Anthony Edwards drops 41 as the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Trail Blazers

Anthony Edwards drops 41 as the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Trail Blazers

Hello and welcome into another episode of lock on wolves today on the show it’s the postgame podcast from another Timberwolves win the Wolves beat Portland on the second night of a back-to-back on the road on Tuesday night we’ll break everything down including Anthony Edwards 41-point game the Timberwolves great start and great

Finish but a sluggish middle Carlon towns foul trouble and also another huge game from nille Alexander Walker it’s all coming welcoming you are load wolves you are locked on Timberwolves your daily Minnesota wolves podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Day hello and welcome to the lock on wolves podcast part of the lock on podcast Network your team every day my name is Ben Beacon I’m the host of lockdown wolves happy Wednesday everybody happy hump day and uh it’s a victory Wednesday we’ll call it a double Victory Wednesday after a back-to-back

Road wins on Monday and Tuesday this is the postgame pod from the win over the Blazers we’ll break the whole game down here lots to get to it was a fun game um uneven a bit sloppy at times it was still a fun game it didn’t wasn’t quite

Wolves Clippers on Monday but um I think ant’s performance and also some of the stuff that the Wolves did in the second half made this uh a really overall entertaining watch we’ll get to all of it here today A big thank you off the top for making lockdown wolves your

First listen every single day of course this show is free and available everywhere including YouTube as well as all of your favorite audio platforms wherever you like to listen to podcast you can find locked on wolves you can also watch on the lock on Sports Minnesota app on both Roku and Amazon

Fire TV and you can follow on X at lockone t-wolves and also at B Beacon with 2bs 2 e cken all right so coming into this game second night of a road back toback after the big um ended up being a big final margin but you know wolves trailing at

Halftime to the Clippers massive third quarter pull out the win on Monday ant was added to the injury report midday Tuesday with n soreness and it sounds like um it’s similar to the soreness he had a couple of seasons ago remember at the end of the year the

Year they lost to Memphis in the playoffs Finch’s first year um a missed a couple of games and he just like they call it I think jumper knee or something like that is the term for it it’s basically just like um I can’t remember the actual medical term but I mean

They’re calling it niss soris so uh when you’re added on the second day of a back toback a lot of times guys don’t play We Know ant uh very rarely misses games and so it was not all that surprising to see him play and he was fantastic um he

Opened this game aggressive yet 18 points in the first quarter shot six of eight in the first frame three of four on threes hit a a really nice and one to close the quarter and Portland was scored two so the end one was big I mean

It put the Wolves up 12 the Wolves were up you know they’re still were up 12 at the end of the first quarter but the Blazers kind of kept surging and and it never really expanded over a double digit lead until that essentially buzzer beater with two three seconds left in

The first quarter from Ant um and so it was big to see ant hit that shot to give them some additional momentum going to the second quarter and um and was just like this is one of my keys for my takeaway my key takeaways for the entire

Game was an decision-making it was once again on point um and it was uh very apparent there in that first qu the assist numbers weren’t as high in this game but I mean what like well we’ll get more we’ll get back to that later I want to kind of go blowby blow

Here a little bit uh with with the flow of the game because this this game was very clearly I’ll call it a tale of two halves it wasn’t first half second half it was first quarter fourth quarter were very good for Minnesota the middle half

Of the game if you will the second and third quarter were what were Rocky uh but ants a got off to a great start the problem was at the end of the third quarter cat picked up his third personal foul two of them were offensive fouls

And I believe they were all the correct calls um ended up with on the bench with three fouls Timol had to start the second quarter with essentially nobody that creates offense on the floor Nas was not on the floor um cat was not on the floor ant was not

On the floor I believe the lineup was um slowmo Monte Morris Jaden McDaniels Rudy and N Alexander Walker that was your five to start the second quarter which the wolves are up 12 and I’m sure that this was you know Finch was part of it was like hey well obviously cat’s in

Fallou trouble because normally cat would come back in the game at that point um ant had had played the entire first quarter so he was going to sit and it was like hey let’s see how this goes we don’t have a whole lot of other options we’re up 12 against the bad team

Let’s uh let’s roll the ball out and see what happens well uh they were up 12 entering the quarter by the time um ant came back in at the 625 Mark they were up seven so that lineup was only a minus five over six minutes like it’s fine right they’ve

That that lineup has probably literally never played together and I don’t think they did on Monday um Conley came in for Monte Morris towards the end of that stin but uh Monte Morris obviously in his second game with the team trying to create some chemistry between him and

