The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Timberwolves-Mavericks Reaction: Anthony Edwards outplays Luka, Wolves SURVIVE

Episode Date: May 29, 2024

Jason Timpf reacts to Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns, and the Minnesota Timberwolves' 105-100 win over Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and the Dallas Mavericks in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals. Jason breaks down how Minnesota finally outplayed Dallas, Anthony Edwards' dominant performance down the stretch, and what he expects heading back to Minnesota for Game 5. #volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fans, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes.

Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of Tontons and Wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith ruling. of two. Listen to Stuff to Bole Your Mind on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliver Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it.

Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The volume. We're this close to crowning a new NBA champ. And with the action heating up on the court, it's even hotter at Draft King Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA.

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Hope all of you guys are having a great week. Well, the Minnesota Timberwolves, they're back against the wall. Get a huge win on the road in Dallas to extend the series. Now we're headed to Game 5 on Thursday night back in Minnesota. I'm excited to break game 4 down from the perspective of both teams. You guys know the Joe before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore J-S-N-L-T so you guys don't miss show announcements.

Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under Hoops tonight and keep dropping mailbag questions in those YouTube comments. So we keep hitting them throughout the rest of the postseason. All right, let's talk some basketball. So obviously there's an important kind of like, you know, sub-text. little bit of footnote on tonight's game, right? Like Derek lively, who is a very important piece of this Dallas Mavericks team, missed the game. You could argue he's probably their fourth best player, I think, behind PJ Washington and Kyra Irving and Luca Donchich. And I want to be clear,

that certainly plays a role in what happened tonight. But I want to give Minnesota credit, because I thought even if Lively had played tonight, it might not have made that much of a difference because I thought Minnesota outplayed Dallas in this particular game. And even though Lively is super important and he's going to return to this series and Minnesota will have to beat the Mavs with Lively on the floor in all likelihood to advance to the NBA finals. Minnesota just played a really good basketball game today and I think just overly focusing on the lively piece is missing the boat and it's a disservice to a really good game that they played. I thought they just outplayed Dallas. They came out, they punched him in the mouth early. They responded to every Mavericks run

and they flipped a couple of key factors that they had been losing earlier in the series. First of They finally won the half-court battle. For the first time in the series, they outscored Dallas 98 to 86 in half-court points per 100 plays. A big part of that was the over-the-top shot making. Anthony Edwards made seven jump shots. Kyra Irving and Luca combined to make six jump shots between the two of them. Kat made four of his own. So you got outshot in terms of your over-the-top shooting from your stars.

11 made field goals to 6. And again, like, that's not un-lively. That's just those guys missing shots. It's a credit to the defense. It's a credit to Ant and Carl Anthony Towns making shots. Over the top, or excuse me, overall jump shooting for both teams. 1.19 points per jump shot for Minnesota, 1.02 for the Dallas Mavericks. In the clutch situation that we got that we've had in every single game in this series,

for the first time in this series, Ant actually out-executed Luca in the clutch. Ant hit two jumpers and he had three separate assists to Carl Anthony Towns. And Luca hit that three. He had that one three in garbage time and he drew that foul on the pump fake against Carl Anthony Towns. But other than that, and assist to PJ Washington, he wasn't generating baskets the same way that Anthony Edwards was. That was the first time in the series through four games that I thought Ant actually

outplayed Luca in this game. So credit to him. Again, like they won the rebounding battle. Minnesota dominated points in the paint. And so like I want to just give Minnesota credit. Obviously, there's a bunch of factors. You've got a classic close-out type of game, right? Kyrie straight-up said it in his shoot-around before the game.

He's like, tonight's their Super Bowl. For us, it's just another basketball game, which, by the way, that's not necessarily the attitude you want to project before the game, but that said, like, that's the truth. Like, Minnesota is desperate. Dallas has four chances to get this one game, right? Obviously, the Derek Lively injury. Carl Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards,

They are both coming off of a really rough first three games of the series. So those two guys, they got their pride on the line in a lot of different ways. And they just bounced back tonight. And so again, I want to give Minnesota credit. I thought they just outplayed Dallas and I thought they deserved to win. There was a key adjustment that we saw in this game that I thought was fascinating. Minnesota decides to put Jaden McDaniels on Kyrie Irving and move Anthony Edwards over onto Luca Donchich. I like this for a couple of different reasons, right?

Like in the big picture, you don't love the idea of Ant on Luca because Ant's defensive effort has been somewhat inconsistent in this postseason run even on the Bull, right? And early in the series, a lot of Kyrie getting off was Aunt just not doing a very good job. But the desperation of the situation actually brought Ant's best defensive game of the series out on Luca. One of the nice things with Ant, he has a little bit more strength and a little bit more quickness in short bursts of movement to be able to recover against Luka when he's working in ball screens. And then the major piece is Jadie McDaniels is an entirely different level of perimeter defender than Anthony Edwards in terms of total commitment for 48 minutes and a lot of length on Kyra Irving.

