Luka Dončić, Mavs battle Anthony Edwards & Timberwolves in Gm 5 of WCF: who wins? | NBA | UNDISPUTED

Luka Dončić, Mavs battle Anthony Edwards & Timberwolves in Gm 5 of WCF: who wins? | NBA | UNDISPUTED

good morning f s Le de I got time topping on the diamond say what they got to say if you think it’s a game I ain’t got in the myON my comp is not issue tis unconventional [Music] controvers good morning Wayne and good morning ke hey what up and good morning Rachel Nichols how are you welcome back thank you all right let’s get right to it game five tonight at Minnesota t-s favored by 4 and a half but Derek Lively has been upgraded to questionable it’s positive sign but keesan kick us off here are you sticking with Anthony Edwards and Company to get this back to Dallas for a game six 100% why would I switch from Lil Jordan on to something else there’s no reason to skip I think when you when you look at now he’s little Jordan he was young Jordan then he was baby Jord now he’s just little Jordan little Jord baby Jordan young Jordan know Jordan s whatever you want to call it um of course I got him you know I got him winning going back to Dallas for game six Skip and you know the reason why it’s all about the the the confidence it’s a confidence in a young man that has shown me this postseason whenever things have been backs been against the wall and he said hey we Coming Out Swinging whether it’s to the attendant in the hallway whether it’s to an NFL player whatever little thing things he need he needs to do to motivate his teammates and get them behind him he’s been able to do I mean that’s what he’s shown me so you know going home as I said before when the Mavs were up 3 0 and if they were to lose in Dallas and have to go back to Minnesota 3-1 they gonna go back to Dallas at 3-2 ask me after the Minnesota game if they can win game six and I’ll let you know but it it you got to think the momentum the momentum has shifted to a c C degree for Minnesota versus Dallas to a certain degree Dallas is Spook right now okay because you up three 0 you chilling everything is great now all of a sudden they getting ready to somewhat Rush a guy back at least saying questionable because they realize I need Rim protection I need I need to be able to get them guys I need to be able to get him to stop them from penetrating in the middle Rudy goar had 10 points okay he had 10 boards I believe last game game 10 points he was four from five all that work in the paint if Lively was there we probably they was giving the ball to Rudy goar like back down and do your deal they wouldn’t have probably done that if Derek Lively was there probably not so when you look at it Skip and Rachel you’ve got to be confident that this this young Anthony Edwards understands that he’s put himself out there the moment is Big right now we all watching him it’s almost like cat situation uh a couple games ago when everybody in the NBA circles was saying hey man this dude he can’t hit the side of a bus but then all of a sudden in the fourth quarter he goes nuts in in particular those three threes that all of a sudden separated them from the mths this is where Anthony Edwards is at right now this is where Anthony Edwards is now I’ll see you in game six with size shoe you want to wear y that tells us cuz we focus in on that Rachel we looking at that and we said okay so yeah I got I definitely got him going back home man with a lot of confidence I got quick point of order before you go no wores this is starting to dawn on me that I’m not sure you’re seeing young Jordan in Anthony Edwards as much as you’re seeing young kesan is that possible I like ah I do I think that that has dawned upon me I thought of this last night it’s very interesting that you said that I got like screenshots of people from his press conference or whatever they them split screen side by side but look man Jordan I’m I’m not even talking about looks I’m just talking about confidence nature Jordan did it differently Kobe did it differently and I put those two together because Kobe was more like Jordan than Anthony Edwards is like Jordan in terms of his personality he has a glowing personality but he’s outspoken and he puts that Target on his back Muhammad Ali esque sort of speak you know and and so I’m okay with that though skip no I mean you’re not okay you love it him of all people would be okay he fails Rachel right once he fails now you got to bring it back in a little bit re hit the reset button but I think he goes in and he has a big game five tonight I think they cover the spread and and uh yeah that’s that’s where I’m at with it okay so you got them winning handily convincingly yeah I do I honestly do I this Luca on the road I get it all that if you take 35 shots you better make some I mean I I get it I understand it and you what by 10 12 14 I you know I think it’s a eight-point deal oh eight point okay yeah I think it’s a eight-point deal but it’s one of those we are out front big and all of a sudden Dallas closed the Gap and then we hit a few shots and we walk off with an eight-point Victory right well look I agree that I think ant is going to have a lot of confidence tonight but I don’t think confidence is what he was missing earlier in the series I mean he walked into game one being like I got Kyrie I think the biggest change is but you take that from know Rachel Kyrie took that I I get it he walked into that game you’re saying he’s going to walk in tonight confident guess what he’s walked into game one pretty damn confident different though I think that you hit on the big difference with ant and it’s Derek Lively right that is a reason I expect Aunt to have a big game Lively was upgraded to questionable it’s certainly possible he’ll play but here’s what I know on