What is krak alakin our Knox listeners, I am Dan Valley coming at you
with out my fantabulous co host Adam frommel I am, however, super pleased
and excited to be joined by Keith Parish. He is the host of the
Fast Break Breakfast podcast that I'm sure you guys have listened to or at least
heard of. If you're listening to this podcast, follow Keith and Fast Break
Breakfast on Twitter at fast break Break spelled exactly as it sounds. Break is
b r e a k so at Fast Break Break. He's also the host
of the Grits and Grinds podcast. It's a Memphis Grizzlies podcast, so be
sure to check that out. You can follow Keith on Twitter there at Grizzlies
pod so Gritz and Grinds at Grizzly These pod spelled exactly as it sounds as
well. He's on as you might have gathered from this, to talk all
things Minnesota, Timberwolves, Memphis Grizzlies. It's been the series that I have
said that Adams consistently said, we have the loosest grip on if we have
any sort of grip on it whatsoever. So I'm excited to go into detail
about Game six, about what we've seen already this series. There will be
some bigger picture stuff that we need to talk about going forward, but we
had I'd plan to talk to him about other stuff, but it was just
so easy to get into detail about this series. So even if you're not
a fan of the Grizzlies or the Timberwolves, are emotionally invested in this series
at all. Because you're not a fan of the Golden State Warriors, listen
to this podcast. It's great, It's a lot of fun, usual housekeeping
notes before we get started. Remember to rate review this podcast wherever you get
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Now, let's get into lots and lots and lots and lots of Memphis
Grizzlies versus Minnesota Timberwolves talk with the legendary Keith Parish Beef. Welcome back to
the Hardwood Knox Podcast. I very much appreciate you doing what. I think
it's just been your annual appearance at this point, particularly this time of year
though, because we have Grizzlies, Timberwolves things to talk about, and a
lot of them. First and foremost, though, how the heck are you,
Dan, I'm doing great. Thanks for having me, and uh,
yeah, I guess it is annual. I mean, it's not that the
Grizzlies always make the playoffs, but they're back and it's been fairly entertaining.
Yes, I'll say my first question is that an understatement is that I'm just
like I watched this series and I feel like I've seen everything taken away,
nothing fallen in love with it, been confused all in like a manner of
minutes and possessions. It's been the toughest. It's been probably the most entertaining
first round series for me. It's also been like the most confusing and toughest
to get a hold on. If that makes any sense, I agree completely.
I mean it's been I think from an objective observer, I think you
would have to say it's incredibly entertaining. From someone like inside of it,
someone rooting for the Grizzlies and covering the Grizzlies, it's been largely miserable,
like it's it's been just like the great fantastic all time victories, the Game
three come back from twenty six down and then from twenty five down, and
then the game winner where you rally from double digits again in the fourth quarter
in Game five. The large majority of those games are basically staring at the
game and being like, why are the Grizzlies so terrible? This is awful,
Like it's awful, and then they start playing well, and then like
the Timberwolves begin to collapse and you're like, hey, we're up three two,
but like I haven't really enjoyed much of any of that makes total sense.
And I ask you what would be the one word you used to describe
the series. Hallucinogenic. Oh, that's a good one, I think.
I mean, are just drunk. I mean just the series is nuts.
It's just nuts. Some of the guys like Carl Anthony Towns and Jaren Jackson
Junior, at times appear after under the influence of something with the decisions they're
make and the lack of body and limb control they demonstrate. And then other
times it's just like why is Xavier Tillman starting? Where did this come from?
Or like why, like you know, you have Zire Williams missing open
dunks, and it's like this team was fun in the regular season, and
I know everyone said, like, fast breaking basketball is not gonna work in
the playoffs, and I guess they were right. But the Grizzlies are still
forcing turnovers, They're still scoring a bunch of points. They're just doing it
in a like a reckless bouncing off the walls like car crash manner. Or
it's just like what is going on? Like do we give just the Timberwolves
credit for this, these frantic and frenzied games. And then again the Timberwolves,
like they just they collapse and they do these silly things, and yeah,
so this it's a wild series. I don't know what, like,
what's the word, what would you call it? I like, I say,
you in a dock was frazzled, because yeah, that's right, that's
a good one. And just like I find myself and I'm not a reactionary
person when I'm watching games, but like the amount of audible noises that I've
let out or if from running my like hands almost pulling out my hair because
I'm like so confused while I'm watching this. I'm just I'm perpetually frazzled.
And I'm also stressed out as an objective observer who really doesn't care who wins
this series. And just the jaw dunk in Game five was like the perfect
example where it was the game was sort of like confusing me. John Morant
seemed out of it, and it was you know, it was later in
the night and I was thinking about taking caffeine because of all this work I
had to do. He just uncorks this dunk murders Malik Beasley, I'm like
running my hands through my hair like bug eyed, and then I'm just like
awake. And I guess John Morant was like awake after that too as well.
Series and like a nutshell. Well, so you say John Morant,
you know, like he was awake at that point, that correctly implies up
until that moment he was asleep up until that moment. I was like we
were I think all Grizzlies fans are watching this series being like John Moran is
just off, Like he was off in Games three, in Games four.
Coming into this series, he'd had a rough regular season against the Timberwolves,
and a lot of us just dismissed that, like that's just random variants.
Yes, he had a few really terrible games, maybe some of his worst
games in the season. We're at Minnesota. I don't think that's really a
big factor in this series. And then you fast forward to this playoff series
and we're like, oh, maybe it is a factor that Like he's shooting
twenty nine percent at Minnesota for the year in four like four combined games,
and then in this game five, you know, he's finally admitted that he's
injured, like he's struggling with injury and you see him out there. I
called it on my Grizzlies show, Grits and Grinds. I said, he
looked like Russell Westbrook, like current day Russell Westbrook. He was something like,
I guess I can look up the exact stat before that dunk. I
think he was like five or fifteen from the field with five turnovers, and
like had ten points and nine rebounds. But it's just like all these uncontested
rebounds where he's just not being himself, he's not attacking. It was like
a nightmare. And then also you're getting the Grizziness were getting nothing from Dylan
Brooks, they were getting nothing from Jaren Jackson junior. You're you're down twelve,
and it was just like what's going on with our team? Or maybe
we're there down fourteen at that point. But then all a sudden, he
jumps over a leak Beasley and it's like, where did that? Where did
that come from? This guy had been basically not been attacking at the rim,
he'd not been playing above the rim. H he had a he had
a breakaway in the game four where he just laid the ball in and it
was like everyone is just saying, Okay, this guy's just super hurt.
