Mavericks-Timberwolves Reaction: Luka Doncic game-winner STUNS Wolves, series over? | Hoops Tonight

Mavericks-Timberwolves Reaction: Luka Doncic game-winner STUNS Wolves, series over? | Hoops Tonight

all right welcome to Hoops tonight here at the volume happy Friday everybody hope all of you guys have had a great week game two of the Western Conference Finals goes to the Dallas Mavericks on a game winner from LCA donic in a hell of a game with three seconds left Luca steps back over R goar now Dallas is up 20 and they’re headed home and Minnesota is in a world of trouble we’re going to break it down from the perspective of both teams you guys know the drill before we get started subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don’t miss any more of our videos follow me on Twitter atore jlt so you guys don’t miss show announcements don’t forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under Hoops tonight and then keep dropping mailbag questions in those YouTube comments so we can keep hitting them throughout the rest of the postseason all right let’s talk some basketball so obviously from the M Minnesota perspective it would be easy to talk yourself into kind of a positive outlook for being down 20 right like you led late in game one you led late in game two you just as easily be up 2 as you are currently in your situation where you’re down 02 right I mean just look at tonight like if Luca misses a step back or if nazri hits his three from the right wing then it’s 1-1 right or if something goes differently in game one maybe you’re up 2 right I see it very differently and like for the record I picked Minnesota to start the series but like I don’t care about being right that means nothing to me to quote the great Colin coward what really matters is getting it right to me and I genuinely feel that way I take this job very seriously and I I just my job is to look at what’s happening on the basketball court and try to interpret it into something right and regardless of what may or may not have happened to Minnesota to be in this predicament Down 2 the reality is is that Dallas is way more capable of manipulating Minnesota’s defense and getting what they want than Minnesota is on the other end of the floor NZ Reed hit a three with I think it was like couple minutes left I can’t remember but they put him up 102 101 and I tweeted at that moment I was like Minnesota’s up one they very well might win this game but it doesn’t matter Dallas is going to win the series and it’s because of these specific dynamics that I’m talking about we’re going to get into the to the details but like it just it wouldn’t have mattered if they would have won this game I had a mailbag question last night someone asked me about overreacting to game ones right like that’s always what happens right like somebody wins a game one and then everybody that picked that particular team to win starts running on Victory laps and then everyone else is like scared that they’re wrong and it’s like actually a lot can just be weird in a game one right you need a substantial sample size of basketball to really interpret what the advantages are for either team and regardless of the result forget about like because Dallas what did Dallas win 109 108 tonight forget about the scoreboard if you actually just look at what was happening on the court it’s very clear that Dallas has more advantages than Minnesota does in this series let’s talk him through Luca versus Jaden McDaniels and then Anthony Edwards versus Derrick Jones Jr who looks more comfortable getting to their spot spots against those individual matchups Luc is too big and strong for Jaden McDaniels Derrick Jones Jr is another top tier NBA athlete with length and he can actually match up with Anthony Edwards a little bit better obviously there’s a team scheme element to it and we we’ll get a little bit into that in a little bit but there’s no doubt that even just on an island Luca has a better matchup Minnesota does not have a guy that can make Luca feel uncomfortable Dallas does at least to a certain extent with Anthony Edwards the Kyrie match up Kyrie versus Anthony Edwards and then Carl Anthony towns versus PJ Washington those are your secondary Stars right who looks more comfortable getting to their spots and contributing offensively Kyrie Irving or Carl Anthony towns very clearly Carl Anthony towns right I pulled these ISO stats CU these are absolutely crazy game one Dallas got 1.11 points per ISO Minnesota got 0.39 game two Dallas gets 1.29 points per ISO Minnesota gets 0. 