What's going on. Welcome back to another episode of voyage where we've said sales seeking validation, vindication, and Vikings victory. I'm the host of the show, Cam Erickson, and I have my co host here with me, Johnny Dittman, and I think that we can also say now that we have set out on a quest for a Minnesota Timberwolves championship parade in downtown Minneapolis. The Wolves are advancing to the Western Conference Final for the first time in 20 years.
Uh, a Larry O'Brien trophy feels like it's within reach. How are you feeling, Johnny? I gotta know. This is without question the most exciting episode I think we've ever done. We have, since we've been doing this, we have not had a victory like this. I've only had a really another victory like this one time in my life. Uh, obviously the Minneapolis Miracle, but that was what a game, biggest comeback in Game 7 history. What a series get up too quick right away.
Uh, get down three, two, when the next two games, when three in Denver, uh, all out team effort, I'm buzzing right now, but let me just say what I've learned from the past series, Erickson. And I understand that it's your job as host of the show to bring up the inevitable. Which is the end goal of this team, but me, I'm going possession by possession. I am not getting to, I want, I'm, I'm excited for the tip game one. That's what I'm looking forward to. Exactly.
Uh, and I, I couldn't agree with you more because I think that's the exact lesson that we got out of that previous series. I mean, there were many highs and many lows, and I mean, I couldn't have felt more down, uh, you know, after game five, and I couldn't have felt more down being down 20, uh, in game seven in the second half.
So there's, you know, but the resiliency of this club and we'll get into the specifics, but I got to know first and foremost, game seven was And out of body experience for me, like you said, maybe the best victory, uh, other than the Minneapolis miracle, I know there's been some debate out there about which of those was more exhilarating. Um, it's hard to say, I mean, they're two different things, but I mean, just watching this comeback.
Uh, throughout the third quarter and the way that they, they stepped on the gas, you know, getting ahead by 10 and ultimately in the fourth and, and knocking out the defending champs and advancing to the, uh, the conference final was something special to see. I got to know how was, uh, how was your father handling game seven? Well, let me tell you a story here, Erickson. So he invites everybody over to, uh, to his house. Game seven, big night. I get over there a little bit early.
I'm going to watch the end of the PGA tour or PGA championship leads me right into game seven. Right. So I get there, my brother's just sitting there on his phone on the couch. I'm like watching the PGA and I get there and I'm like, Why don't we just put it on the TV, dude, turn the TV on cable. Just seemingly doesn't work. Right? No problem. We have a second option. Grab the Apple remote, go on YouTube TV, no internet. So immediately panic sets in for me.
Okay. My mom's sitting there and I'm panicking and I'm mad. I'm mean and mad at this point. Um, my old man is out, uh, powerwashing the deck. Okay. So I go down there and I reset the wire. I'm, I, I'm saying stuff like, I can't believe this is happening. My mom is sitting there saying, well, there's nothing anybody can do about it, which I know she's right, but it's just at the time situation. Yeah. Yes. And you know, it's an hour before tips.
So I figured 30 minutes, we're gonna have to make a decision. We're either going somewhere or what go down there. The router is not resetting. Um, I go out there, I'm screaming at my dad, he's power washing, he looks up at me, he's doing the stares, he looks at me with a stupid look on his face and is just screaming, what? And I'm screaming at him that the modem's down. So eventually, uh, you know, nobody seemingly thinks it's that big of a deal, right?
We ended up going over to my sister's house and watching the game, but it was unbelievable. Screaming at her townhouse, I'm sure just echoing through the walls, keeping kids up late at night, but we were excited. I mean, I was standing in the kitchen towards the end of the game, uh, high fiving, um, oh yeah, unbelievable. Yeah. Um, I can't imagine the rollercoaster of emotions that that was. And, uh, I can't imagine what, what Chris was going through just throughout that, that ballgame.
And it was funny because, you know, scrolling Twitter during that game, you know, was perfect. It was the perfect epitome of the entire series. And I think, uh, Chris Finch after the ballgame called it the micro Cosmo, the whole series. And that's exactly what it was. Yeah. Because that halftime, you know, uh, it was deflating. I mean, it seemed like, uh, the nuggets were getting everything that, you know, everything was going their way.
Um, it was going to be hard for us to chip back into this thing. And Edwards was struggling mightily. Um, And then, you know, 20 points down late in the, I mean, uh, in the middle of a third was not a position that you wanted to be in. And, uh, you know, everybody on Twitter was kind of, uh, kind of down and out and, uh, all of a sudden, you know, they start chipping away.