Do we need to just go with Ties Jones more like what's going on?
And then out of nowhere, maybe the dunk of I don't know what was
the last playoff dunk. It was better than that. I mean, I
was I was trying to think about that. I was like, that's it.
I couldn't think of anyone off the top of my head. That was
he like, he connects on that dunk, and it was like, that's
the one that we've seen him attempts so many times. There's like five or
six posters of him missing that dunk or he tries to the first one was
when he tried to jump over Kevin Love, and then there's just been more
and more of like trying to get Bam at a bio, trying to get
Anthony Davis. And he finally connects on that dunk, and then from that
point forward, like he scores eighteen points in the fourth quarter. Right after
that he finishes with thirty points. He makes all his free throws. After
that, it's like he woke up all of a sudden and now going into
Game six on Friday night as an observer or an analyst. It's like it
was job okay, like his job back was that it did he break out
of his chrysalis and emerge as the fully formed job butterfly? I get.
I don't know so like that. Yeah, that one moment was a spark.
It was an incredible highlight, and like everything that happened after that,
it was like, Oh, John Morant's fixed, he's back. But I
don't know what we're gonna see on game six because, like you said this,
it's been a frantic and frenzied series and he's been horrible all season in
games at Minnesota. Yeah, I honestly no idea what's gonna happen on Friday.
It's almost more alarming if he wasn't injured or hurt. It was like
watching Chris Paul in the second game of the Pelican series, or I think
it was the second game without Devin Booker. He took like eight shots,
just didn't look like himself, and then it comes back and he's like the
next game, he's super clutch. It's like, oh, okay, Chris
Paul, he was banged up. He's also aged like eighty, John Morant
super young, But then all of a sudden is able to do this like
go from you know what a three to like you know two, an eleven
and just like literal seconds. Well, it was really weird as far as
you know, I guess the way podcasting works and you're always coming up with
opinions, just the way the NonStop sports news cycle works is you're always coming
up with like, like his job morant, You know, if nothing's wrong
with him, is this job morants? Like kind of playoff collapse? Is
something going on where he's going to be a guy who's not like a sixteen
game player. Last year against the Jazz, he was amazing. You know,
this was like he scored thirty points per game. Like this year we
got used to him scoring thirty was per game. He didn't do it that
much last year. I think he averaged like nineteen for the year, and
then in the postseason he scores thirty per game. So this year, coming
to the playoffs, you're like, oh, he scored twenty seven per game
in the regular season, let's see playoff jaw activate. And it was just
it was all it was all bad. It was all like, oh,
he's not scoring, he's not attacking. Is this like some issue with him,
like is the moment too big and so you start running through all those
things. So, like I do hope it was just either injury and some
combination. Also the Timberwolves having some versatile defenders, like they're putting some bodies
on him, you know, Patrick Beverley is annoying him at times, there's
no question, but even having well having Anthony Edwards, you know, to
body him up. Jade McDaniels is getting a ton of blocks in this series,
just being a long body and Jaws driving into traffic. The Timberls are
collapsing, and one of the issues in the first few games was Jaw was
not passing out of those situations. He was trying to kind of force it.
And thus, you know, the Timbrils were racking up a lot of
block shots and there were a lot of bad stats by the way, But
so before that dunk went in, the official stats were jaw I was four
for twelve from the field, two for seven from the foul line, with
ten points in in uh five turnovers. So then and then and then from
from from the dunk on he finishes with twenty points. You know, in
the final thirteen minutes of the game, that's amazing. So maybe this is
maybe this isn't Desmond Bain's team after all, Maybe maybe it's like it might
still be Desert Bain's team. Game ask you about this because I heard you
talk about in the latest episode of your podcast, and I was wondering the
same thing, and I just thought it was, Oh, the Timberwolves are
starting Jared Vanderbilt, like Memphis is trying to get away with something while also
like downsizing a little bit. Why, like can you explain the Xavier Tillman
starting or even the Xavier Tillman minutes at points? Like that lineup has been
outscored by sixteen points in this series, Like it's not like it's been super
effective, right I had. I struggled to come up with the reasoning,
like, like, just for people who aren't following the Grizzl is closely.
Steven Adams got torched in Game one. Coming into the series, the concern
was what is Steven Adams gonna do in this series against the Timberwolves because he
can't guard Carl Anthony's towns and they didn't want to put him on Jared Vanderbilt
in game one. So in Game one he got annihilated. In Game two,
he picked up a couple of fouls and til Jenkins was like, you
know what, I've seen enough. That's it. We're done with Steven Adams.
And I think that was the correct adjustment. So Brandon Clark gets a
lot more minutes. Kyle Anderson still plays his normal role in the front court,
playing like power forward. But Xavier Tillman, who was a playoff or
a play in hero for the Grizzlies last year against the Warriors, he got
called up. And the idea of Zavior Tilman is he's a much more versatile
defender. He could do like big big switching, big small switching, like
he could play out on the perimeter. He's an okay rebounder. He's a
little bit undersized. But the idea of like Tillman is not going to kill
us on defense the way we're worried Steven Adams is. And again I support
all this, But then they start Kyle Anderson, and that's the Game three
where they fall down big to the Timberwolves in the game. In the second
half of that game, they start Brandon Clark, and that's the Grizzlies best
five man unit where it's jaw and Dylan Brooks, desmon Bane, Jared Jackson
Junior and Brandon Clark, and so that doesn't go that well. And also
you're continually constantly fighting foul troubles. I think the theory of starting Xavier Tillman
is one, maybe he can sop up some fouls if the referees are calling
a lot of fouls early two. He's a much better defensive option on Karl
Anthony Towns than Steven Adams is. So we'll start with Tillman, even though
we are going to rotate in Brandon Clark and Kyle Anderson. Didn't play them
heavy minutes. My huge problem is, I mean, you pointed out that
they're getting outscored. My huge problem is because of the foul trouble. But
Jared Jackson Junior, you're essentially guaranteeing yourself you never play your best lineups like
you're like the best five man unit can't play because jaredy gets two fouls.
