team and when he’s taking care of the ball when he’s just making the simple read making the extra pass just making taking what the defense

Gives him that’s really just infectious to the rest of the team and they follow his lead yeah well said absolutely 15 time the wolves have held their opponent under 100 points tonight as we touched on five straight games all on the road over 120 points scoring so I

Guess my question is if you had to pick one more impressive over these last four games is it the offense or is it the defense because the defense as you said it’s always the staple it’s what Chris Finch preaches it’s the identity of this team but this offense as of late maybe

I’m being a prisoner of the moment but dare I say it looks like it feels like a potential top 10 offense in this league what do you think yeah and the the offense is definitely the more exciting part because that’s what we’ve been waiting for there there’s just too much

Offensive Talent on this team for them to be you know a bottom third offense in the league um you know I’m going to kind of cop out here but I I think the most impressive is that they’ve been able to pair the two together where the offense

Is looking like a top 10 offense and the defense is still looking like the number one defense so the fact that they’re kind of experiencing The Best of Both Worlds at Milwaukee at the Clippers um and then you know two games against a bad team in Portland but right before

The All-Star break one of those was a backtack you know one of those they could have easily dropped as just a trap game um right before the break and they came out handled business by being super efficient on both ends of the floor it’s it’s really impressive and something

That we really don’t we’re not used to seeing from the timber wols going back you know almost to the kg era yeah wow that that’s yeah okay yeah so it’s been a minute is what you’re saying it’s been a little bit Yeah okay fair enough uh just doing some box score

Scouting here which again I know doesn’t always tell the whole story again ant leads the way with 34 cat 23 talked about hidden 17 connley with 12 Rudy with 11 Naas Reed with 10 Morris with 12 who I do want to talk about here uh in

The next segment here coming up in a couple minutes but you can take this any direction you want any other guy though you think maybe deserves a little love and Spotlight toight yeah we we talked about jayen ant was obviously incredible um I I I I thought C played really

Really well in that third quarter um to to close out the third quarter Edwards went on the big run but cat was holding his own um I think he had a three in there he had a dunk he had couple free throws he had a big block where he

Walled up um in drop coverage stayed vertical then just stuffed uh the layup attempt I I thought I thought he was really really consistent and then just another solid Kyle Anderson night not big scoring numbers but just doing all of the little things just seven rebounds three assists you know two points but

You’re never really going to look to him for scoring it’s it’s the little things on defense making that extra pass on offense being in the right place at the right time and he just looks like he’s playing a little looser and a little more relaxed ever since the the trade

Deadline passed well said all right plenty more Deep dive from this one including Monty Morris’s New Impact and that’s all coming up right after this tonight’s postcast brought To Us by our friends over at prize picks guys prize picks it’s without a doubt the most fun I’ve had playing daily fantasy

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Match up to $100 that’s promo code lockon NBA priz picks.com lockon NBA for 100% bonus match up to $100 okay Auntie Morris man a few games logged in a wolves uniform now 12 points tonight man that was kind of fun to see I I asked Jack the other night you know

When they made the move that day when it was all still so fresh but you know I’m still super curious of your evaluation a small sample size we’ve gotten but just what you think this dude’s G to add over the course of this second half of the season

Uh maturity uh little bit of Versatility ball security um it’s Mike Conley light sort of um he he’s just never really going to force the issue he’s going to play Within himself he’s going to play Within the system he’s used to playing next to Superstars so this isn’t an

Unfamiliar kind of setting for him um we we saw how effective and important he was to those Denver teams when Jamal Murray got hurt couple years ago uh with Washington last year he was really really good so the the shot hasn’t really fallen for him yet this season

But he was hurt for the vast majority of the season so still trying to find his footing but career high 30s three-point shooter um really high assist to turnover ratio so just a a veteran who knows what to do and how to play out

There so I I I don’t think he’s going to go out there and be a BigTime Game Changer he’s not going to win them games necessarily but he’s never going to be the reason they lose was there a favorite kind of lineup that you saw favorite Five Guys on the floor with

Morris that kind of caught your eye or or maybe you really like the potential of that one more than some others I I think it’s kind of interesting that Finch has run him out there with Conley a handful of times yeah um couple weeks ago before the deadline Finch mentioned

That he really liked a handful of minutes that Conley and mclin were running together so it wouldn’t surprise me if we see that a little more um especially if they kind of maybe they get weird and go with the three bigs and those two guys um

But he’s he’s just really simple to put in there what what what I don’t think can happen is really long extended minutes of no Conley no Monte and especially no nqu out there which we’ve seen a couple times but um you know obviously small sample size so uh I I

