RECAP: Minnesota Timberwolves drop Game 1 to Dallas Mavericks 

Man everybody making such a big deal about Ant saying he was going to guard Kyrie. He never said he would shut him down or anything. Just said that was his matchup and was excited. I expect a dominating Ant game 2 and lots of defensive adjustments. Just one game in a long series.

Wolves somehow regained control with 4 min left only to throw the ball away every time they had a half decent look.

Woof, Ant wanted kyrie and he got kyrie. He looked like an old ass man out there trying to guard uncle drew.

Mavs fans were saying Mavs in 5 and I dismissed it. They killed us in the paint and our defense was torched. Major adjustments are needed.

Twolves need to drop “drop” coverage What did brian flores say, “Blitz them baby!!”

This is one area that the Wolves haven't been tested too much in the playoffs. Closing out ball games. Getting that last second bucket.

Poor performance. No adjustments. Mavs couldn't shoot from range, yet we kept pressing them 40 ft out from the basket only to get blown by consistently. The game wasn't as close as the final score. They looked flat and got out muscled. Ant and KAT can't show up like this again or it will be over real quick. Wasted opportunity with the way Jaden and NAZ played.

Too many bricks from the foul line

Naz scored 15 but he was a -11. Kat going 6 for 20 also killed us. He looked rushed the entire game. Too many empty possessions. Bite Bite scoring only 5 points. Ant wasn’t aggressive. Luka was a -9 so the gameplan against him was fine. We just couldn’t make any shots tonight.

The entire game it looked like the Wolves got ahead by a decent amount, Dallas came back and they said oh no you don’t and got ahead again, all the way to the last couple minutes and then didn’t finish holding them down. It didn’t look like they had full effort.

Kyrie and Luka are trustworthy to finish close games. Ant and KAT aren’t. It’s that simple. If Minnesota wins this series it’s because they beat them by 10 before the game gets close. If it’s close Mavs will keep finishing. Luka is a dawg.

A few things to unlock the offense. The gobert high screen is just bringing a double team to edwards. They need to use naz reid and towns setting that screen for Ant, Ant needs to drive hard at the double to make them commit. Simultaneously, gobert needs to be setting OFFBall screens for shooters out of the corner, then dive back to the rim. Ant comes off the screen, absorbs the double, and has three options. Naz or Towns rolling down the middle or popping back to the three point line at the top. Jaden or conley coming off a gobert offball screen, which btw is ultra effective because they do not guard gobert outside the paint, so no close second defender to switch or hedge the offball screen. Then gobert diving toward the rim for a lob opportunity either from Ant, from naz or towns who got the ball in the middle or jaden or mike attacking off the pin diwn screen. This avoids gobert getting the ball in the middle of the court where he is not adept at scoring or play making and keeps him near the hoop for a lob or offensive rebound . Naz or kat coming downhill from the top of the key or freethrow line area is a much better option for the wolves offense. Very quickly the Mavs will be hesitant to leave karl or naz wide open in order to double Ant. If he stays aggressive, he will have more favorable space in which to operate if gobert stays closer to the hoop where the mavs have to guard him. Its not complicated. The mavs are handing the wolves an advantage on every possession if we just had our personnel in the right area of the court. We are playing right into the Mavs hands with our current go to action where Ant is looking at a stagnant offesive set with a high ball screen from gobert which results in his only options being to attack a double team, shoot a contested 3 or dump the ball to gobert at the freethrow line, all of which favor the mavs, if that becomes the bulk of your offense. This simultaneously on ball and off ball action will stress the mavs defense and provide multiple avenues to create rim pressure and higher quality shots.

Watched the highlights and they were damn lucky it wasn’t a blowout. +36 from 3 and they lost?? Phil says Wolves in 5?? Homer city.

The amount of time we spend with neither kat nor ant on the floor is so concerning

How did they get killed in the paint so bad

How many times did rudy stand there and let dudes jump while he did absolutely nothing?

If the Wolves can't keep Kyrie Irving from driving/slashing to the basket at will, it will be Mavs in 5 games. MN's vaunted defense looked pathetic in that first half... Dallas was getting every layup, tip-in, and put-back they wanted

The series is not over it’s one game. Lets move on and focus on game 2

The Timberwolves were badly coached. They weren’t ready for Dallas. Really sad

Sure they're feeling each other out but bottomline, their stars showed up and ours didn't. I don't know what has been wrong with Ant the past few games but he is not playing like himself offensively and he was getting completely blown by guarding Kyrie. The only thing I can think of is the tailbone bruising is affecting him more than he's willing to admit

Boys, let's be honest. Mike Conley SUCKED last night. I don't know if he is hurt or old or tired, but his plus minus had to be bad. That stupid alley-oop turnover to Rudy at the end of the game was an absolute killer. Either shoot the open three or the open floater. Awful night for him. Also, MAKE YOUR FREE THROWS

I was hoping we would be a lot better @ maneuvering around screens after going through Denver I know Wolves will adjust, Mavs like Denver seem to run the exact same play over & over when Luka is looking to be aggressive Ant gotta stop this isolation ball & forcing the 3, there’s times when Ant messes up the flow of the offense & they’d be playing better when he was on the bench I know he’s young & will take time for him to figure that out

Very disappointed in the defense and rebounding gobert looks soft as fuck towns needs to shoot the ball him driving on this team looks stupid I would not start gobert play Naz with towns gobert is a liability on offense. I blame coaching for some of this game loss you should have challenge the offensive goaltending a play in the first quarter that killed the momentum of the 10 point lead they didn't have the players ready and they played like the Vikings in the playoffs Indian burial ground Minnesota sports

Holy crap Wolves fans. Calm down. Its one game for the love of God. The sky isnt falling. Lets see if Finchy can adjust and then you can freak out if we go down 0-2

I know it's not what decided the game but that push foul on Conley was bs !

