Steph Curry Or Anthony Edwards? Will Golden State Warriors Win Series

Steph Curry Or Anthony Edwards? Will Golden State Warriors Win Series

We got a locked on NBA crossover edition of the Locked on Warriors podcast today. Ben Beacon of Locked on Wolves introducing us to Minnesota, their strengths, their weaknesses, X factors in this series. Steph Curry and Anthony Edwards on the same floor. Oh, how exciting that is. And of course, Jimmy Butler’s return to Target Center. That and more ahead on Locked on NBA Crossover. [Music] You are locked on NBA crossover, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every [Music] day. Everyone, welcome into the show. Charlie Walter with you. Formerly a 957 The game in the Bay Area. That’s the flagship station of the Golden State Warriors. Also covered the team and their title run in 22 for CBS News Bay Area call letters KPIX. Today’s episode’s brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. We are part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Ben Beacon of Locked On Wolves joining me today as we have the Locked On Wolves locked on Warriors crossover ahead of the Tuesday matchup game one between these two teams that almost had identical records. The Warriors finished just one game below Minnesota in the standings. The Warriors won head-to-head during the regular season, but due to the whole size issue that the Dubs have, I think a lot of the national public and probably a lot of Wolves fans are feeling very confident about this series. Want to kind of do things this way, Ben. Uh, first of all, good to see you, by the way. Good to see you as well. Uh, I I want to ask you some questions about the Wolves. Um, kind of introduce Warriors fans to what we can expect from this series because it’s the first time we’ve seen these two teams match up. uh fully healthy and from the Warriors standpoint with Jimmy Butler and then we’ll switch it over to you. You can ask me some questions about the Warriors and and the goal here is to have the fans of both teams pretty knowledgeable about both squads, weaknesses, strengths, that sort of thing. So, starting off with Minnesota, it’s as simple as this. Anthony Edwards is a superstar. You got a lot of size around him. You got some shooting around him. A wellbalanced team Minnesota is defensively, offensively. they can grab rebounds. What is the weakness that the Golden State Warriors can exploit from Minnesota? It’s a great question. Um I I the Wolves, so in the regular season, their biggest weakness was crunch time. Minnesota had a terrible point differential or I should say a really good point differential, a bad record, um you know, against that their Pythagorean win loss record was like four or five wins better. Uh but that and I guess the Lakers series didn’t actually have that many crunchtime games either. they kind of pulled away. I think only one game really would have fit that criteria. So, I would say lateg game execution. Um, and that that, you know, against a veteran team like the Warriors and a veteran coach who’s been there and won like Steve Kerr, that could be an issue. And, and you know, we obviously that conversation then becomes how much of that is coaching versus execution by the players. And, uh, you know, usually falls somewhere in the middle. And so, that would be something to keep an eye out for. Inevitably, there’s going to be some very close games in this series. um that that would that would probably be the biggest thing for me. Um Minnesota also has a tendency to allow things to snowball. Um and there were a couple of games this year where it was like, you know, they have a lead and they had a 24-point lead on the Bucks second to last week of the regular season. If they had won this game, they would have ended up with home court. I think they would have been fourth in the West. And uh they were up 24 in the fourth quarter and just a zone, which I’m sure we’ll talk about today. I have questions for you about the Warriors zone. Completely threw them off and and they lost a 24-point fourth quarter lead because they just completely ceased to function offensively. Um and so that that would be another thing is just kind of like both execution against the zone which is going to be an issue and then also can they you know there’s kind of this like uh kind of haywire factor to Minnesota occasionally. They didn’t show it in the Lakers series. They maintain composure for the most part throughout. Uh, but there are some still some maturity things and they’ve got vets like everybody refers to them just just like a young team, but I mean Mike Connley is 37, Rogo Bears on the other side of 30. Um, I mean they’ve got guys who have been around the the leagues. Dante Devenenzo at this point has been in big games as you know. Um, so I think there’s some of those kind of wildcardy things. Otherwise, they’re a really balanced team. I mean, you look at like they could beat you in a lot of different ways. Minnesota is is a top 10 defense, top 10 offense. They were one of, I think, five teams with that distinction this year in the NBA. Um, they can play fast. They’re a really good shooting team. Um, they can play big, they can play small. They they close games against the Lakers with Rudy on the floor, they close games with them off the floor. So, it the Wolves are a very well-rounded team and there’s just kind of some of these like things on the periphery that they’ll kind of rear their ugly head and it’s like, ah, here we go again. It’s it’s a crunchtime collapse or or whatever. So, um, you know, there’s certainly the possibility that that comes up, but for the most part, it’s it’s not a team that has any like, you know, they’re horrible on the glass or anything like that. They’re they’re fairly well-rounded. I’m fired up. It’s such a different series than Houston. And granted, the the size factor is similar in a sense. One thing that’s different is like Shinon, you give him the ball on the block, he’s going to score down there. Gobear not necessarily a polished offensive player that you’re gonna expect to put up 30 like Shenon can do on a given night. Nas Reed hangs around the perimeter a little bit. McDaniel, although he’s tall, he’s not necessarily the