44 points per ISO so even just on an island scoring Luca and Kyrie clearly have better advantages in this series than Anthony Edwards and Carl Anthony towns do right look at the pick and roll when the Mavs run pick and roll uh Luca donic can very easily get Jaden McDaniels into Trail position where he can put him into jail and either operate somewhere in the mid-range or get downhill and manipulate Rudy gobear into helping in some way shape or form so that he can throw a drop off pass or he’s making the kick out reads to the other end of the floor Derrick Jones and PJ Washington go 0 for s from three tonight they’re still not shooting well by the way jump shooting in this game ju it was really bad in game one Minnesota 1.14 points per jumper Dallas 0.93 so Dallas is still on the short end of the stick in terms of shooting result in this series we’ve seen in this playoff run PJ Washington and Derrick Jones Jr convert spot-up possessions at a hell of a higher rate than they have so far in this series Dallas looks way more comfortable in pick and look at the wolves on the Wolves front it’s like high drop against Anthony Edwards they’re able to contest his pull-up three better than D than Denver did they’re uh uh like literally Anthony Edwards is incapable of getting into the lane he is two for eight in the restricted area so far in this entire series through two games so that’s bad no matter how you look at it the percentages 25% in the restricted area that’s bad eight attempts in two games he averaged over seven attempts in the restricted area per game in the entire seven game Denver Nugget Series so like no matter how you look at it the only opportunity for Minnesota to score effectively is to get out in transition off of stops whereas anytime Dallas wants to they can methodically execute and get to a high quality shot in the half court they’ve been up over 100 points per 100 halfcourt plays in both games they are dominating the half court battle in the series series The only reason that it has appeared as close as it has is because of the fact that they’ve knocked down three-point shots guys like Jaden McDaniels hitting in game one guys like Nas Reed hitting in game two they’ve shot the ball better and it’s the only reason it has looked as close as it has but the advantages are very clear Dallas is more capable of manipulating Minnesota’s defense and getting quality shots than Minnesota is capable of doing on the other end of the floor so regardless of what would happened tonight and by the way Dallas is up 20 so it’s manifested in the result but regardless of what would have happened tonight or if Minnesota would have split it split the two games or if Minnesota would have been up 20 I think Dallas would have gone home and won two and regained control of the series anyway now who knows if Dallas will relax in some sort of profound way going home and Minnesota manages to steal one of those games but I think this series is over I think it’s over regardless of what happened down the stretch tonight Dallas just it’s a lot it’s matchup based and that’s the fascinating piece of this right like looking back uh Minnesota goes up against a couple of really poor Rim protection teams in Phoenix and Denver and their offense wakes up in a way it never did all season right and and Dallas has the ability to kind of play them into those situations right but like that’s how it goes right that like matchups are are what determines basketball games in so many different ways and Dallas is just very well equipped to beat this Minnesota Timberwolves team and the Timberwolves do not have many more cards they can play they can try benching Rudy gobear and playing their shooting bigs instead to try to space the floor for ant that might get them going offensively but I think they’re going to get picked like they’re getting picked apart now with Rudy goar on the floor just wait until you see what it looks like when you ditch Rudy goar and here’s the thing Rudy goar he’s getting slandered all over the place and by the way he did a very poor job on that final possession I clipped a little screenshot you guys can see where Rudy goar like they’re down two everybody in the entire world knows Lucas hunting a three there everybody except for Rudy goar apparently because on the last move that Luca donic hits Rudy takes a negative step with his right foot so he’s got his back turned to Luca I took a screenshot of this put on my Twitter feed his right foot is about 17 fet from the rim so just behind the foul line and his back is turned as he’s getting ready to turn back to close out on Luca he bit on a dribble Drive fake on a possession where everybody knew that the dribble Drive doesn’t hurt you cuz at the worst case scenario you’re going to overtime and everybody knows luk is a psychopath and he’s going to be going for the three-point shot but here’s the thing Rudy goar did a poor job on that final possession but he’s still a very good defensive player and Minnesota has fared better in this series when he’s been on the floor so if you think that benching Rudy goar is just going to magically solve all of your problems I disagree I think that your defense will just get substantially worse than any sort of increase you might get on the offensive end of the four Minnesota can try switching in pick and roll more right that’s an option they could go to well we just saw that on the final possession of today’s game and my guess is Luca would just figure out Rudy goar as well over the course of some sort of large sample size they can try to Blitz more Dallas still hasn’t really shot well though and you know drick Jones and PJ Washington went 0 for seven from three tonight that might be their best strategy for Minnesota to try to slow this offense down but