Hoops Tonight - Timberwolves-Nuggets Reaction: Anthony Edwards EXPLODES, Wolves stun Jokic & Denver

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throughout the rest of the postseason. All right, let's talk some basketball. So before we get into any of the actual kind of dynamic of the way this game went down, one of the things I talked about in the series preview is Anthony Edwards is it's very difficult to kind of project forward for him. You know, those of you guys who've been following the show know that for a couple of years now, I've been super super high on

Anthony Edwards and his long term potential. But ANT is different from some of the other, like all time greats that come up out of you know, out of high school in the sense that like ANT didn't have nearly as much hype early on, and so you know, it was kind of just in the last couple of years where you start to look at it and you go, Okay, this dude really has some potential as an athlete, and with his competitiveness and the skill development that he's demonstrating,

that he could get to this crazy high level. But like, you know, usually kind of project that sort of thing as in a mid to late twenties, right, Like, how many times have we been talking about players in that mid twenties age group where we're just kind of waiting for them to figure it out. We're waiting for them to kind of get to that next level. And you know, here's the thing going into this year's postseason run. In

the regular season, Minnesota was a less effective offense. They were I think seventeenth in offensive rating, and they famously would fall apart in the fourth quarters of games, especially in crunch time. They had one of the worst offensive ratings in the league when they get into clutch situations right, And a big part of that was during the regular season, Anthony Edwards was not as efficient as a pull up shooter,

a pretty consistent theme over the last few years. But every year he's gotten to the postseason and I don't know if it's just his resilience athletically in these physical environments, or if it's a supreme confidence, or or literally he's just a gamer, but he gets into these situations and all of a sudden, he's like a knockdown pull up shooter when you can when you combine that with like his unbelievable athletic advantages, his supreme competitive spirit, it becomes

a bona fide top tier superstar in this level of basketball. And again it makes it hard to kind of evaluate Minnesota because he wasn't that in the regular season. He was somewhere in the seventh to tenth best player in the league in the regular season. Here in the postseason, he's been the best guy. He's he's been the best player in the playoffs so far. That that's what Anthony Edwards has been. And like now at this point, I actually think he's a little bit underrated in this sense.

I don't think people realize what we're witnessing with Anthony Edwards. This guy has legitimate potential to be the best player in the world in the league that already has Nicole Jokic in his twenties, Luka Doncic in his twenties, Giannison,

Dena Kumpo, and Joel Embiid. He's he's got the potent pass those guys, and he's barely scratching the surface of what he can do in terms of managing his energy better through games, in terms of reading defense, is better, in terms of hunting easier shots, like he had a baseline post up kind of like bully ball play against

Reggie Jackson in the early second half. That's gonna be a huge part of his game in the future, just absolutely bullying small guards on the block every single time down the floor that he gets that type of matchup. The sky is the limit for this kid. And I don't think people have any idea how good he is already, let alone how good he is capable of being. Forty three points tonight, seven rebounds, a steal in two blocks, seventeen for twenty seven from the field, three for seven

from three to six for six from the line. Just an unbelievably dominant performance from Anthony Edwards. Nazrid did a bunch of big shots in the second half as Minnesota kind of started to pull away, and then Aunt just

slammed the door shut. Not just that ridiculous right shoulder fade over KCP on the left elbow, but that play after Michael Porter Junior came out of the time out hit that three, and ant just gets the inbound pass and just literally races past every single Denver nugget like they're not even there for a wide open layup on the other end of the floor. You know, I got asked a male bag question the two or three days ago, and Celtics fans are all mad because They're like, why

are you comparing him to Jason Tatum? It was it was a male bag question, But there's another layer to it. This is the debate of, like, who's the next great American basketball player? Right beyond the Luka Jannis Jokic tier, which is a group of obviously non Americans, we have basically like Tatum and Anthony Edwards and like Zion Williamson. Like, that's the group of guys that are kind of contending

for that best young American player. One of the when when I was asked that male bag question, the reason why I said Anthony Edwards so definitively has to do with that supreme athleticism. This is a big thing I've been talking about in the Clippers Mavericks series that just

