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POST-GAME DEBRIEF: The Timberwolves Eliminated The Lakers... · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of things you could have told me for the series started.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: You could have told me the Lakers won in seven.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: You could have told me the Wolves won in seven, one in six, one and five, regardless.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: But if you would have told me that the Wolves won this series behind a game where Rudy Gobert gave them 27 and 24, I would have called you crazy.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: I would have said there was a 0% chance to happen.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: In this series, I admitted just two days ago that this is the worst offensive series of Rudy Gobert's career.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that is saying something.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: And tonight, for whatever reason, I just feel like Rudy Gobert remembered I am 7'1.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: And the opposing team's tallest guy is what, 6'8, 6'9?
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I should go crash the glass a little bit.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe my teammates should throw me a lob here or there.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Almost 25-25 game from Rudy Gobert is insane.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: I got a lot to say about this and dammit.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: I got a flight that I gotta get up for in six hours.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: So let's pay some bills.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about this series.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I promise you we're gonna talk about it more on the podcast in a couple days, but let's pay these bills.
• 1:08
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• 2:10
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• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: This is insane.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um the Rudy Gobert game.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so far in his career, if you said the words, those three words together, the Rudy Gobert game, it was usually for the negative.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: The Rigobert game uh simultaneously was the Terrence Mann game.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: The Rudy Gobert game was simultaneously the Luca Dante's stepback last year in the postseason.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now the Rudy Gobert game has a positive connotation to it.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Come on, man, we're here.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Damn it, it's been eight years.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: I've been riding for Rudy Gobert, and um, no, no, I'm I'm going above and beyond.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: But now this is his by far his best game.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: I know his career high is 35 points, and he had a 31-point game against the Brooklyn Nets a few weeks back.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing compares to this, a closeout game.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he had 27 and 24.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: He was the most, listen to these words that's coming out of my mouth.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Rudigo Bear had a game where he was the most important and impactful player on the court, on a court where he shared with Anthony Edwards, Luka Doncic, and maybe the damn GOAT LeBron James.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: That is, it's 2025.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: What the hell is happening?
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, whoa, this is insane.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: This game in general is just a weird game.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: You had times where Luka Doncic left the game with a lower back injury, at times where uh LeBron James left with like a quad injury, I want to say.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think he got knee in the quad.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just a weird ass game altogether.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Anthony Ericks, who would have been the best player in the entire series, gave us a stinker shooting night.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: I thought he was still in control, like no other.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Something that we've talked about before.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: 15 points, eight, 11 rebounds, eight assists.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but he shot 0 for 11 from 3.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Dante DiVincenzo, sniper, 2 for 12 from 3.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Julius Randle, 1 for 6 for 3.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: The team shot nine.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm sorry, 15% from three.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm rounding up.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: It was 14 points something.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: 15% from three on the road.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: And one.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is an insane win, man.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's an insane win.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: And and I don't want to show my cards too much, but as I said a few weeks ago, whoever won the series between the Lakers and the Wolves, I think I'm gonna have them go into the conference finals.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the Wolves get to wait to see if it is the Warriors, which it probably will be, or the Houston Rockets pull off the impossible um or nearly impossible.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: But what a series, man.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: What a goddamn series.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: The Wolves never let up.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like, one thing that I I you could I could be critical about when some of these teams is like you have a good game, then you have a stink.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: You have a good game, you had to stink.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: I don't the the Wolves really didn't give us that, right?
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: They gave us one game, it's like, oh, this is not it.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: But other than that, they were in the lead or or the more prepared or the more or the team that executed better for every game in the series of posts to one.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Every quarter in the series of posts to like one.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Think about it.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: The one game the Lakers won, that was the 34 to 15 quarter to start the game.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Other than that, the Wolves have been the better team on the court time and time again.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just amazing.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: I just saw a post from the Minnesota Timbers official Twitter that was calling Anthony Edwards the legend slayer.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because last year he walked down KD and he walked down Jokic.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And unfortunately, he didn't walk down Luca until this year, where he walked down Luca and he walked down Braun.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: And next series, it might be Steph Curry.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: And the series after that, it might be Shay or it might be Jokic again.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is insane, Anthony Edwards, um, last two years.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Again, not a great shooter night tonight, but I thought again, he was as controlled as ever.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Julius Randle was great.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Every time the Lakers felt like they were going on a run, Julius Randle stopped the bleeding a little bit by going to a post and doing a little post fade.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: I thought that was incredible.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, big foul choke for Jaden McDaniels, who had been so important in the series, and they were able to close it out.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Mike Conley had times in the series where he couldn't play.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: I thought today defensively he was super important.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Made a couple hustle plays that were really dope.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: And the K Alexander Walker is going to give you great defense as well, even though he airballed a three.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: But the next possession, he smacked the same spot, same spot.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: An amazing, amazing game.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I cannot wait to see who they go against next.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, shout out to the Wolves because I think everybody on ESPN picked against them.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think there was a single right on ESPN panel that said Wolves and whatever.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I picked Lakers in seven, right?
