Jim Mora playoffs thread

[60WinTim]

Dang! Hawks and Mavs going to OT. A lot less pressure on the Wolves if the Mavs lose...

[thedoper]

Must win and Kat was 1-3, hes never had a sense of the moment. Slomo put a layup over the backboard, all that heady play this year amounted to nothing in a must win. Rudy couldnt stop a rookie driving on layups. Conley had a horrible turnover up one and missed a wide open 3. This team has always been built to lose, its incredible really.

Im happy to strip this team down to Ant, Jaden, and Naz. But what does it really matter, theyll figure out a new unique way to break our hearts.

[FNG]

Dang! Hawks and Mavs going to OT. A lot less pressure on the Wolves if the Mavs lose...

Tim, I have the Wolves locked into the 9 hole with a home play-in game against Dallas (although OkC could sneak in there), and then if we win, we have to beat god knows whom in the next play in to make the playoffs. Totally different situation than we were looking at a week ago. Dallas has been terrible, but it is a little scary to have to play a one-game play in against a team with Kyrie and Luke.

I didn't watch yesterday because I didn't think JV Portland against the Vomiting Timberwolves would be very watchable basketball. After reading the GDT this morning, I made a good choice. I get why a loss to lowly Portland has most of the board giving up, but as part of a family that has been battling this nasty virus for the past 10 days, I'm not surprised we lost...I'm surprised some of our guys even suited up. Conley and KAT have both been sick, and they looked it against the Suns and (although I didn't watch) must have looked the same yesterday. And Ant has proved the past 10 days what a Warrior he is, playing through an ankle injury and sickness. We're favored in Brooklyn Tuesday night by a point, but it's going to be a difficult win if KAT is still not close to 100%.

[AbeVigodaLive]

FNG...

I get you want to rationalize the loss. But it you didn't even watch the game...

It's gonna ring VERY hollow for all those who did. Illness wasn't the reason the Wolves lost. Using it as an excuse is a disservice to every ticket-buying fan or even those who watched at home... as well as other professional athletes.

[FNG]

FNG...

I get you want to rationalize the loss. But it you didn't even watch the game...

It's gonna ring VERY hollow for all those who did. Illness wasn't the reason the Wolves lost. Using it as an excuse is a disservice to every ticket-buying fan or even those who watched at home... as well as other professional athletes.

Yeah, I get why anyone who watched that disaster yesterday has given up on this team (and angry that it is 2 hours of their lives they will never get back), but every time I read about the symptoms these guys have, I wonder why they're even playing. I can only imagine the criticism that would have been doled out here if all of our ill players had chosen not to play, like Rivers did. Typical NBA fans (and we are typical NBA fans) rip players for taking a day off, and we rip them even more when they try to play through an injury or illness and play terribly. I think it might have been the better course of action...how the hell can you play when you're throwing up in the tunnel during time outs? I finally played baseball Friday (against the advice of my family) after taking a week off feeling sick, and I realized early it was a mistake. After walking in the first inning, I went to second on a passed ball that didn't get too far away from the catcher. I felt like I was going to throw up when I got to second and felt like I needed oxygen. I thought to myself "Ah, this is how Conley, KAT, Ant, SloMo and others are feeling, and they're playing full court". This virus is horrible, and it seems to last. So there may be different takes on the last two losses, and I certainly understand the despair from those who are dismissing what the players are saying about how ill they are. As for me, I get why we looked totally different in the past three losses compared to the previous three wins, and I'm more concerned about whether we are going to be anywhere close to 100% against Brooklyn and the subsequent two games.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Watch the game. And then comment.

But to make these excuses without even watching... meh.

In fact, you're about the only one using it as an excuse for yesterday's loss. Heck, listen to the coaches and players for chrissakes.

[FNG]

Watch the game. And then comment.

But to make these excuses without even watching... meh.

In fact, you're about the only one using it as an excuse for yesterday's loss. Heck, listen to the coaches and players for chrissakes.

Life is short, Abe, and fortunately so are baseball games now...I did take 2 hours and 18 minutes to watch the Twins go 3-0 yesterday (love the new pitch clock), but I decided early Sunday morning I wasn't going to watch a Wolves team not close to being at full strength play a Portland team with guys I had never heard of. And after reading the GDT I'm not about the watch the replay now...that would be the equivalent of agreeing to smell the carton of milk after someone asks "Hey, has this milk gone bad?". But I'm going to go with the same assumption I had going into the game...we're not going to play well with our players feeling like I've been feeling the past week, and I can tell you this damn thing lingers. Maybe posters here are tougher than our players and me, and are able to play well while sick. But I have listened to what the players have been saying (Ant: throwing up in the tunnel, KAT: not eating food for two days and sleeping in a sweatsuit because of chills, Conley and Prince: not able to catch their wind on the court)...heck, just read Jon K's 4/1 article in the Athletic!) , it was pretty clear to me that we have not been anywhere near at full strength, and I didn't expect them to be yesterday.

