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00:00Do you ever partake in the 95.7 The Game engaging Dubnation Twitter poll brought to you by Shane Coe?
00:09Every single time, yeah.
00:11Let's do it then.
00:12Before every game, we invite you to vote in our engaging Dubnation poll on the 95.7 The Game Twitter page.
00:18It is brought to you by Shane Coe, your friend and jeweler, where you'll find the Bay Area's best selection of unique engagement rings and their unmatched free lifetime warranty.
00:26Visit ShaneCoe.com today.
00:28All right, here's the question.
00:29We got a new series starting tonight, obviously.
00:31So, who wins?
00:33Here are your four options, because it's who wins and in how many games.
00:38Will it be the Warriors in four or five?
00:42The Warriors in six or seven?
00:45The Wolves in four or five?
00:48Or the Wolves in six or seven?
00:51Let us know.
00:52Go to the 95.7 The Game Twitter page and vote now, and we will reveal what Warrior fans, mostly Warrior fans, obviously.
01:02It's not a rule that you have to root for the Warriors to listen to this show.
01:05But, we'll see what all of our listeners think on that one.
01:09I think you've already declared Warriors in six.
01:12I'll co-sign with you on that one.
01:15But, I will also admit at the same time, because Warriors in six was my prediction last round also,
01:21I am less confident in their chances in this series than I was in the last.
01:26No doubt.
01:26Interesting.
01:26No doubt.
01:27I'm probably as confident based on, you know, what I've seen from these two teams in the regular season.
01:33The Warriors didn't have Jimmy, and I know that Randall wasn't yet as good as he has been for Minnesota,
01:39and what they've figured out since March 1st has been great, but I do like the Warriors' chances in a longer series with Minnesota.
01:47Yeah, I get it.
01:50That's sort of where my head is going into this game.
01:54It's what you just referenced.
01:56Like, the Jimmy Butler Warriors have never played the Minnesota Timberwolves.
02:01So, today, for me, is a complete feel-it-out.
02:05Like, I want to see this matchup.
02:08I know what I think are the sort of the matchups and the aspects that we'll play here.
02:14I think the Warriors are a better half-court team than the Wolves are.
02:16Half-court basketball tends to play a lot more in the playoffs than otherwise,
02:21but the Wolves are the younger, more rested team.
02:24They're the deeper team with more shooting.
02:27Will they have their legs and their shot underneath them?
02:30If they do, I like their chances.
02:33They're both very good defensive teams.
02:35I think the Warriors are a little bit more in the savvy vet department and smarter,
02:39and they're able to figure that all out.
02:41And then I look at what Steve Kerr said, which was the exact same thing he and many others said in the last round.
02:48You need to go after rebounds and loose balls with reckless abandon
02:52and take care of the basketball on your end and limit the turnovers.
02:57And if you do that, then you will probably win the series.
03:00But that's not easy to do.
03:01No, especially when you have a team that's much bigger.
03:03And you mentioned the shooting, and Minnesota had a better year from the three-point line than the Warriors did.
03:09I think Minnesota was fifth on three-point percentage.
03:11The Warriors shot it more from three than any team other than Boston.
03:15But when they did shoot it, Minnesota actually had a better percentage.
03:19And, you know, Dante DiVincenzo and Nas Reed and all the other, you know, Ant-Man, Anthony Edwards is a good shooter,
03:27a good three-point shooter.
03:28And they've got a lot more, I think, of a diverse way to score.
03:31But I wonder about the matchups and how the Warriors can get Rudy Gobert off the floor.
03:37And for me, it's styles make fights.
03:39And that's what this Warrior team has been for the past 10 years of,
03:41we're going to go small, and can our small ball make it so that your big ball is not going to be as effective?
03:48That, to me, is the number one thing in this series.
03:51And that's where the Houston series was so interesting because Houston was unwavering in their willingness to go two bigs
04:00until Steve Kerr went into the hack a Kiwi.
04:03And then they hacked a Kiwi, and he missed.
04:05And then, I think it was game four, they had to take him off the court.
04:08And then the Warriors went out and won.
04:10And then in game, what is it, game six, they went back to the same strategy.
04:14And he was just, choop, choop, choop, knocking down free throws.
04:17Yeah, and then when he missed, his teammates tapped the ball in.
04:20And so it totally backfired on the Warriors.
04:23But everything did that night.
04:25It did.
04:26But I wonder about how, against a bigger team again,
04:29how they go about mitigating their size disadvantage.
04:33It's interesting, though.
04:34You know what I think is something about Rudy Gobert?
04:36Gobert, I don't want this to come off like flippant or dismissive.
04:41Gobert is a presence at 7'1".
04:43There's no question about that.
04:45And he's a shot blocker and all of that stuff.
04:48You know what he is for his size, I would argue?
04:52Not a very good rebounder.
04:54If I were 7'1", and my presence on the floor was literally built on the defensive side,
05:02I would average more than 10.9 rebounds per game.
05:07That's what I think.
05:08I think Rudy Gobert is often an unimpressive rebounder.
05:13I know if you start looking at what he did in the playoffs and down the stretch in the regular season,
05:18he's averaging north of 14 rebounds a game.
05:21So that's lately, and that's good.
05:24That's what he should be doing.
05:25I just think Rudy sometimes does that, and this is what Draymond sort of like,
05:32I think it's why he triggers Draymond so much.
05:35Rudy doesn't always have that dog in him of like, dude, go get it.
05:41Go get the ball.
05:42And so I think as far as dealing with him around the rim,
05:48I think he's easier to deal with than Shangoon.
05:51Shangoon, I think he's a problem.
05:55Well, as a rebounder, maybe.
05:56He's a much better shot blocker than Shangoon.
05:59Right, but he's not as good offensively, and he's not as good of a rebounder.
06:02I would rather face Gobert than Shangoon.
06:04Well, for me, it's different because Gobert is much more like Steven Adams than he is Shangoon.
06:10Shangoon is more like Julius Randle in that Randle can post you up, he can score.
06:16Randle's a better offensive player than Shangoon because he can shoot the ball,
06:19he can take you outside.
06:20Shangoon's pretty limited.
06:22Like, I'm going to post you up, and I'm going to go left shoulder turn, right shoulder turn,
06:27fade away from the baseline.
06:29He's pretty limited.
06:30He's very good at what he does, but I do think that Julius Randle can take you outside.
06:35He can get you off the dribble a little bit.
06:37He can shoot the three a little bit better than Shangoon.
06:39For me, Gobert is more of a better version of Steven Adams,
06:44where he's a better defender, and he's probably not as good of a rebounder,
06:48but he's a guy who's going to play more, and he can be more of a disruptive force.