What's Wrong With The Wolves' Offense + The Lakers As A Potential 1st Round Matchup w/ Britt Robson

0:00The Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports. Right now, the NBA is heating up, March Manus is here, and MLB is almost back. Every day there's a new headline, a new highlight, a new moment you've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay locked in with the Bleacher Report app. For me, it's about staying connected to my sports. I can follow the teams I care about, get real-time scores, breaking news, and highlights all in one place. Dallow, the Bleacher Report app today, so you never miss a moment. This is the day more NBA podcast, and we are brought to you by PricePix. Coming at you, Wednesday afternoon, it's March 11th. We are recording this. Between the two LA games, the Wolves lost by 14 to the Lakers last night, and they play the Clippers this evening. I'll be back on Thursday to discuss whatever happens in that Clippers game with Kyle. But today, I am joined by Britt Robson and Britt.

1:02As of today, the Wolves offense is in the rough place. Maybe they do bounce back against the Clippers this evening, though. They haven't played offense very well against the Clippers the two times they've played them thus far this season. But even if they do bounce back against the Clippers, it's going to be on the heels of two of their roughest offensive performances of the season against the Magic and the Lakers. But I'd argue it goes back further than that. Since the Alster break, the Wolves have played nine games. There's six and three in those games, and they have a few good scoring games along the way. The wins against Portland and Toronto and even Denver was decent. But those were the games where the Wolves were really running, right? You know, those are the games they're getting out and transition. They've been bad in the half court, all line games, the possessions where they're not getting out and running. They're just actually running offense against a set defense. They haven't scored more than a point per possession in any of the games. Since the Alster break, overall, even if you do include the transition, which has been good,

2:05they're still just 23rd and offensive rating since the Alster break. What do you think is wrong with the Wolves offense right now? I think it goes deeper than that. It was just a week ago, you guys, you and I were talking, and we were talking about whether the Wolves are the third best team in the Western Conference. And I was hesitant, and it just was on the heels of the conversation about how many minutes slowmo would get. And I said, I won't get that many minutes. So that it was either that night or the day after they played Toronto, and it was the best game. I think I've seen the Wolves play since the 23, 24 season, just fantastic. And I thought to myself, well, I didn't say slowmo is going to get a lot of minutes. He seems to be a much bigger contributor than I thought. And I really resisted naming the third best team in the Western. They certainly looked like that at least. But the reason for my hesitation is that this team is unreliable.

3:10It is, it could be their defense that has fallen apart as opposed to their offense. But I think a lot of it comes back to attitude quite frankly. I think a lot of it comes back to the fact that they played one of their best games of the season. And I don't think it was a coincidence. They followed it up with two of their worst games of the season all year long. And I know, you know, I mean, there's a tendency to treat the season two hysterically or hyperdramatically. And it's entirely possible that they'll come out and, you know, beat the Clippers. I'm almost certain they'll beat the Warriors. Maybe play OKC tough again the next night. And everybody will forget about this little blip. But should we? Are we forgetting too often? That's the thing. I think that, I mean, first of all, again, context. If they were to continue their current winning percentage, they'd have the 4th best winning percentage in Timberwolves franchise history. So that's not bad, you know.

4:12But they have continually been unreliable in terms of securing their gains and taking a step forward. They secure their gains and then they seem to take a step back most of the time. And specific to the offense, I think it's either isolation or transition, as you were talking about. What has dried up is the ball movement to get the open man the shot. How often do we see that against either Orlando or the Lakers? Orlando is a pretty decent offense. The Lakers normally do not defense me. Yes, sorry. Yeah. The Lakers have a terrible defense as a rule. Now they, you know, they have a couple of guys who are decent on defense of Marcus Smart, obviously, did a good job the other night and, you know, a couple of other guys who you could say a ravius seems to be a guy at the very least is diligent.

5:14But they just got out worked last night. I mean, they get out hustled, loose balls, offensive rebounds, and they also play stupidly. A lot really go ahead one shot. And yet they were well over 60% from two point range. The paint was open to some extent. You had to connect to Rudy in the paint against that Lakers defense. That was basically playing zone packing it in there. They're in all the gaps. I mean, it's the same thing that the Clippers did. And we talked about after that game of like, well, what, you know, it's the aunt. Why do you want me to pass this? What I do, you know, is the same he was facing that same Clippers defense and that Clippers where they're loading up and they're bringing the weak side guy all the way over into the lane. They're loading there. And the wolves had one of their worst offensive games of the season against that against that Clippers team because they're not good against that or that type of defense is requiring

6:19you to get into the middle and then either find shooters or find Rudy at the rim. And I think the thing the Lakers were really leaving open in that last game or in that game last night was was Rudy there. But you still need to like get into the crowd almost and then find Rudy in the lob for the lob there or at the rim. And you know, that's not a high percentage connection as is and it was getting deflected and is condensed even more in there like. The Lakers set a net. That's what their defense was for the wolves to like stumble in, you know, or Julius are going to play into a crowd here or a net that makes it messier to try to involve Rudy go bearing the game like you're right. That Rudy like was out there and Rudy was often open underneath the hoop, but you need execution against the zone in the way that the Lakers were playing defense to capitalize on that. Well, they've never been a consistently good pick and roll team because they don't do it a lot, but pick and roll obviously is one of the ways, you know, that you deal with that type of defense.

7:27I think you force them to cluster in some way, shape, perform and it also gives Rudy a purpose other than catching and finishing. You know what I mean? Like he doesn't need to be the place last night. It's just like 15 rebounds he knew his job was to get rid of the ball once he had it. I don't know how many of those were offensive rebounds, but I think a lot of it just comes from diligence play to play diligence. When you do pick and roll, you set your pick when you are passing the ball, you make a crisp pass and then move without the ball. You force the team to do a lot more reacting than they had to do the other night. I agree. In terms of shot selection, I mean, say what you will, but if you make over 60% of your twos, then you're finding a way to get inside that trap or that net. I came up as Jay McDaniels is three from four from two point range, 0 from five from three. Randall, four for six from two, one for five for three.