And so in Games four and five, the Grizzlies basically go like eleven or
twelve minutes before putting five of their best seven guys on the court. And
the net rating of when the Grizzl are playing just there's top seven guys,
like the Grizzlies are plus twenty five per one possessions. The Grizzlies are dominating
when they're playing their best players. Yet Tillman plays the first however minutes,
however many minutes of each half, and he's also rotating back in when Jared
comes back in the second quarter, and I'm like pulling my hair out of
this. I'm like, these are Jared's minutes, You're letting him play.
Why are we wasting these minutes not having him play alongside Brandon Clark but having
him play alongside Zavior Tilman. So it's quizzical. I like vaguely understand it
in theory, but I disagree with the decision to do it. I was
uncomfortable disagreeing because I do think from moving on from Steven Adams in general,
which is that's a hard decision to make. We talk about this from AFAR,
like coaches can just do this. It probably made it easier that Steven
Adams and Steven Adams and he's like, fuck it, I just want to
win, Like that was the best reaction to being benched ever. But I've
liked what Taylor Jenkins has done, like when you're talking about with ultra small
in Game five, like having Dylan Rook spend like longer spans on Karl Anthony
Town. So when you see like adjustments like that, you're just I'm uncomfortable
disagreeing because I'm not as smart as Taylor Jenkins is. Of course, Whizzical
is the best word to describe it. That was a great word. It's
it's pretty hilarious to have a Grizzlies podcast and to criticize Taylor Jenkins. And
also, like I guess all fans, you just constantly criticize your coach,
and it's it's especially hilarious this year where people are like and even me,
I'm like, I disagree strongly with this decision by Taylor Jenkins, the coach
who won fifty six games, like with this team that no one expected to
be that good, the coach of the team with the second best record in
the NBA who had you know, like most people are like, you know
what, I think they can maybe make the play in again, maybe an
eighth seed. And the Grizzlies have dominated the entire season. They had like
I don't remember what it was, is a thirteen victories this year of twenty
five point or more, how many without jaw? Like, yeah, they're
twenty one and four without John Morant, And I'm like, you know what,
I think I have a better idea than the coaching staff Carl Anthony Towns.
In this series, I think Memphis has done like I already mentioned that,
you know, having like smaller guys hominent points and then he's always had
not always, but at least this season he's had some trouble with double teams,
and I think they've taken advantage of that. Do you ascribe to like
and he has been fairly efficient in this series when he's actually shooting. He's
dealt with some foul trouble as well, but they are like it feels like
eternities in which he just doesn't get the ball. Are the Grizzlies doing something
when he's away from it that I'm missing or is this just Minnesota's offense in
general, particularly when it has to like actually go through the offense sort of
screwing up here to where they don't understand how to work when they're slowed down
or against the set Grizzlies defense. Yeah, it's a great question. I
think we all see when Carl Anthony Towns gets the ball, the Grizzlies are
double teaming a lot. There's also not a lot you can do against Karl
Anthony Towns at times. We saw the end of the game, you know,
that super small ball lineup you alluded to, Like Dylan Brooks did a
pretty solid job of guarding him, but like if Carlly Towns wants to shoot,
he's gonna shoot. And that's one of the things. You know,
the Grizzlies win that game despite Kat making some big shots down the stretch,
despite Anthony Edwards making some big shots down the stretch, because both of those
guys against the super small lineup can just rise up and the Grizzles can't really
do anything about it. But as far as like the Grizzlies, you know,
guarding him away from the ball, you know, the Grizzlies defense is
good one. And I think maybe people don't think about that. I don't
hear it a lot when the Grizzlies are discussed. You know nationally that they
were a top five defensive team in the NBA this year, and it's like
they're playing really good defense, it seems like. And the Timberwolves have these
attackers on the ball with Anthony Edwards and Dangel Russell, and maybe their first
thought isn't to get cat the ball. So I don't know if it's just
like sometimes you're you're tricking the Timberwolves into being like, hey, you can
attack here, Like here's an option where you can attack that isn't Carling the
Town's getting the ball. Like, is that the Grizzlies game plan to entice
maybe more shots from Daniel Russell. I don't really think so, because like
Dianzel Russell is not shooting that much. It's not like he's trying to play
hero ball or anything. I just think a lot of it is just the
Grizzlies, like pretty good defense and they're containing a lot of what the Timberwolves
do. This while series, as far as like a Grizzless perspective has been
how the Timberwolves have contained the Grizzlies and the Grizzlies just haven't shot the ball
very well. But I mean, also the last few games we're saying as
far as like Carl Anthony Towns's production, he's been he's been massive. You
know, he's like, what fifty eight points in the last two games,
I've honestly kind of gotten to the point of acceptance where like, maybe it
is just Cat's gonna get his, you know, and then we have to
maybe make sure it isn't a Malik Beasley night and we can contain Anthony Edwards
and continue containing Daniel Russell. I get just I don't want to use the
word angry, but necessarily frustrated, probably when I just see him in the
corner and it's the fourth quarter or I mean the you know you mentioned Delo
hasn't really tried to play, hear a ball, but that final possession for
him in Game five where there's a mismatch literally everywhere else on the floor and
he's just like dribbling into I don't even think he touched the rim or the
backboard on his his shot. I'm more of and this is definitely an oversimplification,
but given what Towns can do from the perimeter, and you're mentioning how
he can shoot over guys, and given how well he shot on like step
back threes, I'm granted in modest volume, like just give him the ball
and actually have him attack or try to do something, because that might be
your best option since it does seem like Minnesota's offense. I mean, we've
had how many fourth quarter collapses from them. They're the second least efficient team
after the other team makes a shot on offense. When they have to really