it hasn’t yielded good results like I I I I don’t think that that’s going to be some sort of magical fix in this series again jump shooting tonight Minnesota was better again Dallas dominated points in the paint again like I I don’t think that there’s some sort of magical card that Minnesota can play that can flip the obvious Dynamic that Dallas is a better halfcourt offense this is where we got to get to Luca he just unbelievably amazing again you know in terms of like actually operating from the perimeter like I think I think that you can we can get into arguments about this kind of thing over the summer but like Nico yic is the guy that you would point to as someone who might be better than Luka donic but in terms of like operating from the perimeter in the ball with the ball in your hands live dribble there is nobody in the NBA that can dissect an elite defense in the half court the way that Luka donic can there aren’t very many perimeter Defenders that can even make him feel remotely uncomfortable like Lou Dort did about as good of a job as he could and Lucas still found a way with the with with the strength of their defense and with support from Kyrie Irving they knocked off the one seed even with a perimeter Defender that is like built in some sort of bizarre NFL Lab to be the guy who guards LCA donic right so you can’t find a guy who can guard him on an island there’s no coverage that works you try switching he’s going to barbecue your big man that’s the that’s one I don’t I don’t think Rudy gobear is as good defensively as his accolades would lead you to believe but he’s still a very good defensive player is he as good as Anthony Davis or Bay Metabo or Victor wanyama or Draymond Green probably not but he’s still damn good and Luca barbecued his ass right you could try blitzing he’s going to make the read every single time and it’s going to end in either lob dunks or Corner threes again uh Derrick Lively in particular has just been so damn good on the short roll making decisions when he kind of gets into space off of those blitzes like there’s literally nothing you can do with Luca he he’s going to find a way the amount of comically easy shots that he generated against Minnesota’s defense in these first two games is insane Dallas hasn’t shot nearly as well as they are capable of it hasn’t even manifested in the way that it can manifest but still when push comes to shove late in these games he’s found a way to keep the ball in his hands through Straight ISO and he’s been able to get the looks that he needs to close the deal Kyrie Irving once again came up huge when it mattered hits uh three threes at the beginning of the fourth quarter that kind of like erased any sort of benefit that Minnesota got out of Nas Reed’s hot streak he missed those two clutch free throws late they were weird too kind of his his release looked kind of weird that was kind of a funky sequence but then he makes up for it by hitting that huge Corner three later that cuts the lead to two and like once again like there’s always the shot before the shot that gets looked over right it’s like it’s like the Ray Allen Corner three in the 2013 finals LeBron hit a three on the previous possession like it’s there’s always like a shot before the shot Kyrie’s three in that corner was the shot before the shot that Luca hit that like put them in a position where they could get there that was a massive massive bucket what it’s been kind of a theme in this postseason that he can kind of ease into games and then like he just finds way it’s always like that early fourth quarter stretch when Luc is off the floor that Kyrie just goes Super Saiyan and finds a way to get baskets for his team and put them over the edge and then I just have to shout out Derrik Livy and Daniel Gafford they are kicking ass in this series they’re protecting the hell out of the rim I pointed out the Anthony Edwards two for8 in the restricted area stat here’s another crazy stat for you Minnesota shot 65% in the restricted area against Denver they’re shooting 54% in the restricted area against Dallas that is an 11% reduction in efficiency there 54% they’re barely making more than half of their layups against this Min uh against this Dallas defense like and that’s Lively and Gafford they’ve been incredible what did Gafford have four blocks tonight drik Lively had a huge stop on a switch against Anthony Edwards late in the game they’ve just been absolutely awesome I I can’t I can’t say enough about him Luca’s playing like Luca is banged up and he’s playing like the best player in the world Kyrie Irving is in a perfectly suited role for him on this team where he’s contributing in on both ends of the floor in a big way they’ve just absolutely hit slam dunk uh uh signings in the on the margins in the offseason like Jones Jr even again the even the uh um Grant Williams signing the sign in trade that was a vehicle which with with which they Ed to bring back guys like PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford like it just they they just look like they just have put this together in such a beautiful way to accentuate Their Stars I I just can’t say enough about how