Mile High Malaise: Wolves Fall in Game 1 + Adjustments for Game 2

The Minnesota Timberwolves fell into a familiar trap in Game 1, showing flashes of brilliance followed by a lack of mental toughness and maturity. Host Steve Hartman breaks down why holding Denver to 116 points should have been a winning formula and how the Wolves let the game slip away through a "sticky" offense and constant complaining to the officials.

In this episode, we dive deep into:

• The Rudy & Bench Bright Spots: Rudy Gobert looked every bit the four-time Defensive Player of the Year while guarding Nikola Jokic one-on-one. Plus, Steve likes the energy brought by Donte DiVincenzo and Ayo Dosunmu, who combined for 26 points and provided a much-needed defensive spark.
• The Jaden McDaniels Mystery: Jaden came out of the gates blazing with 10 first-quarter points, but then nearly vanished from the offense. We discuss the need for more consistent touches for the "X-Factor".
• The "Ant" Factor: Anthony Edwards was a perfect 5-for-5 at the rim but struggled everywhere else. Is his knee the reason he’s settling for contested jumpers, or is it a lack of focus?.
• Game 2 Blueprint: To head back to Minnesota tied 1-1, the Wolves must stop "chucking" and start punishing Denver’s lack of rim protection. Steve explores why more Kyle Anderson minutes and a "small and fast" lineup might be the key to breaking down the Nuggets' defense.

Can the Wolves find their offensive rhythm and level the series? Tune in for the full tactical breakdown!

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Bag in there, back in them, back again. Whoa, whoa, yeah, yeah. Hey everyone, and welcome to the Splas City Basketball Podcast, your go-to basketball podcast. We're diving deep into the game that matters most to Minnesotans and the land of 10,000 likes. I am your host, Steve Hartman. The Wolves Ball to Denver 116-105 in game one of the NBA playoffs. I'll break down what I liked, what I didn't like, and what I think the Wolves need to do in game two to come away with a win and even up that series. But before we tip today's episode, make sure to take a minute. If you wouldn't mind, follow Splash City Podcast on Instagram, Facebook, and follow, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts like Apple, Spotify, and Amazon. Really appreciate you listening. Really appreciate your following the podcast and leaving comments, leaving a review when you get a chance. You can even listen to the podcast on your connected device like Amazon Alexa. All right, the Wolves battled yesterday in game one. It came out hot, got off to a 10-point lead, but the Nuggets rally and they were too much for the Wolves in game one. Let's get into it. All right, the Wolves fell into the trap that they've fallen into most of the year. Um, a little bit lack of, I don't know, maturity, mental toughness. Again, complaining about the calls, complaining about the officials. Jaden McDaniels gets a technical foul. Julius Randle gets a technical foul. Um, just kind of some of the things offensively, ball movement-wise, struggle with. There were some positives though, and I want to start there with the positive. Um, going into the the series in my last episode, I talked about Rudy Gobert legacy series, being able to um play Jokic one-on-one. And I thought for the most part, Rudy looked like that defensive player of the year that he's been four times. He forced four Joker turnovers in the first quarter alone. Um, thought he was active defensively. He finished with a double-double, 17 points on eight of nine shooting. Um, no block shots in this game, but I think that was more um how Jokic didn't really go at him directly one-on-one too often. And uh, you know, Rudy held up. I know Jokic had a triple-double, 25 points, but I think when, you know, as you're watching the game early, especially, Rudy was active, his hands were active, he was making life difficult for Joker. So um overall, you know, I really thought Rudy played a great game on both ends of the court. Um, he took nine shots and made eight of them. I think if you can get that kind of production every game from Rudy, you're gonna take it. Um two assists, so he he goes over his assist number, I think uh over under on his assist was 0.5. Uh he played he played well in in all facets. Um, I would like to see them get him more involved early. Um, and this is kind of indicative of the entire game, but he took one shot in the first, he took five shots in the second, zero in the third, and three in the fourth. Like there's no consistency amongst the players in terms of shots uh taken. Jaden McDaniels is very similar when you look at when his shots came um and when they dry up, and I think that's where you see the wolves struggle a little bit. And so um, again, I thought Rudy did a great job defensively. They kind of had the the I think defensive philosophy of guarding him one-on-one when Rudy's in the game and and he held up. I think going into the game, if you thought Murray and Jokic would combine for um 55 points, I would take that. Um, I think holding Denver to 116 is a winning formula for the Wolves defensively. Defensively was not their issue today in this game. Uh, I think if you can hold Denver to 116 most nights in this series, you're gonna feel pretty