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1:00

This episode is brought to you by State Farm. You

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might say all kinds of stuff from things

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a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Welcome

1:35

to Flagrin House, a

1:37

Minnesota Timberwolves lifestyle podcast.

1:41

All right, we got our guy

1:43

Kyle Taggy in the house here,

1:46

just slinging fastballs on Lakers Twitter.

1:48

Were you bookmarking things throughout the

1:50

series and then revisiting them systematically

1:52

last night? Yeah.

1:54

Okay, that's why thought it was happening. It's

1:57

all in fun, right? Like if

1:59

anyone who takes... on social media too

2:01

seriously kind of kind of a bum, but

2:04

uh, yeah, just you know, there's some things

2:06

that when aunt did the the gun Three

2:08

-point gesture at Luca and a lot of

2:10

Lakers fans like oh, let's revisit this one

2:12

later Yeah, well it is 1130 Pacific time

2:14

the wolves just one four to one would

2:16

you like to do that now or this

2:18

one guy was like I'm betting my whole

2:20

bank account on the Lakers now It's like

2:23

okay would what's your Venmo? I got you

2:25

because you're you're a broke blank bleep so

2:27

uh fun time last night, but I will

2:29

say and I Maybe we can start it

2:31

here. I

2:33

am loving it. But

2:36

I thought I would wake up today

2:38

feeling a little more excited and to

2:40

be honest, I mean, excitement's there, but

2:43

I just I'm not like that hyped

2:45

because you and I were, I think,

2:47

two of the very few small people

2:49

in this market that I thought they

2:52

were going to win. Me too. I

2:54

said six because I thought it would

2:56

just be one of those things where

2:58

you got to get back home and

3:01

sleep in your own bed to close

3:03

it out. But

3:05

five was the magic number and you could make

3:07

an argument that it could have been a sweep,

3:09

right? Even that game too, when they played so

3:12

poorly, they had opportunities to win

3:14

it. So I'm beyond excited for what this

3:16

next round could look like and moving on

3:18

the first time in franchise history that this

3:20

team has ever gone back to back seasons

3:23

getting out of the first round. But it

3:25

felt more like another day in the work

3:27

week today waking up because the

3:29

team that we cover is just vastly better than

3:31

the team that they defeated. Yes, I want to

3:33

revisit that in a moment and a bunch of

3:36

other things. We'll get to a random wool for

3:38

the week for the first time in a couple

3:40

of weeks here because of just all of our

3:42

travel schedules and whatnot. But Dennis Kirk is here

3:45

for riding season just in time this weekend. It's

3:47

like 70 meteorologist Macadak here. It's

3:49

going to be like 77 and sunny this

3:51

weekend in the Twin Cities. So if you

3:54

are a motorcycle rider. You like to get

3:56

on the ATV, UTVs out on your land,

3:58

your dirt bikes, or maybe you're just a

4:00

sicko and you're already waiting for snowmobile season.

4:03

Like producer Ross hates when it's hot outside. He's

4:05

probably looking at snowmobiles. Dennis Kirk

4:07

has over 150, 185 ,000

4:09

parts of parallel and accessories

4:11

for riding season. When you

4:13

order before 6pm central time,

4:15

they ship the same day.

4:17

Free shipping on orders over

4:20

$89. So DennisKirk .com helping

4:22

to power flagrant howls here.

4:24

Yeah, the level of shock

4:26

and dismay among Lakers fans,

4:28

there was one, because now

4:30

in my Twitter algorithm, throughout

4:32

the last couple weeks, I get like the

4:34

big Laker fan accounts and stuff popping in

4:36

there with their stuff. Yeah, and

4:39

there was one that was just

4:41

tweeting in disbelief, just tweeting through his

4:43

feelings. I can't remember the account,

4:45

but it was five games, really,

4:47

like shock that it just is

4:49

over in five games. And

4:52

I agree, I'm also shocked that the series

4:54

ended in five games. Because if the Wolves

4:56

wouldn't have gone five for 25 from three

4:58

in game two, it would have and should

5:01

have ended in a sweep. I'm

5:03

more shocked that it wasn't a sweep

5:05

looking back to the series than I

5:07

am that the Lakers didn't like push

5:10

through. And the screenshot that keeps going

5:12

around too of the ESPN, 10 different

5:14

analysts, all the NBA experts, not

5:16

only did all 10 of them incorrectly

5:19

foolishly think that the Lakers were gonna win the

5:21

series. I think all of

5:23

them had Lakers in six or five.

5:26

So this is one of

5:29

the craziest misreads of a

5:31

series or maybe it was

5:33

just great wishful thinking to

5:35

extend the LeBron James era

5:38

one more year and be

5:41

really fun to watch Luca and LeBron gel

5:43

together, I guess, but it was never rooted

5:46

in reality as we call before the series

5:48

started. I hadn't thought of

5:50

that, but I'm so glad you mentioned it. I

5:52

do think the only like national person who really

5:54

picked the wolves was Ryan Recillo, our guy. And

5:58

I never know when like all the ESPN

6:00

people, all the national pundits, the Gilbert Arenas

6:02

is the world who no one listens to

6:04

pick the Lakers just because it's safer. I

6:07

mean, I'll tell you, I every time I

6:09

sent a tweet during this series, it was

6:12

like, man, they're they're trying to find my

6:14

location. But if it's just that's the easier

6:16

way to do it or. And in that

6:18

case, whatever, you're just mailing it in like

6:21

people do with award ballots. But if that

6:23

was your real analysis, it is fairly concerning,

6:26

right? Like if you really thought that

6:28

the Lakers were going to win in

6:30

five and then the Wolves went in

6:32

five, I mean, that is, there is

6:34

such a giant delta between those two

6:37

outcomes that it, you know, it goes

6:39

back to that stupid Apple iOS analogy

6:41

I have of like, are you just

6:43

using an older software where Your Twitter

6:45

app is blue and not black because

6:47

I thought you actually did a great

6:49

job of pointing out when you did

6:51

like your favorite 10 or not favorite

6:53

10, but your top 10 players in

6:55

this series. I think

6:58

we have to like fully graduate away from,

7:00

oh, they have the best player in this

7:02

series. Yeah, I've talked about this with you

7:04

like football, two teams plan. I'm probably going

7:07

to lean the team that has the better

7:09

quarterback. But in the NBA now. who has

7:11

the, I mean the Bucks by far had

7:13

the better player in Giannis against the Pacers

7:16

and they had no chance and that was

7:18

even before the Dame injury and then once

7:20

he got out it was cooked but yeah

7:23

and in this series now in hindsight right

7:25

Phil like you're probably saying Ant was the

7:27

best player in the series but you had

7:29

to say Luca to start with he did

7:32

give you really good moments but the depth

7:34

of Minnesota and the fact that last night

7:36

Nas read I thought was terrible. and

7:39

Jaden had the foul trouble game. And it's

7:41

like, okay, cool, we'll take that ingredient out,

7:43

and we'll take that ingredient out, and then

7:45

we'll just throw in two other ingredients. The

7:47

best game Nikhil's played. You

7:49

get real nothing from Rudy Gobert in terms

7:51

of true production in the first four games.

