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Western Notes: Thunder, Doncic, Spurs’ Arena, Edwards

April 30th, 2024 at 10:52pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Youth and playoff inexperience didn’t matter in the Thunder‘s sweep of the Pelicans in the opening round. They’re the youngest team in NBA history to win a playoff series and ESPN’s Tim MacMahon notes that the Thunder got only one basket in the entire series from a player older than 25 (Twitter link).

“There’s a difference between age and maturity,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said, per The Athletic’s Darnell Mayberry. “And we have a mature team. We have a committed team.”

We have more from the Western Conference:

  • Mavericks star Luka Doncic has been fighting through a knee injury since the first quarter of Game 3 of their series against the Clippers, according to Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News. Game 5 will be played on Wednesday. “It’s hurting, obviously, but it shouldn’t be an excuse, man,” Doncic said after the Game 4 loss. “We just came out a little sloppy. We’ve got to do way better than that.”
  • There’s a hush-hush tone to the discussions about San Antonio building a downtown arena for the Spurs, Molly Smith of the Express-News reports. City officials have not only been trying to keep their talks secret, they’ve signed legally binding contracts that would penalize them for saying anything about the discussions, or even acknowledging that they’re considering building a new arena. The project, if it advances, could cost $1 billion or more, and San Antonio taxpayers could be asked to foot at least part of the bill.
  • Anthony Edwards has quickly grown into a leadership role on the Timberwolves at a young age, according to Chris Hine of the Minnepolis Star Tribune. “One thing about Ant, he’s become more of a vocal leader,” assistant coach Micah Nori said. “But he’s also one of those guys that he puts in the work, so guys see him working. He’s got some self humor — you’ve seen all of his interviews — he’s the first one to congratulate and move all of his glory or whatever over to his teammates.”
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Northwest Notes: Daigneault, Edwards, Wolves, Nuggets, Jazz

April 29th, 2024 at 2:43pm CST by Luke Adams

A day after Mark Daigneault was named the NBA’s Coach of the Year for 2023/24, Thunder center Chet Holmgren lauded his head coach for his “crazy X’s and O’s” and his ability to connect with one of the NBA’s youngest rosters, per Rylan Stiles of SI.com.

“Shoutout to Mark man. Helluva coach,” Holmgren said. “… (He) puts us all in position to be successful. … He’s not that much older than us. He’s one of the bros.”

As John Hollinger of The Athletic, the world of NBA coaching is a “thankless” one, so now that he has shown the sort of success he can have in the regular season, Daigneault will be judged going forward on how and the Thunder perform in the postseason. Daigneault is off to a promising start on that front, notes Hollinger, pointing to an instance in Saturday’s win in which the Thunder extended their lead by using Gordon Hayward as a small-ball center.

As Hollinger writes, it would have been easy for Oklahoma City to take a conservative approach on Saturday with a 2-0 lead in the series, but Daigneault has shown repeatedly that he “doesn’t do safe and predictable.” His unorthodox strategies – which lean heavily on data and analytics, Hollinger points out – have the Thunder one win away from their first second-round series since 2016.

Here’s more from around the Northwest:

  • Fourteen-time All-Star Kevin Durant, who was on the receiving end of plenty of trash talk from Anthony Edwards during the Timberwolves‘ four-game sweep of Phoenix, had nothing but praise for the young star after Game 4, tweets Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. “I’m so impressed with Ant. So impressed with Ant,” Durant said of Edwards, who averaged 31.0 PPG during the series. “My favorite player to watch. Just grown so much since he came into the league.”
  • The Timberwolves‘ dominant first-round victory over the Suns serves as a reminder that many NBA analysts were wrong about the Rudy Gobert trade, according to Jim Souhan of The Star Tribune. There was skepticism about the ability of Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns to be effective alongside one another, but they’ve proven over the course of this season that’s not a problem, Souhan adds.
  • While both Nuggets point guards are banged up, neither Jamal Murray (left calf strain) nor Reggie Jackson (left ankle sprain) has missed a game yet during the team’s first-round series vs. the Lakers. That streak is up in the air with Murray still considered questionable for Monday’s Game 5, but Jackson seems good to go — he’s listed as probable to play, tweets Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette.
  • In a report for The Salt Lake Tribune, Andy Larsen, Blake Apgar, Kevin Reynolds, and Robert Gehrke take a look at how the Delta Center – the Jazz‘s home arena – might be affected by team owner Ryan Smith‘s plan to bring the NHL to Utah.
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Wolves Notes: Finch, Conley, Edwards, Reid

