NBA TV crew REACTS to Timberwolves vs Thunder Game 1 Highlights

NBA TV crew REACTS to Timberwolves vs Thunder Game 1 Highlights

All right, let’s get to the full highlight of this game. The first one of this year’s Western Conference Finals. The two superstars, SGA and we begin with Ant-Man right there getting the step back over Cadet. SGA getting the foul. Then Anthony Edwards takes the dead ball, chucks it at him. Same thing laugh make you cry. a little later on. SJ was real aggressive from the get-go in this game. Yes, he was. And I like JDub getting out in the passing lanes. He had five steals in this game. He was a thief. Back to Edwards here. Kind of a scary moment when you first saw it, right? Yeah, he turned it. It’s just been that same exact ankle, but knowing him, he’ll be back, right? Did leave for a short period of time, but obviously did return. Julius Randall, man, his first half was outstanding. Well, it is. His three ball has really been going. I mean, his entire offensive package has been fantastic. You said he’d be back. Smitty later on, it’s Antman. God, look at the deep Randle shoot. He’s shooting that thing like a young Steve Smith. Edwards hitting the three and then Whoa. Going for the monster dunk right here. Whoa. Way to grab that arm. Hey man, and we’ve seen him turn that down many occasions. In the third, OKC really took over. Yeah, in the third OKC exerted their dominance offensively, defensively. Watch out. Don’t make him touch Earth. Don’t do that. SGA. MVP. MVP. Mike Malone. So, hey, don’t do that. Mike Malone. Mike Malone know better than that, too. He He was bogus for that. Funny you forget in the second half. I mean, the Thunder just got so comfortable. They they they know where they’re going. The spacing and also there’s no wasted movement from their guys. It’s downhill downhill. Chad. Okay, Chad. 15 points, seven rebounds. Round we go. House of Haywood. Hey, maybe not. But it was still it was it was still a nice dunk throw. I like what Chad was putting down out there. He had a really strong game on both ends. You know, SGA is giving you 30. 31 to be exact in this game. This is tough right here. Taking the contact while going down to the ground. Still has the touch to get it up there on the rim. Smitty, there’s Jaylen Williams. That’s beautiful move and pass. Go get it. with the 19 points, eight rebounds, five assists, five steals in the game as OKC having their highest scoring second half of the postseason. Put up 70 points or a plus 30 in that second half and take game one 114 88 your final. Taking a look at the series schedule, game two going on Thursday, followed by game three and four Saturday and Monday. But let’s take a look at game two as we look ahead. I mean, what does Minnesota have to do here? Because we heard Ant-Man, we heard Julius Brown, they didn’t seem obviously worried. They said we have to make some adjustments. What are those? Yeah, they’re adjustments. There’s conversation, there’s film, there’s film, and also understanding now. But one thing, if you watch the difference on pick and rolls with SGA on offense and the OKC Thunder, I mean, Minnesota’s defense, they have a lot of drop coverage, right? When you look at the opposite side, it’s like it’s three guys stand up against the line. They are going forward. They’re pressing forward. So, they’re going to have to find a way to play inside out. They have a big enough guys and Nas and you talked about Julius Randle. Same with me with Anthony Edwards catching it more below the free throw line. Double comes. You played out of that. But you got to get off the basketball. And if when you do, you can’t stand. You got to cut. You going to have to make the move. Yeah. Julius Reynold had a very strong game. He had 28 points. I’d like to see him use a lot more in the mid post. throw that ball to him, let him get in that area. Especially when he has some of those smaller guys like Caruso on him. Let him get in that area, one dribble, two dribbles away from the basket, create a problem, and then when the double teams come, it’ll be a lot easier for him to find guys on the strong and the weak side because you look at OKC, they had 13 steals tonight. You cannot allow them to turn you over and fuel that offense, especially in that building. Yeah, 19 turnovers in this game for Minnesota leading to 31 points for OKC. Uh that is big stat uh in game one as OKC again taking it 11488. Cannot wait for the Knicks and Pacers that gets going tomorrow. Playoff Central Live will continue then. Okay, let’s hear from Shay Gildus Alexander who finished with 31 points and OKC game one win. Shay, what’ you feel about that third quarter uh and the way that you all came out, of course defensively still with that same edge, but offensively able to find your spots. you and Dub. Yeah, we we haven’t had the greatest of third quarters this um playoff run so far. We um want to make that emphasis like come out of halftime with a punch with a little jolt with some some energy um and not ease into it and we’d be better off towards the end of the game. We um yeah, we just made that emphasis and we didn’t like we didn’t panic obviously in the struggles with the struggles in the first half. We missed a bunch of layups as a group. We missed free throws, like the easy ones, and we knew that we we stuck with it. They would eventually fall, and they did. Shay, you you’ve played a handful of series now as a first option. What have you sort of learned about how to process a game from from quarter to quarter, how you value each quarter up until maybe the point it’s time for you to close a game? Yeah, it’s always a chess match out there. like you go out there, you have a base coverage, you have something that you you want to start with, then you see how the game