Speaker 1: This is the Baseline discussing the hot button topics of
Speaker 1: the NBA. Welcome everybody her tune to the Baseline. Cali
Speaker 1: Warrenshaw discussing the hot button topics of the NBA. Special
Speaker 1: edition of the Baseline NBA Podcast. I mean, we were
Speaker 1: covering the Eastern Conference Finals, so it's only right and
Speaker 1: we also have to discuss the Western Conference Finals. And
Speaker 1: if people have been paying attention and saw the Oklahoma
Speaker 1: City Thunder dismantle the Denver Nuggets to advance to their
Speaker 1: first conference finals, I believe since the Durant Westbrook Harden era,
Speaker 1: I'm seeing OKC fans are uber happy about it, and
Speaker 1: it's the makings for really a surprisingly good matchup all
Speaker 1: things considered, And so we would be remiss if we
Speaker 1: didn't take the opportunity to kind of highlight some of
Speaker 1: the things that we're looking for in this exciting matchup
Speaker 1: between the Thunder and the Minnesota Timberwolves. So, as always,
Speaker 1: let me go ahead, roll out the red carpet to
Speaker 1: my right hand man Www. Dot Shaw Sports Done Net,
Speaker 1: Big Ahuna, PNC, my man the warren Shaw repping out
Speaker 1: of Fort Lauda of Florida. What's good? Shall how are
Speaker 1: you holding it together? Now that we have the final
Speaker 1: four set? It's exciting times.
Speaker 2: And I think before that I was watching ESPN, you know,
Speaker 2: watching the pregame show and just really interesting to kind
Speaker 2: of see that the teams the six best teams to
Speaker 2: make the finals in terms of odds, five of them
Speaker 2: had already been out. So I had okayc ended up losing.
Speaker 2: None of the top six teams with the best odds,
Speaker 2: if you will, would have got in. But okay, see
Speaker 2: gets done in resounding fashion. And now we have a great,
Speaker 2: great set here of the final for the NBA.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think I want to start with that,
Speaker 1: right shaw, The Oklahoma City Thunder really had a tough
Speaker 1: out with the Denver Nuggets, and we'll, you know, obviously
Speaker 1: do our coveted autopsy report and we'll cover the Denver
Speaker 1: Nuggets in that next edition of our autopsy report. But
Speaker 1: I want to give credit to the Oklahoma City Thunder
Speaker 1: because they needed this matchup and they also needed to
Speaker 1: go through this fire once more. Because I think when
Speaker 1: we look at where the remaining teams are, a lot
Speaker 1: of them, you probably are saying luck momentum, you know, matchup,
Speaker 1: favorable matchups, is what's going to probably catapult them to
Speaker 1: this particular point, right, But the Oklahoma City Thunder has
Speaker 1: been arguably the only team wire to wire that you
Speaker 1: had the full throated belief I probably said that they
Speaker 1: weren't gonna be the number one seed. I think maybe
Speaker 1: I had somebody else touted as the number one seed,
Speaker 1: but no doubt they were still going to be among
Speaker 1: one of the major players and contenders. But Oklahoma City
Speaker 1: Thunder are the only teams that are remaining to me
Speaker 1: have proven by them now getting passed and exercising some
Speaker 1: demons and ultimately beating a former NBA champion led team
Speaker 1: in the Denver Nuggets, have validated the premise that they
Speaker 1: should be the favored to go through and to hoist
Speaker 1: that true. Now it's getting ahead of myself, But what
Speaker 1: I'm saying is the only way I could actually say
Speaker 1: that with confidence. If I'm someone who wants to critique
Speaker 1: and analyze, it's because of what they had to do
Speaker 1: to get to this point.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't disagree. I think I tweeted in the
Speaker 2: middle of the blowouts, and the Thunder now have been
Speaker 2: forged by fire. You know, they beat and then a
Speaker 2: former NBA Champion. They beat the runner up presumably to
Speaker 2: the MVP and get it done and kind of cast
Speaker 2: away a lot of doubts, and I think specifically for
Speaker 2: j Dubb, Jileen Williams, his ability to show up in
Speaker 2: this game in a meaningful way. You saw all the
Speaker 2: things that the reason that they got Hartenstein and Caruso, like,
Speaker 2: all those things came into full display throughout the course
Speaker 2: of the series and even more so in the final
Speaker 2: two games, you know, where okay See really was really
Speaker 2: kind of finding themselves even in the last FoST if
Speaker 2: you will.
Speaker 1: So I really am a.
Speaker 2: Thousand percent with you, you know, and maybe that giving
Speaker 2: away a little tipping our cap in terms of how
Speaker 2: we think the Western Conference Finals will go.
Speaker 1: But okay See should be.
Speaker 2: Now the prohibitive fav after going through this fire, which
Speaker 2: was the Denver Nuggets.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I look at this team Shaw and you know,
Speaker 1: they to me remind me very much of what we
Speaker 1: saw last year from the Boston Celtics, where I don't
Speaker 1: think anyone is questioning the offensive capabilities that they have
Speaker 1: at their disposal, especially with a head coach like Mark daganol.
Speaker 1: But again, and I think we even alluded to this
Speaker 1: with regards to our Eastern Conference Finals previews, right, the
Speaker 1: road to prosperity is gonna be how defensively these teams
Speaker 1: are going to impose their will against whoever the opposition
Speaker 1: is now. I will say this, since we're getting to
Speaker 1: the previews between them and the Minnesota Timberwolves. If I'm
Speaker 1: the Oklahoma City Thunder, I'd be very careful because while
Speaker 1: you've proven even through the regular season that you are
Speaker 1: the better team, the motive the Minnesota Timberwolves are on
Speaker 1: a high. They're getting back to that defensive presence that
Speaker 1: they exhibited that catapulted them last year to be among
Speaker 1: one of the best teams in the Western Conference. And
Speaker 1: while they struggle offensively, I keep going back to this point, shaw.