get into their offense. There's a problem. They're not getting to the rim
as much, nearly as much in crunch time. When you look at an
Anthy Edwards when he's attacking, just give it to your best player and see
what he could do. Then maybe that's not Towns is mental, but it
does. It confounds me. As good as Memphis's defense has been and as
good as Towns has been, it just does confound me where it feels like
he goes so long without being a focal point of that offense. So I
don't this is this comes back to the issue of just big men who don't
necessarily create their own shot. And I don't know what the answer is as
a Grizzlies fan and someone who's not a Timberwolves expert. If it's just like,
hey, this is the end of the game, let's just throw it
to Karl Anthony Towns, make sure he touches it, and just like let's
let him cook, I'm kind of fine with that, Like I feel like
with the Biggs the Grizzlies are playing, you know, with Kyle Anderson,
with Jared Jackson Jr. If he's on the court with Brandon Clark, or
even with like a Dylan Brooks, Like is he gonna dribble into a jump
shot? Like he might make those because he's, you know, one of
the best shooting big men of all time, but like him, creating off
the dribble is not his strength, and I do think I trust either the
Grizzlies defenders in that situation or to bring a double team and force to pass
something he's not very good at. I find myself more scared of the Anthony
Edwards creating those mismatches. Maybe that's just a weird, very biased fan perspective,
Like that guy gives me anxiety. I don't know exactly who can keep
Anthony Edwards from getting to the rim where Karl Anthony Towns as amazing as he
is, and if again, if he stands behind the three point line,
it just bombs. I don't think the Grizzlies can affect him. You just
have to like hope those those shots don't go in. But like if it's
crunch time, and you're throwing it the cat. I don't think that's his
strength, and I think that it might even be advantage Grizzlies, but I'm
not sure. Again, I'd like to point out again these coaches, I
guess do no more than me. That is fair. And I did see
people calling for more post ups for towns down the stretch, and I just
don't think that's going to be the most efficient. Yeah, bring it on,
Bring it on, Dan, go ahead and post them Crown. That
was not what I was calling for. Another big this one from the Grizzlies.
Jared Jackson Jr. My question, I'm gonna phrase it, Dustle,
does he have like vacation plans or something during the second round? Is he's
trying to get out of there? I am just looking at him the offensive
struggles like whatever, fine, some of just the fouls, like some of
the offensive fouls, and I know he's had some, like there are some
if he calls, but just like not even not even if he calls,
every call was legitimate and in his fouls are terrible, thought, terrible fouls.
I thought some of the ones around the basket against towns were okay,
but like you mentioned this on your podcaster, Like he is just recklessly contesting
these like jump shots. Is he don't is he too excited? Like is
he just too fared up? Like I have. I have a seven year
old and in Nashville, we have a Lego store, okay, and that
place is like it's just insane it and like I lose my mind when I
go to the Lego store. I can't imagine how my seven year old reacts.
And so like before we go to the Lego store, I tell my
son, hey man, you gotta keep it together, like like like like
we're gonna we're gonna be calm. We're gonna walk in. If you see
something you like you could point out, we're gonna talk about it. But
then when we actually get in there, no, not that I said works.
He's banging into things, He's knocking people over. I think that is
that Jared Jackson Junior going into the games where he's like, listen, I
gotta control myself. I gotta, I gotta, I gotta keep my limbs
close to me when I drive. I have to understand that Jared Vanderbilt or
Jaded McDaniels or Taurian Prince or whoever saw on me is going to fall down.
I'm gonna drive to my left and they're gonna fall down. I need
to not do that. And once the whistle you know, to start the
game goes off, he just forgets everything. He's like, you know what,
I'm twenty feet from Patrick Beverley. What if I tried to block this
three pointer and fall into his feet? It's like it's every game it's like
what are you doing? Or he's committing offensive rebounding fouls, like you can't
do that? Why are you pushing this person in the back, or like,
hey, you're you're hand fighting with Jared Vanderbilt. Well, like what
do you do? Do you not understand the entire point of Jared Vanderbilt right
now is to get you a foul? And Game five was particularly hilarious because
carl Any Towns, who are essentially having this who can make the worst foul
foul off? There? They've started like both falling down when they run into
each other. They are this is the thing I can't get my head around.
As someone who was not good at basketball but still played competitively in like
church leagues and wreck leagues and liked winning, at what point do you decide
Hey, you know what, what have we both run into each other and
let the referee sorted out. That sounds more preferable than just playing basketball,
Like claraly, at these towns of Jared Jackson Junior are running into each other,
both flopping and being like, hey, this is the fourth foul on
somebody. Let's just see what the refs do. I don't understand how either
one of them finds that preferable that just I don't know not doing that.
Is there any overarching concern there with Jared Jackson Junior, Like not even that
just his offensive performance, even if you're trying to scale ahead to the next
series, or there's part of me that figured it this way, there has
to be one game yories where he doesn't have at least four fouls or five
fouls or six fouls, right like maybe it's game six, Like maybe we're
just overdue for Jared's ex junior to not be in foul trouble and to not
look at his minutes like in the game log and be like, holy crap,
like how how much potential of the Grizz is leaving on the table because
they can't have Jeffers Exton junior on the floor. Well, so there's a
couple of things here. One, he's only found out a one game,
right, so, coach I know, Penn educated Ivy League man Taylor Jenkins,
who you know, Coach of the Year candidate Humble podcaster suggestion, you
can actually leave him in until he files out. Actually I think he's maybe
he's foun out on two games, But like you, you can still let
him foul out of every single game. Don't finish the game with him having
five fouls having played twenty minutes. Let's let's use all the fouls. Another
thing is when Steven Adams is not playing, when Jaren is the five,
his foul ray skyrockets. That's something that did happen in the regular season.