good about your chances. My second positive takeaway from this game was I love the way Dante, DiVincenzo, and Io Desumu played. I thought their energy, both offensively and defensively, was fantastic. Dante transitioned defense, breaks up a two-on-one, that would have led to a dunk in, I think it was the third or fourth quarter. Io had a similar play early. Actually, where he broke up a fast break, turns around, looks at his teammates, and he's asking, where is everybody? Um, I think those two guys defensively, their effort, their energy was good. I know um Jamal Murray had a pretty big game, but honestly, Murray had 30 points, but he only shot seven of 22. So Murray made a living. He had over half his points at the free throw line, which some of those extremely questionable. The the call on Jaden early with the three-pointer, what they call it a flagrant. He gets his three free throws there. There was a couple other plays um that kind of stood out as questionable calls. I I know Coach Finch was not happy with the officiating, especially on Murray. Um, the wolf shot 19 free throws as a team, and Murray shot 16 by himself. And I wouldn't say many of those were overly aggressive. Um side note, kind of a tangent. We were talking uh watching the game yesterday at back channel brewing. Again, great place to watch a game. But we were talking about how what's interesting in the NBA right now is all these guys, you know, SGA does it and Luca does it, but you're on the bounce and you get any kind of contact, any bump, it's not a foul. They don't call the foul on the drive until you go in your shooting motion. So my question becomes why is it not a foul when you're dribbling, but it is when you're shooting? Um, you know, that that to me doesn't square. So the NBA, I think, just on an officiating perspective, like needs to figure that out. Like, just because you go into a shooting motion, if there wasn't a foul up until that point, and you go and shoot the ball and there's contact on the drive, I don't understand how that can be a foul. Anyway, side discussion. Um, I love Dante. I love Io. Um, Dante, he was four of nine, four for seven from three. I felt like there were opportunities where he should have probably got the ball more. Again, when you look at his uh field goal attempts, he goes two for two in the first. He gets one shot in the second quarter and he makes it. So he's three of three from three at that point. Third quarter, he takes four and he's one for four, but um again, one for two from three. And then late in the fourth, he missed his two three-pointer. So I would like to see them get get these guys going, get more rhythm with Dante. Um Io, again, I thought played a really strong game. 28 minutes wouldn't be shocked to see him be that the top scorer, minute getter off the bench, just with Nas Reid's shoulder. It looks like he's struggling a little bit. And so um, you know, I thought overall Io played played well, five for tenth in the field. He didn't get a rebound, which is uh, I think a little bit rare for him just because he is a pretty good rebounding guard. Um, but uh strong game from Io. And I think if if we can get the Wolves can get that kind of effort from Io and Dante where you're getting you know 26 points out of those two guys, um that that's that's a good formula. I think the difference right now for the Wolves is that Nas Reed's not giving you a whole lot, and I think that's gonna be a problem because I think they probably need to outscore uh Denver's bench. Uh it was 22. I think Den Wolves had 22 off the bench, Nuggets um had 20. So, you know, you're you're kind of looking for Nas Reed to give you double figures almost every night, and uh he just doesn't have it right now. I I don't know if it's the shoulder, but he looked out of sorts kind of from the start. Five points, two for six, only played 17 minutes, committed some fouls, you know, foul four fouls for for Nas. So your your spark up the bench is Io right now. Uh, you know, we used to count on Nikhil Alexander Walker and Nas Reed. Um, and then it was Nante and Nas Reed, and now it's Io and Nas Reed. And and you got to get more than probably five from Nas Reed to feel good in this series. So um Io, I think Dante uh are are key to this series. I think, especially if you can get more opportunities from Dante when he's got it going, they gotta be able to find him. I think what we're seeing with this team is that there is an element of gotta get mine. And I haven't shot in a while. And and when Dante gets, he comes out three for three on threes, like why is he not getting more shots at that point? Um, you had a you know, a 10-point lead. You know, that's gotta be when Aaron Gordon goes out with two fouls right away, that's gotta be a bigger lead than 10. And they just didn't have that shot selection, uh, which I'll get to later. My third positive from this game is Jaden McDaniel's fast start. Like I love the way he came out of the out of the gates. Um, I think he's another guy that when you look at his shots, he gets um five in the first quarter, makes three of them, being aggressive. He's got 10 points in the first quarter, takes a single shot in a second. And it's I think it's a fast break dunk that he got um off of steal. Why is he leading you in scoring