7:53

He averages three and a half points a game

7:56

through one through four. And then last night he

7:58

has the best game of his career, which

8:00

I do want to talk about more. So,

8:03

yeah, just, it also has

8:05

got a reminder too that when this

8:07

comes out next, this summer, The Wolves

8:09

are going to have probably more nationally

8:11

televised games because Ant is continuing to

8:13

grow as a star. But I

8:15

used to really care about that stuff. I used to

8:17

really care when my favorite team wasn't talked about on

8:20

a podcast. And then you start to realize as you

8:22

get older, they just don't really watch it and they

8:24

don't care. And I don't want that

8:26

to be my coverage. I want Dane Moore to

8:28

cover this. I want Judd Zolgad. I want, you

8:30

know, Britt Robson. I want Jim Pete and Grady

8:32

to call my games. I don't need Doris Burke

8:35

and Richard Jefferson. So. Crunch wears no pants. Yeah,

8:37

yeah. Shout out to the homies there. Goosebumps. So,

8:40

I, uh, it was, I just

8:42

felt more after the Denver series,

8:44

of course, you felt ecstatic and,

8:46

you know, someone at this company

8:48

might have cried on the pod.

8:50

But after last night, I just

8:52

felt relieved because the better team

8:54

won, the better coach won,

8:57

the better organization won. And

8:59

it does set themselves up now where it's like,

9:01

okay, a couple days off. Let's figure

9:04

out who the next opponent is. But that

9:06

team is going to be a problem for

9:08

whoever they play in the second round. And

9:10

I think you guys talked about earlier today,

9:12

but there's really no reason now in my

9:14

heart that I don't see this team making

9:16

another Western Conference finals run like that. That

9:18

is like the expectation now, because they're going

9:20

to be favorited against either the Rockets or

9:22

the Warriors. Yeah, there's. And

9:25

that series continues tomorrow night. I believe

9:27

it's a Friday and then a Sunday

9:29

if it gets to a game seven

9:31

and Steph It's interesting because Steph Curry's

9:33

thumb looks like there's a golf ball.

9:35

Yeah attached to like the the top

9:37

knuckle. It's all inflamed and The Rockets

9:39

were apparently going at on the closeouts,

9:41

which is legal because hand is you

9:44

you can high -five a guy with

9:46

you guys, right? Like Luca high -five

9:48

dominance. No no call. Yep And they're

9:50

good, but they're they're going at his

9:52

hands. So who knows what he's going

9:54

to be like physically. I do think

9:56

the Warriors close it out and they

9:58

win one of the next two. I

10:00

think the Rockets would actually be the

10:03

easier quote unquote match up because they're

10:05

not a great shooting team. They're young.

10:07

They're an experienced and I just think

10:09

there's things the Wolves would do with

10:11

six days of preparation to win that

10:13

chess match. They're very well coached. So

10:15

I think the Warriors are the harder

10:17

out. I also think the

10:20

Wolves have a lot of match -up

10:22

advantages against the Warriors, but I want

10:24

the Warriors more than I've wanted anything

10:26

following and covering this team in 20

10:28

years, dude. Like it

10:30

would be storylines, smoke,

10:33

drama, legacies.

10:36

You line up the storylines and

10:39

the Wolves can knock them down,

10:41

right? Anthony Edwards, legend

10:43

killer. Luca Doncic,

10:45

LeBron James, Nikola Jokic, Kevin Durant, if

10:47

you want to put Devin Booker on

10:49

that list. Steph Curry being the next

10:51

pelt on the wall. Kobe and LeBron

10:53

never got to face each other in

10:56

a playoff series. Kobe

10:58

and Michael never got to face each

11:00

other. Kobe and LeBron and Michael, like

11:02

you don't oftentimes get the era crossover

11:04

battles like you did way back in

11:07

the day with Magic versus Jordan and

11:09

the NBA Files in 1990 or 1991.

11:12

but to watch this transformation

11:14

happen in front of us

11:16

in a seven game series.

11:19

And then there's the, the Draymond

11:21

Gobert physical altercations over the years.

11:23

There's Jimmy Butler, one of the

11:25

most hated figures among Timberwolves fans

11:27

coming back to an arena that

11:29

he usually dodges or finds some

11:31

ailment to sit out. Like, uh,

11:34

I just, man, I, it

11:36

would be theater dude for. Five,

11:38

six, seven games, however long that series goes. So

11:40

I definitely want it to be Wolves and Warriors.

11:42

Yeah. Finchie said last night after the game that

11:44

we're all allowed to kind of celebrate this one

11:47

a little bit because we've all taken, I think

11:49

he was talking about his team, but I also

11:51

think he meant our podcast has taken a lot

11:53

of bleep. But, uh, so I

11:55

haven't really wrapped my head around it yet. I

11:57

will say. This is the podcast that brought you

11:59

the Denver Nuggets or a fake one seed. They're

12:01

Purdue and then they won the title. So we're

12:03

still. We were just like a year late on

12:05

that take. Yeah. Or you're early, I guess, on

12:08

that. We were we were clawing our way back

12:10

from that. But I do think one of the

12:12

things and you and I were kind of workshopping

12:14

this together. So I want to credit you. But

12:16

the best thing I had coming into this series,

12:18

Wolves Lakers was on full display is that I

12:20

just thought the Lakers and this version of Luca

12:22

and his teammates. was much closer to

12:25

what we saw with the Phoenix Suns last year

12:27

than what we saw with the Dallas Mavericks. And

12:29

it was basically like three different types of offensive

12:31

weapons and then just not much else. Not a

12:33

lot of rim protection, not a lot of depth.

12:37

Probably a good coach, but over a

12:39

series, I think that wears you down.

12:41

So I haven't really done the prep yet

12:44

for what it could look like in the

12:46

next round. But initially, I kind of throw

12:48

Golden State back into that Phoenix. I mean,

12:50

there's Steph is awesome and Jimmy's awesome, but

12:52

I do kind of throw them into that

12:54

scenario of getting of like two or three

12:56

good players and then Some bench guys that

12:58

it can just be very volatile like if

13:01

it is the Warriors, they don't play cominga

13:03

They don't have a lot of size They

13:05

have some younger guys that they try to

13:07

throw out there, but the Rockets to me

13:09

are more of a wild card because They

13:12

have a lot of young talent, and

13:14

they're super physical, and I don't know,

13:16

the Lakers clearly were not physical. I

13:18

don't know how the Wolves would react

13:20

to a really physical series. I mean,

13:22

the Rockets are starting to do a

13:24

lot of 90s pistons things, but either

13:26

way, the most beneficial thing last night

13:28

after the Wolves win is to remember

13:30

that three hours earlier, Warriors Rockets got

13:32

extended to another game, and now the

13:34

Wolves are back in that scenario where

13:36

they can sit back, couple extra days

13:38

of rest, Every time Finch and

13:40

his staff gets a chance to really scout

13:42

and plan his guys are ready And I

13:44

think it was really important to not only

13:46

mean you knew they were gonna win the

13:49

series now up through one But to close

13:51

it out in five to give themselves that

13:53

little advantage because you still need to carve

13:55

out those little margins in the playoffs to

13:57

give yourself the best chance and again Golden

13:59

State the storylines Everything you just said, but

14:01

it's also how many times has a six

14:03

seed? had home court advantage in the second

14:05

round. I think that would be a big

14:07

one for me is that Minnesota would have

14:09

that extra game at home if they played

14:11

Golden State versus going on the road against

14:13

Houston. Do you think

14:15

the Timberwolves can win the Larry

14:18

O 'Brien trophy? I

14:21

have... On the list of things I've

14:23

been so wrong about I think I've

14:25

just been anti -okc because I'm jealous

14:27

Like you just have that one friend

14:29

who has the perfect family and house

14:31

and like that's okc They're so good.

14:33

I know the wolves. What was it?

