Anthony Edwards manhandled Mavericks guard Jaden Hardy near halfcourt during a moment of Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference Finals on Wednesday night.

The Timberwolves star guard walled Hardy up multiple times before finally stripping the ball way. The loose ball went to Dallas big man Daniel Gafford. Edwards raced over to him and tried to poke the ball free again as Gafford made his way to the rim. At the bucket, Gafford was heavily contested by Rudy Gobert. His out-of-control shot attempt wasn’t close, and the Timberwolves gained possession of the ball and took off in the other direction.

That play closely mirrored the defense Minnesota was heavily touted for playing in the first two rounds of the playoffs against Phoenix and Denver. But such occurrences were rare in the Wolves’ Game 1 defeat.

The Mavericks scored 62 points in the paint. Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic took turns penetrating the defense, either to score themselves or drop passes off to teammates for easy finishes.

It was the easiest offense has looked against the Wolves all postseason.

Even when someone like Edwards did try to stand up Irving or Doncic, it was ineffective. Irving would slither by or Doncic would simply muscle his way to the rim. The defensive approach of being more physical than the opponent wasn’t nearly as effective as it was against Denver’s Jamal Murray or Phoenix’s Devin Booker.

“Their ball skills, you’re not going to unsettle them like maybe some of the other pressure we’ve been able to apply,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “But you still got to pick them up, wear them out.”

And execute your schemes. Minnesota didn’t feel it did that whatsoever on Wednesday. Just look at the pick-and-roll coverage, which point guard Mike Conley said was supposed to feature the guy defending the screener up in coverage. Instead, the Timberwolves often got caught in far too deep of drop coverage, which gave Irving and Doncic room to operate in the mid-range, where they could either finish or facilitate.

“We were trying to take away those guards first and rely on the back side (defenders) who can muddy up the roller and make it tougher for them to get those lobs,” Conley said. “There was points we did it right, but there was points we gave up both. We just have to be better at both of those things.”

Frankly, at everything. That, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch told reporters on the day before Game 2 at Target Center, was the essence of Thursday’s fiery film session.

“It was a rough film session. I told the guys, ‘It’s been a long time since I’ve been this disappointed in your effort. Your performance, your attitude, your application and attention to detail just wasn’t there,’ ” Finch said. “The Western Conference Finals started. Not sure if they got the memo. But they got it (Thursday) afternoon.”

Finch noted his team didn’t hustle. Players didn’t execute the game plan, and they made a number of poor decisions.

The Mavericks got out in transition when the opportunities presented themselves and attacked the rim ad nauseam whenever big center Rudy Gobert wasn’t in the game. The Timberwolves did little to stop them.

That’s not going to cut it against a team like the Mavericks. The Timberwolves can’t just be bigger, faster and stronger than the Mavericks. Dallas is too skilled for that.

The Wolves have to play good, technically-sound basketball to win games in this series. Jaden McDaniels did his best to guard Doncic on Wednesday. But he was too often left on an island. Minnesota’s team defense wasn’t up to snuff.

“I think it’s a whole team effort when you’re playing against two skillfully offensive guys like that,” Wolves forward Kyle Anderson told reporters of Doncic and Irving. “So, guys got to be in gaps. It’s going to take five of us to guard them. We just got to be a little more attentive.”

Anthony Edwards said Minnesota was simply “flat” and “a step behind” on Wednesday. That cannot be the case on Friday – not if the Timberwolves want to prove themselves to be a legitimate factor in this series.

“Yeah, I’m sure we’ll come out and play better. It’s hard to imagine that we’re going to play much worse,” Finch said. “But there’s lots of things that I’m sure Dallas is going to look to adjust to as well, so every one of these games has a personality of its own.”

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A judge has denied a defense motion to dismiss a case against a former Bethel football player accused of sexually assaulting a fellow student in 2018, ruling this week an error by the prosecution that led to a mistrial in January “does not demonstrate any bad faith or intentional misconduct.”