Speaker 1: I understand that we get enamored with teams that are
Speaker 1: you know, that are shooting the lights out and scoring
Speaker 1: points upward of one hundred and twenty or whatever the
Speaker 1: case may be. But all it takes is a couple
Speaker 1: of bad games. And sometimes those bad games is not
Speaker 1: just because they had cold nights. It's because of how
Speaker 1: players matchups are getting up in them and causing a
Speaker 1: lot of that frustration, causing those mental blocks, and you
Speaker 1: can see that exhibited at times when you see the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Timberwolves through the course of the regular season, and
Speaker 1: somehow they figured out a way to exercise those demons.
Speaker 1: Currently through the playoffs, they will do this to the
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City Thunder. Like the Oklahoma City Thunder just did
Speaker 1: this to the Denver Nuggets. The Minnesota Timberwolves are gonna
Speaker 1: get up in the Oklahoma City Thunder's chest heirs, And
Speaker 1: I think if you are Okay c you have to
Speaker 1: be disciplined in your ability to know that you are
Speaker 1: among one of the best teams defensively and that you
Speaker 1: can equally impose your will on a team that has
Speaker 1: shown offensive deficiencies through the course, even during the playoffs.
Speaker 1: If they do that, then I think Oklahoma City will
Speaker 1: be fine and they should basically coast through this Eastern
Speaker 1: this Western Conference finals because I just think that they're
Speaker 1: too deep and they have too many talented players. But again,
Speaker 1: watch how this Minnesota Timberwolves team operates, and Chris Finch
Speaker 1: very heavy kind of guy as far as how he
Speaker 1: likes to utilize his players and utilize them to get
Speaker 1: the matchups he likes from a defensive perspective, where most
Speaker 1: coaches are trying to do it from an offensive perspective.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I liked what you said to close
Speaker 3: off there.
Speaker 2: You know, Fitch is probably a underrated coach still in
Speaker 2: a lot of ways, and I know he has accolades
Speaker 2: under his belt per se, but I think it's just like,
Speaker 2: all right, well, he kind of gets taken for granted
Speaker 2: because the gravity of Anthony Edwards is so great when
Speaker 2: it comes to that Minnesota trimble Wolves team say nothing,
Speaker 2: not to say anything about the postseason that Julius Randall
Speaker 2: specifically is having.
Speaker 1: But I do like this matchup right.
Speaker 2: I do like it for both teams because Minnesota is
Speaker 2: probably in the space of like, well, now we're the underdogs.
Speaker 2: You know, no one expects us to be here anyway,
Speaker 2: and no one is gonna expect us to be okay see.
Speaker 2: So in a lot of ways, they're gonna be playing
Speaker 2: with a lot of house money and some someone's freedom,
Speaker 2: but they have that internal belief I think within their
Speaker 2: locker room.
Speaker 1: And on the flip side, I.
Speaker 2: Think this is where okay See is really going to
Speaker 2: have to, you know, kind of dig down a little
Speaker 2: bit and not necessarily in terms of offensive versatility, but
Speaker 2: relying on those defensive principles. Because one of the things
Speaker 2: that we can get into here is that Minnesota, of
Speaker 2: the playoff teams remaining, they are still the most playoffs sorry,
Speaker 2: they're the most turnover prone of these teams. They're also
Speaker 2: one of the better defensive teams remaining too. That hen's
Speaker 2: why they're in the Final four, if you will. But
Speaker 2: you know, okay see, is there's nobody better and there's
Speaker 2: been nobody better turning points off of turnovers in okay see.
Speaker 2: So that's where Minnesota is really gonna have to take
Speaker 2: care of the care of the basketball and understanding that
Speaker 2: the thunder don't really have a lot of They don't
Speaker 2: have a lot of drop off.
Speaker 1: Even when they go to their bench.
Speaker 2: You can say maybe offensively, but everybody who comes in
Speaker 2: plays defense and plays defense like a dog, and that
Speaker 2: can you know, kind of wear on Minnesota while they're
Speaker 2: not you know, necessarily like they're shallow, but they're not
Speaker 2: as skilled offensively. Once you kind of get into that
Speaker 2: seventh eighth man, you know, so to speak. Sorry, that
Speaker 2: seventh eighth man, so to speak. So that's where I
Speaker 2: think Okac can really really try to turn the tide
Speaker 2: of this series at some point is with their defensive
Speaker 2: versatility and the fact that they have so much depth
Speaker 2: in their defense all the way, basically for all the
Speaker 2: eight nine guys they play.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and one of the things that I saw, especially
Speaker 1: from this last game that really impressed me about dagonaal
Speaker 1: because you know, you were just talking about Chris Finch,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna speak about Mark Daganall and his growth process,
Speaker 1: his maturity. I've noticed this trend. Shaw It It bothers me.
Speaker 1: I think this goes as far back to the to
Speaker 1: the Mark D'Antonio days. Okay, Mark D'Antonio would get, you know,
Speaker 1: a really savvy to D'Antoni. I'm sorry, I said D'Antonio,
Speaker 1: Mark D'Antoni. That's how far removed he's been. Almost can't
Speaker 1: Mike or Mike or Mark. Mike his aliens is probably Mark.