14:36

Maybe like 2 -2 this season in

14:38

the regular season a lot of those

14:40

games had noise or like the comeback

14:42

was fueled by a lot of guys

14:44

that wouldn't play in the series for

14:46

for Minnesota, but that would be one

14:48

of the best basketball series ever but

14:51

Yeah, I don't I don't look at

14:53

the Celtics right now in the Cavs

14:55

as like as good as maybe I

14:57

thought they're still elite and maybe it's

15:00

just because they didn't have to play

15:02

anyone in the first round but I

15:04

Do think and maybe this is a

15:06

bigger picture thing that we can talk

15:08

about I think this Timberwolves team and

15:11

it has no discredit to any former

15:13

players But I think the lumps they

15:15

took last year. I think this 24

15:17

-25 team Just has a better overall

15:20

chance to win a title than the

15:22

23 -24 team that we saw last

15:24

year I agree for many different reasons.

15:26

I was always obviously skeptical of any

15:28

team with Carl Anthony Towns as the

15:31

number two guy on the pecking order

15:33

that they would be able to be

15:35

tough enough to be disciplined enough to

15:37

avoid foul trouble enough and all those

15:40

things. And it's crazy

15:42

because the nicks are seeing in

15:44

real time the wild swings

15:46

of Carl Anthony Towns and those five

15:48

games against the Pistons, two of them

15:51

have been complete no -show offensive performances

15:53

with a bunch of foul trouble. Like

15:55

he picked up his fifth foul in

15:57

game five with like eight minutes to

15:59

go in the fourth quarter of a

16:01

really close game and he's just unavailable

16:04

for like five minutes. But then in

16:06

three of the games, he's hitting like

16:08

game winners and going crazy and getting

16:10

whatever he wants in the paint. So

16:14

there's you don't you'd like you

16:16

can't predict he might go three

16:18

games and shoot 20 % from

16:20

three for sure Julius had the

16:22

seven turnovers in the first game

16:24

But he was awesome the last

16:26

four games and there was a

16:28

point last night I mean the

16:30

wolves had an historically bad shooting night.

16:32

They missed 43's and I look

16:34

just in this regular season There's

16:36

there was only six instances across

16:38

the entire league in the regular

16:40

season Where a team

16:42

shot 15 % or worse on

16:44

30 or more attempts Only one

16:47

with 40 or more attempts. It

16:49

was the Blazers on December 10th

16:52

went like 4 for 42 all

16:54

of those teams Got beat and

16:56

or smoked and decimated by like

16:59

40 points So to be to

17:01

be that historically bad shooting as

17:03

a team And Julius Randall becomes

17:06

this stabilizing force in the fourth

17:08

quarter. I mean, Rudy with the

17:10

putbacks and the cleanups and stuff,

17:13

but there was a stretch where

17:15

it was, you need a calm,

17:17

steady hand, someone to put their

17:20

shoulder into an injured Luka Donchich,

17:23

someone to get in, get just

17:25

some go -to instant offense. And

17:27

it was Julius Randall. And

17:30

I think that guy, just

17:32

as much as Rudy has

17:34

taken a lot of Rightfully

17:36

so criticism for his bass

17:38

bad postseason play To watch

17:40

the cycle of conversation from

17:42

the Rudy trade three years

17:44

ago to the Randall trade

17:47

back in you know early

17:49

October and The initial reaction

17:51

be wow these are awful

17:53

trades like these are fireable

17:55

terrible trades franchise wrecking trades

17:57

and then to see those

17:59

pieces gel and then to

18:01

see last night Those guys

18:03

be the two main figureheads

18:05

for sending the Lakers packing

18:07

was really poetic. And

18:09

so I just, I want to shout out

18:11

Julius Randall, uh, as I, and to answer

18:13

my own question, I do think this team

18:15

can win a championship. I don't think they

18:18

will be favored in a series against Oklahoma

18:20

city. I don't think they'd be favored in

18:22

a series against Boston, but I do think

18:24

they could find a way to beat either

18:26

one of those teams over seven games. Roll

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19:35

if you're allergic to EPCLIS. Allergic reactions can occur

19:37

that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell

19:39

your doctor if you have new or worsening eye

19:42

problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when

19:44

treated with EPCLIS. Before starting EPCLIS, tell your doctor

19:46

if you have a parasitic infection. with

20:01

like the ownership transition, or the big

20:03

trade for Rudy Gobert, or the big

20:05

trade of Connolly Towns, or all that

20:07

stuff, even like the D Lo for

20:10

Mike Connolly thing. And

20:12

this will be the last time I do this.

20:14

I really have kind of graduated from this

20:16

take, but the one through line in all of

20:18

that is Chris Finch. And

20:20

I just maybe hope now, mean, I

20:23

understand how this all works and the

20:25

internet works, but There will be mouth

20:27

breathers in November that are like, oh

20:29

my God, they lost to the Hornets.

20:31

They got to blow it up and

20:34

fire him. But he

20:36

is just, you saw it last night

20:38

too, because he doesn't usually swear and

20:40

he doesn't usually sound like I sound

20:42

right now, like a nicotine patch sponsor.

20:44

But Chris Finch really let it out

20:47

last night that this team has felt

20:49

the amount of bleep that they took

20:51

all season, a lot of the hate.

20:54

Based on their success last year and just

20:56

you know, they can't do it again and

20:59

all this stuff and he has as I

21:01

was explained to me last week like Managing

21:03

a roster in 2025 and the NBA or

21:05

pro sports in general Phil is like 90

21:08

% egos and 10 % X's and O's

21:10

and you really graduate to be more of

21:12

a CEO than a head coach just for

21:15

all the stuff you got to do and

21:17

I just I think we got to stop

21:19

trying to fire the CEO because the the

21:21

organization has two bad weeks of sales in

21:24

like January. Like he has taken this stock

21:26

price to a level that we've never seen

21:28

it before. Yeah, Rudy Gobert

21:30

punched Kyle Anderson. I think

21:33

that could have been way worse, but they

21:35

pretty much handled it behind the scenes. They

21:37

don't have drama. They don't have angry players

21:39

like players buy into their roles. They know

21:41

when they're going to play. They know when

21:44

they're not going to play. And

21:46

do I sometimes get really even last night

21:48

like that challenge? Man, that

21:50

was like the worst challenge Chris Finch has

21:52

ever had. I think he got bad advice

21:54

from an otherwise great challenge infrastructure. I feel

21:57

like the Wolves are really on top of

21:59

that usually. He got some bad advice. But

22:01

that's like a micro thing, right? Like, all

22:03

right, that was dumb. Now you're going to

22:05

have to kind of swim uphill a little

22:07

bit in terms of navigating a game that's

22:09

going to have a weird whistle without a

22:12

challenge. But in the macro, I

22:14

did it last night with Dane Moore, but I

22:16

got to do it again. I have to apologize

22:19

to Julius Randall because I saw the vision of

22:21

the trade. When it would

22:23

happen a couple days before media

22:25

day in September from like the

22:27

roster building standpoint of okay You

22:29

just maybe don't want to swallow

22:31

having to pay Carl all that

22:33

money down the road it limits

22:36

your flexibility and then I Stupidly

22:38

was just like let's take a

22:40

gap here and go to Europe

22:42

right and like let's start Rob

22:44

and no one in this organization

22:46

in this city or in this

22:48

state believed in Julius Randall and

22:51

what he could be coming off that shoulder

22:53

injury, allowing himself to kind of

22:55

gel a little bit with a new team,

22:57

more than Chris Finch. And last night, someone

22:59

asked Finch a question about like, what's

23:02

for dinner? And he's like, I just

23:04

want to take a second to be

23:06

like, Julius Randall, we don't win that

23:08

series in five, six, seven or 13

23:10

without Julius. So for him to build

23:12

him up, especially after I think he

23:14

was also kind of shocked about the

23:16

trade, I think he thought they were

23:19

going, Year three of Carl and Rudy

23:21

and it got kind of pivoted. So

23:23

for him to be able to connect

23:25

with all these guys It's not even

23:27

a debate anymore. I know there's we

23:29

have to at some point Maybe this

23:31

summer loop in Judd and others the

23:33

Kevin Garnett versus Ant debate Maybe that's

23:35

a little too early still although I

23:37

will say again if Ant makes another

23:39

Western Conference finals Some people are gonna

23:41

get uncomfortable But there is no more

23:44

debate about who the best coaches in

23:46

franchise history Finch got to 500 In

23:48

his playoff career, that's actually pretty good.

