{"id":47889,"date":"2025-05-21T16:42:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T16:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/47889\/"},"modified":"2025-05-21T16:42:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T16:42:10","slug":"julius-randle-to-draymond-green-on-timberwolves-playoff-run-st-this-is-a-grind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/47889\/","title":{"rendered":"Julius Randle to Draymond Green on Timberwolves playoff run: ‘S**t this is a grind’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Brief<\/p>\n

The Timberwolves are in the Western Conference Finals for the second straight year, but it’s the first time for Julius Randle in is 11th NBA season.<\/p>\n

Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have a family rivalry, as they are cousins.<\/p>\n

The Timberwolves are four wins away from their first NBA Finals appearance.<\/p>\n

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – The Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> are in the Western Conference Finals for the second straight season, but it\u2019s the first time Julius Randle has gotten this far in his 11th NBA season.<\/p>\n

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Speaking at Timberwolves\u2019 shootaround Tuesday morning ahead of Game 1 at the Oklahoma City Thunder, Randle shared a conversation he had with Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors during the Western Conference Semifinals. After the Timberwolves beat the Warriors in Game 3 to go up 2-1 in the series, Randle told Green he had an appreciation for the Warriors\u2019 greatness.<\/p>\n

Green has four NBA rings, all with the Warriors. At this point in the playoffs, players on teams that have been eliminated are either on vacation, or already preparing for next season.<\/p>\n

What they’re saying<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m excited man, I just have a really great appreciation for these things. Cherishing these moments,” Randle said. “I was thinking about it after we had won our third game of the series in San Fran. I\u2019m like \u2018S**t, this is a grind.\u2019 You get to this point of the season, it\u2019s really a grind. For me being here my first time, it\u2019s been a grind to get here. I\u2019m just enjoying the moment.”<\/p>\n

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Randle is playing the best basketball of his career, averaging 23.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game in 10 playoff games with the Timbrewolves.<\/p>\n

Family rivalry for Nickeil Alexander-Walker<\/p>\n

What we know<\/p>\n

The trash talking started Sunday, as soon as the Thunder eliminated the Denver Nuggets. Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are cousins. Alexander-Walker\u2019s mother sent a text to Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s dad.<\/p>\n

“Sunday my Mom called me, she texted his dad saying, \u2018Oh it\u2019s war now.\u2019 It\u2019s all love at the end of the day. It\u2019s really cool, if I go on my phone it\u2019s the only thing I see,” Alexander-Walker said. “Ten years from now, 20 years from now I\u2019ll be able to really appreciate the moment for what it was. In this time the only thing I care about is making sure the Wolves get four wins.”<\/p>\n

How to watch Game 1<\/p>\n

The Timberwolves and Thunder tip-off at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday<\/a> in Oklahoma City. The game will be broadcast on ESPN. The two teams split the regular season 2-2.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The Source<\/p>\n

Julius Randle and Nickeil Alexander-Walker spoke with reporters after Tuesday’s morning shootaround ahead of Game 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brief The Timberwolves are in the Western Conference Finals for the second straight year, but it’s the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3782],"tags":[7,187,200,164,376,307,152,3954,6,379,475,179,209,859,308,3460,3582],"class_list":{"0":"post-47889","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-timberwolves","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-denver-nuggets","10":"tag-draymond-green","11":"tag-golden-state-warriors","12":"tag-julius-randle","13":"tag-minnesota","14":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","15":"tag-minnesotatimberwolves","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-nickeil-alexander-walker","18":"tag-oklahoma-city","19":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","20":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","21":"tag-the-warriors","22":"tag-timberwolves","23":"tag-western-conference-finals","24":"tag-western-conference-semifinals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114546825190999868","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}