Michael Grady, Timberwolves TV Announcer

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There's joy in every journey. Alright, it is the Zach Gelb Show on the Infinity Sports Network. We played you that awful hickey rap a few moments ago.

Alan Jeffery says, Zach, what was that? That was terrible. Tell Ryan to keep his job on the radio. Rapping is not his game. Daly is saying clearly the hair product is getting to hickeys brain and is affecting him.

So, some people got a good laugh or maybe they never want to hear things again after hearing hickey rap. So, boy oh boy, that was something. You will also hear a crazy Shep claim coming up 20 minutes from now. And I played a little bit of a role in this, having some fun at the expense of David Sheppard, who I did see announce the other day that he is resigning as the executive producer of the Bart Winkler Show. And he's going to be doing now the Friday into Saturday, Saturday into Sunday weekend overnights right here on the Infinity Sports Network. So, congratulations to Shep on the new gig as he continues to host.

But we will set Shep up for his next chapter in life and have a little fun when talking about him. How about Minnesota over the weekend? I love this Minnesota Timberwolves team. And how can't you love Anthony Edwards right now? Let's welcome in their TV play-by-play man.

And that's Michael Grady as Minnesota looks to take a 2-0 lead in Denver tonight. Michael, appreciate the time. Thanks so much for doing this. How you been? I've been good. I've been good.

Good to be on with you. Excited about the rest of the series. So, take me through your biggest Game 1 takeaway. All they had to do was at least just get one in Denver to show, OK, this Minnesota team is not to be messed with. They were able to do that in Game 1.

What jumps out to you a few days later? Just the hunger and the poise that they had in that game. And it really stood out going back to that Phoenix series. You know, all the talk headed into that series was, you know, the Suns smoked you guys three games during the regular season. And now you have to face them in the postseason. This is a team that you don't want to face.

You have all kind of matchup issues. And the Timberwolves took care of business in the first two games of that series, really smacking Phoenix. And then you go on the road to face the Suns in a tough environment and they kept the crowd out of it one Game 3, stayed greedy and won Game 4, earning a sweep against a team, again, that swept them during the regular season.

And so to come into Denver and get off to a good start, Denver goes on their inevitable run playing like defending champs. And for the Timberwolves to have the poise and the aggression and the will to pull that game out with guys stepping up in the second half, like Mike Conley and Nas Reed, and then Anthony Edwards starting the show and then closing the show, just really, to me, just exemplifies the growth that they've had from last season to this year. The last few weeks, you know, we always knew Anthony Edwards was a special player.

But I think it took a while for a lot of people nationally to say he could be the future face of the NBA. And that's been on full display and I thought it was a serious moment for him on Saturday. You being there for the journey of Anthony Edwards, how do you kind of put into words what you've seen now for a little bit? It's part of the progression when you have a small market team and a young star. From a Timberwolves fan's perspective, they've been seeing spectacular play from Anthony Edwards all season long. And we really saw him take a step forward when Karl-Anthony Towns went down with that calf injury last season.

So Anthony Edwards had to take a larger load with the team and he's making spectacular plays and we're seeing him learn on the fly. And this season, understanding when teams are double or triple teaming him and blitzing him, how to make the smart play to set up his teammates, which makes him even more dynamic as he becomes a better playmaker. We know he could score.

We know he can jump out of a gym. But making the right play when he's attracting all this attention has been a nice progression that we've seen in his game. So the fact that he's starting to get some national recognition and I thought it was great headed into Game 1, all of the talk of the Michael Jordan stuff and the comparisons were out there. And so you could understand if he would step into Game 1 and maybe a little bit timid, a little bit shaky. But he came out and was super aggressive and then finished with the playoff career high 43 points. He's not afraid of the moment.

The bright lights don't intimidate him at all. And all he cares about is hooping and winning and that's the guy who you would love to see as one of the future faces of the NBA. Michael Grady here with us. I'm glad you brought up the Jordan point because I've said that before. I know a lot of people have said that as of late as well. He has a Jordan mentality and I know the Jordan fans are going to start saying, you can't mention Michael Jordan.

No one's saying he's Michael Jordan. But he has that mentality. When did you kind of start to realize that?