ended last night. When you have an elite physical trade, whether it's Luka Doncic's size and strength or it's Kyrie Irving's quickness versus guys like Paul George and James Harden that just don't have elite athletic traits at this phase of their career, it makes it a lot harder to get separation from top tier perimeter defenders in high stakes, physical urgent and intense environments. Anthony Edwards is one of

the best athletes in the NBA. He is capable of like just that right shoulder fade over KCP at the end of the game, the one that kind of iced it right that fade away. If you watch him, KCP is defending it perfectly, bodying him, absorbing contact, keeping him in front. If you watch a replay of that play, watch how much separation Ant gets when he turns to fade.

He gets so much lyft that even though that shot looks really difficult to us because of how athletic he is, when he's up at the top of that jump, it might as well be a free throw for him. Like he's just got such great lift and balance that at the top of that shot. It's just his classic muscle memory and release. Just like on that play, it's like, Okay,

Michael Porter Junior hits a three. It's a Now we've got to try to contain here on this inbounds, It's like all this pressure setting up in the back court. But because he has that supreme physical gift of his athleticism, he's able to rip through them like tissue paper on his way to the basket. When you combine his supreme

athleticism his strength. I thought that first possession of the game, when he was guarding Jamal Murray, we'll get back to it in a second, where he's being handsy and containing him. Is it's the supreme athleticism, it's the strength. He's got good size, it's the supreme competitiveness, and he's putting in the work behind the scenes to turn himself into a polished score from all three levels of the floor. Just

I cannot. I cannot. I'm not. I'm gonna understate it because it's not possible to put into words just how impressed I am with this kid. I think he might be my favorite player in the post Lebron era after he's done. I just love everything out this kid, and I'm so excited to see what he is capable of accomplishing, not just the rest of the series, but the rest of his career. I was literally thinking, like, like, this kid has a chance to do stuff like this for

another decade, if not longer. We are just barely scratching the surface of what aunt can be. So early in

the game. I thought it was super fascinating. Minnesota did a similar thing to Phoenix in the in the first round, where basically in the Sunday game, the game that was the final game of the regular season, they put Anthony Edwards on KD and they put Jaden McDaniels on Booker and then they put Mike Conley on Bradley Beal, and so we were all kind of planning on that series, like, oh, they're gonna go into this series and they're gonna put

those same guys in those same matchups, and it's like, Nope. They came into Game one and mix it up immediately and Ant moved over to Bradley Beal and they put Carl Towns on Kevin Durant and it just was kind of like a random kind of tweak that we weren't expecting.

They come out the opening tip tonight, and all of the film during the regular season was a strong indicator it was gonna be a lot of Jaden McDaniels on Jamal Murray and you know, they go for just a couple of possessions with Ant on Jamal and it works great. There's that early possession where Ant fights over the screen and then Jamal tries to iso him and like Ant literally had him in jail. He could not break free.

He could not get separation from him. And that's the whole other element of Ant's game that is is barely flushed out from where it's gonna be. He could be the best perimeter defender in the league. There is no player that can move laterally and contain a player with his hands and strength the way that Anthony Edwards can. Now he was exhausted a lot tonight from what he was asked to do offensively, and he took a lot of defensive possessions where he wasn't super engaged in this game.

But like when he gets to that point or he's you know, mid twenties supreme two way, you know, athlete with the commitment on both ends of the floor, he could be the best perimeter defender in the league. This sky's the limit for this game. But I thought it was so interesting because he's on Jamal and then they quick switch him off. It was almost like sending a

message early. It was almost like sending a message like, by the way, Jamal, I'm coming for you anytime this game gets close, Like if this game gets close, I just want you to know that you can't you can't break free from me, you know, and honestly, like they switched back to Jaden, and Jaden did damn near just

as good a job. Now Jamal over the course of the game kind of started to figure it out, setting him up for ball screens, doing a better job of working multiple screening actions to get Jaden caught on the screen. Jokic actually set some better screens and so in the second half, Jamal was able to get some openings this year. Like, here's the thing, this is gonna today. Today is about Anthony Edwards and celebrating his greatness and his potential. This