most physical person in the league and is more versatile than some of the bigs that Houston has like like Steven Adams and and company. So, completely different squad in that sense. And the biggest thing is with Houston 30 seconds left in the game, it was who are they going to put the ball in their hands to make a play and win the game. There’s no question who that player is on the Minnesota Timberwolves. It’s an interesting dynamic in the sense that we have Anthony Edwards maybe the future of basketball, one of the faces of the game, especially with his personality. And then you have Steph Curry, who some would say was the face of the game. many would say still is the face of the game. And this is like one of those series where some say it’s the future against the past. And I guess Warriors fans want to know, is it still the present? Does Golden State have a chance to get it done? Like Curry Edwards, how excited are you to see these guys on the same floor playing meaningful basketball because we haven’t seen it yet in the playoff series? Yeah, it’s going to be a ton of fun. Actually, there was an interview with Ann. I don’t actually know what it was from. It surfaced. I saw it on on Twitter a couple days ago where he was asked last year after the season. It was like a GQ interview or something like who do you most want to play in the playoffs and he said something like we’re going to go further next year and then he said I really want to play the Warriors Golden State and he was asked why and he said because he wants to play Draymond because Draymond talks so much trash. So, it’s it’s funny he didn’t even he didn’t mention Steph in the response, but of course there’s the we maybe we’ll talk about the Draymond Rudy stuff, but like Ant versus Curry is and Ant just like that’s his personality and and and everybody talks about this, but it is so true. Like last year he beat KD in the first round and you know beat Joic in the second round and and fell to Luca in the conference finals. This year he beats LeBron and Luca in the first round. So now he’s beaten Luca, he’s beaten KD, he’s beaten LeBron, he’s beaten Joic. And Curry is kind of like I don’t know that he’s the next boss, but like it’s a checklist. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And that’s exactly how Ant thinks like he wants to go he wants to be the guy going at the guy. But I think the growth that he’s shown this year, at least so far in the playoffs through the five game series win over the Lakers is he wants to be the guy, which is what you want, but he doesn’t think he has to be the guy in the sense of scoring. And we saw him distribute like I think it was game four, which was a pivotal game, the last game in Minnesota before going back to LA. If you lose that game, you go back to LA tied and and now you’ve lost home court if you’re the Wolves and two of the last three are played in LA. So, you really want to win that game at home. And Anthony Edwards scored a bunch of points early in the fourth. He hit a couple of deep threes and then the Lakers were aggressively putting two on the ball and he started deferring. He didn’t score the final eight minutes of the game, but the Wolves won kind of going away down the stretch because he was distributing so adeptly and like knowing what the right play was and making the right play, not trying to force stuff. And it’s very easy to go back and look at last year’s conference finals against Luca and the Mavs where Ant would just ignore a wideopen corner three-point shooter because he’s like, “All right, I’m going to do this myself.” And you want a little bit of that in the guy who is the guy, but he needs to also be able to know when when it’s time to call someone else’s number and to make the right choice. And and he’s made that step so far. Obviously, he’s got to do it again and again and again if they want to win a championship, but uh it’s really encouraging and obviously Steph has has proven that for years. And I I you know, we’ll talk about this. I’m curious to see how the Wolves go about defending Steph. And I’m curious to see if we get you know, not that Curry and Ant are necessarily going to guard each other a ton. If my memory serves correctly, I believe the Warriors were willing to live with Stefon Ant at times on switches in the regular season. It actually worked out okay. I don’t know that I think Ant had one big game of the four against the Warriors. So, I’m curious to see that. But, I think going toe for toe, we’re undoubtedly going to get at least one or two games where each of these guys is hitting, you know, 28-footers down the stretch and they’re just going toe for toe to toe. Uh, it’s gonna be a ton of fun. Yeah. And since the emergence of Butler, Warriors have been able to, you know, step up the ball pressure a little bit to where if Anthony Edwards, let’s say he beats Butler off the dribble, you know, Draymond’s sitting there or vice versa on a switch if it’s, you know, beats Curry off the dribble, whatever. I mean, Ant’s got the mid-range working at all times. But the Warriors, despite being small, and Rockets fans will be the first ones to tell you this and Celtics fans in in 2022, like for whatever reason, the Warriors have been able to neutralize the fact that they’re not a big team. Um, and they can really, you know, put pressure on the rim and make it pretty difficult. I find it really funny that the Wolves front office took so much heat from the national public about the Rudy Gobear trade years ago. works out fine considering they made the conference finals last year. Then they do it again this off season. They take a ton of heat for the Carl Anthony Towns Julius Randall trade. People are like, “What? What are you doing?” Minnesota. At what point did kind of the the Wolves public and the fans and everyone associated with the team realized that this was going to work out okay and that Randall was a pretty good fit. Yeah. I mean, well, last year it took a while. Well, actually there were two seasons of Go Baron Towns and it wasn’t until like early last year where it was like, okay, this Twin Towers thing can actually work. And then the thing with Randall was that, you know, he’s not a traditional spacer and and in