Locked On Wolves POSTCAST: Minnesota Timberwolves Run Out of Steam, Lose Game 1 to Dallas Mavericks

Locked On Wolves POSTCAST: Minnesota Timberwolves Run Out of Steam, Lose Game 1 to Dallas Mavericks

Timberwolves run out of gas in game one Mavs lead the Western Conference Finals we commiserate next in the locked on wolves [Music] 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 everybody it’s the lock on wolves postcast on lockon Sports Minnesota I’m Sam extrom part of the group here at lockon sports Minnesota at Sam extrom on X joined by special guest host on the postcast he’s the host he’s the daily host of locked on wolves Ben Beacon B beacon on Twitter and he provides excellent daily analysis on the Minnesota Timberwolves kind enough to jump in after a game one 108 105 loss in the Western Conference Finals to the Dallas so much to get into uh wolves lead late can’t close the deal Kyrie starts hot Luca finishes and daggers the wolves on a big night from Jaden McDaniels and slowmo wolv stars can’t get it done cat and ant outscored by Luca and Kyrie by 28 we’ll get into all of that on tonight’s postcast which is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase terms apply uh bit of a gut punch Ben wolves lead by four late they storm back after Dallas takes an eight-point lead wolves go on a 13-1 run and then they can’t close the deal one field goal in the final 337 Luca with some big shots some sloppy offensive possessions late this one got away from the Wolves extremely winnable game one yeah and and and I like as fun as fun as the Denver series was um this was like maybe better than any of those games in terms of just like quality of a back and forth right like the Wolves LED big not big the Wolves led by multiple possessions early I think it got up to like nine then Dallas led by as many as eight or nine in the third quarter then in the fourth quarter the Wolves you know you alluded to the comeback they had cat had those big minutes Nas played well early in the fourth um and then down the stretch there was still a little bit of back and forth like it was a one possession game until the final 30 seconds or so um the possessions that stood out to me down the stretch that were just killers were the uh the Wolves got to stop I think they actually it was a turnover they forced a turnover with like a minute and a half left I’m going to see if I can find it real quick uh yeah it was with with uh 210 left on the clock the Wolves were were up by one they’re up 102 101 and uh cat punches the ball away from PJ Washington then on the other end the t’s trying to go fast ant looks like he’s gonna Force something instead he passes it to Jaden and Jaden gets stuck under the basket and throws it directly to Luca donic they come down a hit a three from PJ Washington Take the Lead um and then that was right before the uh the cat offensive goal tending which was certainly at the point of controversy I’d call it 5050 and like legitimately could have gone either way um and that would have tied the game again and then of course the Mavs come down they score again um well actually I think I think they turn it over that the Wolves turned it over again uh Conley had the bad lob that Luca broke up and then the Mavs scored to go up four so it legitimately like this was a really fun playoff game it was close it ends up being a one possession game which we did not see it all in the Denver series and I don’t think we saw in the Phoenix series either so a good quality of game just didn’t go the Wolves way and uh yeah I mean you mentioned it off the top like stars outscoring the MAV Stars outscoring the wolf Stars if we want to oversimplify it I mean that’s a good place to start yeah a 108 105 final there were a couple sloppy offense possessions by the wolves that the Jaden turnover yes Conley tries a lob um to go bear that results in a turnover and gassed ant had nothing left surprising um and and I’m not saying ant was absent in this game because he packed the box score a near triple double playmaking throughout the first half but he had nothing left to offer offensively in uh the late game clutch time situations he I mean the the Reggie Miller was all over it he was parked out by by midc Court he was standing in the corner and when he was kind of in charge of offensive possessions there was no ball movement he was too tired to even try to drive and kick it seemed like running the shot clock down and when the Wolves I think had an opportunity to put the the strangle hold on Ant wasn’t himself and and I said this on today’s Minnesota basketball party look out for game one because you’re coming off a Super Bowl like win in game seven and we see this so often in sports where High emotion results um often lead to emo let downs and I think the Wolves actually brought pretty good energy throughout the night collectively but a had nothing left in the tank to to be a finisher in this one um and that’s why the ball was in the hands of Jaden Conley Rudy late Nas like a lot of the role