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm one of those people as well, and they continue to uh to prove people wrong.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm so excited to see who they go against next.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: And damn it, I'm probably picking them.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Probably picking them.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but let's I want to talk about the Lakers thing because every time you have this exit thing or some teams losing, you you kind of have to think about their series or their season at large.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I got a flight that I got to get up for in six hours, so I don't want to go too much into it, but we will do it a lot today.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this series was was an interesting one.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um I thought that this team that that showed their face in these five games was closer to the team I expected them to be versus the team that they showed us to be.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Let me explain that.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: If you remember when Luca Donces was traded, there was a lot of content that I created.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: I had the initial trade reaction where it was like, oh my god, no way they did that.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Then there was one following up to that that was like, hey, the Lakers do this trade not because they want to win a championship this season.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: They are setting themselves up for a franchise for the next 10 years because Luca Donces is special and he seems to be loyal to whoever, right?
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, you get Luka Donces on an extension, it is what it is.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: This year is probably a throwaway year.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it feels weird to have a throwaway year for Braun, but it is what it is.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: You you got offered one of the greatest players of our generation in his prime.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: You do that trade time and time again.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: But I didn't think they had a ceiling to win a championship.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Again, this is when the trade first happened.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then the trade happened.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: And we had that month stretch.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: This is after they lose to Charlotte.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: They lost to Charlotte, if I'm not mistaken.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: This is after they lose to Charlotte, they racking off win after win after win.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: They're looking like a top three defense in all the basketball.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: You sit back, you say, wait a minute, this team might be able to do some special stuff.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: That team is dead.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: That team did not show its head or its face in this playoffs at all.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: I remember when they were in the middle of their great run and JJ Redding went to the post-game, or it was either pregame or post-game interview, and he was asked about the defense of this Lakers team.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: And he mentioned that majority of what they're doing right now is effort and um and being on the string.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: He used a different word to being on the string, but just effort-related defense.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: When you have one or two players that are not on that string or not getting the effort, they don't have the athletes, they don't have the size to make up for that.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have a series where Luka Dontich is playing awful defense and being hunted on defense, if you have a series where Austin Reeves is struggling to find out, find a goddamn map, shout out to Chris Smooth, then that connectivity that kept them as being really good defense, or um that effort that we mentioned goes out.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I can't wait to watch the Jada McDaniel's highlight reel from the series because I'm assuming that of his however many points, 90% of them is on him being guarded by Luka Donce from him having Austin Reeves on him.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's what it was.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it seems like a disappointing season, and you could call it a disappointing season regardless, considering the type of talent that's at the top here.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: But again, this team reminded me of the team I thought they were gonna be.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: A team that could win some games.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Don't get me wrong, but this team is not built to win now.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is not a Luka Donces built team.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is a team that was gifted Luca.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: This team doesn't even play close to a team that we've seen from Luca.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: This team had had so much trouble at the center position that Rudigo Bear almost gave them 30 and 30, and they still opted not to go with a real center.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's different than what Rudigo, uh, what Luka Doncic is used to.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: I thought he didn't have a good series, full stop.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what the final stats are gonna be.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: It might, if I had to guess Luka Doncic's final stat, the series is like 26, 7, and 8.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: That would be my guess.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Did not think it was a good series for Luka Doncic, regardless of what the stats say.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm only comparing him to himself, right?
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, if goddamn uh Gabe Vincent was averaging this, it would be a good series.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: But like I'm comparing Luka Donces to the Luka Donces that we know and love, right?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: This was not a really good series.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: I thought that a lot of this when he was playing right into the hands of what the Tim Wolves wanted.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: You want the switch to Rudy Gobert, so be it.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Rudigo Bear's letting you score less than one point per possession on that switch, my guy.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's all oohs and ahs, and you're gonna get him on a step back, you're gonna get him looking foolish with a fake pass occasionally, but he's been holding it down right now.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what we want you to do.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of this series, they were not allowing Luca Dontis to be the playmaker that he's normally able to be.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: And as good of an offensive player he can be as far as putting the ball in the basket, in order for Luca Dontis to be the Don, you need him to be able to get those assists.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: And tonight he got seven of them or nine of them.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: So he did that tonight specifically, but for the majority of the series, that was not the case.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: LeBron James gave us two back-to-back fourth quarter sneakers.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think he had zero points in the fourth quarter last game.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think he was one of six, one of seven in the fourth quarter in this game.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's unfortunate, right?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like they never got the others' game.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Where I'm thinking about when uh which game was that?
