Jack Borman

Under-the-radar, since the Wolves are 3-1, but their free throw shooting leaves a lot to be desired: - 14/23 (60.9%) tonight - 16/25 (64%) vs TOR - 17/30 (56.7%) at ORL - 18/29 (62%) at MIA 60.7% on the season, last in the NBA. Indiana is 29th at 70.1%, the same as the gap between 29th and 8th.

Anthony Edwards tonight with Peyton Watson defending him: - 26 PTS - 10/11 2PT (!!) - 2/5 3PT

LIVE NOW www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-Hp...

Damn, they could not have executed that better

Sean Wright has had better nights as a ref

Anthony Edwards vs Donovan Mitchell going shot-for-shot has been tremendous theater

Anthony Edwards has his 2nd 40-point game of the season He's 14-18 from 2 and on a personal 5-0 run to give the Wolves a lead in overtime

I'll be live with Luke Inman for the Locked on Wolves Postcast once Wolves/Cavs goes final: - A wild 2nd half + Ant game - Shannon, Beringer deliver off the bench - Stark contrast in scoring tonight vs first 3 games - Rough LaMelo + Rudy games Subscribe/watch ⤵️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-Hp...

Ant absolutely got fouled there by Harden, but Ant has to be a lot smarter in terms of not putting his fate in the officials' hands. Had to end that possession with 0:00 on the clock

Anthony Edwards

TJ Shannon deserves so much credit for 1) being the primary reason the Wolves are still in this game, but more importantly, 2) playing unselfish ball in the flow once Ant + Jaden came back in Stays in rhythm and knocks down a huge corner 3 before Jaden hits one to take a lead.

AYO

After going scoreless with 6 boards in the season opener, Joan Beringer has been highly productive off the bench since: Tonight --> 10 PTS, 4 REB in 14 minutes VS TOR --> 6 PTS, 6 REB in 13 minutes AT ORL --> 9 PTS, 9 REB in 15 minutes

TJ Shannon seizing the moment tonight and his opportunity thus far through 3.5 games has been a boon for the Wolves' offense He's such a crucial weapon on nights like tonight when things get stuck in the mud and the team needs a spark

TJ Shannon with 5 assists and 0 turnovers in his 14 minutes The shot hasn't been there but he has found a nice chemistry with Joan Beringer and his rim pressure is always good for some kick-out 3-point looks

5 turnovers to just 3 made field goals in the 3Q for Minnesota, whose 12-point lead is now gone An extended 18-4 Cavs run where Minnesota has scored just 4 points over the last 5:10 James Harden has outscored the Wolves by himself 8-4 during the run

Pretty simple recipe for the Wolves: get the Cavs in the half-court If they do that, they'll cruise to a win

Cavs offense in the first half Starters - 26 PTS on 10/29 FG (34.5%) - 3-9 3PT Bench - 24 PTS on 10/18 FG (55.6%) - 3/8 3PT Rookie Meleek Thomas has a team-high 10 off the bench to lead Cleveland

Wolves in the first 3 games relied far more on jump shots than their work below the arc. Tonight, it's the opposite. Minnesota is 3/15 from 3, but 22/33 on 2s, just relentlessly attacking the rim. 40% of their FGA are at the rim (99th percentile) 6 OREBs for 10 2C PTS, too

Ant does not respect any of these Cavs defenders at all

NBA Matchup stats have the Wolves scoring 17 points on 8/11 FG with Peyton Watson as the primary defender Conversely, Anthony Edwards and Jonathan Kuminga have allowed a combined 11 points on 5/16 FG

Jaden McDaniels + Jonathan Kuminga + a locked in Anthony Edwards is the class of the NBA on the wing defensively. Cleveland offense has a 77.1 ORTG in the half-court thus far tonight (1st percentile). 27 PTS on 36 possessions.

It cracks me up that Ant is so willing to pass to Jaden at any time but almost no one else in the same situation

Love that LaMelo is willing to take it into the paint looking to score and keep the defense honest. His playmaking is special but the more of a threat he is to score in the lane, the easier those playmaking reads + passes will be

Cavs starting 5 had a a -32.8 NET (90.6 ORTG, 123.4 DRTG) in their 30 minutes coming into tonight, and struggled again to start this one. Wolves starters beat them 16-9 in 6:07; CLE shot 4/12 with 3 turnovers.

Anthony Edwards is putting a lot of the fears about his right knee to bed in this opening frame. Some really physical, tough takes to the rim mixed with highly athletic dribble moves into jumpers. 11 PTS on 5/5 from 2 for #5

The Timberwolves' offense is rightly getting a ton of attention, but their defense has been absurdly good early in the season (after being pretty bad in the preseason). Wolves already 11 boards in 8 minutes, with Kuminga (4), Jaden (3), Rudy (3) all super active. A+ front line

LaMelo with the ol Mike Conley move to draw Mobley's second foul Heady

The Timberwolves approach of really liking one another, not caring whose usage is high, sharing the ball until the defense is shifted there's a mismatch to attack has been just a delight to watch. This is the beautiful game

LaMelo Ball is a Minnesota Timberwolf

Cleveland only plays 2 bigs so it is a great sign that Gobert has drawn a foul on each of them on B2B possessions. We'll see if the Wolves can keep attacking and create some foul trouble advantages

The Wolves are 3-0 with the league's top defense (96.1 DRTG) while shooting an NBA-best 42.4% from beyond the arc. Dangerous combination.

Anthony Edwards (right knee injury maintenance) will play tonight in Cleveland on the second night of a back-to-back after grimacing several times in last night's win over the Raptors.

LIVE NOW www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVtH...

Flying solo for tonight's Locked on Wolves Postcast from Target Center, where the Wolves thoroughly dominated the Raptors in a home opener win: - Shutting down Barnes - Terrific Ant game - Complementary shooting shines - Melo crowd pops - and more! Subscribe/watch ⤵️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVtH...

The Wolves held Scottie Barnes scoreless for just the second time in his NBA career (2023-04-04 vs CHA) He shot 0/12 and turned it over 3 times. It's just the 10th instance of a player scoring 0 points on 12 or more FGA since 2005, per @stathead.com. www.sports-reference.com/stathead/bas...

I am admittedly not sure if a player can get ejected for two flopping technicals, but might TJ Shannon become the first player in the league to get tossed for 2 flopping techs? We'll find out after this review

Trey Lyles rebounding very well again for a second straight game. 5 boards in 11 minutes That'll keep him on the floor

HUGE ovation for Kyle Anderson as he runs to the scorer's table. Damn straight, Wolves fans

3 games in and this is the most fun Timberwolves team of my lifetime

The Timberwolves have a nice little 179.2 offensive rating in the 12:40 LaMelo Ball has played tonight. Wolves have won those minutes 43-17 with LaMelo scoring or assisting on 24 of those 43

3-point shooting tonight TJ Shannon --> 3/3 Jonathan Kuminga --> 3/4 Jaden McDaniels --> 1/3 Ayo Dosunmu --> 1/1 This team becomes so dangerous and nearly impossible to stop if that collective shoots it well

Two big-time lobs from LaMelo Ball on b2b scores for the Wolves in the 3Q First to Jaden McDaniels and then one from near half-court to Joan Beringer for a jam Wolves up 22 and the building is rockin

I don't think there's a more well-rounded or better defensive player in the league than Scottie Barnes