They go on that huge run and all of a sudden, you know, you're, you're kind of paying attention to the game and, uh, you start sitting up a little bit, right? You're sitting up out of your chair and you're like, Oh, they, can they do something here? And then when Ant hit the three to end the third quarter. The draw within one, I mean, it was, Hey, let's go. We got this thing. You know what I mean?
So Justin, we were, we were, we were, well, back up a little bit and you don't, what added to it was riding over to my sister's house, you know, all these things go, you're, you're driving over there from my parents to my sister's house, um, you know, where I'm going to be able to see the game in time and everything, but it's just a situation like that in the back of your mind. You're like, there is no way we're winning tonight. Right. You know, like this, all this going on.
And then, and then before the game, Charles Barkley guarantees the wolves victory, it was just, there was, I, in my mind, there is an, after that first half and the beginning, the very beginning of the third out, there was no shot, this was inevitable. Um, what a team effort, what a defensive effort. Um, we outlasted them. It was just, it was incredible. It really was just the team effort. We can win games against the best teams in the league without our best player, uh, scoring the basketball.
Without Anthony Edwards playing well. And that's exactly what it was. Um, I wanted to talk about this, the sequence here, because they went on the 15 to one run. I think they drew up, drew within a few points. And then, like I said, and knocked down to three to. Make it a one point game. They ended up taking the lead early in the fourth and then cat gets his fifth foul. This, we were still tepid here. You know, it was a, it was a three point ball game or something.
Cat gets his fifth foul, has to go take a seat. Nas Reed comes in, man. And makes incredible plays down the stretch. He had a couple of blocks. Um, he, uh, he had that huge dunk. He had that one where he drove and had the feed to, uh, to end the corner. To make it a 10 point lead. Not a Nas Reed really came in and spark plugged and made that thing, you know, put it out of reach kind of. For Denver and, uh, really deflated them.
I mean, the, the crazy thing is you go into the building, everybody talks about Denver at home and the elevation and the crowd and, and all this stuff there to the defending champs. They were the ones looking tired and exhausted and roasted by the end of the game. That's. That's what the Minnesota Timberwolves did to the defending champs. Absolutely riveting. I mean, it was just such a good series. Two really good coaches. Two deep, really good teams.
And yeah, I mean, Jokic was tired at the end. I mean, he just was. And you can't blame the guy. I mean, he won an NBA championship last year. And then he played every minute of the series. Damn near 95 percent of the minutes, whatever the numbers that is. It's, I mean, it was insane. And to your point, Nasri, I thought he played great defense, defense, Jane McDaniels, obviously great. Even guys like Mike Conley, Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards did not play well, but towards, they made big plays.
Rudy Gobert did not play well. Uh, and at the end of the game, I thought he came up with some big, strong rebounds. He obviously had the fadeaway shot that I thought was going in the, uh, The third row, um, made his free throws. Yeah. He made his free throws. That was huge. Yeah. Effort, man. It was, yeah, it was, it was great.
Everything came together that, that brings up, you brought up a good point though, and I want to, uh, go, let's take a step back a little bit, uh, back to game five, um, Because after game five, it felt to me, like, if you would have told me that the, the wolves were winning this series, I would have said, there's no way you're out of your mind. I mean, seriously, it wasn't a reverse jinx. It wasn't like I was trying to, to, uh, you know, to change the mojo or anything.
I really thought we were done. Um, yeah, but the X factor there was that Mike Conley didn't play in game five and a one 12 to 97 loss in game five. No, Mike Conley and Mike Conley comes back for game six and, uh, You know, he talked about it on Dan Barrero yesterday, but he wasn't even what he would consider near 100%, but he was good enough to give it a go. And he just makes such a difference out there orchestrating the offense.
And, and sometimes you, you, it's hard to realize unless you're really paying attention to what he does out there, but the angles that he gets, uh, the ability that he has to distribute the ball and, and just allow Ant and everybody else and cat to play free. Um, makes a huge difference, man. And, and a 45 point blowout win in game six, uh, with Mike Conley back on the floor. I mean, I thought, you know, Hey, we're back, man. Like we've got, we've got the momentum now again.
And, and that was crazy to think that that could even be possible, but it was such a commanding victory at home that, um, you know, anything's possible in a game seven and now we're here. Yeah, now we're here. Now we get to play, uh, the biggest whiner, the most out of shape superstar. Um, and you know, one thing, one thing going back to, and I'm talking about Luca Donchess there. Now I'm going back, I'm all over the place.