is gonna be a long series. They what spotted Minnesota an eighteen to four lead. I think at the start of this game, Denver's not going anywhere. They're gonna have an answer. This is gonna be a really tough series. But I'm more just kind of taking a moment to celebrate when a than the Edwards did early in the game. Defensive fastball completely shuts Denver down. They I think they

go up eighteen to four. It looks like it looks like this is going to be a much different type of series in terms of the defensive side of the floor or exsuse me the offensive side of the floor for Denver in terms of the types of players they're

dealing with on the perimeter. But Mike Malone's second timeout gets called and then out of the time out, Denver starts to lean into something that I talked a lot about in the series preview, which is avoid Minnesota's half court offense as much as possible by defending and getting out in transition. And they went on a crazy defensive run to end the first quarter. There was like a like a twelve or thirteen minute span where I think they had like ten twelve points. It was a dominant

defensive stretch from Denver. They got twelve steals in this game. They had twenty six total points on fourteen Minnesota turnovers. That was really the only reason this game stayed close. Early on, all of the major metrics tilted toward Minnesota. Minnesota out sh shot them fifty two to forty seven percent. They won points in the paint fifty two to forty two. They out rebounded them forty two to thirty four. They out rebound him on the offensive glass seven to three.

They were the better transition offense. They had a one to eighty six offensive rating and transition. Minnesota or excuse me, Denver had a one forty three offensive rating, although much better than their half court offense and then the half court offense. Minnesota won the half court offense battle today one oh six to one hundred in points per one hundred half court play. So it was really a dominant

effort from Minnesota from top to bottom. What kept Denver in the game was their defense, getting steels getting out in transition that twenty six points on fourteen Minnesota turnovers, that was what allowed Denver to regain control of the game. And again as we look forward for Denver, one of the most important things for them in this series is

going to be like prioritizing their defensive focus. This is not a This is not a series you're gonna win by grinding things down into the mud and playing in a rock fight. If you grind things down and play in a rock fight and stick in that half court environment, as I showed in the film session yesterday, it's a lot of hands on perimeter ball handlers and top locking and shutting down actions with outrageous physicality, is just gonna be really, really difficult because one of the things I

was texting with our production staff before the show. When the league decided to kind of tilt things towards physicality there in the middle of the season, it didn't just affect the regular season. These playoffs have been substantially more physical than previous playoff runs that I've watched, and that is a tweak that specifically favors teams like Minnesota that try to win with their defense, but looking forward for Denver,

Denver has the ability to win with their defense as well. Honestly, it was one of the things that really impressed me about their first quarter kind of recovery from that Minnesota blitz. When you talk about real championship teams, they can win in different ways. And what was fascinating is in the Lakers series, they won by out executing them in the half court. It was we can Yeah, you're right, you've got a good five out offense. Lebron and Ad can

do a lot of damage on our back line. You know, we're but we can score on you easier than you can score on us. And that has to be kind of flipped in the Minnesota series to the sense where all their effort and energy has to be focused on the defensive end, and it needs to be more like, yeah, you're a great defense. That was cool. How you did all this stuff to Jamal and you did this stuff to Jokich and you got force some turnovers and did

all this stuff. Great, But we can slow down your offense better than you can slow down our offense, and we can get out and transition and take advantage of that and have success. That's going to be a huge part of this series, finding ways to keep Minnesota's offense in the half court, get stops and turnovers, and force out the other way in transition as often as possible. They did get out and transition more frequently in that first half than Minnesota is and that Minnesota did and

that's something they can lean on moving forward. Back on the Minnesota side, I wanted to shout out Carl Towns and Nas reed. Carl Town's in the early portion of the game, especially in that third quarter, was just unbelievable, giving a you know, bring in the scoring pop because in that first half it was like all Aunt and no one else could get anything going. And then Carl Towns kind of provided that support there in that third quarter, and then when Kat picked up that fifth Bowl running

into Jamal Murray while he was shooting. He had to come out of the game and nas Reed came in and he was unbelievable. Not just hitting threes, which he knocked down two of them, but one of the big things with nas is he's an excellent closeout attacker and he will catch with the defender closing out at him, read those angles, rip through and get all the way to the rim. He was super active on the glass

