Locked On Wolves POSTCAST: T-Wolves Lose Two Straight For First Time This Season

Locked On Wolves POSTCAST: T-Wolves Lose Two Straight For First Time This Season

T-wolves lose two in a row for the first time this season I got wolves expert Tyler meaf he’s going to help me break it all down it’s all coming up next on the lockdown wolves Postcast you are locked on wolves postcast part of lockon Minnesota on the locked on podcast Network your team every day t-wolves they struggle versus the big men again tonight they fall to Zion and the Pelicans 117 106 they dropped to 24 and nine on the year just their second

Loss at home all season what’s happening everyone back in the lab back at it another t-wolves postcast episode right here on the lockdown Sports Minnesota Network you got myself Luke Inman at lukor spin that’s the man Tyler metf he’s on Twitter at teaf 11 and before we

Jump into all the action quick remind reminder tonight’s episode it’s 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 that’s code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase all right

Let’s jump right into this one lots to cover wolves hadn’t lost two in a row this year heading into this one and you knew that that now that the Pelicans were kind of back to full strength they were going to be a tough out tonight man

They’ve been RedHot even on the back end of a back-to-back when healthy they’ve been balling out man and I kind of went into this one thinking win or lose this was just going to be a really good test for the Wolves see where they’re at they were going to get challenged against a

Really good talented fully healthy now team that who knows man you could end up seeing this team come playoff time just give us your major headlines major observations to kick things off uh Pelicans are a real deal when they’re healthy and I mean you mentioned they’re back to full strength they were still

Missing Trey Murphy tonight who is arguably their best three-point shooter one of their best athletes one of their best defenders too so you throw out him out there on the wing um and they’re looking even more deadly so I I think they’re a real team to keep an eye on

Battling for homecourt Advantage come end of the year and it was a real test in terms of physicality and toughness tonight for the Timberwolves and they did not pass at all um they got bullied all night and they kind of quit mentally uh pretty early on yeah the major a

Topic theme kind of trend I’m personally seeing I’m curious if you agree I’m sure you will but this team they just haven’t been able to match up physicality with other teams when the other team has a bully or two in the paint right and Pelicans by the way I mean you kind of

Touched on it nine and three in their last 12 if you watched any of that run during their last 12 games they could be 12 and0 during that stretch I mean they ran into a fresh jant twice uh that kind of gave one away to Houston as well but

You look at the shooting metrics here let me pull them up I mean they are what they are pelican shot almost 60% um but back to the Wolves kind of struggling against physical teams you just gave up 39 to Randall on Monday in New York 33

To Anthony Davis in the Lakers 51 to Joel embiid Zion he had his best shooting performance I believe up to that point anyways 36 points last time they played think he ended up 23 24 to9 I’m not saying that these guys don’t give every team fits because they do but

It feels like the Wolves inability to defend some of these guys without following especially knowing these guys are going to attack you they’re G to get downhill it’s just one kind of glaring issue as of late that they they just they haven’t always matched up with the physicality enough vers good bigs in

This league and that’s something I think they got to get better at how do they stop these guys and not give up so many Ticky Tac follows along the way like they’ve tended to do this year is it a matchup issue coaching thing basic fundamentals what is it yeah and a lot

Of it comes down to just kind of fundamentals and uh discipline um I mean tonight I the last time they played the Pelicans fouls and free throws were a major issue but that really wasn’t the case tonight I mean the Pelicans got called for 11 more fouls than the Wolves

And the Wolves had 10 more free throws than the Pelicans so I know there’s some Ticky Tac stuff in there especially with Rudy which immediately takes him out and obviously just destroy the timber wolves Rim protection for the entire game uh really bad game by Rudy

He just didn’t make an impact at all tonight um but when when you kind of listed all those stars who have gone off against the Wolves a lot of it comes in the mid-range that’s where their defense wants to funnel shots for most players it’s an inefficient shot that you want

To force guys into but you got to start throwing different looks especially out of the pick and roll because when those stars are able to kind of get down Hill get into their pockets in the mid-range in that 15ot range that’s a really really good shot for them and when

