Locked On Wolves POSTCAST: Minnesota Timberwolves stage MASSIVE COMEBACK, beat Los Angeles Clippers

Locked On Wolves POSTCAST: Minnesota Timberwolves stage MASSIVE COMEBACK, beat Los Angeles Clippers

Hello and welcome into the lockdown wolves postcast we’re live following the Wolves massive comeback win over the LA Clippers I’m with Jack Borman from kupus we’re going to break the whole thing down next you are locked on wolves postcast part of lock on Sports Minnesota your team every Day hello hello and welcome into to the lockdown wolves postcast part of the lockdown podcast Network your team every day my name is Ben Beacon I’m the host of lockdown wolves subbing for Luke on The postcast Tonight I’m here with Jack Borman editor and chief of K suus we’re

Gonna break down wolves Clippers and Jack talk about a roller coaster uh there’s there’s a lot of a lot of phrases we could use to describe this game The Wolves were down by 22 points Midway through the second quarter they went on if you want to just talk about

The run from the Midway point of the second through the end of the game it was an 83 to 43 run uh which is not really a run that’s like an entire game’s worth of basketball pretty much and uh we’re we’re dominant over the final 29 minutes of this game a lot of

Things to get to in this one uh what do you have here off the top yeah for me I mean it’s just the fourth quarter the way that they really turned it on I mean for all the struggles that the wolves have had in this in the fourth quarter this season

They started 13 of 13 from the floor in the fourth quarter to put the game away 30 points in the first eight minutes of the quarter and Mike Conley was a huge part of that came out really aggressive just like he did to start the second quarter when Anthony Edwards was not on

The floor he was very aggressive he did the same thing in the fourth quarter he had 12 points on five of five shooting in the fourth in those non- ant minutes to really carry the offense and just set a professional tone that I think really permeated the the rest of the wolves

That they just rode uh to the Finish Line there and then n Alexander Walker man I mean what more can we continue to say about how amazing he’s been and how much of a godsend he’s been for this Timberwolves team since he arrived at the trade deadline last season uh I mean

He had 28 points on nine of 10 shooting he outscores both Paul George and James Harden um and there’s just something about him playing the Clippers his career high came three three years ago against the Clippers he had 37 um and then he started the second half which I

Think was a great adjustment from Chris Finch that just kind of helped kept that snowball rolling down the mountain and just kind of avalanched it for the Wolves U really balanced the rotation I I thought and nil or excuse me Kyle Anderson played point guard in in the

Pretty much the entire second half from most of the minutes he was in there when Mike connley was not in the game and all but one lineup for the Timberwolves was a positive in in the second half I think they had nine different lineup combinations you know before you got you

Get to garbage time all but one of them was was positive and slomo after being I think he was a minus 18 in the first half he was a plus 25 in the second half alone which just kind of goes to show how much better he fit in with with some

Of the guys that he was was playing with uh in that second half Chris Finch did a much better job of uh of pairing him with nas Reed out on the floor and we know that that lineup combination has been a good one for the Timberwolves so

Far this season so those two guys were were really pivotal uh in the second half and it’s it’s a joy that you can talk about those those two guys and what they were able to do before before you even get into just a meast star effort from Anthony Edwardson both end the

Floor yeah we’re gonna get to ant we’re gonna talk a lot about ant but I mean yeah let’s talk more about the role players like slow-mo I mean if you I mean obviously he’s had his moments this year it’s it’s not been anything like what last year was and now with cat out

He’s going to play a little bit more at the four and and we’re g to see him do more of what he did last year positionally and I think ultimately that’s going to be a good thing now the first half was not good for Kyle

Anderson and if you go back and look at um at at Twitter and well I guess anything about the Wolves but uh especially Kyle Anderson for the first half things changed quite a bit and he had a much much better second half essentially running the offense as you

Said he was really good defensively forced a couple of turnovers um even jadeen McDaniels who I know put up a goose egg in this game and we can talk more about him and and it part of the reason why Niki Alexander Walker and Mike connley who we’ll talk about too

Were both so massive in this game Jaden didn’t score but in the second half he was much more locked in defensively like first half he was bad on both ends second half I felt like the entire team was more locked in on both ends really but especially defensively and uh I mean

