FULL REACTION: Timberwolves knock out the Nuggets in Game 7 👀 ‘The Wolves are STARVING!’ – Perk | SC

FULL REACTION: Timberwolves knock out the Nuggets in Game 7 👀 ‘The Wolves are STARVING!’ – Perk | SC

you know what 20 years ago to this day you know the Minnesota Timberwolves played in their first and only game seven in franchise history it was a win by the way over Sacramento but it was in the uh conference semi maybe a good omen for tonight I they’re going to need the good omen and they’re going to need to play good basketball because they’re going up against the world Champs but it is now final both the game and the series it is a game seven let’s get everybody set up for Success the world Champs home floor big ask obviously for the Timberwolf but you know what they won the first two there at altitude to see what’s going on all the biggies are there for both sides second quarter nuggets up 10 Jamal Murray misses but there’s Nicola yic 13 points 15 rebounds five assists in the first half five assists and the rich cramy led by 15 at the break early third they stretched that to 20 But Here Come the Timberwolves Anthony Edwards stealing all the way in takes that he did not have a particularly great shooting night just six of 24 four but he made that one go finally two of 10 from three the Wolves Out scor the D 28 14 in the quarter so now it’s a ball game Mike connley Mike connley step back three it’s good with three his dad was a great triple jumper got a gold medal and everything wolves up by three five to go Jamal Murray in the lane for the floater Murray and yic combined for 69 points the rest of the guys 21 Edwards misses there’s Nas Reed give me n and the bench is like we are going to the conference final down 20 we are now up seven nuggets connley gets the steel over to Edwards we showed you the first there’s the second one and so down by 20 now they’re up double digits at 10 wolves 9388 Conley missing and look at the big cat Carl Anthony towns comes right through there and handles the rest of the business and the Wolves game seven on the they take three of four in Denver win this one 98- 90 congratulations it’s going to be the Wolves and the Mavericks in the conference final Minnesota back from 20 as we said that’s the largest game seven comeback in the last 25 Seasons they passed the Cavs who came back from down 18 earlier in this postseason teams playing good defense right now let’s bring in more perspective our NBA champion and by the way new member of the Texas Basketball Hall of Fame he’s a Hall of Famer as well Kendrick perk is in the sports what’s up big perk what’s up Brian how you doing my brother I appreciate it man absolutely man congrats to you let’s talk about this I mean the nuggets the defending Champions they’re up 20 they’re at home and they lose this game when you watched it how how did they do it well I picked the Minnesota timberwoods to win this series and seven but it’s because the wolves are starving especially on the defensive side of things look Anthony Edwards he probably had his worst game the worst game of his Young playoff career right but at the end of the day he led the charge by his tenacity and what he brings on the defensive side of things and then all of a sudden we’re watching car Anthony towns played Nicole yic the best player in the league 101 on the Block and Nas Reed Sixth Man of the Year he comes in Off the Bench and was huge on both end of the floor and so when you think about the mixture of veterans and young guys in the caderie that they have they’ve been the best defensive team all season long for a reason and it’s led by Anthony Edwards so do you think when they were down 20 and especially when you look at that second half I remember at one point in the third quarter I mean I think Minnesota may have scored 28 uh 14 points just for Denver was it the defense that turned this thing what turned this game in your opinion for the was to win it well I thought I thought this was a call Anthony towns like Legacy game in a in a moment in the game a crucial game seven where Anthony Edwards was getting double team he couldn’t find his offense call Anthony towns was that guy right whether it was him stepping out on the perimeter him attacking the basket having patience on the low block I thought he came up huge along with his exceptional defense uh that he’s played on uh joic and when you think about Minnesota right a 20-point lead in the NBA is not safe at all especially when you’re dependent when a team that’s like the Minnesota Timberwolves depend on getting stops right and so after a while you know you you on the sideline and you’re saying okay let’s cut this down to 13 okay let’s cut it down to six all of a sudden they take the lead and it’s a new ball game so let let’s flip the script and let’s go on the the other side and let’s talk about the defending champs because when you look at it you’ve got Murray who at 35 you’ve got yic who has 34 so you’re thinking okay we’re at home our two best players are rolling we have kept the Timberwolves to just 39% from the field 29% from three and you still lose what do you think held them back from getting another title well well I mean look I’ve been saying all season long when it comes down to the defending champs right they have the best th and five in basketball in my opinion they have the best duo and Jamal Murray and joic but Michael Malone although he was a little you know gr uh grumpy he said it they needed somebody else to step up and you look at