Speaker 1: You probably wish he had a you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: he had a he had a twin, Yeah, exactly so.
Speaker 1: So Mike was notorious of getting a savvy veteran player
Speaker 1: and refused to play the guy. You know, you get
Speaker 1: a guy you know on your roster, and I don't listen.
Speaker 1: I understand he may not fit the I the ideal scheme,
Speaker 1: but there comes a point where you have to basically
Speaker 1: empty out the toolkit, man, when some things are just
Speaker 1: not effective, some things are not consistent. You gotta get
Speaker 1: that run. There's a reason why he's on the roster.
Speaker 1: You figure out a way to use him on the roster.
Speaker 1: One of the things that worried me a lot about
Speaker 1: dagonal is while he has a treasure trove of talent,
Speaker 1: even last year, you saw him heavily depend on the
Speaker 1: shoulders of his starters to try to figure certain things
Speaker 1: out and not position that team where he levies his
Speaker 1: knowledge and his understanding of what he wants to do,
Speaker 1: how he wants to implement so that the guys can
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about that aspect of it. Now,
Speaker 1: these guys have a year under their belt. But I
Speaker 1: gotta tell you, man, I truly appreciate what Dagonall did
Speaker 1: running Caruso out there and having him defend Biggs, right
Speaker 1: like you brought him there for a reason, and you're
Speaker 1: using him for that reason right and regardless of what
Speaker 1: people may say or think it might compromise the flow
Speaker 1: of the offense, He's not there to score the basketball.
Speaker 1: He's there to get defensive He's there to make defensive plays. Right,
Speaker 1: He's there for those fifty to fifty balls that other
Speaker 1: guys have the capacity are not in a position to
Speaker 1: be able to make. And it says something thing when
Speaker 1: a guy like Rusa goes out there and is unafraid, unabashed,
Speaker 1: he says, I'm gonna take the joker, I'm gonna take
Speaker 1: the NBA three time MVP, and I'm gonna guard him up,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna I'm gonna be a pest to him.
Speaker 1: Do you know what that says to the rest of
Speaker 1: the guys up and down that line. It just speaks volumes.
Speaker 1: So I you know, I say that all of that
Speaker 1: to say, now we're now beginning to add that quote
Speaker 1: unquote X factor the coaches, right, and and the implementation
Speaker 1: of what they're doing and how they want to do
Speaker 1: it to the to the full breadth of what we're
Speaker 1: expecting when we get to this point of the conference finals,
Speaker 1: because sometimes I think the desperation in them just allows
Speaker 1: them to say, We're just gonna keep running out the
Speaker 1: same guys. We're gonna keep running out the same plays.
Speaker 1: We're gonna ep runnut the same systems and they don't
Speaker 1: make adjustments. And I don't think that you're gonna get
Speaker 1: anywhere closer to eventually winning that NBA Finals until you
Speaker 1: make those necessary adjustments and you utilize the players on
Speaker 1: your roster as what you brought them in there for.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I love the fact that, you know,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of cross matching that's been happening throughout
Speaker 2: the course of the NBA Playoffs, and we're seeing a
Speaker 2: lot more Smalls trying to guard Biggs, And I think
Speaker 2: your point. Even Cruso did a decent enough job on Joker,
Speaker 2: you know here in Game seven. You know, Joker still
Speaker 2: got to the rim a couple of times, but you know,
Speaker 2: you just you even kind of like just want to
Speaker 2: see what some of those things could look like. So
Speaker 2: while I can see Dort guarding some Julius Randall, I
Speaker 2: can see guarding some Anthony Edwards, but I can also
Speaker 2: see Cruso doing the exact same thing, and then maybe
Speaker 2: Jayalen Williams doing the exact same thing. So you know,
Speaker 2: as long as they can stay out of foul trouble.
Speaker 2: But that's where I think, you know, the thunder just
Speaker 2: have more defensive versatility kind of throughout flipping it to
Speaker 2: the other side though. I mean, I think Minnesota is
Speaker 2: going to be able to do some things obviously with
Speaker 2: with McDaniel's as well, right, and while he is obviously
Speaker 2: the primary creator of offense, he's also rather are better defenders
Speaker 2: on the floor. So you know, Anthony Edwards and McDaniels
Speaker 2: trying to maybe switch turns on SGA and then maybe
Speaker 2: you know Jadub as well too. I think those are
Speaker 2: things that we're going to continue to watch kind of
Speaker 2: throughout this Like, so we're talking a lot about the
Speaker 2: defense in this series because I think it's where both
Speaker 2: of these teams and it is kind of their bread
Speaker 2: and butter at the end of the day. But that's
Speaker 2: nothing to say about the star power that is Anthony Edwards,
Speaker 2: that is SGA as well too. And I think you know,
Speaker 2: we might get some some dueling, you know, with some
Speaker 2: of those guys as well, not necessarily in the one
Speaker 2: on one, you know, type of situation, but kind of
Speaker 2: like SGA goes down to the scores and it's gonna try
Speaker 2: to score, you know, back on the other side, we
Speaker 2: may get a couple of moments of that too, But
Speaker 2: I think this is going to be a fun and
Speaker 2: exciting series throughout. One last thing, though, is I want
Speaker 2: to kind of throw to you who do you think
Speaker 2: wins the true battle of the biggs, right, you know,
Speaker 2: with harn Stein and Cheded Holmgren versus Gobaar and Julius Randall.