I would say tale of two halves for both Jade McDaniels and Kyle Anderson in terms of their def offensive disruption level and and like you said what Kyle Anderson did offensively um I mean like the headline here is obviously ant and then after that it’s Conley and it’s Alexander Walker what they’re scoring

But why not talk about I mean like these unsung heroes in terms of Jaden McDaniels and defensively specifically because the oer is not great but then also um you know uh Kyle aderson as well both of those guys much maligned in the first half and played much better in the

Second half yeah I mean Kyle Anderson again you know I said he played point guard he had six he had six assists six of his seven assists came after halftime and he had zero turnovers in in the fourth quarter so five of those five of those seven assists came in the fourth

Quarter had zero turnovers did an awesome job of finding Cutters all second half and and Kyle Anderson you know was I think more important in in a sense offensively in this in this game in the second half of things and we saw in the first three games he was a really

Important defense or defensive player in this in this uh match up between these two teams he spent a lot of time guarding kawh Leonard and he did a really admirable job and I I think without having Carl Anthony towns in the game shifted around some of the

Defensive matchups we can get into that a little bit later but uh it just kind of put him in an odd spot defensively tonight then he made up for it on on the offensive end with the way that he was able you know to provide 10 additional

Points too I think that’s a really big thing anytime Kyle Anderson scores he has a knack for scoring in these kind of weird moments uh that really kind of stem the tide that that opponents have which was really important then Jaden McDaniel I think too the starting to

Kill Alexander Walker really allowed him to get into James Harden and pick and roll and didn’t allow him much space to work with and much space to operate I think you saw when when Mike Conley guarded him especially in the first three games Harden did a great job of

Kind of getting downhill sneaking in pick and roll had a lot of space and was really effective in that mid-range area nille completely took that away in the second half and that allowed Jay McDaniels to switch on to Paul George and and he just completely shut down

Paul George I mean Paul George got to the free throw line 10 times he only had five field goals makes in this game and and was just yeah it was just not a factor whatsoever in the fourth quarter and and the timberwol pick and roll defense especially in in the in the

Second half was absolutely incredible and it was those two guys the head of the snake uh ton of ball pressure that allowed uh defensive players to just kind of get in passing Lanes I mean Paul George and James Harden are used to having a lot of Spates to work in and

They had they had none of it in the second half and so that allowed a lot of deflections and run outs and and that’s what led the Timberwolves having 27 points uh on the fast break which is the second most they’ve had in a game this season and and certainly something that

They’ve needed to try to lean into a little bit more with Carl Anthony towns out yeah the Clippers came into this game as a top five offense and and obviously the Wolves shut them down you know last week when they played them in that one-point loss and I mean the

Clippers are still a onepoint or excuse me still a top five offense and uh they only scored 37 points in the second half of this game I mean to your point like that that pick and defense the second half was incredible obviously not having Qui Leonard matters but you know we

Could play that game all day with no carony towns um but Paul George yeah just 11 field goal attempts got the line 10 times turned it over five times James Harden uh did basically nothing against the Wolves the last time they faced the Clippers and has had a bad year facing

The Tim wolves he started out not hot but decent early in this game scored a little bit as the Clippers built that lead in the first quarter but finished with just 12 points on 10 shots so I mean and everyone else like no one else had more than 11 points for the Clippers

And that was you know Timberwolves killer and I guess everybody killer this year Norman Powell and he only attempted two three-pointers in this game um and I believe they were both in the first half I mean the Wolves did such a good job in pick and roll in the second half that

They were also they were just flying around they were contesting shots on the perimeter um and and you know I was a little worried even though the Wolves were up double figures when Rudy left the game in the fourth quarter but uh you know other than there was a brief

Period there were there was no Rudy no Jade McDaniels on the floor and the Clippers got like three straight layups and it was a you know kind of te for a minute and then things kind of buckled back down defensively but just the I think the effort level defensively is

Something that you know we haven’t seen the last couple of games for Minnesota and it was so refreshing to see them scramble the way that at the way that they did on that end of the floor and um you know make the Clippers work to even

Get to 100 like they didn’t get to 100 until garbage time in this game it was really impressive um adjustment defensively for the wolves in the second half and also deciding to play smaller um with Kyle Anderson not on the floor to start the second half uh well I guess