23:50

I think the late great Flip Saunders, who

23:53

was also an amazing coach, had like a

23:55

37 % winning percentage in the playoffs. They

23:57

never got out of the first round more

23:59

than once. So Finchi and Tim Conley and

24:02

the moves he makes, and he doesn't care

24:04

what you think about it. And they've almost

24:06

all worked out, other than maybe Wendell Moore.

24:10

They just have a real good chemistry that

24:12

I think starts up top and then just

24:14

leaks into the roster and to the locker

24:16

room. And you got to be really excited

24:18

if you're a Timberwolves fan because injuries can

24:21

happen and players can get a little disgruntled

24:23

about contracts and this offseason is still going

24:25

to be huge in terms of who do

24:27

they pay and who do they let go.

24:30

But this thing is about as well oiled

24:32

as we've ever seen in 36 years. And

24:34

it's as most sustainable and there's a foundation.

24:37

And I think if you haven't bought

24:39

in yet and you're one of the

24:41

seven stragglers, now is the time to

24:44

do it because this team, to answer

24:46

your own question, Really actually has a

24:48

chance this morning of winning a title

24:51

Yeah, whether it's this year or just

24:53

the window that they're walking into with

24:55

a really really good set of President

24:57

of basketball operations front office Chris Finch

25:00

Anthony Edwards who's not even in his

25:02

prime yet. So yeah, like there's there's

25:04

a really interesting window that's opening here

25:07

on Finch No one on this podcast

25:09

Outright call for his head. I think

25:12

the the highest the temperature was among

25:14

our Chris Finch takes Was the clutch

25:16

time stuff in the regular season where

25:18

like after the Bucks game I remember

25:21

saying because these are huge games that

25:23

impact seeding and you have a chance

25:25

to be the three seed It turns

25:27

out you knock off the three seed

25:29

and you might get home court anyways

25:32

in the semi -finals and it won't

25:34

matter But my biggest criticism was in

25:36

the regular season, the last two years,

25:38

the Wolves have been statistically net rating

25:40

wise, one of the like five or

25:43

six worst clutch time teams right there

25:45

with high lottery teams. And

25:47

some of that is your main decision

25:49

maker and initiator is 21, 22, 23

25:52

years old and trying to figure this

25:54

out. But at the same time, it's

25:56

like, there's lineup combinations, there

25:58

are, there's some really bad out of

26:00

time out in bounds things that are

26:02

just chaotic and lead to bad shots

26:05

and Like that whole mess of ingredients

26:07

falls on Chris Finch. And it's the

26:09

number one thing that he needs to

26:11

clean up. He knows that, obviously. And

26:14

dude, in this series against the

26:16

Lakers, the Wolves were the dominant

26:18

fourth quarter and clutch time team.

26:21

They literally flipped it 180 degrees.

26:23

And I think the week

26:26

of preparation, certainly Anthony Edwards

26:28

buying in and being a

26:30

super patient, precise decision maker

26:33

and passer. you know,

26:35

very few times did he go completely

26:37

rogue and start shooting step back threes

26:39

and clanking shots and going in hero

26:41

mode. It's almost like he reveled that

26:43

the Mike Conley dagger three. Yeah.

26:46

I mean, that like, that's the lasting

26:48

image from that game. I know there's

26:50

a bunch of Rudy put back dunks

26:52

that are also lasting image, but Anthony

26:55

Edwards knifing through the Lakers defense and

26:57

peeking his head out of the lane

26:59

as the defense collapses and poof wide

27:01

open Mike Conley. Trusting

27:04

Conley after the team had

27:06

missed 43 pointers over two

27:08

hours. Playmaker Ant, Chris

27:10

Finch going into the lab and

27:12

fixing their biggest problem in that

27:14

series is what really stands out

27:17

to me. Playoff Ant was a

27:19

thing before this season or this

27:21

post season, but I think we

27:23

also might have to assume that

27:25

like Playoff Finch is a thing.

27:28

And I'll never forget when they, cause you're right,

27:30

when they blew that Bucks game, man, Whoever you want

27:32

to blame pie it like Finch got a chunk of

27:35

it And I remember after the game when Johnny K

27:37

was there and he asked him the question about

27:39

like you know Are you concerned this is like

27:41

a your DNA and he was like it's I don't

27:43

it wasn't the right wording But he was like it

27:45

wasn't our DNA, but he didn't snap back in a

27:47

super aggressive way. He was just kind of like That's

27:50

a bad game. We blew it We play again

27:52

in two days like let's figure it out even

27:54

though it was like game 78 like man You might

27:56

fall into the plan and at the time I just

27:58

didn't like that. I thought that wasn't the way to

28:00

handle it And this is a good segue because I

28:03

know you have some thoughts. And

28:05

then I was at four of these

28:07

five games and I just watched how

28:09

JJ Redick, who I like, handled pre

28:12

and post game stuff. And

28:14

I thought he brought a level

28:16

of volatility and highs and lows

28:19

that that's how his team kind

28:21

of played. And if that's his

28:23

energy, just talking to the media

28:26

for 10 minutes. What's

28:28

his energy in a practice in a

28:30

film study? It's

28:33

just and even dude like Reggie Miller who

28:35

I thought was I Don't know man. I

28:37

don't want to that job can be hard

28:39

and Reggie Miller is Reggie gonna

28:42

get deported and then 40 seconds later

28:44

was like oh actually that was Dante

28:46

And his face is bleeding and he

28:48

just touched Lucas shoulder. Yeah, it was.

28:50

So I know the the referendum on

28:52

a Reggie and boy, when's the when's

28:54

the last time Rudy scored 20 points

28:56

in a game like a week and

28:58

a half ago, actually. So thanks. But

29:01

one thing he did say was JJ

29:03

Redick was super tense, even in the

29:05

meeting with the TNT crew with like

29:07

Kevin Harlan and Ali La Force and

29:10

Reggie Miller, who are like friendly fireman

29:12

like these. This isn't. This isn't gotcha

29:14

questions from random media members. And Reggie

29:17

said, I had to tell him, dude,

29:19

like, let it go. Let games three

29:21

and four go. So

29:24

yeah, it'll be really interesting to see if that's

29:26

how tense he was in the first round of

29:28

his first ever playoff series. That pressure

29:30

is only going to ratchet up the more the clock

29:32

ticks down on LeBron, who may or may not be

29:35

back as a Laker based on his press conference yesterday.

29:37

I thought he got rattled too. And again,

29:39

I'm maybe in the minority here, but I

29:42

like Redick as a coach most of the

29:44

time. And I've been to a lot of

29:46

his games but uh when he last night

29:48

and we've been kind of bleeping on him

29:50

for what 48 hours about how he doesn't

29:52

have any levers to pull and Jackson Hayes

29:54

isn't a good basketball player but last night

29:56

when Rudy Gaubert is giving you 27 and

29:58

24 at some point you gotta put your

30:01

pride aside and make I gotta throw the

30:03

big guy out there and instead what does

30:05

he do he plays a guy in maxi

30:07

cleaver who is making his Lakers debut and

30:10

is spotted up taking these huge threes late

30:12

in the fourth quarter. And it's like, man,

30:15

Maxi Kleber is kind of a good player.

