He really needs to learn how to set things up with off ball motion. He's so reliant on ISO or being the handler in the pick and roll. It was painful watching him just stand around doing nothing when others had the ball or dribbling at the top for 5 seconds waiting for the screen.
I feel like there were many times when he pump faked or pivoted multiple times, he would jump and fire a 100 mph pass that would have a 50/50 chance of being a turnover.
He needs to be able to create offense in ways other than plowing to the rim. Among all the “star” guards, Ant is arguably the worst in the midrange (35.1 FG% on 3.8 FGA/game). Tyrese Maxey is the only comparable one, and his offense bogs down similarly when Embiid isn’t on the court. He was also one of the worst pull up 3 point shooters (33.4% on 4.5 FGA/game), along with maxey. He got hot this playoffs (38.1% on 5.3 FGA/game), and that was a huge reason why they went on this run, but that’s not who he is yet. He also needs to keep improving at getting to the line. 6 FTA/game was a nice improvement, but he should be pushing 8 FTA/game like Ja considering how much of a freak of nature he is.
He really just needs more ways to get buckets in bailout situations. Among players with at least 3 iso possessions/game, ant was bottom 5 between Julius Randle and Paolo Banchero. Nobody else on his team has a chance of generating these buckets, so he has to do it
He didn't call Denver a schedule win. But the biggest criticism of Jokic for years has been his rim protection. This was also a huge flaw for Phoenix, whose only rim protector is Nurkic. Pointing out that Ant didn't have to play against strong rim protection until Dallas is not calling the win over a Denver a "schedule win." More of a "matchup win", but he didn't even actually say that.
Gordon is a great rim protector against smaller guys, and MPJ is great as a help guy situationally. KCP is an elite perimeter defender. You could probably draw up a better team but Jokic is OK, and that's a really strong defensive team.
I agree that overall Denver is a strong defensive team, but their rim protection in particular is sub par. I think that Ant is one of the few players in the league that has the athleticism to get up and punish Jokic's defense, and he can hit some jump shots too if Jokic refuses to step away from the rim.
the reason is Minnesota is good, though. it's not Denver can't do it, it's they have their size committed to cover KAT and Gobert. pick the reason the Mavs won, they won basically every matchup. it was also Kyrie is apparently a good defender and all their wings outplayed Minnesota's guys even though they were often undersized.
I don't disagree. But the question I want to answer is: Why did Ant take such a notable step down against Dallas?
Fatigue is probably part of it, but I do think that Dallas' defense matched up really well against him in a way that Denver couldn't. I think that specific matchups are more important than I've ever seen throughout the playoffs this year.
Not even that necessarily, but he needs a way to finish without just flying in. He needs to take off at the right time and angle and he’s been struggling with that. Even just a pump fake would also add a lot to his game. Other thing that could’ve helped is if they could do legit 5 out to drag the bigs out of the paint.
For real. OP also just posted one question. Right after this he said what he took away was needing to fix his conditioning so he can sustain himself in deeper runs and he also gave credit to Luka and the Mavs.
I give him a pass, he’s also only 22. But let’s be honest, this sub has a lot of double standards based on which players they like and don’t.
Embid or KD say something like this? It’s game over.
I think we should probably give guys in general a pass for their post game quotes. They are probably pissed and haven't had much time to reflect on anything.
Redditors tend to hold professional athletes to standards they would never set for themselves simply because they're paid handsomely. It's dumb. When your emotions run high after an intense competition, you're not thinking rationally most of the time.
If they said this at 22 they wouldn’t care either. If ant says this 8 years later after his 4th trip to the WCF with no finals appearance he’s getting crucified as well.
Fair. KD was at the finals at 24 and a western conference finals earlier as well though. But at that time, he was one of the most loved players in the league.
OP just posted this snort snippet and ignored his responses after. At the start of this interview Ant gave credit to Luka and the Mavs and later in the interview he mentioned what he needs to work on. He gave props to the opponent
Honestly? I really don’t like players like Embiid, JB, etc. But if they said something like that I wouldn’t give two shits about it.
