Coming up on Locked-on NBA Daily.

The Rockets finally got a win in their series against the Lakers and showed why it's too early

to give up on their young core.

Meanwhile, our dramatic changes coming to Denver if the Nuggets lose in the first round,

and which top four seed in the east is more at risk of getting bounced.

Locked-on NBA Daily starts now.

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Hello and welcome back to Locked-on NBA Daily. I'm Wes Goldberg. That's Hayes, and that's Tony East filling in for Matt Moore. You could find Tony over at Locked-on Pacers and Locked-on NBA Game Night. We have a jam-packed show for you today on a playoff Monday. The Rockets saved their season with a win over the Lakers, and two top four seeds in the East are wobbling in their first-round. But we have to start with Nuggets, Timberwolves, a ton going on right now in this series. The wolves take a 3-1

lead after the weekend, but they lose Anthony Edwards and Dante DiVincenzo in the first half of

game four. It sounds like it's a torn Achilles for DeVincenzo and is expected to miss multiple weeks with a left knee injury. So the wolves are in control. And they have the nuggets on the rope here with a 3-1 lead, but they're going to have to finish this series off without their best player and their best glue guy. Hayes, can the Timberwolves still win this series without Anthony Edwards and Dante DiVincenzo?

Yeah, they have to win one game, right? Like we already seen I go off for a 43 point game. We've seen Julius Randall have some really good playoff games as well. Like they just have to win one game. I don't know if they're going to get it done as early as they want to. They should try to get it done in this first game and just get it over with and allow themselves chance to rest. but I'm not going to count them out.

I think that they are a well-coached team that's talented,

their defensive team. game just get it over with and allow themselves chance to rest. But I'm not going to count them out. I think that they are well-coached team that's talented. They're defensively sound. They can still a game against the Nuggets without Anthony Edwards. They have so many guys that are capable of games like the one I owe had in game three or in game four, excuse me. And Nasrita is one of them too, right? They can, of course, if those two catch fire enough, have enough scoring, I think, to win another game. And the reason they have a chance is Rudy Gobert has been sensational in the series on defense. And that keeps them at least close enough even without terrific offense. And so if you cobble together enough, Naz Reed, Iyo Doun-Mu, Mike Conley's not playing great, but he's around.

He can dribble the ball. That's great. Go dribble the ball. Mike Conley, that's enough guys, right? Right? Surely they can win one, but I don't know that they'll be a favorite in any individual game the rest of the way. It's going to be challenging for them to do it. There's a lot of meat on the bone for the Denver Nuggets side of this too, but to your guys' points, like you could argue beyond Anthony, Anthony Edwards has not even been playing very well this series because of the other knee injury. He had hurt the right knee, and this was his left knee that he had hyper extended in game four. But you could argue there are two most important players in the series have been Rudy Gobert and Jada McDaniels, and they're still healthy in doing their thing. Like McDaniels is on Murray, Gobert is doing a great job guarding Yokic. And so as long as that backbone of their defense is still intact, yeah, maybe you get a nice I-O game, a Nas Reid game game. Maybe Bones goes crazy off the bench in one of these. we haven't even said Julius Randall's name yet. Like he's also capable of a lot and has done so in the playoffs before.

And, you know,

he has kind of not been the dude Randall's name yet. Like he's also capable of a lot and has done so in the playoffs before.

And he has kind of not been the dude in any one game yet this series.

But he's also capable of it with that bowling ball stuff.

We'll see what happens with the Timberwell side of this, but the Nuggets, again, down 3-1.

If they lose this series after finally going out, spending the money on this team that they spent in the off season, could this potentially lead to a Nuggets breakup of their court?

Sounds crazy, but they did talk about this over at Lockdown Nuggets.

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