8:30Nas, five for six from two, one for five from three. Io, six for six for two, over two from three. Those four guys, two for 17 from three, 18 for 22 from two. Now some of that obviously wasn't transition what you were talking about, but not and there were also occasions where it was not. And so, and then you had a aunt and Raghu, who work a mind one for eight from two and three for 16 from three, they just weren't going to score at all. But there is an emphasis on three point shooting and the effective field goal percentage points for play, however you want to do it bears it out. The Timils and the last couple of games and for a while now are testing that theory. Because Rudy is a 70% shooter when he finally gets the ball and gets the part of the basket. Yeah, there's probably not 10% off that off of the turnovers and the miscues or whatever.

9:34That's still pretty good and still 60% true shooting percentage. It's just not a smart, they did not look smart and they did not look motivated. It's one thing to play intelligently and it's another thing to play hard and you obviously want both at the same time. We haven't seen either in the last two games and that's on the coaching and it's on the leadership of Randall and Ann. Who I think kind of emblematic of that stop and go intensity and that stop and go intelligence. I want to talk about the three point shooting and let's relate this to aunt to because I think we got to talk about, you know, it's two to 15 in this game. We got to get into why I always wonder with like three point shooting, do we do chalk that up to variance or is something leading to. Those three is that they're taking being lower percentage ones because we got 24% from three against the Lakers and 23% against the magic.

10:37Now, if you want to tell me and you made a good argument that, you know, they're just missing good ones, then we don't have to have a lot of concern about what these two games are. I felt watching the games that this wasn't just a three point variance sort of thing and I do have concerns about about the health of the offense and I think it's. It's about what threes are getting generated or not getting generated and get specific to the Lakers like you need to kind of, you know, Finches always says like don't play in a crowd right. You almost have to kind of dare the crowd when you're playing against his own in that sort of way if you want to drive it or. That's right you want to create a crowd to create space elsewhere and and I felt like I haven't rewatched the game is very very late game so I'm just going off of like live watching. It was really hard to rewatch right right yeah yeah I don't know you can you go back but you can't it isn't as easy as DVR yeah that's true so another of us have rewatched the game that ended.

11:42At 1 a.m. Basically last night but it felt like this team needs to get back to testing like the dexterity of the defense and look and and having the goal be to kick like doesn't it feel to you that the corners have kind of abandoned this team as like a major pursuit I remember. You know a couple years ago with Ant we're talking about defenses loading to him or presenting to or whatever and it was about you know it was kind of step one of that initiation get to the middle. Have the low man commit over find the guy in the corner and I feel like and this isn't just an ant specific thing but like that doesn't feel like the goal is much of like dragging in the defense to find the open corner shooter there right. And it's more so I'm driving and denting the defense maybe playing in a crowd and getting myself in trouble or I'm pulling up and I'm taking a mid range shot here right and and we talked about how valuable ants mid range shot has been we've talked about the situational value of playing through Julius in the mid range there.

12:50But it needs to be like part in personal with also tapping into what your team is really really good at which is which is three point shooting of everybody who plays other than Rudy go bear right and and it feels to me like they're getting lost in that in that space that they sometimes really punish which is creating advantage situations. But man it feels like when you get a locked in opponent like the Lakers last night who work clearly bringing more effort on defense and they normally do agree that the world's offense really needs to work harder to generate to generate better looks and I don't have confidence or I have concern. That this this offense despite being 10th or 11th and overall offense on the season you know has the ability to really stay at that level even come playoff time because I do think it gets bogged down by isolation and yeah. I think if they play smarter you mentioned the corners the corners are good for two things obviously the corner three's well three things the corner three's the up fake and the drive off the corner three because the close out usually a week side guy and they don't come over or cuts cut and team does not cut.

14:05There's not cutting especially from the baseline yeah and what's ironic about this is like last night slow mo is like a zone breaker you put him in the middle of the floor that's his thing and then he loves to hit he did hit I think it was either Dante or I want a baseline. Back door or whatever but it was those were few and far between and the idea of the walls getting cuts and doing that it's just isn't there as much. Also I do think whether they're good or bad shots this habit of taking the three. When Christopher Finch first came here he started he started saying we need people to take the shots at their good at you remember that people were well. Since February 1st which goes back. Two weeks three weeks before the all star break.

15:07Jane McDaniel's is 34% from three. This is all since February 1st February 1st Julius Randall 13 for 62. 21% from three. So he's Randall is 21% from three since February 1st. Nas Reed 18 for 67 26.9% from three. Remember how great he was in January yeah then that shut off. And what's crazy about that is particularly in the case of Jaden and Nas and Julius for that matter although Julius. Everybody knows he wants to go anyway but not as he's good off the bounce. Jaden has become good off the bounce. If you have it wide open catching two three go for it but some of these plays are either contested or late in the clock.

16:08It gets to the general offensive malaise that this team has right now that. We still. Randall and ants decision making has slowed down again which is always a problem when those guys are quick with their decisions. Even maybe even especially with each other. It's really really helpful. Because if they both touched the ball during a possession that maybe in these room for one other guy to touch the ball. Unless they move the ball. So a lot of his ball movement some of it is who is taking the shot and when and why are they taking the shot. And to me what I have begun to think about the Tim Bulls and the 25 26 season is are they locked in or not. Because so much of what we're talking about. Seems smart or stupid depending on how locked in they are.

17:11Almost anything we say that doesn't make sense well if they're locked in it'll probably work. And we'll say well this is what they should do but if they're not locked in it doesn't really matter. You know it really is an attitude thing. So what do we do with that? What does Chris Finch do with it? That's really the question isn't it? I mean I'm putting I'm putting plenty of the offense last night on fans. Well I mean the patience level has become too long. Yeah. In my opinion. His top guys have really high ceilings and really annoying floors. And can you get the ceilings without the floors? It's beginning to be time to try to find out. And maybe what Finch is banking on is when the games really mean something you know like in the postseason that won't be an issue.