players kind of were thrust into those positions because ant just wasn’t able to finish this game strong yeah and actually on lockdown wolves uh on today on Wednesday I actually I said the Wolves would win the series in six I also said I thought the Mavs would win game one basically for that exact reason um because the Mavs had an extra I guess just one more day of rest but the Wolves you know coming off the game seven win a little bit more emotional than what the Mavs you know uh winning in game six the Mavs do have the extra day of rest they’ve been waiting for Minnesota uh for that extra day so they’re certainly you know and and it’s it’s such a like on the one hand um it’s like well you know ants 22 they’ve had two days off now they only get one day off in between each of these games but also the the effort that ant expends defensively and uh I think it was I was the national I think it was Bill Simmons podcast I was listening to he was talking about ant fighting through Yer yic screen screens in game seven and staying attached to Jamal Murray in the second half of that game and actually game six as well and just how nobody else can do that and that’s 100% true and it’s because of that effort because he is a two-way player even though he’s a freak athlete an incredible two-way player um with the extra day of rest like at some point and you’re doing the same thing with Kyrie chasing him all over the place and Kyrie had I think 24 in the first half and only six in the half so ant did a good job overall on Kyrie um it’s not an easy cover at all so it’s understandable that he you know got a little bit tired the thing that stuck out to me if you just like take a step back and look at ant’s offensive performance there was a lot of standing around which led to a lot of perimeter jumpers but that the standing around was more second half like first half he was a little bit more involved than Dallas it seems like was a little bit more uh they weren’t putting two on the ball consistently like what we saw Phoenix do and ultimately Denver but they were obviously tilting their their um tilting the the floor toward him as as they should um and a was making the right reads overall he attempted 16 shots in this game 12 of them were three-pointers he only attempted four four three-pointers period or excuse me four two-pointers in this game and only two of them came in the paint um very uh very weird shot selection from Anthony Edwards which I think at least partially has to do with uh partially has to do with his his fatigue yeah Edwards finishes 191 and 8 in 41 minutes cat goes 167 and2 6 for 20 shooting uh they collectively wolv Stars 12 of 36 33% shooting for 35 points Kyrie and Luca 24 of 49 almost 50% for 63 points um biggest play of the game sneakily lot of lot of big plays but I’m choosing to to view this as sort of the the hinge Point Derek Lively offensive rebound wolves were up four Lively with the offensive board that set up the Luca three to make it 102 101 it felt like it feels like the Mavericks are going to be able to contend with the Wolves size because of their rebounding they’ve got active bigs with good hands Rudy goar’s hands I think were were exposed in that he had a tough time catching in traffic um he got out jumped at the catch point a lot and I I guess I haven’t Tak inventory of the final box score Dallas did outrebound them in the game correct because they were throughout most of the night total rebounds 4840 so really it wasn’t close Dallas wins the rebounding battle um we’ve got a lot more to get into including what we thought of the rotations TNT’s crew was ripping the drop coverage I’d like to to run that by you we’ll of course talk about a Jaden performance another Jaden game this one wasted in defeat 24 points for Jaden um all of that coming up on the lockone Wolves postcast we are brought to you by game time tonight game time is an authorized ticket Marketplace of the NBA which makes getting playoff tickets to Target Center even faster and easier uh prices on the game time app go down the closer you get to tip off so earlier today getting into wolves Mavs was around the 240 mark uh getting closer to tip off yeah that thing was was cre down around 200 killer last minute deals up to 60% in fact when you buy last minute for sports concerts comedy theater and more uh I think the Flash Deals are really cool where it’s inapp exclusive deals on select seats ahead of the game or event Zone deals you choose the section game time chooses the seats for great savings uh you get the the all-in price up front no hidden fees you see the view from your seat and nice panoramic and Game Time ticket coverage will uh just provide you with outstanding in customer service so what you’re going to do is download the game time app before game two create an account use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account redeem code locked on NBA for $20 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed it’s Sam xram it’s been Beacon it’s the locked on wolves postcast