'Timberwolves HAVE to LOCK MAVERICKS DOWN' 🔒 - Stephen A. Smith on WCF Game 2 | First Take 

NBA on ESPN needs a button where you can just hear Tim Leglers takes because he always calls it how it is.

Honestly, I think the Wolves got too cocky. If the Mavs made more 3 pointers yesterday, then that game could have been a bloodbath.

Locking up Jamal Murray a bit easier than trying to guard Kyrie, I imagine.

Finally, some scrutiny for Anthony Edwards by Tim Legler. Good job.

Glad Legler called out the excuses from Edwards. In his pregame presser, Ant said he wasn't concerned about Kyrie off ball only with the ball on his ends. That was very ironic considering how much Kyrie's off ball movement got him tired. That's not on Edwards though, that's on the coaching staff to scout and have him prepared for the matchup against Kyrie.

Shaq "is Anthony Edwards close to MJ?" Chuck "they both black"

Lock down the Slovenian Assassin and Uncle Drew?? Yeah, ok😂😂😂

In LuKy we trust.

One leg Luka > espn's new mj

Legs > Windy >> SaS

Luka nuts was in Ant man mouf

As we talking about Luka and Kyrie but how about the coach in Jason Kidd

ESPN should change the title to Please beat Luka!!!😢

People gotta give Mavs more credit on the defensive end. They really been putting clanks on teams this entire playoffs. Great effort from both stars great team effort great coaching strategy.

Timberwolves are not as smart defensively as they are athletic. The offensive IQ on the Mavs with Luka and Kyrie and their athletic defenders might be too much for the Wolves.

Next face of the league already making excuses?

Windy stop blinking 👀 😂

Aww poor Ant, he was just so tired! 😢

Luka had 15 points in the 4th quarter and I haven’t hear SAS mention one word of it lol. Let that have been Antman, he would be screaming at us

Yall gassed this man up thinking he MJ now he really thought he can guard Ky 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

I am a Bulls fan, and I am 100% rooting for Luka and Irving to win this series, and the championship. None of these NBA and ESPN sportscasters will be able to handle the combination of another European player winning the title with Irving the player they all reviled not to long ago.

"Minnesota, Minnesota, Minnesota" I almost forgot that another team was in this series. A team that has been the #1 defense since the all-star break. A team that has arguably a top 3 player in Luka Doncic. A surging Kyrie Irving. A good big rotation and roleplayers that are playing above expectation. Thank God for Tim Legler and, at times, Windy for drawing attention to what Dallas did right instead of what you want from Minnesota.

They weren’t flat, Ant was

I think alot of people went into this series thinking about the regular season. And the Twolves have not played THIS Mavs team. The same thing was said against the clippers.

"Anthony Edwards was on Kyrie's heels like a pair of fresh church socks" 😂

Minnesota better be humble!!

Take a shot 🥃 everytime Windy blinks 😂

Locking up Dallas? Clippers tried, OKC also tried And here we are..

they ain't locking down no one 😑

Imagine if Luka had Anthony Edwards athleticism

Luka, Kylie, and coach Kidd are all 3 some of the smartest offensive minds ever. Regardless of the Defense the Wolves throw at them I like their chances to figure it out every time.

Molly started off saying “ I ain’t gonna kick it to you”. I took that personally 😂

This finna be a good series

Luka finding his another lost son 😂😂😂

How about you hold ant to the same standard you hold Tatum to

I agree with Legs. Get in your action before they have time to set. But to Stephen A's point Dallas getting buckets prevented the Wolves from leaking out on those fast breaks. Also fatigue played a role. Being tired prevents you from attacking and you end up settling. But that's when you should bring in a Naz Reid into the game down the stretch. If they are packing the paint, have your best 3pt shooters out there to take advantage. Reid is also one of the best at attacking close outs. It will be interesting to see how both teams approach game 2.

minesota doesnt have a matchup for luka or kyrie. all of their perimeter defenders are either too small for luka or vulnerable to kyrie quickness. also they cannot run drop coverage and win this series while they also cannot universally blitz. if dallas shot a decent percentage from 3 game 1 would've been a blowout.

Speed kills. Mavericks have the advantage in pace !

I'm rooting for the Mavs. Call me superstitious, but for me the most important factor is Stephen A. Smith predicting Wolves to win. 🙂

I now see how the media is making wolves the main team and ant the main character of the league

When the defense leaves the 3 pointers undefended you have to take those shots. The counter strategy can't be "hell, I'm going in anyways". The counter strategy has to be to hit those 3s.

such a great advice! I wonder if wolves thought about playing defense.

Legs roasting windy lol

Nobody is locking down Luka and kyrie

More 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🥇

if mavs win the 'I got kyrie' will be THE epic/legend for trashtalk going south

"Timberwolves must... win the game by scoring more points" SAS, Analyste Extraordinaire

Lol yeahh...maybe we gotta slow down on the "New Face of the league "shouts for Ant Man.

Jason Kidd and staff are more experienced and have been here several times.... Showed in this game 1...Mavs game plan was proactive and they were the ones who threw the punches even though on the road.... Game 1 winners have a huge advantage.... Based on history Wolves were tentative and their D was spliced up like mincemeat by Luka and Kyrie...

Ant man need to get his Mid Range Going. His 3 ball not falling and they collapsing on him at the rim

Legs is the goat at understanding the game.

Wolves need to feed KAT on the low block early and often. He needs to average 35+ points the rest of this series for Minnesota to get out of this one and advanced to the Finals. Karl Anthony Towns is the key to this series.