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: That was when you got um there was no um Jimmy Butler.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: Jimmy Butler missed the game because he had the booty injury, right?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: He falls on his butt, you get the butt contusion, and they're like, oh, Jimmy Butler's not playing today.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, okay, Houston has a chance to do his thing.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: But then we got the others' game where Gary Payton had 16 points.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Buddy Hill had 17 points.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: Quentin Post only had two points, but he had 12 rebounds, and I thought those were amazing.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: So you had the other step up in this game where they need it.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: I thought that in this series for the Lakers, we didn't have a game where multiple of the others stepped up.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Tonight, Rui Hachimura might have been the goddamn MVP of the Lakers.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: He's the only guy that was hitting shots, really.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of those shots came very timely.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: But we didn't have a Rui game and an Austin Reese game.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think that Austin Reese gave us basically one really good quarter this entire series.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that's unfortunate.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because I remember the conversation was who was the best third option in basketball.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I never thought that Austin Reese was the best, but I thought considering who Luca is and who Braun is, Austin Reese fits perfectly with them, even if that doesn't make him the best third option in the entire sport.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: That was not the case in the series.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: He struggled.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: He struggled heavily.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: Getting to the rim, finishing at the rim, shooting the three-point ball.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't have it.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, it is what it is, it is what it is at the end of the day, right?
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: There's no real other option.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think that the lottery conversation that we're gonna see in the morning once people are talking, uh talking about it on TV and people drop their podcast and stuff, is should JJ Reddick kept going to Jackson Hayes for a little bit just to see.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Gobzilla was out there 27 and 24, and and there was a moment in time where I thought there was a possibility that he did put in Jackson Hayes.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: It was when Doe fouled out on that ticky-tack foul.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, okay, I think at this point, I don't have it in my notes the exact minute, but I think it's maybe two minutes, three minutes left in the game.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, okay, maybe Jackson Hayes gets some burn now because it's a close game and they just need somebody to get a body up on where to go bear.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: And instead they went with Maxi Kleber, who had not played for the Lakers uh like since the trade.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then eventually they was like, no, not Maxie, and they went with Gabe Vincent.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: And Gabe Vincent came in and pulled one of the most ridiculous shots you're gonna see.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's weird.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: But again, this is not a team built for Luca.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is a team that happened to add Luca at around the deadline.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: So this offseason is gonna be really interesting because I think we understand who they are as a team as of right now and what type of players they need to acquire.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, the number one thing is having size, having any center.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that the Mark Williams trade fell through because you didn't like his medicals or whatever, whatever.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Mark Williams would have been very important in the series.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: He'd have been amazing in the series.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: You wouldn't have to run out lineups where um Jerry Vanderbilt's trying to hold his own against Rudy Gobier on the glass.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: It just wouldn't happen.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: So obviously, um getting the center, getting a competent center is number one on the priority list for Rob Polinka.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: They cut to him late in his fourth quarter, and Luca Dante said missed a free throw, and he like shook his head and face pumped.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I'm somewhat defending Luca here.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Even though it wasn't a good series, this team is very far away from the type of team that he needs to be as effective.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess it goes to a different conversation about portability as a buzzword, I guess.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um because if you are a star that needs a very specific type of team, how good of a team can you take?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now, again, maybe that's not not even close to what the conversation should be, but I'm not gonna put it past anything at this point.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think that because he plays for the Lakers now, he's there's the microscope is even bigger.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking about one of the best and biggest stars in our league right now.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think he led in like jersey sales after the trade.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like he's number, he's number one.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: But I think those are the type of conversations gonna happen considering his former GM trading him away for for stuff.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Top three player in the league.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: No, we don't like him.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Don't play enough defense.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then he goes into this series and he's a cone.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, they're gonna be talked about a lot.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um I gotta rewatch this game on a flight in a couple hours, so I'm gonna take my ass to bed.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Let me know what you think.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: The Rudy Gobert game.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: I've been defending this man Rudy Gobert for 30 years, and I thought this is the best game of his career.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: Insane.