goes and then you just read and react and adjust from there. They make a move, you make a move. Like it’s it’s it’s back and forth and it’s going to be like that throughout the series. Um they’re a really good team. They’ll make adjustments, they’ll get better for sure. We have to continue to get better as well. As as far as the back and forth, it seemed like early you were trying to set that line of like what sort of physicality could go, what what couldn’t, and and the shots you would take with that. What What sort of changed from half to half as far as the calls you felt like you gotten what what you wanted to shoot? Um, I I don’t I don’t know. I don’t know. I’m not too sure what you mean by that. I was just out there being aggressive, trying to get to my spots. Um, obviously it wasn’t falling like I it usually does and like I would like it to. It’s part of the game. I didn’t nothing really changed my mindset. I just try to continue to be aggressive, continue to trust my work and uh it worked out for me in the second half. Yeah. Shay Mark talked about Mark was just in here talking about how a guy like Kenri who didn’t play in last series coming in breathes life into the team and not just him, Isaiah Joe. First off, do you agree with that assessment? And then what does that do for you guys on a night like where your shots is aren’t falling? Yeah, absolutely. Um, every series is different and every game in every series is different. Different matchups. You need different things for different opponents. So, like our readiness as a group has been has been special and and we’re going to need it the the further we go. But those two guys were nothing short of who they’ve been all year. like they guys who play one night, not play the next night, play 30 minutes a night after that. Like they are always ready. They know what they they bring to the team and they go out there and do it at a high level. And then that’s why they were ready for their moment tonight. Um but yeah, we don’t win this game without those two guys and hats off to those two guys and those two guys are who they’ve been all year and that’s that’s tough to do through the ups and downs and the emotions of like playing and not playing. So, uh yeah, hats off to them too for sure. Yeah, Shay Mark was talking about how he thought it took you guys a little time to calibrate, reccalibrate with the different style of opponent. Did you feel that at all during the game that have to remind yourself, oh, this this isn’t Denver anymore? Uh, it felt different from jump or more like pressure oriented. Um, feels like a little more physical. Um, but it at the end of the night, it’s basketball. They they throw you a a problem and you have to solve it, whatever it looks like. And that’s what it is every night. And that’s that’s what it was tonight. They had different coverages, different personnel out there, and we have to attack it and and and work together as as a unit to to solve the problems up there. And we did that tonight, especially in the second half. Andrew Select with the Athletic Shay. Kind of a followup to that question. Specifically, what did it feel like going from playing seven games of a lot of zone defense, you know, to playing against man defense in this game? Yeah, it uh you like usually in the NBA you see man. Um we’re we’re comfortable playing man and the zone was a wrinkle. Um but it it ultimately made us better for sure and we can feel that by the end of the series. We were attacking it way better. We knew what we were getting to. Um and the possession that they threw out, they threw zone out there. We got a dunk like right away. Like you could just feel us getting better at it. And that that’s what that’s what it’s all about. That’s what the first game of the season is about. That’s what the first game in the playoffs is about. That’s what the last game in the playoffs is about. Like just continuing to get better through the experiences and you’ll look up and be where you want to be. And that’s all we can control. Like can’t control what they throw at us. We can just control how we attacking and how we approach it. And that’s what we that’s what we did last series and this series will look different and we’ll do the same thing. Shay, you mentioned that this team didn’t panic. You’ve been a leader of this team for a while now, but how would you describe what that process has been like of leading by example? Yeah, it’s just true to my personality. not always the loudest guy in the room or say too much, but uh my my energy and effort and and what I put on the floor speaks louder than anything. That’s just how I try to not only like go about the game, but go about life. Like actions always mean louder than words to me especially. So that’s just how I go about it. Shay, the defense kept you guys in the game early on before your offense could really find a hold. with the way you guys were forcing turnovers. Do you think there’s some correlation between them launching as many threes because maybe they didn’t feel like they could bring it into the teeth of the defense and is that kind of the strategy you guys had was forcing them to kind of do things out of character? Yeah, I I have no clue what they were thinking. I I don’t know how to answer that one. Uh we just we try to play to our identity on both ends of the floor and and then just read and react from there. Um I I don’t I don’t know. I can’t I can’t answer that one for you, but um yeah, we try to play to our identity defensively and we did a good job of that and and the defense definitely gave us gave us life early in the game and kept us in it for sure. Shay, game seven, Kase sets a careerhigh in the playoffs for assists. Tonight, he’s got seven a new career high in assists off the bench. What are