Everything That Went Wrong With The Minnesota Timberwolves

Everything That Went Wrong With The Minnesota Timberwolves

after a hardfought seven game series where the Wolves triumphed over the defending Champion Denver Nuggets a lot of folks had them going all the way they even treated that second round series as the deao Conference Finals but when they arrived to the actual Conference Finals it was as if the Dallas Mavericks were supposed to be a cakewalk they took down the defending champs so this should be easy right the complete lack of urgency was alarming as they lost the first two games on their home court and eventually got dismantled in a series that wasn’t expected to be this lopsided so what exactly went wrong what did the Mavs do that the Denver Nuggets struggled so much to accomplish how’s it going folks my name’s Andy and today let’s take a detailed look at everything that went wrong with the Minnesota Timberwolves a team that looked like a legitimate Contender before they fell apart it’s the offense not the defense a huge storyline that’s been regurgitated across the media has been about Rudy goar specifically the doubters who questioned his ability as a Defender against the Nuggets it was cat who had to take over the responsibility of guarding jic while goar struggled against him then against Dallas the critics got even louder we heard guys like Draymond and Shaq constantly bash go goar as if he’s the reason the Wolves got decimated I’ve never seen a four-time defensive player of the year get this much Flack especially since he shifted most of the blame away from Edwards and towns by the onoff numbers goar is still the most impactful defender on the floor but the two guys who were supposed to carry the offense were severely struggling to do so especially in the first three games of the series goar with the offensive rebound here towns and out of bounds keep in mind from the All-Star break until the end of the regular season it was Dallas not Minnesota who recorded the NBA’s best defense the wolves have always been an average offensive team for the entire year for Edwards fatigue was a huge issue in the first couple games he looked absolutely gassed by the fourth quarter that’s because prior to the start of the series Edwards boldly claimed I got Kyrie to which Kyrie took it as a challenge he spent most of the first two or three games guarding him to the point where he had zero energy left to close out the game in Edward’s first two games when the Wolves were supposed to defend home court he laid an egg both times as he was not used to the way the Mavs were guarding him so high up this is the main number to pay attention to his percentage within 5 ft of the basket against Denver he shot a ridiculous 74% from that range he made 37 of 50 attempts in that series which is honestly ridiculous against Dallas though that has plummeted this was Edward’s most impactful scoring spot he feasted against the Nuggets interior defense as expected when you have jic down there who doesn’t even contest most of the drives their lack of a true rim protector and backup center made it worse the Nuggets simply had no shot blocking presence against Dallas however the combination of Gafford and Lively provide the Mavs with two young Dynamic centers who are long athletic fast they can step out and guard for short periods of time a play like this for example even after getting a screen from goar Washington’s length allows him to get back into the play easily you combine that with Gafford willingly stepping out to to stop his Drive Edwards is stuck due to gafford’s speed he can fade back to the paint to stop a lob to go be eliminating all of Edwards options as a final Resort Edwards shoots a highly contested layup you saw this the entire series The MAV second line of defense is far more resilient than the Nuggets hard move and a kick and he threw it away in his first two series against Phoenix and Denver Edwards averaged near nearly 30 points a game on absurd percentages a result of his ability to penetrate the paint at will the Mavs took away this part of his game the part where he thrives the most cuz they have the Personnel to do so Carl Anthony towns was having the greatest playoff run of his entire career up until he faced the Dallas Mavericks while the Mavs length and size have also bothered him cat has always been a streaky shooter even with shots like these he was hitting them back in Denver but against Dallas he had a historically Bad series in terms of three-point shooting especially in his first three games and game five where he went a combined 4 for 28 the Mavs length bothered him they closed out on him a lot better perhaps the pressure got to him he rushed shots that he normally feels comfortable shooting in a previous video I talked about how the Oklahoma City Thunder struggle to score in the paint against Dallas and it’s a similar Trend with the wolves in the playoffs Dallas has held opponents to just 58% shooting in the restricted area basically at the basket and just 41% in the paint overall their dominance in the paint have made it tough for any of the Wolves to hit what most would say are the most efficient shots in basketball it also doesn’t help when your secondary star has Knights where he shoots the lights out but other Knights where he completely vanishes that’s why cat has never made the jump from Star to Superstar his consistency just isn’t there Luca and Kyrie here’s a popular quote that’s been recited through the