Julius Randle proving his worth in the Minnesota Timberwolves playoff run

For nearly minutes the Minnesota Timberwolves played footsie with failure When they were on defense the two members of the Golden State Warriors who could beat them Jimmy Butler and Jonathan Kuminga were beating them When they were on offense their big man Rudy Gobert and two-thirds of their bench Donte Divincenzo DDV and Nickeil Alexander-Walker mostly disappeared Without the injured Steph Curry who makes his club exponentially better in about a half-dozen solutions the Warriors need to muck up flow exploit mistakes and play like marauders to forestall defeat in this best-of-seven series hoping Curry can improbably come to the rescue in playable robustness after Contest With eight minutes and seconds remaining in the fourth quarter of the pivotal Contest Three on Saturday night Golden State had indeed mucked exploited and marauded their way to a five-point lead - That s when the Wolves led by the three players Coach Chris Finch trusts the largest part to close games out shifted into a higher gear Julius Randle tromped the throttle first putting ace defender Draymond Green on his hip while receiving an entry pass from Anthony Edwards then blowing past Green s scramble and a leaping wave by incoming helper Kuminga for a slam dunk that shook the stanchion Then when Green tried to return the disfavor in a pick-and-roll with Butler Randle stayed with Butler while Jaden McDaniels slid over and dislodged the ball before Green could get the shot attempt above his shoulder Randle scooped up the ball and hit Ant in stride who accelerated faster than the participant astride him Gary Payton II and correctly calculated the speed and angle by which he stayed ahead of Payton but allowed the Warriors Buddy Hield to whizz past him knifing between them as he banked the layup When the Warriors subsequently missed a corner trey McDaniels leapt high and tapped the rebound to Ant who dribbled over half court tossed it on the left slot to Randle who right away fed him back at the top of the arc Throughout the first half Ant s body parts seemed to be in near-constant argument as he made merely three of a dozen shot attempts But by now everything was roiling and coiling in the lubricant of patience and purity and he flicked a -footer through the hoop with passionate efficiency McDaniels literally put the finishing touches on the - run that flipped the lead and the match to the Wolves when he denied Butler s cutting layup for his second block in seconds then canned both free throws after he drove the baseline for a dunk that Green fouled out contesting With Green gone and Butler spent the Wolves steadily padded the margin to - after engaging the clutch making it - with seconds to play The seemingly worthwhile fuming of those who feared the tournament would be decided by Minnesota s former penchant for lackadaisical self-sabotage was rendered moot Did the Wolves wear the Warriors down or just belatedly deign to fully focus and flex There s evidence both solutions and that they are the beneficiary of such extraordinary injury luck likewise furthers both arguments Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards dunks over Golden State Warriors forward Kevon Looney in the third quarter during event three in the second round for the NBA Playoffs at Chase Center Credit David Gonzales Imagn Images But what can t be argued is that the bet Finch and Randle made on each other is paying off handsomely The participant a multitude of my hand is raised regarded as a high-salary throw-in to make ends meet on the Karl-Anthony Towns business last fall is now claiming valuable real estate between point guard Mike Conley and top scorer Anthony Edwards as the Wolves primary floor general Despite missing five of six shots majority of them wide open in the first period Randle was one of just three Wolves players Conley and Naz Reid were the others whose presence on the floor was a net positive in the first half But it was the second half of Championship Three that Wolves fans will bookmark in their memory as the time Randle delivered a premiere performance in the crucible of the postseason He nearly had a triple-double in that half alone Eleven points on - shooting no treys and - from the free throw line eight rebounds two offensive six defensive nine assists six to Ant two to McDaniels and one to Gobert a pair of steals and three turnovers The Wolves were plus nine in his minutes in the second half Add it to his first half and the line is points rebounds and assists the first playoff triple-double for this franchise since Kevin Garnett years ago After the championship the normally incisive Finch ran out of plaudits to describe Randle s impact It s really what has turned our season around his playmaking his decision-making playing through on different spots on the floor Finch commented I ve invariably known he was a good playmaker Our time in New Orleans six years ago he played a little bit like this He gives us just another almost another point guard out there It s been everything for our turnaround It s everything for our gang With Randle governing the rudder of the offense it isn t the beauty you notice first it s the beast I have previously described his six-foot nine-inch -pound frame as being built like a stack of rectangles and the hard edges of his physicality can be used as a battering ram to dramatize his intentions toward the hoop while testing the caliber of resistance or used like a steamroller when he lowers his shoulder and dispenses with the preliminaries of penetration It makes the beauty of Randle s match more of an acquired taste and a continual ambush for the opposition There is finesse in his shot-making the fakes he makes the spins that help the ball climb over the angles the incongruously delicate touch to the arc and velocity But the majority of underrated element of Randle s current playmaking is his expansion of classic point-guard attributes