we went in expecting a k Kyrie ant matchup we expected Jaden Luca um round one goes to Kyrie and Luca that the Wolves had a hard time uh keeping those guys on the perimeter they were easily dribbled by um to help when the Wolves opted to help the passing was phenomenal I mean Dallas was was setting up lobs a lot of Ren runs um they were they knew exactly what to expect and in the first half they shot 52% hung 59 points thought the wol figured it out a little bit late shut down Kyrie but the the adjustment was a little bit slow third quarter early third quarter the Mavs were still operating at a very high level so for most of this game I thought the Wolves had the Tactical Edge because the Wolves Defenders that you’re counting on you’re you’re hoping that ant can put the clamps on Kyrie or Jaden can put the clamps on Luca neither of those happen tonight what you think of the matchups and those battles yeah I I mean I think I think that puty I think that’s those are the right matchups I think a guards Kyrie for the most part and I think when ke Alexander Walker came into the game he guarded him a little bit and I think the length of Jayden on Luca did bother him some Luca didn’t start the game shooting well he obviously got hot late he had some really tough shots uh down the stretch I mean the the two that gave them the four-point lead in the final minute Jaden had a pretty good contest on that but that’s also a shot Dallas is going to live with because Luca is so good and so like that’s a play where you know I know you don’t want to put two on the ball when the game’s on the line but and and you know jadeen Daniels is second Team all NBA or second Team all all defense um so like I get it but nobody else on Dallas is beating you in this game and if you get beat on a semi-open shot that you’re scrambling to contest by somebody else so be it um overall though I thought the the point of attack defense was okay and I think fatigue comes into it again we just talked about game seven I think the pick and roll coverage we heard stami Gundy talking consistently about um about the Wolves playing drop coverage and ripping on them for doing it I mean they’re not going to stop playing drop coverage and they did mi in they were blitzing more often than than stand was was saying that they were like they I mean I think they were kind of like basically when cat was involved in the action he was he was staying at the level for the most part and when Rudy it seemed like on the sides of the floor more often Rudy was coming out and and kind of Quasi blitzing the pick and roll and forcing the ball to Luca’s hands as much as possible but in the middle of the floor I mean that’s what Rudy’s the best in the league at and and they’re not just going to not do it and I understand that you’re going to give up some shots to Luca LCA is incredible you’re going to give up some shots to Kyrie Kyrie’s great uh but it’s also a little bit pick your poison and you don’t want to just give him the lobs to Lively and Gafford and and everybody as well so I I I think the Wolves probably have a similar strategy next game I think they maybe just Blitz a little bit more uh maybe they have Rudy maybe not drop quite so far and at least make Luca think uh twice and I know Luca is great at throwing late lobs it’s something that you know he’s you him and joic are probably the best in the league at it and the Wolves kind of sort of I don’t say Sal but at least you know combed when when Joker tried to throw those lobs so I don’t know that the Wolves adjust the defensive game plan all that much the the the killer is that Dallas was 24% on threes they were six of 25 is that going to happen again I mean like probably not and they did a pretty good job of Defending without fouling overall uh but to to kind of kick away a poor shooting performance from PJ Washington and and um you know others he was I guess the primary culprit there uh but that that’s disappointing I just don’t know that the pick and roll strategy changes that much other than minor adjustments like Rudy not dropping quite as far uh maybe you’re blitzing a little more often or or you’re just like they were for a while cat was when he was involved in the actions he would kind of hedge and recover um but of course the Mavs were trying to get Rudy away from the rims they were trying to get Rudy’s man to set the screen to get Rudy in the pick and roll so um I don’t know that we see a drastic change I mean they lost this game by three it easily could have gone either way it’s not a surprise that Kyrie and LCA both scored 30 so a lot of what ended up actually happening is kind of something the Wolves would take it’s just you know some of the fatigue factoring in and some of the um you know some of those silly turnovers laid and Dallas making some tough shots I mean those things happen in the playoffs yeah it looked a lot like the game that Dallas beat the wolves in the regular season that was 115 108 when Luca and Kyrie both played The Lone time it happened