Mavs-Wolves Game 5 Preview: Can Anthony Edwards shut down Luka Doncic? | NBA Today

Mavs-Wolves Game 5 Preview: Can Anthony Edwards shut down Luka Doncic? | NBA Today

game five of the Western Conference Finals tip off is just hours away but first Wendy I have to ask you where where are you cuz you look like you’re at a Conference Finals party where’s the champagne Wendy but this is how we got here y’all game one the Wolves had to lead up into the final minutes but Luca had to Magic drop 15 in the fourth quarter to get the win and then game two we got the iconic isolation Rudy goar guarding Luca and the rest’s history as the maps take a commanding 20 lead with the series heading back to Dallas game three though y’all unfortunately it has the same track that the Wolves had to run back Minnie had another lead with less than 5 minutes to go but too much from Luca and Kyrie as they combined for 66 points to take a 3 Series lead then the sleeping giant woke up in game four cat went for four of five from three ant dropped 29 Points and proved why he said he’s never been swept and after the win what’s new Anthony Edwards he was feeling confident you tell somebody the H you see for game six what where do that confidence come from um what am I supposed to say I’m supposed to say say um we going to lose game five no I’m not going to never say that um Michael Parsons you know he was rocking the a1s and I told him he wear a size 14 I’ll bring back some nice shoes for game six that’s what I told him so Aunt has done this before he told the Nuggets locker room staff after game five last series that he will be back but he did use some other choice words in saying that he was going to be back and again he’s saying he’s going to be back for game six but if the Wolves want to take the series back to Dallas Wendy they’ll have to start with the win tonight tonight so Brian how can the Wolves repeat their success that they found in game four well Chan they used a pretty radical defensive strategy coming out in game four that certainly caught the Mavericks flat-footed they put ant Edwards on Luca donic and he had tremendous success defending that matchup which frankly surprised me because Luca uh is very strong um but he ant guarded him 36 times that’s way more than games one through three combined I think was about double when he um guarded him in the first three games combined and Luca struggled in that matchup just five of 15 um against ant when he was a primary Defender uh that enabled Jaden McDaniels to switch over and guard Kyrie Irving and Kyrie admitted after the game going up against a six- foot n guy with long arms like McDaniels over seven foot wingspan did affect him and frankly he wasn’t ready for it and that helped keep the Mavericks from getting comfortable and it gave the Wolves a chance to get going especially Carl towns in the second half so I would expect expect to see that same defensive alignment maybe U it’s not as aggressively out of the gate but certainly the Wolves know they can go to that and I expect that to be a big part of their game plan absolutely because they understand that their identity as defense and Andrea what do you think that the Wolves need to do to keep this momentum going yeah I think the biggest thing is that defense right and for me it’s containing Kyrie Irving like Kyrie Irving just talked about that matchup with jayen mcdo you just heard what Wendy said right he wasn’t ready for that matchup but now he’s had a game with that matchup under his belt he’s had film to watch on himself against Jaden McDaniels he’s going to have a better plan of attack do you remember what Kyrie Irving did in game one of this series on the Timberwolves home court 24 points in the first half I imagine Kyrie Irving coming out and being aggressive so defending and containing kyi because with Kyrie it’s not just his scoring it’s the way he facilitates it’s the way he sets up his teammates he could have 11 assists he could have nine assists he is a playmaker so containing Kyrie is going to be the first thing and then Luca donic I don’t anticipate Luca struggling from the field the way he did in the last game but how can you make Luca struggle a little bit more you engage him when he’s on defense Reggie Miller talked about it multiple times in the game Luca defensively there are times where he is in the half court just chilling he’s playing free safety he’s standing at the back line he’s standing along the Baseline he’s not being engaged defensively so one thing that Timberwolves can do just to add to their game plan challenge Luca on the defensive end challenge that knee challenge his legs make him work defensively so he has a little less energy on the offensive side yeah I love this because you guys took my personal point because you highlighted Luca defense you highlighted Kyrie defense and if you noticed in the last game that was the difference for me because they both were for the first time in the postseason held under under 35% shooting while on the other side cat and ant they combined for 54 points they have two closers on one side two closers on another side so that is really really interesting to see who will emerge particularly when it’s closing time now the team wolves they finally got their key pieces to show up as I just mentioned now the Mavs they’re hoping to do the exact same and I’m not talking about their star studded back court the Mavs they were missing a key piece on Tuesday Derek Lively he was out with a sprained neck and he will be a game time decision and here’s what he said this morning at shoot around I’m happy I’m be able to do some touchd