in at least not in any sense of what Carlton Towns was. And so my concern was, you know, is he going to want to be creating for himself? And yes, Randle’s a better passer than Towns, but Julius Randle has usually been the guy on his teams. And and you know, last year was injured in the playoffs when Jaylen Brunson was the guy for the Knicks. And so there was a lot of question about the offensive kind of synergy and it it did take some time. Um I would say there was a stretch kind of late January, early February, Julius Randle, it just started playing really well and he he wasn’t scoring a ton. It was like he was putting up 18 and seven and having four or five assists and it was just like really solid play. Then he got hurt. Um I think it was a a hamstring or a quad or something. I think it was a hamstring and he missed like the entire month of February I guess it was. came back in March and was awesome the rest of the season. And he even said a couple things in the media to the effect of I realized that I don’t need to score 20 every game. Like he literally should like to show that level of of awareness and and he should at this point in his career, but to say that out loud and and to understand that like hey I can be the the you know number two and that’s been super important when teams do choose to put two on the ball against Ant. Julius Randle’s job is to punish mismatches to punish a defense that’s in rotation and he did that against the Lakers. He was so good against the Lakers. Like a was the best player in the series. You could argue Julius Randle was the second best player because he also guarded both LeBron and Luca and did a good job with it. Um and neither LeBron or Luca did a whole lot defensively themselves. Like you could argue Julius Randle was the second best player in that series and and I wouldn’t call you crazy. Um it it just it learning how to play with each other and the Wolves started the year with kind of a my turn your turn offense and now it’s Ants understanding if there’s two on me, somebody’s open. it’s gonna find Julius and if he doesn’t score it’s going to swing back to me and now I’ve only got one on me because the ball moved and it rotated around the perimeter and they’ve understood that like they can both they can both get the ball have the ball in their hands they can you know one might score more than the other but the other but they’re both going to get assist opportunities. So it it really did take until the final third of the season final quarter of the season for it to click and it it looks better now than it did at any point during the regular season for sure. Coming up, Ben puts me on the hot seat. We learn a little bit about the Golden State Warriors strengths and weaknesses as we enter this game one matchup Warriors and Wolves. The NBA playoffs are in full swing and every night delivers highlight worthy performances, major momentum shifts, and can’t miss moments. Whether it’s a game-winning shot or a breakout player, there’s never been a better time to get in on the action than with America’s number one sports book, FanDuel. They make it easy to stay in the game before tip off and live with player props, performance trends, and same game parlays. Fans have more ways than ever to play smart and to play big. You think you know which players are showing up at the biggest moments. Maybe it’s the role players. A guy like Pajimsky. You see his over under in a game at eight and a half. Maybe you hammer that over and he gives you 25. He gives you 10 in the first quarter and makes it easy. Also, if you were to combine live prop bets during the game, what would you do? Obviously, you got to take the Wolves winning the tip, who scores the first bucket for Minnesota in that sense, or does someone on the Warriors score it at positive odds? You could parlay all those things together like your Adam Sandler from Uncut Gyms. It is wonderful stuff. New to FanDuel? It’s the perfect time to sign up. Head to fanduel.com and place your first $5 bet. If it wins, you’ll get $200 in bonus bets. Make every moment more with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, Charlie. Uh, let’s talk a little I’ve got some questions about the Warriors and and we talked you mentioned this in the open. The the uh the Wolves and Warriors haven’t played since like January 15th, way before the Butler trade. The Wolves basically were, I think, fully healthy for all four games in the regular season. So, Wolves fans haven’t seen the Wolves play this version of the Warriors team in a long time. There’s a lot to learn here. The thing that there there’s a a couple things I I really want to hit on. One is the Warriors have such a unique defensive profile. So for somebody that hasn’t watched the Warriors a ton, like if you look at all their numbers, uh like on cleaning the glass, they’re they’re like the best in the league at forcing teams to shoot mid-range shots. Like opposing offenses shoot more mid-range shots against the Warriors than anybody else, which is of course a good thing for the Warriors. But the Warriors are also the best at deterring rim attempts. Now, when teams get to the rim, they shoot a pretty high percentage against Golden State. We talked already about how they’re not a very big team, but what what kind of goes into that where the Warriors are allowing conceding some of these mid-range shots, you know, but not letting guys get all the way to the rim and try and score on on a team that doesn’t have too many, you know, true rim protectors. My mind goes to the zone, but they obviously don’t play the zone. I know they play it more postler trade, but it’s not like the Warriors are playing the zone every time down. So, what what does that look like for the Warriors defensively? What do you think their overall strategy would be in a series like this? It’s like a bend but don’t break mentality. It’s it’s so strange to watch because individually they do have some really good defenders but even preJimmy Butler and granted Wiggins was a great defender too. Um they they still just got it done. And the engines Draymond Green obviously he just has this strange way about him where he’s like a magnet towards the ball and if the Warriors defenders