So there is something to the fact that when he's not playing alongside Steven Adams
he does foul more. So your question is it concerning, where I screamed,
Yes, it's incredibly concerning. I don't know what you're supposed to do
with this guy who makes these fouls to and again reiterating, he's not fouling
guys at the rim, He's not fouling guys blocking shots, protecting the basket.
He's fouling the guys on offensive fouls, he's fouling three point shooters,
he's he's committing illegal screens, He's doing all the ones. Like it seems
like, yeah, yeah you can, yeah yeah, the pump fakes,
like you can choose not to do these things. I mean, I'm sympathetic
to a pump fake, even if it is tarring Prince. But like a
lot of the fouls of his twenty six fouls, I would say eighteen of
them are the one in the world. Man, Like, don't you understand
you can't do that? So yeah, I'm highly concerned. It definitely affects
his offensive game. He's been extremely sporadic and not good on the offensive end.
I find it concerning because last year he was also very erratic and or
poor on the officsive end in the Jazz series. Last year, we had
the whole excuse he missed basically the whole year. He was at a rhythm.
We figured, Okay, he's not going to be this bad again.
But now we're in the second postseason where I feel much more calm when like
Kyle Anderson's on the court, And until Jaw became Jaw in Game five,
it was like, all right, if Jared's bad and Jaw's bad, we're
just gonna lose, Like we're just gonna lose to the seventh seed because those
are the Grizzlies guys. And then you get in the interesting like team building
philosophy where it's like, do we bench Jaren and Jaw for Tias and Kyle
who are both unrestricted free agents that for this year? Should we not play
our twenty two year olds cornerstones of the future? And I don't know the
answer to that question, where it's like, if you're determined that you might
have a better chance of winning without Jaren doing his I don't know, bulling
a China a shop slash gangly giraffe in a Lego store, just knocking into
everything you know, I don't know. And again some of that's also just
like the dark places the mind of the fan goes where you're like, why
are these guys so bad? And I do want to get the Timberwls credit,
like they've been a frisky defense all year. They're getting under the Grizzly
skin. But that was a very long answer to be like, yes,
it's incredibly concerning and honestly lowers the ceiling a little bit of like the Jared
Jackson junior talk, we as podcasters were trained to remind ourselves. He's one
of the youngest players in the league. Still, he's a full year younger
than Herb Jones. Like, this guy is an incredibly young player. I
know he's been in the league for a while, but maybe he'll continue getting
better at it. We saw the foul right plummet during the regular season.
It's absolutely skyrocketed in the postseason. And yeah, I mean he's still leading
the playoffs in blocks per game, just like he led the NBA and blocks
per game in the regular season. So the defensive impact is still there.
But for the Grizzlies to be good, for the Grizzlies, if they take
care of business and win this series, for them to compete with the Warriors,
he has to be good. If Jared's not good, they don't have
a prayer. And we've seen him for most of the year be quite good.
But I'm worried. I gotta be real, I'm worried about it.
This is less concerning who is the who has impressed you more? And I
don't want to use the word surprise because I think there's a clear answer there.
But who has impressed you more this series? Brandon Clark or Desmond Bane.
I feel sad. I can't say Brandon Clark, but the answer is
Desmond Bay. Brandon Clark has been amazing, but Desmond Baine has been like
all the NBA level. This guy was on a heater for a lot of
the regular season. He finished the season incredibly strong, and then in this
postseason he's averaging twenty four points per game. He's making I think four and
a half three pointers per game. He's shooting fifty percent. He's shoots fifty
percent from three for the entire season in road games, which is just I
would not know, which is ridiculous. Stat Yeah, he's a very let's
call it mediocre. I think thirty nine percent at home, he's fifty percent
on the road. He's also playing lockdown defense. He's become this incredible defender.
In his rookie season, it seemed like his two issues were all right.
He gets a little bit lost on defense and maybe his ability to guard
one on one isn't really there. Also, his ball handling is pretty loose.
He doesn't seem like he's ready for the for NBA speed When it comes
to ball handling. He tightened all that up this year. He's a very
worthy, you know, most improved Player candidate. He has the trophy despite
the fact John Morant winning. John Morant gave desmon Band the trophy. But
in the postseason, he's just He's carried the Grizzlies. The Grizzlies would not
be ahead three two without dezmen Band. The series would have been long over
if desmon Bane wasn't cooking. I think in the last four games in the
first halves, jaren Jah and Dylan are combined under thirty percent on field goals.
Meanwhile, Baine's just knocking down sixty percent of his threes, carries the
Grizzly until his teammates wa wake up. He's been amazing. I mean,
I don't know what more you could ask for the guy he's I think it's
splits in the playoffs or forty eight forty seven ninety and his regular sas and
splits weren't far off of that. It was something like what forty five forty
three ninety. This guy has become one of the best shooting guards in the
NBA. I mean, I mean, bar none, he's like that.
Whatever that tier below. You're legit all stars, you know, scoring almost
twenty points per game, making forty five percent of his three pointers on massive
volume. Shout out to the Celtics. Yeah, thank you, guys.
Yeah, he accounts for over forty percent of their three point makes in this
series, and I know that's not the Grizzly strength. If you were going
to pick someone who did account for such a lion share of their that's still
it would be Desmond Maine that would be the pick. But that is still
an astronomical share of their threes. He's been great. I've been definitely most
impressed with him, floored by Brandon Clark almost all year because you go from
the rookie year expectations into a sophomore season that was, I think the kindest
way to put it would be weird, but seemed like flat out terrible to
where you were wondering if Xavier Tillman had a bigger role moving forward. They
experimented so much it felt like with his jump shot that I compared to like
buffering dial up internet when you were watching it. And then he comes in
and is a strong year this season, and now he's playing this mission critical
role in the playoffs because that fourth quarter, I know, the jaw three
in Game five is going to still receive most of the attention along with the
dunk that has to be like one of the most electric tipout assists I've ever
seen from anyone that Brandon Clark's had on that play. Yeah, Brandon Clark
was the somewhat unsung hero from Game five because when they go to that super
small ball if Brandon Clark was the only big on the court, and clearly
that hampers the Grizzlies one of their best abilities, which is offensive rebounding,
it didn't matter. Brandon Clark got seven offensive rebounds in that fourth quarter.
