The Timberwolves have found their playoff point guard. And it’s … Julius Randle?

San Francisco Minnesota trailed - with fewer than eight minutes to play in Challenge on Saturday The Timberwolves were a little scrambled for much of the evening They d committed turnovers to keep the nose of the Warriors playing without their best sportsman in Steph Curry out in front for much of the contest Minnesota needed someone to stabilize the ship to get it across the finish line first in enemy waters As has often been the occurrence over the past couple months that person was Julius Randle The Timberwolves out-scored Golden State - over the ensuing six-plus minutes Minnesota made seven field goals in that span Randle scored the first two He assisted on the remaining five Whether it was bullying the smaller Draymond Green to eventually foul out the former Defensive Participant of the Year or blowing past the slower footed Kevon Looney Randle proved unguardable with Battle in the balance He s been a big playmaker scorer Wolves wing Jaden McDaniels mentioned He can outcome at all three levels I mean they put the big dude on him he s too slow They put the little guy on him he s too strong So it s a hard predicament for the other club to guard him He makes all the right plays We can t be more grateful to have him McDaniels knows how the Warriors feel Prior to Minnesota acquiring the forward on the eve of training camp it was McDaniels who was frequently tasked with guarding Randle when the Knicks and Wolves would square off It rarely went well Randle averaged points over his last four games against Minnesota including a -point performance He was like running me over I couldn t even hold him off the post sometimes recalled McDaniels an All-NBA defender who held Warriors players to for shooting in his matchups Saturday I was trying to make it hard for him but nah he was seemingly cooking me worse than he was cooking the Warriors Maybe but Randle sure is searing Golden State And he s doing so with far more than buckets The forward has been the primary conductor of any offensive success Minnesota has realized in these conference semifinals which it now leads - ahead of Monday s Championship Golden State has proven to be one of the NBA s premier defenses since acquiring Jimmy Butler at the exchange deadline The Warriors have shown why in this series There have been numerous periods in which executing offense feels like a monumental task for Minnesota The Wolves scored one points over the final minutes seconds of the second quarter in Match The Warriors are physical and relentless on that end But Randle is proving to be someone who can match those levels offensively Timberwolves coach Chris Finch noted it was when Minnesota started playing through Randle down the stretch that it felt for the first time consistently all competition we authentically like went somewhere He s playing with so much force and determination He s going out there early and aggressive Finch mentioned Sometimes when it s really sticky on the perimeter like the holding all the time everywhere and they re really handsy we play through Randle He just kind of gives us a pressure release Randle had points assists and rebounds in Encounter He tallied dimes in Meeting A creator a hub a go-to-guy Whatever you want to call it Randle has fit the bill Anthony Edwards was miserable offensively for the first two and a half games of the series But he exploded for points in the second half on Saturday Randle was a big reason why Golden State is taking away Edwards airspace on the perimeter so his go-to shot the pull-up triple is null and void at the moment The Warriors are blitzing Edwards on ball screens The all-star guard hasn t been able to effectively initiate offense for Minnesota Edwards explained he believes playing off the ball is a better situation for him in this matchup He s playing off of Randle who s finding him on cuts and spot-up situations to allow Edwards to get specific better looks and establish a rhythm Edwards explained Randle was incredible on Saturday with his ability to find open teammates and determine the tempo Can t ask for nothing better Edwards noted He s making the battle a lot easier for me so I appreciate having him here Randle disclosed he has a lot of different tools at his disposal and can use his mind to take what the defense gives him If that s an open three take it If that s a less-agile defender like Looney Randle knows to get into pick-and-roll actions with Conley to compromise the opposing big man in space where he s far less secure and effective Being able to read what s going on out there Randle reported If I get a mismatch getting to my operating areas and attacking If they don t double-team me count If they double-team me find my guys Read the defense to generate consistently good offense for himself and others That sounds a lot like the role of a point guard The lack of one moving into the future has been a driver of angst among Timberwolves fans Mike Conley is aging out of the role and Rob Dillingham still has to prove he s floor general material Even with the leaps Edwards has made with his playmaking and floor vision the general assumption has invariably been that he d be better playing alongside a table setter who can help generate looks for him Enter Randle who s sneakily taken over that role over the past couple months That was highlighted Saturday as the forward notched nine second-half assists six of which resulted in Edwards buckets It s really what s turned our season around his playmaking his decision-making playing through him on different spots of the floor Finch noted I ve inevitably known he was a good playmaker Our time together in New Orleans he played a little bit like this He gives us almost another point guard like out there It s everything for us It s been everything for our turnaround It s everything for our gang It certainly was in Championship Golden State is largely offensively inept in the half court sans Curry The Warriors relied almost solely on pace and transition to generate advantages to create good looks That well dried up in the final frame largely thanks to Randle He plays a deliberate brand of basketball in the half court that not only generates good looks for Minnesota but sets the pace of the contest Randle is the biggest reason Minnesota has morphed into a clutch-time monster in these playoffs When he has the rock it feels as though the Wolves are dictating the terms under which the contest is being played As a floor general should His physicality his demeanor the way he can control the pace control the competition on both ends of the floor it kind of gives us specific control It gives us the ability to kind of settle into who we want to be offensively defensively Conley revealed We can get sporadic at times but having a guy that you can just get a ball to and post him up or just slow the battle down and allow us to cut off of him and him make plays for everybody and make the meeting easy it helps a lot