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Welcome in to this day after Game 1 episode of Lagern Howles. Judnai did the post-game recap. I was mostly level-headed. I feel like he was.
A lot of fans freaking out, I think, after the Game 1 Lost Kyle. Now that you've digested this, you've slept for a couple hours on this game. You were in the arena last night. Your main takeaways, like 18 hours later here.
Is it doom and gloom? Is it a Maverick sweep? Where are we at with this mentally? I think Finch summed it up pretty good just now at practice across the street.
When he said the Western Conference Finals started, I just don't know if my guys got the memo. Oh, did he say that? Yeah, he was feisty at practice. So, it's good though, right?
I mean, it's not good that they didn't get the memo. But I came away from last night and Dana and I did a reaction pod right after as well that they played good enough basketball to beat a team in February, right? Like, you know, Jayden had a huge night, career-high, first half for a playoff game. Kind of so much really good.
Knaz Reed found the game a little something, but bad Carl game, 6 for 20, bad game, not a lot from Rudy. So that would have been enough to beat an Eastern Conference team in February or March, but when you're trying to beat a Dallas team that came in extra desperate because they hadn't won a Game 1 playoff series, I think, ever in Jason Kidd's tenure. In Dallas, so they were extra hungry. They wanted to steal home court.
The Wolves are now three and three at home in the playoffs, five and one on the road. I don't know. It's kind of echoes something that Finch has been telling us and I remember talking about in Portland. I think Finch likes road games because he calls it a bunker mentality.
So kind of altogether, you can say that it was a bad loss last night. Sucks to go down on one, but you also have to at least be cognizant of the fact that every time this team is kind of in punched or had their back against the wall, they've come out and responded. So bad loss, I still think the Wolves can and will likely win this series. But yeah, that's kind of how I woke up today thinking like that sucked, but more work to do and I would imagine they get that work done.
So you're at practice, Finch is feisty Finch. He's refused the heavy painkillers going down three weeks, right? So he's on like Ivy Pro-Finn. He's just dropping out of pain.
He's like, I hate these crutches. His team's talking about being fatigued in Game 1. He just pissed off to the world. But it reminds me a little bit the way that you just relayed that message from Finch.
It's a little bit like what Michael Malone said about his team and to his team after the Nuggets fell down two games to none. And he was asking, how do you, what do you say to your team, this, that, and the other? And he said, well, I would expect that we start playing and acting like the champions that we are. Yeah, he was just disgusted by the way.
His team came out against the Lakers and then against the Timberwolves. And I kind of like it, man. Like Anthony Edwards has gone on the record numerous times saying the reason why Finch is one of the best coaches in the NBA is because he will coach anyone's ass hard. When they need it, he'll get on Anthony Edwards.
He'll get on Carly Anthony Tounds. And if he's already delivering the, you guys didn't show up in Game 1, the Western Conference final started. TNT was up there. Dream on Greens in here, punking you guys.
You're the only ones that didn't show up. The fans are chanting, let's go wolves, driving out the Mavericks player and deductions. Where were you guys? I love it.
I have a wild statistic for you that we can start the show off with here too. Like, I want to hear it and I'm the Finch thing because now you got me all rolled up in a good way. That's the one area I told this to Dane. They've clearly showed now that they have a new level of maturity and professionalism and stuff.
Like the way this team has always responded, you don't go throughout an 82-game regular season, avoiding three-game losing streaks and not have some sort of skill to kind of stop the bleeding early. But, you know, this team does have a little bit still of just enjoying their own scent. And I think about Game 3 against Denver, right? Like you had the craziest first two games in Denver.
You almost strangle hold the series and then you come back. And again, if anything, they should feel like they're letting the fans down because the fans I thought in Game 3 of the Denver series were incredible until it was over and it was over early. And then last night, I don't think it was the Game 6 atmosphere. Obviously, the wolves won that thing by 50, but it's a really good fan base.
Last night, Target Center, you were sitting over by me, was bumping. But they just, that's the thing, right? Like, yeah, Charles and Shacker in town and bring ass and all that stuff. They just kind of slip up.
So, a little more desperation now. I know I think your stat is going to kind of prove that not only is this not the first team to stumble in Game 1, but there's a chance, you know, basically 50-50 coin flip that they can still win the series. So, they got to dial it up a little bit. I think that's what Finch was trying to say today.
It's also what Finch said immediately last night. He's like, we were terrible in the fourth quarter. You know now Finch enough that when he starts saying words like that, not sugarcoat, not a little bit, at least publicly to the press that he's mad. So, a mad Chris Finch without real good painkillers, I think is a good Chris Finch.
Yeah. So, here's the stat. And there's a part two to this. I think part one should make Turnipoles fans relax and feel, actually feel fine.