I picked that up really early on. You know, I'm in my second season in Minnesota. So I saw glimpses of it a season ago and how much he cares about winning. Seeing him take his game to another level in the postseason, which is something that he's done since he entered the NBA, is certainly a sign that he loves to meet the moment. But I think this off-seat, I think, well, the postseason series against the Denver Nuggets a year ago, where they lost in five games and seeing how upset and frustrated he was that they lost that series.

They gave them for all they could handle. A number of Denver players said that was our toughest test of our championship run. And so for Anthony to go back in the lab, continue to work on his game, rise to the occasion for Team USA, although they fell short of their medal goals, that experience paid huge dividends for Anthony Edwards.

An example I'll give is this. When I first got to Minnesota, I was watching one of the first training camp practices and I remember nudging my TV partner, Jim Peterson, and saying, I don't I'm not really noticing Anthony Edwards. And I go, oh, no, no, he's usually relaxes in practice, but you'll notice him in games.

And that was kind of a red flag for me. Training camp day one this season, he was dominating every practice. He was crushing it and setting the tone that I'm going to lead this season that carried over into the regular season. And we're seeing it carry over now into the into the postseason.

Talking to Michael Grady right now does a great job as the television voice for the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight. I just can't wait for this game. This is the most exciting series out of all the second round matchups. You know, I said it to the general manager of the Nuggets the other day on Friday, that this feels like it's a Western Conference finals, even though it's a second round matchup. But tonight, I think a lot of people anticipate, right, the champs to bounce back and even this series up 1-1. But when we throw that Jordan mentality around with Anthony Edwards, it does give me a little pause.

And I have the most respect in the world for Denver. But tonight could even be a bigger moment for Minnesota because they go back to their building up 2-0. Man, that would be a stunner.

It would be. And getting back to that, the Michael comparisons. It's just I think people are understanding that this young man is a killer.

And when you talk about killers, these guys don't come around that often. And I think it's I think it's really fascinating because, yeah, Jordan fans may be a little bit irritated that the comparisons are rising. But the fact that people aren't afraid to whisper Anthony Edwards name in the same breath of mentioning Michael Jordan says something about what we're all recognizing.

And he's he's such an intimidating and physical presence on the basketball court that he's starting to get that respect around the league. And so the Nuggets, I fully expect the Nuggets to come out swinging in this ballgame. Of course, this is a desperation game. There's no way that you want to go down 0-2 heading to Minnesota at the same time.

The symbols kind of look in the top. So like, look, look, we know that we can play with these guys. We're not afraid of these guys. We know that we can play them.

We feel like we have the best player in this series, even though Jokic, all due respect, is is staring at his third MVP. But the way Anthony Edwards is playing, he's just out of his mind. I think it's going to be great theater in this ballgame tonight in this game, too. Now, it's only one game.

It was an impressive statement on Saturday, like the way that you laid it out. They got out to the big start. Then Denver came alive and able to pull away and get the job done. Minnesota in the fourth quarter. What's your biggest concern, though, for Minnesota in this series moving forward? Just wonder.

But you look at the status report. Rudy Gobert is questionable for personal reasons. And so if he's unable to go, the Timberwolves still have depth. They're not facing the team in Denver that has a lot of depth on their roster to begin with. But nevertheless, losing Rudy Gobert and that, you know, what he's able to do on the basketball court.

And I hope people are watching. I know there's so much criticism about that trade a season ago, but it's paid huge dividends for the Timberwolves this season. He could very well be defensive player of the year this season. And there were moments in Game 1 where he's guarding Michael Porter, Jr. on the perimeter. He's blocking shots inside. He's helping off the Nicole Jokic. He just he broke up a pass inside to Aaron Gordon in a crucial moment in the ballgame.

He's the he's the quarterback of the defense. And they would absolutely miss him if he was not able to play in this ballgame. Outside of that, from Minnesota's perspective, you just want to avoid foul trouble.

If you can avoid foul trouble, you're going to be in good shape. And the Nuggets are just going to have to find ways to utilize what depth they do have. So that Jamal Murray, who is, you know, still dealing with the Cavs and Jokic, they're not exerting a ton of energy. They need guys to step up so that so that their key players can get a little bit more rest because the Timberwolves are deep and they're relentless. Yeah, I saw the news about Gobert about like an hour ago. I saw pop up on my feed.

Is there any clarity? Like, I know that he's questionable for the game. Who knows if he's going to play? But is there any clarity on one way or another what his status is going to be?