He did it all by himself. I mean, he finished with twenty one
and fifteen. He's been awesome. Like the dream of Brandon Clark from year
one, Yeah, it's been fully realized in this postseason series. He had
a great He honestly had a really great season. He had He shot a
better fieldal percentage this year than he did that rookie year. Yeah, whatever
they did year two. You know, I thought you were going to compare
it to like a horrible like an island of Doctor Moreau medical experiment on trying
to put things together. Like they ruined his jump shot, they tried to
build it somewhere weird, So who cares, all right, the jump SHOT's
gone. He just plays as like a big and he's really tough to deal
with. He screams and dives to the rim really hard. He affects the
defense that way where they have to respond to him. And then just his
activity cutting towards the basket, finishing everything he gets in the paint. He's
been consistent, it's been it's been so like, you know, Baine has
been awesome the entire series. Clark has also been awesome. They've been depending
on Bain Clark and Kyle Anderson to be the consistent players when everyone else is
all over the board. But yeah, Brandon Clark's fourth quarter was absolutely amazing
and just a monstrous game at like a twenty one point fifteen performance for the
series, he's averaging sixteen and a half points and eight and a half rebounds,
and he's shooting seventy percent from the field and they're not all dunks.
Those the floaters are back. He's the guy, you know, yeah,
from eight feet away. It's just it's basically money every time what do you
make of before I ask you about like what you're watching the rest of this
series? Game six, maybe Game seven, what do you make of what
seems like the national consensus that the Timberwolves have been slash are the better team
and that the Grizzlies are just sort of winning. It's something I will always
push back against with like no context whatsoever when people frame things that way.
But you would tweet it out the stat about the net ratings when the top
seven players are on the floor, And my initial thought was, I guess
you could argue, like, maybe Minnesota's better at the top because Anthony Edwards
is the better or Carl Anthony Towns, whether you consider their second best player
is the better second best player. But you kind of even rebuked that framing
of it, And so I'm just curious what you make of those those slants.
Honestly, I haven't heard a lot of those. I mean, if
that is the national consensus, I'm I feel that way. See where like,
the tim Wolves have been the better team for the majority of the minutes
played of this series, but nationally it feels like everyone I see it keeps
like after when it was two two, everyone's like Yeah, Grizzlies Warrior's gonna
be a great second round. And I'm like, the series is not over?
What are we talking about? And even the Vegas odds didn't even they
didn't flinching. Going into Game five, the Grizzlies were minus three forty favorites
for this series. They were minus three forty favorites before the series even started.
So from my perspective, I felt like I was super concerned and it
seemed like everyone else was, like no other Grizzes got them, got him
right where they want him, And so I don't know. I mean the
point about who has the best, Like, you know, two of the
top three best players in the series. After Game one, it was like,
do the Timberwolves have three of the top four players? You know?
Like is D'Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards, Karmathy Towns. Are all those guys
better than whoever the Grizzlies second best player is if that's Dylan Brooks or Desmon
Baine or Jaren Jackson Junior. Now we've seen through five games of the series.
I mean, Desmond Bayne has been I think the top three players in
the series. I guess you could argue Anthony Edwards, but it's been Oh
actually, now I'm getting ahead of myself. As far as performance in this
series, the best three players, it's probably Cat Baine and then Anthony Edwards.
But when we think of talent overall, we obviously include John Morant in
that. You know, I don't know, I do think at the top
of their talent wise, if it is like top three versus top three,
it is a very very close match up. The Grizzlies, I think at
the benefit because they're four through seven, even if they only play seven,
they're four through seven are better than the champs four through seven. I mean,
Jordan McLoughlin had a big game four where he was a huge lift in
that one point win. And then like you know, Jay McDaniels has been
up and down. He's gotten the block shots, but like his shot has
been all over the place. Mollie Beasley they cannot depend on, you know,
that's just he's a ratic. He's just an erratic player and he's on.
Yeah. So like as far as it's like when you look at the
series as a whole, if you just add up all the stats, it
looks like the Grizzlies are are taking care of business and winning like a two
seed maybe should. And it looks like, hey, people pick Grizzlies in
six, and this looks like Grizzlies and six. They're winning all the categories
we thought they would win. They're winning games even when they don't make their
shots. That's what we expected. If you actually watch the games and it's
like, oh, yeah, the Grizzlies covered in Game three, but they
were down by twenty five, you know, thirteen minutes to go, and
then you see that the game winner in Game five, it's been like,
you know, the stats don't show unless you're looking at time ahead and time
behind in the series. I'm thinking back to one thing you said about this
kind of off topic about how like Bain is making forty percent of the Grizzlies
three pointers and how the Grizzlies have really struggled to shoot. Part of that
is they're not playing three point shooters like our guy, I'm including you on
this, our guy Danthony Melton, like his shot disappeared in the postseason again
and he didn't play in Game five, and so like, if you're playing
all your minutes with Kyle Anderson and Brandon Clark and Xavier Tillman, and then
if Jaren's not making his shots, those are your shooters, like like your
your shooters are going to be fain. He's the only consistent one. And
then you hope Jared makes a couple. You hope Dylan makes a couple.
Tias Jones has been relatively consistent, but the Christmas aren't making three pointers because
they don't play three point shooters. Like that's that's where we are right now.
You hope they can make up over the twenty five percent of them,
but they're not gonna I mean, they're not gonna make a forty. I
don't think in a game they did already and I don't think they're gonna do
it again in this series because like the Grizzies, it's not I like to
say, it's not bad shooting, it's bad shooters shooting, if that makes
sense, Like, uh, it's not unlucky that we're missing three pointers.