Part two is a little more nuanced, but since 2011, and this is from ESPN Stats and Information, major credit to email or Dan Craft for hearing this somewhere around on ESPN's show today. So, since 2011 in the NBA Conference Finals, teams coming off a Game 7 win in the previous round facing a team that didn't play a Game 7 are 0 and 14 in Game 1 of the Conference Finals. That is insane. I'm going to read that again just because there's a lot of numbers and things in there.
Okay. So, since 2011, there's been 14 instances where Team A wins Game 7 in the Conference Semis and then plays Team B, which didn't have to go to a seventh game to get to the Conference Finals. 0 and 14 in those Game 1s. Now, you might be asking, well, okay, how many of the of the previous 12 teams, I say 12 out of 14 because the team will always, we don't know yet, the Pacers, by the way, also played a Game 7 and then lost a Game 1 here.
So, we're still waiting to see what happens with them. Of the previous 12 instances, the teams that fell behind one game to nothing after winning the Game 7 in the Semis Finals have only come back to win twice, which is bad. That's bad for the world. The first stat is everyone loses Game 1 in this instance.
Like, welcome to the club, right? But the second part is like, only two of those teams actually came back to win. And I would say sort of back on the optimistic side. Most of the teams from my research, because I did some further diving into this, most of the teams that wound up losing in the Conference Finals ran into a Dynasty Warriors team or a Dynasty LeBron team of some kind.
Like the Heat or the Cavaliers, it was the Raptors a couple of different times. So, in this case, there is no Dynasty Warriors team coming to target center for Game 2, it's a good Maverick team. And there is no LeBron James in his prime Cavaliers or Heat with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. So, I would put asterisks next to those.
Of course, you're going to regard this to whether you played a Game 7 or not in the previous round. You're losing in the Conference Finals to the Warriors or to the LeBron team. But 0-14, dude. 0-14.
Okay, I was going to say repeat that one time. So, 0-14, because I took it a step further, but yours is far more dramatic and better for the pod. But dating back to 1988, the arrows born, teams who come off a 7-game series are 33 and 57 in Game 1 of the following series. So, in any round?
So, that's a 36% winning percentage. That aside, I'm going to even spend a little more positive. Teams that lose Game 1 at home, I think in the Western Conference Finals, win the series still at a 49.6% clip. So, a coin toss.
Again. So, we don't even need to play the rest of the series, right? It's either Wolves in 5 or 6. I would just wheel going out to half court, flip a coin.
And if it's heads, they advance. If it's tails, he has to go home forever. But no, I thought the Wolves put like a C-plus game last night. But you also got to give some credit to Dallas.
They probably only play like a B-game. They missed a lot of good threes. Obviously, Kyrie and Luca came to the party. Kyrie was awesome in that first half.
30 points for the first time since the first round. He didn't have 30 at all against OKC. So, yeah. Both teams didn't play very well.
Dallas does one of their advantages, and this is not even up for argument. I don't think it's that they have the closers and it can close. But I don't know if he's graduated to a closer. He doesn't know even where his spots are that he wants to get to.
And he's 22. But close games are probably going to favor Dallas just because they can just have Luca do his thing or Kyrie do his thing. So, neither team played well. Dallas got what they needed.
They got home court. But if that's why you're concerned, I think that's our point here. If you're concerned that the Wolves lost home court, well, they're 5-1 on the road. And they won a game 7 against the champs.
That doesn't concern me. It's just that the tired stuff, right? I know there was a hangover Dallas had one extra day. I don't want to say it all sent Dallas at all this extra rest, but they just got to do what Finch said, right?
Like there's no painkillers. You just got to find extra hydration or whatever today and take an extra nap because you, it's every other day now. There's no big gaps. There's no three days off.
You have to come out tomorrow playing 150% and regain this thing because if you wake up Saturday morning Phil, I know I speak for you. If it's one Saturday morning, I mean, that's kind of just what I envisioned, right? So, there's still very much available here to pull this thing off and make a long series of it. It might have been wrong on Wolves in 5, but I will upgrade to Wolves in 6 and we'll see what happens.
By the way, am I still with you right now? Yeah, no, I saw you just freeze. I was like, all right, let me just hold a fork down here and make some words up. I heard 90% of what you said, but just to put a bow on this, I mean, we're just using statistics as a weapon right now to make ourselves feel better about a game 1 loss, which is part of this.
Yeah, for sure. One of the teams that I think you can compare the Wolves to over the last 30 years of NBA history is the 2004 Pistons, which you're looking for teams that are the best defensive team in the NBA that season with a massive rim protecting big teams. That doesn't play a ton of offense, right? Ben Wallace and Rudy Gobehr, an adult organizer point guard in Chauncey Billups in my Conley over here.
I think Anthony Edwards versus Rip Hamilton has just a score and an electrifying player, not even really close. But like, there's some similar components. Tae Sean Prince as your lanky, shop-walking, perimeter-defending, wing guy, Jade McDaniel's. So, in the Eastern Conference Semifinals of the Year, the Pistons won the championship.