Rudy goar no doubt uh trying to give both Na and Jaden McDaniels the ability to operate a little bit with the ball in their hands and it worked out okay I mean they got a the first possession of the second quarter they got an alleyoop to Rudy um ni Alexander Walker hit a

Three in there we’ll talk more about him he had a fantastic game slow-mo looked really good again the last two games um and who knows how much of that is really last three plus games how much of that is trade deadline anxiety related like that being over but he just looks more

Comfortable now than he did a week two weeks ago um you know hit a three on Monday at La played well in this game hit all his free throws like it was it was a good a good slow-mo game too so I the I this is the it made sense for Finch to

Do this he also didn’t have a whole lot of a choice um here and and also like Rudy’s on the floor like he wants to be a higher volume guy and the wolves have been forced feed him the ball a little bit more lately which they did early in

The season I didn’t love it but it’s been working here of late and I think it’s a combination of Rudy’s just in in better shape than he was last year and obviously he’s had an incredible season his teammates trust him um also D’Angelo Russell is not on the roster so again

His teammates trust him and um it’s not like they’re Contin L calling post-ups they’ll mix in a couple like the first play of the game they tried to get Rudy a post up the very first play of the game in this one remember they tried to

Do that uh was it the first play of overtime the other night against um I don’t know what was that a week ago whenever they played the overtime game there was a a weird or no it was the end of the game when they were trying to

Trying to get a bucket uh in that loss to the Bulls they tried to Rudy post up like moments like that it’s like all right maybe we’re overdoing this year but it makes sense to run stuff to try and get him you know whether it’s empty

Side pick rolls or empty corner pick and rolls uh side pick and rolls and uh you know trying to get that action where either his his gravity is pulling all the perimeter Defenders essentially with him or he’s getting a free roll to the rim with no no help

From the corner no help from the low man and an can either or whoever’s operating the pick and roll can throw a lob or or SW or you know Skip pass it to the opposite corner if that help collapses from the week side um and the wolves are

Doing more and more of that which has been awesome to see on the defensive side of the ball early in the game The Wolves gave up 25 in the first quarter to Portland which is which is a very acceptable number uh Portland shot the ball okay from the floor in the first

Half but Anthony Simons started just extremely hot remember he had a bad shooting night the last time the Wolves played Portland and his numbers he didn’t actually finish what was he he was just six of 19 but he started I don’t know what the actual number was

But he was awesome to start the game from the field the wolves are trying to be overly aggressive on the perimeter they actually played high wall which is like their was their primary pick roll coverage a couple years ago and they don’t do that that often and it

Generated a couple of turnovers and it wasn’t just cat they did it with Rudy um their bigs were active out on the perimeter uh they also mixed in some Zone which was an interesting like I had thought they might try that against the Clippers uh or excuse me not the

Clippers don’t do it against the Clippers they tried that against the uh against the Bucks last week um or or did it a little bit less than I expected them to against the Bucks last week and obviously they won that game but it was effective in the first half in this game

Less so in the third quarter when they struggled uh the Tim woles struggled but I thought that was interesting too and I I it wouldn’t shock me if the Wolves just did a little bit more of that um it’s generally not going to be a winning strategy in the playoffs against teams

That you know inherently are going to be better shooting teams but uh it against a team like Portland that is what were they 25th and three-point percentage coming into the game uh like it’s worth giving it a shot right Portland doesn’t turn the ball over a ton they uh they are a good

Offensive rebounding team by the way which uh would be reason to not play The Zone and sure enough that’s actually what hurt the Wolves a ton in the third quarter Minnesota lost the rebounding battle in this game we’ll get back to that but they gave up 12 offensive

Rebounds to Portland and part of it was when they were playing in that zone um but overall The Zone worked the high wall worked early uh but I should say the Zone worked early the high wall worked early the Wolves had a 12-point league going to the second quarter that

Um unique lineup cost the Wolves Five Points over the first half of the second quarter I’m not blame Finch like he kind of did what he had to do and you got to try those things right and the second night of a back toback against a bad

Team um that’s the time to do it right you’re not going to do that against the Bucks the first game after the allstar break right like that’s unless unless you’re completely forced into it by foul trouble the middle stag of the game were rough second third quarter and then the

Fourth quarter was massive for Minnesota I want to talk about the fourth quarter I want to talk about my key takeaways including ant including Alexander Walker including Nas we’ll talk about cats trouble and how the Wolves kind of came out of things toward the end of the game