one-on-one make a mistake, Draymond’s just kind of there, hand up in the air, um hand in the passing lane. He’s just a presence at all time. And that presence when you get close to the rim, it’s that bend but don’t break mentality. You you saw it so many times with the Rockets where it felt like they were getting decent looks. Like I I look at it when I used to play 2K back in the day. I always wondered like 2K11 uh I I’d be the the Thunder and I I’d be seeia and company and I’d have wide open three-footers, not wide open, contested three-footers and they would never make the shot. And I’m like, why is this shot so difficult in this game? And it’s because it’s difficult in real life when you have, you know, 6 foot n defenders that are physical, hand in your face, bumping you down low, 4 feet, 5 feet away from the bucket. Those aren’t easy shots. I mean, just ask Shen Goon. He was I mean, near the bucket the entire series down low. I mean, they were putting pressure on the rim it seemed like at all times. So, when you say the the mid-range game, the Warriors allow some of that. I mean, at times this season, yes, but when it came to the Rockets, it was simply they turned them over and won the games. When they turned them over, they put a lot of pressure on the ball. And then I think a lot of it has to do with, again, going back to Draymond and Butler, they play so well with each other. They’re allowed to take gamles. Uh, a lot of those gamles lead to deflections. They lead to steals the other way. The Warriors are pretty good in transition, although they did want to slow it down against the Houston Rockets and kind of muck up the game, grind it out, but from what I’ve seen in this postseason, and it may be different against Minnesota, uh you can get it close to the rim against the Warriors, but they just affect shots. They make sevenfooters extremely difficult, and they weren’t always grabbing the rebounds against the Rockets, but when they are getting up there and snatching it um and not letting you get multiple shot opportunities, it it’s been a really good defense. In fact, a lot of times this season it’s been blown assignments and wide openen threes that have killed the Warriors. It’s never really been on the interior aside from the Rocket series and most of them were, you know, second chance points to where it was kickouts for threes and things like that. But it truly doesn’t make sense that the Warriors have basically no center aside from the 11 minutes from Cavon Looney and you know Quinton Post at seven feet that hangs out around the perimeter and is not necessarily the most physical although he has shown some signs of light defensively. Um it’s just strange how the Warriors have been able to do it and they did the same thing in 21-22. I mean Looney was their big man then and he’s their uh their lone big man now and they’re still doing the same thing deterring shots around the rim. Yeah, you mentioned uh the the uh the Warriors turning the Rockets over in the first round series. That’s the pace and the and I guess everything around the pace is something I’m very curious about with this series because neither team plays at like a really fast pace normally, but they both can do it. And like post Jimmy Butler trade like I was I was every time I was pulling numbers, I was looking at pre and post and like the season as a whole. and Golden State’s played faster with Jimmy Butler, but it’s also I think probably and and correct me if I’m wrong, but they’re also number one in the NBA in opponent turnover rate. They have a force in the regular season post Butler trade have forced opponents to turn it over almost 18% of the time, which must be feeding these transition opportunities. And from the Wolves side, the Wolves are also top 10 in the regular season at forcing opponent turnovers. And and they really only run off of they don’t run after rebounds. They don’t run they don’t take the ball to the net and run. running with, you know, they’re they’re trying to be opportunistic by forcing turnovers and running. Is that also kind of the Warriors style? And and and like I’m just overall curious like what’s the pace of this series look like? Is is this just each team kind of trying to, you know, like duck and dodge and and and pick their spots to run and then otherwise just being very careful they don’t let the other team get out and run a muck and and, you know, uh, you know, get a bunch of open threes in transition. It’s interesting you bring that up because preseason Steve Kerr’s entire mantra was we’re going to get back to really finishing in transition, being a highly efficient transition offensive team, being a good transition defensive team. And they they’ve kind of, you’re right, they they’ve picked and choosed their spots this season. And what I find fascinating about the Warriors defense is just the team defense aspect of it. You have a lot of defenders that do a lot of different things. Well, for example, you have Moses Moody that on the ball can cause some havoc with his 7-1 wingspan at the, you know, shooting guard, small forward position, whatever he’s playing, although we’ve seen him play some four recently with how small the Warriors have been going. Pensky just gives you incredible effort. Not a great defender by any means, but he’s good enough. And one thing that he does is if you do get out in transition and try to run on him, he’s going to take a charge just about every single time. I think he was third in the league this year, second in the league last year. So, he can really neutralize the fast break when he gets back there. He’s just tactically a really smart defender. Knows where to be and and knows how to take a charge and and that can’t be understated. Uh Curry, I thought, was excellent in game seven against the Rockets. Like, he was really good on the defensive side of the ball. That can’t be overlooked. Draymond is Draymond. I mean, he finished third in defensive player of the year and made an argument to win that award. Jimmy Butler is still an outstanding defender at this age. And uh it just all kind of collectively works. And no matter who you throw in there, Cavon Looney protecting the rim, it just seamlessly works. And I think that’s