They had a really similar experience that the Wolves had against the Nuggets where, if I remember right, against the Nets, I'm pretty sure the Pistons won the first two games. Then the Nets rolled off like three wins. It's kind of a similar pattern. It gets to a game seven, Pistons wind up winning, okay, Eastern Conference Finals.
Pacers await, Pistons lose the first game because it's hard, like we're talking about to come back after an emotionally draining series, seven games, to just snap right back in and win. Pistons win the next two games to go up two games to one. Okay, now the Pacers back against the wall, right? They win game four, Pistons close out in game six, which is possibly what's going to happen in this series too.
So, I don't know how many more ways I can say in the first 15 minutes of this podcast, don't overreact to what happened in game one, and we can break down some of the things that happen in the game. And we can break down some of the things that need to go differently going into the second game, but it does not, I mean, it was for a million different reasons. It was not something, in my opinion, to panic over looking at the rest of the series. I kind of described the series today as a Rubik's Cube in terms of that first year against the Suns was pretty checkers.
It was just one team is better. One team is trying harder. One team is better coaching and ended in four. It was a little more chess against the Nuggets, but there's Rubik's Cube now.
When I think of a Rubik's Cube, I always think of the people doing it really fast. There is no additional time here to either enjoy your own scent or to kind of wallow in self-pity because you got to turn around tomorrow now and play game too. I think that might benefit the Wolves a little bit, wake up this morning, get absolutely roasted by your coach publicly and privately, and then kind of let that simmer for 24 hours and then come back. I mean, if you go look at the Mavs again, as they're in the Western Conference Finals in their story, they started both those first two series down, 0-1.
Even against the Thunder, I think it was maybe Game 3 or Game 4. The Mavs were up to 1. They're at home, and they blew like a weird 8-point lead with like six minutes left to even up the series, and then what they do, they just became mature and professionally went on the road to OKC, took Game 3 and closed out. So, it sucks to lose the first game, especially when you're amped up and you have all the storyline and all the fun stuff going outside about being back for the first time in 20 years, but these are seven game series for a reason.
This isn't the NFL. So, win tomorrow, listen to your coach what they've done all season, and then we have different conversations. So, it's not all lost. Last night was a bad loss in my opinion, but they have responded, I thought Game 5 against the Nuggets was a bad loss, and then they came out in Game 6 and won by 50.
So, this team deserves, the benefit of the doubt is kind of my overall summary, but we as fans that are showing up to all this stuff deserve to see them bounce forward. So, Friday is going to be an incredible game because there are so many adjustments, I think, on both sides that can be made by Jason Kidding, Chris Finch. Yeah, so let's dive into some of our biggest takeaways, looking at Game 1 and then looking ahead to Game 2. I'll start with a couple.
The biggest story to me was, you've got the headliners on each team. You've got Anthony Edwards and Karl Anthony Townsend, Go Barra is kind of a sub-head because he's more of a defensive guy, and then you have Luca and Kyrie, and the Mavericks' headliners absolutely outshined and outplayed the Wolves' headliners. Do I think that the difference between how much the outperformance of the Mavs versus the Wolves, do I think that that is going to be sustainable going forward? No, I don't think Karl and Ant are going to make 6 out of, or was it 12 out of 40 shots or whatever it was when you look at the Lions score.
But the one thing that I think could potentially carry over that the Wolves have to account for is, Luca is one of the only players in the NBA that looks completely unbothered by Jaden McDaniels. I mean, he's thicker, he's bigger, there were several times where Jaden is sort of trailing him off of a pick and roll and trying to usher him over to Rudy Gobert, and Yolkitz just keeps him right in that hit pocket. He's big enough to not get the shot block from behind. It was really quite impressive, actually, looking over at the other side and seeing Luca kind of just like SWAT Jaden McDaniels off.
Early on, Luca was struggling to get to where he wanted to in the first quarter, but that's where Kyrie Irving came in and just did Kyrie Irving things. I wonder if the Wolves let it ride for another game and just see if Jaden McDaniels can bother Luca more than he did, or if they make some sort of adjustment to the way that they scheme him in the half-court offense. So I am not smart enough to find the tracking data in order that I do at this morning, but that's interesting. And I want to now really put a pin in that for Game 2, because I came away from Game 1 thinking, and Dana talked about this, as long as Luca's on the court, and James should be on the court, and James should guard Luca.
Because I think that might still be the best. There might not be a great answer for how you keep Luca in. Yeah, you don't slow down, or you don't stop by a top-eye player in the world, kind of with this was Yolkitz. You just need that Carl performance to slow down Yolkitz.
Same with Luca. Luca might be the second best player in the world right now, but I think when Luca's guarded by Ant, it reminds Luca of being guarded by Lou Dort for OKC, and he's figured out a rhythm to balance out that kind of battling. I mean, it's way more physical. Lou Dort is built like a running back as his ant.
