‘Timberwolves HAVE to LOCK MAVERICKS DOWN’ 🔒 – Stephen A. Smith on WCF Game 2 | First Take

‘Timberwolves HAVE to LOCK MAVERICKS DOWN’ 🔒 – Stephen A. Smith on WCF Game 2 | First Take

what do you feel like the Wolves you know I’m not going to kick it to him let’s start with you Wendy what do you think the Wolves need to do to win game two yeah so the Mavericks really had a very simple but effective game plan and it’s something that you know teams that have more experience in the playoffs will learn how to deal with they just sat back and they just said shoot the three just go ahead and shoot it and this is not really the Wolves game they obviously can make threes uh but they never shot as many threes in the whole season as they did last night and Edwards who is obviously one of the most dynamic drivers of the basketball in the league he takes four shots inside the paint this is not the type of game Molly that you want to have in November much less in game one of the Western Conference Finals so Dallas did a great job having a game plan and Minnesota fell into it and I also think Minnesota not having been here before underestimated the energy level that they were going to need for this game ant Edwards was exhausted by the end of this because he’s never done this before he didn’t understand that you know what it was going to take to get from one series to another so obviously it was disappointing for Minnesota but it was a huge learning experience and Dallas had a great game plan and this series is absolutely on and I expect it to go back and forth for the next two weeks yeah look I want to First address some of the things Anthony Edward said in his sound because I don’t agree with some of the things he said there’s one thing he said I absolutely agree with number one I don’t agree with the fact they weren’t flat at the start of the game they hit that team with 33 points in the first quarter all the energy was directed at the Minnesota timber at the start of that game they had the crowd into the game you know the game I called game three of the Denver Minnesota series when they were up 20 the first game at home that game they came out flat the building never got into it that was not the case last night so I don’t agree with that I don’t know why they would be tired they had two days off Anthony ever’s 22 years old if you want to say some of your vets were but he wasn’t talking about Mike Conley Rudy goar and Carl Anthony towns he seemed like he was talking about himself I don’t know why fatigue would be a factor he also said it was all about us it wasn’t all about you the Dallas Mavericks are a very good team so I don’t agree with those three things the one thing he did say I do agree with he didn’t get downhill enough Wendy just pointed it out 75% of his shots were taken beyond the three-point Arc that’s not Anthony Edwards strength sometimes when you a guy this talented athletically and you’ve got a Turbocharger you’ve got to just kick it into turbo gear and go and trust your athletic ability once you get down there to make plays they were giving him what I would call Giannis treatment and I diagram this last night on SVP after the game when you have one guy on the ball at the top of the key where he was operating two guys standing at the elbows two guys standing at the Block you basically have the paint sealed off that is what Anthony Edwards was looking at he’s got to get into his actions earlier before Dallas has a chance to lock in on how they want to focus on playing him they dared this team to take threes they took 49 of them the most they had taken in a playoff game prior to last night was 40 and that’s a high number for them they took nine more than that that’s exactly what Dallas was counting on regardless of the earli surge that they had they knew that they were going to cool off they were 11 for 25 at halftime 7 for 24 in the second half the game plan worked to Perfection on the part of the Dallas Mavericks defensively let’s see what Minnesota’s answer is let’s see what Anthony Edward’s answer is in terms of attacking this team trust your athletic ability get into the paint and and get to the foul line I guarantee you you’re going to see that kind of response out of Anthony ever in game two yeah but you got to be careful about them Dallas drawing offensive fouls because they’re not they’re not too shabby at that so you got to be careful about that as well you also got to look at a lot of times they looked like they were zoning up Tim like you know you Anthony Edward you got one guy on you but you knew they were ready to collapse the minute you tried to get into the lane and then you kicking it out to cats that you may not have all the confidence in the world no matter what you articulate to the public you might not have that level of confidence that they’re going to really drain those threes like you need them to whether it’s a Naas Reed or Jen McDaniel or even a Carl Anthony towns thirdly you don’t want Carl Anthony towns shooting as many threes as he shot a few of them sure but in the end you damn near 7 feet tall take advantage of those mismatches having said all of that that’s just offense I think Minnesota’s strength is really about their defense when they can lock you down it creates opportunities for them in the open court to finish at the basket and it really really gets them going and you know how the young you know how the younger dudes are you get up in a you get up and down the court you get in the Fast Break mode you finishing game you finishing baskets with dunks and all of this other stuff you know you getting more and more hyped and that adrenaline is elevating so I look at it from that standpoint I pay attention to that and I say listen get you somehow some way you’ve got to get your defense formidable enough where Kyrie and Luca and those boys are they’re worried about that now that’s a tall task that’s a tall ask because it’s Luca and Kyrie that we’re talking about but if you’re Minnesota the number one defense in the NBA you’ve got to be able to do that and looking at Rudy go did you see him just holding off Gafford with one arm now Gafford ain’t no weak dude and plus he’s a Skywalker himself but you saw Rudy just shoving him around along with Lively of course who’s really athletic and good but also thin the fact is is that Rudy can handle a lot of stuff in the post defensively what’s the rest of y’all going to do what’s the rest of y’all going to do out on the perimeter and guard in those other guys to neutralize Dallas’s offense to some degree something’s got to give in that regard and that is my concern okay yeah I thought it was a really interesting game plan that Dallas had you guys pointed that out the other thing what they did with Luca they Jason kid felt that Luca was getting worn down a little bit in that last series and so this is something to watch going forward they specifically went to Kyrie Irving early they specific speically wanted to give Luca a little bit of extra rest in the first half so that he would have more energy in the fourth quarter and when we got to the fourth quarter you could just see Luca hit the gas 15 points in the fourth quarter that is the basis of this team which is to let Kyrie Irving remove some of the load from Luca so that he can do the heavy lifting this is exactly the blueprint of the way this Dallas