a little bit of the reason why we haven’t seen a ton of Jonathan Kaminga. good on the ball defender, gives great effort, has tremendous length and upside and and a defensive presence that um can be really good in this league, but when it comes to team defense, knowing where to be, picking up his his teammates, I would have to imagine that Steve Kerr sees a little bit of a weakness in his game in that department. That’s why he hasn’t been playing along with the along with a multitude of other reasons. But, uh, yeah, that’s the biggest thing with the Warriors to me is they’re always picking each other up. Someone’s beat off the ball and Draymond’s there, Jimmy’s there. Um, really neutralizing the mistakes that the uh, the teammates have. It’s a really good team defense that again, like I said, they they bend at times, but they don’t break, and they, for the most part, don’t allow teams to get really hot from inside the ark. Usually a lot of the damage is done from uh the perimeter it feels like. Yeah. And and that was one of the things I I noticed in in going through the the numbers is that the Warriors have struggled at times to defend the perimeter and you know opponents shoot really well and really frequently from from the corners against Golden State which again could be one of those things that’s influenced by when Golden State does go to basically a 3-2 one 122 type zone. If that you know is is uh you know uh can kind of feed into that. Um, last question for you before we kind of get into some like fun questions about the series and and um X factors and things like that. Uh, who do you think defensively matchup wise like we’ve seen teams put Smalls on Rudy Goar and try and make him like actually, you know, try and score? Obviously, it didn’t work for the Lakers in game five, but it worked pretty much the rest of the series. Um, or, you know, is it does Jimmy Butler guard Ant? Does he maybe even guard Julius Randle? I think the Rudy question is really fascinating. Um or do you think it’s just more of a fluid like you know um you know I guess what’s what’s the what do you think is the strategy to start with at least for Golden State defensively? I don’t think you see a single double team on Rudy Gobear. Obviously you didn’t see it on Shinon for the most part. They were letting you know Draymond just defend him one-on-one down low. Even when you know Shenon was switching on pods for example they’re like pods just you know make them beat you. That’s what I was going to ask actually is if is if you think that Pazki might might actually guard Rudy. Like is that the matchup and they just live with it? I mean if the switch happens like they’re going to live with it and I don’t think they’re going to throw many doubles Rudy’s way. They’re going to make him beat you because I don’t see any way that they allow, you know, single coverage on Anthony Edwards and and Julius Randall to, you know, have that twoman attack and beat you. I mean, it scares me defensively because the Warriors can settle for jump shots. We saw it at times against the Rockets. Unfortunately, they hit 18 threes in game seven and that was the deciding factor. Without nine buddy healed threes, the Warriors don’t win that game. But, uh, for the most part, the Warriors are at their best when they attack the rim. And usually the the main culprit of that is Jimmy Butler. He can get downhill. He can finish just about whenever he wants. And if he doesn’t, he’s going to make the smart play, kick it, and teammates are going to get good looks. So, that’s something that I look at in this series. Rudy Goar protects the rim as well as anyone in this game. Um Nas Reed, McDaniels, all these guys, they bring size to the table and length that can really affect the the driving lanes. And that’s my biggest dynamic like how are the Warriors going to play this thing? How many jump shots are they going to take? Uh if the shots not falling, how are they going to get inside? They don’t have a really back to the basket big. Jimmy Butler is probably the best they have in that regard. and you know, back to the basket, making a move. So, that that’s a dynamic to me that uh could be fascinating if the Warriors aren’t hitting shots because they’ve been very Jackel and Hyde even in games this season. It’s not like when they’re hot. I mean, granted, game seven, Buddy Heield was hot early and he was hot often, but there are a lot of times where they’ll hit nine threes in a five, eight minute span and they look like the best shooting team in the NBA. They fall in love with the three and then they go one of their next 13 and they allow a 15-point lead to dwindle. They did it to the Spurs multiple times. They did it to the Jazz earlier in the season. Didn’t matter who the team was. When they fall in love with the threes and they don’t knock them down and they don’t attack the rim, that’s where they can fall in some trouble. The good news is for the Warriors, they’re playing the best defense they’ve played this entire season. So, they can win the muck it up game, too, as long as they’re not allowing Ant to go for 40. All right, let’s talk about just a few more kind of overall questions about this series. Some final thoughts here. Maybe we’ll do maybe I don’t know. I’m open. Let’s do some predictions maybe at the end of this. So, yeah, we’ll do that here next. All right. So, I got one more on the Wolves that I want to ask you about. Nas Reed brings tremendous size to the table, but he also hovers around the perimeter quite a bit, which can be a huge mismatch for a lot of teams, especially honestly with the Warriors. Like if Post is on the floor and they have him guarding Nas Reed at times, Nas Reed, it feels like he has quicker feet than Quinton Post and can get past him, can make a move, has a pullup game. What is Nas Reed’s back to the basket game like in terms of bruising you down low? He’s actually got great post moves. The Wolves just don’t go to it very often, but I when you were talking about that last segment, I was thinking like Nas’s preferred game is, you know, play face up game, he’ll shoot from like 30 feet, got great range. Um, obviously rating six man of the year from from last season. Actually had better numbers