Whereas Jaden gives him a little more to think about in terms of he has way more length. Jaden was doing a really good job by saying of not biting on those insanely smart Luca pump fakes. Luca got Ant twice on those, whereas I don't think Jaden ever got bit by one of them. So I don't know.
I don't know what the... There is no perfect answer. This is another Yolkitz type thing, but I would have Jaden on him as much as possible, and we'll see who's right in Game 2, but I just think the length gives him a little more trouble. Now, Luca is really good at offensive files that aren't necessarily called offensive files, and with Jaden literally being a game slim, like he gets them off him a little more to get some more space, but I've done the first half, especially Luca's struggles, where because Jaden was playing really good defense, and the second half I think Ant was on him a little more.
When it keels on him, that's like a terrible matchup. I would basically dumb it down to Jaden U guard, Luca as much as possible, and then Kyle will come in. Kyle probably deserves minutes, right? Like last night he was good with 11 points off the bench.
So that's like the backup to Jaden, and then on Kyrie. I don't know how much you want to put Ant on him. No, that was not... The trade-off was not worth it, man.
No, it's working so hard. So at the end of the game, Kyrie, who could score on anyone pretty much, Kyrie's going to get 30 points on 60%, 50% shooting, whether Ant's guarding him or not, and then the trade-off for the Wolves is, in the fourth quarter, Anthony Edwards is exhausted and walking up the court because he's trying to do it all. I think if you could put somebody else on Kyrie, I mean, I'm not saying that Ant can't ever guard Kyrie, maybe you just pick your spots, you just get... This happened against the Nuggets, where now is the time for Anthony Edwards to move on to Jomori, but it's not going to be for all 48 minutes.
And it almost felt like Ant issued a challenge to himself and to the league, and to Kyrie before the series, like, I want this. This is my time. And maybe it just needs to happen in spurts, so he's not gasping for air in the fourth quarter while he's also trying to get shots up and get the offense going. I don't know if you can just put calmly on him either, because he's not 100%.
No, he doesn't. The point performance might turn into a 48-point performance if you guys... That's the Rubik's cube, though, of all this because Nikhil would make a lot of sense on Kyrie. In terms of best options, he don't want to blow all of Ant's fuel, just trying to guard on the defense event.
But I think Nikhil has missed his last nine threes, dating back to Game 7 of the Denver series, so he's hit a little bit of an untimely regression with that shot. So, yeah, there's not a perfect world. I don't think Mike... Again, I am moving forward with the idea like, everyone's kind of hurt and banged up, but the guys that have been on injury reports are a little more shine.
So, Mike does not look like himself. I don't know if that's what... He just has weird turnovers now. He was a sister turnover ratio and just six assists in games and zero turnovers.
He was such a steady force. It does seem like he's pressing a little bit from time to time. He was over five from three last night before he hit that sixth one, that sixth attempt. So, that's the Rubik's cube.
They've got to figure out different ways. They're going to have to give up a little bit of something like they did against Yokech, right? Like, hey, they gave Yokech threes. Just take threes.
And if that's how you beat us, that's the goat path in the 300 wall that I was referenced. They have to find something to give, Dallas. But you can't let Kyrie just cook like that. I thought Kyrie had a lot of tough shots, but that's what Kyrie Irving does.
So, I don't know if I'm going to go into game today. Well, he's not going to make those anymore. Like a left-handed, mid-range floater. No, he made a left-handed buzzer beating floater over Yokech a couple months ago.
So, both teams have a lot, I think, to figure out. But deciding who is going to primarily guard Luka to me is still the big one, because that's the head of the snake and then everything else kind of trickles down. And you don't want... And there was a possession last night fill and didn't cross the half court line until like 12 seconds left on the shot clock.
I mean, he was just gassed. And you can't have... Like you said, the memo needs to be there that the Western Conference have started. And you got to bring Reiner to you in that.
I think that when you look at Kyrie and Luka and what they did, it's not something to what you were saying, where you were saying, well, okay, they're not going to combine for 63 points. They're not going to combine to shoot 51% or whatever it wanted to be. No, they are. Like, what they did last night is very repeatable regardless of what adjustments the wolves make.
And it's kind of about the other things that are happening around them. Now, another... I guess another feather in the cap of Dallas. You know, PJ Washington, depends on how you look at it.
PJ Washington regressed hard from three-point range. He's not a great three-point shooter, but he's been one in the playoffs. He was due for a two-for-eight clunker from three-point range. If you're Dallas, you would say, well, but he's been on fire from three throughout the playoffs, so he's not going to go two-for-eight again.
