Golden State Warriors star forward Draymond Green didn't hold back much about his thoughts on Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Western Conference finals series between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Dallas Mavericks Wednesday night. The former Defensive Player of the Year sounded critical of Anthony Edwards's conditioning and postgame demeanor, believing the young Minnesota star should have not let others hear how fatigue played a role in the T'wolves 108-105 defeat in the series opener.
Draymond Green sounds off on the Timberwolves' Game 1 loss to the Mavs
“I've said a lot about Anthony Edwards interviews all playoffs long, and that was one of my least favorites. Saying ‘We're tired, we didn't know what to expect.' The same way those guys have followed you to this point, they'll follow that as well,” Green said after the game on Inside the NBA on TNT.
Green also pointed out the Timberwolves getting absolutely dominated in the shaded area. With the big-man combo of Karl-Anthony Towns and four-time league DPOY Rudy Gobert in the middle, the Timberwolves entered Game 1 with people expecting they'd silence the Mavericks in the paint. But Dallas flipped those expectations, as the Mavs scored 57.4 percent of their total points in Game 1 in the paint. The Timberwolves, on the other hand, posted just a 36.2 percent twp-point rate in the contest.
“And they got completely dominated in the paint. We both talked about the points, 62 to 38. But they shot 49 threes, right here gassed [clips of Edwards looking tired] right? Like, you got to go through that. This is the first one. He's 22 years old, and he's a star.”
In addition, Green implied that the Timberwolves should have capitalized more on their size advantage by doing the dirty work in the paint on offense a lot rather than parking their players a lot behind the arc for lower-percentage shots. That the Mavericks outrebounded the Timberwolves by eight boards also appeared to bother Green.
“We all believe he's the next face. That's who they follow, but they have to be better in the paint. They shot 49 threes versus 25, and they got the size advantage. We all talked about how Dallas wasn't going to be able to compete with their size, and you come out and shoot that many threes, give up 62 points in the paint, and get outrebounded. That's a recipe for disaster.”
Minnesota launched a total of 49 attempts from deep in Game 1 to just 25 by Dallas. The Mavs shot poorly from that area, hitting just six 3-pointers while the Timberwolves connected on 18 3-point shots for a decent 36.7 percent shooting from the floor. The duo of Edwards and Towns seemingly did not have it offensively in Game 1. Edwards went 6/16 from the field and 5/12 from deep for 19 points while Towns shot 6/20 from the floor and just 2/9 from long distance.
The 3-point shot has been a major weapon of Minnesota all season long, as it was third in the league in the regular season with a 38.7 3-point rate. But the Timberwolves took that to overdrive in Game 1 with a 51.4 3-point rate, which could signify how tired the team really was after a grueling seven-game series against the Denver Nuggets which only ended last Sunday.
The Timberwolves will regroup and take a rest this Thursday before going back to work against Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and the Mavericks in Game 2, which will still be played in Minnesota.
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