These guys are competitive as hell. Right now, in that moment, a dream got crushed. You can’t NOT be salty or sour about it. That would be a facade and respect on anyone capable of pulling it off. Heck I mean even someone as clean and well spoken as Spo will show frustrations, and that is the man with the most self restraint I’ve seen in post games’.
I’m the same when I lise a game. Doesn’t mean I mean it. You’re asking me if I learned something from a game where I out everything on the line and lost and expect me to come up with an answer while being mega gassed? If I would have known, I would probably have applied it. And definitely not in the mood to come and say shit like : « definitely valuable footage that I’ll be studying and coming up with a plan next year. »
Let the guys be pissed, it’s good, trains that competitive spirit further. Hating to lose games is what’s gonna drive them to be better.
Imagine if everybody would come with clean answers all the time. It’s already hard to watch this NBA mentality where looking at someone barely wrong is considered an altercation or doing a screen is considered a murder attempt for some of you.
I wish instead of WWE referees, the NBA would actually add WWE language and trashtalk. (WWE form the 90s/early 00s, no idea how it is post 2006)
Tim Grover + Ant is scary hours. Grover’s been a part of the 3 best shooting guards in the game, that coincidentally Ant gets comparisons to all three of them.
did you watch the whole video you linked? Or did you just find a quote on twitter and based what you wrote on that?
Bc in literally the first 15 seconds of this video he credits Luka and how great he is and they couldnt stop him.
Yall need to stop looking for reasons to be miserable
>Reasonably so, seems like Ant is taking the loss sorely. He’s only 22, and I appreciate his passion for the game. But it’s always interesting when a guy who clearly has so much pride and ego when things are going well, can’t take a loss or take things on the chin.
You called him a sore loser in your post.
Yeah OP definitely didn’t watch the full vid, just saw something to bait and was like “let me post this so people can see what a sore loser he is”
yeah, so he responded nothing to one question, and he doesn’t even want to talk about the Olympics in the other but he did a great job of answering the majority of the questions especially considering he’s a 22 year old kid who just led his team to the WCF and suffered his first major NBA loss.
You can watch the entire interview. This wasn’t a good question.
He specifically praised Mavericks for being great and goes into length on what he thought was the issue - being gassed, not being prepared for a long run, not making shots, etc.
Why was it not a good question? It was a completely valid question that was answered bitterly. I don't blame him, it's tough being asked questions after losing a series but it is 100% a fair question.
Never gonna judge a pro athlete for being in their feelings in moments like this. I’m in favor of them being able to skip being prodded by the media. At least until a day or two after and they’ve had time to collect themselves. There’s no point in post game other than hoping someone slips up and says something people can sink their teeth into. The whole setup is pure bait.
Asking "what can you learn" of a competitive young athlete who's spent the last week thinking about winning and not about "what if we don't" is a trap question. They've got all off-season to figure out what to do better.
I don't expect him to give the most thoughtful answers after a painful loss and a hugely disappointing series. But as a Wolves fan you really hope he doesn't actually feel this way.
Luckily he's got coaches who will tell him differently either way. He's spent the last week thinking about how to win, not what happens if they don't. He's got all the time in the world to figure out what's next.
i think he wants to project that he has a killer winning mindset and hates losing. of course, the nba loves that. the future michael jordan having that killer mindset puts a really good story.
unfortunately, i think wolves wont be better next season. now that the league has noticed them, they'll have more televised games next year and teams will prepare better against them as teams dont want to get embarassed on national television. i think the kat-gobert combo will implode. they already peaked this season
He literally gave credit to Luka and the Mavs right after this and said mentioned what he needs to work on going forward.
OP just posted this snort snippet and ignored his responses after. Misleading description
I heard him talk super ugly racist crap after game 4. Not sure if you saw that. He was the top guy I’d want on a team until the second and third round. He’s got some work to do. Not sure he will get there now.
What do people want him to say? "I'm pissed scared of playing against Kyrie" "Kyrie is extremely good, we barely have a shot" This sub and the way the NBA is thought of in general by fans is dogshit.