Getting real sick of Ant not showing up or being aggressive, not a superstar until he can show up when it matters consistently

You guys forgetting about the angle of the camera on the basket interference call.

Edwards has around 30 hours to rest. Then get ready to Run young man

Game 2 isn’t a must win? COPE. You go down 0-2 against Dallas it’s over.

Close games don't always mean a long series.

Well it was a nice run…

good show guys. im a mavs trying to get good diff perspectives. i think this series goes 6/7. 2 good teams that should win finals. fyi mavs lost game 1 in 1st and 2nd.

Some delusional homerism here

Ant needs to guard someone else then if he's going to be this tired

I honestly thought the defense was pretty good. Kyrie and Luka made some tough shots. Obviously the points in the paint differential can't be that wide ever again. And part of that differential was due to our offense. We settled for wayyy too many 3s. Will say though. KAT, Conley and NAW went 3/19 from 3. NAWs shooting is super inconsistent. But KAT and Conley are our best shooters. They ain't shooting like that again. I counted at least 3 3s that were nearly in the net and popped out. Moving forward. We lost by 3 tonight. If the Mavs can win both their series by losing game 1, so can we. Don't always settle for 3s please. Please make the open 3s count.

Dallas played 5 off the bench, Wolves played 3. Minnesota has to trust it's bench or they're toast.

I didn’t realize offensive goal tending was a thing. So let’s get this straight, KAT’s bucket didn’t count because the three point shot he assisted on was supposedly going to go in. So the Wolves were supposed to have 3 points but KAT made it 2, and instead of that being the case, they get none. Lol, makes zero sense. This was such a close game that those points could have changed the outcome, too.

Terrible offensive goaltending call on KAT. That swung the momentum tremendously. And the weak ass push in the back call on Mike.. I mean if they’re going to call that, please call a foul when ant gets hacked on a drive to the rim.

And with tonight’s 19 points, Ant officially has more playoff games recording less than 20 points than MJ had his whole career. Next MJ my ass

Wolves just looked disengaged a lot of the time. No interest in rebounding. Ant and Kat were terrible. Deserved to lose that game. They better pick it up from now on or we're gonna get bounced.

Off night for Ant, Conley and Kat. Poor FT shooting. No way Kyree scores 30+ again. Wolves poor job holding decent leads. Wolves will bounce back.

Wolves better get their shit together. They played really bad defense

Blitz them and play monte morris.

I don’t think they would’ve called the basket interference if it weren’t for Luka flailing his arms for the call. Even though you hardly ever see that called.. smh

The aerial view clearly showed the ball out of the cylinder. Sheesh at least look at it..

Why kat shooting threes man you have to post up come on play like a big man

McDaniels should be on Kyrie. Screw Luka

Wolves could’ve won this game even being flat throughout the game. Ant needs to play more aggressive and on defense they should throw an extra body at Luka occasionally. They gave up too many second chance points. Take away the second chance points and it’s a W

It looked to me like the crowd wasn't in it at all. "The Beautiful People" came out and the crowd looked uninterested.

Buzzkill. Felt the T-Wolves didn't execute when it mattered most.

Hate Boston. Crap traffic, expensive parking, rude people.

Honestly can ot stand the fucking pull up threes early in the shot clock especially from ant. He can drive past anyone in the league why is he jacking up threes instead of looking for better shots it makes no sesne to me.

We clearly have shown and self admitted that we play better when on the ropes. We are a bounce back team and always believe 💪 its first to 4 wins. We will split at home and our defense always travels.

How about the bad call on Kats put back dunk? Such a bad call at a crucial point in the game. At least look at it. Anyway. It was a great game.

Dallas in 5

not covering the second guy in the paint. too many easy dunks.

Wolves looked hungover from game 7. Sluggish and still only lost by 3; easily winnable.

Poor performance, but I still believe Wolves in 6

Anyone lost betting on timberwolves talk to me pls 😂

I think the Wolves win Game 2 by double digits. They need to regain momentum after blowing this opportunity to take Game 1. I feel like the Wolves are the better overall team. Wolves should win this series in 6 or 7. Gotta win Game 2 though.

Too many boxing analogies. We don’t need the continued boxing reference. Also Phil will you give your mic a quarter turn, that blue lite is bugging me.

LETS' GO MAVS!!!!!

Wolves in 5???????

Told yall to go bet Mavs ML game 1. Easy $

Wolves still winning the series with ease

That “no good” good 2 pointer called by the refs on KAT’s rebound was complete bogus.

Theige balling after the Wolves won a 2nd round playoff series was one of the most pathetic things I’ve ever seen in sports. 😂

The refs gifted Dallas that W

The refs for Dallas as well

Dallas sweep.🧹🧹