as well. I thought his offensive rebound tip dunk that he had in that I think it was in the third quarter Run if I remember correctly, No, it was in the fourth quarter. If I remember, I think it was in the fourth But that tip Donkey had that was a huge momentum play in that game after he had just scored on the previous possession, big time. So you get thirty six points out of that power forward spot between Carl Karl, Anthony Towns and nas Reed, really

really impressive stuff. I thought. Mike Conley hit a couple of huge shots, two big threes in the third quarter. Run started on kind of like a break rhythm one on the left wing, and then he hit another just big time effort from Minnesota their defense is going to be an issue for Denver in this series. They're gonna have to figure it out on the on the Denver

side again, a couple things. Jamal Murray, I think the debt, I think the real giveaway with him moving forward in this series is he's got to just work better on setting up his man for screens. If he tries to work too much connected to the defender and connected to connected to Nikaie, Alexander Walker, connected to Jade McDaniels, it's just gonna be really difficult for him to make shots. Those guys are, just as I said in the series preview,

an entirely different class of perimeter defender than Austin Reeves. Right, You're dealing with just an entire different universe of basketball player. Right. So the big things for him are gonna be one, capitalizing on the transition opportunities we're there, but two work harder to set up his man for screens. That means like multiple screening actions. So a lot of times what you can do is come off of the ball screen, then retreat, dribble and just go off the other side.

That gives Yokich a chance to flip the angle and chances are when you come off the ball screen and hit a retreat dribble, Jaden or whoever it is, is going to have to take a really hard step in that direction and you'll have an advantage going back the other way. The other thing working from float range. This was something I talked about in the series preview. I think pull up jumpers, the rear view contests from guys like Jaden and Nikil, Alexander Walker and are going to

be a lot more difficult to deal with. Like that shot that Jamal Murray made in Game five to beat the Lakers, Austin Reeves almost blocked it. The Jaden McDaniels types are definitely going to block him. So a big thing for Jamal I think is gonna be working downhill into floater range. Got missed one off the back rim in the first half, had a really nice floater in crunch time though that he made that he made look easy. I think that's a shot that he can lean on

more frequently. Nikole Jokic is gonna have to look to score as much as humanly possible. I think he looked a little. He looked a little just he was adjusting to some of the physicality. Not a super efficient game by his standards, eleven for twenty five from the field. I talked about in the regular season. Nikole Jokic was just not as good of a jump shooter this season as he was last year. And I still think he's the best player in the world even without a dominant

jump shot. But that's a shot that he's gonna have to make in this series. He was two for nine from three tonight, and again that was something all season long. He just wasn't making him the same way he did last year five percentage, and he's gonna have to hit him. I think if the if the Nuggets are going to have a chance to come back, I can win this series. I'm gonna stick with my pick for now. I think

Denver's gonna respond in Game two. Again, I think Denver's gonna find ways to slow down Minnesota's half court offense over the course of this series. Never ever, ever, ever, ever overreact to a Game one that said super impressive win for Minnesota. Can't put into words how impressed I am with Anthony Edwards, and I'm so thankful that we got several more games of this series. This is gonna be a fun one. I'm looking forward to it. Next Game two is on Monday, so I've got a couple

series previews I need to do. I finished my prep for Nicks Pacers. I'm recording that one actually right after this. That's going up tomorrow morning. Then I have to do Thunder MAVs. But I'm gonna try to find some time either on Sunday or Monday morning to do a film

session for Game two of Timberwolves Timberwolves Nuggets. I always have a better feel for the game after I have a chance to kind of look back over the film, So just keep an eye on our YouTube channel and on my Twitter feed, and when I do do that film session, I will put it. I'll make sure I tweet the links out, but I'm gonna work hard to try to get that out Monday morning so it has some time to breathe before the game. All right, guys, that is all I have for today. As always, as sincerely,

I appreciate you guys for supporting the show. We will be back tomorrow morning with a series preview on Nick Pacers. I will see you guys. Then the volume