The Minnesota Timberwolves had a disappointing start to the Western Conference Finals as they lost Game 1 to the Dallas Mavericks Wednesday night, 108-105. While it was a close game, it was a relatively frustrating outing for star Anthony Edwards, but it could be like that for the whole series according to former NBA player and basketball analyst Jamal Crawford who pinpointed the players on the Timberwolves that need to step up.
Crawford took to X (formerly known as Twitter) and talked about who he thinks needs to come up huge in the conference finals this series as he believes the Mavericks may have found a way to maintain the explosive star that is Edwards. He would explain Dallas' strategy against the 22-year old while saying that it could be on his teammates in Karl-Anthony Towns and Jaden McDaniels to win Minnesota the series.
“Ant [Edwards] will still do his thing of course,” Crawford said. “But the way they are playing Ant isn’t a full out trap, but it’s “ man and a half defense” where it’s the guy guarding him, and the help is in the gaps that he likes to drive too…so this may be a Kat [Towns]/ Mcdaniels series.”
McDaniels had a solid night for the Timberwolves as he led the team with 24 points, shooting six of nine from three-point range.
Edwards talks how the Timberwolves “came out flat” in Game 1
In Game 1, Edwards scored 19 points off of making just six out of 16 shots from the field while also recording eight assists and collecting 11 rebounds. The young star would say to the media after the outing that the team as a whole “came out flat” according to Chris Hine of The Star Tribune as there was a spurt where they “found our energy,” but ended up losing the game to the Mavericks.
“I think we just came out flat today,” said Edwards, who had 19 points on 6-for-16 shooting from the field. “And then we found our energy and then we went back to being flat. I think it was on us. Everything was on us today.”
What was very apparent in Edwards' performance, especially towards the end of the contest was how gassed he was from not just trying to carry the weight of the offense, but also in guarding the speedster in Mavericks star Kyrie Irving. The 32-year old was great scoring 30 points as Edwards recalled a moment where he said he was “just exhausted” according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.
“Y’all can see it, we was a step behind everybody, especially myself,” Edwards said. “Kyrie got a transition layup from when I think we scored, and he just outran me. I was just exhausted. So yeah, for sure … but we’ll be all right.”
Towns, who Crawford said needs to step up, talks Minnesota's struggles
In terms of the two other players that Crawford said need to step up, one was Towns who scored 16 points as he made six of his 20 shot attempts from the field. He also spoke after the game about not doing enough to get past the Mavericks and their dynamic duo of Irving and star Luka Doncic who had 33 points.
“I think we’ve done a great job of adjusting all year, so we just didn’t do enough (Wednesday),” Towns said. “We didn’t make shots, they did. It’s frustrating when you feel that you could’ve given yourself a better chance to win.”
Chris Finch talks about the Timberwolves' “terrible offense”
Minnesota was arguably in the driver's seat throughout the first half as they started fast, but once the second half started, it all went downhill for the team. Some could say that the Timberwolves are still tired from their grueling seven-game series against the Denver Nuggets and while there could be some validity, head coach Chris Finch said there was “no composure.”
“Terrible offense down the stretch,” Finch said. “Bad shots, turnovers, no composure. It was the same at the end of the first half. We haven't really closed quarters very well, closed halves very well over the last handful of games. It cost us a game in the Denver series. It certainly had an impact on this game tonight, too. We've got to be better in clutch moments.”
“I thought most of them were good shots, to be honest,” Finch continued. “We were driving, making the right play, kicking out. I thought there were even more 3s to be had….We would like to get him downhill a little bit more,” Finch said. “We’ll look at the tape and see ways to do that. But I thought there were opportunities to go downhill, particularly in the first half.”
Another player that had a relatively disappointing performance for the Timberwolves was big-man Rudy Gobert who scored 12 points and two blocks while only collecting seven rebounds. This was a key opportunity for Minnesota to control the glass, but they lost that battle 48-40 on the whole as Gobert said he has to “do a better job” on grabbing as many boards as possible.
“I got to do a better job on the rebounds,” Gobert said. “I can’t let these guys just get offensive rebounds. I’ll be better.”
Mike Conley cites a lack of energy from Minnesota
Joining in Gobert in having a frustrating outing was veteran point guard Mike Conley who only mustered out six points to go along with three assists. He would express that “there was not a lot of energy put into” the game plan that the Timberwolves had as they have to find that for Game 2.
“No matter what call we made or set we tried to get into, there was not a lot of energy put into it,” Conley said. “And you can’t effectively run anything without having that energy. We have to find that.”
“Guys looked tired in a sense that we weren't moving without the ball, we weren't setting screens, we weren't getting guys open,” Conley continued. “We were holding on to the ball a lot. No matter what call we made or set we tried to get into, there was not a lot of energy put into it. And you can't effectively run anything without having that energy. We have to find that.”
In any sense, the Timberwolves are now down 0-1 in the series where their next chance to bounce back will be Friday night as they look to at least win once in home to start. They are looking to get to their first ever appearance in the NBA Finals as they are one of 10 teams in the NBA to never hoist up the trophy.
Follow Us
Subscribe