Tuesday night he was walking into the tunnel and someone called his name and he couldn’t turn his head so that’s not a great sign and if I’m the Mavericks I’m not rushing him back because you still have the overwhelming advantage to win the series and you need him for the finals and you don’t want him to do any more damage you don’t want him not to move be able to move his head in a certain way and he gets clocked and then he’s in the concussion protocol which he’s escaped so far so Lively being out if in fact he is out again tonight is just a huge Advantage for Anthony Edwards and you saw it in the way he he was prepped for that the way that he attacked in game four he was aggressive early that was a huge thing was get there early and then once he got there he was so forceful about making the shots that he was taking from inside the paint or dishing it out like we saw in the fourth quarter with that amazing Anthony car Carl Anthony towns 3 so I I think yes Ant could have a really big game tonight but I would attribute that more to Derek Lively not playing then it changed an ant’s confidence only because I think he’s always confident he walked in on question Rachel and Skip with confidence but Kyrie took that he had to regain that confidence again Kyrie said oh okay cool no problem he humbled him for that game right he he just took it from him a couple games so to speak and then it it took a minute for him to put his toe in the water to gauge the temperature what he was getting ready to go up against and I I I Derek Lively is no question about it it it changes a lot in terms of what they’re able to do on the offensive end but at the same time this dude he he’s just different he’s different I’ve seen these type of players before he’s different yeah I agree you’ve seen him in the mirror before all right that may be true too though all right so Rachel you are suggesting I think that Derek Lively probably won’t play and even if he tries it could be a little shaky right I I Am Naturally more cautious on injuries than an NBA player is or an NFL player I I just have seen too many times the Kevin Durant experience that we had in 2019 where you play on a store whatever it is and that leads to a bigger injury you know about right so if I was the training staff if I was the coach and he couldn’t turn his head two days ago I would not play him tonight because you don’t have to you’re up still 31 couldn’t turn his head huh yeah okay so speaking of that injury they’re being very tight lipped about it they’re being circumspect and Elusive and I don’t know what it is because there’s a big difference between a strained neck and the muscles and if he has some spinal issue that’s going on up at the top of his spine because that’s serious business and and he probably wouldn’t have been upgraded to questionable if he had that going on but either way you have made the point that he might be a little iffy when he’s on the court he might not be sure of himself and if that’s the case that’s going to be a big issue for the Dallas Mavericks I I’m sure ski and I don’t I don’t notice 100% but here’s a young man has probably not had a serious injury to himself since he’s been in the NBA I I would just say this I spent quite a while after one of the games of the series talking to Derek Lively the other night and he was one of the most impressive rookies I have ever spoken to he is so mature he has his head about him I think when he whenever he comes back I can’t say for what he’ll be physically but mentally I am not worried about him at all he has dealt with so much harder things than a playoff series even at this level his mother died earlier this year she was sort of the center of his entire life and his perspective is so great when you talk to him about how he’s approaching each game he feels so lucky to be there the position he’s in and he says that playing on the court is the time he feels closest to his mom and I thought that was really interesting in terms of his will and want to he said look I mean she was shouting at him from the stands for his entire life right so he can hear her voice after certain place he can hear her when he’s at the free throw line and that’s just different than everyday life where you’re not facing the exact same situations you grew yeah mental I’m not worried toughness mental toughness is going to be important it’s all about being able to gauge and understand what your injury is when you’re out there you know because when you like you said you can’t turn your next skip one day and then all of a sudden I got to go from one side of the court to the next or I got to turn to make a block and you know just that little joke it doesn’t feel good so unless he’s been through that sort of in those sort of injuries before as you know when guys get injured they put their toe in the water to get a feel for how am I going to react and respond coming back off this injury because I’ve never faced an injury before so it’d be interesting to see if in fact he does play how I response to that all right so before this series started I said Mavericks in six and I’m going to stick with that which would mean the T rules would win tonight and Dallas is I think you think would close it out back home in game six yes but I don’t love that prediction and I’m going to tell you why this is starting to feel to me like a must-win tonight for the Dallas Mavericks because you don’t want to create that monster that’s starting to be recreated 32 we just beat y’all at home I’m good yeah 32 I’m going back for game six I beat you in game four I feel good I don’t think this is a th% Do or Die For The Mavericks I just not not a th% but but it’s starting to fit I’m not with you but just starting to feel like that because of the road