30:17

He's not ready for that. Like it was

30:19

like he was so set in his ways

30:21

of I'm going to show you that he

30:23

might have helped drown their ship. So I

30:25

just I again, I don't I love good

30:27

energy and I love being petty and I

30:29

love crabby people. But like to walk out

30:32

on that interview, which was a valid question,

30:34

by the way, Redick and. that energy just

30:36

has to kind of be palpable in the

30:38

locker room. And I think Finch does the

30:40

opposite of that. So before we do, you

30:42

know, random wolf of the week, can we

30:44

just kind of do the Rudy Gobert thing

30:46

quick? Because we haven't talked about it yet.

30:48

Like, yeah, man, let's

30:50

do it. We're yet. Like,

30:53

what are your thoughts on

30:55

that performance in that spot

30:57

last night? Yeah. Well, ah,

31:01

man. you want me to start?

31:03

No, no, I'll give you a couple of takes here.

31:07

soapbox fill is trying to come out here.

31:09

And I'm trying to decide if I'm going

31:11

to let soapbox fill come out or if

31:13

he's going to be reasonable because you know,

31:15

you put yourself out there with these

31:18

microphones and you have takes on things

31:20

and and you know, people clap back

31:22

and then they never circle back. They

31:24

love to they love to circle back

31:26

when you're wrong and remind you that

31:28

you're wrong. And that happens all the

31:30

time. Absolutely. But

31:33

the biggest stances that I've taken

31:35

on this podcast over the last

31:37

three years are. I

31:40

remember like even convincing you early on like,

31:42

dude, the Rudy trade, the Rudy trade. This

31:45

is - I was gonna stay in Mexico.

31:47

Remember? Let's go through the list. Pat Beverly

31:49

is a podcast. Jared Vanderbilt is, I don't

31:51

know, just like a 12 minute Tasmanian devil,

31:54

desperation playoff minutes. Walker

31:58

Kessler is fine, but he's just like racking

32:00

up rebounds on losing teams. And then, okay,

32:02

all those draft picks, but look at all

32:04

the young talent the Wolves have. Jalen Clark,

32:06

Taren Shannon Jr., Jaden McDaniels, all these dudes

32:09

who are 25 and younger. So in the

32:11

moment, it was like, how could they possibly

32:13

give up that much for Riddigo Bear, right?

32:17

Here's my take on last night.

32:19

I personally did not need the

32:21

box score gratification game, which was

32:23

last night. He was wildly impactful

32:25

as a rebounder and a scorer

32:27

in ways that made people shocked.

32:29

And that's those are historic numbers

32:31

for him in the playoffs, the

32:34

points and the rebounds. He's never

32:36

had a 2020 game in the playoffs.

32:38

So one of the best performances hands

32:41

down of his career. But even

32:43

when he's not putting up the box

32:45

score numbers, he is impacting games so

32:47

much more than most people give him

32:50

credit for. And it bothers me

32:52

because he looks clunky. He's he's got

32:54

kind of a weird French personality. He

32:57

can be a little standoffish and

32:59

arrogant and He's

33:02

unlikeable to his peers in the league, and

33:04

I understand where some of that's coming from.

33:07

But when Shaquille O 'Neal has a hard

33:09

time just giving the dude props for three

33:11

minutes at halftime without doing the, I'm

33:14

gonna give him props, but I'm

33:16

gonna mock him by pretending I'm

33:18

gagging. It's like

33:20

this guy altered countless

33:22

shots by Luca and

33:24

LeBron. Why do you think

33:27

the Lakers, could barely score 100

33:29

points in any of the games in the

33:31

series. It's not because

33:33

of Nas Reads' defense, all due

33:35

respect. It's not because

33:37

of Mike Conley's defense. Julius

33:39

Randall provides a big body to go up against Luca

33:41

and LeBron, and that's great. The

33:44

centerpiece of the reason why teams

33:46

have such a hard time scoring

33:48

100 points on the Timberwolves the

33:50

last three years is that seven

33:52

foot three French dude with a

33:54

crazy wingspan. He's out there,

33:56

dude, the Lakers. Spent the first

33:58

two games of the series hunting him in

34:00

isolation and just trying to get him to

34:03

switch off on pick and roll to Luca

34:05

while the crowd started rising to their feet

34:07

He put an end to that so fast

34:09

like how many times did you see that

34:12

happen in the last three games a few

34:14

times? But that was you know you want

34:16

to rip on JJ Redick if that was

34:19

him empowering Luca to do so they thought

34:21

let's play his ass off the court in

34:23

the first two games and the wolves to

34:25

play smaller, then we got them where we

34:28

want them. Rudy squashed it after the first

34:30

two games, even though he wasn't putting up

34:32

15 and 12 in the box score in

34:34

those games. So a total validation once again

34:37

of the trade, a total

34:39

validation of one of the most

34:41

underappreciated, underrated careers of the last

34:43

10 years in the NBA. Soapboxville

34:47

out. I

34:49

think Finch said it really well last night. He talked

34:51

about how, and you just said this too, right? Aesthetically

34:54

on the court, it's not always how

34:56

you would think an athletic center would

34:58

play and maybe some off -the -court

35:01

stuff He sees things differently than you

35:03

or believes in different things and has

35:05

a lot of you know Sedona gemstones

35:08

and stuff, but has anyone and I

35:10

I do kind of throw aunt into

35:12

this but aunt is just the super

35:14

duper stuff, but has anyone really ever

35:18

Elevated a floor of success and

35:20

winning more than this guy, right?

35:22

Like so all the awkwardness and

35:24

he doesn't always jump and he's

35:26

on his tippy toes But he

35:28

just for him to have that

35:30

game right 27 and 24 and

35:32

to be dominant I think his

35:34

uh, I think he was the

35:36

first guy to have 25 or

35:38

more points 20 or more rebounds

35:40

and shoot 75 % or better

35:42

in a playoff game Yeah, since

35:44

Shaq did it in the 0

35:46

-4 finals Shaq. Yeah, the guy

35:48

that you just said like for

35:51

him to do it on that

35:53

stage 10 and a half months

35:55

removed from the Luca shot over

35:57

him or you know seven and

35:59

a half months removed from him

36:01

in his home country kind of

36:03

getting benched in the Olympics He

36:05

had an opportunity last night to

36:07

do the petty immature stuff that

36:09

I was doing just letting the

36:11

receipts fly And he just comes

36:13

up to the podium by himself

36:15

and just talks about winning and

36:17

being a good teammate. And,

36:20

you know, he's the first locker on the

36:22

road. He has his own little corner spot

36:24

and he's always open to talk to you

36:26

about basketball and give you real answers, especially

36:28

after a loss. Like he's there, man. And

36:30

that's, that's not true of everyone. Like after

36:32

a loss, this guy's ditch media, which whatever,

36:34

but he is willing to talk to you

36:36

about a lot of things. And I just

36:38

think, I don't even

36:40

know how you have a debate now

36:42

about the go bear trade wasn't worth

36:44

it But that will go down as

36:47

a seismic moment in Timberwolves lore because

36:49

not only did you bring in a

36:51

winner? It was a risky

36:53

gamble, right? Like I thought they gave up

36:55

too much for go bear that summer when

36:57

we started this whole pod But also people

36:59

were like, why are you doing it now?