You know, the one thing about the Jokic, about Jokic that I really noticed, he's a great player. He's probably the best player in the world. It's hard to really critique the guy, but I really think a guy like that, man, really would have benefited from playing college basketball. I mean, I get it. You go overseas. It's good. It's good basketball. But you know, college basketball brings something different. I mean, look at, look at guys on our team.
I mean, you got Mike Conley, uh, you know, he was, he went to a national title. Anthony Edwards, Jade McDaniels, Kat, Naz, they all play college basketball. They're built for this. They're built for this. Uh, and so, you know, going forward here, we're playing another guy that probably, you know, Luka probably would have benefited a little bit. That's a good point. That's a great point. Um, yeah, that's an underrated factor. Um, so let's talk about looking ahead to this series now.
Alright, this is uncharted territories for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Um, first appearance since 2004 in a Western Conference final. This feels like their best shot at a championship ever. This feels like, this feels real, it feels tangible. Let's not get ahead of ourselves though. Like you said, tip off of game one is what we gotta be focused on right now.
Uh, what everybody's talking about about this Dallas Mavericks club is that it's an entirely different team than we may have seen, uh, throughout the regular season. I think, uh, the Timberwolves won three of four against Dallas in the regular season, uh, however, only one game was, uh, with Kyrie Irving in the lineup for Dallas. And, um, you know, they made some big moves at the trade deadline.
I think, uh, they brought in PJ Washington and, uh, did they also bring in Gafford at the, at the deadline? I believe so. Yep. So they're a different, they're a different team and you know, they're playing well, they're playing good ball. Um, I've, I've done a little bit of research, you know, I've gotten more into this than, than I normally tend to, obviously, because this is our favorite basketball club, but, uh, You know, this Dallas team has been playing some pretty good defense.
I think they were the best defense in the league over the last 20 games of the season after they made that trade at the deadline. So this is a tough task. Um, no question about it, but to your point, you know, Luca's out of shape. He's beat up. He's banged up. He's got a spine injury. He's got a neck injury. He's got a back injury. He's got a Achilles. He's got an ankle. He's got a knee. He's got a hip. He's breaking down.
Um, it's clear that he doesn't take care of his body, but, uh, You know, that, that's on him. So at the end of the day, um, I think, you know, looking at this series from an outsider's perspective and trying not to be biased, I think the Minnesota Timber Wolves are something like minus one 90 favorites here. Yeah. Um, and I think that the Timberwolves should have every opportunity to, uh, to win this series. Um, what do you think is going to be the key? I have a couple keys.
Um, I, I, I think that the matchups and people wanna talk about all that, and we've done that. Now we've done that with Phoenix. We don't match up well against Phoenix. How did that go? Oh, the big bad nuggets. We don't match up good against them. I, the ma I don't care who we play at this point. It doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter. The key to this series is gonna be Jade McDaniel's, uh, playing defense rebounding and hitting the corner three.
When he hits that corner three, he really is a spark plug. Uh, it relieves pressure. Uh, the other key to this series is going to be Mike Conley's health. As you mentioned before the game, he sat out and we got destroyed. He comes back and we look like a different team. I can't really pinpoint what it is besides the fact of just having a guy that you can trust a hundred percent handling the basketball. And another thing about him is I think he's a very under underrated perimeter defender.
Which, you know, he doesn't care. So that's going to be huge. And I don't, the matchups, I don't care who guards Kyrie. Everybody wants to talk about this. Like it's 2010. NBA basketball. It doesn't matter who's going to guard Luka. Oh, is Jaden big enough to guard Luka? Luka's pretty big. It doesn't matter. I don't care who guards anybody. It doesn't matter. We play defense. Period. The team game. And yeah, and they play team defense.
And I don't think anybody's scared of either of those things. I mean, first of all, Jaden McDaniels will likely be on Luka. Yeah, to start. Right. But things change, matchups change things. Um, rotations change thing that they'll obviously be switching a lot. Um, I think, uh, Jane McDaniels has every, everything. He's got the chops to guard Luca. I don't, I don't really see an issue there. I, I, I see Jaden McDaniels kind of wearing out Luca.
Um, and you know, they're going to Luca and Kyrie are going to get theirs, but I think Anthony Edwards can, can hold his own against Kyrie as well too. And, and Mike Conley is not afraid to step in against either of those guys. Um, and then you, and then you mix in a Nikkiel and Alexander Walker off the bench with some length to, to help out.
