Timberwolves STUN Nuggets, Anthony Edwards' clutch plays, "ultimate team effort" | Draymond Green

Welcome to the brand new Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Hit subscribe so you don't miss out on any of our content. Timberwolves beat the Nuggets 98 to 90 in game 7. After struggling, like struggling, getting down 20 points in the first half, I thought the Timberwolves did a great job of closing the half. They went in down 15, but you can tell they kind of had established themselves and kind of had established a little momentum. Going into the half. I thought Denver had them dead in the waters in the first half. And Denver did a great job closing most quarters except that second quarter. The very end, they let the Timberwolves cut it from 20 to 5. And that was huge because the Timberwolves go in the half like, listen, we down 15, we played awful. Shooting 30% from the field. At that point Ant-Man's 1 for 7 with 2 or 4 points at halftime. Can't get anything going. They're double teaming him. And you know, it's looking like Denver's about to run away with it. And Denver at that moment kind of needed to step on their neck, needed to put them away. But Carl Anthony Towns played big. And at that moment, like—

Yeah.

Started the game, Cat on Joker, giving him a tough time. And you could see Denver doing everything that they could to get the switch. They're doing everything they can to draw the switches. And the switch that they're trying to get is get Cat off of Rudy. I mean, excuse me, get Cat off of Joker and get Rudy on the Joker. Soon as they get the switch, it wasn't even like they was going straight iso off the switch. Sometimes they were going iso. Joker was playing bully ball on Gobert, but they were also just getting that switching in. And then Joker going into the action, Joker going into DHOs, putting Rudy Gobert in action. And now he's trying to get back on the roll. You got Joker hitting little floaters. And so they just wanted the matchup. Like it wasn't even about getting them one-on-one because the reality is they were for a while, and I think Denver did a great job of mixing up their coverages, but for a while, they were just letting Cat go one-on-one. When they got Joker, when Joker got Gobert on him, they were sending the double team right away. Which again, is a little bit interesting when you got the Defensive Player of the Year versus the MVP and you start sending the double to help. But not a double on your other guy who historically has been a, bad defender, um, has been crushed about being a bad defender, uh, and has stepped up all series long, taking on that challenge. And when he went— when it wasn't him on Joker, Joker got anything he wanted. And that's interesting because historically you've seen Joker sometimes struggle with length. Like, if you ever seen him struggle at all, you'd see him struggle with length. Rudy Gobert has a lot more length than Joker, but he's not strong enough, he's not nimble enough. And Karl-Anthony Towns is stronger, Karl-Anthony Towns is more nimble, and Karl-Anthony Towns also has great length. I mean, he's a 7-footer as well, but not as much length as Rudy Gobert. But KAT took on the challenge, man, and I thought it was very interesting to see Because again, KAT's only real experience is kind of when Jimmy was there and he was younger, still learning. And when I say real experience, I mean playoff experience. And you know, to see him step up on this stage, I thought was huge because when Ant-Man couldn't get it going, it was KAT that, when all else was failing, KAT was hitting threes, KAT was getting downhill to the bucket. Like he was making plays to keep them in the game. And he only finished with 23 points. But the 23 points were so timely and they were, they came at a time when they needed it most because Ant just couldn't get it going. And I thought it was beautiful to see KAT taking on that challenge and that responsibility offensively, which we've all known he could do since the time he stepped into the NBA. But also taking on that challenge on the other end. And you know, when you see teams win a championship, there's usually like, I mean, there is, there's steps to it. And you see like teams have to get over different hurdles. Some teams, it can take them a year to get over the hurdle, right? Like say you have a great year and you get knocked, you don't quite get over some hurdle and then you come back next year. Denver, for instance, right? We knocked them out. They don't get over the hurdle. We win a championship. They come back the next year, they take that next step, they win a championship, right? Like you see that a lot. And it's been interesting to watch Minnesota throughout these playoffs because it's like they're getting over these different hurdles as they go through these playoffs. And you know, to see them knock off the defending champs and losing game 5, Then losing game 6. Excuse me, wait, Jackson, how did that go? Minnesota, yeah, Minnesota lost. Who won game?

They went up 2-0, 2-2, down 3-2, and they won 2 straight.

Yes, they won 2 straight. Okay, thank you. So yes, and losing game 5 and, been coming back and winning 2 straight against the defending champions, backs against the ropes. And they absolutely annihilated Denver in game 6. Like—

Right.