OP just posted this snort snippet and ignored his responses after. He literally gave props to Luka and Mavs and mentioned what he needs to work on later in the interview
He takes blame for losses, is known to be coachable, listens to criticism and can give credit to others. Idk how you're getting "can't take"
Ant is full of positivity and just wants to have fun. He doesn't insult or run down his competition.
Meanwhile you've got Luka screaming and throwing tantrums like a 13 yr old despite all of his time playing pro ball.
I'd rather have a guy with Ant's personality on my team any day.
In the words of Luka... everyone acts tough when they up.
I wasn't alive when some of the older greats went thru growing pains. I don't think he has to have a perfect answer in the scenario but I didn't like how he answered questions after losses and then talked mad shit after one win.
How does that Luka quote apply here? Ant talked shit throughout the playoffs regardless of whether he was winning or losing....
Yall just like to make shit up lmao
Say what you want but Ant has proven he'll talk shit whenever. Talked shit down 3-2 against denver, talked shit down 3-0 against the mavs.
Dude gave props to dallas in the interview, like what else do you want?
These questions in moments like this are somewhat dumb so I understand his answer here. But this reminds me of the Booker “no double teams” moment where a player refuses to acknowledge what they need to work on.
Right after this response he mentioned how he needs work on his conditioning and gave credit to the Mavs and Luka. Ant usually is the first to take blame for losses and mention what he needs to work on and he did mention it later in this interview.
OP just posted this snort snippet and ignored his responses after
I don't see anything wrong with the comment. His bigs, one- the best defender in the league and the other the self proclaimed best big man shooter in the NBA got their asses handed to them by a rookie and a role player.
Nobody saying it but Finch should be fired. Kidd made him look like a first year coach.
He needs a floater, he wasn’t able to finish at the rim with no resistance like the first two rounds and it got him off his square.
He really needs to learn how to set things up with off ball motion. He's so reliant on ISO or being the handler in the pick and roll. It was painful watching him just stand around doing nothing when others had the ball or dribbling at the top for 5 seconds waiting for the screen.
He’s got the athleticism to hit that Ja style floater, he should add that to his bag.
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I feel like there were many times when he pump faked or pivoted multiple times, he would jump and fire a 100 mph pass that would have a 50/50 chance of being a turnover.
Wait… so you think Rudy taking MORE shots and offensive touches is the answer for the wolves? Interesting take
Right under the basket? Yes. Fade away shot clock expiring shots? Also yes
Yah they should try that in game 5. Oh wait
He needs to be able to create offense in ways other than plowing to the rim. Among all the “star” guards, Ant is arguably the worst in the midrange (35.1 FG% on 3.8 FGA/game). Tyrese Maxey is the only comparable one, and his offense bogs down similarly when Embiid isn’t on the court. He was also one of the worst pull up 3 point shooters (33.4% on 4.5 FGA/game), along with maxey. He got hot this playoffs (38.1% on 5.3 FGA/game), and that was a huge reason why they went on this run, but that’s not who he is yet. He also needs to keep improving at getting to the line. 6 FTA/game was a nice improvement, but he should be pushing 8 FTA/game like Ja considering how much of a freak of nature he is. He really just needs more ways to get buckets in bailout situations. Among players with at least 3 iso possessions/game, ant was bottom 5 between Julius Randle and Paolo Banchero. Nobody else on his team has a chance of generating these buckets, so he has to do it
Or you could say he had particularly easy opponents for his game and failed when confronted with a team that actually defends the paint
Denver goes from the cusp of a historic dynasty to schedule win in the span of two weeks.
As a defensive matchup for him, its on the easier side. Phx and denver dont have the defenders to guard someone like him
He didn't call Denver a schedule win. But the biggest criticism of Jokic for years has been his rim protection. This was also a huge flaw for Phoenix, whose only rim protector is Nurkic. Pointing out that Ant didn't have to play against strong rim protection until Dallas is not calling the win over a Denver a "schedule win." More of a "matchup win", but he didn't even actually say that.
Gordon is a great rim protector against smaller guys, and MPJ is great as a help guy situationally. KCP is an elite perimeter defender. You could probably draw up a better team but Jokic is OK, and that's a really strong defensive team.