But if you're the wolves, are you kind of treating him like Aaron Gordon a little bit, where you have to trust that the 31% or 32% from the regular season, that that's who he is. And so you're going to leave him wide open sometimes as you're trying to put an extra body on Kyrie or Luka Danchus. But the thing that really stood out among the role players, Gafford, who Dallas acquired the trade deadline, and then Lively, the seven-foot-one center from Duke, man. Like those dudes, the size that Dallas brings with those two guys, Denver's better, but the size that Dallas brings makes the wolves more uncomfortable in certain situations.
I mean, I think if you would ask Dallas and Jason Kib before the game, hey, you guys are looking to leverage your size to force the team rules to beat you with jump shots. In fact, they're going to take 49 three-pointers, take it or leave it. I think Jason Kib would have said, yeah, we know they're a good high percentage of making three-point shooting team, but I don't think it's a team that's supposed to take almost 53s in a game because now you start to get less efficient. So Dallas with their size, with Luka, with Kyrie, they sort of dictated the way that that game was supposed to go, and now it's up to the wolves to find some counters and punch back differently in game two.
I'm glad you brought up the Lively thing. So the Mavs won last night by three. The Mavs were plus 14 with Lively on the court and Go Bear off, and they were minus 15 with Lively off the court and Go Bear on. I thought actually Rudy was pretty good last night.
Box score wise isn't going to tell the whole thing, but there was a possession or a time frame in the second quarter, maybe, where Rudy came off and Dallas scored six-rate baskets. If you look at Luka's eight-assisti head, they were all for buckets made within three feet, like, dunks or like little floaters or layups. So the Rudy Go Bear thing, he needs to play more. That's like one angle I have, just to offset Derek Lively, who is a rookie big, so he's got a learning curve still.
I'm sure Rudy just knows way more about defense and positioning and stuff, but Lively just gives you a 21-year-old, 20-year-old body to just be active. And he's really embraced his role. I thought he was really good last night off the bench. But the other one was two, and this is our guy, Jake, painting had this, that the wolves played almost six minutes last night with both Ant and Carl off the floor.
And I think the Mavs played three seconds with Luka and Kyrie both off the floor. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but it actually is, especially in a game that you lose by three points. So the wolf started that fourth quarter with Carl and Ant both on the bench. I just, I really never want to see that.
I know rotations can get weird with all trouble and certain things, and in the moment you're trying to shift some, you know, rotations aren't just planned. You got to kind of be organic in the moment, but I would like to see, you still need to score. And that's what this team still kind of has a bugable of getting cold and bad spots. So I'd like to see a game two, a three-second thing where it's like Carl or Ant were on the floor for 47 minutes and 57 seconds.
Like one of them is just always on the floor, and then you balance out the rotations around that because you need them to just find a rhythm, to outscore this dynamic duel for Dallas that, to your point, I was talking to Grady before the game. They can just go for 70 not only any night, but they can go for 70 every night. That's just how good that backward is. That is their strength, like the wolf's strength is defense.
So I got to find more minutes for Carl and Ant, and then just got to get Rudy out there more. He's got to lean into this starting five because there's so much talent out there, and that's without naming Jay McDaniel's who's on a heater now since game six. And Mike Conley may be a little more subtle with your effective pushing of map. That was so stupid.
We didn't even talk about last night, but... Let's do the officiating. We're far enough in. I don't like leading episodes of officiating, but...
Carl was the margin. He said last night, Carl was like, we didn't lose the game because of that or the goal tending. I know the NBA came out today with some weird graphic with this cylinder thing. It was really tough in the moment to notice it.
Also what frustrated Carl and I think the team was just... That put back would have tied the game a couple minutes left, and it just got the crowd going. That's what put back dunks do. But you didn't even really know in the moment because it was still out, that the call had been overturned.
And then they went to the review and they got it done so quick. I thought it was the wrong call and then they doubled down on it. But I've talked about both sides of my mouth on this. I've enjoyed watching a lead pass game in January where they go to a review, two other teams, and the person comes up to the screen and makes it like a movie.
You know, in the little theatrical with it? Didn't love it last night because I thought that that call was really, really bad. And then to be like, yeah, subtle but effective. It's never going to happen, but you're just creating a slippery slope of how many times does a player initiate subtle...
There's an awesome Luca Donchich game-sealing bucket that he had on J.D. than he was running down court and yelling. If you watch any angle of it, he uses his left arm in a subtle but effective manner to get J.D.D. off of him to get the bucket.
So... If we're calling subtle but effective things, we're blowing a whistle in literally every single play in the game. That's the thing. Yeah.
And then, yeah, I think the goal-tending thing... I don't know, man. I saw the overhead look and it looked to me like Carl grabbed the ball outside of the cylinder. Now the cylinder, for people wondering, it's not just proximity to the rim.
The cylinder goes up to the rafters. And so you can't... If you're tall enough to grab a rebound above the top of the backboard, if it's above the cylinder, in theory, it's offensive goal-tending. So it is a rule.