And just to see the leaps that they're taking throughout this series, I think is great. Like when you look at their team, man, the team is just built like they're really winning these things depending on each other. Again, Ant had an awful night tonight. Got it going when it mattered most. Made timely plays, timely stops. Shut Jamal Murray's water off in the second half. Shut his water off. Jamal Murray had it going in the first half and shut his water off in the second half. And to do that struggling, then start getting some buckets to go offensively. That 3 he hit on the wing was huge over Aaron Gordon. That was perfect defense. Yeah. And just to take on that responsibility, end up shooting 6 for 24, 16 points, 6 for 24 shooting in game 7. That's where the stars is built. Awful night by his standards. But what I loved is even if you listen during the game, he was wired, talking to his guys. Yo, I'ma find it. Like stayed upbeat. That's their leader, man. That's who they've been following and he stayed true. And you gotta give those guys credit, man. And like I said, what's beautiful about what Minnesota is doing is it's the ultimate team thing. Like they lose this game. Rudy Gobert is getting torched in the first half, torched. They actually go on that run when Rudy Gobert finally comes out the game in second half. They start to go on their run. When they start to go on their run, Cat gets foul trouble. Rudy eventually has to come back in. And when Rudy came back in, he made plays. He got a couple offensive rebounds, some big offensive rebounds, hit some big free throws. And those offensive rebounds was key because they were doing two things. Number one, they was second chance points, obviously. But it was stopping Denver from getting out in transition and they were struggling to score against their half-court defense. And also it, it allowed them to get to the bonus early. So then Denver start picking up touch fouls and those were all free throws. And when you get in the penalty early in the NBA, early in the quarter, it's hard to overcome that. And so Rudy Gobert came in and played big basketball, but that was after getting bullied. And Cat stepping up to that challenge and taking it on. And Cat stepping up for Ant-Man. And Jaden McDaniels stepping up. Nas Reid stepping up. Like it's the ultimate team thing. And I think it's absolutely beautiful to see. And I feel like they are taking those steps that you need to take as it go. Now Denver, interestingly enough, what we had said about Denver early, Was their bench maybe a problem? And it came back to bite them in the most inopportune time that it could find them. Because Jamal Murray and Joker had it going. Again, 34 points, 35 points. Joker shot terrible from the 3, but he finished 13 for 28 from the field, 34 points, 2 for 10 from 3. Jamal Murray, 35 points, 27 shots, 13 for 27, 4 for 12 from 3. Those are good numbers. However, everybody else on their team, no one else in double figures. Mm-hmm. It's hard to win that way. And so you're not getting anything from your bench. And that's been the guys around. Where else can you pull from? KCP couldn't get it going. Michael Porter Jr. couldn't get it going. Aaron Gordon couldn't get it going. So nobody else could get it going. Christian Braun brought great energy, but you need somebody sometimes to get some buckets off the bench and they didn't have that. Yeah.

They had 5 total bench points, 4 bench field goal attempts.

That's insane. But that's what walked when Bruce Brown walked. Like, that's what walked when Jeff Green walked. Like somebody else, some other guys that can get it going off the bench. That was key for them. And so, man, it's a tough one. It's a tough way to go out if you're Denver. It's a tough, tough way to go out. But you win a championship, you come back, you kind of don't shore a couple things up. Now you gotta go back to the drawing board. And here's where it gets interesting now. Can you add where you think you need to add? Does your young guys take the steps that you think they need to take? Like those are now the thing, that's the space that you get in when winning championships. I'm telling you, man, it's hard to win championship after championship. And keep doing that. Like, it ain't that easy. It's a tough, tough, tough thing to do, man. And so here we are, like, things will get interesting with Denver. What happens there? We don't know. Like, and I don't think any big things happen from, as far as their core group goes, no. But like, can you retool and get back? Yeah. You start seeing Joker and Ant-Man get into it at the end. Joker ain't like Ant-Man waving it. Jaden McDaniels trying to score. So now you got that thing brewing. You still got a young OKC. You obviously got the Dubs coming back. Like, so, and then obviously these guys that's still playing, that's still competing for it all. Like, it gets interesting. It gets interesting fast. Like, things change like that.

Yeah.

In this league. A bad quarter could change a lot. A bad quarter changes everything for this Timberwolves scene. Cause if the Timberwolves don't win this game, Rudy Gobert have the series that he had, then you have those questions. I thought it was very interesting that earlier in the year, even as the Timberwolves were having success prior to the trade deadline, you would hear like Cat names still coming up in trade talks. And man, the way Cass stepped up, like when you draft a kid with the number 1 pick like they did, that's what you hope to see. Like over these years, like everybody want fast results, we all do. But over these years, he's continued to build, continue to build. And then the most important time, he stepped up like nobody believed he could with heart. Defense, like aside from just scoring, we know he can score, but he made timely winning plays. When Cat chased down the block, Reggie Jackson had to lay up, Cat going get that. Cat wasn't doing that. Cat wasn't doing that. I'm sorry, I've watched Cat play for years, played against for years, he wasn't doing that. Chase down block, like.

Yeah.