37:02

And it's 20. He's not ready to win

37:04

and Tim Conley and Chris Finch and the

37:06

organization were like, no, we're gonna expedite this

37:08

We want to make him learn winning habits

37:10

now and and gets so much credit for

37:12

working on his game, but he has a

37:15

teammate that has a 63 % winning percentage

37:17

in the regular season. Like that matters. So

37:19

I don't know if I've ever been as

37:21

happy for a player as I was last

37:23

night, because again, having big games against the

37:25

Sixers on a frontline in March, when you're

37:28

on a 17 and four run, you know,

37:30

and you're trying to catch up in the

37:32

standings is one thing, but doing it against

37:34

Luca, doing it against the

37:36

Lakers, doing it against, you know, that

37:38

franchise and all the big guys they've

37:40

had and then having to throw it

37:43

to the TNT crowd or show and

37:45

Shaq's got it even in his own

37:47

funny way like cop to it. I

37:50

mean, then I've never seen a narrative of

37:52

an athlete change more in that moment. He

37:54

didn't want to title. He didn't. That's that's

37:56

his goal still. But man, there were so

37:58

many people as worldwide Wobbs said last night,

38:00

the timeline was quiet because they didn't want

38:03

to talk about it. You know what he

38:05

is? He's like, this is a perfect comparison.

38:07

or analogy, but he's like a really

38:09

good right tackle in the NFL or

38:12

like a like, yeah, like a really

38:14

good left guard. So he's kind of

38:16

nondescript and that he's not a receiver.

38:18

He's not a court. Anthony Edwards is

38:20

the quarterback and maybe Julius Randall is

38:22

like your past catching tight end. And

38:25

and you're not calling any plays really

38:27

for your right tackle, obviously. So

38:30

he's out there and for three

38:32

hours, he pretty much just like

38:34

shuts the edge rusher down time

38:37

and time and time again. But

38:39

once or twice in a game,

38:41

he's going to clumsily give up

38:43

a pressure or like he's going

38:45

to fall down awkwardly or something.

38:48

And so what happens is once

38:50

a game he gets posterized or

38:52

fumbles a ball out of bounds.

38:54

There was one where. I

38:57

can't remember if it was a pass or

38:59

if it was an offensive rebound opportunity. And

39:01

you know, it's like, he goes up

39:03

to grab it and it's like his

39:05

left and right arm weren't coordinating with

39:07

each other and they kind of like

39:09

miss and the ball bounces off one

39:11

of his hands. It's kind of a

39:14

classic Rudy moment. It still looks like

39:16

the inflatable tube man outside of every

39:18

car dealership sometimes. And so people focus

39:20

on the, the aesthetically unpleasing stuff because

39:22

it's awkward and it's annoying and you

39:24

wish that it was different. but they

39:26

don't focus on the neverminds that we

39:28

talk about. The 10 different times in

39:30

the second half that Rudy made LeBron

39:32

put a little extra arc on a

39:34

mid -range shot and it clanked or

39:36

made Luca drive in and then abort

39:38

mission and drive back out. He just,

39:41

it's the subtle things. It's the

39:43

long snapper in the NFL that

39:45

just delivers 150 straight perfect punting

39:48

snaps and then You know, the

39:50

one, the one time that he gets pushed on his

39:52

ass or something and a kick gets blocked. Oh, look

39:55

at this guy. So not a perfect

39:57

comparison, but one other thing real quick that

39:59

we have not mentioned, that's very good news

40:01

for the Wolves moving forward here. They

40:03

just beat the Lakers in five games. Nikhil

40:06

Alexander Walker is shooting 22 % from

40:08

three and 26 % from the floor

40:10

in the playoffs. Dante

40:13

DiVincenzo is shooting 19 % from

40:15

three in the playoffs. It

40:17

might calmly shooting 29 % from three in

40:19

the playoffs. Now, some people might hear that and

40:21

say, well, that's bad. That's bad. Those guys

40:23

can't. I look at that and I say, well,

40:26

that ain't going to continue. We're

40:28

going to get like a huge

40:30

Nikhil Alexander Walker and or Dante

40:32

DiVincenzo series at some point. And

40:35

if it happens against the Warriors, guess

40:37

what? That'll be a five game series too.

40:40

So they've still got those in reserve

40:42

for a future date here in May.

40:45

No team has ever shot like the wolf shot

40:47

last night and won the game in the playoffs

40:49

like that was just a and I there was

40:51

a stat I can't find it anymore But it

40:53

was a not only do teams in those situations

40:55

lose But they typically lose by an average of

40:57

like 20 points per game. It's wild. Yep So

40:59

for the wolves to pull that one out and

41:02

I'm with you because dain pointed this out last

41:04

night I didn't really I Kind of thought like

41:06

I had this dumb idea in the moment of

41:08

like this reminds me of when the rockets shot

41:10

really poorly against the Warriors But

41:12

as Dane reminded me, like those were more forced

41:14

threes or like our system is only to dribble

41:16

past half court and let it fly. The

41:19

wolves of the what, 40 some shots

41:21

they took last night from deep, 75

41:24

percent of them were incredible looks. They

41:26

were. I mean, some of those. You

41:28

gotta shoot those threes were classic shoot

41:31

around, wake up in the gym threes

41:33

and he missed them all. And

41:35

you pointed this out in game. But if they

41:38

would have just hit two or three of those

41:40

in any given chunk of time, the game would

41:42

have been over at that point. So

41:44

for them to not have their superpower,

41:46

I think they were top five all

41:49

season in three point percentage, for them

41:51

to not have that weapon and to

41:53

just, okay, again, let's just have a

41:55

Rudy game or Julius flowers again, like

41:57

he was awesome. He hit really timely

41:59

shots and got to his spots. So

42:02

huge moment for the Timberwolves and the

42:04

organization. And I think the fans and

42:06

now kind of wait and see, does

42:08

this thing start in Minnesota game one

42:10

on Monday? Does it maybe

42:12

start in Houston game one on

42:15

Tuesday? But they made a statement

42:17

and they that's what they typically do. This

42:19

coach, this organization, these players, they make statements

42:21

and they love being doubted. And now they

42:23

have a couple of days to rest until

42:26

they take their next challenge of like, all

42:28

right, let's try to go do what no

42:30

one thought we could do. And that's what

42:32

entitled. Yeah. Want to

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learn about pick four from the Ohio lottery? OK.

42:37

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Play responsibly. Want to go back

43:02

to the radio? OK. This

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episode is brought to you by Chevy

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dude plenty plenty more to talk about

43:34

But you've if people want more from

43:36

from you you guys you and Dane

43:39

did a great podcast late into the

43:41

night and then we had an hour

43:43

long vent line session There's more where

43:45

that came from and we will have

43:47

much more on What's gonna happen when

43:49

we know who the Wolves opponent is

43:51

but let's get him in here producer

43:53

extraordinaire and the keeper of random wolf

43:55

of the week Ross Brendel in the

43:57

house Ross I had one last note

43:59

and I'll keep this one short, but

44:01

I know Phil's gonna love this and

44:04

I want your opinion too. After

44:06

everything we just said about this team and

44:08

that series win and stuff, and

44:10

we've done the Michael Jordan comps and all this things,

44:14

I stayed at the JW Marriott in LA,

44:16

in LA Live, and so it's right next

44:18

to the arena, but there's nothing more organic

44:20

or just like authentic. How about that Anthony

44:23

Edwards like bleep it, I'm just gonna walk

44:25

back to the hotel. Like I mean Anthony

44:27

Edwards after putting the Lakers away is like

44:29

I'm just gonna walk through the streets of

44:31

downtown LA and Tell fans and homeless people

44:34

like not today, buddy Like like I run

44:36

this city like he that is we are

44:38

so lucky to have that in our lives

44:40

And you rarely get that opportunity and Ross

44:43

I know you've walked around some downtowns in

44:45

your life telling people what's up So Ross

44:47

is doing that after the the twins beat

44:49

the Guardians a few days ago. He was

44:51

very haughty and then they well You know

44:54

what they say, boys? You own the team.

