Minnesota Faces Crucial Game Thee in NBA Western Finals

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00:00the NBA Western Conference Finals. We'll see the third game of this series and NBA history tells

00:05us that this series is on the line tonight for Minnesota. The same will be true for the Knicks

00:10in Game 3. Still yet to see anyone in NBA history come back from a 3-0 series deficit. The bright

00:17side for Minnesota is a much shorter line than I think maybe some would have anticipated. Certainly

00:24a lot shorter than the numbers that we saw when the games were in Oklahoma City. Down to just a

00:28two-and-a-half point number here. The Thunder still booked as a favorite. Total right now

00:32218. JY, break this game down. Yeah, I think it comes down to is can we get the performances

00:38that we talked about, particularly the big three of Minnesota. Now, obviously going back

00:42home, you expect your team to shoot better, particularly the role guys that Tom referred

00:49to at Alexander Walkers and not Reed and Mike Conley's. Rudy Gobert, if they play. He shoots?

00:54Yeah, if they get him the ball. I still remember Rudy Gobert getting the ball in the post of the

00:59Olympics in like 2016. I'm like, what's Quint Slater doing? They're going to give this

01:04guy the ball. Well, it's still seven, eight years later and they still don't give it to

01:08him. That's a story for another day. But this has got to be the best chance we have here

01:13for Minnesota. So, I don't think they're getting swept. I could see a pathway that they win

01:20today. They lose game four and they get blown out in game five. Absolutely. I'm going to

01:25take a chance on Minnesota on the money line to get the win today and I'm going to go over

01:30because I do think they're going to shoot the ball much better at home. So, coming into

01:36this game, you know, I'm agreeing with you. Like, I think five games is at best case scenario

01:41for Minnesota is what we happen. But in order for that to happen is like what is what is

01:46like the path? It's like they got to come out strong. So, whether it's a first half

01:50that you want to be looking to, which I, you know, the more and more I think about

01:54something I like first quarter, it has to be a strong start for them. If they're down

01:58by, you know, alluding to your Larry Holmes kind of take from before, if they're down

02:03by eight at halftime, they don't win this. There's no way they win this game. They just

02:07don't have the offense that can go toe-to-toe with the Thunder combined with their

02:12defense to put them in a spot to win if they're down at halftime. So, if you want

02:15to get the, I think it's half point for the first quarter and it's a one and a half

02:18points for the first half, I feel a little more comfortable with the first half, but

02:22they got to come out strong. And whether it's looking to specifically Julius Randle

02:27first quarter, something that I was just, you know, looking at during the break, he

02:30had, based on where he ended that game, four and a half points from Randle in the

02:34first quarter, you got to get him going early. He's got to score. He's got to be a

02:38threat. It can't all be ants. No, it certainly can't. This is going to be a team that I

02:44think today shoots a ton of threes. That market's not out just yet, but Minnesota

02:47teammate threes is something I'll take a look at when it does come available. Yeah.

02:52Just, I think it's a little bit hard to slice down where the bounce backs will

02:56specifically come from. But if you take a look at last game, you got one of nine

03:00from Anthony Edwards, one of four from Mike Conley, O of three Randle, and then O of

03:04five Nas Reed. You don't care who it is. Let's just get some shots up. Yeah. I think

03:08any of those guys could certainly step up and have themselves a better

03:10performance here. I actually think the pathway for Minnesota in this series is, can we get

03:16to one 20 more so than we're going to win a tough nose, ugly game that over, they got

03:22to, they have to push your face. Come on really quick. Cause I know you've talked about

03:26Lou Dort. Yeah. Like if I, if I am, if I am Chris French and I'm looking at them and

03:33I'm like, okay, if, if I'm not going to let SGA beat me, like I'm worried about Joe

03:37Williams, like to me, Lou Dort seven and a half points, like he's going to get the

03:42shot volume. So he should be able to get there for two made threes. We're at minus

03:46one 15. Usually all of his scoring will come from beyond the arc. He made two of

03:51seven last game. He was only one of three in the opening game. But if you look at

03:54Lou Dort throughout this post season, the volume is there. It's his role for this

03:58team. You could certainly suggest that on the road, he is not to be as trusted, but

04:04against Denver in the two road games that they, the last two road games, he was

04:09two of 10, two of seven. Again, the thing for Dort, he has not had a good

04:14performance from beyond the arc in this post season. If you look, he's basically

04:18been a 40% three-point shooter the last two years in the regular season. These

04:22playoffs, he's at 28%. There's a world that Lou Dort could give you, let's say

04:29this series just, I know you don't, let's just say this series goes six. He could

04:33give you four makes in three of those games. It's really on the board, I think

04:39because he is due for, the volume's not dropping. The efficiency is. And that's

04:44a balance between so many players where it's like, they can be super efficient, but

04:48they may not always have the volume with Dort. The chances will be there. The

04:53space will be there. It's a matter of him just knocking down the shots that he's

04:56given. 100%. 100%. For me, as far as an outright winner in this game, I find

05:02myself slightly leaning towards OKC just because I think that there is a level

05:06of, you know, blood in the water for them right now. Absolutely. I think they know

05:11they messed around a little bit with Denver. I feel fine saying that. I don't

05:15think that's disrespectful to the Nuggets. The Thunder were significantly better

05:19than that team. They won one game by 40 and they closed them out by 30 plus. They

05:24just had these lapses and I think that they kind of have learned from that a

05:27little bit. They've had some of those third quarters that remind you a little bit

05:31of the Warriors when they used to avalanche teams and obviously OKC's done

05:35that now and, you know, two consecutive games to open this series. But the

05:40side in this one is, you know, so far it's 2-0 OKC. I've not seen a side yet

05:48where I go clear and obvious. You know, I lean Minnesota game one, lost.

05:53Leaned OKC game two, got it. I lean OKC here again, but it's not

05:58bounced off of the page.

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