I don't know that you see it called in that situation, though. I think it was outside the cylinder when you look at the overhead replay. So I think they got it wrong. Even if it was kind of in the cylinder, they rarely call it when the ball is that high up off the rim.
I mean, it bounced up over the top of the backboard and he grabbed it as it was coming back down. You just... I don't know. It's harder to swallow when you see things called that aren't normally called even in regular season games in super high leverage moments deep in the fourth quarter of a Western Conference Finals game.
And that last night was Mark Davis in his crew, right? And now... He'll turn by that guy. Right.
And now is the lead official in the two biggest blowouts in Timmerworld's playoff history and he takes a steel chair to their backs last night. And again, I don't think anyone in that locker room thought... or the coaching staff thought they lost the game because they're officiating. But it was...
There was a lot of untimely weird calls that just... You know, because on that subtle but effective moment, the Wolves challenged it because they were... The cool thing about being in games is... I can't remember the assistant coaches name, but it's in charge of the iPad.
And as soon as he watches the replay, he'll lose his shit and just like, oh my god, like review this. So they did that and they're pretty good at that. Like when they spin the finger, the coaching staff, they're going to win that. So to lose it, you don't have any more challenges.
And that would have came in handy, you know, down the road in some other high leverage spots in the last three to four minutes. So... And then Dallas won both their challenges and just... I don't know.
There was just every time the Wolves... That subtle but effective moment, the Wolves were up five, would have had the ball and could have bumped it to seven or eight and just had a little more momentum. And every time the Wolves had a chance like that, seemed like the momentum was either... They gave it away themselves, playing them, or kind of got stolen away from them by the officiating.
So, you know, we've talked about it way too much this whole season, but in general, I just think this League would be better off if I didn't know, like, the favorite color of all the officials. Like, I don't want to know their names, I don't want to know who's covering the name, I just want... I would have a side out of mind. So...
And if Adam Silver could just like five minutes, maybe not focus on underwear partnerships, the number one rule for me that I would want to remove or update or edit, get to the international rule, or you can just take the ball off the rim. Because these guys are all so athletic now, and Carl's had put back dunks in every series. Just forget the ball to the cylinder thing. If the ball is on the rim, you can swat it off.
If the ball is on the rim, you can put it back in. I mean, Eurobasket ball is really fun to watch in that sense. So let's just add that to this summer, but we don't have to worry about those types of goaltending calls in big spots in a game. That would be what we should do as we stack up off-season talkers, including by the way, the top 100 Timrules of all time.
I have re-ranked them. I have that ready to go whenever we want sometime this summer, but I like that idea. Like, what the Timrules benefit the most with Roodie-Go-Bear, Carl Anthony Townsend, if the NBA went to international basketball rules and said, you can just do whatever you want at the rim. It doesn't matter.
It's just so many. Victor L Piles into us. We've been this out for 30 minutes. Why?
There are so many little things that the Wolves had cleaned up, especially in March and April in this run, that little bad calls that got a little distracted, not executing late game, and then their defensive coverages were just regular season, and not tight enough in a game one where you're trying to get to the NBA Finals for the first time ever. Hey, we're going to do a random wolf of the week here just a little bit, but you know what's always fun? When you're walking around, walking around the arena, or walking around somewhere, and someone compliments you on your clothing. That's what's happened today with this hat from Legendary Golf for the YouTube audience.
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That's EcoFun, motorsports.com. Dude, the legendary polos at Botling Estuary. I know the crew over there said they sent me some stuff, but I just had to get one because you showed me the one you had. It is so comfortable.
It is already in the weekly routine of polos. Sometimes I'm just going to put a polo even if I'm working from home, like it'll be a polo up top, maybe boxers down below. You can see, I'm on a zoom call, but they have really, really good merch. And then also to dig into the company background a little bit, what an awesome story.
And then also EcoFun, if you want to send me a go-cart or four with that, I would support that as well. So I could just drive around to my polo and my wave runner and my four-runner. You're scooting around with your boxer briefs on town, town in the Atlas, hoping for a game too victory. Yeah, pretty much.
81 degrees up. Alright, let's get our guy in here, producer Ross, to help lead us here. Oh, there he is. Hey, buddy.
What's up, kids? How you doing? Ross, give me your 30 seconds quick on the game. I'm not worried.
I had the Wolves in six and a part of that math equation was a game one or two loss. I firmly believe if the Minnesota Timberwolves come back from Dallas tied at two, they're in great shape. Preferably up 3-1, but if you're 2-2 after four games coming back home, you're in good shape. I trust those Timberwolves, too.
I do. It would have been nice to win, but I'm not deterred. It's a cool bet. The 0-14 number is wild.
I wish I would have known that going into the game last night because I think my entire opinion about what was about to happen would have been. Oh, and 14 coming off a game seven since 2011 teams in the NBA going into the conference finals. Before the Sun series, I went on a mini-rantig, it's all the fans that were scared of the Suns. Guys, this isn't going to be easy.