Um and then we’ll also talk overall stats and individual studs and Duds we’ll do all that here next today’s episode of lock ey wolves is brought To Us by our friends at hungry root hungry root is your partner at Healthy Living it’s the easiest way to get fresh high quality ingredients and

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Here for you 20 47 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local Experts of lockon plus our national shows that cover every League find lockon sports today now available on the free Fire TV channels app all right uh let’s talk a little bit about well let’s talk about the fourth

Quarter first so the fourth quarter just became it wasn’t quite what the third quarter was in the uh in the Clippers game on Monday but it was more or less an onslaught for Minnesota um and go to the fourth quarter Portland actually took AEF lead I think it was I can’t

Remember if it was late third or early fourth quarter but Portland actually took the lead in a game that the Wolves had led by double digits and uh like actually let me say this this is one of my key takeaways but I’m going to kind of interrupt myself here and and I meant

To say this off the top the the overarching theme of this game besides the first and fourth quarter and the second and third quarter being like a tale of two separate games for Minnesota is when you’re the best team in the league or one of the best two or

Three teams in the league I mean they are literally the number one team in the Western Conference you are going to get other teams best more often than not and because you’re the best team you’re occasionally against the bad team you’re GNA blow out some bad teams right and you

Should but you’re also going to get the best effort from Bad teams and Portland’s a bad team that has talent now obviously guys are still missing but like Jeremy Grant DeAndre Aton matis styel uh Anthony Simons these are all guys that I mean they they can be and in some

Cases have been actually I think they all have been except for Simons well technically Simons has been too rotation guys on playoff teams like this is a bad team that has some Talent uh they played decent at home they’ve obviously had injuries uh the jury still out on chony

Bips as the coach but like this isn’t it’s not Charlotte it’s not Detroit right like this team has legitimate Talent so you’re going to get and you’re GNA get the you know the best shot from most teams even the bad teams like remember when the timber rolles were bad

A lot of times and and it doesn’t take a lot to remember that because it it was it’s most of the time throughout their history but like a lot of time think back to like the Wiggins towns years right with with Saunders or um the the tibs ear you

Know pre Jimmy Butler like those teams would still remember when they beat the Warriors in the 73 and n Season like you could still give a really good team your best shot because you’re a bad team with a little bit of talent and and you know

You might get it enough shots fall one night you make them make enough mistakes Etc and that’s always going to be a thing right and you look at the Wolves the last several games and we talked about this extensively last week on the Minnesota basketball party I think we’ll

Talk about a little bit on today’s episode as well um you know there’s some bad losses mixed in there a week ago they lost to the Bulls and the sky was falling and before that it was the Hornets and you mix in the Spurs game but they’re all close losses which is

Frustrating but it’s because these bad teams are playing their hardest maybe not their best but their hardest against the best teams right everybody wants to beat the team that’s the best so like we have to factor that in and also and and Chris Fitch talks

With this a lot but like when you get way up in a game and this game they were never at least not early they weren’t up massively they were up you know 12 14 whatever uh before the the Blazers push back it’s human nature to slide a little

Let things slide a little bit it’s also human nature on the other side to want to play harder against a good team so I think when we factor that all in plus the the second night of a back toback while this was rugged and uneven it the

Way that things played out was certainly understandable and I want to talk about the overall stats and some of the stuff the Wolves did win here in a minute but in terms of the fourth quarter uh a kind of got back on track he had 18 in the

First quarter was quieter in the middle stages and finished with 41 he was really good in the fourth quarter uh we saw nil Alexander Walker just go nuts and that’s one of my key takeaways as well uh nil had 18 points on seven shots in this game six of seven shooting five

Of six on threes and uh he got to the line on an and one his only two-point attempt was a drive well I take that back he had two two-point attempts um his only two-point make was on a drive to the basket and he was fouled made the

Free throw had three rebounds two assists and a block in this game was a plus 22 and 26 minutes he was awesome um got to the point where he was hitting he hit consecutive catch and shoot right corner threes the Wolves were just like Conley was feeding him kle Anderson set

A a a screen to free him up I don’t think it was a set play it was just like hey let’s get this dude the ball because he’s hot and then a couple possessions later uh the ball gets kicked out to him and he pump fakes in the left

Corner and does like a James Harden side back step into a three you know one of those James Harden borderline travel step backs but in the corner where there’s no space and he knocks it down everybody goes nuts the Blazers call time out like he was just piping hot in