them missing uh losing Bruce Brown this off season along with Jeff Green those guys were huge for them last uh last year doing their Championship run and so it’s strength and numbers you got to have a a bench and the league have they have shown the league have shown us this all throughout these playoffs and through the history of the NBA guys have to step up off Off the Bench right you have to get more out of uh Michael Porter Jr who’s in your starting fou Carwell pop he had to be he he needed to be more consistent but at the end of the day a team will always outdo um a a two-headed monster and that’s what we saw tonight that’s a good point I mean Aaron Gordon only had four points um Michael Porter Jr only seven kcp just Five Points so that’s a really good point so now here these these young pups the tea wolves are headed to the Western Conference Finals taking on the Dallas Mavericks both teams defensively playing well size up this matchup for me Dallas and Minnesota well look I understand look you look at Dallas right now you got guys like PJ Washington Derek Lely and also Daniel Gafford they playing tremendous basketball being stars in their roles and then some but when you look at the Minnesota timber WS they have that it Factor right they have that certain type of belief that they believe that they could go on and win the NBA championship and guess what I believe them especially when they’re being led by the best young leader in the game and Anthony Edwards when I think about their roster they’re deep as hell they all buy into their roles Rudy Goldberg is going to be special and be better down throughout the rest of these postseason his biggest challenge was getting out of this series call Anthony towns he has the confidence let me tell you how big of a leader how great of a leader Anthony Edwards is Donovan Mitchell could couldn’t get this out of Rudy Gober Jimmy Butler couldn’t get this version of call Anthony towns that we’re seeing right now Anthony Edward can because his tenacity is contagious who who wins that series who wins the Western Conference Finals in your opinion I got the Timo was going to the NBA finals they win it in six wow big perk I love it big perk appreciate the Insight my brother thank you man congratulations again appreciate you Brian Dave MCM with Rudy Gober and carony towns he’s not going to get up a shot but he’ll probably get a question launched her two Carl Anthony towns longest tenured member of this m SOA timber wolves team for the first time in 20 years you’re back in the Conference Finals what made you believe that you could turn it around in Minnesota there’s people like man next to me Rudy Rudy all these guys in this locker room they’re all willing to sacrifice for the greater cause for the win I think tonight was a just a great showing of Timber wols basketball everyone sacrificed everyone stepped up everyone got the job done I couldn’t be more prouder of our state the fans and our guys in this locker room for getting this done talk about a grinded out game you had Anthony Edwards struggling to shoot early Mike connley struggling to shoot early even yourself you started one for five what was that offensive explosion from you in the fourth quarter including the turnaround jumper I think just stressing each other you know obviously we didn’t start the game the way we wanted but we kept aapu you know down 20 at some point uh we kept trusting one another and we kept getting stops you know and uh when we do that anything can happen this is for both of you you had to take down the defending champs including a three-time MVP and Nola yic what was that battle like against Nola all series long he’s he’s one heck of a player I think it it speaks for itself the awards the accolades his game speaks for itself uh you know we got the four time Defensive Player of the Year as well and uh I think that we just did a great job of just making it hard for him making it tough for him to get those points uh all series and uh we just man there people like him who make our defense so special so shout out to Rudy goar did this mean something to you is there something personal to it I mean I I think it’s a team effort you know obviously uh Nikolai is the best player in the world he’s been the same way for the last four years and uh he takes a team effort to to slow him down you know and uh C did an amazing job on him the whole series you know and uh and as a team you know I thought we did a great job also taking away some of the other guys like Michael Porter and trying to make Murray work harder and some of these guys like try to take away that thre so toal te effort and uh I’m really proud of you know every single one every single guy in locker room for uh for the word that they put in every day and believing believing in what we try to accomplish because the job is not down you know we only halfway to it we only halfway to where we want to go but uh but it feels good to beat a team like the nuggets and talk about Don’t Stop Believing we get all away on this one you got the Dallas Mavericks coming to the crib on Wednesday what’s it going to take to get four more wins and get to the NBA finals I mean we got to play better than we played uh even this series uh we got to step up our execution our defensive uh identity has to be there every single night against players that they have uh it doesn’t get easier the more you go up the ladder so uh man isn’t it great 20 years later it it’s only it’s only right we do it on kg’s birthday