Speaker 2: Even when you go into the depths you know from
Speaker 2: Minnesota with now as Reed, you know, playing kind of
Speaker 2: as a stretch for as well.
Speaker 1: You know, who do you.
Speaker 2: Think has the the advantage when it comes to the
Speaker 2: front court.
Speaker 1: I believe the advantage will lie with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Speaker 1: I think the key is going to be offensive rebounding
Speaker 1: and play repositioning. And when we return, haha, when we return,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you that. And then I'm also gonna
Speaker 1: come back to your point about the Stars finally getting
Speaker 1: their moment to shine in head to head matchup between
Speaker 1: Edwards and Sga, what that's gonna look like. And we
Speaker 1: also have to give our predictions about who's gonna ultimately
Speaker 1: advance out of the Western Conference to play in the
Speaker 1: NBA Finals. So you don't want to miss it here.
Speaker 1: Cali Warrenshaw baseline, don't go anywhere. We are back Cali
Speaker 1: Warrenshaw Basline NBA podcast. We're doing our special edition of
Speaker 1: the Western Conference preview between the Oklahoma City Thunder and
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Timberwolves. So I was just mentioning that I
Speaker 1: leave it the advantage between the bigs between the Thunders
Speaker 1: Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein versus the Timberwolves Julius Randall
Speaker 1: and Rudy Gobert. I give the nod to Hartenstein and
Speaker 1: Holmgren because of their ability to offensively rebound. Okay, but
Speaker 1: there's also something that I noticed that I truly loved
Speaker 1: and appreciated about the level of execution that ok Se
Speaker 1: is capable of showing you that I think can be
Speaker 1: a deterrent to the Minnesota Timberwolves, especially with the style
Speaker 1: of defense at the Timberwolves place. If you're watching this game, Shaw,
Speaker 1: I notice a lot if home Gren and or Hartenstein
Speaker 1: find themselves on the receiving end of an offensive rebound
Speaker 1: and or find themselves about four or five feet just
Speaker 1: below or just above the free throw line. Oka See
Speaker 1: always had someone cutting from the baseline straight to the basket,
Speaker 1: and there would be that nice little bounce pass because
Speaker 1: the opposition defensively is realizing that both Homegrin and Hartenstein
Speaker 1: are looking, you know what I'm saying, to get deeper penetration,
Speaker 1: to get that easy basket or that easy bucket, and
Speaker 1: in most cases it makes sense to probably foul them
Speaker 1: because even though Homegren is a decent and a solid
Speaker 1: free throw shooter as well as Hartenstein, you probably would
Speaker 1: rather see them get to the free throw line rather
Speaker 1: than seeing them basically again an a one or get
Speaker 1: easy bucket. But they were running this play so many
Speaker 1: times against the Denver Nuggets, and I would not be
Speaker 1: surprised if that kind of movement that the Oklahoma City
Speaker 1: Thunder exhibit with their wing players or even their guards
Speaker 1: camped out in the corners, because the notion is they're
Speaker 1: still gonna shoot it, They're gonna let it fly, but
Speaker 1: they don't give enough respect to the fact that they
Speaker 1: all cut to the basket with a sense of purpose.
Speaker 1: And as long as those guys are distributing the basketball
Speaker 1: the way that they've been distributing it throughout the course
Speaker 1: of this series, they will be just fine. And they're
Speaker 1: going to actually put the Minnesota Timberwolves front court players
Speaker 1: or their front court tandem on their heels because now
Speaker 1: they got to pay attention to the guys that are
Speaker 1: cutting behind them when they should technically be in front
Speaker 1: of them. I can see that.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think, you know, I would I would
Speaker 2: differ only because I think there's a maybe slightly more
Speaker 2: depth because of the Nas Reid aspect from Minnesota. So
Speaker 2: I think schematically what you're talking about makes sense for
Speaker 2: the OKC side, But I think you know where Minnesota
Speaker 2: can make some hay is that nas Reed can space
Speaker 2: the floor. If you believe Julius Randalls three point shooting
Speaker 2: in the playoffs, well then he can also space the floor,
Speaker 2: which could be problematic for Hartstein and check right because
Speaker 2: they're not really joker plays kind of at all levels. Right,
Speaker 2: So like the gout obviously a fair test, but I
Speaker 2: think you know, in the times where we go be
Speaker 2: off the floor and they're going with Randall and nas Read,
Speaker 2: that's going to give some problems I think for Okay,
Speaker 2: see just trying to figure out like, all right, well,
Speaker 2: make sure can we make sure that we team get
Speaker 2: back and rebound if both of these guys are kind
Speaker 2: of spacing or whatever. If Randall's kind of drive off
Speaker 2: the bounce and even sprang out to a nas Read
Speaker 2: on the wing one way or the other. So this
Speaker 2: is where I think, you know, Fitch can really try
Speaker 2: to design some things that you know, puts Okayc's players
Speaker 2: in action. I think Hartnstein kind of just he gets
Speaker 2: let off right, and I don't think he's I don't
Speaker 2: think he's a bad defender in any sitch of the imagination,
Speaker 2: but he's not running a whole lot of various actions.