Wednesday’s decision by Ramsey County District Judge Joy Bartscher means Gideon Osamwonyi Erhabor, now 26, of McKinney, Texas, will face a retrial on a third-degree criminal sexual conduct charge. A hearing to schedule the retrial is set for June 11.

Gideon Osamwonyi Erhabor (Courtesy of the Collin County Sheriff’s Office)

Erhabor’s attorney, Daniel Gonnerman, did not respond to a request for comment Thursday on the judge’s decision.

The prosecution’s mistake came on the first day of testimony and involved an audio recording played in court that referenced two other sexual assault cases involving Erhabor. A judge had denied the prosecution’s motion to introduce evidence from the two other cases, known in court as Spreigl evidence. Despite the similarities in the three cases, Judge David Brown wrote, there were what he called “significant differences.”

Ramsey County prosecutors filed the cases against Erhabor on Dec. 3, 2019, after three then-Bethel women reported to law enforcement on separate days in June 2019 that Erhabor had assaulted them in the fall and winter of 2018.

A jury in October 2022 found Erhabor not guilty of third-degree criminal sexual conduct relating to one incident. The other case, alleging an assault in October 2018, remains pending in court under the same charge.

Deputies with the Ramsey County sheriff’s office interviewed Erhabor about the incidents in his Texas hometown in September 2019. While he acknowledged having sex with the three women, he said all the interactions were consensual, according to the criminal complaints.

Erhabor was a student at the Arden Hills Christian college from the fall of 2017 to fall 2018. He was a running back on the football team in 2018.

He was arrested in his Texas hometown a day after the charges were filed and released from the Ramsey County jail after posting a $30,000 bond nearly a month later.

‘Another woman’ referenced

Prior to testimony in the second trial, both attorneys agreed to redact parts of the woman’s interview with a sheriff’s office investigator in 2019. The redactions were to comply with Brown’s ruling relating to Spriegl evidence.

The woman testified Jan. 23 that Erhabor picked her up Sept. 11, 2018, and put on “Black Panther” in his dorm room. Eventually, they began kissing while lying down on a futon. She said Erhabor removed her pants, then grabbed her hips. After he grabbed a condom, “I said no, and started scooting away,” she testified. She said her head was in a pillow during the assault, and that she cried during it.

Later, Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Andrew Johnson gave jurors a redacted transcript of the woman’s interview with the investigator. He then played an audio recording of the interview, which included the investigator saying she “was the third woman.”

The unredacted recording kept playing, with the investigator making a reference to “another woman.” Johnson stopped it.

Bartscher asked for jurors to be taken out of the courtroom.

Johnson apologized that the references to the other women were not redacted from the audio. Gonnerman moved for a mistrial and Bartscher assented, acknowledging there was not another viable option.

‘Error was unintentional’

A hearing was held Feb. 23 on the defense’s motion to dismiss the charge. Bartscher heard arguments from Johnson and Gonnerman, and received written arguments.

Gonnerman raised three arguments for why the case should be dismissed: further prosecution is barred by the double jeopardy clause, which prohibits someone from being prosecuted twice for the same crime; that Erhabor’s rights to speedy trial were violated; and in the interest of justice.

Johnson, meanwhile, maintained it was not deliberate, that he accidentally copied onto his laptop an older audio file “that lacked needed redactions.” He said the newer audio file was made last minute “to be completely fair to the defense by fixing erroneous omissions and inclusions that both parties had overlooked.”

Bartscher, in her ruling filed in court Thursday, wrote that Minnesota case law is clear: Retrial of a criminal case after a mistrial is permitted unless the court finds bad faith, intentional misconduct or when the mistrial was “purposefully designed to goad the defendant into requesting a mistrial.”