18:17But if they're two games out of the playing right now. They are two games behind the suns who have the tie breaker. I mean two games in the suns who have the tie breaker. They could find themselves playing the clippers to see if they get the seventh seed or having to play the eighth seed for the eighth seed. Either way getting the spurs and or the thunder in the first round. So the games do mean something right now and Finch when he came back from the all star break did say some games will count double. Well that was true of Denver and they won that was a real well played game. This was the second one like that that counted double because they were in that group of six and they lost it. I want to I want to talk a little bit about more about the the standings and stuff because there has been a shift since since we moved there. Cooper my producer is on vacation so I'm going to do the the ad breaks live here record them if that's if that's all right.

19:18Today's show is brought to you by Treasure Island resort and casino in this Sunday March 15th the timber wolves are hosting a watch party at Treasure Island for that wolves thunder game starts at noon. I want to talk a little bit about it. Marty Gellner will be hosting the watch party they do a bunch of giveaways while that's going on and at the last one they give away a bunch of stuff. I remember they gave away a sign Anthony Edwards Jersey at the last one the wolves host this host the watch party and then afterwards after the games over Chris Hind and I'll get on stage and we'll do kind of a bit more immediate reaction live show I'm going to be a little bit more locked in on the game than I normally am there but we'll we'll do that at Treasure Island right away afterwards like when Britain I do and we'll bring an extra microphone will have people ask ask questions there but that's this Sunday. The games at noon they're serving free breakfast will be there at 11 I hope to see there you can visit ti casino dot com for more details. The nationals also brought to you by price picks will do a quick price picks lineup for tonight's wolves clippers game.

20:23I was looking at it. Don of it or not don't have a mature I'm reading this here. Quiet Leonard and Anthony Edwards I think both teams are going to be both the clippers and the wolves are going to be trying to take those guys away as score. So what did I put down here I have Anthony Edwards to have more than three and a half assists and quiet Leonard to have more than two and a half assists. And then we'll throw an extra one in there Jade McDaniel gets a dunk more more than 0.5 dunks feel like Jade ducks all the time we'll throw that one in there that'll be our our prize picks lineup for today for the wolves clippers game. There's always something going on over at price picks now a lot more you can do you can you can pick against the spread you can do futures all that stuff as well on the teams tab. If you don't yet have a price picks account all you got to do is put in the promo code Dane when you sign up you receive $50 in line of some play that first $5 line up. It's price picks.com the price picks app using promo code Dane. All right, that's I think there's some more we can hit on from the offense from from yesterday's game but let's.

21:30What you're talking about with the the standings a little bit. The record like compared to the other teams in in their group now is bad across the board. I mean, yes, they've beaten Oklahoma City twice and three games they beat the spurs twice and three games obviously have one more against Oklahoma City. But they're you know, they have the tiebreaker with the spurs not going to be relevant. They could have it with Oklahoma City, but all the other teams man Houston their own one against they've two more to go against them. Denver there one and three lost the tiebreaker there and then against Lakers their own three this season no more games against them they've lost the tiebreaker there. I still sort of stand by what I was saying last week where I think those other three teams might fear pointing the wolves in the first round more than the wolves might fear any of those teams. But it is getting to the point where it's like the wolves need to win a lot of games the rest of the regular season right to be in a to beat this these teams in the standings to have home court in a series which I think is important like to go into a series against Houston Denver or L.A.

22:44without home court. Advantage and think you're going to win this little air again you know it's not you're not a heavy favorite there against any of those teams if you're coming coming off the road one and seven. Yeah right you're the one and seven yeah one and one and seven so they're going to be one one out of the eight games against those teams so far this year one of the. Yeah one out of the eight games so you're going to be one in 10 against those teams or three and seven somewhere in there you're going to have lost between 90 and 70% of your games against those teams are so. I don't know um yeah it's it's an unfortunate slip but they don't deserve I mean I the three spot with a bullet which we were kind of I was kind of moving towards giving them when you and I talked a week ago. The other thing and I don't mean to pile on this but the injuries those other teams have faced compared to what the walls have faced has been. There's just a lot more resourcefulness on those other teams they've learned how to be resourceful yeah um like they do a multitude of things to do a multitude of things well.

23:56It used to be that I mean and especially after they got IO and slow mo you have a guy who's really good in the half court and a guy who's really good in transition and depending on how you want to structure your bench. You can match up pretty well against the weaknesses of other teams. But and by the way I think Kylie Anderson has played really well but they're like minus 22 in his 30 minutes it's a weird situation because he seems to be playing well but the team in general doesn't seem to be playing well around him when he's in the game. The weird sort of broken line ups um he's coming in in weird spots like. So I looked on interesting Anderson subs came in for Randall in the first quarter so it was read Anderson McDaniels in the front court it was just one big out there. They used him in that iteration. You normally have to go back a lot of offensive rebounds by the lakeers happened in that time good event.

24:57Yeah this is the first quarter and the first quarter yeah they did have a bunch of offensive rebounds then IO picked up his third foul midway through the second quarter. And Kylie Anderson came in you were kind of like huh put him out there with both go bear and Randall yeah you know so that's that's Anderson at the three alongside two other kind of non shooters so Finch is like whatever plan there. Um he came in for the ninth final 90 seconds of the first half. I mean some of that was kind of IO plays there but he was like well IO has three fouls bring Kyle back in you know I mean I think he really does believe that this guy is a Swiss Army knife you can plug in anywhere. And to some extent that's true but it does ignore the fact that he is better in circumstances and not as good in other circumstances. Which I think contributes to the plus minus is what we're talking about. Yeah and I think if Jaden we're playing better Jaden McDaniels among all the players on the team and I'm a stand I love Jaden McDaniels.

26:03Um he's bad he's been bad the last two games I mean just he had a silly golden in call after foul had already been called on the shooter some sort of some frustration lashing out of the thing so I mean not just that and he missed another three I mean he's been so bad he's like one for 16 he's in one of those three point droughts. It's because he showed him the camera showed him after missing one of the three's just breathing. I mean you can just tell he's just you know and he's a see there you know and we know that that oftentimes improves his game we've talked about this you've initiated that conversation there anger of Jaden McDaniels as a motivating factor but. I think it's frustrated is what he's been the last and he was frustrated when he gets twice. She falls I mean these files that Austin Reeves gets a crazy whistle you know Austin Reeves gets the thigh brushing call.