Speaker 2: So you know, I can see Ant and Randall, Ant
Speaker 2: and nas Read, you know, kind of doing that and
Speaker 2: trying to put a hard sign in some some pick
Speaker 2: and rolls, and then does that necessarily not negate him
Speaker 2: to some degree, but does it limit him some throughout
Speaker 2: the course of the series where they're forced to kind
Speaker 2: of go with Chet more as a five, and then
Speaker 2: you know, you know, bringing in some of their bench
Speaker 2: guys off the bench, bringing some of their bench guys
Speaker 2: rather to the starting lineup like Isiah Isaiah Joe or
Speaker 2: you know whatever case in Wallace. Maybe they're getting more
Speaker 2: run in some of those different lineups. So again, I
Speaker 2: think Minnesota has some things they can play with the
Speaker 2: try to attack okay see, but they just need to
Speaker 2: be careful, Like even when you're running that pick and
Speaker 2: roll that okay See's guards and their wings are there
Speaker 2: are coming into help. They are coming in to swipe
Speaker 2: and strip at the ball whatever, and you have to
Speaker 2: pay attention to where Caruso is. So this is where
Speaker 2: I think Minnesota is really not only from that trying
Speaker 2: to get a hard signed in action, but this is
Speaker 2: where that three point shooting for Minnesota is going to
Speaker 2: become extremely impactful for them.
Speaker 1: Offensively.
Speaker 2: Guys are going to have to make shot in this
Speaker 2: series because I think Okayc's gonna be like, you know what,
Speaker 2: we don't believe you as you're trying to drive to
Speaker 2: the rack. We'll let you know whoever out here, kind
Speaker 2: of like fire away as long as it's not like Nasriz.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you made some excellent points. I will say this,
Speaker 1: and it's not really to push back but maybe accentuate
Speaker 1: a little bit of what you're talking about. For me,
Speaker 1: the key is gonna definitely be Julius Randall, but it's
Speaker 1: not in the way that I think you're talking about.
Speaker 1: I feel like Julius Randall, who to me, of all
Speaker 1: of the bigs has the better body of work on
Speaker 1: one on one situations. Now, I don't know if Chris
Speaker 1: Finch is gonna like the idea of isolating Julius Randall
Speaker 1: to start working you know, the Oka See front court
Speaker 1: players and then him start playing bullyball, but you could
Speaker 1: appreciate it because he is more likely the type of
Speaker 1: guy to get the front court players in foul trouble right,
Speaker 1: and that opens up everything for the nas reasons NAS
Speaker 1: reads and as well too for Anthony Edwards, who obviously
Speaker 1: he's been shooting the three ball a whole lot more.
Speaker 1: But I don't want to only put this on Julius
Speaker 1: Randall to do that. I just think that he is
Speaker 1: the best equipped that he can literally get the OKAC
Speaker 1: Thunder team in foul trouble because he has a bevy
Speaker 1: of moves that he can play below the below the
Speaker 1: rim that can force that action. But I think it
Speaker 1: comes down to equally, uh Alexander Walker and and UH McDaniels,
Speaker 1: they and their length have to also challenge the front
Speaker 1: court of the Oklahoma City Thunder get these guys in
Speaker 1: quick foul trouble. I understand again, we fall in love
Speaker 1: with the idea that we space the floor out and
Speaker 1: like to shoot the three. But if you look at
Speaker 1: the way that the playoffs have been called right have
Speaker 1: been refed, there is a level of physicality that I
Speaker 1: think can play to the favor of the Minnesota Timberwolves
Speaker 1: that could put the Oklahoma City Thunder on their heels.
Speaker 1: So if they don't sit there and just jack up
Speaker 1: shots hoping that their three ball lands, they could actually
Speaker 1: force the action force Dagonault to reach into his bag
Speaker 1: in his roster and try to mix and matchmans in play,
Speaker 1: because then I think that he may overdo it, which
Speaker 1: plays into the hands of a guy like Chris Finch,
Speaker 1: because I think these guys have already been battle test
Speaker 1: to given what they went through last year. So it's
Speaker 1: just an interesting dynamic to look at because I think
Speaker 1: that if Oklahoma City plays the way that they're supposed
Speaker 1: to play, Hartenstein and Holmgren will absorb a ton of
Speaker 1: minutes and not have to exhort a ton of work
Speaker 1: because the action that most of the Timberwolve players have
Speaker 1: been playing kind of bails them out from being committed.