44:56

You own the city. And at least for

44:58

my baseball trip, the twins were able to

45:00

do that at least one time in a

45:03

four game series against the Guardian. Have they

45:05

scored a run yet today? Are they? I

45:07

think they're playing right now. Oh,

45:09

they did score a run. They scored a run today. All

45:11

right. Two to one. Another rain out. It was like 75

45:13

and sunny in Cleveland. So I thought they had the rain.

45:16

I'm going to mess with this. might rain in a couple

45:19

of days. Let's put the tarp on it. I

45:22

think Ross is also better. Technical lighting

45:24

director here. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. So

45:26

here's how this works Ross has a

45:28

series of clues and Kyle and I

45:31

will compete against each other in a

45:33

battle of wolves historical wits So on

45:35

the season here. This is year number

45:37

two. I have a nine to seven

45:40

lead over you Lord Kilby has one

45:42

victory on the season Craig Kilborn All

45:44

time Kyle with 29 career victories. I

45:46

have 90 I have 21 and Kilby

45:49

has the one Jake Lehman, which I

45:51

think is the last time we did

45:53

this like two or three weeks ago.

45:55

So let's rock. That is correct. It

45:58

has been that long that for about

46:00

five minutes, I had to try and

46:02

consciously very hard think who won. And

46:04

then I had to decide, well, how

46:07

does this affect the scoring? Well, it

46:09

affects the scoring that Craig Kilbourne will

46:11

always be on the board. He is

46:13

currently in third place. You

46:16

cannot take it away. He is currently in

46:18

third place. And I don't know if he'll

46:20

ever be passed. But here we go with

46:22

the new random Wolf of the Week. Are

46:24

you boys ready? Let's get it. Don't forget

46:27

about your heat checks. They will come after

46:29

this clue. This random Wolf of the Week

46:31

plate is College Ball in the Atlantic Coast

46:33

Conference, the ACC.

46:39

Jeff Teague. Jeff

46:41

Teague is not correct. We

46:45

have already done Jeff Teague before.

46:48

I've got the list of former random

46:50

wolves here. I was gonna guess

46:52

will Avery again, but we've already done will Avery

46:54

too. So that was in season one. How

46:56

about this for a new wrinkle? If

46:59

you guess a random wolf in

47:01

your heat check that's already been

47:03

used, that counts against you. Oh,

47:07

okay. It's a strike. Okay.

47:11

It's a free guess as long as

47:13

you control F. I need

47:15

you to submit an arc to the HOA. We're not

47:17

just making up new rules now. OK, that would involve

47:19

me to be way more prepared. I'm just letting it

47:21

rip. Check the bylaws, Kyle.

47:23

Check the bylaws. OK, Sheldon

47:25

Williams. Sheldon Williams is

47:28

not correct. That's a name I don't

47:30

think anybody has mentioned in any of

47:32

these random wolves. trying to think of

47:34

Duke players who played for the team

47:36

rules. Kyle, do

47:38

you have an actual heat check guess? No, Jeff T.

47:41

Sheldon Williams, I didn't know when

47:43

I think of Sheldon Williams, I

47:45

think that he was married to

47:47

Candace Parker So I was researching.

47:50

He's no longer married to Candace

47:52

Parker. Okay, the more you know

47:54

Yeah Good work Kyle. Yeah submit

47:56

that for your submit that for

47:58

your TMZ application this random wolf

48:00

of the week is Georgia born

48:03

Okay, we've already done Anthony Edwards

48:05

to right we have done and

48:07

Georgia born college ball in the

48:09

ACC this random wall

48:11

for the week of former member

48:13

of our beloved Sioux Falls Sky

48:15

Force. I believe

48:17

both of you seen them in person. I

48:19

know Kyle has. I have

48:22

not had the pleasure. No. I

48:24

tried to work once for the Dakota

48:26

Wizards when they were out in Bismarck.

48:28

And I did an interview with someone

48:31

at a local establishment there, Hooters. And

48:33

I did not get the job. But that's

48:35

not where they. That's not. I just met some

48:37

of the interview. Wait, were you interviewing to work

48:39

at Hooters or for the basketball team? Yeah, let's

48:41

just keep it moving. Let's

48:45

just keep it moving. Okay, well

48:47

we're on to number four. This

48:49

random wolf of the week is

48:51

six foot four and shoots right

48:53

-handed. Six

48:56

foot four shoots right

48:58

-handed. Former member of

49:00

the Sioux Falls Sky

49:02

Force, Georgia -born from

49:04

the ACC conference. This

49:07

random wolf of the week was a

49:09

first round pick in the NBA. Hmm.

49:14

That's CBA, right? Sioux Falls, CBA.

49:18

I think you. Well, no, isn't it what

49:20

we call D League now? G League. G

49:22

League. Yeah. I

49:24

think they've been everywhere. Like a

49:26

lot of those feeder teams, I guess, if

49:28

that's what you want to call them. My

49:31

family used to have tickets to the lacrosse

49:33

cat birds. That was a CBA team. I

49:35

think that's what I was thinking of when

49:37

I thought that maybe you had been to

49:39

a Sky Force game. This random

49:41

Wolf of the Week gentlemen was traded

49:43

to the Minnesota Timberwolves. It

49:50

might enlighten you to know

49:52

that this random Wolf of

49:54

the Week was also traded

49:56

away by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

50:00

I feel like that's most NBA players,

50:02

right? Everybody

50:04

gets traded in the NBA. You're just a

50:06

salary slot to be traded to a new

50:08

city. That's all you are. You're just money.

50:11

You're commodity. This

50:13

random wolf of the week plays

50:15

shooting guard. Plays?

50:22

Plays. Shooting guard.

50:24

Is this Rashad McCants? This

50:27

is not Rashad McCants. That's

50:30

my first official wrong guess, right? That

50:33

is your first official wrong guess. You

50:35

posed the question. Have

50:37

we done Anthony Edwards? No, you said we did

50:39

Anthony Edwards. That was not even a question. My

50:41

apologies to you. This random

50:43

wolf of the week has played in

50:46

42 playoff games. 42

50:50

playoff games. Battle tested.

50:52

This one's tough. Battle

50:57

tested. This random

50:59

wolf at least compared

51:01

to me and I

51:03

think. Most of this

51:05

show bit of a

51:07

young in 28 years

51:10

old. Okay Okay Okay,

51:12

okay in my best

51:14

Larry David, which is

51:16

not good at all

51:18

See your recent clues

51:20

28 years old 42

51:22

playoff games a shooting

51:24

guard Traded to the

51:26

Timberwolves Traded to the

51:28

Timberwolves and a draft

51:30

night trade Traded away

51:32

from the timber wolves as well

51:34

for you were on something. You

51:36

were close. You're gonna say something

51:38

Josh a Kogi. Are you gonna

51:40

go with Josh a Kogi? Yes,

51:42

the final answer a Code no

51:44

a Kogi. No, I was trying

51:46

to come up with something cool,

51:48

but I couldn't 28 years old.

51:50

So you got one left, huh

51:52

Phil? I'm coming out

51:55

firing here. Yeah, Kyle Kyle

51:57

may just try and run

51:59

out the clock on you

52:01

Let's see here This random

52:04

wolf of the week has

52:06

average seven and a half

52:08

points per game in his

52:10

NBA career So I mean

52:12

obviously plays Wolves drafted that

52:15

guy Did you guys know

52:17

I'm walking on thin thin

52:19

ice here you're on eggshells

52:21

you got it you got

52:23

to know it before you

52:26

say it This random

52:28

wolf of the week played in

52:30

more than 100 games for the

52:32

wolves. Well,

52:34

this sucks. Any

52:38

time you say something like that, Kyle, I

52:40

take it as a compliment. That

52:42

means job well done, Ross. ACC.