and again it was late game execution Dallas did it better than Minnesota they won that game they won tonight by three and it’s hard to to Really and people are debating in the comments like which which thing is going to regress back to the mem right is ant kind of guaranteed to play a little better cat a little more efficient or is Dallas guaranteed to shoot better from from outside the arc they were 40% in the Thunder series they’ve made the third most threes in basketball and tonight they were 24% I I got to think that Dallas is going to hit some of those open looks and they had a number of them that didn’t fall in this game um but uh rotation wise like just looking at the bench Dallas actually went 10 they they got a little Dante exam in there as well for three minutes they played 10 wolves played eight um if you’re giving out grades slowmo gets an a slow-mo fantastic in 17 minutes five of eight hit a three hit some floaters made some good defensive plays Nas quite good 15 and five they need something from Nelle I mean nille is kind of a kind of a heat check three-point shooter he’s going to put up four to eight per game and he’s had four four games now in the past eight where he went over um and he’s over for his last nine I know he he since he banged up the shoulder I don’t know which game it was the Denver series he banged up the shoulder hasn’t looked quite the same and I think you could say the same for Conley that he’s also playing with that that calf strain that we know about the guys that that have gotten banged up looked a little banged up tonight for the Wolves yeah and that’s I mean that’s part of having a deep playoff run and I guess thankfully at this point the Phoenix series is only four games but but the Denver one going seven and playing at altitude and and playing a physical series like that’s that’s that’s all part of it and and obviously every team you know Dallas only played one less game in the last series although it was the physicality was maybe a little bit of a different level with OKC but um yeah the nikil thing is big I mean he’s he’s been hot or cold in these playoffs like he finished the the Denver Series going 05 from three in game seven and he was 04 in this game so he’s missed his last nine uh I guess depending on how he finished game six against Denver but like the two games before that was a combined uh seven of 13 from outside the arc the two games before that he was a combined 0 of seven so he’s been streaky it’s been feast or famine this game there were a couple he took that I immediately just was like no that’s like just screamed no like that’s a bad shot there was one fourth quarter uh it was an early in the possession shot I think it was like ant kind of terminated a drive and turned and kicked it to nille who was on the move like in the slot just above the break and kind of not an unbalance attempt and it was just a bad shot and nck usually when he’s going well you’re right about him being a heat check guy but he gets a couple of open Corner threes he drains those and then from that point forward like he doesn’t need to see the rim from the corners and he just makes them and um that hasn’t been the case the last couple of games his minutes have also gone down drastically in the last few games like he was playing you look back the whole Phoenix series he played at least 29 minutes in every game up through game five when they got down 3-2 to Denver he had still played at least 23 minutes in every single game the last three games 17 minutes 17 minutes and 16 minutes um and you know the like as he’s he just like again oh of his last nine from outside the arc he did make one tough layup in this game when I think they gambled and tried to steal Dallas did and he he uh ended up making a reverse layup but um yeah I mean they need something from Nelle because that’s like Dallas isn’t they’re gonna play 10 guys they don’t really have more than seven that they’re excited about playing I mean you could AR Jaden Hardy’s fine uh the wolves are kind of in the same boat where they have they should have eight that they’re good play and Kyle Anderson was awesome um I mean Dallas was clearly just they were putting Luke on him and just not guarding him and which is the right strategy if you’re Dallas but they were like still not guarding him when he was wide open at the free throw line and then it was like all right I mean slow-mo can make this shot and uh he even hit a corner three in this game so I I slow-mo was great he did everything he needed to do he also guarded Luca and did a really good job I’d be interested to see the stats when guarding Luca I’m pretty sure he was like 0 of2 or one of three or something like that with slowmo guarding him so great Kyle Anderson game this is a very good series for him it’s still going to be limited impact right he’s still not going to play more than 20 minutes in any game it’s it’s important and he did his part in this game um and uh was an impressive performance overall from Kyle aderson sorry about