Speaker 1: It's so wholeheartedly defensively because of the propensity to shoot
Speaker 1: the basketball as much as they do. That's why I
Speaker 1: want to see more action and aggressiveness from their players.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying IO all the time, but I'm saying
Speaker 1: if you're gonna ISO, be aggressive in your ISO. Go
Speaker 1: to the cup, go to the rim, force that call
Speaker 1: to get played. Even if you get blocked, that's fine,
Speaker 1: but you got to force the action. If you bail
Speaker 1: them out, okayc is gonna not only get the calls,
Speaker 1: but they're gonna get the transition. And we've seen where
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Timberwolves have been marginalized defensively in transition because
Speaker 1: the Oklahoma City Thunder are just a better passing team
Speaker 1: when they're in the open floor and they got numbers
Speaker 1: on the court.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but we've also seen okay See has again sometimes
Speaker 2: struggled to score. So I think another thing that can
Speaker 2: happen is that, you know, if they are figure out
Speaker 2: a way to get Sga involved in a lot of
Speaker 2: actions right and make him work defensively so that he's
Speaker 2: not that then you're forcing you know, Jdubb and Chat
Speaker 2: to be more focused offensively and having to you know,
Speaker 2: be more even efficient in that. If you're making Eshay
Speaker 2: work on the other side hopefully, But actually I mean
Speaker 2: that he's an MVP, you know, presumably, so like you're like,
Speaker 2: there's not a You're not going to bank on that
Speaker 2: as your entire strategy, but I think you do need
Speaker 2: to try to put him and make him work so
Speaker 2: that maybe he is a little bit more tired and
Speaker 2: maybe some of these other guys just kind of fear
Speaker 2: a step up. What I'm really interested though as well, too,
Speaker 2: is these are two really good teams that have, you know,
Speaker 2: more than just kind of their star players, right, but
Speaker 2: we know kind of like who the top level guys are,
Speaker 2: and I'm just trying to figure out from you know,
Speaker 2: I know the X factor conversation, you know, is something
Speaker 2: that a lot of people have tap into, and I
Speaker 2: guess that's what I want to do here now. I
Speaker 2: don't know if it's an X factor, but I just
Speaker 2: kind of think about the most important role players for
Speaker 2: some of these teams, right, And I don't know if
Speaker 2: McDaniel's from Minnesota or you know, Nikael Alesona Walker is
Speaker 2: maybe more important because I don't know what we're even
Speaker 2: going to get from my colleague this series. Conversely, you know,
Speaker 2: is it is it case and Wallace or does Isaiah
Speaker 2: Joe you know, coming in from from the OKAC side
Speaker 2: or what or so just kind of like what he
Speaker 2: does defensively, There's so many ways I think these guys
Speaker 2: can't contribute to the game that can swing momentum, like
Speaker 2: in a real meaningful way, especially with some of the
Speaker 2: guys I mentioned, more so even defensively than offensively. But
Speaker 2: if those guys are also hitting shots, you know, that
Speaker 2: can really swing you know, a game, and you know
Speaker 2: a four or five point, you know swing in a
Speaker 2: situation where hey, the tied teams will be going the
Speaker 2: other way and then these guys come in with a
Speaker 2: truly momentum changing play.
Speaker 1: What version of Anthony Edwards do you want to see
Speaker 1: in this series against the Oklahoma City Thunder is Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the one that we saw in the Golden
Speaker 1: State series. You know where he was I'd say patient,
Speaker 1: you know, he didn't force things, he understood. Hey, I
Speaker 1: gotta get other guys going, Hey, Randall's got it cooking cool.
Speaker 1: I can necessarily get mine whenever, but I can get
Speaker 1: mine within the flow, so where he's more facilitating even
Speaker 1: as a as a secondary playmaker, you know, kind of
Speaker 1: like the swing swinging.
Speaker 2: Type of situation, or you off of driving kicks. If
Speaker 2: he's not having to force that, I guess what we
Speaker 2: think we know is already going to be a very
Speaker 2: good Oklahoma City defense. Then I think that's the version
Speaker 2: of Anthony Edwards that can be ultimately successful because if
Speaker 2: he gets other guys going, then okay, see he has
Speaker 2: to react to those other guys and that will make easier,
Speaker 2: make life easier for long term.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I want to see that version of Anthony Edwards
Speaker 1: where I'm not saying he's got to be struggling. I'm
Speaker 1: saying people are going to be asking a question about, oh,
Speaker 1: why is he this looks like he's having a quiet night,
Speaker 1: yet the Minnesota Timberwols are within striking distance or the
Speaker 1: Minnesota timber was actually up. And then when the time
Speaker 1: comes that we need to see an explosion. We need
Speaker 1: someone to say I'm shouldering the heavy load in the
Speaker 1: second half of the game, because I think we've already
Speaker 1: seen that enough times to say that is a part
Speaker 1: of SGA's repertoire. Right, we know that he basically scores
Speaker 1: with brutal efficiency and so with confidence. The only time
Speaker 1: that you recognize that he struggles is when the team
Speaker 1: collectively has struggled and they're using him as the de
Speaker 1: facto savior sort to speak, and teams defensively have bottlenecked him,
Speaker 1: so he's not really getting quality shots that normally he
Speaker 1: needs in order for him to get himself going. I
Speaker 1: often look at Anthony Edwards and I say, it's not
Speaker 1: necessarily the shot. It's a play. It's a defining play.
Speaker 1: It could be a dunk, it could be a steal,
Speaker 1: it could be a block, something happened, something triggers where
Speaker 1: when Anthony Edwards is involved, it sets the whole thing off.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like an instagram, you know, sensation. With
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards, all it takes is one. And I think
Speaker 1: if he has that confidence of knowing at any given time,
Speaker 1: he can explode and just do what he does. I
Speaker 1: think that bodes well for the Minnesota Timberwolves, because again,
Speaker 1: the concentration should be making sure his guys are in
Speaker 1: the right space in order for them to hang and
Speaker 1: compete with the Oklahoma City Thunder on both sides of
Speaker 1: the basketball. They don't have to score a ton of points,
Speaker 1: but they cannot allow the oklahol City Thunder to score
Speaker 1: a ton of points in doing so you're now asking
Speaker 1: this to be a shootout and they are not gonna win.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the notion of allowing the game to
Speaker 2: kind of come to you for for both the stars,
Speaker 2: if you will, we'll we'll see.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: See he is a little less reliant on that, like
Speaker 2: they kind of always expect to kind of get going.
Speaker 2: But we've seen the conversity for Minnesota, especially in this
Speaker 2: last series with Golden State whore of Minnesota, and Antoniana
Speaker 2: is like, all right, well, let's let's let me feel
Speaker 2: things out because someone's gonna expect me to kind of
Speaker 2: do this thing. But that's what the beauty of these
Speaker 2: playoffs are, right, And we don't know, like there could
Speaker 2: be some random star here who emerges, you know, even
Speaker 2: like Julius Strawther, you know in.