Late in this game and he’s been playing so well for Minnesota and this was a game Jade McDaniel struggled and we’ll talk more about that but Jade McDaniels wasn’t great on either end of the floor in fact one of my notes from the first part of the game was the perter defense

Was the biggest difference between the Clippers game in this game I would say the rebounding and the perimeter defense were the two things that the Wolves struggled with in this game compared to Monday night in LA and that’s what allowed Portland to hang around the combination of those things there were

Too many straight line drives Free Runs to the basket for Portland early um and that allowed them to hang around and Jan McDaniels was part of that but I thought Alexander Walker was very good defensively I’m surprised he didn’t get credit with the steel at any point I

Feel like he had his hand on a couple of balls uh but hot shooting late and and he and ant were the two biggest reasons late for the Timberwolves to kind of pull away in the fourth quarter and it really was more just locking in defensively um you know they played a

Little bit less Zone late in the game than they did early in in the middle stages and I think I think they I think Finch pushed the right buttons there um but they made enough threes late they rebounded well enough late and uh ultimately it was the talent that that

Went out in this one um so I talked about Alexander Walker let’s talk a little bit about well actually no let’s save ant for for studs and Duds I want to talk about Nas because I don’t think I’m going to fit him into studs here but

I want to talk about his game because he played great um with cat’s foul trouble cat only played 19 minutes in this game and I mean it’s because he he sat the entire second quarter I think the entire quarter uh only played like seven first half minutes played in the third and

Then the Wolves ended up pulling away a little bit and so he didn’t get back on the floor he did have three turnovers he scored 13 points because he got line a bunch and he was actually a big reason the Wolves didn’t allow Portland to build I don’t think Portland ever led by

I’m going to see if I can pull it up real quick I don’t think they ever led by more than like four maybe three in this game I know they did lead by seven I think that was very early uh yeah it was like right at the start of the game

I think in the third quarter Portland never got up by a bucket when they did take a brief lead and a lot of that was cat and that’s going to get you know overshadowed because he didn’t play well otherwise he had 13 points on seven shots but he had three turnovers and

Three fouls only played 19 minutes um but and by the way two of the three turnovers ra hads the fouls but cat played well getting to the line there and then Nas both in the second quarter and then in the second half he finished with 25 minutes in this game 10 points

On four of eight shooting one of three he missed his first couple shots from the field but after he missed those two threes to start he took the ball to the basket and made a tough layup on his very next time his very next shot attempt did a couple had a couple drives

Like that the second half where he just gets to usually it’s to his left he just kind of throws the ball on the glass it’s almost like a combination floater layup from like outside the paint like a weird angle and I always think he’s going to shoot it too hard and not make

It but he almost always makes it and occasionally gets fouled um was really really good in this game two assists a steal a rebound for Nas or I’m sorry three rebounds an assist a steal two blocks for nasb the Wolves had a bit of a block party in this game nine blocks

Total as a team Portland by the way had just won um Nas was very good and this was important in this game when some of the other role guys were a bit kind of me right like Mike Conley kind of a so so game for Mike I mean he had three

Blocks which was crazy um there’s some weird stats floating Out Flo floating around about there out there about like I think uh I don’t remember if it was alen Horton or Wolves PR that had like Conley’s the oldest player under 61 to get three blocks at a game since John

Stockton like 22 years ago or something crazy uh but connley had kind of a Soo game towns didn’t have a great game McDaniels had a bad game so you needed guys like Nas and N to St to to um to come up big and they did they were

Really good they were they were the best supporting players in this game I do want to hit studs and Duds some overall team stats from this game categories that the tbls won that they don’t always win that helped them win this game and also areas where they struggled to kind

Of explain you know in a different way than I already have like why this game was closed for so long and then why ultimately the Wolves ran away with it uh so we get to all that here next today’s episode of locked out wolves is brought To Us by our friends

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Customers all right individual studs and Duds here uh obviously Anthony Edwards was fantastic we’ll talk a little bit more about his game for 41 on 16 of 27 again six of eight in the first quarter for 18 in the first quarter was uh four of eight from three but he hit three of

His four threes early early uh in the first quarter um he had four rebounds two assists two steals two turnovers one block in this game uh the two assists you know after the last couple games I think he had what nine on Monday and eight on Thursday against Milwaukee