doots I’m happy I’m be able to take steps forward I’m still trying to figure it out you know I really don’t know how much I can do we just figuring out what I can do just trying to take it see what see what’s going to bring up fls and what’s not so it’s really just going to be able to just time and Hell been taking my time been able to try to recover as smoothly as I possibly can you know I don’t want to go out there and get hurt again I don’t want to go out there and you know flare something up in my back or my neck so what I’m going to do is just take it step by step and they will need those steps because the Mavs have been at their best with Lively on the floor of the series they are a team best plus 22 when he is on the court and their offense is unlocked with the unreal 132.5 offensive efficiency how do you expect Luca a guard and the Mavs to really adjust their plan of attack tonight look I I was very surprised that Luca didn’t attack that ant Edwards match up more aggressively there was a couple of times early in this series where he got ant in isolation and he just took him down to the rim and attacked him because nobody is going to bully uh an Edwards around but Luca is bigger and he’s just frankly stronger and so what Luca said after game four was that he felt he missed an opportunity because he didn’t have that aggression coming out and I think that’s because his game plan throughout this whole series is to save energy early in the game he he tends to sort of take it easier out of the gate to protect that knee to save the energy and then pre you know press the gas in the fourth quarter that you know the Wolves took advantage of that because they got away with you know having ant on them the other thing is you know giving pressure on Ant not only increases the chances of foul trouble but ant is using an immense amount of energy in the fourth quarter and most of the frankly a lot of the second half of game four the Wolves play Ant Edwards at point guard he had nine assists in the second half he’s never had nine assists in a half in a game in his career so Luca allowing him to save that energy by not going at him early I think was a mistake and I think if that matchup comes back early in this game tonight you will see Luca have a completely different mindset when seeing an Edwards in front of him yeah and I think it’s going to be really fun to see also what Luca does because Luca he said after games man I’m tired but when it comes to situations like this he’s built different LCA donic averages the most points per game in NBA postseason history after a loss we know he’s probably not no one is 100% but we know he’s banged up more than most but the fact that he puts up numbers like this 34.2 over MJ AI Jerry West look at the company Drea yeah yes and that’s why I talk about you got to try and wear him out when he’s on defense so he doesn’t have that energy on the offensive end to put up 34 points that’s going to be a huge key but it’s going to be hard because Luca he controls the pace the tempo of the game better than most people but by the way the Wolves they are the 156th team to Trail 3 and0 and they have already gotten further than get this 95 of those previous teams by winning game four only 15 of these teams though have pushed it to a game six which Minnesota can do with a win tonight Timberwolves they have no choice but to come back in the series so fill in the blank the Wolves win game five if blink Carl Town stays hot you know his shooting down the stretch in game four made all the difference really provided some of that extra offense that the Wolves need they’re not a great offensive team they are a great defensive team they need scoring so Carl Town’s hitting those outside shots and hopefully staying out of foul trouble which he was unable to do he made a huge impact on that game despite fouling out that’s going to be a big key I will point out the wolves are 3 and0 this year in elimination games including a 45-point win here in this building in the last round so they’re going to have confidence coming in the guy sitting back there recording Wy was amazing I’m not going to f in the blank because Wendy did a great job I’m going to say is just watching those 3-1 comebacks you just never know how the tables may turn that’s all I’m going to say you never know you never know you never know but one thing that I did enjoy today Wendy way to push through I know you’ve been traveling Coast to Coast trying to keep intact with this series we have a Conference Finals party literally behind you we appreciate you soldiering through Wendy the cover charge is very high to get in here with me oh okay I like that look at Wendy and Andrea we back in Action a little bit here it’s good to have you talking NBA the Wolves it will be their backs against the wall but at least they are home this series I mean if you feel like if anyone is to make history coming back from 3 0 it might be Ant Edwards particularly being a part of this next Generation that is a Changing of the Guard that’s it from us here on NBA today that’s all we got somebody send Wendy some champagne somebody Bott mosa you’re doing great Wendy he’s he’s crushing it we’ll see you guys tomorrow [Music]

Brian Windhorst joins Chiney Ogwumike and Andraya Carter on NBA Today to discuss how the Minnesota Timberwolves adjusted their defense in their Game 4 win over the Dallas Mavericks and debate what the Wolves need to do to extend the Western Conference Finals.

0:00 The series so far
1:18 Ant defending Luka
4:46 Dereck Lively II
7:52 Wolves win Game 5 if ____

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