Speaker 1: Game six and different like where did that come from?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 2: So I that to me while the stars are going
Speaker 2: to make the headlines, and I agree with you for
Speaker 2: thousand percent, especially on Minnesota's home floor. You know, if
Speaker 2: Anthoniana Worth goes and does one of those wild dungs,
Speaker 2: so those momentum changing you know, you know, plays one
Speaker 2: way or the other. It really can kind of somewhat
Speaker 2: be demoralizing. But where I think both teams have shown
Speaker 2: some someones of maturity in the first two rounds is
Speaker 2: that these players happen to them and they're able to
Speaker 2: kind of respond, you know what I mean, and not
Speaker 2: let that momentum, you know, go too far. For the
Speaker 2: for the most part, I remember was that Game five,
Speaker 2: you know where Joker hit the pure wet three, you know,
Speaker 2: like the shot cluck running down or whatever, and you
Speaker 2: know that put Denver up and whatever X amount of
Speaker 2: time that was left, and then j Jane Williams came
Speaker 2: right back down and hit a letter right up to
Speaker 2: that and put them right back up. But for a
Speaker 2: lot of other teams, like Joker doing that would have
Speaker 2: been like, oh my god, bro, like what are we
Speaker 2: talking about?
Speaker 1: Like how does he make that?
Speaker 3: And okay, see was unfazed you know in that too.
Speaker 2: So I like the fact that these teams are you know,
Speaker 2: kind of tried and true. And I think even if
Speaker 2: you take Minnesota's experience last year, you know, in the
Speaker 2: Western Conference Finals against you know, the the Dallas Mavericks
Speaker 2: and Luca and Luca doing what he did to them
Speaker 2: at times as well. You can just say, you know what,
Speaker 2: we've seen this before, right, We're not new to this.
Speaker 2: So how do you respond now and overcome and get
Speaker 2: to the next step and still execute your actions that
Speaker 2: get you, you know, the efficient shots that you hopefully
Speaker 2: want want, you know, for for your roster and your team.
Speaker 2: So I think it's gonna be a great finals. Man,
Speaker 2: I'm really really excited.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm really I'm excited about it. One last thing, Sean,
Speaker 1: and I want to get your your predictions for the series.
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert. I know we don't talk enough about it,
Speaker 1: but we got to give this guy his kudos. Man.
Speaker 1: He has been targeted so many times and I think,
Speaker 1: you know, look, maybe okay see has got the elixir,
Speaker 1: the right elixir in order to neutralize Rudy Gobert, but
Speaker 1: his presence and his and his team play. Let me
Speaker 1: let me put emphasis on what I'm saying, man, team play,
Speaker 1: because I think at times people get lost in the
Speaker 1: fact that just because your the stifle tower, you're supposed
Speaker 1: to be blocking everybody. You know. He obviously put into
Speaker 1: work in the off season, worked on his footwork for
Speaker 1: him to be able to maintain and stabilize as best
Speaker 1: as he could some of these matchups in which they
Speaker 1: clearly were targeting to put a guard or put a
Speaker 1: point forward on him and basically get him, you know,
Speaker 1: on a in a spin cycle. And he played, He
Speaker 1: played them, he played their egos, and he also played
Speaker 1: them out of out of their offensive set and their
Speaker 1: offensive sorts. And I got to give credit to to
Speaker 1: to Rudy Gobert, and if he maintains that same kind
Speaker 1: of discipline, he very much could affect a little bit
Speaker 1: of what the Okac Thunder loved to run top end
Speaker 1: screen because now you don't have the luxury of having
Speaker 1: all of that kind of open space when you've got
Speaker 1: all of that girth and length to work with as
Speaker 1: you're in Minnesota symbols. He doesn't get in silly fouls
Speaker 1: or doesn't put himself in silly foul troubles. So now
Speaker 1: the onus is being put back on the guards or
Speaker 1: if not, the dribble penetration, the Okac Thunder is gonna
Speaker 1: have to have from you know, their point forwards and guards.
Speaker 1: You know, again, there's gonna be a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of chess and checkers being played here. And I
Speaker 1: love it because a lot of it comes down to
Speaker 1: the guys playing that kind of dis playing basketball.
Speaker 2: This got us to this point, man, Yeah, I think
Speaker 2: this has been the Rudy Gobert Playoff revenge tour, right,
Speaker 2: you know, being able to kind of like collect the gems.
Speaker 2: I think I saw I think something with Anthony Edwards
Speaker 2: right that like he's collecting the Infinity Stones. But you know,
Speaker 2: of those who have wronged Rudy Gobert, you know, he's
Speaker 2: been able to kind of do this and really has
Speaker 2: kind of stepped up in a way that Yeah, he's
Speaker 2: much maligned and maybe some of it has been even
Speaker 2: deserved previously, but it's been a great playoff run for
Speaker 2: him alongside Julius Ridle to two guys that think are
Speaker 2: redefining their playoff you know, kind of resumes you know,
Speaker 2: throughout the course of this run here right now. But
Speaker 2: this is a tall task. This is all very much
Speaker 2: is so what what level of contribution can he can
Speaker 2: he do? No matter what the role ultimately is, whether
Speaker 2: that means he's going to play thirty five minutes a
Speaker 2: night or you know there's something nice where he's playing
Speaker 2: maybe twenty two. Right, I think it's just going to
Speaker 2: be how the how is the flow of the game
Speaker 2: going in that individual night, and make sure he doesn't
Speaker 2: get down on the thing that he does the best
Speaker 2: in terms of his ability to rebound, his ability to
Speaker 2: shot block and deter shots as well too. So I
Speaker 2: think okay See can do some things that will counter
Speaker 2: and probably bother him, but I think at the same time,
Speaker 2: staying out of foul trouble will be immense and providing
Speaker 2: that level of you know, rebounding and shot deteration something
Speaker 2: that they Minnesota Gon need throughout the course of this year.