27:04I mean a thigh brushing call in the NBA is bullshit come on you know unless you're really making some contact NBA players. No they're going to get hit in the torso area. Well he's one of those players like Brunson like Shay who knows that's getting called if he acts accordingly right you know what's but yeah it's not of the. So I mean he got victimized at least once on them one of those and and obviously on Luca that another guy who knows certainly has the ball in his hands one anybody in the NBA and therefore knows what whistles happen or what don't. But he has been bad at both ends of the court and he is a key kind of an underrated key piece but he is a key piece and you know he just has not been.

28:0634% shooting from February 1st I mean if you knock that down like the last eight games or something he's been he's been. Back to his old Jade McDaniel style offense you know which is less of a three point shot. A average two point shooter and his assists have not been high so that's I think that's a source of concern obviously he does not call his own number or make himself as much of a presence in the offense if. And Randall around the floor which is always my call to get him with lesser personnel on offense so he can shine more but. I don't know I don't wouldn't call that a chicken rig thing I think right now he's bad regardless of the circumstances in and I think it's a slump I don't think it's.

29:07It's coming off as such a heater from three right before that you know yeah he's had some games that are just you know we had the five block 29 point or whatever you know the big. But he has not been. The kind of motivating glue force that he's been most of the season and that hurts Nas. Nas and Rudy this is an interesting stat since February 1st. Nas 26 assists 21 turnovers Rudy 26 assists 20 turnovers there's just a turnover issues also exactly the same skills Nas 13 Rudy 12 blocks Nas 18 Rudy 20 almost the same line. Yeah except that you know Rudy is a stalwart on defense and Nas spreads the floor with his offense at least when he's not hitting 27% for a month and a half. But it is interesting if Nas stats are very very comparable to Rudy's on offense that's not a good thing.

30:18Well what you're describing specifically with jaden is streaking is but like I don't I think it's kind of like a slump for a hitter in baseball you know where where it's it's not you know it's on again and it's off again right but there's normally a diagnosable thing that gets a hit or out of their slump right you know and I feel like with jaden to it's not just. We could point to some things other than just the 3.1% and said also feel off for him you know what I'm saying and he needs to like get those things and confidence I think it's confidence I mean the he those two games against Memphis that when they played them back to back where it was just. Extremely confident making like 453 so game you know and and it switches the other direction and I think i think some of that's on jaden to you know you got to create some buffer there to not be one or the other but but I don't think the offense. That they run does him any favors either which is so and in Julius related I think the style of the offense contributes to streaking is from the role players jaden McDaniel stat lines are very clearly streaky noz reads are very clearly streaky don't even chenzos are very clearly streaky why you know I don't maybe maybe it's they're just streaky players and they're just not good enough to be starters or whatever to be to not be streaky but I do think.

31:47In my opinion it's representative of something else i'll tell you what else is streaky is a wolf points off turnovers and I think there's a relationship there. I mean jaden probably gets more points off turnovers than any person on the team and I would bet that Dante and Nas right in that mix too and last I looked it was like latent of fourth quarter I don't know what eventually wound up points off turnovers are 20 to 2 favor of the lakers last night. They had two points they had no points off turnovers in the first half lakers had two turnovers in the first half they barely turned it over period yeah six or you know I did see that but points off turnovers I know were single digits and probably not much more than that and that hurts jaden nods and Dante Dante think of all the times he pulls up for three in transition think of all the times jaden does that little giant walk dance that goes into like.

32:47You know either a banker or a rocking chair floater in transition you know i. When I did a column up a week or two ago whatever it was. The wolves had the greatest disparity in terms of how many points off turnovers they get in wins and how many they get losses which means it's a big factor in their winning yeah and. Some of that is opportunistic you know being opportunistic some of that is playing good enough defense to generate the turnovers um and a lot of that frankly is where you know Randall and ant come in i was curious. I mean. Is Randall hurt you know we've heard about the bad back and some other things or did phage pull him last night in a rare show of. Discipline because he didn't play very much down the stretch yeah I mean in the second half i i've just seen that before you know it's not not unprecedented but it's not common you're right you're right i wasn't at the game.

34:04I know here anything we didn't get we didn't get to see any of the post game right we John Krasinski's feed because I know he was there right i. I would. I'm not going to fall into those or call the backs back you know because there's been a lot of you know a lot of yeah well there's just been a lot of excuses sort of thrown out the back thing yeah yeah and i'm not going to assume every Julius Randall game it that's bad is associated with that he has a history of doing things he has. Chronic vices and so when we see the chronic vices we can't say well that's because of the back because the back is not chronic the vices are yeah so maybe it's exacerbated. But i agree i mean i i was just i had heard the back was really bad in the clippers game and then i hadn't heard about it well and the thing is is the only reason i mentioned is because i don't want to start fitch benches.

35:07Randall well they could be a very easy reason for that especially given benches in on that fondness and Randall so it was just interesting to me that. I Randall got like 28 26 minutes or whatever it was which is low for him when weirdly like in the first half when the offense was the wolf's offense was completely terrible so was the lakers is 45 45 at halftime you looked at that box score at that moment and Julius Randall was kind of the only thing working yeah. For them to so yeah i guess question for finch let me say about that to. Lakers were missing wide open looks in the first quarter yep that was a terrible game by the wolves on defancy entire game when look i had the post game interview he said that might have been the worst half of basketball we played all season well and they were tied and i kind of agree with them they looked awful they had shots right. You know guys who normally are really good shooters were missing wide open threes.

36:11They were over 15 at one point from three point territory you know so. And and it wasn't that the wolves had just shut off their water from there right it was both teams were missing easy shots i thought what they did they were doing a good job against luca specifically at the beginning of the game i agree. But because luca wanted to get a luca often wants to get his own shot going before he starts dishing yeah and if the scouting report is that i think they they defense that well because. They were allowing luca to dish the ball but they were not allowing him easy shots right. Today's show is sponsored by strawberry dot me let me ask you something do you think championship athletes got to the top by guessing no they had coaching every elite athlete has a coach watching their form calling the plays. And spotting the blind spots they can't see themselves that's how champion chips are one. So why are you trying to win your career without a coach you're grinding hoping for the promotion trying to read the politics guessing your next move that's amateur hour.