It's not supposed to be easy. There's a reason why these series are seven games. There's a reason why Dallas is in the conference finals. They are a good team and they are the best version of Dallas.
They've been all year, and they're much better than the Dallas team that the Timmerwolves saw much of the year. Give them time to read and react as you guys talked about. Maybe rest up today. Drink a little extra PEDA light and be good to go for Friday night.
Hey, I'm glad you said that. I'll let Phil take over. It was a week ago today, right? That Michael Grady came on and saved my life.
They were like, the wolves were down 3-2 and that feeling you woke up. They were like, oh my God, they just choked away a chance to hit the Western Conference for the first time since Kevin Garnett. And Grady's like, relax. Like win a game at home and then see what happens.
Michael Grady is here in spirit today, but I would imagine he would say the same thing. Like win a game tomorrow, reset the series and then see what happens. So thanks Ross. You're the Grady for the week.
But vibes are still high. And let me add this really quickly before we introduce Wolf of the Week to put some of your own medicine back on you and those that need to hear it. This is fun. There are four teams left playing in the NBA.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are one of them. Enjoy it whether it lasts three more games, six more games or 13 more games. Enjoy it. The last time we enjoyed it, it took 20 years to do it again.
Yeah. Enjoy the moment. Yeah, as Jim Peterson once said on Flegernhaus, don't wish life away. Game two is tomorrow night.
There's a block party downtown Minneapolis. Vibes are high. Let's get it, man. Live show tonight at Falling Knife, not to promote the other pod, but Jim Pete is a family at Flegernhaus.
So we're going to have Jim Pete tonight at Flegernhaus. He's been here. Jim Pete is going to be at Falling Knife tonight at seven o'clock. Happy hour starts at six.
And he and Britain Dane and maybe running around. But we're going to be talking basketball and adjustments. And there's no one I'd rather hear what the Wolves should do than Jim Pete, who is coached finals for the WNBA, played in NBA finals as a player. So yeah, if you're looking for a spot to have a beer tonight, Falling Knife, Spot tomorrow, the whole city is going to be taken over.
I mean, they're chocking gold wolves on the streets down here. So come downtown and get ready for a big, big wolves win. I won't panic until Jim Pete Panics. Here are your scores, gentlemen.
WJD. What would Jim do? What would Jim do? 14 to 7 is the score that I have.
It's a football score. Phil got the most recent random Wolf of the Week. Who's got 14? Kyle.
Kyle. Yeah. Phil's got seven. Kyle is 14.
The most recent random Wolf of the Week was Mike James again, the about once a monthish disclaimer. These are random wolves in the sense of using a random algorithm to pick the player that these two gentlemen will be guessing. So without further ado, are you gentlemen ready for this week's Random Wolf of the Week? We get up to three incorrect guesses each.
If one of us hits a third strike, the other one wins automatically, not counting the Heat Chat guess. Here we go. And here we go. Clue number one.
This Random Wolf of the Week appeared in just 67 games for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Gotta hate those starts. I also believe I don't have all the clues. I believe I use that same clue and that same number for another Random Wolf of the Week, or at least in that same game's played area.
Kyle, you want to go first on Heat Chacks Random Wolf of the Week that appeared in 67 games for the game? No, you don't get to say that and then make me go first. So I will defer to you, boss, on who you think it is. This week's Random Wolf of the Week is Jimmy Butler.
No, it is not Jimmy Butler. Man, that would have been incredible if I got it off of that. How many games did Jimmy Butler play with the Wolf? Not a lot to look at.
So let me get on Google, but I will look that up after. No, let's just let's just let's let's let's let's let Kyle Google Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler. I think it was.
Was it even 67? We're just doing some hardcore numbers here. Jimmy Butler played 50 65. Oh, come on.
Go to the back. Math. I am working. 69 games, 59 in one season and 10 in another.
So, yeah, you're a gut. Hey, good work, Phil. Eight iron from the fairway. A little back spin right by the hole right there.
This random Wolf of the Week. This Random Wolf of the Week is listed as playing two different positions. Not necessarily unique to him at all. Two different positions.
Sixty seven games. Well, all NBA were no longer doing it by positions. I learned that last night. Yeah, we get a five, like five, five bigs could be on first.
I think I learned that in the moment. I didn't really learn it last night. I knew I was going to make it because someone told me like a couple days ago, but I didn't know what team, but I didn't know that you could just have. I think that was the same thing Ross with all defense, right?
Like the first team all defense was all guys, six, ten or bigger cards on it. So, and that goes for all NBA, second and third team as well. You could just have like 15 centers make the all the three all in the eight teams. You could.
Clue number three. This random Wolf of the Week played high school basketball in normal Illinois. Normal Illinois. Is it a weird Illinois?
