Edwards, Timberwolves seek answers to Thunder's 'AAU' defense to avoid 2-0 deficit
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Minnesota Timberwolves must solve Oklahoma City's 'AAU' defense to avoid a 2-0 deficit in the Western Conference finals.
Minnesota's Anthony Edwards used the term to describe Oklahoma City's young, aggressive unit after the Thunder held the Timberwolves to 34.9% shooting in a 114-88 victory in Game 1 on Tuesday.
'I mean, it's hard to process because it was different every time,' Edwards said after Game 1. 'Heavy in the gaps, sometimes trap the ball screens sometimes don't. Sometimes just run and jump. It's kind of similar to like AAU. They remind me of like an AAU defensive team. Just run and jump. Fly around. It's pretty good.'
Edwards said the first key for him is to be more aggressive. He didn't like that he scored 18 points on just 13 shots in a Game 1 loss, well below his normal output. He said his adjustment for Game 2 on Thursday night will be a simple one.
'Play without the ball a little more, get a little more cardio in,' Edwards said. 'Should be good.'
Minnesota coach Chris Finch said there's plenty of ways for the Timberwolves to improve. They made just 15 of 51 3-pointers in the opener and committed 17 turnovers.
'We've got to pick up our decision-making,' Finch said. 'We've definitely got to play with more force. We've got to play with more pass-pass combinations. We got to go somewhere a little bit quicker.'
Oklahoma City leads the league in defensive rating by a large margin in the playoffs. The Thunder lead all playoff teams with 10.8 steals per game and an opponent field-goal percentage of .407 in the postseason.
Lu Dort and Alex Caruso are two of the league's best on-ball defenders. Caruso is versatile enough to defend guards or a big like Denver's Nikola Jokic, as he did last series.
Jalen Williams and Shai Gilgeous Alexander are quick and strong and are good in passing lanes — Williams had five steals in Game 1. Cason Wallace is an exceptional athlete. That allows the Thunder to keep fresh bodies on an opponent's best players.
In the paint, Chet Holmgren has been one of the league's top rim protectors and Isaiah Hartenstein has been one of its top rebounders.
The result can be overwhelming. Several Minnesota players struggled with their shooting on Tuesday. Mike Conley made 2 of 8 shots, Donte DiVincenzo made 3 of 14 and Nickeil Walker-Alexander made 3 of 11.
Edwards said it was more about the Timberwolves than the Thunder.
'They got great looks, just couldn't make them,' Edwards said. 'A lot of them went in and out. And that's going to help us. That's going to help me and Ju (Julius Randle) because they usually make those shots. So we're not really worried about them making shots. We'll be all right.'
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault expects the Timberwolves to adjust.
'This is a really, really good team that's got great resolve,' he said. 'These are great players. They have a great coach, tactically. So they're going to have the next pitch that we're going have to hit. We are aware of that, so we have to get to work.'
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The way he has run to date certainly shows a fierceness that is nothing shy of extraordinary. At the Derby, Bob Baffert's front-running Citizen Bull took a hard right to get clear of the rail from the one hole. That caused what could be best described as a horse bottleneck at the start of the race, forcing Journalism to come from much farther back than his trainer, Michael McCarthy, would have liked. 'Because of that, he was 10th and out of position, and in horse racing, position is everything,' says longtime horse racing writer Dick Jerardi. 'With that kind of field, the rider has to go sooner than he wants, and out of the final turn, he was only a length ahead of Sovereignty, and that brought the best closer into the race.' True to form, Sovereignty closed with gusto to beat Journalism by 1 1/2 lengths. Then at the Preakness, Umberto Rispoli kept Journalism on the rail to save some ground, but that also put the horse behind a wall of other horses. 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Despite the opinions of the general public, whose interest peters out post-Belmont, his legacy may not be finalized at Saratoga, where the Belmont Stakes will be run this weekend while its namesake track completes renovations. Advertisement There is recent precedent for a great horse earning his stripes post-Triple Crown. In 2007, Curlin finished third in the Derby, won the Preakness and lost by a head to the filly Rags to Riches in the Belmont. Impressive but not great by Triple Crown standards. Yet Curlin then went on to place third in the Haskell that August, win the Jockey Club Gold Cup and win the Breeders' Cup Classic, two races that included older horses. At the end of the year, he was named Horse of the Year. He repeated the feat in 2008, winning Horse of the Year again before retiring as the highest North American money-winner at the time, with $10.5 million to show for his efforts. But Journalism, a son of Curlin, would be an odds-defier were he to keep racing and keep winning. Smarty Jones and Afleet Alex never raced after the Triple Crown season, both done in by injuries. Justify retired immediately after the Belmont, his entire racing career lasting a whopping 118 days. American Pharoah went on to win the Haskell, take second at the Travers and win the Breeders' Cup Classic, cementing his legacy before retiring for a lucrative breeding fee. 'Going 2-1-1 would make him special, but what he could do afterwards really elevates where he could measure up,' says Grening. 'To me, what can really determine this horse's legacy is what he does after the Triple Crown.' Though they are well aware of the rare company Journalism could join, those associated with the horse, of course, are not terribly interested in talking legacy or what's next. 'Needless to say, it would be an enormous honor,' says Aron Wellman, one of the majority owners. 'That said, we're not taking anything for granted or allowing ourselves to get too far out in front of ourselves.'' With good reason. While only an eight-horse field, the Belmont includes some legit contenders, top among them Derby-winner Sovereignty. McPeek, for one, is a Sovereignty fan and has been since Louisville. 'I thought he was one of the easiest selections or wagers for the Derby that I've ever seen in my life,' McPeek says. He likes Bill Mott's horse even more now, what with the extra rest he's received by not running in the Preakness, and he's running at the same Derby distance at which he's already won. Another contender horse people are keeping an eye on is Baeza, who finished third in the Derby. Advertisement For now at least, the line says that Journalism will go off as the favorite. Just as he did in the Derby. Just as he did in the Preakness. Whether a win will be good enough to cement his greatness is up for debate. 'But it would be great for the game,' Jerardi says. 'You don't have to sit out the Preakness. You can still do it. The really good ones, they can do it. That's really what it comes down to. If you have a good enough horse, it's doable. He's good enough.'' (Photo by Rob Carr / Getty Images)