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38:11But they also always have these games and sound on in the tap room. Again Friday night 9 p.m. tip against the warriors game will be on at falling knife are they're also doing survivor trivia at falling knife this Sunday at five I've actually said to you that I'm a new survivor fan I've started watching. A couple of seasons I think I'd be bad at at trivia because I know there's people out there crazy watched every season but I am sad I will not be there on on Sunday for survivor trivia at falling knife. But I caught that they're doing survivor trivia and didn't even text me because I follow falling knife on Instagram and every week they put up their weekly schedule of what's going on in the tap room. Yeah so you know wolves games don't work for you or you like to watch wolves games at home alone there's other stuff going on at falling knife too that we love if you supported so whether it's for a wolves game or survivor trivia check out falling knife brewing company in northeast Minneapolis.

39:12Let's talk a little bit about the Lakers is a playoff opponent for this team because they are on three against them. The first game this season is that they played them October 24th was the huge Luca game yes he has 49 there overwhelm Jaden in the wolves defense the second time they play the Lakers was October 27. It's both in October so first four games whatever of the season also read no Lebron in that game no Luca Austin leaves takes over beats all the wolves at home. And then last night which is five months later whatever but they are oh and three against this team and I went back and rewatch that first game yesterday when they when they played Luca and watching that remembering the reuse game didn't go back and rewatch that and then watching that game last night like this is a team that's really handled this wolves team in the three times that they played them this season we've kind of scoffed off the Lakers at times.

40:13Well their defense has been terrible against a lot of other teams you know I mean whenever I watch the Lakers on league pass it feels like they're just trading baskets their high scoring games and it I mean Reeves has been he's having a really good year. Yeah Marcus smart is really important to them he gives them some grit that you know Dorian Finney Smith in his brief cup of coffee there you know had done sure he's been problematic for the wolves and every time they played him yeah and so irritates aunt I think that's a piece of it and draws charges at just the right time sure you know he had to last night that were both kind of well time. Good to see a charge in a wolves game because you never see the alternative that's right yeah God forbid the Lakers though I would be interested to see the wolves get up for the Lakers the way they get up for the thunder and the spurs I kind of expect that they would I thought if there was a time for it would have been last night right coming off a terrible lost all in though you have to it

41:31essentially two and a half days off because that was a day game on a Saturday and you played on Tuesday night the Sunday Monday two and a half days and the Lakers I know it played at least once in that interim so the next time yeah I watch that so it was and and O2 you know obviously they don't you couldn't get the tiebreaker back but it was for similar to the Denver game last Sunday or we could go Sunday whenever they were playing for a spot in the standings at that point and inches dictum of you know these games count double all kinds of reasons why they should have come out crisp and again I repeat they played stupidly and they played lethargicly um and if I'm finch I'm trying to figure out what motivator to use carrots are the stick whatever you know because

42:43this team enjoys itself too much when they do well and that has to stop they are not good enough yeah to let opportunities pass you generate momentum through consistent performance right and they stop their own momentum a lot over the course of the season as do the Lakers as do the nuggets as do the rockets they have a time I'm not even I'm not even not even put point and I'm saying more relevant to the like how they position themselves against those other teams a lot of those other teams can point to injuries a little bit more than the then the wolves can but yeah I mean we're looking at a real possibility of the wolves playing the Lakers in the first round again yeah you know one way or the other and it's definitely possible that that it is on the road here as the five or six seed it's and and even the Lakers if you have them the lowest of the group but behind Minnesota Houston in Denver if they do have home core I don't feel like

43:49they deserve to be underdogs in a series against any of those teams and certainly against the wolves I think there's this more of a concerning playoff matchup than then we anticipate at least that's how I just feel after maybe that's a little reactive to yesterday but I did watch both of those games right and and it just they they felt outmatched at both of the games in LA which was the first one of the season and then the one the one last night I agree the Reeves won okay like shouldn't to lost to Austin Reeves but that's probably not representative of like about too far east but the defense hit the floater yeah yeah at the same time in that position at home against the team I maybe I'm just investing in this too much but they handled the Lakers they embarrassed the Lakers in the playoffs last year and I think that stuck with them a little too much you know I think that you know they want the thunder because the thunder embarrassed them and they want the spurs because

44:56of wimby and all that stuff I get what you're saying if you in his head feels like maybe he's conquered that one already exactly yeah and and like when you were talked about top three when we had that conversation he put it in my face well no no no what I'm saying is is that if we're talking ceilings yeah I don't think it's even a conversation sure I think that this team ceiling is the third best team in the western conference I don't think there's any debate about that I mean I would debate I don't think that Denver as good as Denver can be has the defense that the wolves can have when they have that ceiling and I don't think Houston has the breath of skill sets that the wolves can flash when they're sure hitting their ceiling and the Lakers certainly don't have the defense you know Marcus smart is great and they played

45:57scrappy defense last night but the timbrewolves have rudy go bare jane mcdaniel zio disumu kyle anderson and ant when he's engaged you know I mean don't take even chenzo is a good defender on occasion I hear what you're saying about the Lakers not being a good defensive team overall but we know that this is how they will guard the timbrewolves that that zone defense have just loaded heavy into the gaps they did it the entirety of the series right against them it is jane jaredic is showing his cards of like our plan is that we are just going to take away these driving lanes from Edwards and Randall specifically Edwards who's initiating it there and make them beat us with IQ and ball movement which the wolves did in the playoffs before the first round matchup against them last year when they had six days in advance of it yeah they got it they wrapped it out over and over and over again against that Lakers defense so now do you go well if you play

47:01him in the first round and they've had this time to wrap it out against how the Lakers are going to do it are they going to beat them I guess you can point to that before but it's a little concerning to me that they couldn't tap back into that it's you know one big difference too kept the much derided y'all Aden as opposed to Jackson Hayes last year sure Aden has played really well it's played better than Jackson is you know well I mean he had a double double and half time last night he's been playing well recently and I think he's been playing I don't know what his plus minus stats are but whenever I watch him on lead pass when Aden is on the court they they play well you know yeah I mean it's a more functional body there I think he's I think he's underrated at this point I'm just kind of looking up some of his numbers here yeah well I don't I don't have his I'm just looking up EPM and it has some but average on offense and on defense this year overall but what you brought it up was in the context of Jackson Hayes and so you should be talking about