Johnson played the audio recording believing it to be an exact copy of the submitted exhibit, Bartscher concluded. “The prosecutor’s error was unintentional; the prosecutor swiftly acknowledged their mistake and concurred with the Defense that a mistrial was the appropriate remedy as no other remedy seemed curative and appropriate.”

Bartscher acknowledged how Gonnerman had highlighted the prosecution allowed the audio to go beyond the first prohibited allegation, thereby exposing the jury to another reference.

“However, the first prohibited allegation was a mere four seconds on the recording and went unnoticed and unopposed, even by the Defense,” Bartscher wrote. “This incident does not demonstrate any bad faith or intentional misconduct.”

On the defense’s argument that a second trial violates Erhabor’s rights to a speedy trial, Bartscher noted that Gonnerman did not file a formal demand for a speedy trial. The judge also pointed out the defense consented to continuances, which she said were due to scheduling conflicts involving both the court and the attorneys.

On the issue of dismissing the case in the interest of justice, Gonnerman noted how Erhabor is Black and that the seated jury was made up of multiple people who are Black and said it was “unprecedented for Ramsey County.” He said the racial makeup of the jury was a “substantial advantage to (Erhabor) that cannot be replicated.”

Although racial makeup of a jury is important in all cases, Bartscher wrote, it is “impossible to determine what, if any impact the jury make up would have had on the outcome of the trial.”

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Minnesota’s own Prince and Bob Dylan landed a total of three entries in Apple Music’s new 100 Best Albums list, a self-proclaimed “modern 21st-century ranking of the greatest records ever made” that’s set the internet ablaze during its rollout over the past 10 days.

As someone who has written about music for my entire professional career, I’ve compiled any number of best-of lists over the years. I was also one of the more than 300 people invited to share my own picks for Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, which is probably the highest profile of such lists out there.

Ross Raihala

I fully understand both the appeal and the absurdity of such endeavors. The word “greatest” can mean any number of things, from biggest sales (a measure of sheer popularity) to artistic accomplishment (a metric impossible to measure). The album as a format was invented in 1948 and the notion that the 76 years worth of LPs that followed can be whittled down to a mere 100 of the “best” is obviously ridiculous.

RELATED: Prince and Bob Dylan land in the Top 10 of Rolling Stone’s new ranking of the 500 greatest albums of all time

Also, it’s kind of rich for Apple to proclaim itself the arbiter of taste when it comes to albums. In 2001, the company introduced the iPod, which took aim at destroying the very concept. Thanks to MP3s, and later streaming, listeners could easily pick and choose songs from here and there. There’s nothing wrong with that at all, but there’s a huge difference between spinning a series of tunes and listening to an album in full. (It’s worth noting that the still-growing comeback of vinyl LPs has roughly coincided with the rise of streaming services.)

But, of course, the ridiculousness of these lists is also what makes them so fun to argue about. With that in mind, here are some of my thoughts.

Before I start, though, Apple has been somewhat opaque in revealing its methodology here beyond its official line that it was “crafted by Apple Music’s team of experts alongside a select group of artists, songwriters, producers, and industry professionals.” Maren Morris, Pharrell Williams, J Balvin, Charli XCX and (of all people) Mark Hoppus are among the artists Apple has said contributed to the project. Apple also made it clear that it’s an “editorial statement, fully independent of any streaming numbers.”

Prince and Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan smokes as he faces the media during a press conference at the Hotel George V in Paris, France on Monday, May 23, 1966. He was to appear on Tuesday at the Paris Olympia music hall. Beside him is a puppet. (AP Photo/Pierre Godot)

OK, then, Minnesotans. Prince’s masterpiece “Sign o’ the Times” landed at No. 51, ahead of two wildly adored and acclaimed rock albums, the Rolling Stones’ “Exile on Main Street” and Guns ‘N Roses’ “Appetite for Destruction.” “Purple Rain” made it to No. 4, a fitting place for a record that changed everything. If it hit the top of the list, few would question it. (The Purple One is one of just five acts with two albums on the list, joining the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce and Radiohead.)