in the first quarter and then getting only a single shot in the second? I realize he maybe didn't play as many minutes. He played eight in the second, but playing eight minutes and getting one field goal attempt for Jaden McDaniels is not the way. And then in the third, he goes two for six. Uh, and in the fourth quarter, he gets one. Again, I do not understand. And I think this is uh going gonna be one of the negatives, is just like the struggles they have consistently moving the basketball, finding the right play, getting the teammates involved. Um, so Jaden, I thought, played pretty well. Um, he finished with eight rebounds, which is which is great from him. That to me, that that's the barometer of Jaden's activity. When he's getting rebounds, he's playing well. So 16 points, eight rebounds, three assists. Um, he was only six for 14, but like I said, he started three for five. So he he goes three for nine the rest of the way. And I think a lot of that is the shots he's getting. Um, you know, he missed him and Nas both, I think, missed a couple near the hoop uh in the paint that were probably shots they normally make. So you'll live with that. But um Jaden's gonna have opportunities this series. He uh was the X Factor, according to Andrew Dukowitz on on the last pod, the preview pod. And I think he was right. Like when he came out of the gates blazing, I thought, yep, this is 100% the game plan. They're gonna put two on Anthony Edwards. Um, you got to move the ball, get Jaden going downhill, get him comfortable, get him in a rhythm. And they did to start, and then they went away from it. And he took one shot in the second quarter, just really couldn't find a rhythm. Um, and when you look at the the shots for for the other guys, um, you know, that that's kind of the story of this game. I think the Wolves are gonna be better off if if Edwards and Randall aren't leading them in shot attempts. I I think that's, I mean, they they will lead them in shot attempts, but I think these other guys need the ball more, and I think they need to trust them more. Like Rudy getting nine field goal attempts is great because he's gonna make seven or eight of them. Um, Dante probably needed more than nine after he starts three for three. Um, I'd love to see Jaden get a few more shot attempts as well. So um love Jaden, love his game. Um, of course, the technical late push on Joker, I don't understand it. I don't know what that accomplishes. He literally just scored, and then you give them points right back. And when you're down, I don't know why what goes through your mind to do that, but um, he needs to not do that and do the things he was doing in the first quarter, driving hard to the basket. He shot four free throws in the first quarter, he shot four free throws for the game. Um, so the wolves can complain all they want about the free throw attempt and disparity, and I think some of it's warranted, but you as an offense, you need to be more aggressive. Randall needs to go to the basket, Jaden needs to go to the basket, and Ant needs to get to the basket. That everybody knows that's the formula to attack Denver's defense. And when you take fadeaway jumpers, um, you know, the ball doesn't move side to side and you're just jacking shots, that ain't the formula. Um, so Jaden got four free throws in the first quarter because he was being aggressive. The ball was moving and he was attacking. They need more of that. They need to find that more consistently in game two. And when things do start to bog down, like they did in the second and third quarter, you got to get back to that quicker. It can't take six or eight minutes before you realize we need to start attacking again. It needs to happen after two possessions. So um I want to see more Jaden consistently through the game, getting shots off the swing, swing, um, whatever that looks like. I think the other thing that I like, I mentioned it a little bit with Jaden getting rebounds. He finishes with eight. Anthony Edwards finished with nine on TV. You could see him wincing sometimes when he came down off a rebound and his knee was bugging him, obviously. Um, but if you can get 17 rebounds from Ant and Jaden, uh that that's a good sign for the team uh that their activity is is strong. So um overall numbers, you know, they they have 43 rebounds. Denver had finished with 47. So you're you're in the ball game. Um, obviously Jokic is going to clean up a ton of those, but Rudy had 10. So um, you know, I think part of it is just field goal percentage, right? That's indicative of making shots. The wolves actually shot a little bit better from the field. They shot uh and made one more three, had a higher percentage on threes, but really the difference was was the the free throw line where the the nuggets go 30 for 33 and the wolves are 14 for 19. So um, but I think that's again crashing the boards, getting easy buckets, attacking the rim, knowing that Denver doesn't have a way to slow you down there. Um they just don't. They I mean Aaron Gordon is probably their best rim protector, but he's gonna be guarding Julius um sometimes on the perimeter or Jaden um on the perimeter. So um I think there's there's things that you can get at the rim which could drive up your free throw percentage um in that regard. So um