Thursday last week so uh the assists were down a little but I thought the decision- making was on point and one of the assists like St out in my head it was uh I think it was Nas’s only made three it was in the first half I think

It was late second quarter when ant had scored on one possession came down went to the left side of the floor kind of got trapped and instead of forcing it which he often does and this is kind of where that helps because teams expect

Him to force it he now had the at least on this possession had the wherewithal to stop pivot turn and throw like a a a one-handed bounce pass just a perfect pass to NAS who was wide open for for a deep three and you need you need guys to

Make those shots obviously because they’re open shots but also to build continually build ant’s confidence in his teammates and I’ve never felt like that’s wavered like an always seems to be pumping his teammates up that’s a a common theme with ant and it’s so rare for a superstar especially a young

Superstar to be pumping up his teammates whether it’s cat or Rudy um but sometimes his play suggests otherwise because he’s so he’s hunting shots so much so to see him be so willing to pass and I know only had two assists in this game but I you know I think for the most

Part he made the right decisions now ant attempted 27 shots nobody else on the Wolves attempted more than 10 shots in this game part of that was because of the cat foul trouble surely um they had a bunch of guys who attempted between seven and eight in fact I think Five

Guys attempted either seven or eight shots in this game so like but it was fine right like he scored 41 on 27 shots that’s efficient he only attempted five free throws uh and I actually thought the officiating was pretty good they got a bit foul happy late in the game on

Both ends like it wasn’t unfair in any way I just think like chill out with the fal calls guys like let him play which Always by the way letting teams play uh in any given game for the most part helps Minnesota because of how they play defensively so that’s always going to be

My preference U and also just generally watching basketball I’d rather watch guys play through contact and not get a call um than than a foul Fest and I mean this crew was calling fouls in the final literally 15 seconds of a 20-point game was just absurd um 15-point game

Whatever so anyway aned 41 played extremely well I was impressed with his performance he had that one-handed you left-handed Bank floater at the end of the shot clock late in the fourth quarter that was just nuts um that’s a tough shot to your strong hand and to to

Shoot that accurately with the Right Touch on the move is not easy I mean like anybody that’s ever tried to shoot a running bank shot from an angle knows how hard that is to get the touch right and to do that left-handed is just crazy um every night ant’s doing something

Whether was you know he banked in threes in Milwaukee and in La the last two games before this one late in the game um it’s just it’s it’s incredible to watch him continually get better um anyway so he gets a stud in this game Rudy also gets a stud it was a little

Bit of an understated Rudy game just because the Wolves dominated he played 37 minutes again he’s playing such heavy minutes for the wolves and it’d be really good to to you know I don’t know that it’s going to be this next Portland game I’m a little honestly a little bit

Worried we’ll talk about this on Thursday a little bit worried about uh about this last game before the All-Star break for the Wolves but hopefully Rudy could get a bit of a breath um I guess that’s the positive to him not being involved in all-star weekend as as

Frustrated is that he didn’t make the team but uh he played 37 minutes was 16 and 15 in this game seven of 10 shooting got to the line four times made two of his free throws and was uh dominant defensively once again only one block this time but controlled the paint um

Did his thing I know deand raon played well uh he had eighton shot 11 of 12 and had 22 and 16 himself um but like with the way the wolves are defending with the zone and you know high wall coverage early I thought Rudy was good in this game and I thought he

Deserves a stud and then obviously nikil Alexander Walker gets a stud in this game 18 points three rebounds two assists for Niki we talked about a six of seven shooting five of six from outside the arc and a very good defense one of the few wolves who I thought

Played well on the perimeter defensively in this game I should point out the Blazers had under 100 points before garbage time just like the Clippers on Monday so like this game is going to help the Wolves defensive rating especially un cleaning the glass which filters out that garbage time but early

In the game the perimeter defense was shoddy I mean scoot Henderson got too many free runs to the rim um Jeremy Grant didn’t shoot the ball well but he got to his mid-range jumper pretty much whenever he wanted in the first half and fory Simons we talked about hit a couple

Of tough shots but also hit some open shots and got to the line too often so ultimately the Wolves defense was fine it’s just the perimeter defense early in the game wasn’t great I’m going to throw up the uh oh man I didn’t uh let’s see let me

See if I can Qui quick pull up the uh the uh the game stats here yeah I’ll get it here in just a second um throw them up here on the screen if you’re watching on YouTube but uh there we go so the Wolves did outshoot Portland they did a pretty