They saying edwards was on ostarine vs nuggets🤣🤣🤣

That putback dunk sold the game 😂😅

Kyrie took it personal..

All the teams remaining built their star players through the draft except Pacers who still drafted Turner. Even Nuggets and Warriors stars through the draft and OKC of the past. Small market or big market you can build a championship team. Those unsuccessful organizations don't know what they're doing

It's really ridiculous to me how the story line depends entirely on the result. If the last minutes had gone a little differently you could not recognize the comments they made now.

Legs 🫡

Can I ask Twolves fans why Monte Morris does not get any play as a combo guard? Has he fallen off or been hurt as a player? I remember him being pretty good for awhile with the Nuggets. Seems like he could come in and provide some minutes to keep Connelly and Anton fresh at the guard spots.

I remember Kobe missing free throws in the playoffs and learning that his legs were tired as a young player so it makes sense

When did SAS become Edwards' PR guy?

They just came off a close game 7 huge comback biggest win for the whole team and franchise what did you expect it was a huge let game. Game 1

Just fast forward through SA’s portions and the video is 10x better 👍

Minnys strength is their defense. If they can't adjust and come out to do that? It won't be a long series at all. That many points in the paint? With 3 7 footers? Doesn't bode well

No matter what changes Minnesota makes, they won’t be able to take the paint back. They might be able to rebound better. Bottom line they will have to shoot as good or better from the field *while* figuring out how to defend Luka and Kyrie. I don’t see them doing that 4 out of 6 times.

The problem was the 3 and the fact that they wanted to live in DIE by it. Kat should post up more, but the problem is that they need to try and trust Gobert outside of an alley oop, which they cant. So they have to force Dallas’ defense to somehow create mismatches for Edwards so that he can go to the basket or at least create midrange

A lot of guys haven’t been here before including some players on the Mavs, not just Anthony Edwards..

I got them going back and forth 🤣🤣🤣🤣😂 that’s why you can’t listen to these media clowns 🤣🤣🤣😂

Legs has the most faith in Luka he’s been banking on him all post season 😂💯

Minnesota has bigs who aren't physical. Those Dallas boys are all gazelles. They're moving and jumping faster than Rudy and Kat. Minnesota is bigger, but not by much. When you add the physicality and the athleticism to Dallas, Minnesota suddenly might not have what's supposed to be their biggest advantage.

I’m still have wolf on 6

Luka is more out of shape than Ant but he wasn’t tired there no excuse

Yeah

Ant was tired from Kyrie was cooking him. They need to zone him out

Why is being tired an excuse now? When a 39 year old that was in 8 straight finals can't be tired

At the end of the day the game is played from the mental🤔

Thats what luka and kyrie is waiting, lock on defense from the timberwolves because they can get them to foul trouble. And if that comes, its over for the wolves. They can choose different variety of offense because of luka and kyrie. And if they choose to deny the ball in luka and kyrie hands thats how a sleeping greatness of derreck lively, Gafford, Jones, PJ Washington even Green and Hardy will definitely joins the prey.

It looked like Ant was dehydrated. It does happen.

They tried.. they can't lock them down. Mavs not Denver Kyrie and Luka can't be shut down like Jamal Murray

They needed 4 more points. Let’s not get too crazy.

I'm a wolves fan and I give Dallas credit for having a great game plan. Wolves have a good coaching staff, and they'll counter with something different tonight. Ant just gotta calm down and let jaden play against kyrie.

If they plan on doing that the bench better step up with the 3s, when Kyrie and Luka dish it out

Ant is terrified of the moment. Jaden McDaniels is only 23 tho.. maybe he can be their superstar someday

1:56 maybe because the same 8 ppl played the whole game idk

It's clear Legler is on another analysis level compared with his folks.

22 and in shape and still gassing out in the fourth. 😂😂😂 Mavs in 6

So if he's tired shooting so many 3s, what makes them think he wont be even more tired if he had to keep attacking the paint lol

"Wolves have to lock down the mavs". Great point. How are these guys getting paid so little for their breath taking analysis?

Is Katt a big man or a shooting guard??…I still don’t understand the concept of big men taking so many 3 point shots

5 point swing and Ant is walking up backcourt leaving the wolves a man down in 2 straight possessions is a problem

dallas bigs can play defense different than nuggets

Say what you want about phoenix but the wolves had it easy sweeping them, then took it all the way to game 7 against the nuggets and I feel like Ant being gassed in the 4th quarter is a sign of things to come in this series, if the mavs win game 2 then in my opinion mentally it’ll be hard for the wolves to get it done, I think game 1 was a mental blow to them because Luka didn’t have his best night but he closed it down good Kyrie had a aggressive night going at Ant and the wolves and the supporting players did their thing while they essentially blocked the lane and let the Wolves try shoot around the perimeter. If Luka has a more efficient night shooting the 3 it’ll be hard for the wolves to cope

Wolves thought they won the title when they beat the nugs. Nugs were just sleepwalking on that championship hangover and gave them a pass. Wolves ain't all that.

The Mavs are the more complete team… Wolves can get hot tho at times.

CAnt man got schooled

The defensive strategy of the Dallas Mavericks is because of the beautiful mind of Jason Kidd

This is the best chance for Dallas to win the championship, Minnesota already did the work by eliminating the 3×MVP.

As a guy who chose the nuggets to win the chip, the wolves better not get swept!

So all yall saying he making excuses go watch the postgame yourself he literally said in the interview, “its our fault” that’s not an excuse and he never called out kyrie he only said it was his job to guard him

“When they can lock you down”. How? Rudy’s specialty is the drop and that won’t work with Luka and Kyrie.😂