just to recap, my my four positives for game one Rudy Gobert, overall game, strong offensively, defensively, looked a part of as good as anybody can be, Garden Jokic. Um, Dante and Ile really like the way they they brought it. Um would love to see that Dante get a few more shots if he's if he's making them early, which he was. Um Jaden McDaniels, fast start, got to find a way to keep him involved. He needs at least two, three shots a quarter, not not five, and then one. Uh I don't think that's gonna keep him involved. And then um our guard rebounding, you know, Ant and Jaden getting after the glass, just being kind of team rebounding uh overall uh was positive. So let's now let's flip over to the negative side. What kind of slowed them down, and I think some of it were things that we saw all year. I think the biggest thing going into the series I said was Ant's health, and he just doesn't look the same. Um, he had moments again, he had uh five attacks at the rim, he was five for five at the rim. And I don't know if that bothers his knee more, and that's why he's settling for jump shots. Um but you could tell he could get to the if he could get to the basket, it was easy, easy money. I mean, he was finishing around the rim. I just don't really understand why um he goes away with from that unless it's a health thing, uh, which it which it very well could be. But defensively, not great um for ant. Um, but offensively, we just gotta stop settling for jump shots. I mean, it it's just so obvious. It was obvious going into the series. It's even more obvious after watching game one. He's five for five at the rim, and he's four for fourte everywhere else. I mean, it's pretty simple. And if if it's his knee, then I don't know what to do. But there are points where the offense got bogged down and he's dribbling and dribbling and dribbling, and then he shoots like a fadeaway 20-footer, three-pointer, which again, we all know Ant can make those shots when he's cooking, when he's on, but it just wasn't there yesterday. So I would love to see him get downhill more, get to the basket more. You know, he played 38 minutes. Feel like maybe some of those minutes could have gone uh to someone else. I don't know who it is, you know, if it's bones, if it's TJ Shannon or what it is, but like you can't ant just doesn't have the juice right now. Uh, and again, I don't know if that's his knee or what's going on. But I mean, he had 22 points, nine rebounds, seven assists. When you look at the statistics, he had only a minus three rating, so he was actually pretty good. But I don't know if there's anything they can do to like get him down to 35 minutes and just he's more explosive in those minutes so that he can get to the rim. Um, or if he just accepts that and moves the ball more, I think we're fine. I actually think um when the ball was moving and swinging, they were they were good. So maybe he's more of a decoy in game two. Um, you know, maybe you're you're getting a little bit better shot selection. Can you still get your 22 and take it on 15 shots and 10 of them are at the rim rather than five at the rim? I think that would be a huge, huge swing for the Wolves if Ant can get downhill to the basket with more frequency. And when he's not doing that, he's spraying it and he's moving the ball. Or, you know, when you because when he gets the ball out of his hands and it swings, it eventually gets back to him. But maybe it's off a Jaden attack and it's a kick out for an open three with your feet set, and you don't have to put as much pressure on your body to take a hard, um, contested, contested three late in a shot clock or something. So I just I think that's the biggest thing. Like if Ant's not ant, if he doesn't have the the burst and the energy because he's ailing a little bit, it's gonna be hard to win the series. Just it it just is like you need your best players to play their best in the playoffs, especially to beat a team as good as Denver, who has two of the best offensive players in basketball. They need Ant healthy. So uh it's a big it's a big worry for me. Um, I think they can manage it, I think there's ways around it, but um that that would be number one negative for me in this game is after a week off, he still didn't quite look like himself. Second thing that concerned me was shot selection. I've kind of talked about it a lot, but the wolves just fell in love with these jump shots, and I feel like that's what Denver wants, especially Julius Randle, to do. Like they know they don't have shot blockers behind. Um, the wolves need to attack. I you see glimpses like Julius and in the mid or the high post, kind of the elbow area, catch and then just go to the basket. Gotta have more of that. You gotta have more ant to the basket, Jaden to the basket. Like nobody on Denver is gonna block Jaden going to the basket. Like they just they just aren't. So the Wolves, you know, you got Dante who was making threes yesterday. Um, you got Io who who had three for seven from three. Like, there's gonna be guys who are in a groove from three, but you can't just force those threes. Like Denver wants you to do that. Um, so I think settling too much, you know, me and my putties always talk about oh, the wolves are chucking. Um, you know, if you're in a rhythm and you