The Thunder looked dominant as they pulled away from the Timberwolves in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday. Minnesota’s star was unfazed by the 26-point loss, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
Anthony Edwards just thinks he needs to be more assertive in order for the Timberwolves to turn things around.
“I definitely got to shoot more,” Edwards said. “I only took 13 (bleeping) shots. … Probably just get off the ball a little more, play without the ball. I think that will be the answer. Because playing on the ball, they’re just going to double and sit in the gaps all day. So, got to go watch some film and pick it apart. We’ll figure it out.”
Edwards averaged 26.8 points and 6.2 assists while taking 22.4 shots per game against the Lakers in the opening round. In the conference semifinals against Golden State, he averaged 26.2 points and 5.6 assists on 21.8 shots per game.
In the conference finals opener, Edwards had 18 points, three assists and four turnovers and took only 13 shots in 37 minutes. All but one of his attempts came from outside the lane.
“I mean, they clogged the paint,” Edwards said. “That’s what they do. They don’t got much size down there, so they bank on us not making shots, I guess. Because every time I go to the rim it’s like four people in the paint.”
Edwards and his teammates fired away from beyond the arc and shot mostly blanks, going 15-for-51 from long range.
“We had good looks, we just have to make shots,” guard Donte DiVincenzo said. “Myself, I have to make a couple shots and it loosens up the defense for Ant. It’s a domino effect.”
Edwards briefly left the game when he tweaked his right ankle in the first quarter but said that had nothing to do with his performance. “I feel great,” he said.
I thought they would struggle with 3 point shooting. You can’t shoot 50%, like they did against the Warriors, and not come back down to earth. Now, the T-wolves have to figure out how to defend the paint. OKC scored 54 there. They also scored 33 points off of turnovers.
They are going to pull Gobert out of the paint. Naz and Randle are not solid paint defenders. Going to be interesting how they adjust, but OKC has counters. I didn’t expect Kenrich to play.
Wolves finished 4th in 3 PT shooting at 39%, and also ranked 5th in 3PT makes. It’s not like they were ranked 20-30 when they faced Warriors. Better team won. They need the bench to come thru otherwise it’s smooth sailing for OKC.
I was talking about ‘regression to the mean’. If they shoot an extreme amount, 50%, they will eventually shoot below their average to get back to their average. I’m not knocking their shooting ability at all. It just kinda happens to teams. Prolonged wins streaks are followed up by losing streaks.
The refs also need to figure out when someone falls down they aren’t being fouled. They are just trying to win an Oscar.
SGA and Caruso were embarrassing.
definitely friendlier whistles for OKC than for Minny. It was pretty obvious. That said, there are some solid critiques of the wolves to do better.
Refs were playing the savior in Q1. OKC should have had half the points they got by the end of Q1. SGA was locked down and couldn’t hit the side of a barn… but just put him on the line, slow things down, keep it close. I’m not in it for either of these teams but faking some contact and throwing up the ball is not a beautiful game.
They shoot too many 3s for a team with no real shooters. A team like that will be cold more times than hot. OKC had great strategy of attacking.
OKC has a superior roster and an overall better team. They are in a different class to the Wolves. The Warriors with Curry might have had a chance, but this Wolves team has no business being in the WCF.
At what point would you call Ant a real shooter? Not saying he currently is, even with his volume and percentage, but curious as to what it would take for that label
Currently his athletic ability ranks higher than his shooting. Him driving and likely getting a bucket or drawing a foul is better than him shooting a 3. He is a solid shooter but him taking more 3s than driving bails out opponents. Now he may have a Vince Carter career in that once the athleticism goes he has made the shooting better to stay another 5-7 years.
Warriors+Curry would have put up a bigger fight than the mid Wolves who should have been bounced in the first round.
No, D-league GS get blown out with Curry. He and Butler would be locked down. And GS has nobody else on offense. Unless you expect a mystery D-leaguer scores 30.
Delusional at best.
Timberpuppies need Jonny Flynn.
MIN has plenty of shooting, and they can be an excellent defensive team as well (when not in capitulation mode). Their biggeset flaw is they’re too sloppy with the ball. They’re the worst team I’ve seen in this year’s playoffs in ball security, and its not like they’ve got a lot of good facilitators. Conley isn’t really the problem, except in so far as he’s not really playing a full time PG role. The starting group lacks a third ball handler, so maybe play DiV with Conley and Edwards more. In any event, they have too many guys trying to be facilitators without the skill set to do it with a good risk-reward (the problem starts with Randle, who was otherwise great, but it certainly doesn’t end with him).
Ant-man ain’t afraid to talk, but there comes a point where you need to back it up.
He ain’t got much of a playoff track record, does he?
Okc doesnt have size? Chet is 7’3 and Hartenstein is probably 7ft too lol