Um, You know, you might even see cat step out and do some things, but when you have go bear roaming, um, it's going to make things difficult for them because I think one of the things that Dallas did and had success against OKC with was, um, getting offensive boards and, and kind of, uh, doing what they do at the rim with, with those new big men that they've got, um, But I think this, this Timberwolves team is more athletic, you know, Chet Holmgren couldn't get a fricking rebound against,
against Dallas. Cause he's too small. So we're not going to have those types of problems. And I think, um, and I think our offense can, can, um, Have some real success against Dallas in this series as well, too. I think, uh, I think Ant can have his way in ISO ball. Same with Kat and, um, yeah, Jaden McDaniels in the corner. I mean, I really could see a situation where Jaden McDaniels could be the MVP of this, uh, this series here of the Western Conference final. Absolutely.
And I think that the most, the most valuable thing we have going for us right now. Okay. Look at look at a team like, um, let's start with Boston here. You got guys like, uh, you know, Tatum and Brown. They're really playing for something. Well, how are they going to, you know, a lot of pressure? How are we going to put our footprint on the NBA? What kind of player are we going to be? Let's look at Dallas. Luca. Is he a winner? Can he win the big one?
We know that he can score a lot of points and that's great and everything. Kyrie legacy, lots of pressure, lots of things going on here. We have a team, we got guys like, I mean, do you think Jade McDaniels or Anthony Edwards are worried about anything other than just punking you? Right. Roll the ball up and we're going to punk you. That's just how it is. They don't care about anything else. Yeah. And I think that's, that's the biggest thing we have going for us right now. That's right.
That's right. I think that's a great point. I, they, I mean, they don't care about the, the officiating. I mean, um, you can always nitpick the officials and, and calls throughout games, but these guys don't care. I mean, they're playing with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder. They're playing, uh, they're playing free. They're playing with no pressure. Um, and, and, um, To go back again to the previous series.
I mean, nothing's going to phase this team after what they just accomplished in, in the previous round. I mean, nothing is going to affect this team and I'm never going to feel like we're out of it in any situation in any game. So, um, yeah. And the other underrated factor here that you have to consider is that the, uh, Minnesota Timberwolves are still undefeated in the playoffs wearing their classic edition uniforms. So, uh, we have that going for us as well.
Yeah, I was breaking those out in the first two games. Well, I would certainly hope so. Uh, I don't know how you can really do anything else in that situation. Uh, the proof is in the pudding as they would say. So, uh, yeah, I mean, it doesn't matter anywhere. Anytime you guys want to go play over in, uh, you know, uh, it does in Baghdad. We'll play you in Baghdad and we'll beat you. I don't care. It doesn't matter. Dallas, Baghdad, Canada. It doesn't matter. Let's go to Chile and play.
Let's go to the ant fucking Arctic and play. It doesn't matter. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't. It doesn't matter. It could play a rocky park. That'd be a, we'd probably do really well there. Oh man, I'm so excited. This is going to be awesome. It's going to be a lot of fun. Um, I just, so, um, and everybody's, everybody's trying to figure out a way to, to say how the Mavericks kind of might have a, uh, an advantage in this series by being the more veteran team or whatever the case may be, you know?
Sure. Um, but I think, uh, I think. I think Chris Finch is the better coach. Yes. I think, uh, cat, if you look at all the one on one matchups and like we said, it's more of a team thing, but if you look at the one on one matchups, how it's going to be initially, I like our guys in every single one of those matchups, to be honest with you. Um, I think.
The last time we saw P. J. Washington was in a Charlotte jersey and he plunked us by hitting a game winning three in the corner because Kat got laxodasical and didn't know what the hell was going on. Um, so, I think, uh, you know, Kat's got a chip on his shoulder. Everybody's just, everybody's just ready to go, man. And, uh, and I'm excited.
I think that there's a, there's, there's a notion out there, um, because we were kind of coming onto the scene right now and we do have our superstar is 22 years old, I get it, and we have, you know, young guys like Jane, we have, we have some young guys on our team, but people are just like anointing us as a young team and I don't, we're really not. We're just new. We're a new team and we're ready for this moment. I mean, we have leaders across the board.
Are everybody, it's just, it's been so fun to watch. And I, I don't remember being this excited for, uh, Uh, in this just feeling this, um, you know, like we really can, it doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter. You know, uh, in 2018, when we made it to the NFC championship game, we eventually lost to the Philadelphia Eagles. That was a very exciting team, but the, the, the writing was kind of on the wall. We were playing with house money.