warrior that is Luca who has not been a home Warrior and I don’t get it because it’s the damnest thing I’ve ever seen it’s the flip of what we always see most stars play a little better at home they light up to the home crowd more than to the road crowd he is just the opposite if you look at his career in the playoffs he’s 12 and 12 on the road that’s extraordinary that you’re that you’re 50% on on the road that you’re 500 and this year on the road he’s 6 and two they are I mean again and he’s had help from Kyrie but again he’s the driving force of this thing so in his six Road wins this year he’s 50% from the floor but he’s 40% from three he’s not a great three-point shooter and he’s shooting 40% from three if you look at the 12 and 12 the 24 Road games he’s played in his career he’s 39% from three on the road that’s not what happens at home because this year at home they’re five and three and he shot 28% from three at home well you saw him the other night in the fourth quarter he just W very good from three is he worried about the refs well and that’s a problem and it it creeps back in and at home he doesn’t do it on the road everywhere he does it everywh no but he does it so he he does it so loud at home for what weird reasons I don’t know but he does it at home a lot what skip you’re basically saying if it is Celtics Mavericks in the finals no one’s going to win a home game I you know what that’s got real potential because both of them have big home issues but even Luke at home this year 5 and three he’s 39% from the floor that’s that’s pretty horrible for him a a guy who made the case belonged in the MVP conversation okay so I I’m starting to think they they need to take care of this tonight because you you don’t want to have happen to you what happened to Denver that you loved all year because remember game six up there after Denver had won three in a row right Denver had roared back and taken a 3-2 lead and they went up there for a game six on Friday night they got run out of the building by 45 points well you don’t want that to happen tonight where they take that momentum back to to Dallas right well remember Denver it’s almost like Denver shed it down at was like oh we gonna go to game seven after they realized they couldn’t catch up and they got run out the building they just figured game seven we going do it at home my whole point to this is if this starts to happen to Dallas don’t just assume you going to Dallas to win the game because there was a couple things that happened for in Dallas for them to even be able to win the games that they won there was you know there was it was a few things that happened for them to win their games at home yeah it wasn’t like they just took control and beat up on the timber Woodes to the point was like oh we got this no it it it came down to the wire yeah I I just don’t I think that yes home and Road matters those numbers are pretty interesting scary um but the biggest factor in this series to me isn’t where they’re playing it’s how good are Anthony Edwards and Carl Anthony towns because that’s the other thing we saw in game four that was such a huge change for the Mavericks to win the first three games cat was like disastrous I mean was there’s no way say it that he was disastrous from shooting and this is someone who is one of the excellent offensive big men that we’ve had so look he what up so to speak he did it the right way he did all the little things in the first half that get you into a game and then by the second half he started shooting threes his teammates showed huge confidence in him there was a pass from Anthony Edwards late in the game when the Mavericks seemed to be taking over again like they had the first three games and an battles his way to the hoop could have tried to take a difficult shot and instead very clearly motioned to Carl Anthony towns to get to the corner this is despite cat’s difficult shooting in the previous three games and fed him the ball and paid it off with a three so I I do think Carl Anthony towns is going to be out of his head the way he was maybe in the first three games I do think mean out of his head in a good yes I think that I think he was in his own head too much in the first three games I think that he heard it as you said from the entire NBA I mean when you have the set of Inside the NBA making fun of you after games and a 48 hour cycle of well if you’re taking 1,500 shots a day how many shots a sec minute how many hours would that be I mean you know all he did but I just I think after all that nitpicking the fact that he was able to go out and have a good game leads me to believe he will be able to do that again tonight and frankly he doesn’t even have to be exceptional ant needs to be kind of up a level I think for the Wolves to have chances here but I think cat just needs to be not a disaster and I don’t I don’t see a problem he does the same thing that he did in game four both of them do the same thing they did in game four they’re gonna win the game yeah cat it Anthony Edwards could do exactly the same thing but he has to have a running mate and his only running mate if you’re not going to play Nas Reed the entire time his only running mate that can knock down shots and score you know like no other is cat a guy who had 70 points this year in the regular season a guy who scored 50 before who’s a scoring machine 50 in an All-Star game yeah 50 in an All-Star Game a scoring machine has to come to the party because as great as Anthony Edwards has been as a young player he doesn’t have enough to just carry the team from a scoring output you just you need him to go 65 by itself he just not what he is all right and yeah the last time I saw these two teams play at Minnesota I saw Nas Reed go seven of eight