impressed I’ve been with Dallas in this series again like I very you guys know me I very rarely am like this series is over guy even when Minnesota went up 20 if you guys remember I was like yeah I think Minnesota’s going to win but I would can’t say the series is over this series is over like Minnesota cannot solve these problems that Dallas presents to them and it’s all of these guys Luca and Kyrie are kicking the out of ant and Carl Anthony towns Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford are kicking the out of Rudy gobear it is a matchup by matchup Dallas is just outclassing them and the only reason it has appeared as close as it has is three-point shooting like yeah I if if PJ Washington and Derrick Jones Jr shoot remotely the way they’ve been shooting the remainder of this the rest of this postseason they’re they’re they’re winning both of these games comfortably like like Minnesota is in a world of trouble we’re this close to crowning a new NBA champ and with the action heating up on the court it’s even hotter a draftking sports book an official sports betting partner of the NBA there’s only so many games left draftking Sportsbook has you covered with same game parlays live betting odds boosts and so much more don’t miss out or you’ll have to wait until next NBA season to place your bets it’s super easy for first- timers to get started try betting on something simple like picking a team to win go to the DraftKings Sportsbook app select your squad and place your first bet it’s that simple the championship odds right now as we head into the Conference Finals according to DraftKings Boston’s at minus 150 the Timberwolves at plus 275 the Mavericks at plus 500 and the Indiana Pacers a long shot at plus 2500 new to dra Kings listen up new customers can get a no sweat bet up to 1,500 bucks just deposit at least five bucks and you’ll get a bonus bet back equal to your first bet if it doesn’t hit download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now and use code Hoops that’s ho o o PS that’s code Hoops for new customers to get a no sweat bet up to 1,500 bucks if your first bet doesn’t hit only on DraftKings the crown is yours on the Minnesota front I want to talk about Anthony Edwards for a second had another nightmare gamees five for 17 from the field the main thing that’s standing out to me I I talked a lot about this dynamic in the Phoenix series but Anthony I just such a profoundly gifted downhill athlete that his pull-up jumper becomes really easy because he’s just coming downhill at you and every Defender is on their heels but because of the way that Dallas can protect the rim it has allowed Derrick Jones Jr to press up a little bit more on ant in a way that the other opponents could not and it has put him in a predicament where now the majority of his shot attempts are coming in the form of Pull-Up jump jump shots he’s taken eight shots in the restricted area eight of them in two games everything else is from the perimeter everything else and so as a result instead of that being that give and take of like downhill Force pullup jump shooting instead it’s like there’s nothing downhill and it’s all pull up jump shooting by the way this is a credit to Dallas’s defense you don’t think Anthony Edwards knew coming into the game he needed to get downhill more early in this game he had two downhill drives in transition where he got fouls he had a playing pick and roll where he got downhill made a kick out pass to an to uh Carl Anthony towns but like when when Dallas really really loads up on him he cannot turn the corner he cannot get into the lane and like and there’s a like that has manifested in his jumper not going in this is the worst this Series has been the worst he shot from the perimeter in his entire playoff career he’s had four series before this where he’s been deadly as a pull-up jump shooter this series he has not been able to get that part of his game going and it to me it’s because there’s not that balance he can’t turn the corner so now he’s he offensively is effectively on his heels which is allowing Derrick Jones to be on his toes and more forward aggressive he’s not getting good looks and he’s not getting good looks he’s not making them and this is where like you know if you it’s too early to get into like big offseason kind of big picture stuff with Minnesota but this is the gobear problem and there is a conversation to be had about the pros and cons of having him on the floor because he does not have good hands he does not catch and finish everything he does not make good decisions on the role how many times did he smoke shots at The Rim tonight like that’s not his game he does not provide much in the way of spacing at all whatsoever and so as a result like the game is going to be difficult for ant whenever he runs into a team that can truly Pro protect the rim in a playoff setting anytime he runs into that problem this kind of thing will manifest now obviously there’s an opportunity there based on goar’s contract in the realities of his limitations he’s probably going to be a timber wolf for a long time right so if you’re Anthony Edwards what’s the move there what does