As for Dylan, his landmark “Highway 61 Revisited” made it to No. 14. That would be fair enough if Dylan had two albums on the list, but since he only had one, choosing it over “Blood on the Tracks” is a real head scratcher. While Dylan has denied it’s a divorce album, pretty much everyone else — including his own son Jakob — knows that’s exactly what it is. It’s so raw and intimate and honest, anyone who has experienced emotional turmoil can understand that it’s one of the most important pieces of art from the 20th century.

The bottom 10

Apple Music began revealing the list, 10 songs each day, on May 13. The bottom 10 selections speak volumes about what Apple got right and what it got wrong. It includes some disparate, yet vital, acts performing at their peak: Eagles (“Hotel California,” No. 99), Travis Scott (“Astroworld,” No. 98), Rage Against the Machine (“Rage Against the Machine,” No. 97) and Usher (“Confessions,” No. 95).

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It was also a pleasant surprise to see Robyn’s seminal “Body Talk” — a record dear to the heart of many a gay Gen-Xer — make it in at No. 100. And due to his start as the pretty boy leader of Wham and his ongoing series of unforced errors as an adult, George Michael never really got his proper due in this country until his 2016 death (the same year we lost Prince and David Bowie). Follow the instructions in the title of his No. 91-ranked “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1” to understand what a genius the guy was.

On the other hand, Lorde’s “Pure Heroine” at No. 96? It’s a fine effort for sure, but its ultimate legacy seems to be that the artist was just 16 years old when she made it. And I get that Apple attempted to give nods to many genres, but naming the obscure electronic act Burial’s “Untrue” at No. 94 in favor of, say, anything by Aphex Twin is an odd choice.

Missing titans

Eddie Vedder, Matt Cameron and Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam perform on stage as American Express Presents BST Hyde Park, in Hyde Park on July 08, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Odd choices abound throughout the list.

Get a load of the acts that didn’t make the cut: the Who, Pearl Jam (aka the American Who), Queen, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Police.

Beyond the Clash (“London Calling,” No. 35), punk is ignored, meaning no Fugazi, no Ramones, no Television, no Sex Pistols, no Stooges, no Green Day.

And since the idea of an album being something more than just a collection of songs didn’t really take hold until the late ’60s, many early titans got skipped, like Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry.

Black artists

One thing that probably stands out among the also-rans I just rattled off, they’re almost all white men. What Apple’s list gets right is its strong representation of Black artists. Nearly all popular music of the past 70 years has roots in genres created and/or popularized by Black people, including jazz, rhythm and blues, gospel and country.

I’m totally cool with losing the likes of the James Taylors of the world in favor of OutKast (“Aquemini,” No. 41), Public Enemy (“It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back,” No. 34), Sade (“Love Deluxe,” No. 61), Erykah Badu (“Baduizm,” No. 64) and Drake (“Take Care,” No. 47). Wait, maybe not Drake.

Soundtracks

The inclusion of more soundtracks beyond “Purple Rain” would have been nice. Certainly there’s a place for much-loved monster sellers like “Saturday Night Fever” or “The Bodyguard.” (Early disco, which was largely created by Black and queer people, is notably absent from the list.) It also seems at least one Broadway cast recording should be there, given “Hamilton,” “West Side Story” and “Rent” stand among the many obvious choices.

Countless quibbles

Apple’s list gives countless entry points for quibbles about who did make it, particularly if one gets mired in the rankings. Sure, Billie Eilish’s “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” was a game changer, but does it really deserve to be No. 30 when Carole King’s “Tapestry” is at No. 38? Would anyone consider Led Zeppelin’s finest effort “Led Zeppelin II” (No. 27)? Yeah, Kacey Musgraves’ “Golden Hour” (No. 85) is terrific, but it’s the rare entry from a country artist (who veered toward pop on the record) on a list lacking Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks, Brandi Carlile, Loretta Lynn, Eric Church and Shania Twain.