April 29th, 2024 at 9:01am CST by Arthur Hill

The Timberwolves‘ only major injury concern after their first-round series involves head coach Chris Finch, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Finch suffered a ruptured patella tendon in his right leg during a collision with Mike Conley late in Sunday’s game (video link). Conley was dribbling along the sidelines when Devin Booker bumped him into Finch, who fell to the court in pain.

“I didn’t see him at first, I was just trying to push the ball up the floor and Book hip checked me out of bounds,” Conley said.

The injury capped a memorable day for Finch, who finished third in the Coach of the Year balloting, then won his first playoff series as a head coach. He was able to celebrate with the team in the locker room, sitting on a chair as players gathered around him. Finch had to use crutches as he left the arena, and no announcement has been made about treatment plans. The series sweep gives him a few days to rest before the start of the second round.

“Prayers up for him,” Conley said. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. We’ll do it for him and we’ll keep it moving.”

There’s more on the Wolves:

  • Anthony Edwards has been considered a future star, but his performance against Phoenix shows he’s in that category already, observes James L. Edwards of The Athletic. Edwards scored 40 points on Sunday to finish off the Suns, and he served as the team’s emotional leader throughout the series with a mixture of highlight plays and trash talking. “He’s the face of the league,” Karl-Anthony Towns told reporters after the game. “He hates when I say it, but it’s true. Like I said, ‘Future so bright, got to put the sunglasses on.’”
  • It took time for Edwards to earn Finch’s trust, according to Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. Although he was the top pick in the 2020 draft, Edwards’ game was unrefined when he entered the league, which caused friction with his coach. “Imma be honest. At first it was like, up and down,” Edwards said. “He don’t want me doing this. He want me to do this. We fighting. Which is like a regular coach-player relationship. … But probably the end of my second year, going into those playoffs, we gained each other’s trust. We took off ever since then.”
  • Naz Reid was honored to be selected as Sixth Man of the Year earlier this week, Krawczynski tweets. It’s a significant accomplishment for a player who never averaged more than 20 minutes per game before this season. “To get this award is a monumental moment for myself,” Reid said, “just to see how far I’ve come since I started this journey.”
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Wolves Notes: Edwards, Phoenix Series, NAW, Defense

April 27th, 2024 at 8:06am CST by Tristan Tucker

The Timberwolves blew out the Suns for a third straight game in the first round of the playoffs on Friday. Anthony Edwards impressed with his shot-making in Game 1; his play-making stood out in Game 2; and in Game 3, he put it all together, Chris Hine of The Star Tribune writes. Edwards had 36 points, nine rebounds and five assists in the 126-109 win to bring the Wolves within one win of their first playoff series win 20 years.

“He’s a smart player he just has had a lot to learn and he’s learned it a lot,” head coach Chris Finch said. “He’s benefiting and we’re really benefiting.”

Edwards has outplayed Phoenix star Devin Booker through three games, averaging 28.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists to Booker’s 20.3 PPG and 6.0 APG. No team has ever come back from the 3-0 deficit which Phoenix finds itself in.

“We don’t think we broke their spirit until we win Game 4,” Edwards said. “We gotta win Game 4 and then we can say we broke their spirit. You never know man, a lot of crazy things happen.”