Technically he was because of the ant stuff but um altering the lineup so that they were playing smaller and yet that’s what because the point of attack defense was so good um they were able to hold the Clippers in check you just 15 points in the third quarter for La yeah I mean

They had 34 points at the end of the first quarter and they were crawling to get to 100 at the end of the game I I think you know another important thing for the Timberwolves honestly man is just just having some time to get some sleep and recover I mean you have the

Backtack on on the I guess in the Eastern Time Zone with Indiana and Cleveland they were so gassed in that Cleveland game and then the game goes to overtime and then you have three more guys miss that game in in uh you know the first game in La against the Lakers

And and and it’s a game where they’re just getting up and down they’re flying up and down the court that’s the only way that they’re really sticking with the Lakers offense is to try to turn it into a track Meek shootout and and I and

And I have no idea what happened in La a lot of times you see teams in LA just are even more tired but whatever it was about the timber team they looked fresh and they looked ready to go for for the last three quarters and they like you

Said they just completely flew around and and I was really pleased with the way that they were able to switch uh they switched a ton up top and that allowed guys in the corners to stay home on Shooters and take away a lot of the corner three-point looks uh for uh for

The Clippers and I and I think when you’re able to hold a team like the Clippers to only shoot nine Corner threes in this game anytime you’re able B to make more Corner threes or even take more Corner threes than the Clippers you’re doing a heck of a job on

Both ends of the floor and and you got to hand it to the Wolves they are able to do that and again everything starts with ball pressure in this league defensively and the wolves have three of the best perimeter defenders in basketball and and nikil Alexander Walker Jaden McDaniels and Anthony

Edwards and and just one note too for for ant before we can kind of dive into to what he did after the break is ant had a pick six he he picked koal or excuse me Paul George’s pocket with a minute and 30 seconds left in the third

Quarter the game was tied 7878 at that point and that’s really seemed to flip a switch for ant and for the Timberwolves as a whole they they did not Trail the rest of the way and it just seemed like they had all the momentum after that the Clipper Spirit just seemed broken and

The Wolves won 38-22 in the final 12 12 or excuse me 1330 uh of game time and so for ant to be able to set the tone to and really contribute on that that they needed a lot from him offensively for him to dig into the bottom of that tank and find

The find the energy to to Really compete on that end of the floor I thought was was pretty special from him yeah and I want to talk a lot more about an obviously um the well actually yeah we could do that let’s let’s go there next and and I I do

Want to get back to you know what happened kind of at the beginning of the game and I think that that was more um you know uh I don’t know I mean a variety of factors you listed some of the rest is a big part of it or lack of

Rest I guess with all these crazy back-to-backs but um we you know I think I think uh I think I think focusing on Ant is is probably a good place to go next I mean Anthony Edwards in this game finishes with with uh 37 on 15 of 29

Shooting uh two of eight outside the arc struggle with his shot from three he hit one late um I think he missed his first three or four from Deep five of seven at the line uh eight rebounds four assists only two turnovers in this game he was a

Plus 22 for the wolves um which was second best on the team next to Jordan mcof played a team High 37 minutes and I thought was uh early I I thought he was aggressive in the first quarter but he wasn’t like Ultra aggressive and he also

Was just kind of missing shots like he just didn’t quite look right um and not like he was hurt or anything just like he just didn’t look all the way locked in and then you could kind of see that switch flip and we’ve seen this with a

Before you see it with a lot of Superstar players where it’s just like you know they’re they’re there and they’re playing and they’re fine and they’re you know they’re not actively bad and then all of a sudden it’s like okay I’m locked in now and it’s just

Kind of and you saw a little bit of it in the second quarter as the wolves made that push uh but then he really turned it on in the third quarter and that pick six play against Paul George was unbelievable it was the perfect it was

You know on the on the TNT broadcast right after Reggie Miller saying like oh this is what I love about ant he can lock in defensively picks Paul George’s pocket goes the other way gets a gets a layup um and then hits a couple of tough shots after that gets another Euro in

The paint shortly after that um just kind of this Avalanche of just oh yeah Anthony Edwards is here and he’s he’s the best player on the court tonight uh the Wolves needed his scoring lift and and he gave it to him yeah no question about it and and ant for his money has

