Latest / The Stop and Pop / NBA Opening Night Reaction Part 2: Timberwolves vs. Lakers

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NBA Opening Night Reaction Part 2: Timberwolves vs. Lakers · The Stop and Pop

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: First things first,
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: congratulations to the James family for having the first father and son duel to
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: play an NBA game together.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: LeBron James and Bronny James, testament of hard work, family ties, and just a testament to senior
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: being able to play for such long time, such longevity.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's amazing how long he's been playing and how good he's been over this sustained period of time.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: But let's talk about the game.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: I like what the Lakers did tonight.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: I like
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: That they were feeding Anthony Davis more.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: He looked aggressive on both ends.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: I don't usually say this, but I feel like Anthony Davis was playing aggressive the whole time.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: He looked like the best player on the court tonight.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: He had a really massive impact defensively.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Had multiple blocks.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: And he had a crazy, crazy block on Rudy Gobert.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: He looked like the Anthony Davis that should be in the MVP conversation.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: And if the Lakers want to compete, that has to be a regular nightly thing for them.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Anthony Davis has to attack on both ends of the court
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: And he has to look like the Anthony Davis that helped win the championship during the bubble.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: The sets also look really more fluid with JJ as a coach.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: The team looked more patient.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: They looked more free-flowing, playing off the ball more, more ball movement.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: And
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: I like how they was crashing offensive glass.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: They were really putting an emphasis on trying to grab offensive rebounds.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: They ended up finishing with, let's check the box score here, 15 offensive rebounds.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Minnesota finished with 12 offensive rebounds, so pretty much even on the rebounding department.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: LA finished with 46 rebounds overall.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Minnesota finished with 47.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: At a point in time,
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: LA was really dominating the boards,
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: but Minnesota made a nice push in the second half.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: They cut the lead to about four at a point,
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: cut the deficit to four,
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: and they ultimately did lose by only seven,
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: but
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: L.A., they were up by a considerable amount in the fourth quarter.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Austin Reaves, he looked pretty solid out there.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: He looked like a real connector for this team,
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: finishing with a really good stat line,
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: in my opinion,
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: in 12 points,
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: 9 rebounds,
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: 4 assists.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: He looked like a player who could really be the blue guy for this team,
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: which has kind of been the case for him ever since he's gotten there.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: LeBron only had four assists,
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: which is not a thing we say often about him,
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: where he doesn't have more than six assists,
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: seven assists,
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: eight assists.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: But the ball movement for the whole team, everybody was touching the ball.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody was having the opportunity to run the offense.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: D'Angelo Russell led the team in five assists.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Davis had four.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: LeBron had four.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Reeves had four.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: And overall, they looked really good out there.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: They
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like the one thing that makes a difference between the team with Darvin Ham
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: and the team with JJ Redick is actually letting the team be more free falling and
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: letting players make plays for each other.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Not sure if that was the case with Darvin Ham last year, not sure if that was the case
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: when he had Westbrook on his team, where he had Westbrook just kind of playing in corners at times.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: But going to talk about Minnesota, Minnesota, they were still trying to figure things out.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Randle looked indecisive on offense.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Donte didn't have a great game.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Anthony Edwards really tried to put the team on his back.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: He scored...
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: 27 points, but he really added a three-point shot.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: He took 13 three-pointers,
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: made five of them,
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: and the rest of the team just couldn't really put anything sustainable together offensively.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Randle had 16 points, five or ten from the field.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Nickeil Alexander-Walker had 14 points.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Naz Reid had 12 points.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Gobert had 13 with 14 rebounds.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: But for this Minnesota team to really unlock what they want to do,
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: they need to put Randle in positions where he is thinking too much.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, he's not thinking too much with the basketball.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: If they want to really unlock what this team can do.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because Randle can be really good offensively.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: when he's playing quick, playing strong, and making quick decisions.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: So, with that being said, I think Minnesota will bounce back.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think they, of course, are going to need some time to figure things out.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: But, I had Anthony Edwards as the MVP for this season, but it can only happen if
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: the Wolves really take the step in putting Randle in the position to be a secondary
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: facilitator for this team.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Or a third option facilitating team because you still have Conley on this team.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Even though Conley only had two assists.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: So ultimately, whatever route that this Wolves team takes, they will need
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: to unlock it with Julius Randle.