We had a backup quarterback in, um, It wasn't a surprise that it came to an end. It was obviously heartbreaking, but it wasn't really a surprise. Uh, asking for a super bowl in that season was probably way too much. And I'm not, you know, saying that, but this team can really do it. I've been watching a lot of NBA basketball, playoff basketball. We can absolutely win this whole thing. We can beat anybody. I don't care who we play.
Yeah. If you look at the field, it's like, uh, it's like, why not us? And why not now, you know, it's kind of wide open at this point. We, you know, it takes a lot of luck to win a championship as well. It takes, you got to stay healthy. You got to make plays when it counts. Um, everything's just kind of falling into place. And, uh, again, not to get ahead of ourselves, but one of the things, one of the things that you mentioned there too, is like, uh, Yeah.
Yeah. You know, everybody talks about the youth, but we're not really, you know, led by Mike Conley out there and, uh, and everything like that. One of the things Mike Conley loves to talk about and has been talking about frequently throughout this playoff run is maybe that's one of, like, the superpowers of this Timberwolves team is that they don't give a fuck. Because they've never been there before, like they've never made it this far.
Maybe that, maybe that's, that's something that's helping them out, you know, just to be able to play free and stuff. And my, you know, a guy like Mike Conley, a guy like Rudy Gobert, who have been there before and have made these playoff runs and have, um, come up short, you know, time after time, you know, it's, it's. A little bit more, you know, for them.
Like they're more aware of the magnitude of the situation here, but yes, these guys aren't, you know, and Ann Edwards doesn't care and he doesn't care what you think he doesn't care what you have to say. And, uh, no, it's just awesome, man. It really is. Yeah. I mean, we're just not, you know, we went, I don't think Anthony Edwards even really comprehends what's going on.
What that game seven meant to meant, I don't really think he comprehends what that even meant in terms of many different ways, which is great. He's just, yeah, we won. He wasn't surprised. We're going to win again. And he just, he doesn't care. It's just, it's, it's, it's fantastic to watch. It's refreshing. Um, The last thing I say, I'll say before we sign off, I'm going to the game Friday night. I'm very excited.
It's going to be, I think this is the most excited I've been in my life to go to a Minnesota sporting event. Super excited. Can't fucking wait. Are you going with Chris? Going with Chris. Hell yeah, dude. That's going to be insane. Yeah. What's your prediction for this series if you have to, if you have to play it out? I think we're going to win the first two on the road. Or first two at home. And then I think we're going to go to Dallas. And I think they might take one.
But I think we, I think we win. I think we, Wolves in five. Yeah, I kind of am feeling that too. I think no more than six, I think five or six. I think, I think a huge thing here is, I mean, if you look the way that the, the nuggets tongs were out at the end of that series, I mean, we just wore them out, um, and if Luca is slow at all because of his injury, Situation and, you know, Kyrie's getting longer in the tooth too. He might get worn out by our defense.
Um, you know, I think we have all the advantage in the world here. So I don't see this series going more than six games. I think the wolves win it. I agree with you. I think they. Um, they don't want to get punked at home again, like they did against the Nuggets. I think they, they also understand the importance of getting out fast and early and imposing their will from the beginning. So I think they're going to try to be physical. I think they come out game one, win, uh, tomorrow night.
And I think they probably win game two at home as well. And then, yeah, Dallas might get one at home and, and, and then we'll see where it goes from there, but, um, wolves get it done in five or six and we're head to the NBA finals, man. And I can't wait. And, um, it's just going to be fun. We're going to, we're going to bring coverage of this series as much as possible. Uh, we've been trying to get some wolves. Heads on the podcast here to, uh, give a little bit further insight.
Um, uh, and so we plan to do that early next week, hopefully after game three, so that we can get some insight mid series, um, from some of our, uh, our guests and get some help there. Um, but yeah, man, just excited to watch this go down and just enjoy it. Take it in.
It's, it's like, uh, The other thing that people have been talking about in this town too, is, you know, some people still out there have the mindset of all, you know, we're going to, this is going to, we're going to crash and burn at some point here. This is Minnesota sports. What was me feel, feel sorry for me. No, this is different. This is really, truly different.
And I think if you're not soaking this in and taking it for what it is one step at a time, um, then you're really doing yourself a disservice. And so I'm just looking forward to, uh, This club is awesome. Very excited. Very excited. All right, man. Well, uh, it's been a pleasure. And like I said, we'll, uh, we'll get back on the mics next week and, uh, give you guys some more wolves. Go wolves. And, uh, let's get this thing done, baby. Thanks for tuning in.