Look who's taking the three pointers type of thing. We hope Jared will wake
up, but the Timberwolves should still have an advantage, you know, over
the remaining games in the series from the three point line. The Grizzes have
to keep winning those offensive rebounds, those turnovers like they have been I don't
know if it's game fos specifically, but it feels like Dylan Rooks. He's
at twenty eight percent from three for the series, and that just feels high
for some reason when you're looking at well he had a he had, he
had a great game one. I think after Game one his career playoff three
point percentage was like forty seven percent because he was on fire all of the
Jazz series last year. But it has come tumbling back down to earth.
Dylan with a very forgettable three for eighteen performance, although he didn't make a
big clutch three to get the final run started in the fourth quarter, Like,
I think Dylan's gonna make some more shots. He's clearly one of the
grizzlies most important players. Even when the shot doesn't go in, he's helping
on the deep'sive end and he just provides that spark. But if he doesn't
make shots, and if Jaren keeps not making shots, that's sure puts a
lot of pressure on Desmond Bain to play perfectly and for John Morette to have
to go into hero ball just to eke out a close victory. Final two
questions here, what are you watching or concerned about? Most they're just expecting
from the rest of this Game six, but perhaps the rest of this series.
It does feel like from an observer ten thousand feet away that view,
it feels like this series is destined to go seven. And I think people
have written off the Timberwolves while saying they're the better team, which is like
the again, this whole series is just so asked backwards and it's bet my
brain they just assumed that Minnesota was gonna lay down after they blew the twenty
five point lead, they come back and win, and now it's, oh,
they did it again, Like they're done, They're cooked. I definitely
wouldn't count them out in Game six, especially given just how turbulentce this entire
series has been. What are you watching for? Specifically? I think I'm
watching for the first quarter of Game six. First quarters have been a nightmare
for the Grizzlies. They're allowing thirty five points to the Timberwolves on average in
first quarters, which is just a ridiculous number. The Timberwolves, to their
credit, have shot the basketball insanely well in the first quarters, so like,
you know, that's a how much do we blame the Grizzlies. How
much do we give the Timbwolves credits for having a sixty nine percent true shooting
in first quarters of this series, So like, if that goes away,
I feel like the Grizzlies could maybe actually put together a good game. Like
it's been a very weird series, and I remember previous playoff series where I
felt like the Grizzlies, you know, we're outmatched. So like the final
years of the Grit and Grind, they're playing like the Spurs. We're playing
Kawhi and the Spurs, and it's like, hey, you know, like
if we play perfectly, we can beat the Spurs team, but we're probably
not gonna play perfectly. And then in other years at the peak of Grit
Grind, you listen to the Warriors in six and you're like, you know
what, the Warriors are making more incredible plays. That's the difference they have
Steph Curry and they're like they're doing one thing extra. But in all those
series, I felt like, Hey, this Grizzlies team is coming together,
they're playing well, They're just they're playing better teams. When he gets down
to it, this has been a weird series where I felt like every single
game the Grizzlies are awful. Why are the Grizzlies playing so terrible? Maybe
it is specifically the Timberwolves can take them out of the things they want to
do well, Like we thought coming in, all right, the half court
offense is gonna be terrible. The half court offense has been it's been all
right, But like the Grizzlies are basically forcing on defense the things they want.
Just when it comes down to like they're is failing on the talent wise,
maybe individual performances. If it is Jared's foul trouble, it is Dylan
struggle with the shot in the last few games. If it's Job making everyone
question like how hurt is he? He doesn't look like John Morant at all.
So like if John Morant looks like Job, and I'm saying, if
he looks like ninety percent of regular season jaw or fourth quarter in Game five
jaw, if the Grizzlies can like keep the Terminals from not getting off to
a fast start and just look like themselves, I'm gonna feel so much better.
So like I don't know how to quantify just Grizzlies playing better. I
mean they're they're not even making free throws, like they were a bad free
throw shooting team in the regular season because Steven Adams missed all his free throws.
Steven Adams hasn't played in this series, and they're still missing their free
throws. It's just been so bizarre where the Grizzlies can't seem to ever like
put an entire game together, Like they have these incredible defensive stretches, but
then they refused to score, and then the offense starts clicking, but they're
also giving up a bunch of points. So part of me thinks at some
point the Grizzlies are gonna put above average performances on both sides of the ball
together. But maybe not. Maybe this is the ideal matchup where the helter
skelter nature of the Timberwolves and they're talented guys, you know, is enough
to keep the Grizzlies off kilter the whole time. And we will come back
for a Game seven on Sunday where I mean, I'm gonna be nauseous the
whole time. I mean, I tell you that, man, Games three
and five I could barely handle them. We have these watch parties in Nashville
and it's just like, I'm just like catatonic, being like why is everything
going so poorly? And it's really funny. We look at the stats,
we're like, hey, man, Timberwolves are eleven for seventeen from three.
It's gonna go away. But it's still hard to It's hard to console yourself
when you're in the midst of those barrages. And also Dylan Brooks is two
for fifteen from the field. The thing that I'm gonna be watching, and
to make it a little bit about just the Timberwolves is can they get?
And I've harped on their offense here all along because it's been like they've had
great moments from Edwards Towns, certain great individual moments, but it's been the
Grizzlies done a nice job overall. Can they get? Like, are two
of their main guys ever gonna be going in the fourth quarter at the same
time, and by and large in this series, like Edwards and Russell,
like they have not shot the ball well in the fourth quarter and the other
thing looking at them, and I do think they've done a better job.
The Grizzlies have still been good. They've been the Grizzlies for the most part
on the offensive glass. A lot of the time they have not been as
good against this Timberwolves crappy defensive reboundings I've expected, but when Memphis is at
least trying to get offensive rebounds, it feels like even on missshots, they
are taking away fast break opportunities by virtue of just being there and around the
other bodies that are trying to get the boards from Minnesota, and so like,
those are just two aspects I'm watching, like tow Minnesota getting their offense
a little bit quicker, and like, what are they going to do in
the fourth quarter, because it does seem like their offenses all of a sudden
stalling out before the basket a lot more. And then I mentioned, look,
Kathie Towns leads them in fourth quarter scoring during the series. But it
also feels like he goes possessions at a time with it's like even if he's
involved in the action, but okay, fine, there are tons where he's
just giving the ball right back or like I said that he's been in the
corner. So I'm very much watching that because it does feel like at least
two, if not three of these games for the Timberwolves were eminently winnable if
there were slightly more consistency or even involvement from their players at the top,
which is not really a concern that you should technically have. Yeah, I
mean, the fourth quarters have been just an unmitigated disaster for the Timberwolves.