They’re consistently able to step into it um and the most kind of deterrence that they’re facing is a late contest by their initial Defender it’s really easy for them to kind of get get in a Groove we saw that with Julius Randall embiid uh SGA uh we saw it tonight with Brandon

Ingram it just it it isn’t working the the point of attack stuff hasn’t been good enough the screen navigation hasn’t been good enough and tonight they were really trying to throw a lot of bodies in the lane and at The Rim to clog stuff up and make stuff really difficult for

Zion and the rest of the team it didn’t work at all Pelicans shot 75% at The Rim but then that that extra help there also created all of these open Corner three opportunities for guys like herb Jones herb Jones is shooting 33% from three on the year he started off four four for

Four finished four for five because he was left wide open and again uh pelic shot 66.7% from the corner on Corner thre tonight 8 to 12 um that’s almost double the frequency on Corner threes that the timber rols have been giving up all season per game so it it was a

Flawed uh defensive scheme that didn’t work a couple Ticky Tac fouls uh an goar kind of eliminated that ability to throw bodies at The Rim uh hot herb Jones just dismantled that ability to kind of leave him alone and not guard him we saw them do a similar thing with Lou Dort against

The Thunder where they are trying to DARE these non-shooters to torch them and recently they kind of have been yeah yeah and and you mentioned it too the rebounding though really stuck out to me I think it Jim Pete said like mid- third quarter the Wolves starters had six

Rebounds six through two and a half quarters of play I mean Pelicans had a 25133 Advantage if I remember correctly at that Point mid third quarter and it’s boring it’s mundane but something the Wolves again just kind of struggled with especially against again just some some quality big men all right we’ll keep

Diving into this one right after a quick word from game time quick reminder tonight’s episode brought to you by game time you should never have to worry when buying tickets to any big event that’s why game time it’s the fastest and easiest way to buy tickets to any local event like concerts

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First purchase download game time today last minute tickets lowest prices guaranteed game time terms apply all right let’s pick it back up here uh 60% shooting I I believe they ended with the Pelicans tonight 45ish per from three wolves about 38% a couple minutes left last time I checked 25% from three

So yeah just rough shooting night all the way around uh what’s the biggest issue you’ve noticed these past just two games I haven’t talked to you in about a week the past two games the New Year’s Day game in New York now this game biggest issues you’ve noticed

Specifically when it comes to this you know once dominating best number one defense in the league starting to just bend a lot more than we’re used to seeing the first two months of the year yeah I think with the defense specifically it’s the the point of attack guys and their kind of inability

To navigate and get around these screens um I I I still think Jayden’s an awesome Defender I still think n’s an awesome Defender but that consistent ability to keep guys out of the paint and just make their lives a lot more difficult not effortlessly walk into these 15 foot

Jumpers is really starting to take its toll and that that it’s all part of their kind of defensive scheme which again works against 90% of the league but when you have these Elite you know 68 to 7 foot uh stars on the opposing team that’s a really easy shot for them

And that’s a really easy way for them to kind of get in the groove of things and get to 30 in the blink of an eye um and then once they kind of start doing that and the guys the point of attack Defender still isn’t getting over that initial screen then just instinctually

Help Defenders are starting to rotate a little more and we’re seeing those kickouts to Shooters on the outside or you know lobs um at The Rim as Rudy now has to step up because he’s sick of seeing this guy knock down the ace straight Jumper in his face so it it’s

It all stems from that point of attack and it just hasn’t been what it was um in the first kind of half of this year yeah yeah offensively too you can start to see teams have taken away Rudy goar’s roles now H how does coach Finch get him

More involved again in a way that suits him best obviously suits his skill set because sometimes when they try and create things for him everything just kind of looks a little out of sync depending on who’s on the court obviously but especially the last few weeks at times yeah and it’s really

Tough because this is just a it’s a bad shooting team right now and you know Jaden’s not a big time shooter but he’s typically capable one of three tonight you know it would be nice to see that those are times up around five um because I do think he’s closer to a 38