decades of NBA history from the players and media alike when you have the best player on the floor you’ll always have a chance for the Mavs You could argue that they had the two best players on the court Luca is the clear-cut best player but Kyrie oh he can Elevate his game to a level that few players could match now the mf’s heliocentric offense is somewhat similar to the old Cleveland Cavaliers offense centered around LeBron and Kyrie you have two ball dominant guards who are some of the greatest one-on-one players the NBA has ever seen when combined with a Supporting Cast that complements their games this is a formula to win championships but what’s different compared to the Cavs is the Mavs utilization of their Supporting Cast they put their bigs and way more actions in the pick and roll double screens out top like these plays right here their role players are active in helping both Luca and Kyrie create an advantage in some way whether it’s getting them open for a good shot or getting open themselves for a pinpoint pass to rush towards the rim with their elite shot creation and playmaking made the NBA’s number one defense look like they were amateurs and this is what separates the Mavs from the nuggets the Nugget’s best playmaker best passer and Best Shot Creator is their Center who’s at his best when playing close to the basket on the perimeter Unfortunately they don’t have anyone who comes close to the playmaking ability of Luca or Kyrie Jamal Murray is I mean he’s good but he’s just not on the same level with his average handles and mediocre Court Vision he’s the reason the Nuggets had such a hard time setting up their offense more often than not he’d burn off way too much of the shot clock before even initiating a play in fact the way Murray plays the type of shots he takes it’s more akin to a shooting guard of the 2000s the Nuggets actual shooting guard and small forward are two players who are awful at creating their own shots hence why they struggled so much against the Wolves Michael Porter Jr in particular he looked like he couldn’t even dribble properly with the insane defensive pressure Elite perimeter defense defense like the Wolves beat down players with mediocre handles and the nuggets have plenty of players who got beat down heck that’s why Payton Watson was unplayable oh and that’s another thing the Mavs actually have a backup center multiple backup centers so they aren’t at a size disadvantage the Nuggets don’t trust DeAndre Jordan enough to play him so they either play yic the entire game to the point of exhaustion or they play the undersized Aaron Gordon at Center it’s not a plan that works against two seven-footers this nuggets team was missing depth which brings us too this is something both the wolves and Mavs excel in people say death doesn’t matter much in the playoffs because you’re playing your starters most of the time anyway but that doesn’t mean depth is useless either it’s important because it gives a team more options to counter the opponent while the wolves are equipped with the Sixth Man of the Year and routinely went eight or n deep the Mavs are also not shy to play their bench it’s funny because Jason kid got criticized so much through his time in Dallas usually pertaining to his wacky lineups his big men rotations were strange as it took a while for him to give Gafford real minutes sometimes he’d give Josh green too many minutes other times he forgets he even exists Dante exom would have strings of playing 30 plus minutes and then completely fall out of the rotation and don’t forget his Everlasting Love for Tim Hardaway Jr who for some inexplicable reason got so many minutes in the regular season year after year kids rotations have always been perplexing but according to him he likes to experiment because of all his experimentation he has a deep roster filled with players who are ready at any given notice it doesn’t matter if their minutes are inconsistent they’re used to this already I will say despite the critics kid is not a bad coach he always had a great relationship with his players and unlike other coaches he’s not shy when it comes to trying something new heck I don’t think anyone expected Jaden Hardy to play against the Wolves you’re throwing a 21-year-old Into the Fire against this insane perimeter defense oh hell yeah Hard Away by the for the Minnesota Timberwolves it was a successful Seas season nonetheless this was a team that only made the Conference Finals twice in over 30 years of existence a team that didn’t have much expectations coming into the season so to make it this far that’s a huge accomplishment I feel like some folks truly had them going all the way after defeating Denver but they matched up far better against them than Dallas and unlike other eras of Minnesota basketball this time there seems to be continuity they will be back and better than ever thank you everyone so much for watching I hope yall enjoyed the video let me know your thoughts on the Wolf season and what can they do to make their team better thank you all so much for watching and of course as always I’ll see you next time peace

The Minnesota Timberwolves triumphed over the Denver Nuggets in a hard-fought 7 game series. But…they were not prepared for the Dallas Mavericks, a team that had so many advantages the Wolves could not match. Let’s take a detailed look at everything that went wrong with the Timberwolves, and how the Mavs picked them apart.

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