feel like you got it, fine. Like you got to take some jump shots. There's no like you can't just do one thing in the NBA. These guys are too good. But man, there was a lot of possessions in that third quarter where it was dribble, dribble, dribble, fadeaway mid-range, dribble, dribble, dribble, fadeaway three. Um, and that just can't happen. Like it, you know, one or two possessions, and that that's why you saw Mike Conley get in the game when he did, because Finch is looking for that guy to pass the ball. There was a couple times where um Conley would catch it, and he was immediately moving it because he knows that ball needs to get to the other side. He knows that ball needs to move. Um, and so that's I think if if Ant and Julius specifically are gonna catch it, pound it, hold it, um, the wolves are gonna be in some trouble. Uh, they they gotta find more ways to get that ball popping. Um, maybe it's off a transition and immediately it swings the other side and they can get something going. Um, but the the one pass and shot possessions, the ball. Ball sticky. Like these are all things that we've talked about for years with this team. And Finch talks about it. The players talk about it. And I think that's what's so frustrating is to see that, you know, all we heard was flipping the switch, wolves are turning it on in the playoffs. Um turning it on also means executing. And turning it on means staying focused on the game plan. And in game one, I just don't think they had that. Um there was just there was just a lot of things that you could see early in the game. Uh they had some energy. They were forcing turnovers. I said, if we win fast break points, we're gonna have a better chance because that means our defense is more active. We're forcing turnovers and we're getting uh out in transition, right? Obviously getting defensive rebounds. Um and the trend the fast break points were tied 14-14. So we don't win that advantage, we don't win the turnover advantage. Um, we weren't terrible with the turnovers. Um, I think Denver averages 12 and they had 13, we had 13. Um, I will I'll take us having 13 turnovers, but you got to turn um turn that into something more positive with your offensive possessions than we did. Um, third thing, negative either uh again, same thing we've seen. Just way too much complaining about the officials. Um, you can see Nas Reed, you can see Jaden get so frustrated, and it's so um obvious and it's so apparent when it's gonna happen. We need those guys locked in, focused on the game, moving on, and I know it's who they are, and you're not gonna just change it overnight, but man, you just can't do these things. Um it's frustrating at times, 100%. But um, you know, that though those are things that they gotta move on from. You gotta play the game. All right. So let's move on to game two. What do I think needs to happen in game two? I mean, that's not gonna be a surprise if you've been listening at all. I they gotta get more aggressive at the rim. They just do. They gotta punish Joker, they gotta punish um Valentunas when he's in there. Um, you know, Ant was five for five inside the restricted area, Randall was six for ten in the paint, one of six outside the paint. Those two specifically need to get past that initial defender and get downhill. And it doesn't have to be to score, but if you get if ant is five for five at the rim, you're gonna bet they're collapsing. At some point, you're gonna have to. You gotta rotate, you gotta slow that down. Um, but when you go away from it, they don't feel like, okay, I I think the Nuggets are smart enough to say, like, we don't believe that Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle can stick with that focus for the entirety of the game. I think they're betting on them settling. So those guys need to get downhill. Jaden needs to get there. Io also is another guy that can do that. So um, if the wolves take I would say if Edwards and Randall get more than half of their shots combined from the paint or restricted area, the wolves are gonna win. Um we'll see if they can do it for a full 48 minutes. I still think Kyle, I know um he's not like your typical key player. But man, if Julius is gonna struggle with that in defensive intensity and and Nas Reed looks kind of hurt still, I think we need more Kyle Anderson because first of all, he's a guy that will move the ball. He doesn't have to be worried about his shot getting blocked. So again, he gets to the paint, he can make those little eight to ten foot shots in the paint. Um, he moves the ball faster. He can facilitate from the high post. He'll throw the lob to Rudy on that pass that Randall had yesterday, pick and roll with Rudy, and he throws it right at his ankles or his knees. It's like that is never a place that Rudy's gonna catch that pass. It's just it's just not. So it's it's a matter of do the Wolves trust Kyle to play 15 minutes um on Gordon or if if he's in the game, will he play against um Jokic when Rudy's out of the game? I mean, that's a discussion that I'm sure Finch and the staff will have, but um I just think when you're in a game where ball movement's an issue and assignments and execution is an issue, Kyle Anderson does those things well. He may not do everything well, but he does those two things