that um we will talk about the Jaden McDaniels performance best player on the floor for the Wolves tonight offensively at least and uh we we’ll start looking at game two tie up some odds and ends on the lock on wolves postcast this episode is sponsored by better help we all have stressors in our life big and small when we keep them bottled up can start to affect us negatively therapy is a safe space to get things off your chest figure out how to work through whatever might be weighing you down so if you’re starting of uh thinking of starting therapy you better help a try entirely online designed to be convenient flexible suited to your schedule fill out a brief questionnaire get match with the licensed therapist switch therapist for any time for no additional charge make sure the Situation’s right for you so you can process um learn positive coping skills setting boundaries empowering yourself it’s it’s for the big and little things in life you it off your chest with betterhelp visit betterhelp.com lockon NBA today to get 10% off your first month that’s betterhelp [Music] hp.com lockon NBA the Jaden McDaniels experience continues to be spectacular a third consecutive 20 plus point game he had never done it twice in a row now he’s done it three times in a row um he was 15 of his last 19 shots from the field coming in so that would make him now 24 of his last 34 he goes six of nine from three 24 points four rebounds three assists the one peculiarity he was a minus four in this game um it seemed like defensively he wasn’t and we’ll have to look at the the analytics on on how he actually performed one-on-one against against Luca it felt like Luca won this battle I mean we talked about that in segment one that that Jaden as long as his arms are as good as the Closeouts were at times against Luca he has a knack for getting the shot off no matter what he’s almost an unblockable player it’s frustrating to watch when you’re cheering against him um but your thoughts on Jaden’s performance overall yeah I mean as as we talked about earlier like sometimes you know top five players in the league are going to make shots and and and for the most part I thought Jaden’s defense was good there were a couple where you know Luca not more than a couple where Luka got him on his back and I thought Jaden did about as good of a job as he could contesting I think I mean he ended up with four personal fouls I can only think of two shooting fouls he committed on Luca I could be wrong but I think he did a pretty good job and and the officials were allowing at least in the first half these guys to play a little bit um and Jaden I thought was as physical as he could be with Luca um because Luca that’s the main advantage that that donic is gonna have and and that’s what we all talked about you know before the series was the length is great but it’s a different animal than guarding you know Devin Booker or uh or Jamal Murray where you can overwhelm them with length because they don’t have the physicality or frankly the passing chops of Luca because Luca I mean Luka had had another he had several incredible passes in this game he ended up with eight assists but he had more he could left more on the floor his teammates left more on the floor for him um offensively I was surprised Jan only had three assists when it was all said and done because I mean like could think of a couple off the top of my head the one where he got the offensive rebound took a hard dribble to the middle and kicked it to ant for a three-pointer I think it was when they were trailing in the fourth quarter it was a really nice play there was another he had a dump off to Rudy where it was kind of the same deal where like the these are the plays and obviously were like what year four of the Jaden experience and and this isn’t year one year two Jaden but to see the growth from like early on in his career it was pump fake take a dribble shoot along contestant two and then it became catch and shoot and that’s the only thing he did and then it was like either shoot a three or drive to the basket which is great but now he’s added this element I’m not saying he’s going to like be a playmaker frequently but the fact that he’s now looking to make those passes and and three assists isn’t anything to get over the moon about but like those plays those reads like the pass to Rudy I thought Jayden had a an eight foot floater wide open and he instead to pass it to Rudy for dunk so I thought the the plays he was looking to make save for that really bad turnover in the final minute that we we talked about at the very beginning besides that this was almost a perfect Jaden game um and like you said 20 plus in three straight games shooting the lights out he shot uh what 38% in the Denver series from three but that game one performance when he had zero points on 0 of seven shooting against Denver that feels like two years ago and since then he’s been double figures in uh six of eight games since that point um nine or more in seven of eight games and just