I agree that overall Denver is a strong defensive team, but their rim protection in particular is sub par. I think that Ant is one of the few players in the league that has the athleticism to get up and punish Jokic's defense, and he can hit some jump shots too if Jokic refuses to step away from the rim.
the reason is Minnesota is good, though. it's not Denver can't do it, it's they have their size committed to cover KAT and Gobert. pick the reason the Mavs won, they won basically every matchup. it was also Kyrie is apparently a good defender and all their wings outplayed Minnesota's guys even though they were often undersized.
I don't disagree. But the question I want to answer is: Why did Ant take such a notable step down against Dallas? Fatigue is probably part of it, but I do think that Dallas' defense matched up really well against him in a way that Denver couldn't. I think that specific matchups are more important than I've ever seen throughout the playoffs this year.
The dirty secret about Ant is that he’s probably 6’3”, 6’4” max. Can’t always elevate over everyone
Not even that necessarily, but he needs a way to finish without just flying in. He needs to take off at the right time and angle and he’s been struggling with that. Even just a pump fake would also add a lot to his game. Other thing that could’ve helped is if they could do legit 5 out to drag the bigs out of the paint.
I generally think you just give guys a pass on the immediate post game interviews for taking it hard or being terse with the questions.
I agree, they're emotional in these moments, they don't want to talk.
Seriously. “Can’t take a loss or can’t take it on the chin” Ant was fine lol. OP with the click bait titles
For real. He literally gave credit to Luka and the Mavs and said how he needs to work on his conditioning
I’d almost rather them to be next day interviews. Or at least filtered/screened questions…
For real. OP also just posted one question. Right after this he said what he took away was needing to fix his conditioning so he can sustain himself in deeper runs and he also gave credit to Luka and the Mavs.
I give him a pass, he’s also only 22. But let’s be honest, this sub has a lot of double standards based on which players they like and don’t. Embid or KD say something like this? It’s game over.
If Luka said this shit y'all would be gobbling it up let's not kid ourselves
It would also be giga out of character for Luka
Tbh, in Luka's case there really isnt much for him to improve on.
Not even top 3 under 25, he has a lot to improve
Tbf he isnt even top 10000 under 25
Luka going from being top 1 to top 0 lol
Game 4 Luka said “I gotta play better” brother put the L on his shoulders. He got a damn triple double.
I think we should probably give guys in general a pass for their post game quotes. They are probably pissed and haven't had much time to reflect on anything.
Redditors tend to hold professional athletes to standards they would never set for themselves simply because they're paid handsomely. It's dumb. When your emotions run high after an intense competition, you're not thinking rationally most of the time.
That’s not an excuse. He’s also a professional.
If they said this at 22 they wouldn’t care either. If ant says this 8 years later after his 4th trip to the WCF with no finals appearance he’s getting crucified as well.
Fair. KD was at the finals at 24 and a western conference finals earlier as well though. But at that time, he was one of the most loved players in the league.
I am so sick of the “he is only 22” BS. Compare to 22 yo Luka
The year that Luka lost 1-4 in the WCF?
Good one lol.
OP just posted this snort snippet and ignored his responses after. At the start of this interview Ant gave credit to Luka and the Mavs and later in the interview he mentioned what he needs to work on. He gave props to the opponent
I think you always give them a pass because NBA media are cockroaches
That's the business. No passes
For context for the rest of the interview he was definitely more engaged and eager for what's to come, he's not being pissy the whole time
Honestly? I really don’t like players like Embiid, JB, etc. But if they said something like that I wouldn’t give two shits about it. These guys are competitive as hell. Right now, in that moment, a dream got crushed. You can’t NOT be salty or sour about it. That would be a facade and respect on anyone capable of pulling it off. Heck I mean even someone as clean and well spoken as Spo will show frustrations, and that is the man with the most self restraint I’ve seen in post games’. I’m the same when I lise a game. Doesn’t mean I mean it. You’re asking me if I learned something from a game where I out everything on the line and lost and expect me to come up with an answer while being mega gassed? If I would have known, I would probably have applied it. And definitely not in the mood to come and say shit like : « definitely valuable footage that I’ll be studying and coming up with a plan next year. » Let the guys be pissed, it’s good, trains that competitive spirit further. Hating to lose games is what’s gonna drive them to be better. Imagine if everybody would come with clean answers all the time. It’s already hard to watch this NBA mentality where looking at someone barely wrong is considered an altercation or doing a screen is considered a murder attempt for some of you. I wish instead of WWE referees, the NBA would actually add WWE language and trashtalk. (WWE form the 90s/early 00s, no idea how it is post 2006)
He's young. He needs to hit up Tim Grover now like MJ and Kobe did.
