Anthony Edwards’s Dunk Reminded Us Why We Watch the NBA | The Ryen Russillo Podcast

Anthony Edwards’s Dunk Reminded Us Why We Watch the NBA | The Ryen Russillo Podcast

I want to talk about Anthony Edwards I didn’t think I’d do an open on a dunk and it’s not entirely just about a dunk but what we saw last night was one of those moments where he dunked it on John Collins against Utah Jazz where it wasn’t just the basketball World kind

Of stops and checks in on each other it’s just the sports world and I don’t think that happens very often anymore so we’ve all seen the dunk I don’t know that you want a 20-minute monologue on game play-by-play recap but in the play byplay it actually

Says five foot dunk and I was looking for it and I went wait I don’t think I see that very often he takes two steps into the paint off a pass after a turnover Collins is in the restricted area he goes up to contest it by the way

We’ll talk about John Collins here in a second because there’s no contest shaming done on this podcast uh and the contact into Collins pushes ant just a little bit higher than maybe he’s capable of as just a normal human which we also saw in the block against the

Pacers where there’s just a little bit of momentum off of someone else that makes it go up even higher it’s like the Tom Chambers dunk that we had in the video game where it’s like man there’s contact and then he just went up another level you didn’t even think it was like

Available like this elevator goes where so it’s an an on finish everyone loses their mind the home fans do for Utah all of his teammates everyone’s looking around they’re looking at John Collins just underneath the rim sitting there rubbing himself and I couldn’t stop watching all of the

Angles like I saw it live and I go oh my God I yell second solo out loud yell watching basketball Collins left the game with a possible concussion so we’ll see where that goes but it was just one of those moments you’re like I guess this is why

We all watch or what we’re all hoping for uh a quick aside for the it’s not a dunk crowd because he didn’t technically flush it under the rim and throws it because of the angle of how high up he was and how aggressive he actually finishes the little lights are not

Twinkling thank you for your observation moving on I like my generation for a couple Reasons I’m probably biased I guess I could sit here and say I hate my generation and there’s some other stuff that maybe we’re not as good at but what I like about my generation if you’re

Around my age is that we grew up for the first 20 years or so of our lives without the technology that defines younger generations and we know this has all been covered before but when you think about growing up and being in college without the internet without phones

Without all of the advanced information just at our fingertips it’s like going abroad in a different Universe for like 20 years and then coming back and being like hey and when you think back on it you’re exp many young people like how did you even go anywhere without GPS or a

Phone like I don’t know you know okay you want to go visit that guy this weekend road trip how are we going to get there oh yeah I don’t know we can’t I yes we can’t go running late hey should we let someone know that we’re nope we can’t no one’s ever been

Able to do it maybe one day no we figured it out now I don’t know if people shorted the atlas Market but we figured it out but one of the other things that happened then and has changed now in sports is that we’ve become desensitized to these moments and sports that’ll live forever

Because we can just go back and watch it all over again when I installed too at my apartment the first time I was like I can die now I’m good I’ve experienced Peak Humanity I can rewind dunks because as a kid a dunk was so incredibly special if you were lucky

Enough to go to a game and you’d see the turnover kind of developing and then you’d see the guy break out in front of everybody else you’re like oh my God I’m going to see it it’s it’s going to happen I’m going to see a dunk in

Person and then it was over over and you couldn’t go back and watch it over the luckiest hope you had or I i’ say the only chance you had was the NBA releasing those official dunk VHS tapes that I would watch over and over and over again lry bird small town

Highlights are you kidding sign me up just wearing those tapes out that was the best that you could do so once you can do it’s like eating like if you can get your favorite meal every single day then you’re just going to get sick of it after a little while and with these

Plays now uh as spectacular as they are as so many players capable of doing the most absurd as the evolution of the athlete continues despite what some guys in the 90s would tell you you can be desensitized to it yet the point of last night and the

Reason I even talking about is was it was like being a kid all over again where guys are texting me they’re checking in do were checking in with each other being that did you see this angle did you see this clip afterwards just like wanting to make

Sure we all on the same page and like caught up on the latest ant content I love this basketball team I really do like Minnesota and yes ant has most to do with it there’s some guys that aren’t my favorite players timber wolves fans want to keep asking me about the gobear trade

And to quote Nick Sabin quit asking me I’m never going to like it but this team because of Aunt’s personality and his ability it’s he’s just undeniable the the joy that this team will have in these moments rallying around their young Superstar is a real thing like they have

A real personality and I watch Minnesota games not because I like the team not because they’re always battling you know they had the one seed for for the longest time they’re still only a half game out with cat injury and goar not playing the last couple games I watch

Them because it’s important to watch them because you’re trying to figure out like okay how do you actually feel about their chances of coming out of the West so when I see ant last night after the game he had one clip where he’s watching his own dunk clip and the video got out

There on social media and I was like I don’t know he uses the nword can I retweet this I caught I was like I don’t I mean it’s him I’m just going to retweet the video and I was like I don’t even know what to do anymore I don’t

Know what the rules are with that one so I was going to stay away with stay away from that um then when he was signing autographs some kid was like can I have your jersey he’s like no I Gotta Give it to Collins most players would be like