Just think he’s going to be really easy to kind of gel and fill in wherever he’s needed coach’s dream more or less I mean that’s what you love for Coach Finch how do you sum up what this team has done in the third quarter this year like think

Back to Monday vers the Clippers LA ends the first half on that seven eighto run Harden hits a three right at the buzzer they go up one they got all this momentum what happens wolves come out they outscore them 40 to9 21-point advantage in that third quarter on

Monday night against one of the best teams in the league in their building but man they they’ve just been doing this all year long tonight Portland cuts the lead in half they come out they stop the bleeding outscore them by eight 33 to 25 why is this third quarter this

Team’s biggest weapon right now like what’s the catalyst is it is it really just you know coaching by Finch making better adjustments than the opposing team is it is it the players just ramping up the energy a little bit more there’s it feels like there’s something

Tangible that has to be here but I I need somebody like you to you know help put your thumb on exactly what that is yeah and I I I think it’s really it comes down to the coaching staff and them figuring out adjustments that need to be made uh where the Timberwolves

Have been lacking like we saw tonight where monster first quarter they come out with an awesome game plan they execute it to Perfection and then kind of let off the gas a little bit in the second quarter and kind of give up a pretty big lead that was pretty

Unnecessary um and you know to their to the players credit it it’s a sign that they really respect and trust this coaching staff and buy into what they’re being told because we consistently see them come out of third quarters fired up engaged executing their game plan at a

Really high level so when the coaching staff and from the player standpoint it’s really easy to keep buying into that stuff when you have proof of concept over and over and these are I’m it it and look I do these two two different things uh in the third quarter

And now we’re back up by 20 in the blink of an eye okay I you know that that that’s buying Credence with me and I I’m really kind of buying into what those guys are saying now yeah well said again tough to find something exactly tangible

To put your thumb on but um that’s about as good of a breakdown and explanation as you could ask I I just saw saw stat on Twitter from NBA University they ranked the most efficient halfcourt defenses in the league Minnesota Timberwolves number one 0. N4 PPP don’t

Ask me what that means I’m sure you could explain that one but okay there you go yeah easy enough but what what do you see or what sticks out the most I guess when you watch this half court defense what what what more so what separates the t-wolves from the rest of

The league right now that they do better than anyone else uh they have the best defender in the league the best rim protector and the best perimeter Defender that’ll do it right there just the the way that Rudy has controlled everything inside the ark this year has been incredible um

And the fact that he doesn’t that that he’s obviously more mobile than he was last year because he’s healthy um but allowed to kind of go out on the perimeter a little more show a little bit show and recover move his feet on the perimeter more than he was ever

Allowed to in Utah because they had zero perimeter Defenders there he had to just solely hold down the paint the fact that Jaden and ant and even cat’s defense is stepped up significantly and Conley’s just really high IQ and nikila Alexander Walker is constantly getting over screens and causing Mayhem the fact that

Those guys are out there wreaking havoc on the perimeter and funneling the ball handler uh where the defense wants them to go it allows Rudy to just do even more and make even more of an impact so I they they have two um you know I I

Think two pretty easy all NBA defenders in jayen and Rudy and a guy that isn’t going to get any love when it comes to voting um but I think deserves more credit is Nik Alexander Walker too love that all right one quick segment left we’ll talk about the Wolves Allstar

Break plans that’s all coming up right after this quick reminder tonight’s episode it’s brought to you by better help what are some things you want to keep the same about yourself or about your life in 2024 ask yourself where you already crushing it maybe try ditching all the New Year’s resolutions start expanding

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NBA okay so you think about ant and Cat and Finch they’re all representing the t-wolves Minnesota at the allstar week what are you most excited about like the game a specific competition cat defending his three-point title what gets you the most jacked up when you think about this All-Star week I the the

The simple fact that there going to be three timberwol is that jerseys you know Representatives on a prominent stage is just really cool and the fact that I the I really like that cat and ant are both participating in one of the kind of side events too I think it’s fun you know

They’re they’re treating it for what it should be and it’s a showcase where they go and have fun um how how they’ll perform who knows but Anthony Edwards doing the skills challenge with Paulo and Victor I think that’s really cool it’s really unique um cat again doing the the three-point competition if he’s

You know G to keep staking his claim to being the best big big man shooter ever gotta back you gotta keep backing it up so right it would be awesome to see him kind of be able to repeat in that too yeah gonna be a lot of fun I I asked

Jack this too as well but I’d love your take as as well uh now that the Dust is kind of settled here how cool how special is it for Finch and the Wolves we get to watch him Coach the allstar game the Western Conference team next