52:47

This random wolf of

52:49

the week's current cap hit

52:51

is $6 million per

52:53

sport track. Whoa,

52:56

whoa, whoa, say that again. This

52:59

random wolf of the

53:01

week's current cap hit

53:03

is six million dollars

53:05

per sport track. Oh,

53:09

this one is going to ruin my day. I'm

53:14

going to be like, I cannot believe it was

53:16

him. This random

53:18

wolf of the week is currently

53:20

playing in the playoffs. Or

53:23

to be more or to

53:25

be more specific his team

53:27

is still alive in the

53:30

playoffs Okay, that's

53:32

also kind of a clue Do you guys

53:34

have any ad reads to give me some

53:36

extra time? This

53:38

random wolf of the week

53:41

will forever be linked to

53:43

Rudy go bear I'm

53:51

going Malik Malik Beasley is

53:54

random. Is that a guess

53:56

Phil? It has to be

53:58

I've learned it out. You said Malik

54:00

Beasley. Can you be more specific on

54:03

the Beasley? Well,

54:07

that's what wait. Hold

54:09

on. What is Malik Beasley right or

54:11

wrong? I'm going to give

54:13

it to Phil. He's right. There's just

54:15

two Malik Beasley's in Timberwolves history. What?

54:17

What? What do you mean? We've

54:20

had we've had two Malik Beasley's

54:22

have we not What you're right.

54:24

There's a there's a Michael Beasley.

54:26

No, I'm sorry. No, you're right.

54:28

You're right. No, you're

54:30

right. Is it like Beasley? You're you

54:33

are right Phil. You are right. Boom

54:35

me. You are right Why am I

54:37

thinking of the Skittles eaters at the

54:39

Skittles eater as a Michael

54:43

Beasley, Malik Beasley. Well, he did something before

54:45

he ate the Skittles usually in that order

54:47

that got him more in trouble with the

54:50

NBA, but I need to know the rest

54:52

of the clues Congrats to Phil. He hit

54:54

a buzzer beater. He isolated me at the

54:56

top of the key and that's That's

54:59

completely my fault for ruining your moment, Phil.

55:01

For some reason, I was combining the two

55:04

names. They both did have the same last

55:06

name, at least. Give me that, please. Kyle,

55:09

he literally did beat the buzzer. I was

55:11

down to one more clue before we got

55:13

super easy. The next clue,

55:16

you would have nailed it, because the next

55:18

clue is literally this random wall for the

55:20

week, also known as the mutant, which I

55:22

had never heard. Did I miss that? No.

55:24

Bees? I would not have known that, no.

55:26

Bees? and threesley.

55:29

Okay. Yeah, I think that would have done

55:32

it right there. Yeah, that would have done

55:34

it. I'm getting jiggy with it could have

55:36

been a clue in there. His little his

55:38

little three point jig that he does. I'm

55:40

really excited for him to drill eight threes

55:43

tonight in a Pistons blowout victory, sending it

55:45

back to Madison Square Garden for a game

55:47

seven. Keep it going, baby. On the on

55:49

the topic, weekly topic now of HOAs, was

55:52

there ever a clue that this random wolf

55:54

of the week did not enjoy. Neighborhood

55:57

tours during the holidays. Yeah somebody in his

55:59

group may have made it for me may

56:01

have wanted to tell him that the parade

56:04

of homes is a thing and I So

56:06

what the other thing though that threw me

56:08

off a little bit was you made it

56:10

sound like he was like you said his

56:12

team is still in the playoffs But he's

56:15

kind of just like long for the ride

56:17

was kind of the where you the way

56:19

you threw us off there He's literally like

56:21

a key cog on a really good piston

56:23

so the funny part is I'm gonna I'm

56:26

gonna Try and change my best the next

56:28

time because AI butchered the ending B. I

56:31

tried making it more broad and by trying

56:33

to make it more broad I just confused

56:35

you more Phil, but you still got it,

56:37

right? Yeah, what was your plan

56:39

if there actually were two Malik Beasley? The

56:44

plan was you were like one of us

56:46

was going to guess a Malik Beasley and

56:48

then you were going to put us through

56:50

like a quiz or something or what? Well,

56:52

I had backup questions. I was I want

56:54

you to be more specific on the time

56:56

frame of the player, which is also hilarious.

56:58

You got to know his middle name, which

57:01

by the way, can you guys guess what

57:03

Malik Beasley's middle name is? So let's just

57:05

think about how dumb I am in this

57:07

case. OK, by the way, I know that

57:09

I had multiple opportunities staring at both of

57:11

these players pages. to

57:13

get the first name right. And

57:16

I still kept operating under the assumption that

57:18

they had the same name for a good

57:20

10 minutes. I'm just gonna out myself out

57:22

on that. So one of those days. I

57:24

thought you meant the late great rest in

57:26

peace, Malik Sealy. Malik Sealy. He's getting that

57:29

one, but I was like, we had two

57:31

Malik Beasley's, man. I do want to point

57:33

out, and these are completely random draws, as

57:35

you guys know. That's why we have had

57:37

really good Timberwolves and really obscure ones when

57:40

we do this. Here's what's great

57:42

about this one. Okay, I don't know

57:44

if you guys have made this connection yet. It's

57:46

Malik Beasley, who plays for

57:48

the Detroit Pistons. His team

57:50

is playing the New York

57:52

Knicks. What do we do on this pod?

57:56

Knickknacks and the Motor City Minute, and we

57:58

get them both. That's right with this player

58:00

on that random connection. So Kyle, what do

58:02

you what do you got on your motor

58:04

city minute and your knickknacks game six preview?

58:06

I'm with Phil. I can't I think that

58:08

series goes the distance. I think it's going

58:10

to be awesome. The pistons have

58:12

shown a real level fight that you normally

58:15

see from a young team like that. And I think

58:17

Detroit's going to be. It's going to be a C0

58:19

to 8 miles tonight. That thing's to be rocking, and

58:21

I expect that thing to go back to New York

58:24

for game 7. Detroit has been, I've watched almost every

58:26

minute of every game of the series, because it's just

58:28

been, it's been a brawl. It's been fun. You've

58:31

got, I mean, it's fun watching

58:33

any TIBS coach teams, because by the

58:35

end of the game, they're all limping

58:37

and gasping for air. But

58:39

I think outside of like the last five

58:41

or six minutes of the first two games,

58:44

the Pistons have been the better team in

58:46

the series. But also those last four or

58:48

five minutes or six minutes of playoff games

58:50

are super important in high leverage. And

58:53

Jalen Brunson knows how to navigate them

58:55

more than Cade Cunningham and company. But

58:57

God, if they can ride the wave

58:59

of home crowd momentum, get

59:02

it to Madison Square Garden, that's going

59:04

to be a wild scene this week.

59:06

And if the Knicks do blow a

59:08

3 -1 lead, Flegrenhaus might go live

59:10

from Phil's house late at night. Listen,

59:13

I am not that petty. We would

59:15

pre -record and schedule it for the

59:17

morning, Kyle. Okay. He's

59:21

producer Ross, the keeper of the

59:23

Random Wolf of the Week. For

59:25

Kyle Tigey, you can find more

59:27

of him on Daymore's NBA podcast.

59:30

This is a Timberwolves lifestyle

59:32

podcast.