this year. It’s just, you know, the Wolves weren’t as good as a team. They won seven less games, so nobody was talking about Nas, but he actually had a better season this year. Um, he’s a really he’s the Wolves best post player. Um, they’re not going to go to it a lot, but if he’s got a small a small on him, if if Post isn’t in the game and he ends up with just a smaller guy on him, I don’t know that you Chris doesn’t call for many post ups, but if that’s the result of a play, like the Wolves will be completely fine with that. Um, Nas loves to kind of, you know, crab dribble middle and get somebody on his hip and and throw up a little hook, and he’s really good doing that. He’s great facing up. Actually, his offensive game is a little bit reminiscent of a little a little bit more of a perimeter oriented Carl Anthony Towns. Like, their games were always relatively similar where they could face up and shoot the three and then if you come out to shoot the three, he’s I mean, he’s more athletic than Carl Anthony Towns. Uh he’s not quite as tall, but he’s more athletic and he’s he’s longer, I think, in terms of wingspan. That first step is very quick. And if he’s got a big guarding him, like you said, he’ll face up, he’ll take him to the basket. if he’s got a small, he can take him in the post or he’ll just shoot a three over them. I mean, he was 41% from three last year, he was 38% this year. Um, like he is he he can score from anywhere and he’s still even after winning that award last year. I think one of the more underrated players and he was really good defensively in the Lakers series, too. Was asked to guard Luca at times and and did a good job with it. Um, I actually was going to say he’s kind of my my non-star or my non, you know, if we want to take out, take out Randall, like he would be my X-factor. Yeah, and I was going to ask you the same thing like and for all those reasons too, by the way. I think the Warriors are they’re going to have a tough time defending Nas for the reasons you cited. You know, Bigs can’t really guard him and Smalls can’t really guard him and and the Warriors do have some of those kind of midsize guys, but like I just this feels like the a series where the pace is going to benefit Nas and he’ll have some opportunities. Setting aside Steph Curry and setting aside Jimmy Butler and I mean I put Draymond and Rudy kind of in the category where they’re both going to be impactful, but neither one of them is going to lead their team in scoring at any point. I say that Rudy did it in game five against the Lakers, but um who would your like X factor be for the for the Warriors if they’re going to win this series? Who is the player that’s going to step up? I’ve been saying it for a while, man. It’s it’s the mantra of like it takes a village because with this team, you’re not getting consistent. Curry is Curry minus a few games this season. Uh he’s been excellent since Jimmy Butler’s joined the fold like minus a few years a decade ago. This is as good as Steph Curry’s played. Like legit. And granted, the thumb has been affecting his shot a little bit in the last week or two, but he scored 50 points multiple times in the last couple months. Like he has been outstanding. Jimmy Butler, playoff Jimmy is real. He’s going to give you consistent action every single night. Regular season, Butler, as we know, had some duds, some games where he was really deferring and, you know, may have had nine assists, but only had six points, whatever. But since the playoffs have come around, like Jimmy’s giving you 28 and six seemingly every night. The Villagers though, the Buddy Heels, the Brandon Pajimkis, the Moses Moody’s, the Gary Payton, they can go for, you know, three points any given night or as we’ve seen in the case of Pimsky, he can go for 25 or as we’ve seen in the case of Buddy Heel, we now know he can go for nine threes and 33 points. Payton can give you 15. post can knock down five threes and give you 15 points. Santos can give you incredible energy off the bench. The question is like it’s it’s like the mix and match. H how many of the Warriors role players are going to step up? And the nice thing is is usually someone is on. If no one is on, they’re they’re screwed. Like Jimmy and Steph can’t carry the load in that sense. They need someone to knock down shots. They need to take advantage of the gravity that Steph is going to provide every single play. They get clean looks. They got to knock them down. If you want me to point to one, I would say Pajimsky because he’s shown us in the last month or two and even in the last week that he can give you 25. Um, but Buddy Heield’s right there, too, because the statistics back it up. I kind of lost track like midway through the season, but I think at one point it was 18 and one where the Warriors when Buddy scored more than 17 in a game I believe it was. So like you get 17 points from Buddy Healed. The Warriors win just about every single game. It’s how they got off to such a hot start without Butler when they had a squad that consisted of Melton and Kyle Anderson and and Shruder and whoever it may have been at that point. They were winning games. Shruder wasn’t on the team, but you know what I’m saying. They were winning games because Buddy Heel was playing out of his mind. So, if they can get that version of Buddy, it’s a huge X factor as well. Uh question that I have for you is because the Warriors have been really good at blitzing ball screens and you know especially with Jaylen Green uh after that 38 point effort that he had the next game he was off the ball screens Draymond was there in his face switching on him blitzing and really affecting everything causing a lot of turnovers. That’s how the Warriors get a lot of their turnovers is off the ball screen action. uh just really causing havoc with their tenacity defensively. How does Anthony Edwards handle that sort of pressure? I would imagine pretty well. Yeah, I mean a Ant was actually blitzed on pick and roll plays more than any other player in the NBA this year. It was like something like 16% of the time he was he was blitzed off pick and rolls. There were two on the ball and he points per possession wise was was lower on that list. Like if you