you seeing from him as a playmaker for you guys and um you know being able to facilitate for others? Yeah, Queso played point guard in high school and college. um you guys like you might forget that just his role in the NBA, but um he’s a really good basketball player. He knows how to play. He knows how to read the game and we’re seeing him grow as the games go on and that’ll continue for his whole career. He’s he’s a guy that soaks things up quickly. Has a great feel out there on both ends of the floor. Um and the sky’s is the limit for Queso. I’ve said that before. He’s he’s a really good player. You guys you guys didn’t play the uh two bigs together as much as you usually do. Went small a fair amount and still held them to 20 points in the paint. How were you able to to keep them from doing any kind of real damage in the paint? Yeah, we well Chad Homegood first and foremost, really good rim protector, Hardenstein as well. But we something that coach has done all year is like just mix up lineups throughout the season. And I think it’s it’s it has us ready and prepared for moments like like tonight where the matchups are different than they were the past seven games. And we’re going to need a different lineup uh to adjust. And it for us it was seamless because we we’ve done it all year and that’s something that he he preaches like he he doesn’t want us to get too set in stone in a lineup because of because of nights like tonight in matches matchups like we’ve seen recently and uh I think that’s just part of our DNA now. Oh yeah, Shay. Um Anthony Edwards shot I think like five of 12 through three quarters. He only shot 13 times uh tonight 01 in the fourth quarter. Did not score. From your perspective, was it just like him just not being as aggressive in the uh fourth or was it something that you guys were like intentionally doing to stop him? Um I’m not I don’t know. I’m not too sure. Uh good player though. He’ll play better than he played tonight. Like it’s a long series. We just got to be ready for whatever. Shay, you guys took 21 threes tonight. Um those are the fewest you’ve taken all season by six. What what what are some of the things that led to that? Just us playing basketball. I don’t think we ever focus on what type of shots as long as they’re good ones. We we we try to let them rip and uh I guess uh the threes that we had less good threes tonight. But we don’t I I don’t know how to answer the question. We just go out there and play play to our strengths and whatever the night looks like it looks like. How big did you think uh Chad was to open that fourth quarter and then what is kind of your bigger picture view on on his season and how he’s kind of had to I guess you know reintegrate back to a moving ship? Yeah, Chad was great. Um when he’s his best version of himself, we’re the we’re the best version of ourselves as a as a unit. Uh it’s no surprise he he affects the game at such a high level. like from the moment he was on this basketball team, our win column went up and it’s no surprise like he affects the game every night, every possession at extremely high level. And I think it’s gone under the radar a little bit how hard it is to like be a guy and then sit out for a couple months and have to integrate yourself into a team that’s has the best record in the NBA and not step on nobody’s toes, but also still be yourself. That’s like that’s a super hard position to be in. and the way he’s handled that has been special and uh I don’t know if he gets enough credit for that. He um he’s he’s a special person and a special talent and then he’s he’s the reason why we are where we are today. All right, moving on to Julius Randall and Anthony Edwards. And what did you uh feel like was working? It’s crazy. And what did you feel like was working offensively for you guys uh in this game when it was working and when the offense got a little stuck? What uh what were you running into? What was working? Um just making the right play. Um taking our shots. Yeah, I think that was pretty much what was working in the first half. Julius, uh, in the the first half, I think at 20, um, and really aggressive shot was going in. Um, what what is did they adjust to you at all in the second half? Um, or what changed for you half to half offensively? Uh, I don’t I don’t really think they did anything different other than uh just try to run me off the three-point line uh a little bit. Um, I mean that was really the only thing different. I mean their defense is the same. They’re heavy gaps, you know, boxes and elbows. Um, so I don’t really think they did anything different. You know, they just tried to get me off the three-point line, off my catch and shoots, and I mean that was it. Getting downhill and both of y’all question both of y’all. Um, getting down here is kind of me, you know, strong suit, you know, from the last two series and even just, you know, kind of you guys’ identity. What did you feel like, you know, with their size coming into this matchup was the the biggest adjustment that you guys had to make given that you guys only had 20 points in the paint this game coming off of, you know, 72 versus Golden State in game five? Uh, I mean, they clog the paint. That’s what they do. Um, they don’t got much size down there. So, they bank on us not making shots, I guess, cuz every time I go to the rim, it’s like four people in the paint. So, yeah. I guess they just be clogging the paint. They put like five, four bodies in the paint, make you kick it out. So, just keep making the right play. Julius, what do you think changed defensively for you guys in the in the second half or or was it just a matter of them hitting more shots uh in the second half? Uh I mean the the first half, what was it? 48 44. So, I mean it was like it was