Lauryn Hill performs during the 51st session of the Carthage international Festival in the Roman theatre in Carthage, a seaside suburb of the Tunisian Capital on July 21, 2015. (Getty Images)

Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is sitting at the very top of the list, Lauryn Hill’s “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” It absolutely deserves all of the acclaim it has received, from its record-breaking 10 Grammy nominations and five wins to its blockbuster worldwide sales.

But in many ways it also destroyed Hill, who was sued over the album’s credits — some combination of the label and Hill herself insisted it be presented as a Prince-style one-woman show — and spent many subsequent years in hiding while trying to raise her family and deal with her own mental illness. She has never released a proper second album and has earned, fairly or otherwise, a reputation as an erratic and unreliable live performer. It is, perhaps, a bittersweet victory.

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The uptick in offensive production from center Taylor Heise has been clearly evident. So, too, has the standout goaltending from Maddie Rooney and Nicole Hensley.

But one underlying factor not to be overlooked that has brought Minnesota to within two wins of becoming the first Professional Women’s Hockey League champion has been the team defense that has forwards, defenders and goaltenders working as one cohesive unit to shut down opponents.

Minnesota registered its third shutout in its past five playoff games on Tuesday to even its best-of-five PWHL finals series with Boston at 1-1. It has gained home-ice advantage in the series heading into Game 3 on Friday night at Xcel Energy Center behind a united front that is all about effort, commitment and communication.

“Our entire team has refocused on what is the strength of our team, which is not giving up a ton of goals,” Minnesota center Kelly Pannek said. “That extends to every person, not just the goalies. When we’re playing the right way we’re on the proper side of pucks.

“The last handful of games we’ve done a really good job of relying on each other and trusting each other when appropriate. And when we’ve needed a big play we’ve gotten it.”

Pannek, Heise, Grace Zumwinkle and Kendall Coyne Schofield — among others — have been conspicuous in making strong plays on the backcheck in recent games to shut down a potential scoring threat.

“It’s the difference in games this time of year,” Pannek said. “Every little play matters; you never know when that extra stride you take catches you up to someone. And if that bounce or stick play or that backcheck can be the difference in the game.

“You have to get excited for those small-detail plays. They are plays that happen all the time all over the ice, but sometimes they get overlooked by the goals or the assists or the massive saves by our goaltenders.”

Minnesota coach Ken Klee said the team has focused all season on playing well away from the puck and gave credit to the players for buying into that approach.

“At this level we know the habits we need to play with,” Coyne Schofield said. “We know the detail our game has to have to be on the right side at the end of the game. Whether it’s on a backcheck, a 50-50 battle, being on the right side of the puck, it’s those little things that you come back to the room and ask yourself if you did all those things.

Minnesota goalie Nicole Hensley (29) watches as defender Lee Stecklein (2) and Boston forward Lexie Adzija (8) chase the puck during the second period of Game 2 of a PWHL hockey championship series, Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Lowell, Mass. (Mark Stockwell / Associated Press)

“In playoff hockey, when one of those boxes aren’t checked you usually aren’t on the right side. We’ve been doing all those little things well, finding that extra gear.”

Minnesota coaches and players alike rave about the role defender Lee Stecklein has played in the team’s defensive success. The 30-year-old Roseville native routinely leads Minnesota in minutes played and is called on to play in every situation.

“She’s the ultimate leader and obviously a great hockey player,” Klee said. “The girls gravitate to her — how hard so works, the way she takes care of herself. When she’s on the ice the entire team has more confidence.

“We call her the ‘Big Unit’ for a reason, because she can control the play.”

Coyne Schofield considers Stecklein to be “the backbone” of the team.

“She holds the crew together on and off the ice,” Coyne Schfield said. “The minutes she plays each night and the way she plays those minutes. You’re not seeing headlines about No. 2, but in our room you are. We know we’re not having success without her.”

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