look at the list of guys, it’s it’s who you’d expect. it’s the SGAs and and uh guys like that and his points per possession was much lower than not significantly lower but lower than all those other guys and it was an issue and it took him a minute to kind of learn how to decipher some of that and then make the right decision. obviously he’s got the ability to do the right thing if he makes the right choice or to to execute what he wants to do that is. And but against the Lakers like LA didn’t want to put two on the ball early in the series. Then they realized they tried switching stuff. Then they realized they had to put two on the ball and then they tried like the pseudo zone thing in in game two that the Lakers won. Ant even said postgame, hey, I was a little confused by this. It looked like a zone, but I don’t think it was a zone and I’ll have to watch the tape. And then sure enough, he figured it out. he realized that like hey they’re just like they’re switching off the ball like we’re running actions through to try and get guys you know to try and move around the defenders and the defenders aren’t moving it’s not really a zone they’re just passing off the other players so whoever’s in proximity to Ant is also essentially guarding him so they were kind of trying to pen him in almost like play really um you know try and try to wall up and play the gaps and and and clog the driving lanes so and then and then later the series Lakers said you know what we have to blitz him and so they were and then that’s when Ant started to pick him apart and I referenced the game four uh you know play earlier or how he played late in game four with making those right choices. So that to me is a concern for this series simply because the Warriors are so good at it and Draymond Green is better than any defenders that this version of the Lakers has obviously. So, because it’s Draymond Green and because the Warriors are so good at forcing turnovers and they’ve got some athleticism around Draymond and guys that can pick passes off and go the other way, that would make me a little bit nervous as a Timber Rules fan is is is the Warriors ability to turn teams over and we’ve seen Minnesota have those moments. Both Ant and Julius Randle are prone to high turnover games. It didn’t happen in the first round. Julius Randle had like a seven turnover game. Ant, I think, turned over six times total in five games. As a team, the Wolves turnover percentage is only 10% against the Lakers, but again, the where is a better defense with better defensive personnel and and better, I would say, better coached and and just in a better place to execute some of those things. So, I think Ant will be fine, but they may lose a game because, you know, if you know, along the way because of kind of trying to figure out how to how to play against the Warriors and them putting two on the ball, that to me is something to look out for. And if I’m Golden State, I would be pretty aggressive with it because if you’re kind of half-hearted like the Lakers, Ant’s going to be able to pick it apart. And of course, he’s athletic enough to just split doubles at times and and if you don’t do it with the right guys and don’t do it hard enough, he’s just going to dribble right through you and score through him anyway. So, I think that’ll be really intriguing to to watch that. Yeah, I think it’s going to be uh one of the matchups that I want to see is how because you mentioned the Wolves can go small. And I would imagine that they’re going to start off going big going the route that Houston took and trying to affect the game that way. But the thing about the Warriors is, and they’ve been doing this for forever, they zip the ball around, man. They don’t I mean, at times they’re a little bit stagnant, but when the Warriors are truly playing their best basketball and humming, that thing zips around. Curry’s moving off the ball. There’s confusion everywhere. There’s back cuts. You’ll see Draymond. You’ll see I mean Jimmy is the the prime example of someone that just knows where to be at all times and he puts himself in the spot that he needs to be to make a play. Not only that, even with a few seconds left on the shot clock, he has this corner line drive three that he chucks up and he’s been hitting it at a pretty good rate in the playoffs. Like for those of you and granted I it’s like I’m trying to explain Jimmy Butler to to Wolves fans. I sometimes forget that he’s that that’s a dynamic. Like what is the homecoming going to be for Jimmy Butler in this series? It’s it’s a whole thing. So like on the one hand there’s no players in Minnesota that he played with completely like two coaching staffs later uh basically nobody in the front office like other than like trainers. There’s no like you know team adjacent personnel. But the fan base is going to be ready for Jimmy. I don’t know if you saw LA I think it was last year he came with the Heat. It was in street clothes on the bench like famously now it’s been like seven years since they traded him. He’s only played three times at Target Center. Partly because he’s been in the East, but also partly because he’s avoided it. Like he’s legitimately avoided like he sat one game out for there there was some legitimate personal reasons along the way. There was one game that was a rest game and he finds a way to not play and so he was in street clothes on the bench and the fans were chanting we want Jimmy and he blew a kiss to the crowd and like that like there’s there’s a level like it’s going to be the Wolves fans have not forgotten even if nobody on the court is going to really care on the Wolves side. Um, and I think Jimmy said something on Sunday. He was asked about it and he said something like, “Don’t ask me about Minnesota.” Like he’s I mean, you know, Jimmy Butler, he’s he’s going to play right into this. Like he’s going to just kind of, you know, you know, like he’s expecting all of this. He wants the smoke. That’s how Jimmy Butler is. And Wolves fans are going to give it to him. And and you know, and if you look at what he’s done, his teams, I think, are one and two. Like Miami and Philly, both those teams together, like that’s how far back we’re going to get to these three