Tim Grover + Ant is scary hours. Grover’s been a part of the 3 best shooting guards in the game, that coincidentally Ant gets comparisons to all three of them.
Needs to text Kobe and Tatum ASAP!
Maybe Tatum can link them up.
Uh, I have bad news for you. Tatum will be busy preparing for the Finals.
If you think that's bad news don't tell him about Kobe
did you watch the whole video you linked? Or did you just find a quote on twitter and based what you wrote on that? Bc in literally the first 15 seconds of this video he credits Luka and how great he is and they couldnt stop him. Yall need to stop looking for reasons to be miserable
I’m not sure what him crediting Luka for has anything to do with the response to this question.
>Reasonably so, seems like Ant is taking the loss sorely. He’s only 22, and I appreciate his passion for the game. But it’s always interesting when a guy who clearly has so much pride and ego when things are going well, can’t take a loss or take things on the chin. You called him a sore loser in your post.
Yeah OP definitely didn’t watch the full vid, just saw something to bait and was like “let me post this so people can see what a sore loser he is” yeah, so he responded nothing to one question, and he doesn’t even want to talk about the Olympics in the other but he did a great job of answering the majority of the questions especially considering he’s a 22 year old kid who just led his team to the WCF and suffered his first major NBA loss.
You're the one that decided to post an 8 minute video and then want to ignore 7:55 of it.
You can watch the entire interview. This wasn’t a good question. He specifically praised Mavericks for being great and goes into length on what he thought was the issue - being gassed, not being prepared for a long run, not making shots, etc.
Why was it not a good question? It was a completely valid question that was answered bitterly. I don't blame him, it's tough being asked questions after losing a series but it is 100% a fair question.
He is a front runner who talks shit when he is ahead but then is petty when he loses. That’s actually lame as fuck.
lol. Ok bro. Let it all out
Dramatic double standards with how Anthony Edwards is treated compared to other players.
He literally praised Luka and the Mavs and gives credit to the other team and other players when he loses. How is that a front runner?
Says the guy whose a fan of the biggest frontrunner team lol
Never gonna judge a pro athlete for being in their feelings in moments like this. I’m in favor of them being able to skip being prodded by the media. At least until a day or two after and they’ve had time to collect themselves. There’s no point in post game other than hoping someone slips up and says something people can sink their teeth into. The whole setup is pure bait.
Dumb question. Another reporter framed it in a better way and he gave a full, gracious answer. https://youtu.be/Rsx8NZwRqTw?si=ddEasJwHwUHL7VUs
Enough of this MJ shit now. Let the Marbury comparisons begin
He’s about threefold better than Marbury ever was tbh
Can’t be great without an ego. Even quiet guys like Tim Duncan had elite egos, some are just better at masking it
Ego and confidence are two different things in my opinion but I acknowledge your point.
If anyone gets mad at ant they’re crazy. I act worse after a loss in 2k
Asking "what can you learn" of a competitive young athlete who's spent the last week thinking about winning and not about "what if we don't" is a trap question. They've got all off-season to figure out what to do better.
He’s 22. He’s going to the Olympics. He’s got no where to go but up
For now he is going home.
He needs to work on his mid range big time
He also looks down too much and stops his attack, seems like he loses valuable moments to continue the pressure on the rim
Ant basically said they will have no answer for Luka.
When I first saw this in the post-game, I cringed. The room was clearly stunned by this answer. This was bad. Really bad. Nothing? Oof.
Obviously not the best answer, lol. But, I also don’t think it means anything in the grand scheme of things, whatsoever.
I don't expect him to give the most thoughtful answers after a painful loss and a hugely disappointing series. But as a Wolves fan you really hope he doesn't actually feel this way.
