Thunder-Timberwolves: Anthony Edwards & Shai Gilgeous-Alexander square off | Hoops Tonight

Thunder-Timberwolves: Anthony Edwards & Shai Gilgeous-Alexander square off | Hoops Tonight

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So you guys don’t miss any of our content over the course of this season all right let’s talk some basketball so the the key matchup in this particular game that kind of changed the way that Oklahoma City had to play offense is they put the Timberwolves put Jaden

McDaniels on Chet homr one of the biggest things that Oklahoma City does on offense is they run ball screens with Chad and they have him po to the top of the key I’ve talked about this concept A Lot on the show but pick and pops are

One of the hardest actions to guard in the NBA with modern pick and roll coverages think of it like this if your guard can shoot a pull-up jump shot then my guard has to chase Over the Top If my guard has to chase over the top then I

Need a screen Defender to funnel him into because if there’s no screen Defender and I chase over the top you can imagine what would happen if I’m guarding Shay and I’m chasing over the top of the screen Shay’s just going to go over the screen and go right at the

Basket and if there’s no help Defender there I’m not going to be able to get there in time to meet him at The Rim so that’s why that SEC that screen Defender is essentially there waiting for you as the on ball guy to funnel Shay into him

Well that works pretty well in screen and roll because you can play What’s called No roller behind coverage where like the rollers coming this way the ball handlers coming this way and I’m kind of splitting the difference between the two and trying to make them make a

Decision and I if I’m a big athletic center can kind of cover enough ground to be a reasonable defensive option there but if I pop to the three-point line I can’t contain the ball handler as the big man and also guard the guy at the top of the key it’s one of the

Easiest ways to get a defense in rotation and that by the way is why these really skilled bigs guys like Chad guys like sabonis guys like Anthony uh Davis guys like Nicole yic guys like joeel embiid can cause so many problems for teams in kick and pop it just

Immediately gets the defense into rotation it’s one of the reasons why by the way I’ve been talking so much about Nicole jokic’s jump shot this season because last year he was just deadly on it and so a lot of Denver’s offense was pick and pop yage pump fake as the guy’s

Sprinting at him now he’s coming down hill making decisions as he’s barreling towards the rim right so like having a big man that could set a ball screen and force a traditional pick and roll coverage and pop to the top of the key and make plays there is huge that is

What chat does for Oklahoma City but when you put Jaden McDaniels who because Chad is kind of thin is strong enough to avoid getting bullied by CH now they can switch any chat ball screen with any of the ball handlers on the floor and it completely changed the way that Oklahoma

City had to play offense because now they’re taking Chad off the ball and basically having him spot up Shay gild Alexander ran 12 isos in this game he typically only runs about seven or eight a game the as a team ok Oklahoma City averages 27 assists per game this season

They only had 21 against the Timberwolves it became much more stagnant it became a lot more Jaylen Williams and Shay gilders Alexander playing one-on-one it just was a more a more challenging offensive game for Oklahoma City great example of some of the Personnel uh um you know kind of

Flexibility that you get by having a guy like Jaden McDaniels and then on the flip side having a guy like Chad that as great as he’s going to be at this phase of his career is a little too skinny and can struggle in some specific matchups

And this was an example uh of one of those matchups for Chad and like chat in general just had a really bad game and I thought the way that that kind of dynamic kind of threw him out of whack went a long way but to Shay G Alexander

And Jaylen williams’ credit they still had a lot of success creating their own shot in this game but Minnesota’s defense just kind of dis dictated the flow of Oklahoma City’s offense they held him to just 101 points um my by the way Oklahoma City is the sixth best off

Offense in the league by offensive rating and they got shut down Minnesota has according to cleaning the glass a 112.5 defensive rating against the top 10 offenses in the league only Cleveland has been better and so Minnesota consistently has been able to get their defense to translate against the top

Tier offenses in the league as I’ve said many times throughout the season Minnesota’s defense is for real um it was a really good Anthony Edwards and Carl towns decision-making game talked a lot about this over the course of the Season my main concern with Minnesota is they’re an average clutch offense and

They’re an average halfcourt offense and when you get into those really slow down environments that can be an issue and specifically it gets worse in the playoffs when you’ve got Anthony Edwards who’s very very young like very very young and I think he’s going to be a

Very very good player for a very very long time I think he’s a Bonafide superstar in the making all that stuff he’s 21 so like he’s just he’s young and then Carl towns who’s historically been a pretty poor decision maker in those environments M well this game was not

One of those games I thought Carl towns and ant were excellent on offense down the stretch of this game they were making really good kick out passes to Shooters they weren’t forcing things which is a thing that the two of them have done from time to time in their

Careers uh the Wolves had eight assists in 11 made field goals in that fourth quarter they shot 58% of the field from the field six of those eight assists were from Carl towns and from Anthony Edwards but at the same time they brought the aggression when it made

Sense Carl towns hit a three off of like a flare screen at the top of the key Anthony Edwards hit a pull up three in pick and roll when the defender was too far back then there was this I posted the clip of this one where ant like

Rejected a ball screen like 30 feet from the basket and just rose up and just dunked it with two hands and probably got fouled on the play as well I thought they were magnificent down the stretch of this particular game Anthony Edwards was complaining after the game about