Arguably been the timberwol second best defender in this four game series against the Clippers this season I think if I was Chris Finch or Mike an Nory or and Elson Turner and putting together this defensive game plan I would look at targeting Paul George first because if

You look at Paul George’s numbers and Clippers wins versus Clippers losses there’s a pretty sizable Gap there whereas kawhai and James Harden have been a lot more consistent and they’ve gone to ant to turn to really just shut off Paul George and he’s done that the

Entire season and I think for me almost it’s been the defensive end of the floor for him in this matchup that is that has impressed me more but tonight offensively I thought that he just did a great job as the guy that kind of set the pace for what this offense needed to

Be even in the first quarter the Wolves couldn’t buy a shot and he just kept attacking downhill and there were probably two or three extra possessions that or extra you know shots inside that he should have earned free throws from but didn’t just because he’s not flopping

Around and for ant to shoot 11 shots at The Rim he was eight of 11 at The Rim 73% tonight and then you know even in the mid-range was still efficient he was five of 10 in the mid-range and did I thought they were all pretty good shots

There weren’t any shots that ant really took where you’re like man what what is that shot and and two of the threes that he made were huge momentum shifting three points pointers that were really important in just continuing uh continuing the Wolves momentum that he

Then did a great job of kind of pump faking and getting a Defender up in the air before he got got two feet in the paint and started kicking the ball out and that really generated a lot of the perimeter ball movement that we saw that created so many wideopen three-point

Looks for nikel Alexander Walker for Nas Reed for Jade McDaniels even though he didn’t make any of them and can’t throw the ball in the ocean right now uh and to kill Alexander Walker again man uh for for him to shoot the ball from three the way that

Uh the way that he did was just incredible and I think he he’s a he’s a big- Time beneficiary of playing with ant and being able to play off of off of Ant and all the space that he creates for his teammates is just tremendous and

And I think when ant really controls the game in the half court when he’s coming around screens and is manipulating the defense changing up the pace at which he’s driving into the paint changing up whether he’s snaking around his screen or flying around a screen and and the

Other thing too is is I think when he he kind of mixes up how quickly he’s getting into the paint it it slows down the the defensive decisionmaking and creates more indecision defensively and I think allows him to to do more of what he wants to do whether he’s setting out

To create a corner three-point look or or get into the you know the short mid-range for that little floater area or go right at a guy and I think he’s really learning some of those nuances of the game you know in this more spaced out floor without Carl Anthony towns

Because they’re running way more pick and roll than they were with Carl out there and you know it wouldn’t be surprised to me if they started to kill Alexander Walker kind of the rest of the way here just to see if ant can get going earlier on in the game and you see

More of Kyle Anderson playing point guard and Monte Morris maybe playing a little bit more off ball as a shooter in the corner is something that we could see more just so we can open up more of that pick and roll playmaking for both ant you know and Kyle Anderson who both

Were were really important uh both scoring and playmaking out out of that action tonight you’re I think you’re on mute I am good call let’s talk a little bit more about that uh here in a minute I want to talk about lineups moving forward related you know coming out of

This game with that offensive punch that Alexander Walker not like he’s going to score 20 plus every night but I do think we should talk about you know what what that could look like uh lineup wise here for the Wolves uh we’ll do that here next today’s episode of the postcast is

Brought To Us by our friends over at betterhelp the show is sponsored by betterhelp sometimes we all need the opportunity to get something off our chest big or small certain things can really start to get to you it’s important to let that out especially to someone who’s unbiased on your life so

Today I want to say how I really feel about something you might even be thinking about the same thing this week and if you’re a Timberwolves fan if you’re watching this if you’re listening to it you probably are and it is uh concern over what might happen here with

The uh with the officiating stuff moving forward not like the Wolves were getting uh not like they weren’t getting the short end of the stick before in a lot of cases but now after the Rudy go be Antics last Friday we’re going to talk about this on the Minnesota basketball

Party Jack and I and others on Wednesday this week so tune in to that uh but uh yeah I mean like what’s gonna happen here moving forward as we get closer to the playoffs are ref’s going to hold us against the Wolves didn’t seem like it in the Clippers game but doesn’t mean