In a weird way, I look at it like this. Even moving forward to game five, I like this matchup because do I expect Ant to have the same level of impact on Luca in game five that he did in game four? No, I think Luca will have a big bounce back game in game five. that said, Jaden McDaniels on Kyrie Irving is really a tough matchup. That's a matchup that Kyrie might struggle with continuing forward in the series. We will see. I thought that, like, look at it from the perspective of, like, if you can't cut off, like,

the head of the snake, if you can somehow cut off the second most important piece of the team, right? Like, if you can somehow minimize Kyrie, realizing that Jaden can't guard Luca anyway, so even a bad defensive effort from Ant isn't going to have that. much of a different impact on Luca than Jaden McDaniel's trying his ass off, right? Because Luca just throws Jaden around like a ragdoll, right? So I kind of liked that idea from the standpoint of like, put your defensive specialist on a guy he can actually make struggle a little bit

and then put Ant in a situation where if he struggles, it's the same struggles that you were having with your primary perimeter defender. Anyway, I liked that adjustment. I think they should continue that forward into game five. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way,

this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

One week I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told,

and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, Follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two.

Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim?

Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode, with Mark Lamont Hill

waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack,

so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so... Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah.

For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The big bounce back game from Carl Anthony Towns took more of an inside-out approach, was really attacking the basket early, just kind of putting his head down, getting into the rim, hit that little bank shot driving towards his left-hand side against PJ Washington early in the game. That kind of set the tone a little bit. He didn't even attempt a three-point shot until the second half and then got red-hot,

really impressively too, considering he was in foul trouble, of the night. Classic Carl Anthony Towns is doing stupid shit to get into foul trouble, but he persisted through that and hit a bunch of big shots. Anthony Edwards, another big bounce back game from him. Again, I thought he was really good on defense against Luca Donchage for the most part. And then the big thing from him in this game was hitting all of those pull-up jump shots that he was hitting in pick and roll. Again, like, you guys, everyone's talking about, oh, Derek lively, he's out of the game, there's no rim protection. Eh, that's not true. You still, you just scaled up Daniel

Gafford's minutes. He played 31 minutes. Maxi Kleba played, what, 13 minutes in this game, and he was plus two. So, like, you got Klieba back and you scaled up Gafford's minutes. There were still quite a bit of elite defensive personnel on the backline. Do you guys remember that play where Ant beat Derek Jones Jr. off the dribble and elevated right into Gafford's chest and Gafford walled him up and he just kind of tried to wiggle around and he couldn't finish. Like, there's still elite rim protection there.

Daniel Gafford blocked Carl Anthony Towns twice in that second half stretch, right? So, like, they still have rim protection in there. And the reality is, regardless of whether Relively comes back in game five or if it comes back in game six or he doesn't come back at all, there's just a lot of rim protection in there. And so what's happening is as Luca's getting past the first layer of the defense, there's an opportunity for him to have some success in that mid-range. And specifically because of the Gobert problem and the fact that he can't catch or finish anything around the basket unless it's a wide open dunk, because of that, you need to be able to make those little mid-range jump shots. and pretty consistently in this game, Aunt was able to get to those spots and knocked it down. Again, he made seven jump shots between pull-up threes and pull-up twos in this game.

I thought that that was, you know, kind of like the missing piece for him with this particular roster. Now, ideally in the big picture, we'll get to that in the off-season. I don't love the idea of Anthony Edwards needing to make pull-up jump shots in order to have success because he's got a stonehand center that can't catch and finish anything around the basket. But with this particular roster, that's just what he's going to have to do.

And so again, Carl Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards, we'll see. I don't think it's going to be enough. We're going to talk about it in a minute. I still feel very confident that Dallas is going to win this series. But, like, again, this was a big bounceback game. And persistently throughout this playoff run, I talked about this in our mailbag this morning,

I've been pretty consistently impressed with Anthony Edwards and how he's managed to kind of confront his weaknesses over the course of this playoff run and have some success in spite of those weaknesses. Typically, we see players have to have multiple playoff runs where they struggle or multiple off seasons to work on specific things. And Ant keeps like running into that brick wall, but then like just continuing try to force his way through and having some success. And again, I don't think it'll be enough to turn the series around. But I was really impressed by the bounce back performance from Ant and from Carl Anthony Towns tonight.