40% three-point shooter especially from the corners Carl Anthony towns again in the shooting slump ever since that injury 0 four from three tonight and shot well but outside of those three guys and outside of Nas Reed there’s no one else on this team who really consistently can shoot off ball I know

Mike connley is but when we’re talking about getting goar lobs and stuff Conley’s the only one who is consistently doing that uh for a while nikil Alexander Walker Troy Brown were the only guys we were kind of occasionally getting these outbursts of three from and now we’re not even

Getting that from them so it’s tough because all of these teams are really aggressively collapsing off the corner shooters for this team and really helping and disrupting goar so when he does roll to the rim he’s rolling through traffic he’s rolling through two or three guys who are in his way he

Doesn’t have great hands to begin with so when there are a bunch of hands and limbs up there kind of contesting the ball he’s not catching it cleanly and he doesn’t have the opportunity to do so so a bit more of that kind of empty corner

Pick and roll uh with Conley where uh goar has more of a free free Lane to roll roll into as Conley dribbles middle he has that whole empty corner there’s really no helps side Defender there I I think a little more of that um when they

Do run it it’s super effective a little more of that could help but other otherwise this team just needs to add Shooters Off the Bench yeah well said good breakdown there and and they weren’t atrocious like we’ve seen in some previous games only 13 tonight but because I haven’t talked ball with you

In over a week I’d be a little remissed if I didn’t bring up the turnovers to this year second highest turnover rate in the league 29th in turnover rate offensively and you know I know ant and Cat are are more to blame for a sheer volume standpoint but a ant’s turnover

Rate actually down this year his assist rate is up I believe three maybe four points and his usage rate is up as well so obviously he’s got the ball in his hands more often so yes by virtue yeah he’s he’s going to have more turnovers

On paper but the rate in which those are happening actually have gone down I thought that was kind of interesting but then there’s some other guys you just maybe wouldn’t expect Kyle Anderson maybe the the worst turnover rate of his career right now he’s been a mess and

It’s been a consistent problem now this long here I feel like you just can’t expect to make a Deep Run in the playoffs I wouldn’t think anyways turning the ball over as much as they have but as I say that you know I say that out loud I think about they’ve

Still been winning games despite of it though so there’s kind of this little tug and War there a little bit of give if you will and even though you know they they’ve turned it over 20 plus times in some of these games they still

Win at the end of it too so you think I think to myself personally it’s just like okay if they cleaned up and went from 29th to say 18th which okay 18th still worse than middle of the pack so so not really asking for anything crazy or you know off-the-wall unrealistic all

Of a sudden these last 14 games maybe that’s the difference between 10 and four and something like 12-2 instead so there are some concerns in general like there is for every team even the best ones in the NBA but in general I I I still think they’re playing some good

Basketball I know they’ve lost their last two didn’t necessarily give their A+ performance I don’t know though if there’s any major major concerns here right now I mean are there all ask you I mean I tend to I guess I tend to lean towards the thinking that right now

You’re seeing a mixture of tougher competition and then the Wolves have yeah they got some sloppiness they just need to start cleaning cleaning up not a talent issue though I don’t think it’s a coach coaching issue anything like that but let me give the ball to you I mean

Are these turnovers something you think could and or should start to even out I guess during the course of a full 82 game slate like what’s the biggest Catalyst I guess for these turnovers in your eyes and and how fixable are they yeah and so I’m concerned about them but

Not ready to necessarily hit the panic button um when we look at their turnover rate it’s third worst or I think coming into tonight it’s third worst in the league and the teams surrounding them are Detroit San Antonio Utah Charlotte um four of the worst teams in the league

And when the the wolves are too good to be mentioned in any conversation with those four teams unless it’s talking about hopefully a 20 point blowout against them um and that that on its own is kind of concerning um when I think of really good teams who turn the ball over

A lot the only ones that I can really think of over the last handful of years are those Golden State those Prime Golden State Warriors teams but the difference there was that there is constant ball movement constant player movement the ball is zipping all over the place They’re Taking Chances their