I’m not going to worry about it and that may seem trivial certainly many of us have bigger problems than our favorite sports team and uh you know therapy looks different for everyone but it’s still important to get things off your chest every once in a while if you’re thinking of starting therapy give

Betterhelp a try it’s entirely online designed to be flexible and suited to your schedule visit betterhelp.com lockon NBA to get 10% off your first month that’s betterhelp hp.com lockon NBA all right uh so Jack right a minute ago you alluded to the or we talked you talked a little bit about the Wolves

Lineup and you know just playing running more spread pick and role because without Carl Anthony towns there’s just less not like the Wolves were calling a ton of plays before but there are more potential wrinkles and obviously cat’s versatility is arguably the the not arguably he’s the best combination of

Both efficiency and versatility of any anyone the wolves have Carlon towns is and so not having him on the floor changes what you’re able to do offensively and we saw on Sunday what that could look like without even having the gravity of Rudy go bear on the floor

And that would be a massive issue and of course we should mention that Rudy left with what I think the team is calling a rib contusion after the game um is what I saw on Twitter so um that’s what no idea what that means thankfully the Wolves don’t play for three days don’t

Know what that means for Saturday in Utah but uh something to keep an eye on and again we saw Sunday without Rudy’s gravity and without carony towns this offense which is already middle of the pack this season has a lot it has to do a lot more work to get going Kyle

Anderson’s more of that distributor the playmaker we saw that in the second half of this game and he was very good at it in the second half but starting to Rudy goar which we saw for 50 plus games last year when towns was out with the calf

Injury does that make sense with the way the rest of this roster you know with how it shakes out or does it make more sense to you know do what we saw in this game spread the floor with Niki Alexander Walker uh Monte Morris can essentially play the Mike Conley role

When once he gets healthy um and it just allows you to play a little bit smaller and still have the ability to go to be a little bit more versatile with Kyle Anderson it’s not like you can’t still use him it’s just being a bit more judicious with those those l that have

Two non-shooters on the floor at the same time in my opinion yeah and I think what’s been problematic for the Timberwolves in those goar and Anderson minutes is that they’ve both been in this stretch is that Mike connley and Anthony Edwards have have both been in

The game for the you know a good chunk of those minutes and and you want the ball in those two guys hands and so you have no choice but to play Kyle Anderson in the corner essentially and that’s just been cratering some of the spacing

Right and I think the more when Kyle is when Kyle is in the game the more that you can have him on the ball or cutting from the slot or in the dunker with nas is a five kind of flying around the perimeter I think the more it just kind

Of balances out the rotation balances out the floor and really unlocks you more of Anthony Edwards as a as a scorer getting downhill and more of Rudy goar’s Rim gravity I don’t think you’re going to be able to see what we saw in Cleveland which is them just completely

Ignore him with a second Defender another big Defender and just completely take away Rudy go Bears rolling to the rim and ability to play Above the Rim on the on the lob and I think the the more that you get Kyle and Nas together I think the more you’re going to see that

What we saw in Los Angeles on on whatever I’m can’t even think about what day it is right now on Monday night or Sunday night whatever it was when they played the Lakers is that um you know Nas just had a ton of space to work with

Out on the perimeter and and did a great job of of really playing uh downhill and and that you know kind of five out lineup that they like to throw out there and and I think the more that you can kind of do that or at least do four

Round one with Anderson as a guy with the ball in his hands with that second unit I think that just makes so much more sense to me in terms of how you can kind of optimize your two best scorers now that you have and Anthony Edwards

And Nas Reed and and certainly we saw what it could do for ant tonight I think Nas just kind of struggled to find a rhythm scoring tonight because of foul trouble and him having to be out of the game for such an extended period of time for you know 12 minutes essentially of

Game time or whatever that ended up being and I just think Kyle Anderson’s way too important of a player to stick in the corner uh at least offensively and he’s not really doing much for you without the ball in his hands offensively I think he he’s a smart

Cutter from the corner when some Defenders forget about him and you get ant driving into the lane and stuff like that but I just think he’s so much more valuable when he’s got the ball in his hands he’s able to create he’s able to walk smaller Defenders down I think