48:05eaten positively in the context of Jackson Hayes yes you know you know and and that's that is a difference right in this this seriously because if you do run that kind of zone you do have to be able to recover to Rudy or you or get out to the corners or whatever and Jackson Hayes is is a chicken with his head cut off on defense most of the time I with the chicken with his head cut off or with that chicken with his head cut off put on the bench right the wolves outside a game five when Rudy at 27 and 24 when the Lakers completely ignored him as a last-ditch effort because they already didn't do anything in the the first four games of that series for for the same reason so I mean yes they overcame that defense the Lakers J.J. Reddick all of that a year ago in five games took care of it easily right but there were some concerns in that matchup as it was going on that I don't think the wolves have totally addressed right and the Lakers do at least have eaten here and they have Luca who's a lot more acclimated to the Lakers system than he was

49:09a season ago and and the wolves don't have a lot for Luca not because Jayden isn't one of the best guys at Carding Luca but nobody really has a lot for Luca you know right and and that's an issue on the other side of the ball too that Luca's probably going to get his in in a playoff and they had Nah for Austin Reed that's a good point yep you know which would be I.O you would think it was I.O last night a lot of them writing that down at one point I mean I don't I'm not saying like just because of this game now the Lakers are our heavy favorites in it or anything but I'm talking about if we consider the standings and that it's very possible that the wolves are on the road for that series I don't know I just it just happened again they just got beat by that team right tough in a game that really mattered and I I think that has to shift our belief in how well they would match up against the Lakers the only the only counterpoint I would bring up is that I do think that they beat themselves as much as they were beaten last night

50:13yeah um if they're in a trough and I you know I hate to keep coming back to this if the wolves are on their game everything changes and then when they're not everything doesn't change and so they the Lakers should have their attention by now you know three games uh only one of them close and last night's game could have been a lot worse that the Lakers hit some first quarter shots the wolves were not ready to put defense entire night so and all that said would I rather play the Lakers instead of the nuggets or the rockets you know and that's what's crazy uh they have 16 games left five of them include two with Detroit two with Houston and one

51:16with Boston with Tatum back that's a third of the games that are going to be interesting will they get up for those games and will that light a fire under them for the rest of the schedule I don't know about to see many more it's hard to like is a rough schedule a good thing or a bad thing for this team uh losing to Orlando at home you know at the at the end of a six game winning streak and then laying an egg against the Lakers and this Clippers team beat them thoroughly at one point now they they you know they won the other one without Kauai but that was also hard fought game sure so tonight is far from guaranteed it could be a three game losing streak if the Suns win they're one back uh and the Suns on the tiebreaker now the Suns Dylan Brooks is out I think there's center waves I think just one out so they've got their issues

52:21um I mean I think the wolves are going to finish in the top six for sure I think all those I don't think that's for sure yeah okay I think they are yeah maybe for sure you know it's if Phoenix gets hot you're right after that I mean the Clippers are 500 yeah and the Warriors and the Trailblazers are nothing you know the the Warriors are disease the Bulls beat the Warriors last night yeah um I just also don't want to like totally um I mean I'm clearly doing too much flip floppin on this team we all are you know watching it they're extremely confusing but but two games ago I felt like this team was in a really good place and maybe I was not even thinking that but I don't know the Toronto game yeah if you could like emboss that and and keep it and bring it out for a certain moments that's what you want that team especially in the second half was what you want with that personnel on that roster doing almost everybody was doing the right thing

53:25uh they were moving the ball they were defending they were flying around without being uh undisciplined um Randall and Ante were full participants in both ends of the court especially in terms of ball movement on offense um and it just so if we know that that comes and goes then why is this team so confusing you know shouldn't we just expect that well that was my argument a week ago but at the same time it's very hard because um it's kind of like when you watch a movie and you think you know it's going to happen you know like in the end especially if it's a romcom or something yeah they're going to kiss at the end but I mean like a murder mystery like who's gonna you know you kind of think you know but you're wrapped up in the plot you're wrapped up in the performances and

54:32do I think the wolves will be a much better team in the playoffs regardless of who they play yes do I think that they will get past the first round almost regardless of who they play part of me thinks yes I mean if you if you said to me yes or no but it's you got 16 games remaining and there's some really interesting drama here and the performances as always the good guys and the bad guys will be interesting to watch how the plot twists today shows brought to you by Rula are you LA and Rula is online therapy that won't break the bank and that's because Rula works with most major insurance plans making it so sessions can cost as little as $15 in some cases even zero depending on your benefits for me I'm really grateful for my experiences with therapy they've helped me make sense of things in life that don't make sense and we've got a lot going on keeping our heads clear as possible is the best

55:34thing we can do for ourselves and over me in hindsight there were other times in my life where I'm sure seeing a therapist would have helped me get through that difficult time at better more easily but there were barriers to entry then having fast affordable access to the right therapist that would have made a difference for me and that's where Rula comes in now Rula makes therapy simple affordable and fast they work with most major insurance plans again the average session copay is just $15 15 bucks that's basically the cost of lunch but instead of a sandwich you're investing in your own headspace thousands of guys have already used Rula to finally get the care they need don't keep putting it off go to Rula dot com slash Jane Moore and get started today that's r u l a dot com slash Jane Moore take the first step get connected and take control of your mental health today shows also brought to you by thrive market and when we are ordering groceries this time of year we are using thrive market and our membership there to get groceries delivered straight to home I love it because it only costs five bucks a month thrive market is a membership

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57:39join thrive market with my link thrive market dot com slash jane more for 30% off your order plus a free $68 gift I don't remember who I was talking to about this might have been you in the media room but I was thinking like the wolves don't ever have the games where you go they played pretty well the other team played really really well too and they lost by three like right you know okay like good game they lose they lost more of those I remember that's usually when I get in fights on Twitter you know we're you know where I know the both teams have played well and I go played well other team played better so it feels now that when both teams because they they have played well and they've played against teams have played well too that they won those games yes you know but it can also be the other way I those are the games I like the best you know I mean I I love two teams playing well have a be a close game and however it goes it's really entertaining