his court vision and strategic acumen Back in November it was not uncommon to see him utilizing the pass as a last resort whether fast-balling it to a teammate near the end of the shot clock or fluttering a weak dish because he was caught in the air and had to cough it up to avoid the trip But not long after that Finch encouraged him to prioritize ball movement and not just as a link in the chain but as an engineer of mismatches and open looks for his teammates Then he gave him time and constant reinforcement to hone that aspect of his play That s how and why the beast who used to play a little bit like this back for New Orleans is now operating at different spots on the floor from perimeter to post and out to the sidelines drawing defenders needing to stop the force and finesse of his shotmaking then zipping passes to non-apparent teammates in solutions that can tilt the court or resign the opponent to a single matchup The aesthetic beauty of his playmaking still leaves a lot to be desired When it comes to large men running an offense Randle is more Lebron James than Nikola Jokic But the intellect behind what Randle is doing the rapidity of his recognition the building derived from his egalitarian approach to finding the best at-the-moment recipient for his pass is becoming beautiful the more he learns And to the point is invaluable in helping his association push forward in the playoffs It is a postseason where the refs are letting them play and defenses are obliging with trench warfare Under these circumstances Randle can be a tank who thrives in the mud yet designed with cutting edge mapping coordinates and communications to execute strategy with the throttle down if not on the fly Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green looks on against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second half during tournament two of the second round for the NBA Playoffs at Target Center Credit Jesse Johnson Imagn Images Without Curry the Warriors margin of error is miniscule especially if the Wolves reduce mental lapses and operate with poise at both ends of the floor After acquiring Butler Golden State had the majority of efficient defense fewest points allowed per possession in the NBA and also held opponents to the second-fewest shot attempts mostly because they led the NBA in creating turnovers and points off those turnovers On Saturday night their default position was to turn disruptive defense into quick-strike transition points and other opportunistic offense They honored the plan by playing hard and fast but completely didn t have enough talent to effectively capitalize on offense Then they ran out of gas In the first half they generated Timberwolves turnovers but could only convert them into nine points By contrast the Wolves defense forced nine turnovers and generated points Meanwhile the Warriors didn t allow a single fast-break point but could only muster four themselves Through three quarters they held sway with superb execution of their half-court defense helped by subpar offense by Ant and the bench and excellent performances by Butler and Kuminga who were a combined - from the field Butler was especially adept at hunting and exploiting mismatches with DiVincenzo a particular patsy he was a perfect - when matched up with DDV who had a horrible challenge with three turnovers tacked on Kuminga used his athleticism and Ant s occasional indifference on defense to celebrate his return to the Warriors rotation with confident drives cuts and jumpers But Ant began to find his rhythm in the third quarter and by the final eight minutes the Warriors were relatively helpless from fatigue Butler age couldn t continue to shoulder Curry s playmaking duties as well as his own Through three quarters he shot - with seven assists and three turnovers and Golden State was plus with him on the floor In the final period he shot - with zero assists and one turnover and the Warriors were minus nine with him in the challenge Draymond Green age fouled out as the Wolves were making their decisive run No coincidence there and to be fair both his fourth and sixth fouls were tough calls Nevertheless it is telling that the Warriors couldn t generate a single point off the seven turnovers committed by the Wolves nor on any fast break opportunity Only the fresh legs of Kuminga were relatively effective as he had of the association s points in the final stanza Warriors Coach Steve Kerr had the best synopsis of the dilemma facing his crew on offense Inquired about the paucity of Golden State three-pointers in Competition Three he replied It s hard to generate threes You have to gain an advantage and get rotations from the defense that put them out of position It s hard for us to do without Steph Jimmy obviously is creating plenty but it s different It s not the same level of stretching out that Steph does Tonight s Meeting Four feels like a must-win for the Warriors There is no guarantee Curry will be well enough to return from his strained hamstring injury when examined on the same day as Challenge But the four days between Games and would be a vital recuperation period and that can t happen unless Golden State unearths a second win in this series Playing at home tonight is their best chance to make that happen For the Wolves the resolution is totally the status quo at least as it pertains to fourth quarter dominance In winning six of eight postseason games against the Lakers - and the Warriors - thus far they have scored points per possessions in the fourth quarter while yielding just points per possessions That plus net rating is more than twice as much as any of the other seven teams remaining in the postseason the New York Knicks are next at plus They may play footsie with failure for a while but when time is precious and the outcome is in the balance this association is not fooling around The post Julius Randle proving his worth in the Minnesota Timberwolves playoff run appeared first on MinnPost