from three but missed the last one so he went seven of nine but it looked like it was online Lucas said he nearly died watching in the air right because it hit the back of the rim it was dead on you’re not g if you’re not gonna play Nas Reed more minutes and give him more shots and slightly push Rudy goar aside a little bit then Carl Anthony towns has got to contribute the way he did in game four all right X Factor for Dallas The X-Factor that killed my Oklahoma City Thunder was PJ Washington he shot 49% from three against the Thunder and it seemed like every time the ball went to the corner and touched his hands it switched and he was 27 of 49 or something like that it was it was like ridiculous those just like what he did it again and again and again and now he shot 27% from three in this series so he’s slumping cat appeared to snap out of his slump thunk whatever it was and got into his own head in a good way where he he realized well I’m still that guy and I’ve done this before and I’m I can do it again so now you’ve got all that momentum all this scares me for Dallas because Luke is going to have to be extraordinary and Kyrie is going to have to try to do what he did in game one when he was completely inspired that was by far his best game of the series when he took the challenge right well I think the defensive change that the wolves made going into game four was a huge thing too and that’s going to be a huge Factor tonight is can Jason kid figure out how to battle that because by switching Anthony Edwards onto Luca you have someone who’s a little more physical who can handle him physically got a slow going up against a dude like you said they can move around they can move around and then you’ve got Jaden McDaniels on Kyrie and KY he said it after game four he’s like he’s very tall I mean you know when you’re blocking shots and you can kind of get in a guy’s face and be big on him that makes a difference to a guy who has sort of likes to work the field the way Kyrie does so I think One X Factor tonight is going to be can they figure out that defensive change and another X Factor tonight for me is Anthony Edwards stamina because we saw in the first few games of this series he he’s just never played this much basketball before right I mean Team USA coming into the season then this is the he’s been in the play I’m not saying that oh my God it’s Justified I’m just saying that he’s never played this much and he seemed to hit a wall he needed oxygen yeah but that in game two he needed oxygen yeah because he was game one he oxygen whatever that Kean never needed oxygen I I’ve never taken oxygen saying I don’t even know what it feels like so if he can do that if tonight he can be his game for stamina then I think that that’s a huge here’s why his game for stamina my eyes estimate is he was guarding Luca you can rest yeah on one end of the floor to a degree for him you going up again you’re not Kyrie going from over there to over here to back to skip to you back over there boo Bo Luca ain’t moving like that LCA moving you know he so you don’t have to push out as much energy to guard Luca as you do K you chasing Kyrie all over the damn floor yeah but game three he didn’t have a tough defensive assignment and he still looked gas so I just I don’t know which one I think I think that’s a I think Luca allows him on the other end to get downhill to do to use that energy on the offensive end because Luka just ain’t moving around like that so he can save a little bit of that energy I got to tell you what I saw I saw a lot of Kyle Anderson on Luca and I thought slow-mo versus slowmo worked where where he could Mir that might be the case too but when Anthony Edwards was on Luka Luka didn’t have a great shoo night with Anthony Edwards Primary guard guarding him was cooking him in the first half he did three straight possessions he just cooked him so I I don’t know I I’m not sure cuz that’s like old school versus new school where old school knows all the tricks of the trade you know I I don’t know so who you going man who you got I told you I’m going to stick with my prediction but I’m starting to think that that this this needs to get done tonight by Dallas I don’t love them no I got t-s I mean I’m sticking with my M but the way it’s starting to shape up doesn’t feel right to me it doesn’t it doesn’t feel like it’s a cut and dry done deal that Dallas can go home and close them out in six games it just doesn’t feel that great to me and then a game seven I’d say well I don’t think Luca and Kyrie are going to lose a game seven to the Minnesota Timberwolves and have that on their legacy that they were the first team ever to to drop four in a row and and yet man if you got Minnesota back to a game seven at home y’ also didn’t think Minnesota would go to Denver and win a game seven with the MVP right Rachel right Rachel nich still I still don’t know what happened in that second half I need to look at the tape like six more I still don’t know how Minnesota won the game with Anthony Edwards going six of 24 and two of 10 everybody else plays man man everybody had to play yes ex and not everyone played on Denver but we’ll get into that some other time uh yes we will thanks for watching Undisputed fans do you want more highlights from the show make sure to click that subscribe button for all all the exclusive content from Undisputed

Skip Bayless, Rachel Nichols and Keyshawn Johnson preview Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals between the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves.

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Luka Dončić, Mavs battle Anthony Edwards & Timberwolves in Gm 5 of WCF: who wins? | NBA | UNDISPUTED

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