a have to get better at to solve this kind of problem and again every alltime great runs into a certain type of problem right like for Luca over the years it’s like it’s kind of like Andrew Wiggins in the 2022 Western Conference Finals whenever somebody can actually put on a big strong athlete that Luca can’t bully that’s kind of like his big Rubik’s Cube that he has to solve by the way he solved it against ludor and won the series right didn’t in 2022 he solved it this year right but like that’s his like big challenge that he has to figure out what if there’s somebody that actually he can’t bully right every like for LeBron James what if everyone just sags back and dares you to shoot jumpers what are you going to do for Anthony Edwards it’s what if someone can protect the rim and you’re this downhill slasher what are you going to do and that piece for Anthony Edwards in my opinion is going to be very similar to what you’re seeing from Luca ant has to learn to add that kind of like in between change of pace here he has to be able to put Defenders into jail manipulate Rim protectors find a way to get past Derrick Jones in a ball screen but then methodically work downhill and generate some kind of opening where you can pick a team apart in the ball screen again Dallas is guarding these ball screens three on two they are they are up at the level and they have somebody tagging the roller it’s three on two the openings are going to be through an dissecting the defense and similar way to what Luca is doing that’s the next step for him he’s 22 years old he’s got a lot of time to figure it out but and he’s this is not the last team that he’s going to run into that’s going to have a seven-footer that can jump underneath the rim and a good athlete on the perimeter that can load up on him and enough speed around him to kind of put three in uh into a ball screen action right so like that’s going to be the that’s going to be the next step for a is figuring out how to solve this particular type of problem overall for Minnesota you know every year I cover the NBA I learn more and uh again like as I’ve as I said at the beginning of the show I don’t care about being right I care about getting it right and so much is about learning from what the game is teaching Us in these results and I had all of these concerns about Minnesota during the regular season like oh do they have real like the real ability to space the floor and in counter Rim protection uh Anthony Edwards and Carl Anthony towns as decision makers look at the decision-making at the end of this game from Anthony Edwards throwing the ball out of bounds just like inability to kind of solve what’s happening in front of him the late game offense in general this team was one of the worst late game offenses in the league all year long and I think we myself got dissuaded by virtue of Phoenix and Denver’s inability to protect the rim into thinking that their offense had like figured something out but all that is is like ant superpower is downhill athleticism and those teams just couldn’t match up with that problem whereas Dall Dallas has something that can counter that now it’s kind of exposing that issue and so like I mean matchups determin most of the stuff over the course of the NBA but like all you’re seeing from Minnesota is the same sort of issues they had all season they’ve just been brought to the Forefront by virtue of a matchup that can shy a flashlight on those things but again I think Dallas is going to go home I I think this series is this this could very easily be a sweep I’ll say in five just because I have too much respect for Minnesota and what they’ve accomplished to this point but I think this series is over I do not see a a a move that Minnesota can make to flip the script the pieces are not there the chess move is not there there’s this is Checkmate there there’s nothing they can do so the uh Dallas fans I think it’s I I think you a barring injury can start getting a little excited about the fact that the NBA Finals is a very realistic goal for you here uh obviously we’re to cover the rest of the series as though Minnesota does have a chance just because that’s the the the nature of the profession and we’re going to give uh we’re going to go live after game three and see if they can’t turn it around but I don’t see it I I just don’t see any sort of of easy fix there on the table all right guys that is all I have for tonight as always I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting the show we will be back tomorrow morning with a little bit of film session on this game and then uh uh we’ll be covering game three of the Eastern Conference Finals I will see you guys then [Music] he

Jason Timpf reacts to Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and the Dallas Mavericks’ STUNNING 109-108 Game 2 win over Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns, and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals. Jason discusses Luka’s game-winner, how the Mavs have figured out the Minnesota defense, and whether he thinks this series is OVER heading back to Dallas for Game 3.

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