For his part, Edwards said he isn’t planning on relenting any time soon.

“I just want to kill everything in front of me,” Edwards said, via ESPN’s Tim Bontemps (Twitter link). “That’s the main thing, pretty much. That’s all there is to it.”

We have more notes on the Wolves:

  • The Wolves have fully arrived, James L. Edwards III of The Athletic writes. After years without one, Minnesota has an identity, characterized by elite defense and stars. “I don’t care what happened beforehand,” Finch said. “The reality is that we have a bunch of guys who love playing together, play hard and play the right way. They’re young. They let me coach them hard. It’s been fun. That’s been the foundation of being able to grow this little by little. A long way to go for us, but we don’t really care what happened before because that doesn’t relate to any of us.“
  • Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who was widely viewed as a throw-in in the Mike Conley trade at the 2023 deadline, has come up huge in the playoffs. Alexander-Walker, making $4.3MM next season, hit four big three-pointers in the third quarter and the Wolves outscored Phoenix 32-16 in his minutes. Through three games, he’s averaging 14.7 PPG and 4.0 APG and is shooting 39.1% from deep on 7.7 attempts per contest. Finch complimented the fifth-year guard’s defense and shot-making after the game, according to James Edwards (Twitter link). Alexander-Walker said the credit goes to his teammates, Hine writes. “[Anthony Edwards] trusts me,” Alexander-Walker said. “I think the cool thing about it is none of those shots really go in tonight without the trust of my teammates. To have that feeling, it’s a really good one.“
  • While they allowed 109 points in Game 3, the Wolves held Phoenix under 100 points in each of the first two games of the series. Jim Souhan of The Star Tribune analyzes seven plays that highlight Minnesota’s dominance on defense. In the regular season, the Wolves led the league in defensive rating and opposing points per game.
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Wolves Notes: McDaniels, Gobert, Edwards, Towns

April 24th, 2024 at 2:10pm CST by Luke Adams

Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels had arguably the best game of his four-year NBA career on Tuesday vs. Phoenix, posting 25 points, eight rebounds, and three assists. The Wolves outscored the Suns by 24 points in the 41 minutes he played and were outscored by 12 points during the seven minutes he was on the bench.

As Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic writes, McDaniels has waited all year to shine on this sort of stage after feeling as if he let down his teammates last spring by punching a wall after the regular season finale, breaking his hand and ending his season. The young forward didn’t realize when he went to hit a canvas awning out of frustration that there was a concrete wall behind it, but still felt embarrassed about the injury — and distraught that he wasn’t available to help his club in the playoffs.

“I was sick just watching them play (vs. Denver in last year’s first round),” McDaniels said. “I just felt like it would have been different if I got hurt playing, trying to battle. Just hurting myself, I felt selfish.”

The incident didn’t dissuade the Timberwolves from investing long-term in McDaniels, who signed a five-year, $131MM rookie scale extension in the fall. But he has still been waiting all year for the opportunity to redeem himself in the postseason — through the first two games against Phoenix, he’s well on his way to delivering on that goal.

“His activity’s been on another level so far in two games,” head coach Chris Finch said of McDaniels.

Here’s more on the Wolves:

  • McDaniels’ strong play in the series vs. Phoenix certainly hasn’t escaped the notice of Suns head coach Frank Vogel, who suggested before Game 2 that his team needs to prepare a plan of attack for the defensive standout. “He’s outstanding,” Vogel said, per Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune. “His length, his athleticism, his quickness, his speed. He’s a great defensive player. We have to make sure we attack him the right away.”
  • Despite appearing likely to win his fourth Defensive Player of the Year award this spring, Rudy Gobert was voted in The Athletic’s player poll as the NBA’s most overrated player. No one within the Wolves’ organization feels that way though, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, who suggests that Gobert’s intensity and attention to detail are key reasons why the club didn’t lose three straight games all season. “There’s a difference between being the reason you win and being the reason you don’t lose,” Finch said. “And Rudy is the reason we don’t lose. He doesn’t let us lose these games. He’s been this way all season. He’s an incredible floor raiser and he just brings it and he knows when the team needs him to do this the most. That’s one of the many reasons he’s so valuable for us.”
  • ESPN’s Tim MacMahon published a similar feature on Gobert this week, exploring why the French center seems to rub so many of his fellow NBA players the wrong way — and why that no longer bothers Gobert.
  • Speaking to Taylor Rooks of TNT Sports (Twitter video link), Anthony Edwards expressed a belief that he and Karl-Anthony Towns are the NBA’s top duo. If the Wolves advance to the second round, they’d likely be on track to square off against another duo that believes it’s the league’s best: Nuggets stars Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic.
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Wolves Notes: Edwards, Alexander-Walker, Anderson, Conley

April 20th, 2024 at 9:56pm CST by Arthur Hill

Anthony Edwards scored 33 points in leading the Timberwolves to a convincing Game 1 victory over Phoenix, and he got to tell his basketball hero all about it, writes Baxter Holmes of ESPN. After sinking a three-pointer late in the third quarter, Edwards pounded his chest as he had an animated, one-sided conversation with Kevin Durant (video link). It was a dream come true for Edwards, who grew up cheering for Durant.

“I think everybody here knows that’s my favorite player of all time, so that was probably one of the best feelings ever in my whole life,” Edwards told reporters.

The Wolves hope today’s rout sends a message about their approach to the playoffs being eliminated in five games last season. They also got some revenge for last Sunday, when they were embarrassed by the Suns and missed a chance to claim the No. 1 seed in the West.

“These guys came here and whooped us in our home court in the last game of the season and were giggling and laughing,” Edwards recalled. “(Bradley) Beal, he told our coach that he doesn’t think we play hard enough — and he was right. (Chris) Finch didn’t like that. He came in the next day and was like, ‘Man, you’ve got guys on the other team telling me that y’all don’t play hard enough for me.’ And he was totally right.”

There’s more from Minnesota:

  • The Timberwolves’ edge off the bench was evident in Game 1, particularly from Nickeil Alexander-Walker, observes Jim Souhan of The Star Tribune. The reserve shooting guard had a career-best playoff performance with 18 points and registered the highest plus-minus rating of anyone with a +28. His four steals also set a franchise playoff record for a bench player. He and Naz Reid shifted the momentum and helped to erase the lead the Suns held after the first quarter. “Those guys have been so big for us all year,” Finch said. “They have so much confidence no matter what role they’re playing or where we need them. We need those guys to produce, and tonight they did a great job.”
  • Kyle Anderson was declared out for the game after suffering a hip pointer in the second quarter. There’s no word on his status for Tuesday’s Game 2.
  • At age 36, Mike Conley is hoping for at least one more long playoff run before the end of his career, per Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune. Although Conley has played for several good teams, he hasn’t reached the conference finals since 2013. “I told the guys that, selfishly, do it for me, man,” Conley said. “Help me out. Meet me at my level right now because I don’t got long. Y’all got forever, it feels like.”
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Kawhi Leonard Completes Team USA’s Star-Studded Roster For Olympics

April 16th, 2024 at 6:07pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Team USA has completed its selection of an All-Star laden 12-player roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Shams Charania and Joe Vardon of The Athletic report (Twitter link). Kawhi Leonard was chosen for the final roster spot, USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt tweets.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Monday the 11 other selections for the roster. Team USA received a firm commitment from Leonard on Tuesday, Wojnarowski tweets.

Unlike USA Basketball’s FIBA World Cup roster last summer, which lacked size and interior strength, the Olympic roster is filled with quality bigs. Joel Embiid, Bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis will be joined at the power positions by LeBron James and Kevin Durant.

The wings will be manned by Jayson Tatum, Leonard, Devin Booker and Anthony Edwards. Jrue Holiday, Tyrese Haliburton and Stephen Curry round out the backcourt.