games that he’s played at Target Center. Um, he only had like one good game. the other games are like 12 and 16 point totals. So, um it’ll be interesting to see if he like lets the game come to him or if he tries to be a little more aggressive or or what that is going to look like. But trust me, the the Wolves crowd is going to be more than ready for uh for booze and chance and whatever else they want to throw at Jimmy Butler. What are we thinking? How many games is this series going? So, uh I think the Wolves will win the series. Um, I think I I have six I think it’ll be six games and I know that means they’d win on the road, but the Wolves have been a really good road team all year. They close out the Lakers on the road. They won two out of three there. Um, they were actually better on the road than they were at home this year comparatively. So, I actually think the Wolves win in six. Um, and I think basically every game is going to be really close. I think there’s going to be a lot of really close games in the series. Um, but that, yeah, that’s my prediction is Wolves in six. I mean, I’m going to go with the Warriors in six, obviously, just like I did against the Rockets. And and granted, I was a game off, but we’ll go. You got Wolves in six, I got Dubs in six. So, uh, it’s going to be fun, man. It is going to be really fun to see if Anthony Edwards against some defenders that can give him trouble. I think I think I think Draymond and Jimmy Butler collectively, the two-headed monster that they are, can can give Edwards some issues. The thing is is Edwards is so confident and the bigger the stage it feels like the better he plays to where I don’t even know if two of the better defenders in the game can neutralize him. I think Edwards is going to he’s going to get his man. He’s averaging 27 in the playoffs. He averaged 27 in the regular season. I think he’s going to score 27 many times in this series. It comes down to me how does Julius Randall do against the Dubs? How’s that matchup? Uh Nas Reed, does he go off from deep? Is he able to beat the Warriors inside? Does Goar give them anything from a scoring perspective? And then it’s some of those role players like even Chenzo, we know what he brings to the table. Can he get some points going? Alexander Walker, does he step up? So, uh, that that’s what it kind of comes down to for me because, you know, the top of the rosters are going to get theirs. Edwards on the Wolves side, Curry and Butler on the Warriors side, but as I say, the Villagers, the the Pods, the Buddies on the other side, the the Devanchenzos and the um the McDaniels, whoever it may be, like which team’s role players are going to be better. That may be the deciding factor in this one to me. And I I agree. I think it’s going to be a really close series, really good series. It does feel like the Wolves have picked up a lot of momentum as being the hot pick in this series despite losing the regular season matchup in terms of the games uh without Jimmy Butler for the Warriors. A and B really having the same record pretty much the entire season until the last day of the year. So, Wolves are the trendy pick right now because they dismantled the Lakers. Whether that’s uh, you know, black eye on the uh the Lakers part or whether the Wolves are just playing really, really good basketball, which the latter is true based on the way they finish the season. Um, but we’re going to find out how good these two teams are. This is the beautiful thing about the West, Ben. Yeah. Uh, like who knows, man. Well, seven seed play in the second round. think I I think I heard uh that this was the second time ever that that there’s been a six and a seven seed played in the second round which tracks I mean like this is your traditional six and sevens though right like easily could have been the three and the four seed in the west right like like everybody there were what six teams separated by two games or something like that so it easily could have gone either way and I agree with you I think it’s going to come down to role players I I think the the the ceiling of some of the Wolves players you know Buddy Heield may have a crazy game pods may have a crazy game but I think there’s there’s a higher likelihood of of over the balance of the series, you know, the the Wolves role players between the reigning six man of the year and Nas and and Danchenzo. Like I think there’s enough guys that have the ability to get hot and and maybe just score maybe three of those guys score 12 points and that’s enough, right? Like I I think there’s a little bit better depth there than Golden State. Even if Steph Curry like he could easily be the best player in the series, like he could get hot and like you said, he’s playing some of the best basketball of his career and then that could be what lifts the Warriors. But if it comes down to just straight up like in a vacuum, I think the Wolves depth will will help them as well in the series and maybe some of those mismatches that they can create with Nasreed and others. Um, and then the size, you know, rebounding. I think it’ll be it’ll be fascinating to see how this plays out. And they’re going to have the advantage in game one. Plenty of rest. The Warriors less than 48 hours of rest. So, here’s the big factor in this series. If the Warriors can somehow sneak out game one and take homecourt advantage with the wobbly legs whereas the Wolves have been rested that that’s a huge wakeup call in the series. Ben Beacon from Locked on Wolves. I’m Charlie Walter from Locked on Warriors. This is the crossover episode. Appreciate everyone for joining the show. We’ll talk to you soon. Enjoy the series everyone.

The Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves prepare for a thrilling showdown that provides many thrilling storylines. From the first playoff matchup between Anthony Edwards and Steph Curry, the return of Jimmy Butler, and even the Rudy Gobert + Draymond Green dynamic, this series has it all.

Tune in for expert analysis and predictions on this exciting playoff clash. Don’t miss the chance to gain insider perspectives on the Warriors’ and Timberwolves’ path to potential NBA glory.

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