Draymond Green says Nuggets win Game 7 vs. Timberwolves with these KEY adjustments

Welcome to the brand new Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Hit subscribe so you don't miss out on any of our content. The game was pretty much dominated by a couple runs that the Timberwolves went on. Denver started off great. I think they went up 9 to 2, 11 to 2, something of that nature. And then from that point on, the Denver Nuggets went on a 22 to 0 run in the first quarter. And that kind of took control of the game. And I thought that was very interesting to see because usually when you're going into a game like that, a game 6, closeout game on the road, you expect the team that's facing the closeout to punch first. And I saw where Coach Malone said they punched first, second, third, and fourth. And I actually disagree.

Yeah.

The Nuggets actually punched first with their first start, 9-2, 11-2, whatever it was. Because the goal is always, you wanna make them take the first timeout. And so the Nuggets did that. They made them take the first timeout and Minnesota came out poised, calm, and they fought back. And not only did they fight back, but once they cut the lead and they tied the game, you're like, "All right, now let's see where it go from here." Right? Like Denver gotta punch back. And then Minnesota punched again. And Minnesota punched again and again and again and again and again.

Wow.

And I thought that was very interesting. And it said a lot about the Minnesota Timberwolves, but not more than kind of already have learned. We've learned that Ant-Man has taken that step as a leader, as a vocal leader. And I know, I know Mike Conley is a leader on that team. Mike Conley is the veteran leader of that team. No doubt. Yeah. No questions asked, Mike Conley is the veteran leader. But Mike Conley is not the leader of that team. The leader of that team is Anthony Edwards. And it's interesting, as I've told y'all, we've been in that situation before where when we were young guys and we first won our first championship, I was year 3, Klay year 4, Steph year 5. By no means were we the, the veteran leaders of that team, of the 2017 team, of the 2018 team. 2022 we were, but all those years prior, we weren't the veteran leaders of that team by any stretch of the imagination. But we were the leaders of that team, of those teams. And what we're watching is Ant-Man is— Yeah. 1 million percent the leader of that team. And that team takes on his personality. And no, that team doesn't take on Mike Conley's personality. The team takes on Anthony Edwards' personality. Now I'm sure Anthony Edwards leans on Mike Conley a lot because what Anthony Edwards doesn't have is the experience. Anthony Edwards don't, have I've been down in a series and had to fight back. He don't have I've seen this X amount of times. Mike Conley has that. So I'm sure Mike is giving Ant tidbits and like, yo, look for this and think about that. And that's incredible. You gotta appreciate that because as a young leader that Ant-Man is and has become, You need some of that. You can't, it's hard to do it without that. You have to have someone that can give you that. And I've spoke about Ant-Man winning the media battle, you know, winning the battles on the court. I've spoke about all of that. You saw last night, if you watch any other stuff after the game, Ant-Man speech to KAT. And he tells KAT, "KAT, all day we've been telling you just make the right play. Make the right play. Swing the ball. If somebody double, swing the ball quick. Make the right play." He said, "And I'm gonna tell you, tonight you made the right play every single time." Now, if you look on at the look on KAT face, you could take that one or two ways. You could take that as, Like, why he talking to me like that? He trying to big bro me. Could take it as that. Or you can take that as the young fella is pumping confidence into these guys. And for a guy like KAT, who has not won anything in 8, 9 years, whatever he's been in the league, has not had a leader like that 8 or 9 years that he's been in the league, outside of the one year with Jimmy Butler that went miserably for him. Appreciating, being appreciated when it wasn't one of the best games of KAT career by what people would say the standards are of a best game. Because what people would say the standards are is KAT has had 40 and 20, he's had this, he's done that. He's had 50, all of that. But what he did for that team yesterday, facing closeout, facing the elimination, the end of their season, what he did was he came out and set a tone. How did he set the tone? He set a tone when he first started guarding Joker at the beginning of the game. You saw right away, that Joker was being guarded this time. He was being guarded this game. You saw right away that it wasn't gonna be as easy as it was in game 5 when he had Rudy on him. And you know, I was on TNT, I said then like, yo, they gotta go back to KAT guarding him. Like KAT can guard him. Now— No, he's not going to shut him down. No, none of that. But he's going to make it tougher on him, and that's all you can ask, for him to make it tougher on Joker than it's been. So here's the thing, Joker can't really back Cat down. Cat is way stronger than Rudy. So Joker is trying to back him down, he can't really. So if you pay attention, anytime that he get Cat in a bad way, it's when they get Joker on the move. And they got him on the move and now he gets KAT in a bad way. He gets some finishes, some and-ones. Now, so if I'm Denver, my mindset has to be with that matchup, a few things. One, as I said, we need to get him on the move more when he got KAT on him. Try to get KAT in some foul trouble 'cause KAT will foul. So let's get him on the move. How about this? We sitting here breaking down KAT having to stop Joker, who's a center, and the Defensive Player of the Year is on your team and he a center. Very interesting how the cookie crumbles.