We’ve seen some of that from the corner with him is that if teams put a small on him or try to hide a guy on him like the equivalent of doing a m or D’Angelo Russell that we’ve seen kind of hiding a guy in the corner he’s done a good job

Of posting up some of those guys and walking him down in the paint in scoring that way but yeah man I just think the more that you can optimize ant and Nas and spread that thing out and have you know one of of Nas or excuse me one of

Of Kyle or Rudy on the floor um and if you have both of them on the floor make Kyle Anderson the point guard like we saw tonight want to talk a little bit about Mike connley too I mean he was huge in this game we’ve we’ve mentioned

Him in passing a couple of times s but um like it was It was kind of quiet he had a couple big Threes And The Wolves were making that second quarter run and then he had a couple more late and he ended up with 23 points on 15 shots in

This game five of eight from three and was was so so big and it’s extra important with Monte Morris out and and we’ve seen him lately like he had a comment the other day about how I think he said he was felt like he was playing

In mud or something after the game um something to to that effect where you know people start to wonder like oh no like CU everyone’s waiting for that other shooter drop for somebody who’s 37 or whatever but like I I mean this version of Mike Conley is I mean he’d

Had three straight games in single digits he had a a scoreless game the last time the woles played the Clippers who was 04 shooting I’ve heard on you know some of the national shows people saying like oh what you know obviously the com like we’re not going to talk

Full conle extension here that was a great value for Minnesota absolutely people questioning on the national level like hey does that even make sense like if he doesn’t score for them like what’s he doing that doesn’t make like this this is great this is kind of gravy but

Also with cat out they need they need more than nine points like they got in the loss to the Lakers they need more than no points like they got in the loss to the Clippers with no Carlton towns and just quickly scrolling through his game log and I’m sure that somebody

Could easily search this stat the last time he scored in double figures in the Wolves lost was December 26th against Oklahoma City in that game where they had like 26 turnovers or something crazy um near as I could tell with a quick scroll they’ve only lost I think three

Games all year that he’s scored in double figures I guess four if you including opening night against the Raptors they’ve lost four times when Mike Conley scored double figures so and and that’s not like anything other than just support scoring spreading the floor consistent three-point shooting you know

All the things he can do in a a relatively low usage role um but in this game like he was huge I mean the timeliness of those threes and U the confidence he was shooting with at the end um it’s just it really kind of changes the game to have somebody of

Mike Conley you know somebody like Mike Cony who can kind of level up and just be a consistent Steady Hand um as an outside shooter yeah and I think this is another way to kind of get some of that that three-point shooting and scoring back from not having Carl Anthony towns

Around and if you can make Kyle Anderson a point guard takes Les less of the playmaking burden off of Mike Conley and allows Mike to to cook a little bit more off the ball as a score and there’s no doubt in my mind that Chris Finch or

Somebody on the Wolves bench coming out of the second quarter and coming out of the fourth quarter said hey with no ant you’ve got to go like you’ve got to go out there and cook and that’s exactly what he did and the great thing about Mike connley is he’s not forcing up

Shots right he’s taking shots that are great shots for him within the flow of the offense he’s just probably has a little bit quicker of a trigger than uh than maybe he would when he’s also playing out there you know with this lineup fully loaded and I just think for

For Mike it’s it’s just a matter of having just a green light conscience right of just I’m if I’m catching the ball I’m remotely open I’m letting this thing go and for Mike Conley I mean he took a season High 15 Shots tonight which I believe is the most he’s ever

Had in a Timberwolves uniform at least looking at his regular season game logs here um as a member of the Timberwolves and and the other thing too for Mike is like you know you’re not asking him to get down in the paint it’s it’s all pretty much perimeter oriented I think

Maybe you might have a couple you know where he kind of snakes around the pick and roll and fakes the Rudy go bear pass and just has a wide open layup we’ve seen that a couple of times but it’s it seems super repeatable and and if Mike

Connley takes 15 shots and more than half of them are threes I will take that every single i’ hell I’d probably take that when Carl lony towns is back you know just because I love it when Mike Conley is aggressive he’s incredibly efficient from uh just about everywhere