Haliburton and Edwards are the only players from the FIBA World Cup roster to make Team USA’s Olympic roster.

Team USA has won the gold medal in each of the last four Summer Olympics.

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Team USA Locks In 11 Of 12 Olympic Roster Spots

April 15th, 2024 at 6:18pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Team USA men’s basketball program has determined 11 of its 12 roster spots for this year’s Paris Olympics, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Woj suggests that the final roster opening could remain open for a while. Sources inform Wojnarowski that Hall of Famer Grant Hill, Team USA’s managing director, is waiting for a July training camp and some Las Vegas exhibition games before finalizing that 12th spot.

10 of the 11 players were honored as All-Stars this season, while the 11th was a key two-way force on the 2021 gold medal-winning team, which is officially considered the 2020 Olympic team.

Here are Team USA’s 11 players:

So far, three NBA teams – the Lakers, Celtics, and Suns – will feature multiple U.S. Olympians.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, serving again as the leader of Team USA this summer, will have just one current familiar face in All-Star point guard Curry, who will be making his Olympic debut. Among the other players listed, four others will be making their debuts with the program on this stage: reigning league MVP Embiid and young All-Star guards Edwards and Haliburton.

As Woj notes, 35-year-old Durant is one of just two players to have won three gold medals in Olympic history, along with future Hall of Fame forward Carmelo Anthony. James is playing in his first Olympics since 2012. James and Anthony were also members of Team USA the last time it didn’t win gold at the tournament, in 2004.

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Northwest Notes: Murray, Edwards, Holiday, Hayward, Banton

April 10th, 2024 at 1:47pm CST by Luke Adams

A Northwest division showdown in Denver on Wednesday night will go a long way toward determining which team controls the No. 1 seed in this year’s Western Conference playoffs. The Nuggets and Timberwolves will enter the evening with matching 55-24 records and only three games left to play.

Both teams will be on the second end of a back-to-back set. On Tuesday, the Nuggets picked up a 16-point win in Utah, with Jamal Murray scoring 28 points in just 27 minutes of action in his second game back following a seven-game injury absence. Murray is still on a minutes restriction, but looked fresh in the fourth quarter when Denver needed him most, writes Bennett Durando of The Denver Post.

“Seven games off will do that for you,” Murray told reporters in his post-game media session. “So I feel good. It’s just good to get a flow out there. It’s more conditioning. Your breathing and muscle fatigue throughout the game. … Felt good, comfortable and just ready to play.”

Meanwhile, in Minnesota, the Timberwolves kept pace in the race for No. 1 by registering a 130-121 victory over Washington. It was a memorable night for Anthony Edwards, who scored a career-high 51 points while also dishing seven assists. After the win, Edwards credited head coach Chris Finch for making sure he didn’t let up against one of the NBA’s worst teams.

“He put me in the office two, three days ago and said, ‘Look man, we’ve got this Washington game, and we need to win it, need to come ready to play and you can’t treat it like any other game,'” Edwards said (story via ESPN).

The Timberwolves hold the tiebreaker edge over the Nuggets, so if they can pick up a win tonight, their magic number for the top seed in the West will be down to just one.

Here’s more from around the Northwest:

  • Although Nuggets head coach Michael Malone was noncommittal on Tuesday when asked if Justin Holiday will be part of his playoff rotation, he indicated he would be comfortable leaning on the veteran swingman, Durando writes for The Denver Post. “I trust him 100%,” Malone said. “He’s a veteran. He’s been around the league for a long time, and he’s proven in the one year with us, he’s proven himself to be trustworthy. Disciplined. Stays ready. Makes open shots. Guards. He’s done everything that’s been asked of him. For a while, he was a guy that would play if there was an injury, and then for the last month or so he’s been a rotation player for us.”
  • The Thunder likely envisioned Gordon Hayward being part of their playoff rotation when they acquired him from Charlotte in February, but it has been a rough adjustment period for the veteran forward, who has averaged just 4.5 points in 16.5 minutes per game in his 23 appearances since the trade. As Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman writes, Hayward is still trying to get comfortable in his new reduced role. “Obviously would be probably better if I was here at the beginning of the year with everybody,” Hayward said. “Every team across the league will tell you that midseason trades are difficult to get everybody adjusted to everybody. Gotta work with what you’re given.”
  • After the Raptors declined to issue him a qualifying offer last June and the Celtics didn’t find room in the rotation for him in the first half of the season, Dalano Banton‘s NBA future appeared tenuous. However, as Jared Weiss of The Athletic details, Banton has enjoyed a career renaissance with the Trail Blazers, averaging 16.3 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 3.5 APG in 28 games (28.5 MPG) since being sent to Portland in a salary-dump deal at the trade deadline. The Blazers hold a minimum-salary team option for 2024/25 on Banton, who says he “learned a lot” as a reserve in Boston earlier this season.
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Wolves Notes: Gobert, Morris, Ownership, Playoffs

April 6th, 2024 at 7:34pm CST by Arthur Hill

Timberwolves players have developed a level of trust in center Rudy Gobert that they didn’t have last season, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.

Gobert had a difficult adjustment to his new team after Minnesota traded for him in the summer of 2022. He wasn’t fully healthy after representing France in the EuroBasket competition, and he got off to a slow start as he adjusted to a new team and a new system. The difference has been obvious this season as the Wolves are tied for the best record in the West at 53-24 and Gobert’s scoring, rebounding and blocked shots have all increased.

“I think trusting Rudy,” Anthony Edwards responded when asked about the team’s most significant area of growth since the season began. “I think that’s the main thing. However many players on the team that plays — me, Nickeil (Alexander-Walker), Mike (Conley), SloMo (Kyle Anderson), Jaden (McDaniels), Naz (Reid), (Karl-Anthony Towns) — we all trust Rudy, like, together.”

According to Krawczynski, that level of trust began being built with the acquisition of Conley at the 2023 trade deadline. The veteran point guard had years of experience playing alongside Gobert in Utah and knew how to maximize his talents. Krawczynski states that Conley showed his new teammates the best ways to pass the ball to Gobert in the post and how to take advantage of the screens he sets.

“I think everybody pretty much has 100 percent trust in him now at this point,” Edwards added. “He makes the right play every time.”

There’s more on the Wolves:

  • Monte Morris is getting a chance to showcase his abilities as the team rests Conley in advance of the playoffs, observes Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune. Minnesota picked up Morris at the trade deadline to add another point guard to the roster with postseason experience. “These next games are big for me getting ready for playoffs,” Morris said. “I’ve played in big playoff games, so I know the rhythm you need to be in. I’ve got to be more aggressive, so when the playoffs do come, I’ll be in good rhythm.”
  • The dispute over ownership will likely be decided in arbitration, according to Nick Williams of The Star Tribune. Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez claim they submitted the necessary paperwork to the NBA office to take over a majority stake in the team by the March 27 deadline, but current owner Glen Taylor argues that all conditions weren’t met on time. Lore and Rodriguez have vowed to fight “with all means possible” to make sure the sale goes through.
  • Chris Hine of The Star Tribune examines the lower half of the Western Conference playoff picture to determine if there’s an ideal matchup for Minnesota in the first round. He notes that Phoenix and New Orleans are the only teams with two wins over the Wolves this season. “I don’t think as a competitor you’re supposed to allow doubt to set in because you lost twice,” Alexander-Walker said. “If anything, you should become more motivated to win. Have some more fire to you to want to play harder. Figure it out. I know for me, I want to figure it out. I know that whatever I can do in my role in helping other guys in there, just trying to win. I think in the playoffs, if we do have to play them, we have an ultimate goal.”
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