The Minnesota Timberwolves have confirmed their 2024 Western Conference Finals matchup with the Dallas Mavericks by beating the Denver Nuggets in Game 7 of their second-round series. Anthony Edwards is looking ahead to the series, especially his individual matchup with Kyrie Irving.
“It’s gonna be fun, man. My matchup is going to be Kyrie, so that’s gonna be fun. We’re gonna see what I can do versus him.”
“My matchup is gonna be Kyrie so that’s gonna be fun.”
Anthony Edwards shares early thoughts on WCF against the Mavericks. pic.twitter.com/Rej64yxytW
— Abby Jones (@_abigaiiiil) May 20, 2024
Kyrie played just one single game against the Timberwolves this regular season, putting up 35 points in that game, a Mavericks win. Edwards is averaging 24.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 5.8 assists in four games against the Mavs this season.
All their regular season matchups happened early in the season. We have no idea how the Mavericks, who were revamped at the trade deadline with the additions of Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington, would look like in a matchup against the Timberwolves. Regardless, Dallas will be hoping that their offensive firepower can win out over the Timberwolves’ stifling defense.
Luka Doncic has notoriously struggled against the Wolves in this past, primarily because of the Jaden McDaniels matchup.
Doncic averaged 22.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 6.3 assists in 6 games against the Wolves when McDaniels was on the court before this season, but he’s exploded for 36.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 10.5 assists this season in two games while being guarded by Jaden.
If Jaden will be on Luka, Edwards will likely be tasked with stopping Kyrie. This is going to be a fascinating matchup. Both teams are great on defense, but the Wolves are better. Both teams are also great offensively, but the Mavericks are better. This is an interesting stylistic matchup that might just be too hard to predict.
Inside The NBA Thinks The Wolves Will Go To The NBA Finals
Inside the NBA broke down the series between the Mavericks and Wolves, with Vince Carter breaking down the important points of this matchup before picking Minnesota to win.
“I like Minnesota’s defense and I think they can handle the offense of Dallas. The question is, can Gobert, Reid, and KAT keep these young guys off the glass? Gafford is extremely active on the glass, Lively is extremely active on the glass. What this leads to is extra opportunities for open threes… It’ll be an interesting series and I think it could go six or seven games… I like Minnesota”
Charles Barkley also supports the Timberwolves and literally started howling.
“I think this is going to be a fabulous series. I like the Wolves.”
Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson also seemed to lean towards the Wolves, though Smith believes it’s far closer than we can tell right now.
The Timberwolves have the defensive weapons to stop the Mavericks, especially with the occasional offensive struggles from Kyrie and Luka. Kyrie averaged just 15.7 points and 6.2 assists against the Thunder, while Doncic came alive late in the series but is having the worst playoff run of his career, averaging 27.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 9.1 assists.
This will be a fascinating series that will guarantee the ascension of either a young star like Edwards or Doncic into their first NBA Finals appearance and possible championship win.
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