Wow.

Unbelievable. It's like, If Marcus Smart won Defensive Player of the Year back then, which he did, and then they're like, but Jalen, you gotta go guard Steph. But Marcus Smart's a point guard. Marcus Smart, you won Defensive Player of the Year, you gotta guard Steph, right? Like, yeah. So that's an interesting little— You can't help yourself, huh? I mean, that's just a little interesting. You can't help, as a, I'm a basketball fan, all right? Like, I'm a basketball fan and I tell y'all all the time, I love the game within the game more than anything. When I'm watching these games, I'm watching the game within the game. And I can't help but notice like, there's a center that won Defensive Player of the Year for the 4th time.

Paul House.

For the fourth time, tied with the likes of the great Hall of Fame Ben Wallace, the great Hall of Fame Dikembe Mutombo, ahead of the likes of the great David Robinson, the great Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon, the great Dwight Howard. Like ahead of the likes of those guys. And we had a center. And we asking Cat, go guard the center. And we got the reigning 4-time Defensive Player of the Year on our team. Now, For our loyal subscribers and listeners, we're always appreciative of you. I hope if there's one thing you've taken away from this podcast, it's to watch the games within the game. And if you've learned that, then you're sitting here just like me. You can't start to believe that the two, the Defensive Player of the Year and the MVP matched up in the second round. And we saw years ago guards stop guarding guards like— We saw that years ago. We spoke about that. We haven't seen centers stop guarding centers so we've reached new territory in the NBA. We should all clap it up because we're seeing a change. Yeah! In the NBA. We're now seeing centers, not guard centers anymore. And if there was some validation of an award, the MVP, the Defensive Player of the Year, for all the marbles, what we paid to see, like you pay to see the Defensive Player of the Year versus MVP. Sorry guys, you can't get that. That to me, It's interesting in itself, but took me a little off topic. Let me get back to what I was talking about, but I can't help but think about that one. All right, so let's get back to that. So let's get KAT on the move. And also another thing that I want to do if I'm Denver is I want to run some ball screens with Aaron Gordon and, and Joker.

Yeah.