Officiating I think the plays he’s referencing there the dunk I mentioned he got hit by SGA that probably should have sent him to the line then there was a Jaden McDaniels foul on Shay kind of uh at the right block where Shay kind of got into his body and was using his off

Arm like literally like fighting Jaden off with his off arm and Jaden was kind of grabbing at his off arm so it was like hand fighting that should have been able to go both ways but Jaden got called for the foul and so I think a was

Just kind of getting at some of the inconsistencies and again I’m never going to go in on one particular team and how they’re affected but League wide it is an issue League wide I think officiating is massive issue around the league so anytime a player brings it up

I’m obviously going to uh support them within the context of The League wide issue but decision-making like I said that specific that specific Dynamic of ant and Carl towns like making the right driving kick reads and not forcing tough shots and making sure guys stay in Rhythm goes a long way towards this

Team’s Championship potential they had a 157 offensive rating in the clutch situation against Oklahoma City last night um that’s been an issue for them All Season they’ve been a mediocre I think they’re I think I mentioned in yesterday’s show they’ve been below 109 offensive rating in clutch situations

All Season before last night really bad in the last like month or so they were in that like high 90s for offensive rating that’s not very good I’ve said before but clutch offense and halfcourt offense are the two closest replicas we have in the NBA regular season of

Playoff offense and that’s why I keep such a close eye on those two categories and they’ve been mediocre in both categories all season long but I thought last night was a big step in the right direction on that front for Minnesota a couple other shoutouts Jaden McDaniels

Hit a huge Corner three in the right tight space to quick release a put a shot a pass right in the shooting pocket and he knocked it down he also had a huge tip in late in the game when the Thunder needed to stop and Anthony

Edwards was tired so he was like hiding in the right corner they ran a ball screen for nikel Alexander Walker on the left side and he ended up forcing up a tough floater and he missed it uh but Shay gild Alexander was guarding Jaden McDaniels on the right wing and Jaden

Noticed Shay had his head turned and wasn’t paying attention he just snuck right in front of him got in there and got a huge tap in with his left hand that ended up being basically the dagger in this particular game and then also I wanted to shout out Jordan mcclaflin

He’s shooting the ball much better this year than he did last year he had two massive threes in the second half one off the catch and then one kind of off a ball screen where the defender ducked underneath the pick and then as a result

Of that he had a a pump fake driving really tough scoop shot over Chad holgren that kind of came from him making those first two threes and getting the defender to kind of chase him off the line I thought he had a that was a really important sequence in this

Particular game as Oklahoma City was making the Run uh in that second half on the thunderf front the core players are still slumping really hard Josh giddy Started Hot made a few threes in a row but then he finished cold lud Dort missed a bunch of shots in the second

Half some good looks too chett had a really rough game we talked about this in the power rankings yesterday but this has been a theme for a little while now for OKC giddy Dort and and homr are all struggling right now and as a result Oklahoma City’s offense is kind of

Tanking and you know some of this is like young players can just be inconsistent but I wanted to go over some specific ways you know not just for the Thunder but also for young basketball players out there to help getting through a slump because this is something that happens you can have

Slumps I I personally I I was a very streaky shooter when I was playing in college I had conference play sequence one of the seasons I played where I shot like 50% from three and then I had a another stretch in non-conference play like the very next year where I remember over the

Course of a week in like four games I missed 22 consecutive threes so like like you can slump it happens it’s part of the game right and I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older there are some specific things that I think work really well as it pertains to trying to get out

Of a slump first of all lots more offc Court work to try to polish things up I know it sounds crazy but you can derive confidence by knowing you’ve made that shot when you’re standing in the game and you go I made 500 of these in the

Last two days I have a much better chance of making it today so offc Court work is a big one two better offensive process and some of this is matchup related we talked about the the switching that uh the OKC could do by using Jaden McDaniels to switch any sort

Of uh of ball screen right involving Chad homr and that can stagnate teams and prevent drive and kick but you can still generate drive and kick rotation situations by hunting drive and kick instead of hunting ISO what I mean by that is like rather than getting into your dribble combinations and trying to

Hunt to pull up jump shot just think I got to beat this dude off the dribble so that I can draw a help Defender and get the ball moving around as the ball’s popping around it just adds a rhythm and a flow to the offense that gives guys a

Better chance of making shots and then lastly gain confidence in other areas of the game this was a big one for me in my mid 20s that I kind of figured out which is like when you’re not shooting well and you have another tool which is

You’re an athlete go play hard like make make plays on defense make plays on the glass make plays elsewhere and you will gain confidence knowing that you’re impacting winning outside of the shot which will put you in a position when when you’re shooting you don’t have as

Much pressure on your mind to make the shot because you know even if you miss it you’re helping the team elsewhere and so again I just wanted to kind of throw that out there as just a couple of different examples especially for young basketball players out there for how to

Deal with when you’re in a slump work harder off the court work harder on the court and then as a team play better fluid and motion basketball to keep everybody Involved

Jason Timpf reacts to Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 107-101 victory over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Jason explains how the two young superstars have shown that they can carry a basketball team, and despite their age will have their teams in the hunt in the Western Conference playoffs.

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