Week just a couple days man I mean last week even he said it it still hasn’t hit him yet it’s still pretty surreal just just so fun to be a wolves fan right now isn’t it it yeah it it it’s incredible um especially when you look at his

Journey of coaching like random Club teams in England and now he’s coaching the number one SE in the west um I I was covering the game where they clinched that for him and you know they they DED him in water they were all everyone every person on that team just had

Nothing but glowing things to say about him and how much they respect him as not just a coach but a person um and really emphasized that they just they they know he’s going to hate all the attention and all of it but they’re going to make sure

He has fun so it’s just so welld deserved uh wolves get this nice long break now full week off Finch ant cat they’ll all be at the All-Star game but everybody else nice needed rest there at home they come back with a seven game home stand I don’t think I’ve ever heard

Of that seven game home stand they follow that up by the way I think with a eight game Road Trip it’s at least seven it’s seven and seven or seven and eight um but they come back after that big break and they start with the Bucks

February 23rd what do you want to see out of this nice break coming back from this team and and and let me ask you this too Part B bigger picture what do you want to see as far as any adjustments go in the second half of the

Season just in general for this wolves team yeah and I I I want to see more of this ball security and ball movement um I you know I want them to prove that these last couple weeks or last couple games weren’t a fluke um that that Milwaukee win or game should and

Hopefully will be a big win they just got they just lost to a heavily depleted Memphis team tonight they’re in chambles they have three people going to all-star weekend as well so I don’t think they’re really any excuses to come out of All-Star break and not have that be a

Big win at home I think the atmosphere there on a Friday night could be incredible um it would be awesome to see that win in terms of adjustments and new stuff I’m just really intrigued to see how Moni Morris continues to get in integrated into this lineup because the

Rotations H me they’re looking really good they’re firing on all cylinders whatever other cliche you want to throw in there um so how are they going to kind of seamlessly integrate this guy who’s a really solid backup point guard into a rotation that has been one of the

Best in the league All Season all right last one before we get out of here you and I haven’t talked in a couple weeks uh you know five days ago Patrick Mahomes won his third Super Bowl in four years beating Brock pie in the ners 25

To 22 give me your pitch and your Pete of the Super Bowl 58 so one high and one low what do you got oh boy well I was pulling for the 49ers just would I think a lot of people were man I mean I’m a

Big lions fan so it would have made that lost a little a little easier right you’re the Lions guy that’s right I forgot about that yep so you know yeah so that one stung man that one stung yeah I was neutral um I I was just glad

We got a phenomenal that was one of the best games start to finish seen you know in the last five 10 years that was phenomenal but for a league built on parody six more months of Mahomes Kelsey Taylor Swift and chief talk it’s just it’s just really gonna start to bore me

Man that’s all I’ll say yeah I I just want something new um I I I I’ll say that I’ll say the high was the the Jennings uh pass back to the mcaffrey touchdown um and the low was the Dr Greenlaw Achilles injury just trying to run on the field brutal dude and now

I’ve seen all these video edits of Warner crying on the sideline and it’s it’s brutal it’s like Nick Bosa they show him like miked up and he’s like did he just Pap his a just shock like just in pure shock halftime of the Super Bowl

You know what I mean just like are you kidding me why us unbelievable um all right wolves end the first half with four straight road game wins they head into All-Star break on an absolute heater tonight’s final 12891 their lead in the west stays at a game with the

Thunder clip flippers nuggets all with the night off next game back that comes on the yep 23rd February 23rd wanted to triple check that that’ll be versus the Bucks and the start again of a seven game home stand for the wolves in the backyard at the Target Center as always

Huge shout out to everyone that joined us and stayed up late for this one always love the feedback the energy the comments the passion rest assured we’ll be back each and every game same time same place right here to break it all down quick reminder go check out all of

Tyler’s work on Twitter at metf 11 anything new again we haven’t talked in a week or two anything new we should check out regarding the wolves or just NBA General takers uh just the the whole team over aus.com has a ton of great stuff going up daily um and if you’re

Into the NBA draft go check out no seing nba.com we got awesome stuff going up there daily too love that can’t wait to check that out and make sure you check out our entire crew on the Minnesota basketball party that’s each and every Wednesday Jack Borman Sam extrom goer

Legend Ron Johnson Carol Evans Reggie Wilson and don’t forget Ben Beacon he’s still ripping it up over on the lockdown wolves podcast that’s 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 try to keep their road streak alive in their second match with Portland in back-to-back games. Join Luke Inman and Tyler Metcalf immediately following the game.