well. So I'm thinking maybe we might see 15 plus minutes of Kyle Anderson uh game two. And then the last adjustment that the Wolves could make is just getting a little bit smaller and faster. Um, you know, outside of Aaron Gordon and Jokic, there aren't a ton of guys on Denver's lineup that you're worried about size and getting to the rim. Um Cam Johnson's more of a catch and shoot guy. Tim Hardaway's a catch and shoot guy. Will they get out and transition and get to the rim? Sure. But in the half court, that's not their game. Um I wouldn't be shocked to see more Io and Dante lineups uh in the backcourt with maybe Jaden and Rudy in the at the four and five, or or you know, maybe it's Kyle and Kyle and Nas together at the five, four and five. Um just more pace, more um speed, more attacking, more opportunities to to break down Denver's half-court defense. Those are the things that I'm thinking could um be adjusted quicker in in game game two. Um I thought Mike played great minutes in game two or game one. Um kind of did what what you need Mike to do. He moves the ball, he made a corner three. Um, you know, that that's that's all you're gonna ask for from Mike Conley at this point of the in his career. Um, but you know, Bones, maybe that's another guy. He he looked a little lost in game one, maybe game two, he looks a little more comfortable and could come in and and get something going, get hot. I mean, he's he's one of those guys, right? That if he comes in and makes his first shot, it's it's gonna open the floodgates a little bit for Bones. Bones only played five minutes, but I just feel like with Nas right now, not looking healthy and Julius, you never know what effort you're gonna get. Like you're gonna need more bench guys to give you some juice. Um, so maybe it's TJ Shannon getting a run. Um, he looked fantastic the last couple games of the year, and um I think probably deserves some time at this point. And we know Finch doesn't love playing playing younger guys in the playoffs, especially. But um, you know, that's those are my thoughts, at least for game two. Like we'll see what they come back with. Um, they were certainly competitive in game one. They had chances. Even late in the fourth quarter, they had a chance to, I think they had it uh down to four at one point. And so um, you know, that that third quarter just killed them. You know, you got outscored by, I think it was 12 points in the third quarter. Uh, kind of hard to overcome that. Um, you know, when you're tied at halftime and they just come out in the third quarter and kind of punish you and you're taking bad shots. That's what it comes down to. Wolves should not have a problem scoring 115, 120 points a game against this Denver defense, but comes down to shot selection um and moving the basketball. It's it's simple things. It seems repetitive, but it's been this team's downfall for how many years? So um want to see more aggression, get to the basket, get to the free throw line, punish, punish the smaller nuggets inside, um, and see what happens. Might open up some things uh on the perimeter. But um Denver certainly didn't play a perfect game either. Uh they didn't score their average points per game. Gordon was in foul trouble. Um, they didn't get a ton off their bench either. You know, um Tim Hardaway only had seven, Bruce Brown had eight. Brown actually probably played the best uh uh from the bench, guys. Five steals. Um so I think you know the Wolves need to figure out kind of they have enough weapons, but they need to be able to trust certain guys in certain moments to say, like, hey, you can you can you got the matchup here? You can beat your guy, but how are you gonna beat him is is kind of you know up for debate, it seems like when it shouldn't be. So I'd love to see J Jaden get more touches, just consistent touches. Like if he he's been so efficient all year shooting the basketball, um, I mean he he was a 45% three-point shooter for a while. I think he's still over 40. He's a 50% shooter from the field. Get up 20 shots. Um, Brown's gonna be on ant. Christian Brown, Bruce Brown are gonna be on ant. Jaden's got Cam Johnson or Jamal Murray guarding him, or Tim Hardaway Jr. guarding him. Like Jadens should win those matchups, and they need to trust their teammates, move the ball, find the open guy, find the attack lane, uh, find a gap, and get there. Um, I don't think defense was the issue in game one. I think the defense held up despite Murray scoring 30, 16 of them at the free throw line. Maybe you get a friendlier whistle in game two, and and things flip. So um it's not over by any means. 1-0 on the road in Denver. You come home with a split, you got to feel great about it. Um, we'll see what happens in game two. Appreciate y'all listening. Looking forward to having some more guests on as we get further in the playoffs. And um, hopefully Monday night, Wolves can get uh get that game two when we come back to Minnesota tied up. And uh we'll have another show probably Monday, Monday night uh after game two, probably Tuesday morning. So watch for that as we go through the playoffs. And I appreciate again you listening. This has been the Splash City basketball podcast. Begging in, begging in, back again.

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