again how about that for the first time in NBA history a team comes down from down 15 at the half in a game seven to win congratulation guys enjoy it thank Co that’s who we are baby yes sir kg happy birthday Bo well kg’s birthday we know anything’s possible that’s what happened here scoring the no scoring the Nuggets 60 uh to 32 in the second half 60 to 37 excuse me so Mavericks versus the Timberwolves this season the nice thing is remember the Mavericks now have to go y to Minnesota which is good Dallas is hot um the wolves obviously got the better of him in the regular season and look at him offensively really really good despite giving up 50% shooting to Dallas they’ll have to lock him down best defensive team going on Sports Center nuggets coach Michael Malone did you feel like there was anything that you guys got away from offensively in that stretch after you reach that point I’ll have to go back and watch the film what how hard is it just to absorb a loss like this after after going ahead by 20 next question man the season’s over that’s what’s hard being up 20 the season’s over you don’t understand that the season’s over it’s hard stupid ass questions Nicole and Jamal coach uh carried a lot of the burden offensively for you guys uh what did you what what sort of broke down between them within the second half just within those actions well I think so much was being placed on on their shoulders I mean it was uh we’re expecting Nia and Jamal to can to continue to pull rabbits out of their hat man and somebody else got to give some help I mean you know Joker 34 Jamal 35 and uh you know we just struggle to make shots you know they’re really good defense uh I thought our guys played extremely hard tonight to hold that team to 98 points 39 from the field 29 from three um but as I said all series long um are we going to be able to score enough in this series and once again in the four losses we couldn’t score uh I think now after the four losses we probably averaged around 85 points a game and 115 in the three wins um so we had a going Jamal had it going in the first half we scored and uh obviously at halftime you know they picked up their aggression ran off a misses they became aggressive and then the second half they totally dominated the glass we dominated than the first half and the second half they had rebounded US 29 to 15 coach were you were you satisfied with the the quality of the offense in terms of the the process of getting shots or you know was it you know one of those things where you thought you thought that Miss shots kind of affected what you guys did on that end and on the other end as well uh no I mean I I don’t think our Miss shots affected anything except the scoreboard and again they they shot 39 from the field Anthony Edwards was 6 to 24 so the Miss shots didn’t affect anything other than us not scoring but to give up 98 points in a game seven on those percentages I’ll take that all day long um was our offense where it needed to be in that second half I think U it could definitely have been better we could have gotten probably better looks um you know but again for 82 games they’re the number one defense for a reason and uh we just weren’t able to make enough shots and created enough good shots in that second half coach after a great first series with uh Michael Porter Jr shooting the ball what do you think happened in this series to his game offensively they guarded him yeah they guarded him really well and obviously against the Lakers he was able to get off you know I don’t know what the percentages are but now four losses you know I know Michael didn’t shoot the ball well and he wasn’t the only one but you know he was three 12 tonight one of six from three last two games they doubled ni Cola I felt a lot of those were were good looks just didn’t go down and I know you know sometimes you you it’s an oversimplification of the NBA being a make or Miss league but um we just did not make enough shots in this series Michael included but it wasn’t the only one we as a team did not make enough shots and I didn’t help generate enough good looks maybe to uh to help ourselves but um every series is a learning opportunity and this feeling sucks as I told our players uh that you go from training camp all the way through and then it comes to an abrupt Halt and that hurts so use that feeling as motivation to come back a better player we won it last year teams in the west they they regrouped they retooled how are we going to beat the Champs and teams got better and um you got to tip your cap to to Minnesota obviously Chris Finch um their team Anthony Edwards all their players um that was a hell of a series and they gave us all we could handle and uh you know they wind up winning game seven on our court which is a tough one to swallow but uh we’ll be back we just got to find ways to look inside look outside and find ways to continue to get better Coach to to fight four and top three seed and then to ultimately lose three home games in this series how you know you mentioned them winning on your home court here in the holler and in the in the locker room how how tough is that to swallow that you guys did lose the three home games well of course you know um we have one of the best home records in the the NBA this year and to lose one and two and then to lose seven is uh I don’t think anyone could have predicted that happening I think most people had the series going seven but not the way it went seven that’s kind of a strange Series in