Normal Illinois. Get some coffee, come play two different positions. Sixty seven games for the Minnesota Timberwolves. All right, gentlemen, this random Wolf of the Week averaged 1.6 points per game in the NBA this season.
Oh, one point six points per game in the NBA this season. This random Wolf of the Week is six foot eight inches tall per basketball reference. Okay. Six foot eight inches tall, one point six points per game in the NBA this season.
Well, that's a this is the greatest thing any Tim Rose podcast does. Like my brain is just thinking of so many random. We should go to college. I'm like, okay, how many games did Troy Hudson play?
I feel like I have a mental block that's more recent. Like I remember things like 2005 more than 2021. That's fair. That's fair.
That is a great. I see somebody professionally about that. This is not an official clue, but this is a clue that all throw in there. This is a player's name.
I will always have trouble pronouncing. So take that for what it's worth. This random Wolf of the Week has played for five different NBA franchises since entering the league. I love you can hear Lori and Julia from my talk in the background outside of Ross's office.
We're doing this for in my office because I like the lighting and the Wi-Fi. That's what you do look really good. Like you should take it out. When you look like me, you will take every advantage you can get.
This random one played college basketball in the Big Ten. Played college basketball in the Big Ten. I feel like this is where it starts to skew towards Kyle a little bit. So my apologies, Phil.
This random Wolf of the Week was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Wow, you guys are really thinking I love this. This random Wolf of the Week was the Big Ten Player of the Year in 2018. Kata Bates D.O.
That is correct Kyle. That is correct. Look at me, Big Ten fan. Give you the applause.
Wow dude. And is Kata Bates D.O.P. is that the official pronunciation? I mean Kata Bates J.O.P.
I mean Ross, he said you can't pronounce it. I just tried to pronounce it. I think I did a worse job. The way you said it is how I always said it.
Then when he returned, not playing with the Wolves, they were pronouncing it like Phil said. Basketball reference for the cool job of doing pronunciation. So there's this D.O.P. Yeah, so it's Kata.
Like hard K. Kata Bates D.O.P. If that's how they're going to say it, normal Illinois. I'm going to have to lift that one up.
I forgot that he was in the League too, so that blew my mind. Did I have any other random blues for you? Kyle, you're the NBA draft wizard. Do you remember what pick he was taken?
And he was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Was it? 43? You're close.
Add a couple circles to that three. 48. Okay. I was a kid.
You know, I liked him because he was kind of that second round. Tall length. I mean, he kind of had was like a poor man to Jade McDaniel's except not the insanely good defense. But yeah, that just kind of takes us back to the days where it's like, oh my God, like your summer revolved around like Kata Bates D.O.
Is you going to play the game? Oh my God. Here we go. Go ahead and check them on the summer league.
Overall NBA question before we wrap up. Would you not say though, if you take a guy 48th overall in the second round and you fast forward six seasons and he's still kicking it in the NBA, even though it's not necessarily for you, that's not a bad traffic. That's an NBA player, right? Who was the six years in?
Who was the executive? Who was running the Wolves in 2018? I think it was New Person. Was it?
Oh, was it between when Flip passed away like 17? Man, I forgot about Milton. She's a good number for Ross. Career earnings for KBD.
8.2 million. Yeah, I'd say he's happy to get. I can get a second round. Be on a roster.
I mean, he's still on one for seven years and make 8.2 million. Five-star travel, 8 million dollars, punching connections. You can go coach college basketball. You can go sit on time as those bench.
It's like the third assistant when you're done. No, no, I'm going to hijack JB Bigger staff out. There's your minnesota can actually do. Yeah, you can.
Yeah, you can. And I go to Google AI search telling me that Scott Layton was the general manager of the show for the 18-19 season. Oh, god, I'm sorry. So was Tibs?
Tibs was still there then? Yeah. Okay. This was like taking your transition mode, major transition mode for that franchise.
When Taylor was still the owner then. Good stuff boys and congrats Kyle, you now go up 15 to 7. Nice job Kyle. Brand new Wolf of the Week.
Kyle, I tip my cap. I tip my legendary golf cap to you. Have fun tomorrow night boys. Ross go, good stuff man.
Kyle will see you tomorrow night at the Skornarth YouTube channel. Thank you guys again for helping flagren howls sit between 7th and 9th on the Apple National Basketball Podcast charts these last five days. It's a global span to the best man. You come out when it's when it's time to time to raise up.
You guys do and you've supported this podcast for almost two years and we appreciate you all. 82 degrees right now in the afternoon in the apples. Remember listen to this get outside. Go grab a beer Friday again last night sucked, but game two at home block party Anthony Edwards, Jane McDaniel's basketball in end of May.
We have not experienced this since most of us were children, so get out and have a great weekend and yeah like Phil said best fans in the league best fans in the world for us supporting this show and supporting this team. So let's have a good one. Hey man, he's Kyle. I'm Phil and this is a Tamar Woll's lifestyle podcast.