like this is a really well-rounded game and I think he can be a little better defensively against LCA but Luca’s still gonna make shots I I like I I think there’s there’s there’s I and I don’t we’re not trying to make excuses with the the Wolves being tired there’s also like you have to give credit to the other team because it’s the playoffs and they’re going to make incredible shots there were there were a lot of places the Wolves left stuff on the floor like free throw shootings another one they were 11 of 18 from the line um which like that happens sometimes but like con missed a technical free throw he obviously missed the one at the end that would have given them at least a snowballs chance to to win the game with 1.7 on the clock but he missed that free throw um you know so overall conle ended up being one of four with one being an intentional Miss Nas split two trips to the line so in a game where neither team shooting a ton of free throws to lose that by five in a three-point game really hurts too um so I think this is more a function of Luca is incredible and that’s that’s kind of where my mind goes to with this game um and as we talked about earlier I don’t know how many major adjustments the Wolves actually make I think it’s more just um you know the offensive flow and and a getting more involved early in the offensive flow needs to be improved it frustrating too to lose that game when Luca cannot move he can’t in in defensive transition he can’t move he is not a defensive asset whatsoever so you got to find a way to exploit that more um wolves only able to score 105 I’m guessing the offensive analytics are not going to be kind to tonight wolves only shoot 42% um one other peculiarity and this happened a lot in the Denver series too wolves get outscored in the paint 6238 and you you think to yourself oh Rudy bad game man and you look at the box score and he’s a plus 10 like I mean Rudy goar a plus 10 in this game when it didn’t feel like he was really that impactful or keeping Denver away from the rim like you would want and he still comes out with with by far the best onoff number um for the timber wols yeah there were a couple of those so if and actually I think I’m going to do this go back and watch the 10 minutes that he didn’t play um I remember there was one I want to say it was second quarter when the Wolves went on a little bit of a run toward the end of the quarter if I remember right Rudy was off the floor and then he was going to enter the game and like play didn’t stop for like another long period of time and he couldn’t get back in the game and then there was that other like in the fourth when when I think it was the fourth quarter when the Wolves had a lead and then Dallas made a quick push like a like a quick 60 run Rudy immediately popped back up off the bench so yeah I mean Rudy’s it’s it’s all like it all counts the same right so both can be true where Dallas you know Rudy may not have had his best game and I don’t think he did I think he was maybe like we talked about I think he was dropping maybe a little too far and there were a couple of those where like Lively and Gafford were were physical with him and I don’t think Rudy was as physical back as he was in the Denver series I think maybe he was I don’t know if he was surprised by their strength by their you know athleticism whatever um there were moments of that but that just goes to show how bad it was when he was off the floor and and we talked earlier in passing like Nas had a really great stretch that was important in the fourth quarter to the point where I was wondering if cat was going to come back for him at all but Nas was a minus 11 and this is part of this is the tricks that single game plus minus can can play when it comes to individual players but there’s a lot of Truth to the interior defense just well it was not great with Rudy in the game it was awful with him out of the game and that’s that’s where this you know both can be true as I said and the discrepancy like you mentioned points in the paint uh 6238 according to this box score that’s crazy for a team with Rudy goar but you also have to credit the Mavs Rim protectors I mean Gafford and and I thought especially Lively were really really good in the paint like the Wolves just weren’t and I haven’t seen the full tally on paint attempts we already said ant only had two official paint attempts and he missed both of them um the I was shocked that the Wolves were it’s seemingly afraid to get all the way to the basket against those guys and even still Dallas finished this game with eight blocks the Wolves only had three which isn’t always the best measure of Rim protection but in this game I think it’s a pretty accurate measure I would say that Dallas’s Rim protection was two and a half times better they had two and a half times more blocks like that’s basically what this was was their guys were great the Wolves were not and when Rudy was not in the game there was no Rim protection there was no paint protection for Minnesota