Is this going to be right down the tip off? We should we should know very soon on whether or not he's going to be able to make it out and get here. So I know he's he's it's a it's a family thing. And but the hope is that he'll be able to make it to game time. He wants to be there for his brothers. But family is important right now.

So I can't say one way or another whether or not it's going to happen. Wrap it up with Michael Grady. Let me ask you about Jayden McDaniels. I loved what Anthony Everett said before the start of the Sun series.

It paid off in a big way. Just how about his growth that you've seen out of him as a player? He was 0 for 7 in Game 1, but still had a dramatic impact on the game with what he's able to do defensively. And his growth, speaking of Jayden McDaniels, has been going back to media day, talking to his teammates.

And they all to a man said, he's my he's my favorite player on the team. And he has a he has a thankless role to where you have, you know, your point guard who's distributing and making everybody happy. Anthony Edwards has to get his Carl Anthony Towns has to get his Rudy Gobert is going to be playing clean up, but he's going to have his opportunities. And then you have Jayden McDaniels where it's like, you know, if you get yours, great, but we really just need you to defend the best perimeter player every single night and stay out of foul trouble because we need you.

That's a thankless role. And he doesn't blink. He doesn't flinch. He accepts every role that every responsibility that's asked of him. And he just goes out there in battles. And so, you know, in a way, he's not the score that Scottie Pippen was, but from a defensive standpoint, the way that back in the day, we're going to the Michael Jordan comparisons again, the way Mike and Scottie defensively would just be a menace on the perimeter.

You very much for seeing that with with with Anthony Edwards and Jayden McDaniels. So I love his game. Offensively, it's going to be up and down. He had a huge game in that Phoenix Suns series where he had a playoff career high. Again, didn't score in Game 1.

I fully expect him to get more involved offensively in this ballgame and then continue to be a menace and an irritant with Jamal Murray or whoever he's guarding in this ballgame tonight. Last thing I'll ask you, you know, you see a lot of hoops with being the guy that's on TV calling the Timberwolves games. I know before that you worked for, yes, covering the Brooklyn Nets as well and doing their games, too. So, you know, the East, you know, the West and how that all goes down. I know Boston, right? They were the best team in the East this year by like 15 or 16 games. Still, something's holding me back, embracing how great they could be just because of some of their previous playoff shortcomings.

I'll just ask you this. Do you feel like what we're watching this series? Are these two teams, Denver, Minnesota, in your opinion, the two best teams in the NBA this year?

I do believe that's the case. I think Boston, I don't think they're going to have any resistance in the Eastern Conference as long as they're focused. There's no reason why they should trip up. And then OKC and Dallas, you know, all due respect to both of those teams. I hate hearing any criticism of OKC as far as being the number one seed in the West. They are 100 percent legit. They have a star in Shay Gilders Alexander. They play for each other. They play extremely tough defense.

They are legit one seed. The only question with that group is, of course, experience with every round that they go. That would be tough. That would be tough for them. And Dallas will test them from that standpoint.

And the Luka-Kivre-Irvin combination is ridiculous. So I think low-key that's going to be a fun series to watch. But the winner that comes out of this series, yes, I would agree with you, will represent the West in the NBA Finals against the Celtics. He's Michael Grady, Valley Sports North. T-Wolves announced it. It's a great job calling their games all throughout the season. Michael, thanks so much for giving us a few minutes today.

Appreciate you. There you go. Michael Grady joining us as we get you set for tonight with the Minnesota Timberwolves going up against the Denver Nuggets. Minnesota is already up by one, and it's a sensation that is Anthony Edwards. We will take a timeout when we come on back. I was listening to the network on Friday, and I heard something from Shep.

I was watching, you know, the NBA games, the hockey games, just taking it easy on a Friday night. And I said, you know, let me flip on the Infinity Sports Network. And I heard something from Shep that we need to address on the other side.

It is the Zach Gelb show right here on the Infinity Sports Network. Listen as Delenia tells us why she chose to vaccinate her daughter. I definitely felt like the pros far outweighed the cons, the diseases that I am protecting my child against. They are still here, and at the end of the day, it's my job as a mother to keep my child safe. Talk to your child's doctor and learn more at WhyVaccines.com. Brought to you by Merck. You could spend the weekend doing the same old whatever, or you could conquer the weekend in the all-new Hyundai Santa Fe.

Visit HyundaiUSA.com for more details. There's joy in every journey.