COMEBACK or COLLAPSE? 🤔 Stephen A. credits Wolves’ DEFENSE as difference maker | First Take

COMEBACK or COLLAPSE? 🤔 Stephen A. credits Wolves’ DEFENSE as difference maker | First Take

you feel like it was more of a wolves comeback or a nuggets collapse you’re asking me Molly yeah yeah yeah this was the Wolves because you got to think about it now they won three games on the Nuggets home court that’s the reigning defending champ unre with a three-time MVP on their roster and they went to Denver and they won three of the four games you won’t homec court because if you have a game seven you want it in your building you want it in front of your fans you got the you got the MVP on your roster they did that three of the four wins they held him under 90 Carl Anthony Town punished anybody he didn’t settle for the three if they had a switch he punished Jamal Murray he punished Mel Porter Jr he punished anybody that was undersized and he got him down on the Block give those guys credit Ant Man they turned up the defense Jame uh Jaden McDaniels was Sensational and when Rudy gobear hit that nisy on Yol I said it’s over they can go ahead and call the game right now when have you ever saw Rudy goar shoot anything but a putback or a dunk legs and Sten a he hit a turnaround jumper one leg like he pulled a yic he pulled a yic that’s what he did pull he and so I knew it was over but if you look at the they held that team with Jamal Murray and nicoa yic to 14 points Jamal Murray had 14 in the first quarter guys and they held him to 37 points in the second half legs I agree with you Michael Porter Jr had been MIA this entire series we know Aaron Gordon is normally good for one game where he goes Haywire but when they needed him the difference is Minnesota had six guys in double figures the Nuggets had two their role players let him down Michael Porter Jr Aaron Gordon kcp they were no shows yesterday and it show 90 points after you just scored what 60 on Friday and then you turn around and only get 90 no this was about the Wolves this was not about what the Nuggets didn’t do this was about what the Wolves did do well definitely was about what the Wolves did because they held them to 90 or fewer points and three of the four wins in this series and they won three games in Denver games one two and seven in Denver okay so the reigning defending NBA champions fell three games on their home court that’s just a phenomenal feat to achieve there’s no question about that what I saw first of all let me let me say this because you know at some point in time it’s got to be about me I don’t know you got to be about me I just want to thank the Minnesota Tiber wolves for helping me save face I mean damn I I I said they going to sweep them and they going they they they might win the championship and and damn it after they went down to two2 I was like oh damn they might lose this Ser this is embarrassing you understand this might be the worst prediction of my career career and sure enough they saved me cuz they won this damn series I had them winning game seven they won game seven they pulled it out and I can’t say enough about what I saw from them defensively legs and Shay I mean their defense when they in the second quarter when they started amping I’m sorry not second the third quarter when they amped it up they went on like a 28 to nine run to close out the quarter it ended up being 54 to 24 spurt today I mean their defense were like piranhas They were all over the I got to give some love to Mike Conley Jr i s the veteran who was 0 and4 in game sevens in his career his first game seven win okay this brother shows up one big shot after another big defensive play after another couple of steals was all over the place kept them steady at the same time while doing so call Anthony towns played his ass off got to give him credit what credit is do and here’s what I love about Anthony it was the the new face of the league a superstar you know just flourishing before our eyes he was struggling yesterday only shot 25% from the field he’s miked what is he what is he heard saying look y’all I’mma set the I’m I’mma set these screens I’mma set these back screens I’m G to free you up okay and then you saw him amp up his defensive level of play when we think about the true superstars in this game if they can’t score they’ll find another way to to beat you that’s what we saw from Anthony Edwards yesterday of course Rudy Gober played a damn good game and I told you P like Shay said he ped the yic that turn around jump off of one leg falling back I like damn this is what he’s doing and yic is great there’s nothing to take away from him but you saw how somewhat neutralized he was even though he got off a little bit because you can’t completely stop him because he’s too great for that but that size that Minnesota threw in his Direction was a problem and I’m telling you right now this defense and what it is capable of doing when they amp it up it’s something to behold which is what has me look at even more forward to the Western Conference Finals because when you got Kyrie and Luca going up that’s who you going up against next this defense if it shows up against those Brothers Championship oh my goodness so the original question more about Denver and Minnesota 90% of this is about Minnesota the one 10% I’ll say for Denver is this I’ve already alluded to it but let’s get into the nuts and bolts the shot making out of their Supporting Cast if those guys outside of Murray and joic their entire roster had eight made field goals in the game eight the guys outside of Anthony Edwards and Carl Anthony towns they had 17 made baskets out of the rest of their roster you just can’t survive it man when it’s all about two guys Stephen A you talked about uh nicoa yic and and Rudy gobear yes we know he’s going to get his numbers but what you try to do is you try to make him as inefficient as you possibly can if he’s going to take 27 28 shots and he’s only going to make 12 of those you can live with that is when he start go shooting 60% 70% from the floor and another thing legs if you go back and look at it the biggest difference in this game if I’m not mistaken he had only had one game in which he had double digit assists so that tells you the others now we remember when they played the Lakers when they won the championship he always had high totals 10 eight 12 assists and I think if I’m not mistaken he had one triple double and he ended up being in a loss so as long as you can keep him from getting Michael Porter Michael Porter Jr man I don’t know what he had what he had going on but hey he was not there he missed far too many shots he didn’t seem engaged Aaron Gordon took five shots guys in a game seven at home the way that he’s been the way that he’s been playing that’s what made that inexcusable but remember Shannon he was usually getting putbacks and stuff like that Minnesota shut all that down yeah shut all that down they were limited to one shot Minnesota was dominating the offensive boards I remember one play Reggie Miller was saying okay it’s a key stop here you don’t have to foul you’re only down five all you need is a stop make sure they don’t get the offensive rebound and that was when connley missed and and Cat came through with the follow slam right exactly what Reggie Miller said you can’t let happen they let happen yeah game over I love [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Shannon Sharpe and Tim Legler debate whether the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 20-point comeback victory was more about the Wolves or the Denver Nuggets’ epic collapse in Game 7 of in the Western Conference Semifinals.

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