at all I don’t know if you know like the average foul total in a given game but 32 fouls were called in this game no one really was in foul trouble it was really tough to get a whistle at The Rim I mean the wolves I thought when they did try they were not just going to give you a complimentary you know two shots you had to earn the fouls tonight ant with two free throw attempts cat with two free throw attempts um so that probably discouraged them a little bit um as the Wolves fall 108 105 and yeah make your free throws too guys come on um the what one just random odd and end I thought it was interesting that the Wolves didn’t foul with like 40 seconds left um down four that that and and I know it worked out they got a rebound but also they lost 20 seconds what was your thought on that I thought it was the my guess is I don’t know this but my guess is that they weren’t going to foul Luca or Kyrie who were going to have the ball in their hands and they were probably like hey let’s try and trap them let’s try and make them if if the opportunity presents itself make them make a tough pass and try and get a turnover because Dallas can be turnover prone for stretches they actually turned it over three more times in Minnesota in this game and that that that’s one of their uh weaknesses um and and Kyrie and Luca are are such good players and such good free throw shooters that I think it was like H let’s just play defense and it did work out and then they still you know and then and they also almost stole the inbound then um on the next possession but then a a kind of lowkey mistake there was con feels what’s that oh he’s got a foul Derrick Jones der Jones Jr exactly yes and I know he was so focused on getting the tip away but then then it was like he tried to regain his balance before and it’s like no just reach out and grab him and make the you know what 70ish per free throw shooter shoot it versus uh I think it ended up being Kyrie so that was a mistake too I think I was okay with them not fouling in fact I was doing it in my like the math in my head I was like you know what I I wouldn’t foul here try and make them make a tough pass or make a tough shot or make a non-star player make a shot and that part worked out um and then of course it comes down to it and Conley can’t make at that point it was desperation but misses the free throw anyway so late game execution wasn’t I guess if you extend it to that Jaden turnover and the conly turnover on the lob those were not great in the final minute when they were trying to play catchup I was okay with how they handled it they did waste that time out on the inbound which I thought actually staming guny made a great point about slow-mo being the inbounder like you’re not worried about him at all so don’t guard him you know play five on four on the floor that was a really great point and the Wolves ended up needing they would could have used that timeout when that it was a two-point game um or I guess I guess it would have been a two possession game still but the timeout would have been helpful later because it limited what then they could do in that free throw situation for Conley because they didn’t have it so there were a couple of those small misses that you know may have not made a difference in the long run but um notable nonetheless and Dallas just over the final couple minutes Luca especially just out executed Minnesota this will be the subtle but effective game because apparently that was the The Mark Davis ruling on the Conley review um wolves I didn’t like that they challenged that but it was also a weak call so yeah wolves were up five at the time felt like they had momentum they don’t get that call and then Luca goes on a 70 run immediately after as part of a 130 run overall I know the Wolves battled back actually took a four-point lead so that’s not the Beall end all um but I I choose to to view that as another arbitrary turning point I’m full of them I’m full of the arbitrary turning points uh Ben thank you for filling in tonight uh people can check out your show locked on wolves daily for excellent fantastic deep Dives on the Minnesota Timberwolves you can hear this show as well on the lock on wolves podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts Please Subscribe as well on YouTube to lockon sports Minnesota Friday Night Luke Inman the Postmaster General makes his triumphant return from a European Vacation I’m sure he’ll be rejuvenated uh for Ben for myself Sam xtram we say thank you for watching live for being in the chat and we will talk to you after game two on the lockon wolves postcast

The Minnesota Timberwolves are down 1-0 in the Western Conference Finals after falling 108-105 to the Dallas Mavericks. Kyrie Irving led the first half and Luke Doncic brought it home for Dallas while Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns were fairly quiet. Sam Ekstrom hosts the instant reaction on Locked On Sports Minnesota with Ben Beecken.

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