Floor spacing is insane that’s not the case with this Timberwolves team a lot of these turnovers are them driving into space them not having uh attention to detail and just being lazy with passes um you mentioned Kyle Anderson where last year when that Ball’s getting

Kicked out to him in the corner he’s at least taking the shot he hit it at like a career high rate which I don’t think was realistic to expect him to repeat but now instead of that he’s just driving into traffic where they’re four guys waiting for him because they know

He’s not going to shoot it and even if he does really good odds that he’s not going to make it um so he’s just a lot of just kind of driving into traffic with no real plan or no reliable Outlet to kick out to because there just isn’t

That shooting on this team to help space the floor um tonight they did a much better job all around taking care of the ball ant was you know he had six of their 11 turnovers and a lot of that was just a really loose and lazy handle um I

I I think his playmaking like you mentioned has grown tremendously this year this is the best he’s ever passed the ball this is the best he’s ever seen the floor so recently the ball security with him has been an issue but in totality this year it’s been it’s been really good and

Really important strides made as him being that number one option so worrying about it red flags are starting to pop up but nights like tonight you know they showed that that this team is capable of taking care of the ball and when you cut down those turnovers those point you

Know that the opponent’s points again or points off turnovers goes down from 20 to 10 or 12 right and that that changes you know a clutch game into an easy win give me a quick 60 seconds on the Pelicans I I don’t really know them in depth like you do they they really

Haven’t been healthy like they are now I mean pretty much all year I know you mentioned they’re still missing a great three-point shooter as well but you you can see it during these last 12 games can’t you now that they are close to healthy nine and three run they could be

Ser seriously dangerous when we get to the playoffs in the west what’s your quick snapshot on them and and what they could look like I guess down the stretch into the playoffs yeah and they they’re just massive and so good around the rim and when they are healthy and have guys

Like Brandon Ingram um CJ McCullum hit hitting his shots Trey Murphy healthy uh lot lot of just real versatile at rim and three-point finishers and scores um and then just a ton of athleticism and length and size on defense between Dyson Daniels herb Jones nii Marshall uh you

Know even Brandon Ingram can hold his own valent chunis is just a monster in the post Trey Murphy’s an awesome Defender so there there’s just a lot of size and athleticism and length that opponents have to deal with and when they’re getting to their spots and hitting their shots they are really

Really hard to deal with and credit the Pelicans by all means absolutely they bowled out they’ve been red hot they are legit but on the Wolves end I I just I mean they just didn’t put forth the best effort tonight and they didn’t have the energy to match their shooting and

Physicality not tonight so wolves have been through a a tough stretch of games with them in New York back to back and all that but rest assur it just doesn’t get any easy you can’t just say all right well we had a tough little stretch there no we’re gonna go over the

Schedule here right after we come back it does not let up we’ll take a peek at the schedule before we wrap up but first I got a quick word from FanDuel quick reminder tonight’s episode brought to you by FanDuel right now new customers you’re getting $150 in bonus

Bets when you win just a $5 moneyline wager $150 in bonus bets when you throw down just a$ five dollar on any moneyline wager I love the uh Dallas Cowboys this week if you haven’t checked this one out first Washington 13-point favorites you take them to win outright

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Doesn’t really let up much here uh let’s see what we got Rockets okay Rockets Mavs again just saw them last week magic Celtics Blazers Clippers I’ve been literally coming on the show and saying man this is a gauntlet for like six weeks in a row man that’s how it feels

Anyways um what sticks out to you though the most about this next four five six game stretch uh there are some real Dynamic wings and forwards that are really going to test interesting real this team’s defense is um Houston you know the Rockets have sucked plainly these last couple years but they’ve been

Real good at home I think they have like two wins on the road but they only have like one or two losses at home this year so they’ve been really good uh they’re they’ve really turned their defense around another real physical team um you know we we’re familiar with Dylan Brooks