58:43you like maybe you could say that spurs game but the wolves were also done by 25 at halftime in that spurs come back game then it ended up being close in there now there's a few if I look at the schedule now I'm sure I could point like I don't know man I was going through this like there's not I don't it could be too close to it whatever game without quiet they didn't play well yeah that's I'm saying that's that's a prerequisite to this standard yeah or like good I don't know like I does the thunder games I'm saying they they played really well and they won those games I'm not saying the wolves never play well no they just don't know what I'm saying is that they really play well lose the thunder game they won recently that was a good game both they both sides I agree I just think you're missing the premise of what I'm saying a game where both teams play well both sides and the wolves lose like that doesn't right that doesn't happen actually it was out in Christmas day wasn't it the the overtime game against Denver they lost that game yeah yeah yeah

59:49yeah okay that would that would that'd be one I mean they also left the floor you know I'm saying it's just like not a feeling of like you go to the locker or the things over you like that's up with two or three your point is grand I don't know it's I try to in my coverage of the team try to be like aiming at what is happening you know what when what we're talking like what is actually happening I know it's it's hard as I'm saying like and you know why you do four podcasts a week right I only have to come in and like review a week's worth right but it is but what got me thinking about it was the part that you and I did last week I'd listen to part of that yesterday being like uh or maybe this morning wouldn't what after they'd lost both the games and I'm like we've done this a lot where that where we could go you and I come on and we talk about this and you know you're doing a little bit of skepticism of the third best team but we lauded the team yeah for 70 minutes Tory I and I thought so at the time the level of a five game winning streak

1:00:54I yeah I just I feel like we're doing this thing we're like okay the five game winning streak they're back they're good you know here we go settled in and then and then this happens so so I feel like I'm missing the mark then by careening as far as I do I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the context is a higher bar context so if this team did not have back-to-back finals appearances yeah and you were looking at this team and losses that just happen over the course of a season become more forgivable if you're thinking if this team doesn't make the finals again there may be some retooling that happens on the roster it may be a different thing whereas two years ago if they had lost to Denver in the second round it still would have been a successful season at that point I think it would have lost to the defending champs you know on the road

1:02:00they finished with the third best record and had made took a big step forward with cat and Rudy and it would have been this thing now I think conference finals is what Tim Connelly and Chris Finch think is the standard and that's Finch's justification for ignoring the kids that is Connelly's justification for punting you know different people off the roster and consolidating what's that getting the right well I mean both slow mo and I always are you know win now it's it's a it's definitely a win I give you say yeah and so and hence also you know all the contracts that could sign Nas and Randall over the off season it clearly is meant to be as Connelly likes to say if you're at the table if you're at the final four table then you know you have the right to go out

1:03:03and keep spending and doing whatever is possible to win now so how often are teams that are genuinely at the table which we're calling what like maybe four or five teams in the league how often is that caliber of team this volatile I don't know because we're not yeah I never cover a team as diligently as I cover the walls right there perhaps beat writers for like um people who are chasing the warriors you know the last four or five years I think into the calves like teams of one championship and are going to repeat I think this team has threads of that yeah of like inconsistent effort because you know right because you've been there but like the ones haven't actually been there they're just gonna let them go for the last four years or so yeah they've had there you know um the sixes certainly I mean yeah the Celtics weirdness I mean it does seem to happen more in the east I don't know I mean I understand what you're saying I do think that we have to

1:04:12acknowledge as I said I basketball reference has this thing a franchise index where you can look all the one lost records the entire history of the team and you can hit winning percentage thing to find out where the current team is in winning percentage there winning percentages like six 15 right now or something 61.5 it's the fourth best in their history yeah and then and but that's kind of like when I broke my ankle and was in a walking boot in college that's when I would have submitted my worst mile time and then when I my ankle healed and my body was functional I ran faster like but they had seven straight playoff appearances with KG and only three of those seasons were better okay you know or actually two of those seasons because they're fourth best and one of them was the two years ago so the majority they've already they're playing

1:05:16better right now than the majority of the KG playoff seasons um again and having covered those seasons I remember the differences is they never got passed the first round except for the final one and oh three oh four but that would have been the only year that they really had conference finals expectations though correct yes the goal was obviously to get passed the first round people people were but people were angry I remember that as a kid there were serious considerations about trading KG because he couldn't win the big one couldn't win the middle size one for that matter and you know because he was too unselfish didn't take the big shots Barclay was on his case that it's the whole you know nine yards and he goes as soon as wins a ring immediately when they trade so the point being this is back-to-back finals the only other team that can say the conference finals you know the team that can say that is Indiana who's currently tagging like crazy

1:06:24and okay see obviously is going to face this and it's kind of facing it now but right now that the franchise the fan base that's having the most fun right now with the possible exception of the Celtics who are getting this unbelievable bonus is the Spurs they're just sway ahead of time and on the right up is always the right up is always you know that what I call it the crystallization of goodness the being able to say oh this is why we're good not only that 2023-24 for the wolves the defense is an ant yeah and so and now that's baked in you know we have the ninth best defense whoo that doesn't sound that great you know right and Rudy's a year older on the other hand 40 and 25 15 games over 500 now again the schedule is tougher down the stretch

1:07:25so they have to continue to play 61.5% to meet that standard and I don't think they will I think they'll probably wind up with maybe 50 wins you know they go that would be 10 and 6 now wait what's the exact record today they are 40 and 25 so you just said that so they'll be 10 and 10 and 7 they have 17 left okay I think there'll be like 10 and 7 which is 50 and 32 I call them from I think it'll be better than that yeah well um but that presupposes that they know well you hear them I mean like Miss saying I've had to bet I'm betting the over on 50 I think but I don't like I wouldn't bet if I didn't have to bet you know you know what scares me says we're just kind of talking out loud right now new wallens on the final game of the season nothing to take well I mean Zion just kills this team and a lot to play for probably Deandre Jordan's last game