That he’s shooting from I know he’s having a down year with floaters but that’s something he’s proven he can do for for 17 years now so an aggressive Mike Conley is the best Mike Conley and they they certainly need that uh you know paired with a more aggressive nikil

Alexander Walker nik’s not going to shoot nine of 10 every night but uh you know if Mike can take 15 shots or or 12 shots especially if Jaden’s GNA continue to play God awful offense then then you know that’s going to be a huge boost yeah real quick on Jaden I mean like

He’s just he’s just struggled from the floor lately I I I mean is it just more like and it’s weird because he came out of the break struggling and then he uh he had kind of a couple game bump where I think even Chris Finch has something

Like hey Jaden’s back like this is the jayen we youed and then like now all of a sudden teams are just D you know we saw the Lakers essentially not guard him on Sunday um like he’s not I talked about this on the show on Wednesday or I

Guess Tuesday show un locked on wolves like the Wolves aren’t gonna ask Jade McDaniels to be a high usage scorer but he’s just got to make open threes I think is kind of the key and now he looks more like Jaden from two years ago who shot like 31% from three instead of

Jaden from uh you know last year who shot 39% 40% from three I mean is it anything other than he’s got a knockdown open shots and then from that point the you know the the the confidence kind of comes from there for him to do the other

Stuff that’s the biggest thing for me I mean he took four threes tonight I think he took five threes the other night and I would wager that all nine of them registered as wide openen threes so nearest Defender at least six feet away from uh from him and and two I ran the

Numbers uh for this on March 7th so that was you know almost a week ago um for you know just two man pairings that were with Carl Anthony towns and and how those players performed with on the floor versus with Carl out off the floor and Jaden McDaniels by far of like guys

Who have been here all year Jaden is plus was plus excuse me uh he is plus 8.8 with cat on the floor and minus 1.5 with cat off the floor oh wow and him on the floor so that that plus 10.4 net differential that on minus off

With with Carl uh is by like by by 10 10 points per 100 possessions is like the most significant so he’s the guy who on paper was going to miss Carl the most in terms of two-man lineups and certainly is is missing you know just shots now I

Guess without Carl but he’s a guy who’s really benefited from Carl’s gravity and Carl’s done a great job of of finding him for open shots as a cutter Jan’s been really effective cutting off of cat’s post-ups that’s probably four or six easy points for Jade in every single

Game that that he’s missing right now and it’s you know and that three-point shot just doesn’t have confidence I don’t think he’s got confidence in any other part of his game really and and and and so that’s been that’s been that’s been a huge struggle for Jaden

And they just desperately need him uh you know they don’t need him to reinvent the wheel offensively they don’t need him to self-create all these shots just please please man just just knock down a couple open threes and let’s go from there yeah all right let’s close with a

Couple thoughts uh related to what happened at the beginning of the game and also like what are the takeaways based on that plus how they finish the game you know as we move forward and and uh see the Jazz here coming up this weekend we’ll do that here to close the

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Said that he did not break a rib and that he is going to be fine but that he was laboring to move and struggling to breathe in the locker room afterwards said something felt like it was out of place after the fall interesting I mean I don’t know there’s good and bad in

There right it’s never it’s never good when he can’t breathe but I guess if nothing’s fractured like um the best thing it’s the best thing and they play the Jazz are Saturday and then they’re off Sunday but then the Jazz again Monday I believe so um I mean I don’t

Know he could miss one of those two games give him you know give him five days whatever but and it’s one of those like they always say with ribs it’s can you tolerate the pain um and who knows what three days off I’ve never like severely bruised a rib but three days

Off hopefully is enough for him to you know get back to get back on the floor I guess and you’ll think he’ll want to play back in Utah for sure yeah that’s a good point yeah that’s true they did say in the TNT broadcast he was the one

Wolves player that wanted to get Utah earlier everybody else wanted to stay in La for the week uh but and he also lost that one so sounds like they’re going to be in La all week so um yeah that’s a good point I bet I bet he plays I bet

He’ll figure it out and that’s and like actually we didn’t talk about this at the beginning and I’m sure we’ll cover it on the basketball party tomorrow um or today I guess um but this was a huge game from a tiebreaker perspective um and also like I made the case on