Aaron Gordon, when you come set the screen, I want you to set a screen like you're setting a screen for Jamal Murray. Set it and hold it. Make KAT have to really try to navigate that screen. What's gonna happen is you're gonna get a switch. Okay, now that we got our switch, now we work. Now we got the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, on the reigning MVP. And that's the matchup we all pay to see. And that's the matchup if you Denver, you pay to see. Because that's the matchup that's gonna allow you to take advantage of the Minnesota Timberwolves defense. It ain't Nas Reid on Joker, it ain't Cat on Joker. Can Joker get off on them? Yes, but it's tougher. They're agile, they're mobile, they're— They're active. They're pressed up. It's just a different thing. Everyone in the NBA has some way they don't like being guarded. I don't care how great that player is. They have something, some way that they don't like being guarded. And so KAT has length, Nas has length, but they're agile. Joker struggle more with that than what Rudy Gobert has. Just length, but not agile, not pressing up because he's not fast enough. And so I'm doing, running a little more screen and roll with Aaron Gordon and Joker. Now, spoke about this also on TNT. When Aaron Gordon got into foul trouble in game 5, it was the best thing that happened to the Denver Nuggets because it immediately made Joker's matchup go bare. Gobert had to take Joker once A.G. got in foul trouble because they came in with a guard. Heaven on earth. Joker then proceeded to go for 40 and 13. Why? Because he had the matchup that favors him. So another thing, if I'm the Denver Nuggets, what I've learned through these playoff series, that it ain't always your series. And Aaron Gordon has had some great games this series, a couple great games, but he's also had a couple that he didn't have much impact on the game at all. And those games to me were more due to the way Timberwolves were matching up as opposed to more so what Aaron Gordon was doing. It's the way they were matching up that he was able to take advantage of. If you need to pull Aaron Gordon some to get that matchup, you do that. Because it sets a precedent. And by the way, they win this game and move on, you right back to Aaron Gordon, you need him. But it ain't always your night, ain't always your series. He's brought you some of the series, he's actually won you a game or two in the series. But I'd keep an eye out on that if I'm Denver. When I'm running screen and roll when Aaron Gordon is in and I'm running screen and roll with Aaron Gordon and Joker involving KAT and Rudy Gobert in the screen and roll and how they gonna navigate and guard that. I'm making it a single side pick and roll and I'm putting Jamal Murray on the back action. So now Ant-Man, who's draped all over him, anywhere he moves, Ant-Man's draped all over him. No help responsibility. Draped all over Jamal Murray. Now I got Rudy Gobert guarding Joker coming downhill at him, which Joker cooked him on the floaters when he was getting downhill, with Aaron Gordon lobbin' and KAT trying to navigate how to guard that. But there's no backside help because Ant-Man is not leaving Jamal Murray. If he does, now we got the swing. Now you got Ant-Man playing out of a closeout. As opposed to Jamal Murray catch him and he draped all over him. Now you give Jamal Murray space to work. You put Ant-Man in a tough situation. You make Ant-Man have to wonder like, or decide, am I helping or am I staying draped all over Jamal Murray? Let's make Ant-Man think a little bit on the defensive end. Just giving Jamal Murray the ball, Ant-Man is great at that. He's faster, he's stronger, he's bigger, he's more physical.

Yeah.

He's great at that. So if you just gonna give him the ball and let him bring the ball, that ain't gonna work. So get him off the ball. Run Jamal Murray off some screens off the ball. Run some Jamal Murray running that way in the misdirection. Michael Porter Jr. come back this way for 3. You gotta loosen they defense up some. 'Cause the defense that you saw in game 6 was the defense that got you drug in game 1 and 2. So you gotta do some things to loosen it up. Raise everybody up the floor. Jamal Murray comes sprinting up the floor like he catching back cut. You gotta loosen Ant-Man up some. 'Cause right now he just all over Jamal Murray. And there's no way to get him loose if he's just handling the ball, you set a screen, Ant do that. So you gotta switch it up a little bit.

Yeah.

