RandBall: The calming influence of Mike Conley, Rudy Gobert ... and Jaden McDaniels?

At several turns over the course of this season, those who watch the Timberwolves closely have become caught up in what their starting lineup isn’t instead of what it is.

Anthony Edwards can’t figure out double-teams and is trying to do too much. Julius Randle is a clumsy fit. Rudy Gobert isn’t dominating as he did last season and struggles against small lineups. Mike Conley is too old. Jaden McDaniels is expensive and one-dimensional.

On Monday, though, in the most recent of an ongoing series of “one of the most important games in franchise history,” all five players showed us their value.

With Ant and Randle, it was more obvious. Edwards finished with 30 points and took over a critical stretch of the third quarter, keying a 17-0 run from which the Warriors never recovered. Randle, who has been great almost the entire postseason, topped him with 31. He and Edwards became the first Wolves teammates to score 30 points in the same playoff game since Kevin Garnett and Sam Cassell in 2004, and between them they had more than half the Wolves’ points.

But I would also argue the other three players were just as vitally important in helping the Wolves push the Warriors to the brink of elimination, as I talked about on both Tuesday’s Daily Delivery podcast and on a special edition postgame show with Ryan Kostecka after Monday night’s game.

The collective: Conley, Gobert and McDaniels had a calming effect throughout the game with their presence, decision-making and defense. The Wolves turned the ball over 19 times, eight in a skittish fourth quarter, but those three players combined for just one turnover all game.

That Conley is included in that description is no surprise. He has had that effect on the Wolves since his arrival midway through a rough 2022-23 season, and while he has lost a half-step from even his best Wolves days, you can see how much the team still leans on him.

Gobert, too, is underappreciated in his defensive consistency.

Putting McDaniels in the “calming” category would have been laughable earlier in his career when his volatility often led him to commit silly fouls and lose control of his emotions. He has grown tremendously this season as a scorer and a leader, and his 13 rebounds — an area of weakness early in his career — were seven more than any other Wolves player had in Game 4.

The specific moments: Conley made a smooth, in-the-flow three-pointer early in the Wolves’ 17-0 run that put them up six. He had two rebounds, two assists and two free throws while playing most of the fourth quarter but was given the final 2:35 off as the Wolves lumbered to the finish line.

After the Warriors cut the Wolves’ lead to 16 early in the fourth quarter, McDaniels smoothly dribbled through traffic for a dunk on the Wolves’ next possession after the timeout. Gobert made two free throws and a layup shortly thereafter, cutting off any oxygen the Warriors might have had.

It was a game that exemplified all the Wolves are and not what they aren’t.