Tuesday’s locked on wolves for for why it’s so big that the wolves get up to first or second in the west because if you’re third you’re probably going to end up playing one of Phoenix Sacramento Dallas uh maybe New Orleans and I would say New Orleans Phoenix and Sacramento

In my opinion are the three worst matchups for the wolves in the playoffs you want to get to one or two and not like it’s going to be great to play Steph Curry or Lebron in the playoffs but the Wolves match up better with the Warriors and Lakers than I think any of

Those teams and and so I said on the show coming into this game like hey these guys that all didn’t play Sunday besides maybe Monte Morris the soft tissue injury are going to try really hard to play on Tuesday night because everybody realized how important this game was and especially losing to the

Clippers last time out this was an important game um and so I was a little surprised with how flat the Wolves came out but you know there’s there’s U I thought it was just more uh they just looked flat I don’t know there was anything like Rudy didn’t look quite

Right to start the game um Nas tweaked his ankle like ant didn’t really get going we talked about that it was really they just missed some open shots defensively they were I would say a step and a half slow not just a step slow um and it took until Midway through the

Second before they s back to it and I don’t know that it was anything specifically we talked a little about the lineup adjustment that Finch made but I don’t know that there was anything other than just from my perspective missing open shots getting beat on you

Know on the defensive end of the floor they actually offensive rebounded the ball well they just didn’t take advantage of Second Chance opportunities um I don’t know that there’s anything like longterm other than paying attention to rotations with no carony towns and and what F does with that that

I’d be concerned about but um they certainly just kind of came out flat and then the lineup combination and just overall making shots when they were opened which sounds so simple but that’s really what a lot of it was as the game wore on yeah I mean I mean they scored

21 points in the first quarter and they were one of nine from three uh the timber rolls offensive rating on first chances was 93 compared to Second Chance offensive rating of 133 so they they just really struggled in the half court to generate good shots and I thought that the their spacing was

Really awkward I thought and there was a lot of driving into crowds with guys just being in weird spots and I think again it was just another thing where I I loved the fact that Chris Finch was willing to play Kyle Anderson more with

The bench guys and have him more as a as a Handler and I and I think in the second half they just really got out and ran a lot more in the second half and they started to turn the Clippers over a little bit in the second half or excuse

Me in the second quarter and I think the more they’re just able to play with pace and get into the offense earlier and and maybe get a few cross matches and and create some isolation opportunities for ant to to get an easy look or you know collapse the defense and create a corner

Three and I also thought they did a much better job of driving the Baseline in the second quarter I think this Timberwolves team is really good creates a lot of great shots when they’re able to get to the Baseline and drive the Baseline and uh and they did did way

More of that in the second quarter which is which is certainly what you want and creates more of a scrambling uh situation defensively when you’re able to kick the ball to the second side of the floor consistently yeah definitely good to see the Wolves uh figure some of those things out as

They game were on and uh you know as we talked about we’ll be on Minnesota basketball party on Wednesday so if you’re listening to this on lock on wolves the next episode in your feed actually the next episode will be lock on wolves from Wednesday but then you

Also get the Minnesota basketball party if you’re watching a lock on Sports Minnesota that show is going to go up midm morning on Wednesday uh myself and Jack um Stam extrom Reggie Wilson from car Lev and Ron Johnson the Ron Johnson show we’re going to talk wolves

Basketball Lots from this game I’m sure on that show as well of course we go live after every single Wolves game on lockdown Sports Minnesota on YouTube uh it’s either Jack or Tyler from K suus usually joining um Luke idman from Lockdown Minnesota so big thank you for

Listening to the postcast or for watching the postcast if you’re watching on YouTube again we do this live after every game on the lockdown Sports Minnesota YouTube channel be sure to subscribe subscribe and follow lock wolves on all audio platforms if you can’t ever watch the YouTube live you

Can catch the audio on lock that wolves that’s all Jack and I have for you here tonight thanks for sticking with us late after wolves Clippers tune in uh after wolves jazz on Saturday a big thank you for listening a big thank you for watching tonight we’ll catch you next time

The Minnesota Timberwolves came back from a 22-point deficit to beat the Los Angeles Clippers. Ben Beecken (@bbeecken) and Jack Borman (@jrborman13) break down the game immediately following the final horn.