Speaker 2: Especially with the way okay See loves to drive, and
Speaker 2: especially as she hitting those mid range as well too.
Speaker 2: You got to make sure there's a defferent, a deterrent,
Speaker 2: and somebody in his face to make those shots more difficult.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, all right, seaw, let's get into it, man thunder
Speaker 1: Wolves series in who walks away as the Western Conference champion? Yeah, So,
Speaker 1: I'll go back to what we said in the beginning.
Speaker 2: I think the thunder here have been forged bot fire,
Speaker 2: although the two Wolves are no slouches. But I'm gonna
Speaker 2: take okay See in six in a very very tough
Speaker 2: six games as well.
Speaker 3: I don't know fu'll see blowouts one way or the other.
Speaker 2: But I think okay See understands the task at hand,
Speaker 2: esecially with what's happened in the Eastern Conference as well,
Speaker 2: like they can you know that they can't look ahead
Speaker 2: per se, but they have to realize, like, yo, we
Speaker 2: have a really a really great shot at an NBA
Speaker 2: championship if we can get out of this Western Conference situation.
Speaker 2: So I don't think they take this for granted and
Speaker 2: get it done in six, although Minnesota will be a
Speaker 2: very very tough challenge.
Speaker 1: What about you, Yeah, I don't take for granted. I
Speaker 1: don't think that the okay See thunder is going to
Speaker 1: take for granted this opportunity. I just think that they
Speaker 1: have the better team, and I agree with you, I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna be six. I do think that there
Speaker 1: may be one or two blowout games. I just think
Speaker 1: that some one of these teams is going to force
Speaker 1: the other team. They're gonna kind of roll the dice
Speaker 1: or to speak and allow what you know OKAC does best,
Speaker 1: or maybe allow Minnesota to do what they do best.
Speaker 1: Like I could see maybe one blowout game in okay See.
Speaker 1: In one blowout game in Minnesota, but for the for
Speaker 1: the most part, it should be pretty tightly contested. I
Speaker 1: think at the end of the day, man, they just
Speaker 1: have a much better squad on both sides of the basketball.
Speaker 1: And as long as Mark d Agonaut doesn't try to
Speaker 1: over coach, doesn't try to get cute, employ the same
Speaker 1: kind of physicality on on the Minnesota Timbles as he
Speaker 1: just did to the Denver Nuggets, within reason, don't get
Speaker 1: into the chatter with Anthony Edwards handle business. They should
Speaker 1: wind up walking away as the Western Conference champions.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I'm right there with you. And again
Speaker 2: I think we're gonna have a really good series. But
Speaker 2: I'm intrigued. Like I said, I want to see how
Speaker 2: Randall plays in this, it does does it continue?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 2: I want to see how Jay Doll plays in this,
Speaker 2: you know, And Caruso and Hartens. I think there's just
Speaker 2: so many layers that I think this can go and
Speaker 2: and two really great coaches, you know, going at it,
Speaker 2: and what adjustments need to be made about the course
Speaker 2: of the series. Uh, but I think we're in the
Speaker 2: store for a good one and both conferences, to be
Speaker 2: honest with you, but ultimately without maybe giving too much away.
Speaker 2: I think the winner of this conference is probably going
Speaker 2: to be DEMBIA champion.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, And I know we will have our opportunity
Speaker 1: to give our prediction, our preview and predictions for the
Speaker 1: for the NBA Finals. But I gotta tell you, if,
Speaker 1: if what we've seen from both the Minnesota Timberwolves and
Speaker 1: the Oklahoma City Thunder and what they did to their
Speaker 1: previous teams it got them to this point to be
Speaker 1: among the remaining two, It's hard pressed for me to
Speaker 1: buy into whatever's going on over there in the Eastern
Speaker 1: Conference that they got something better than it. Literally will
Speaker 1: have to take some significant injuries or some brain fark
Speaker 1: fatigue that that's gonna make me think differently, you know,
Speaker 1: Or I got to be completely overwhelmed of what I
Speaker 1: see on the other side of that pine for me
Speaker 1: to buy into not thinking that somebody here in the
Speaker 1: Western Conference is gonna probably be the champion for twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four to twenty five season.
Speaker 3: Yes sir, yes, sir, Well let's line them up, roll
Speaker 3: them out and see what happens.
Speaker 1: Absolutely man. So once again, we'd like to thank you
Speaker 1: and yours for hopping on board with this a special
Speaker 1: edition of the Baseline NBA podcast. We hope you guys
Speaker 1: enjoyed the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference Finals respectively,
Speaker 1: and obviously keep us locked in because you know, we
Speaker 1: got a lot of autopsy reports to get into, and
Speaker 1: then we also got the NBA Draft coming up. A
Speaker 1: lot happening as we started lying, you know, pushing in,
Speaker 1: forging ahead towards the NBA Finals and ultimately the NBA
Speaker 1: offseason in the summer. So so much happening, And again
Speaker 1: we appreciate everybody for hanging tight with your people's man
Speaker 1: once again for the Baseline Callie warn y'all, we appreciate
Speaker 1: you guys, you know we do, and we'll catch up
Speaker 1: with you next time.