that regard um but yeah that’s um to let them come in here three times and beat us in our home court that’s something that we’re not accustomed to and uh if you’re going to try to win a championship if you can try to get to Western Conference Finals obviously you got to protect your home court new on sports are after Kendrick Perkins Chris Finch he’s got more games to coach with the Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals yeah Chris you’re you’re down 20 on the road in game seven to the defending champs yeah like what just what did you see from your guys that were allowed to pull this thing out I mean the effort was there you know we just had to our offense kind of went sideways in the first half um and they really U their defense they were very physical um and we just talked about you know kind of getting back to simplifying our offense if you will thought I thought we were trying to over orchestrate matchups and mismatches and all this other stuff and kind of played right in their hands um so we just had to get back to kind of moving the ball we didn’t shoot the ball particularly well typical game seven in that regard um but you know even when we were um you know down like I was kept looking at the field goal percentage and we were in the 40s in the 30s our defense was there um and then it went to a special place in the third quarter you know where where we’ve been able to take it at times um and you know just everybody just kind of you know bucking up and making plays and uh executing the game plan so you know was the moment like for you at the end of the game you got a hundreds of wolves fans cheering for you and just you closed it out what’s it feel like yeah first of all i’ love to uh really like to say thank you to our road support both in Phoenix and here it’s been a ton of wolves fans in the building it’s been great I know that they’re uh enjoying the ride and we really appreciate their support um you know special moment man this is a hell of a team um with the best player on the planet and uh this series was wild and this game was just the microcosm of the entire series you know um teams getting a big handle on each other and just you know trying to fight through it so Rudy Nas and Jaden yeah does that just kind of speak to this team and like the confidence that everybody plays with when you guys are at your bus yeah I was really proud of Nas you know he was a little frustrated because we kept kind of pulling him out I think you know cat was playing so well and um and uh just wanted to kind of keep going back to that but he stayed in it mentally uh made big plays made hustle plays um you know uh and you know obviously you know they did a great job of throwing multiple bodies at ant made it tough for him all night um and that always leaves up other opportunities and you J Jaden came in into the series from a scoring point of view in game six and continued it today um you know we got a couple end of the shot clock lucky shots to go in which we needed you know but when you’re playing the right way and those you create those that that that amount of luck soal Murray he’s trying to explain it I just think I could have been better obviously when you you know I feel like today you know we generated Great Looks but we all shot below 50% you know every single one of us so it’s tough when you know you you get the looks you want and you don’t make them and they come down and they score you know it’s it’s it’s like one more he asked for you know what I’m saying so you know I was below 50% Mike was below % K yoke I mean it felt like we got the shots we wanted the opportunities were there and um our defense was there um I just think that run um you know the run that they had uh somewhere in the second half you know we couldn’t recover for that one Jamal coach said that he wasn’t going to make excuses but that the starter specifically he could tell where gas between the Deep Run last year and then having to just play more minutes and play to game 82 could you get that sense a little bit that he just had to rely on you guys a little more than than maybe he would have liked I’m not worried about being tired I’ve been playing in Denver for eight years now so I’m used to the altitude I’m using to find in my second win that’s not I mean that’s not even do make sense just I’m I’m playing the game it’s I played 42 and played 43 so I mean I don’t know Jamal it looked like they did a better job over the course of the series of posting you guys up and like with Cad and with Nas and and those guys just how difficult was it just switching like doing a defensive skin like switching the entire time like were they getting the looks that they wanted no I mean that’s they got three big out there so I mean that’s that’s part of their game plan um feel like we did a good job I feel like we just didn’t make shots you know on top of that um obviously they’re going to score they have great players you know um we had our opportunity tonight and we we didn’t make them and that that that part stings [Music]

Kendrick Perkins joins SportsCenter to give his reaction to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Game 7 win over the Denver Nuggets and advancing to play the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals.
0:00 Game 7
2:21 Kendrick Perkins reacts
7:55 Rudy Gobert & KAT speak
11:40 Michael Malone visibly upset
17:00 Chris Finch addresses the media
19:45 Jamal Murray on the loss

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