Mavericks team is designed and it doesn’t just tell us about game one of the Western Conference Finals it tells us potentially what could happen in in NBA Finals over the next couple of years that was a game that Dallas wants to replicate over and over whether they will or not will be the basis of who advances from this series let’s look now at how both teams dynamic duo showed up big in game one Tyrese halberton scored 25 points handed out 10 assists Pascal seak just three assists short of a triple double Jason Tatum scored a game high 36 Jaylen Browns clutch three with seconds remaining sent the game into OT all right got my guys here with me Tim leg I’ll start with you on this one which Duo is more important in this series moving forward do you feel like it’s Tatum and brown or Halton and seum I do feel like it’s uh Tatum and brown and for this reason I just think their imprint offensively for Boston is just much more significant when you look at Indiana yeah it’s they’re better when T Salton is aggressive as a scorer I like him in that mode when he’s looking for his three-point shot and he’s not hesitant to pull the trigger on that cakam is a very versatile offensive player but look they got 79 points out of other guys in this game they got 30 points off their bench the their style of play lends itself to on given nights if they’re not big scorers they can still get to a good number I think for Boston Tatum and brown those guys are going to take roughly 50 shots a night and if they have nights where they struggle to score and more importantly they don’t deliver at the end of games Boston is going to have some problems in this series and you saw it even in game one Jason Tatum wasn’t very good at the end of regulation but he was Sensational in overtime he had a three-point play a three and a big step back three-pointer that he hit that put him up four Jaylen Brown hit the corner three that forced overtime in the first place so even more than the raw numbers Stephen A I think it’s when they have to do it and that’s why Jason Tatum Jaylen Brown they are going to have their hands all over the basketball in the last four or five minutes of a tight game whereas Indiana they’re more likely to move it through the air and maybe trust some other guys to take shots that’s why I think Tatum and brown are more critical that they play well and they play well in the big spots for Boston to advance okay I kind of think I’m not in a good position here because legs is so is so strong but I kind of feel the exact opposite I feel like Boston has layers of star PL star players like we saw Drew holiday I mean the big difference in game one was Drew holiday uh Drew holiday had his greatest offensive game of the season he was just Dynamic defensively down the stretch you could it was clear as day why they trade for him Derek White made the all defensive team and we know that you know earlier in the playoffs he was as hot as anybody in the league shooting the ball and eventually Chris porzingis is going to come back um I think with the way the Pacers play they need halberton to have a great game when Hal Burton doesn’t have a great game uh they’re in trouble you know they’ve got they got blown out a couple of times by the Knicks when halberton was not super aggressive they kind of have to go him a little bit to to to be aggressive the other thing is the way Indiana is attacking and I agree with you legs that Indiana has a deeper bench and so the actual scoring numbers maybe you don’t need the exact number of points that those guys have but the way that Indiana is attacking Boston they’re going after Al Horford and the the key part of their attack on Al Horford is Pascal seaka and his ability to stretch the floor and make Horford have to move so I think the Celtics can can survive especially in this series when Jaylen or Jason have less than Stellar games I don’t think if Halbert and seak don’t play Super well I don’t think the Pacers can can really compete I’m going to roll with uh uh legs on this Wendy in terms of brown and Tatum because of the last part of what Tim legler articulated when it comes down to the wire that’s who they giv the ball to you see if they were as judicious as Indiana’s offense is where you know what seak could do you know what Halbert could do but nard or n Smith you know what we GNA give them the ball you know what saying then it would be different Miles Turner here you go good you launch some of those pleas we going to give you the ball or whatever it would be different but no matter how effective the rest of the Boston Celtics are when it comes down to crunch time they’re very predictable here you go Jason Tatum here you go Jaylen Brown and it’s almost as if you got to justify the investment you’ve made in Jaylen Brown and you know you’re going to make in Jason Tatum because they’re going to be two players wearing Boston Celtics uniforms that’s going to make over $600 million and it’s entire possible that they may not have a championship to show for it we don’t know it remains to be seen so because of that they get the basketball they’re relatively predictable and it’s a testament to their greatness that they still end up being as effective as they are because you know it’s going to be about them and somehow they still manage to win games I personally believe they should be us utilizing Derek white a little bit more I don’t think there’s any question about that I think he’s shown himself to be very capable I think if we remember although Drew holiday struggled last year over the last few years he’s been one of the better catch and shoot three-point Shooters out there I don’t think we should underestimate that and we know what he brings to the table defensively but when you ask the question about a Duo Indiana doesn’t rely on its Duo the way that Boston does and by virtue of that reality is why I say Tim legler is right if if halberton has a 10 shot game tonight uh like he did a couple of times in that Nick series let’s see how much they need they need him I mean I understand what you’re saying an aggregate but I’m telling you I mean one of the big push and pulls with the Pacers is Hal Burton needing to be aggressive and looking for his shot and giving the ball off too much they when Hal Burton is not that guy especially in a playoff setting they are not as Dynamic of a team and you you know it may have looked like he didn’t have the greatest game the other night in game one but he was actually pretty aggressive compared to those games that he didn’t do that in the nick series that was why game seven was a transformative moment for Tyrese cuz the last two games he had played in the garden he had not delivered and him stepping up and being that offensive leader was the diff was a difference making Factor so that’s got to happen again tonight if they’re going to get a rad win in Boston I [Music] [Applause] feel NBA is

Stephen A. Smith, Tim Legler and Brian Windhorst join Molly Qerim on First Take to preview Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals between the Dallas Mavericks and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Then, they also debate the best duo in the Eastern Conference Final: Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam or Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown?

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