All right that’s a dick thing to say for whatever reason with Ann I was like I’m okay with it and do follow up on the Collins part of it don’t dog Collins for getting dunked on all right appreciate the effort to contest we do not contest shame on this podcast we appreciate

Those that still will try to defend when the odds are against them like that Meme from Game of Thrones with John and the sword looking everybody at least he’s trying right so we don’t do that with Collins as ugly as it was and I know in basketball culture

You’re just better just getting away from the entire place you’re not going to have to live in infamy like this but we don’t do that on this podcast so as I watch this team that I get so excited about as I tune in the way I did with

Vince Carter where I’ll be like well look I should watch Minnesota because they’re a good team but I’m also going to watch Minnesota all the time because I just want to see what might possibly happen that’s the level that ant is on there are other incredible in-game

Dunkers Jaylen green had one last week that was in the Aaron Gordon Tippin thing from two weeks ago nuts all right we don’t need to start arguing about which dunk was but the fact that I’m tuning in I think like a lot of you are we’re going I’m going to watch Minnesota

Because I just want to see maybe what happens what’s possible it’s just like with Vince Carter I didn’t care about whether or not the Raptors won those games Vince Carter I think is the best in-game dunker I’ve ever seen consistently the stuff that he would do

I don’t know I I don’t want to sit here and say it’ll never be match because now I sound like 90s guy but ant’s making me feel that way again 25 years later in a way I just didn’t think I’d ever have this feeling again so when you look at

Minnesota the offense post cat it’s actually the same it’s 114.65 and then you watch Ant and you’re like could he actually do this is he so good is he at such a level right now that he could carry this team through a couple rounds in the Western Conference

Playoffs because normally I’d be like man you need that second guy you need that second guy to create initiate the offense on its own when everybody else loads up against your guy but then there’s moments in last night’s game where it looked like Utah had them and I

Know Utah’s not any good and they’ve gotten worse here after the All-Star break and trade deadline but Utah had a moment where they loaded up with three players against him on the left side in the first half he shook the first guy with a crossover and then kind of like

Euro stepped his way through and it was just a layup and it was three people ready for him and guess what they weren’t ready in the second half they built a wall on a drive against him two huge defensive players Utah standing him straight up stopped him he looked like

He was stuck he steps through and then finds an angle and finishes with a layup and I start to think is this that next level Marty fish friend of the podcast huge Timberwolves fan he was like all right where’s ant in the top 10 I go for top 10 players I think there

Needs to be a little bit of playoff success on your resume so if you run through it you’re like all right I don’t have int my top five and statistically SGA is just off the chart so it’s it’s really hard to argue that ant’s better than him it’s more fun to watch okay

That’s that’s not I don’t think much of an argument but SJ also has a million dudes around him that make all of these shots and even if the shooting is better when I think about Minnesota’s offense even without cat it’s like all right a diminish Conley Alexander Walker has

Been a really nice improved player but he’s probably not getting you buckets on his own um you know you think about the rest of the roster and Kyle Anderson maybe doubling up on Ant then Kyle Anderson’s running all of your offense you’re probably not

Going to want to pass it to go bar Aon and then you got whatever it is that Jaden McDaniel’s trying to discover in his own game but even though I worry about all those things I’m like I don’t know if I can write it off because of how special Aunt

Has been and here’s the other thing is that after cat’s injury in these games watching them all and still playing basketball I’ve mentioned cam Thomas a few times and you’ve probably already heard me say it he’s an incredibly talented guy shop maker is gonna play in

A league A long long time but if you’re playing like cam Thomas is and you’re one of his teammates you’re like this sucks sometimes okay that is that is basketball 101 at some point you’re like dude this kind of sucks especially when Mel Bridges is the better basketball

Player ant would have every right to play like a basketball Pig right now just go whatever I’m just going to get a million shots up I know he had what 29 shots in the comeback against the Clippers they were down 20 and then they

Come back and win by 18 in that one um I think he took 35 shots in the Pacers game so there’s been some nights where he’s lit it up at the efficiency in the shooting is still there and there’s Still Moments where it’s like is he

Going to force this a little bit too much and of course that’s going to happen with somebody who’s as good as he is offensively but he’s still making a lot of good basketball plays and good basketball reads hell on the dunk that I’m talking about now for 10 plus

Minutes the turnover starts with ant getting the loose ball and making the pass that sets up the pass back to him he could have just barreled through somebody or everybody if he wanted to and it would have been totally justified but he’s still playing basketball for

The most part I think the right way despite the diminish Talent around him with goar and towns both being out last night all I know is this you see that dunk live as it happens and you’re an older guy sitting downstairs by himself and you start screaming thinking about

Who to call it feels good to feel that again

Ryen Russillo talks about Anthony Edwards’s highlight reel dunk over John Collins as the Timberwolves defeated the Utah Jazz, then discusses why the dunk was so special, whether or not Edwards is ascending to the top tier of NBA stardom right before our very eyes, and whether the Timberwolves can make it deep into the playoffs this year.

Check out the Bill Simmons YouTube channel: youtube.com/billsimmons

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