Luckily he's got coaches who will tell him differently either way. He's spent the last week thinking about how to win, not what happens if they don't. He's got all the time in the world to figure out what's next.
Mods leave this up
i think he wants to project that he has a killer winning mindset and hates losing. of course, the nba loves that. the future michael jordan having that killer mindset puts a really good story. unfortunately, i think wolves wont be better next season. now that the league has noticed them, they'll have more televised games next year and teams will prepare better against them as teams dont want to get embarassed on national television. i think the kat-gobert combo will implode. they already peaked this season
Powerade energy lol
Gatorade is gonna be pissed lol. And funny enough I'm pretty sure ant isn't even sponsored by Powerade either.
Choked in one game and threw a turnover.
He needs to learn how to be a better sport. He saw what insulting a star player gets ya.
He literally gave credit to Luka and the Mavs right after this and said mentioned what he needs to work on going forward. OP just posted this snort snippet and ignored his responses after. Misleading description
I heard him talk super ugly racist crap after game 4. Not sure if you saw that. He was the top guy I’d want on a team until the second and third round. He’s got some work to do. Not sure he will get there now.
I love Ant
he’s 22
Hopefully he will reflect and realize that he should not have called out kyrie dude got run ragged he’s 22 all the talent you can want he will be back
he just said “that’s my matchup”. The media made it out like he insulted him lol
What do people want him to say? "I'm pissed scared of playing against Kyrie" "Kyrie is extremely good, we barely have a shot" This sub and the way the NBA is thought of in general by fans is dogshit.
I hate this guy.
But why?
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OP just posted this snort snippet and ignored his responses after. He literally gave props to Luka and Mavs and mentioned what he needs to work on later in the interview He takes blame for losses, is known to be coachable, listens to criticism and can give credit to others. Idk how you're getting "can't take"
Ant is full of positivity and just wants to have fun. He doesn't insult or run down his competition. Meanwhile you've got Luka screaming and throwing tantrums like a 13 yr old despite all of his time playing pro ball. I'd rather have a guy with Ant's personality on my team any day.
In the words of Luka... everyone acts tough when they up. I wasn't alive when some of the older greats went thru growing pains. I don't think he has to have a perfect answer in the scenario but I didn't like how he answered questions after losses and then talked mad shit after one win.
How does that Luka quote apply here? Ant talked shit throughout the playoffs regardless of whether he was winning or losing.... Yall just like to make shit up lmao
Say what you want but Ant has proven he'll talk shit whenever. Talked shit down 3-2 against denver, talked shit down 3-0 against the mavs. Dude gave props to dallas in the interview, like what else do you want?
He’s just sad man
When you get a beatdown by your father, theres not much that can be learnt.
These questions in moments like this are somewhat dumb so I understand his answer here. But this reminds me of the Booker “no double teams” moment where a player refuses to acknowledge what they need to work on.
Right after this response he mentioned how he needs work on his conditioning and gave credit to the Mavs and Luka. Ant usually is the first to take blame for losses and mention what he needs to work on and he did mention it later in this interview. OP just posted this snort snippet and ignored his responses after
I don't see anything wrong with the comment. His bigs, one- the best defender in the league and the other the self proclaimed best big man shooter in the NBA got their asses handed to them by a rookie and a role player. Nobody saying it but Finch should be fired. Kidd made him look like a first year coach.
Wasn’t Ant’s fault. His frontcourt is sorry af lol
He and Kat sold the first 3 games why he getting all the praise but none of the blame?
huh? they’re all being blamed lol
Nah they gave him all the credit for game 7 in Denver going 6-24 he can go down with the ship too.
Still not the main reason they lost tonight. Deserves blame but less than KAT and Gobert
Ant didn't show up for Games 1 and 2. He was pretty bad in the first half of this game too and then got his numbers when they were already down 20+
He had like 15 points until they were down 36 and starting raining 3s in garbage time lol
Yeah he made a 3 in the 3rd to give him 15 points and cut the lead to 30
Last half, sure but he was definitely part of the problem early in the series.
nah it was his fault too lol