One of the guy I wanted to shout out for the wolves, Kyle Anderson, more defense on Luca. he's another guy that kind of, he's like a bigger, stronger version of Jaden McDaniels in the sense that like he actually can absorb some of those blows from Luca and actually has the length to bother him on his pull-up jump shot a little bit. Now, he has some issues on the offensive end of the floor as we have talked about ad nauseum over the course of the season, but he was actually really active off the ball in tonight's game, which allowed him to remain a net positive on the offensive end. Really good screening. He freed up Carl Anthony Towns a few times for threes,

was smart screening. He had three offensive rebounds. Was obviously super impactful on the defensive end of the Florida. I had three steals in this game. A bunch of really good contests on Luca Donchich. Really nice game from Kyle Anderson. Big bounce back win for the Minnesota Timberwolf. So looking forward to game five. You know, I was talking with our production staff because we obviously were, I thought Dallas was going to get it done tonight.

So shout out to Minnesota for getting it done, or for extending the series. like we were talking, we were just kind of joking. We're like, oh, we were, we were expecting to have Thursday night off and have, uh, uh, this like magical eight days off before the NBA finals, which obviously for myself and for the team here at Hoops Tonight would have been very nice because we've been going like absolutely insane for the last two months, right? Uh, but like, you know, I, uh, Paul, our lead producer, he goes, he's like, oh, yeah, I think, uh, Minnesota might kill him in game five. And, you know, I kind of feel the opposite about that. Like,

I think game five is going to be another crazy close game that kind of ends up around 100 to 100 with a few minutes left. And I think it's going to come down to shot making. Because here's the thing. I keep talking about, you remember that the bit that I did before earlier in the series where I was like, momentum is only as good as whatever your matchup advantages are in the next series. That's kind of the way I look at the idea of Dallas's rim protection. It's like the cliche, like momentum is only as good. is the next game starting pitcher in baseball.

Like, it doesn't matter how good you feel, how stoked you are, whether or not you're at home or on the road, if that dude's, you know, a two-seamer and slider is flummoxing all your, all your hitters and nobody can get on base. Like, it just doesn't matter if nobody can actually hit the pitches that are being thrown. And that's kind of the way I look at game five. Like, the problem's still there. It's still there that every single time Anthony Edwards comes off a ball screen,

the pain is completely packed. Every single time, Ant just drives by his man in ISO because Gobert can't catch or finish anything. It's just Gafford or lively just standing right under the basket waiting for him there. That problem's not going away. And again, I talked about it earlier. I do think Jaden McDaniels could have some continued success against Kyrie, but I do think that Luca will have a big bounce back offensive game in Game 5 on the road in Minnesota. So I expect game five to be very close.

and the bottom line is, in order for Minnesota to win this series, they have to win on Thursday in Minnesota, then go back on the road to Dallas on Saturday, and they have to win again. And then they have to come home and close them out in game 7 at home on Monday when they've already lost two games at home to Dallas. And every single one of these games is more or less been the same kind of pathway. I actually thought Minnesota outplayed Dallas tonight,

but in the other games, they still managed through attacking the offensive glass, through just making a lot of jump shots. Minnesota managed to kind of hang close, but the same problem persists in these late game environments, Ant is going to have to make pull-up jump shots. Carl Anthony Towns is going to have to make contested threes. Whereas on the other end of the floor,

you have professional over-the-top shot makers in Kyrie Irving and Luca Donchich, and Luca just seems to be able to manipulate the defense to get wide open threes for. guys like PJ Washington in the corner and easy lob dunks for guys like Daniel Gafford and Derek lively. It just seems in the aggregate easier for Dallas to generate quality shots in the half court than Minnesota. And so again, it's out there. If they go home in game five and it's a close game and Ant makes two or three more huge clutch pull-up jump shots,

and Luca happens to miss a couple, then yeah, they have a chance to win that game. But do I see that happening in game five and then again in game six on the road and then in by the way game six you're going to feel a bit of desperation because like kairy said just another basketball game in game four if dallas loses game five in minnesota you bet your ass dallas is going to come out ready to play incredibly desperate basketball in game six at home and so like shout out to minnesota big bounce back game but i still feel very confident that dallas is going to get this done i think they have at least a coin flip chance to get it done on Thursday. And I would just be very, very surprised if Minnesota was able to go on the road on Saturday night and win in Dallas.

And so sticking with Dallas is my prediction. But I just want to tip the cap to Minnesota. It was a big back against the wall, gutsy performance from them to extend the series. All right, guys, that is all I have for tonight. I'm going to be back tomorrow morning. We're going to do a film session. We'll dig a little bit further into the – basically my goal for tomorrow morning is to rewerewere watch the game and try to identify anything that is sustainable from Minnesota going on the road.

Because if you're going to win this series, if you're going to win three additional games in a row, you better have flipped the script on some key advantages for your team that you can replicate on a night-in-night-out basis. And so I'm going to be digging in the film to try to find something like that. So keep an eye on the feeds tomorrow. We'll have a film session and then we'll get back into it on Thursday night for game five. I will see you guys then. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel

help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert It's Michael and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith ruling.

of two. Listen to Stuff to Bole Your Mind on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, the Cliver Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard,

but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.