Good job defensively uh again contesting shots the Wolves also shot a higher volume of Threes than their opponent this is I believe the highest volume of Threes in a three- game span since like November um and of course the wolves are or not just a three- game span I think I

Think if you extend it further uh going back even before the Bulls lost there were a couple Gam before that where they shot a ton of Threes it’s like the last five or six games they’ve shot a huge volume of Threes And you know Rudy said

That Rudy Rudy had a comment like hey we need to shoot more threes I’ve been talking about on the show I had multiple shows I think one right after Christmas and then one mid January where I said like hey this offense stop turn it over

Shoot more Threes And if you fix one of those two things it probably goes from a you know 17th or 18th ranked offense to a 12th ranked offense you pair that with the number one defense with the bullet and this is a phenomenal phenomenal phenomenal team we’re starting to see

That conversion of shooting more threes and adding like a you know Monte Morris to the mix who’s going to hunt his shot a little bit more and be a better three-point shooter overall than mcgoffin like that’s going to help um you know and Cat’s been launching more

Lately too and he did early in this game before he got into foul trouble but anyway the Wolves won the three-point battle um and I of course flipped my turnover and rebound numbers so those aren’t accurate but turnover wise The Tib rolles did did win um the turnover

Battle 16 to 12 in this game I don’t know what happened there with my numbers which was huge like in game where they didn’t play well to only turn it over 12 times and Portland had I think nine or 10 turnovers in the first half alone uh

Which is huge and and it helped the Wolves kind of build that lead which was again it was just eight at halftime but it helped them maintain that lead early when the offense was a bit clunky for Minnesota and then the free throw battle once again huge for Minnesota so getting

To the line and not turning the ball over uh were really good and rebounding wise um The Wolves lost that they there were minus three on the glass and they gave up 12 offensive rebounds to Portland that was a bit of a concern of mine coming into this game for a team

That’s a good offensive rebounding team um and the Wolves of course trying to play zone a bit so something else to keep an eye on I know the Wolves team defensive rebounding numbers are solid for the year and no matter where you look they’re top 10 defensive rebounding

Wise as a team I still worry about that a little bit and it’s something to to watch in the playoffs too even with the pace slowing down or I should say especially with the pace slowing down um The Wolves need to make sure that they’re that they’re you know good

Enough on the glass and early in the game like Mike connley was big I mean he finished with what four rebounds I think three of them were in the first quarter U or I think all three of his defensive rebounds were in the first quarter actually um you know the the sort of

Thing that like the Wolves guards last year and prior did not do which is grab those in between rebounds right those long rebounds and so they need cly to do that they need monate Morris to do it they need n to do it um with some consistency here but anyway uh that was

Uh that was one area where they struggled a bit in this game but again the lack of turnovers the high volume of Threes And the high volume of free throws really helped the wolves in this one all right uh that’s all we have for you today of course the wolves are off here

Today on Wednesday the next show in your feed is going to be the Minnesota basketball party so check that out myself Jack Borman of Kana hoopus uh Sam xtram of lockdown Minnesota Ron Johnson of lockdown Minnesota and Reggie Wilson of k 11 um are going to talk wolves and

Uh look ahead to the all-star break and of course lots of stuff Saturday and Sunday for the Wolves uh wolves players involved so that’ll be the next show in your feed Thursday we’ll talk a little bit about the Portland matchup um into a little bit of kind of a first half you

Know unofficial first half uh recap of sorts even though we’re well past the actual halfway point but anyway we’ll we’ll do kind of a a a 10,000 foot look at the at the year so far for Minnesota and then Friday I don’t know that we’re going to get into like too

Many predictions on Minnesota basketball party today I’m going to spend a lot more time on Allstar Weekend on Friday it’ll be fun I love kind of handicapping the weekend um I did pick cat to win the Three-Point Contest two years ago and uh I’m not saying for sure I’m gonna I

Haven’t not for sure picking him yet this year I’m gonna look at the odds and at FanDuel and see you know who the best picks would be for Saturday’s events and then uh we’ll talk about Sunday’s game as well so a big week here upcoming leading into All-Star Weekend a big

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The Minnesota Timberwolves started strong and closed even stronger in a road win over the Portland Trail Blazers. Ben Beecken (@bbeecken) breaks down the win, including Anthony Edwards’s 41-point performance and strong games from Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Naz Reid as Karl-Anthony Towns dealt with foul trouble. Plus, thoughts on the Wolves’ defense as they attempted mixing in a few different coverages early in the game.

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