Wolves vs Lakers GDT

[FNG]

By the way, AD is really good...we won last night, but I still see the Lakers finishing ahead of us if LBJ and he are healthy. But that's a big IF.

[Monster]

McDaniels absolutely shut down Schroeder. He also was on the glass too.

Gobert ended up with a heck of a game.

Prince is so valuable. Even if he misses 20-25 games he is still worth his contract if not more. Does everything.

NAW with another good game off the bench. At this points bench minutes IMO are his to lose.

Nice game overall from Conley. I was disappointed at one point that he didn't make a couple shots but then hit those last 2 to close out the game. He was on Schoder when he scored his 3 baskets. I think he is better off now as a team defender...not unlike Russell. Speaking of Russell this was his 4th missed game. I said when the trade happened I didn't see much difference between these 2 guy in terms of injury risk.

Naz is flawed but he does positive things.

McLaughlin looks like he has knocked the rust off which is great to see.

The defense was fun to watch for the Wolves.

Nice win even if it was against a Lakers team with guys out. Don't care get the win and make the playoffs.

[Lipoli390]

Lip, you gotta go into news blackout mode and not peek at the score before watching the replay the next morning...I'm guessing you were one of those kids who peeked at your presents before Christmas too!

A huge LA sweep now has the Wolves in 7th place. I don't know that any of us would have predicted a 2-2 road trip that could have easily been 0-4, and there's even a chance for a 3-1 with a win against Sac-Town tomorrow...both teams coming off back to backs. A little 2021-2 luck with James and DLo missing, but let's not overlook the fact that we were playing without KAT again. This was a good win.

With Russell out again, the Lakers were forced to play a SG as backup PG. Dane Moore said the key to the game was dominating the minutes Austin Reaves was at PG, and JMac made sure that happened...a +10 for him and a -11 for Reaves. Ballgame...nice call, Dane! JMac again struggled with his shot, but you can tell in the last two games he has shaken off the rust he showed when he returned from injury. Terrific ball movement when he was out there and consistently disruptive defense. 6 assists and no turnovers. Reaves has shot over 50% this season, and JMac harassed him into a 2-9 night. He gets one of my game balls.

The other one goes to the other Mac. Finchie had him guarding the PG again with the same result...3-13 shooting for Schroeder. He is truly elite on defense at 22!

You win with defense in the playoffs, and this team is starting to make me believe in them defensively...the NBA has been high-scoring recently, but the Wolves have held opponents to less than 110 points in three consecutive games. They will get a true test tonight as they face the highest scoring team in the league on the back end of a back to back...let's see if they can step up.

Ant continues to be a big part of our defensive resurgence. He's only scored over 20 points once since the all-star game (I still wish he could have had the week off) and he continues to turn the ball over too much (5 last night), but he shot efficiently and again made a big impact on defense.

I don't know if Kek pointed it out in the GDT, but it remains too easy to score on us in the paint when Rudy sits. Fortunately Naz's quantum leap on offense has made up for his defensive deficiencies, but let's hope he can keep it up. He is becoming a very good offensive center...he makes the big threes, and it's fun to watch him size up his opponent when he gets the ball around the free throw line. He is supremely confident on offense these days.

Great win!!!!!

I only peak at the Wolves scores. If it's a loss I won't watch the replay. So the Wolves are undefeated in my home replay viewing. :)

I wasn't worried about JMac. When you're out as long as he was with a leg injury in starting early in the season, it's going to take quite a while to get back into NBA mid or late season form. JMac remains an important part of this team going forward in my view.

The win championships with defense has become a cliche. Most cliches have a lot of truth behind them and so does this one, but it's over-used when applied to today's NBA. You win in the playoff by outscoring your opponent. How's that for a truism. :). In today's NBA, even the playoffs, good offense typically beats good defense. But of course you need both. I like what we're seeing lately from the Wolves defensively. Ant is now playing at a consistently high level defensively and combined with the defensively stellar McDaniels, that's a really formidable defensive perimeter. They can both guard effectively anywhere on the court - from the baseline to baseline. McDaniels can guard all five positions and Ant can guard all but the center position. If they continue to defend as they have been lately (McDaniels all season), it will continue to bring out the best in Rudy defensively. He can police the paint while Ant and McDaniels (also JMac) harass, slow and redirect opposing guards, wings and PFs.

I agree that Naz has taken another leap offensively. Note that he has also stepped up his rebounding. That's a big plus. I'll add that he's also defending better. No, he's not going to protect the rim as well as Rudy even though he's a good shot blocker. But he's a mobile defender who's doing a better job lately of defending away from the rim. He has really quick feet and he's athletic. He's also physically strong. So I see more defensively improvement from him on the horizon.

[Carlos Danger]

4-4 since DLO's last game. I'm ok with that. Now we just need to cross our fingers that they start building a little stream to close out this season. It's a tough schedule. They could certainly use some KAT.