So we get to choose what take we go with. 1) I'm giving up on this team because we can't beat Portland, and I'm not going to consider the circumstances, or 2) Maybe I shouldn't expect us to play well after reading Jon K's article. It's clear what camp you're in, and I know which one I'm in. I've moved past yesterday and am focusing on hoping we get healthy for the final three games so we can show up like we did in the three-game winning streak. Right now Vegas has us favored in Brooklyn...I'm skeptical.

[Phenom]

I know people want Ant to share the ball more regularly but I would have really liked him to attack on that last possession. He seems to be very conscious of not getting sticky on final plays but I think the team could use more assertiveness from him there.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Watch the game. And then comment.

But to make these excuses without even watching... meh.

In fact, you're about the only one using it as an excuse for yesterday's loss. Heck, listen to the coaches and players for chrissakes.

Life is short, Abe, and fortunately so are baseball games now...I did take 2 hours and 18 minutes to watch the Twins go 3-0 yesterday (love the new pitch clock), but I decided early Sunday morning I wasn't going to watch a Wolves team not close to being at full strength play a Portland team with guys I had never heard of. And after reading the GDT I'm not about the watch the replay now...that would be the equivalent of agreeing to smell the carton of milk after someone asks "Hey, has this milk gone bad?". But I'm going to go with the same assumption I had going into the game...we're not going to play well with our players feeling like I've been feeling the past week, and I can tell you this damn thing lingers. Maybe posters here are tougher than our players and me, and are able to play well while sick. But I have listened to what the players have been saying (Ant: throwing up in the tunnel, KAT: not eating food for two days and sleeping in a sweatsuit because of chills, Conley and Prince: not able to catch their wind on the court)...heck, just read Jon K's 4/1 article in the Athletic!) , it was pretty clear to me that we have not been anywhere near at full strength, and I didn't expect them to be yesterday.

So we get to choose what take we go with. 1) I'm giving up on this team because we can't beat Portland, and I'm not going to consider the circumstances, or 2) Maybe I shouldn't expect us to play well after reading Jon K's article. It's clear what camp you're in, and I know which one I'm in. I've moved past yesterday and am focusing on hoping we get healthy for the final three games so we can show up like we did in the three-game winning streak. Right now Vegas has us favored in Brooklyn...I'm skeptical.

"I know I don't know anything on this topic concerning YESTERDAY'S game... but I'm going to stick to my guns anyway."

Ummm... ok. Interesting take though. It's actually a microcosm of so many things in the real world, too. "I have my assumptions and by golly... I just know that they're right. Facts and evidence and everything else be damned."

[SameOldNudityDrew]

I know people want Ant to share the ball more regularly but I would have really liked him to attack on that last possession. He seems to be very conscious of not getting sticky on final plays but I think the team could use more assertiveness from him there.

Well, part of the problem was we didn't have a timeout to draw up a play because Finch challenged that out of bounds play when there was no video evidence to overturn the call. Jim said there was an assistant with a laptop responsible for making that call and he told Finch to challenge it. That dude blew it. They only had one camera angle on the play and it was clearly inconclusive.

To be fair, while they were checking the replay, Finch STILL could have drawn up a play or huddled the guys to make sure they knew what to do after the FT, whether he missed or made it, but it was chaotic down on the other end. If he did draw something up, it obviously didn't work. But by not challenging that call, they could have kept a timeout, advanced the ball, and gone with a set play to get an open shot. We didn't have that chance because of the bad decision to challenge that out-of-bounds play.

On the broader issue of the game overall, I watched every second of that game, and I do think the pessimism here, including mine, went a bit overboard. It reflects the broader fact that this team has just been so disappointing time and again. That was such a disappointing loss.

But part of the story was that we didn't just come right out and throttle them to start with, which gave them the oxygen to believe in themselves. And that's the other half of the game. They had a bunch of scrubs out there. But they were playing hard, and anything can happen when that's the case. I've seen a lot of games like that (not only ours), where a tanking team playing bunch of guys with little talent but a ton of desire and desperation to earn a spot in the league and prove they're not just a bunch of losers just gets a whiff of blood early in the game and just gets so hyped up over the chance to win they play balls-to-the-wall. Call it a trap game or whatever. We deserve all the blame in the world for not just crushing them early, because as soon as they saw they were in it, they played with the energy of the underdog who thought they could win, and that's always dangerous. Credit to those guys for going for it.

We do have some kind of chemistry problem. I don't know how to describe it, and I've blamed KAT for this for years and maybe that's been too harsh, but at this point, as our other best player, Ant really needs to step up and assert his authority on this sort of thing and unite this team behind one purpose--winning. PatBev and Vando helped set this team's culture last year, but nobody's really bringing that to the table this year. If Ant really wants to be a star, and if this team is going to go places, he's got to start having that same kind of effect on his teammates that PatBev and Vando did last year. Maybe that's unfair to put that on one guy's shoulders, but in the absence of a critical mass of guys like PatBev and Vando, it's gotta come from the top, and it's clearly not coming from KAT. Ant played fairly well last night despite his inefficiency, but it's not just about the numbers or even the efficiency. He's gotta set a tone of intensity that guys like KG and Jimmy brought to this team.