And I don't know how much of it is just fortunate the Grizzes applying pressure
the Timberwolves not maybe having the playoff experience. Maybe the Grizzes have just a
big boost from being in the playoffs last year, being in the play in
each of the previous two years. But the last fourth quarters the Grizzes have
won by fifty two points, and it's I think for this series. I
think this is for the series off the top of my head, that the
Timberwolves offensive rating in the fourth quarters like eighty two or something, and so
the Grizzes are annihilating the Timberwolves in fourth quarters. Part of me podcast or
I Can Fix Everything, Keith is like, well, look who's playing for
the Christmas in the fourth quarter. They're playing. They're good players, Like
they're not messing around with like, hey we're a deep team, let's go,
let's go ten deep in the postseason, they're saying, Hey, guess
what, Zire Williams doesn't play in the fourth quarter, Zager Tillmann doesn't play
in the fourth quarter, and the rest of those guys like they can really
get into the Timberwolves. You know, I don't know, it's not a
formula you want to lean on. The we can be down by ten points
going into the fourth and we'll be all right. Like I would wish we
would stop leaning on that formula. But yeah, I mean the term Wolves
clearly have elite talent at the top. Anthony Edwards, even with that kind
of mistake gambling for the steal on the final Jahmorant play, He's had huge
fourth quarter buckets. He's been a killer Karl Anthony Towns like, he's been
solid. You's got to get him the ball, you know. I do
feel like Patrick Beverly like secretly has has crushed them in a bad way.
Like them, He's made so many mistakes in fourth quarters of these games.
I mean, maybe that's just that's the limit of him. Of a player
that's like he wasn't that in demand. Uh. You know, in the
off season, as the Grizzlies famously said, you know, you can have
him. It's cool, you know, No, well, we don't know,
we don't, we don't, we don't need anything. That's fine,
just yeah, he could be on your team. I don't know. I
mean, I do honestly feel like it's going seven, although I guess the
Grizzlies fan part of me thinks like we're gonna piece together a complete game on
Game six and uh get out of here and be able to move on minus
well, I guess this is really the Grizzlies net rating four quarters plus thirty
five point eight and that's including all five games. Incredible, very quickly.
Who would be your X factor for each team heading into Game six? In
a potential Game seven? I mean, can you make Could Jaren Jackson Junior
be an X factor? I don't like he's supposed to be their second best
player? I don't know, Like I don't know, Well, what are
what are my rules? Can it be any player? Like any player?
I think given how the series has gone it literally I would normally steer clear
of like the Stars, but given what you've seen from Jah Jaren even like
sometimes Towns or Auntie Edward like I think in this series specifically, you could
pick whoever It's really funny because, like, you know, X factor,
you think of a guy off the bench, But for the Grizzlies, it's
been like, no, no, Brandon Clark's one of the best players.
Kyle Anderson has been consistent, tysos consistent. They've basically graduated from X factor
status. Yeah, I'm gonna say it's it's got it's gotta be Jared.
I mean think on the Timberwolves side, I like maybe Malik Beasley is their
swing talent, you know, like when he knocks down threes, they're really
impossible to beat. And outside of Game one, he's been a little bit
of a mess. He got hot a little bit in Game three, but
then in the second half that abandoned him. I think it's Jared Jackson junior,
Like can he play twenty five minutes? Like if Jared can play twenty
five minutes, Like literally, if he can play twenty five minutes, I
feel like that Grizzlies can wait, we'll get we'll win Game six. But
he hasn't shown an ability to play that many minutes. Man, what a
nightmare, just begging for your best players, Like, hey, buddy,
could you just maybe not freak out when you get on the court and uh
and try to play like backup, back up big minutes? Can we shoot
for backup big minutes? Buddy? The Lego store analogy with your with your
kid was probably just the single best thing I've ever heard it compared to I
think I might go Anthy Edwards for the Zimmerwolves. That might be to my
profile, but I think they need like him to just constantly be pressuring the
rim down the stretch of these fourth quarters where it feels like a lot of
their offense is settling, and I do think we have not seen that again
in fourth quarters specifically consistly enough. And for the Grizzlies, I think it's
Taylor Jenkins, and I'm not sure if I'm overthinking this. I just wonder
what is his capacity for risk? Because you mentioned, you know, Jaren
Jackson junior. Why not just keep him in with certain fouls. He's definitely
the typical player you can't trust to leave it in those situations. So what
is his stomach for risk going to be in a in a potential closeout game?
And also is he willing to like fuck and fiddle even more because we
talk about their three point volume not playing dancing Melton is not the way to
break my heart up three point volume. It's my heart too, So will
he try different things? What's his stomach for risk? Keith, thank you
so much for doing this. This was great. It's always fun talking hoops
with you. We're able to just tell our listeners where they can find you
and all the fantastic podcasting that you do. Yeah. Yeah, follow me
on Twitter at Fast break break I have Fast Break Breakfast. It's in basketball
podcasts about the entire NBA, and then if you want Grizzlies specific stuff,
check out Grits and Grinds. Both those podcasts are great, and also on
Fast Break Breakfast you will be treated to just like epic takes on life,
including one's about youth soccer. I don't think I ever thought I feel so
strongly about youth soccer leagues in that episode you guys did a while back,
and I'll see what I was like. Wow, Keith is like fucking right,
Like that is just criminal. Yeah, I feel like I'm being scammed
with my seven year old soccer league anyway. Yeah, check out Fast Break
Breakfast for more content like that. Thank you so much, Faith, and
I'll be talking to you soon. Enjoy the rest of the series, or
at least you know. I hope you're able to hard to enjoy, but
thanks for having me, Dan MHM