You have to. Don't just let him see Jamal Murray with the ball, all right, I'm over him. Nah, he gotta see Jamal Murray in different spaces. Gotta give Jamal Murray more of a chance because him just against Ant-Man, that's not much of a chance. That's tough. Very tough. It's a tough matchup. Said it earlier in the series. Ant-Man gonna have to guard Jamal Murray. It's no disrespect to Jaden McDaniels. Tough matchup for Jaden McDaniels. Ant-Man, different story. So need to see a little bit more of that if I'm Denver. Another thing that I need to see if I'm Denver is defensively. Stop all the switching. They're switching every pick and roll. You got Jamal Murray battling with Rudy Gobert. You got, uh, Jamal Murray battling, getting posted up by Nas Reid and Karl-Anthony Towns and like, that's cool. I know you ain't necessarily worried about them scoring, but you got Ant-Man hawking Jamal, and then you got him trying to battle with bigs. Where's his legs? Being snatched. So stop all the switching. Also, you like, defensively, With all the switching, now you're trying to rebound all that, you weak. You need bigs on bigs. Keep bodies in front of bodies. Most guys on the Timberwolves team need angles to score. Keep bodies on bodies. So when the shot go up, we are in the position to box out. Get it and go. Now Rudy Gobert gotta keep up. Now we got Cat on the move with Joker. But Joker in there rebounding, switching all the pick and rolls for what? It's not allowing Denver to set a tone defensively. So I think Denver need to go into coverage, whatever coverage they feel the need to do. But the switching, I think it's making them weak. And these ain't no games to be weak in. It's for all the marbles. So I think defensively, They need to make that adjustment. 'Cause I don't think they're gonna set the tone they need to set going into a home game, 7 closeout, switching to pick and roll. It's not allowing your best guys to guard their best guys. It's not allowing you to rebound, your best rebounders to rebound with their best rebounders. So I think Denver gotta go back to the basics. Play your coverages. Play your coverages. Joker is the king of the kickball if they wanna throw pocket passes. Play your coverage. The switching, I don't like it. Now you get mismatches. You got Jaden McDaniels going off for 21, taking advantage of all the switching and confusion on the defensive end. Keep bodies in front of bodies. Make them score on you. I think it gives Denver a lot better chance to win. So with that, we're going down to game 7 in Denver, as we've said, and I think if Denver can make some of those adjustments, which I think they will, I'm taking Denver. And one of the main reasons I'm taking Denver, because these adjustments that I spoke of. So you always hear this stat, and the stat that you always hear is the pivotal game 5, the winner of the pivotal game 5 in a 2-2 series goes on to win the series 82% of the time. No one ever tells you why that's the case. I'm gonna tell you why the winner of Game 5 normally goes on to win the series. The reason is, after Game 4, you're tied up 2-2. You then make adjustments going into game 5. The adjustments that you make, the team that make the best adjustments usually win the game. Obviously you gotta have great players and they gotta play.

Yes.

Team who makes the, the playoffs, a playoff series is made up of obviously great play by players and a bunch of adjustments by coaches.— In a deep playoff series, you sweep somebody, you're probably better than them or whatever, and it ain't a million adjustments you had to make. But in a series like this, all these series that go long, it's a series, a game of adjustments. And so the adjustments that Denver made for game 5, having Aaron Gordon handle the ball, blah, blah, blah. Won them the game. Minnesota made adjustments to that. Game 6, won them the game. Well, guess what? Now the winner of game 5 get to make the final adjustment. So a lot of these coaching staffs don't really, aren't really capable of adjusting on the fly in the game like that.

Yeah.

And part two, a lot of players aren't smart enough to make those adjustments on the fly like that. They need to see it on film and practice it and walk through it. And so a lot of teams don't necessarily have that luxury. Coaches may not have that luxury, but also coaches need to go watch the film. They need to figure this out. They need to talk to their staff. They need to put these adjustments together. And then they come back the next game like, boom, this what we got, let's go. Well now, Denver get to make their adjustment to the 45-point blowout. Minnesota won't have time to make an adjustment. So essentially you're gonna need incredible play from Ant-Man, incredible play from Joker, excuse me, KAT, incredible play from Mike Conley. More so what I'm saying, you're gonna need players to carry you. Whereas opposed to Denver will get players to carry them. But they'll also have adjustments that they've gotten that they can hang their hat on, that they can bank on. And Minnesota won't have a, a game to adjust to those. And so normally the winner of Game 5, 82% of the time, goes on to win the series because they get the final adjustment. So with Denver getting the final adjustment, I actually think them being able to put Minnesota's defense in some tough spots with great adjustments. I'm taking Denver in 7. Moving on to face Dallas. When is that? Tuesday or Wednesday in Denver. That's my prediction on that. That is why you see the 82%. That is why, and yet no one ever tells you why that's the case. There's a little tidbit for you. Tuck that under your hat. Keep that there.

The NBA playoffs are heating up, man. They have been so good. I know it's over, but Lakers-Nuggets may have been a 5-game series. It was great. Knicks-Sixers, amazing. Why don't you sign up for the DraftKings Sportsbook app? Takes 90 seconds. The official sports betting partner of the NBA. If you're in DraftKings, once you sign up, you gotta check this out. New customers bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets instantly. Great proposition, right? $5, you get $150. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app. The code's Colin, C-O-L-I-N. It's me, C-O-L-I-N. Really quick, really easy. If you've never bet sports before, check it out. Really makes the games fun. The code is Colin. New customers get $150 in bonus bets by betting $5. Only on DraftKings, the crown is yours.

Draymond Green.