1:08:27of his career and this pelicans are always better on paper than they've been on the court this season it just sets itself on the winning games now I don't know the record but we're just by opening a box coach in there you know there and you know they got youth the queen and the other guy for years or fears fears yeah so last game in their season nothing to lose it could be consequential loss no I got anything else random no I think it'll be an early one for us won't an hour yeah we're like an hour and five all I'll say I've written down here just from my notes on the game last night was Highland is a legitimate bench spark in the second half um maybe that's because he was the only thing going you might have been the meaning yeah change junior was did you that's my next one that's my next one one of those quote maybe not nothing garbage time performances from Shannon those my last two things four for six on the floor

1:09:32being able to uh that's part of the reason why Randall didn't play as many minutes by the way too like yeah TJ came in in the fourth quarter with like eight minutes to go when Julius would have normally came back yeah it was a but that is never stopped Finch from getting Randall's minutes in the past somebody's hot well okay good but it's now yeah talk to Johan Barry Jay about that also back to back I don't know yeah no I agree that's actually what I may be tweeted it out that it should be early garbage time tonight because the starters don't have it and you got a game tomorrow mm-hmm but um yeah I Terence Shannon Jr. is going to have to show me a lot more before I buy it by that stock again and um I think the more I thought about uh the solo minutes having been proven wrong that Finch is going to rely on him more the more I think when

1:10:34push comes to shove it's bones that gets gets the shaft and so that could be consequential that bones did come in and and you know hit some threes and everything well both the way the celebration bothered grandmother I saw the um the bones roll is pretty much limited to the non-earned minutes that's what the role is maybe sometimes there's an overlap of a minute or two here well that also benefits slo-mo because slo-mo needs a ball in his hands to be at his best so you kind of want him on the floor without him yeah and I think like and he want him to be kind of like the point guard and maybe and maybe like we also don't even know if like slo-mo is good or anything yet but we're going off of Finch's behavior of how he's using him yeah he is using him in wave a far greater variety right then bones highland and I think of anything has been a corollary to more

1:11:34bench minutes in the Finch era if you're a bench player it's versatility like that's how you end up getting up to like 20 some minutes in a game where where he can just go whatever IO has three files Kyle you know you can't do that with bones you know you can kind of conscientious who was out there or yoan you know like there's a dynamic score in the perimeter that sure can't be guarded by some of the else yeah no I I get that I also think that pace I'm remain a big proponent of pace and I know what those stats say the i-test says that Kyle is not fantastic at that but you know the stats are what they are they did not play I think was sufficient pace last night because they just kept falling in the net man they just ran a zone and they ran into the zone and they got their feet tangled up in the zone and then they fell over or tried to pass it to Rudy and he fell over yep that's like it's it's just I mean bones bones was

1:12:38a little spark in the second half because they get chewed over the zone and because they weren't loading up on him on in that in the same way it was and like he's playing the amp minutes there but they're not bringing that third defender and rotated over for so bones just does this little right hand straight line drive reaches his right arm out far and he can beat guys in one-on-one situations but he was also hitting threes that were nobody else had that room to your point yep mm-hmm you know and yeah so I mean he's a he's a nice piece is he's just he is the ninth man and and and Kyle's the eighth man or that's I agree for sure what early indications yes that I will agree with that are there so yeah um all right so there we go bones at a good spot a nice revelation at the end yeah there you go folks who stuck around uh we determined the bottom of the rotation yeah there we go as as if we haven't talked about it for hours you're writing out tomorrow after the coach yeah late late game early morning but uh I'm due I haven't written since the beginning of the week last week I went to Milwaukee Tarno August Wilson play

1:13:41was great sweet um well I'm interested to see what angle that column ends up taking I know well I mean unfortunately whenever I think I'm gonna write about something in way to game this is the tymbols this is the tymbols experience it could be that it'll reinforce a lot of what we talked about tonight or it could be that um I begin to talk about they did this and this is what they could be or what they usually are when they're good um but that's good if that in and of itself is an interesting choice for you of like do I feed this if they play well against the which the very may well do do you go okay here it is this is what it looks like when they're good because frankly I already know what they look like when they're good you know I want to know is that who they are or as the is the Lakers game how many times have I written this year though that the wolves have an attitude problem that the wolves have a character issue yeah a lot I mean

1:14:46I could write it again tomorrow I could write it in a week I could write it right up until the opening night of the playoffs and then we'll find out if that extends but I believe that the wolves have a character issue or an attitude problem all year I think it stems from back-to-back playoff experiences I think it comes from the personalities of the two leaders Randall and Ant both in different ways have an arrogance about them that helps both of them in terms of their play and elevates their play but also hurts their approach to the game I think at times and I do wish there was better leadership adjunct leadership I think that you know Mike Conley is on the team now because of that I think Kyle Anderson was brought in because of that which isn't to say that Ant can't be the leader of the team but people lead in different

1:15:51ways are in there are different types of leadership and there is the Rudy type of leadership but that can't be Rudy is too doctored air in the way he leaves for it to resume to take the edges off the way Rudy leads with a Mike Conley or Kyle Anderson kind of shaving that you know Rudy is such a literalist that he doesn't leave a lot of room for nuance when he says things you know which makes him just a fascinating fit on an Anthony Edwards team well I'm looking forward to that column y'all can read that over at min post and you can of course hear Brit on the show kind of we record on Wednesdays or Thursday he's come to the utility piece in in the schedule every week appreciate you coming into the studio and when's the next home game 17th is it really so they go they go warriors is it Phoenix they play Houston or Phoenix first oh yeah so it goes at warriors on Friday at thunder on Sunday which we'll see you all at treasure island

1:16:58for and then back home for the suns on Tuesday home for jazz on Wednesday home for blazers on Friday before the Boston okay okay yeah so yeah important stretch coming up yeah no and their big games that you know and there's a nice sprinkling of should be wins and competitive games I did I did notice that the Utah Jazz who they play have the same offensive rating as the wolves since February 1st to your point there so they have to tack on defense then that's true they and they are and they are all right coming up next will be Kyle and I on Thursday morning we'll talk about what goes down in the clippers game on Wednesday night that will be the next episode and yeah until then he's Brit I'm Dane he's how I'm feeling now but never stop yeah really awesome you can throw me in the crowd yeah don't let standards ever ever bring you down yeah

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