That growth is incredible. I applaud that. I applaud that. You gotta love it. And you also gotta give some credit to the guys that surround him. Somebody pulling something outta him that he didn't know was there. Ant-Man pulling something outta him that they didn't know they had. Signs of a great leader. Gotta tip your hat to the young fella. It's beautiful what he doing. Carrying these guys. I thought they was toast. Thought they was toast and should have been. Kept going, kept fighting. Gotta love it. So man, I tip my hat to them. It's gonna be interesting to see them versus Denver. I mean, excuse me, them versus Dallas next series. It's gonna be a hell of a matchup. You got a couple young stars in Ant-Man and Luka. You got Kyrie, tried, true, and tested. Or I messed that up, but you get the point. And you got Minnesota size. How does Gafford stack up to that? You got a young, lively, playing good basketball with Minnesota's bigs. How do they match up? You got PJ Washington at the 4 shooting the lights out the ball in the playoffs. If Luka's putting Rudy in the pick and roll every time, how does Rudy handle that? Kyrie in the pick and roll, that's a different look for Rudy. It's a different look. How do you handle that? Floor spacing. It's gonna space you out differently than it was spaced out in Denver. 'Cause you got Aaron Gordon always in the dunker. If he had the 3, you helping off, you're not worried about it. They got guys shooting that thing. So that stretches, that stretches the defense differently. That's what we up against, right? You got Ant-Man downhill. Derrick Jones Jr. will probably be the guy that you think guard Ant-Man because you kind of need PJ for size this round against KAT. But I think Ant-Man could possibly be a little too big for Derrick Jones Jr. So if he is and you need PJ for his size, then who's guarding KAT? Do you then send Derrick Jones Jr. to KAT? This is where the chess pieces sometimes happen, the chess playing, the chess moves happen. Is it more of a Josh Green series? How can Josh Green play this series? Do he come play big? So if he play big, can he guard Anson to allow PJ to guard the Cat more, right? Like this is where you start plugging and playing. This is where it gets good. But the matchup's gonna be interesting. You got Luka and Jaden McDaniels. You go Ant-Man on Kyrie. Kyrie and Ant-Man, that's one for the ages right there. Yeah. Young fella versus Kyrie season, but Ky do it. Ky a trickster. Bag full of tricks. It's interesting. You go Mike Conley, Derrick Jones Jr. But yeah, so these match, like this series, it's the tale of two tapes, I think. And—

Yeah.

Man, which one ultimately wins? I wanna say Dallas. I wanna say Dallas, but Minnesota showed me something when they were willing to pull Rudy Gobert. Sometimes Utah couldn't get over the hump because they wouldn't be willing to pull him. You never know, could they got over the hump sometime if he was willing to pull him at times? They weren't. Minnesota pulled him at the right time. He got back in though. You gotta give him credit. Got back in and played. Gotta give him credit. Didn't bow out. But what I was showing tonight was that cat can hold the fort down. Cat's willing to hold the fort down. And if you need to play that card, they showed that they will. They showed that they're capable. So with that, man, I like Dallas. I like Dallas. I think Dallas is tough, man. I think Dallas is tough. Maxi Kleber being out this round gonna be big. Do they get Kleber back? I think that changes the series, but I think he's out indefinitely. Isn't he out for quite a while, Jackson?

Yeah, I think he's out for quite a bit. I will try to check, but I think he's out. I think he's out for quite a while.

Yes.

Like maybe for the finals if they get there, but I don't think this round.

Yeah, see, that's the tough, that's where that loss come into play, right? And you start talking about health and like where it comes important, becomes important. 'Cause Maxie Claver would be big 'cause he can guard KAT some, he can stretch the floor still. If you remember, Maxie Claver was shooting the lights out versus the Clippers. So I wanna say Dallas. I feel like Dallas is more than capable of winning this series, but it's hard to bet against Minnesota right now. Yeah. And man doing what he doing, cat stepping up like that. And I think this is gonna be a big, big, big Kyle Anderson series. Like when you start talking the floor space and if they gotta pull that plug on Rudy, Kyle Anderson, Kyle Anderson hasn't been real big in these playoffs. So I wonder, is he still in it mentally? Always been a true professional. Is he still there mentally though? 'Cause this could be a big Kyle Anderson series. That's where the series can change. Can you get a guy like Kyle Anderson to come up big? He's more than capable. I've seen him do it. So it's interesting.

And then Carlos Hernandez asked, do you think the Mavericks have a chance? Which obviously you do, but I'm gonna use this as a jumping off point to ask you to give a firmer prediction on Dallas, Minnesota.

A firmer prediction on Dallas and Minnesota?

Dallas, who you got? How many games? Let's see, let's hear it. We're not gonna hold you to it. It's only been 5 minutes since the series ended, but like—

I got Minnesota. I haven't had a chance to really analyze this how I want to analyze it yet, but I think, so I need to look at like some different matchup stuff. Like what did they, what was their, I need to watch their games from the season and like see different things. So, I may tweet to y'all and change my prediction before game 1, just so you know. I'm gonna go, just to give you guys a firm prediction, I haven't studied like I wanna study yet. I'll go Minnesota for now, but I may change that before game 1. So be on the lookout. I mean, if I'll even post something, like I'll post a video if I change it or something. But as of right now, I think I got Minnesota.

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