From his days in Memphis um but they’re they’re going to get into the Wolves they’re going to challenge them physically they’re going to try and Bully them like the Pelicans did tonight so it’ll be fascinating to see how they kind of respond to that then with Dallas

Uh Dallas Orlando Boston you know you have Luca you have Paulo and France and you have Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum plus you know obviously Drew d uh Derek white porzingis they’re loaded so it’s going to be a real test um and it’s going to be a great kind of snapshot of

How real this Timberwolves team wants to play uh they’ve stepped up against their you know high level competition all year but these are four teams that are that could very easily be in the playoffs uh two of them have Championship aspirations so it’s like all right if

You want to be in these teams class gota you have to absolutely prove it here yeah no argument super tough stretch it just doesn’t let up as mentioned I I even with the two losses though and and how bad they’ve looked at times right getting down 20 22 in some of these

Games I still know most of these teams are also thinking hey we got the wolves on paper oh no all right this tough mat up too so I mean that’s how solid consistently they’ve been now through almost 35 games too and Jeff just mentioned too in the comment section

Four Road games in a row and backto back there between the magic and Celtics too so as as if things weren’t you know on paper anyways hard enough ah four straight road games man that that’s going to be tricky as well uh last one here they mentioned it on the Minnesota

Basketball party today I only caught the first 105 minutes I got to go back and finish that up make sure to check that episode out if you haven’t already by the way each and every Wednesday with Reggie Wilson from Carol L Ron Johnson from the Ron Johnson show host Sam xtram

Our boy Jack Borman Ben Beacon host a locked on wolves podcast you got the whole Gauntlet over there but they were talking about Chris Finch has the second best odds behind the uh the OKC coach um to win coach of the year I I was just curious your quick thoughts on that and

If you think he could win it I guess when it’s all said and done yeah and I I really think it’s going to come down to unfortunately who the higher seat is um yeah I I think what finch has done with this defense specifically has been incredible

Um kind of piecing together a team that no one really thought was going to work last year it didn’t work last year and you know they’re the number one seed right now uh mark dagel from OKC has some people are already um Laing him as one of the best coaches in the league

He’s done an incredible job of kind of implementing a system and a culture um and a play style there with a lot of really young guys and they’ve kind of exceeded expectations here so it’ll be really interesting to see how they hold up throughout the season and down the

Stretch because there’s still so much basketball left to be played um but I based on how this season has gone I I think those are easily the the Two Front Runners it’s so funny you know I I’m NFL guy my mind immediately goes to the NFL

I think about the NFL MVPs you mentioned probably going to come down to who’s the higher seed just like the NFL MVP it’s like which which guy carried their team deeper into the play play offs usually into the Super Bowl at least those final four final eight teams usually ends up

Getting that award so kind of similar scenario there as well uh well done tonight as always wolves fall to the Pelicans 117 106 they dropped just their second game at home all season as always huge shout out to everyone that joined us in the postcast in the comments

Section rest assured we’re going to be back each and every game same time same place right here to break it all down quick reminder as well go check out all of Tyler’s work on Twitter teaf 11 anything new I know we haven’t talked 10ish days anything new since the last

Time we spoke that uh you know we should be on the lookout for NBA fans wolves fans specifically anything we can dive into uh just the the team over at KES hoops.com just has awesome work going up every day um so make sure to go check

That out and if you’re a big college basketball or NBA draft fan go check out no sealings nba.com team over there is doing awesome work as well yeah they’re absolutely killing it make sure to go check that out uh that’ll do it for us tonight next on Deck Houston Rockets in

Houston that’s Friday night join us again right here for the entire recap and make sure to follow all our work over at the lock on Sports Minnesota Network one more plug to if you haven’t already you got to go check out Ben Beacon over on the lockon Wolves podcast

As well he’s Tyler meaf I’m Luke Inman on Twitter lukor spin until next time signing out

The Minnesota Timberwolves drop two in a row taking on a fully healthy New Orleans Pelicans squad. Join Luke Inman and Tyler Metcalf for the immediate reaction and deep dive breakdown after the game.