a shootout in the first half, you know what I mean? So, it’s just even if we’re not making shots, we still got to defend at a high level. And um I mean, we gave him 32 in the third and then the fourth it got away from us obviously and gave him 38. But um whether it’s misses or makes, we still got to defend at a high level. And I think that was probably the difference in the second half. Obviously, we didn’t shoot the ball as well as we wanted to tonight, you know. Um but regardless of that um I mean we really held them to 100 points into like the end of the game obviously where you know they made some baskets so we got to we got to defend at a at a at a little bit better uh level in that in that third quarter. And uh Dante was saying in the locker room that seemed like they were throwing different looks at you guys every other possession on offense. just how did it make it hard for hard for you to read or hard for the team to read or just how did you kind of process their their defense? Uh yeah, I mean it was hard to process cuz he right they it was different. It was kind of it was different every time. I mean heavy in the gaps sometimes trap the ball screen sometimes don’t. Sometimes just run and jump. It’s kind of similar to like AAU. They remind me of like a AA defensive team just run and jump um fly around. So, it was pretty good. Good to um get it out our system in game one, you know. So, we’ll be ready for it game two. We should be ready. Seems like one of the turning points in the game is when Jaden got his third and fourth fouls early in the third quarter. Did his absence affect you guys on either end of the court, do you think? Yeah, hell yeah. I mean, he’s best defender we got and um they usually put the five on him and we play through him in the pocket. Um and he makes the right play over and over again and he’s super aggressive. So when he’s not on the floor, it definitely hurts for sure. Is there anything about their style of play that is wearing over the course of a 48 minute game where you know maybe you can handle it in the first half, but they keep coming with that style. It gets tougher as the game goes on. Um, no, not really. Uh, I just got to I definitely got to shoot more. I only took 13 shots, but um I’ll say probably just get off the ball a little more, play without the ball. I think that’ll be the answer because playing on the ball, they just gonna double and sit in the gaps all day. So, got to go watch some film and pick it apart. We’ll figure it out. Did your ankle affect your shooting at all? Julius and just mentioned that, you know, it was good to get it out in in game one. It was kind of similar situation against the Warriors. I mean, what do you draw from that if anything, the way you guys were able to bounce back against them and take that ser? Uh, we prove that we can do it. Uh, but we got to make it happen, too. you know, we can’t just be like, “All right, we did it last year.” So, you know what I mean? We gonna do it again. Like, this is a great team. They’ve been playing great basketball all year. So, I mean, we Good thing is we proved to oursel that we can do it, but you know, we got to make it happen. And I know you said that the the angle’s not bothering you, but of those 13 shots, you only took one in the paint all night. Is that more just the defense that they’re throwing at you or seeing something different? The explosiveness? That’s not what we’re used to seeing from you. Yeah. Um, yeah, they’re just in the gaps. Yeah. It was kind of hard to get to the paint honestly. I mean, regardless of that’s my game, but they definitely took that aspect of my game away tonight from getting downhill. So, good job to those guys. And then Nas in the locker room, he just felt like he liked the shots that he was getting, that Dante was getting, that uh Nquille was getting, they just weren’t falling. So, as the two guys are sort of the the leaders of this group, do you say something to them after this or is it just keep shooting? Yeah, they good. They know. Um they got great looks, just couldn’t make them. A lot of them went in and out. Um and that’s going to help us me that’s going to help me and J. Um you know cuz they usually make those shots, so we’re not really worried about them making shots. Yeah, they’ll be all right. Julius, was it as simple as they started making shots and you guys had trouble making shots? What was the difference from the first half to the second half? Uh, I mean, yeah, that, um, you know, I said it before, our defense, uh, in the second half, you know, giving them, what was that? 35 a quarter. You know, we can’t do that. Um, you know, I’m always going to hold myself accountable. Five turnovers, it’s way too much. I can’t do that. Uh, so I mean, we can say it’s misses and makes. Um, and it is a miss and make league, but regardless, we got to defend at a high level. And um, especially on the road. Especially on the road. So, yeah. And this is only your guys’ third loss of the postseason. I remember after the first loss against the Lakers, you said you were a little bit confused. Remember, there was like, oh, it’s like a zone. Um, after the loss against the Warriors, you said you unders post game, you’re like, I understood what I need to do next game to uh apply it. Where are you kind of on that that spectrum? like do you feel like you know what the answers are to attack it? Um yeah, next game. Yeah, I feel great. Yeah. Um yeah, just sitting in the gaps and double team all day. So should be all right. Play without the ball a little more. Get a little more cardio in. Should be good. Thanks, guys. Thanks.

Minnesota Timberwolves vs Oklahoma City Thunder – FULL GAME 1 HIGHLIGHTS | May 20, 2025 | 2025 NBA Playoffs

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