Jester1534 wrote:Can't underestimate how big of game this was for Sacramento as well this next 4. They easily go on 5 game skid here.
Home NO
Home Knicks
@ Suns
Home Bucks
That would be terrific because I have the Wolves only 2 games behind the Kings for 4th place and home court advantage. But I think the are better than the Pels and the (suddenly hot) Knicks, and should win both of those games. I hope not though!
That's now 3 very entertaining games against a very good Kings team, and we won 2 of them (and should of won the 3rd in OT after Sabonis fouled out). The Wolves are all of a sudden a team that a) plays great defense b) moves the ball c) shows they can win close games, and d) shows they can beat good teams on the road. Teams that excel in those 4 areas can contend for a championship. And we're doing it without KAT!
So we have shown we can win with defense, and tonight we showed we can win with offense. Sac-town isn't a good defensive team, and we took advantage of that with a brilliant offensive game. 31 assists, 60% shooting and 51.3% 3-point shooting. I don't think anyone thought we would go 3-1 on this road trip, but even 4-0 was in play. Too many good performances tonight to award a game ball, so I'll just point out 2 bad things:
1) Chris Finch could have lost this game by playing several minutes in the second half without a PG...I'm not sure what he was thinking, but those moments were a disaster.
2) We need to be better from the free throw line.
Other than those two things, this was an almost perfect game. Now, let's go take Philly!
Great win last night. I'll have to watch the replay today. But it's deflating to look at the Wolves remaining schedule. Based on that schedule, I still have a hard time seeing the Wolves finish over .500. Yet, for now there's hope. I suppose I should be hoping to simply finish in the top 7 and end up with a play-in tournament opportunity. But I'm greedy enough to hope for a 6th place finish. To that end, we have to hope that Dallas and Golden State lose a lot of their games the rest of the season. I'm pulling for Durant to have a great game today and lead the Suns to a win over Dallas.
lipoli390 wrote:Great win last night. I'll have to watch the replay today. But it's deflating to look at the Wolves remaining schedule. Based on that schedule, I still have a hard time seeing the Wolves finish over .500. Yet, for now there's hope. I suppose I should be hoping to simply finish in the top 7 and end up with a play-in tournament opportunity. But I'm greedy enough to hope for a 6th place finish. To that end, we have to hope that Dallas and Golden State lose a lot of their games the rest of the season. I'm pulling for Durant to have a great game today and lead the Suns to a win over Dallas.
This is what people were saying about the last few games and the Wolves went 3-1. I know people don't want to get excited and that fair but let's see how things play out. Personally I think in the league there are basically 4-5 really good teams and 4-5 pretty bad ones then a lot of teams in the middle. Sure there are a couple more teams that are ahead of the pack but I don't think it's particularly significant. Maybe the Meh Wolves will show up too often over this stretch or maybe this team is starting to get on a roll. Watch this game and get back to us!!! :)
I want to give a shout out to Rudy. Obviously the wolves overpaid but he has made a huge impact on defense, wolves are equivalent to the number 1 defense in the NBA when he is on the floor but the offense has just not worked this year when he is on the floor. Now I don't know if it is because of the Dlo trade or he had a week to rest that sore groin and playing over the summer but he has been super effective offensively these last 3 games.
Clippers game, clippers tried to go small, the same team that played him off the floor in the playoffs but Rudy punished the small ball lineup offensively and made Lue go back to a traditional center
Lakers game besides his stat sheet that was eye popping with the game on the line Ant trusted Rudy in the short roll and Rudy found Conley for the dagger 3.
Then last night besides the great 3s, Conley found Rudy in the PnR on a bounce pass the Rudy finished in traffic, Rudy then finished a 1 handed alley oop from a pass from mcdaniels, had a put back dunk down the stretch and then he missed a dunk on a post up but he abused Sabonis in the post on that possession.
I don't know if it is because of Conley, the rest of his body or what but his confidence is off the charts right now. Slow Mo even kissed him during the game. Rudy also got on Ant on 2 3s given up because Ant was not locked in defensively but this might be confirmation bias but it was not like earlier in the season where they were pissed at each other but that Ant took it and locked in.
kekgeek1 wrote:I want to give a shout out to Rudy. Obviously the wolves overpaid but he has made a huge impact on defense, wolves are equivalent to the number 1 defense in the NBA when he is on the floor but the offense has just not worked this year when he is on the floor. Now I don't know if it is because of the Dlo trade or he had a week to rest that sore groin and playing over the summer but he has been super effective offensively these last 3 games.
Clippers game, clippers tried to go small, the same team that played him off the floor in the playoffs but Rudy punished the small ball lineup offensively and made Lue go back to a traditional center
Lakers game besides his stat sheet that was eye popping with the game on the line Ant trusted Rudy in the short roll and Rudy found Conley for the dagger 3.
Then last night besides the great 3s, Conley found Rudy in the PnR on a bounce pass the Rudy finished in traffic, Rudy then finished a 1 handed alley oop from a pass from mcdaniels, had a put back dunk down the stretch and then he missed a dunk on a post up but he abused Sabonis in the post on that possession.
I don't know if it is because of Conley, the rest of his body or what but his confidence is off the charts right now. Slow Mo even kissed him during the game. Rudy also got on Ant on 2 3s given up because Ant was not locked in defensively but this might be confirmation bias but it was not like earlier in the season where they were pissed at each other but that Ant took it and locked in.
Yeah Gobert from the last couple games is what the Wolves traded for.
You alluded to it but Gobert has looked more comfortable/useful with the ball in his hands even as a passer. I'm not suggesting he is suddenly some sort of super asset there or now an awesome offensive player but overall if Gobert keeps playing like he has the last few games...yeah that's really good player. Like other considerations for this team this season I'm looking forward to see how Gobert plays out.
Rudy Gobert has had stretches of quality offensive production throughout the season with both point guards. It's the sustainability that has been in question. Additionally, game flow or script has also dictated when Gobert gets those opportunities. If you're playing from behind, which Minnesota has quite a bit this year, then you're probably not going to be looking to get Gobert touches, and rightfully so.
I also haven't seen much mention of it, but Anthony Edwards' production/efficiency has dropped considerably since the trade.
54 GP with D'Angelo Russell: 24.8 PPG, 4.5 APG, 3.4 TOV, on 57.4 TS%
8 GP with Mike Conley Jr.: 23.5 PPG, 4.4 APG, 4.3 TOV, on 51.8 TS%
It's safe to say that Edwards is extremely talented and will eventually figure out how to play next to anyone, but it is taking him some time to adjust, which is to be expected. Specifically, he's talked about having to handle more double-teams and make the right reads with teams collapsing on him a lot more. It hasn't been pretty so far, but the more he sees this coverage, the more comfortable he'll be... hopefully.
The idea is that if/when Karl-Anthony Towns returns he will relieve a lot of that defensive pressure, but right now it looks like Edwards is playing a much more difficult [and less effective] game. We need Edwards to get it back into high gear down the final stretch if this team is going to make the playoffs let alone try to win a series.
