THIS Is What Happens In The PLAY-IN...

In an elimination game where Karl Towns only played 24 minutes due to constantly being in foul trouble, and with the Clippers having a 10 point lead in the fourth quarter, how in the world did Minnesota win this game?
This was a coming out party for Anthony Edwards, and a confirmation of Chris Finch’s system.
Let me break it down. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it.
Offensively it was all about Russell and Edwards for the Timberwolves.
They looked for their opportunities out of the pick and roll and I love that their attitude was to attack.
You can see on these clips that both D-Lo and Anthony were able to penetrate the defense and finish inside the paint.
Right here I love the patience by Russell, he calls and waits for the screen, then he snakes the pick and roll and keeps his defender on his back, Zubac drops to watch the roller, which leaves space for this nice little floater.
Again, the patience in this situation as well, he attacks the switch initially, but then as the defender is closing in on him, watch this bump to create the separation and step back for the jumper. Swish.
Moving on to Edwards, look at how strong this drive is. He had a bunch of those and for a sophomore playing in a pressure type of game he was phenomenal.
30 points and 5 rebounds on 10-21 from the field and 5-11 from downtown.
The wolves fans look for the future in him and he did not disappoint in his first high stakes game.
BTW Minnesota completely outhustled the Clippers and finished the game with 10 more rebounds and as you saw, 12 more points in the paint.
That’s exactly how they made a comeback from down 10 with 9 minutes to go.
This is where Minnesota really put the clamps on them forcing 6 turnovers in the final stretch. Look at this effort, the intensity on defense, that got them back in the game and eventually the win.
And we can not talk about defense and effort without mentioning Patrick Beverley.
Dude was all over the floor forcing turnovers, right here look at him fighting on defense against the much taller Paul George and impacting his shot, and take a look at this 1 on 1 defense against Batum on the fast break and dude got a block on him. Unbelievable.
You know how people say about some smaller players that they play much bigger than their size? Well not only that but Pat Bev also plays much bigger than his talent level in my opinion.
For a guy having a modest statline, he finds ways to always be impactful strictly by his effort.
And I absolutely love it.
After the game, it was madness in the Target Center with Beverly and Edwards jumping on the scorers table, people crying and overall a crazy atmosphere.
And it didn’t stop there, as you can probably imagine Pat had something to say in the postgame as well.
A lot of people hoped to get a shootout between the young teams of Memphis and Minnesota and now we got just that. I’m super excited for it as well, and it all starts on Saturday.
Let me know in the comments who you got in this matchup. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.