Wolves Injury Report for Upcoming Nuggets Game

[FNG]

I wasn't going to watch this one...didn't think we had much of a chance against a loaded Nuggets team while we were missing KAT, Rudy JMac and Rivers. But a friend called me this morning and said "watch the replay", so I did...and I'm glad I did. SloMo said after the game that he doesn't believe in moral victories, but that he felt the team was really starting to gel recently. I think he was saying he was happy with the way we played and felt okay despite the loss...and I guess that's the definition of a moral victory.

It's rare that I can say that I thought everyone had at least a decent game (I don't count Moore and Knight because I don't see them as true NBA players...they only played because of missing players and fouls). Ant ripped himself postgame and I agree he was not up to his usual standards, but it's a sign of his stardom that he isn't pleased with a 16/9/3 game...especially when he played one of his more impressive defensive games in my opinion. SloMo proved the fallacy of +/- numbers in a small sample size by putting up a brilliant 13/11/8 with 4 steals but getting saddled with a team-worst -12. (If I had to explain the anomaly, I would attribute it to Finchie always making sure SloMo was out there whenever Jokic was...that's not going to help your +/-)!

I think we saw last night what Jaden is becoming...I thought he was brilliant. Much more aggressive on offense with some nifty moves in the paint, hitting his open 3-point shots, and spectacular defense with 3 nice blocks.

I'm really focusing on Jaylen recently because I'm seeing some green shoots. He works hard on defense...even though he obviously has moments of ineffectiveness, I'm seeing hustle and improvement. His 2-point creation and shooting continues to be excellent (lots of similarity there to DLo), and it was nice to see him drain a three last night (although he missed two others of course). And he had two very nice interior passes for assists. We need more games from Jaylen like the last three.

Taurean Prince and SloMo are both simply a joy to watch. I am totally comfortable whenever the ball is in SloMo's hands, and Prince (nope, not gonna call him TP) is having a career season...even if the deep analytics are not always kind to him. What a bench we will have if we can just stay healthy!

So yeah, I am a moral victory kind of guy, and hanging with a team with a bona fide superstar like Jokic on their court tells me a lot about this team. We're not going anywhere if we don't get healthy, but I don't think any Western Conference team will look forward to playing us if we're 100%.

[thedoper]

Its great that teams are respecting Ant's offense enough to come double him immediately after he crosses half court. It's still definitely a work in progress to see him try and dismantle it. Between Naz's turnover, Dlo brick against the back of the backboard after a ugly rotation, and Ant being scared as hell to attack the double team, we lost this one in a few plays lacking anyone with late game execution. We have no ball handlers with poise this year, it was all too predictable to see this one slip away. Im hoping Ant can get there but the only thing he can see clearly is his one on one options. More double teams are going to start to come and he needs to be ready.

[FNG]

Its great that teams are respecting Ant's offense enough to come double him immediately after he crosses half court. It's still definitely a work in progress to see him try and dismantle it. Between Naz's turnover, Dlo brick against the back of the backboard after a ugly rotation, and Ant being scared as hell to attack the double team, we lost this one in a few plays lacking anyone with late game execution. We have no ball handlers with poise this year, it was all too predictable to see this one slip away. Im hoping Ant can get there but the only thing he can see clearly is his one on one options. More double teams are going to start to come and he needs to be ready.

Good point about teams already doubling a 21-year-old player...I'm convinced Ant is going to make teams pay as he gets more comfortable with finding the open man. And while I agree that our execution down the stretch was poor, I think we actually do have one ball handler with poise. SloMo does everything with poise in my opinion.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I wasn't going to watch this one...didn't think we had much of a chance against a loaded Nuggets team while we were missing KAT, Rudy JMac and Rivers. But a friend called me this morning and said "watch the replay", so I did...and I'm glad I did. SloMo said after the game that he doesn't believe in moral victories, but that he felt the team was really starting to gel recently. I think he was saying he was happy with the way we played and felt okay despite the loss...and I guess that's the definition of a moral victory.

It's rare that I can say that I thought everyone had at least a decent game (I don't count Moore and Knight because I don't see them as true NBA players...they only played because of missing players and fouls). Ant ripped himself postgame and I agree he was not up to his usual standards, but it's a sign of his stardom that he isn't pleased with a 16/9/3 game...especially when he played one of his more impressive defensive games in my opinion. SloMo proved the fallacy of +/- numbers in a small sample size by putting up a brilliant 13/11/8 with 4 steals but getting saddled with a team-worst -12. (If I had to explain the anomaly, I would attribute it to Finchie always making sure SloMo was out there whenever Jokic was...that's not going to help your +/-)!

I think we saw last night what Jaden is becoming...I thought he was brilliant. Much more aggressive on offense with some nifty moves in the paint, hitting his open 3-point shots, and spectacular defense with 3 nice blocks.

I'm really focusing on Jaylen recently because I'm seeing some green shoots. He works hard on defense...even though he obviously has moments of ineffectiveness, I'm seeing hustle and improvement. His 2-point creation and shooting continues to be excellent (lots of similarity there to DLo), and it was nice to see him drain a three last night (although he missed two others of course). And he had two very nice interior passes for assists. We need more games from Jaylen like the last three.

Taurean Prince and SloMo are both simply a joy to watch. I am totally comfortable whenever the ball is in SloMo's hands, and Prince (nope, not gonna call him TP) is having a career season...even if the deep analytics are not always kind to him. What a bench we will have if we can just stay healthy!

So yeah, I am a moral victory kind of guy, and hanging with a team with a bona fide superstar like Jokic on their court tells me a lot about this team. We're not going anywhere if we don't get healthy, but I don't think any Western Conference team will look forward to playing us if we're 100%.

It means nothing if the team gets run by Toronto tonight... back-to-back or not.

All-too-often bad teams (e.g., Timberwolves teams for decades) offer a glimmer of hope even in a close moral victory defeat... or to piss that goodwill away with poor effort the next game.

And sadly, that's sort of been the Timberwolves deal this season, too. Hopefully, the uptick in performance/consistency sticks tonight.

[rapsuperstar31]

Its great that teams are respecting Ant's offense enough to come double him immediately after he crosses half court. It's still definitely a work in progress to see him try and dismantle it. Between Naz's turnover, Dlo brick against the back of the backboard after a ugly rotation, and Ant being scared as hell to attack the double team, we lost this one in a few plays lacking anyone with late game execution. We have no ball handlers with poise this year, it was all too predictable to see this one slip away. Im hoping Ant can get there but the only thing he can see clearly is his one on one options. More double teams are going to start to come and he needs to be ready.

Teams will have to stop double teaming Ant whenever Kat comes back. Teams are used to double teaming Kat when he is out there, they cant double both.

[FNG]

I wasn't going to watch this one...didn't think we had much of a chance against a loaded Nuggets team while we were missing KAT, Rudy JMac and Rivers. But a friend called me this morning and said "watch the replay", so I did...and I'm glad I did. SloMo said after the game that he doesn't believe in moral victories, but that he felt the team was really starting to gel recently. I think he was saying he was happy with the way we played and felt okay despite the loss...and I guess that's the definition of a moral victory.

It's rare that I can say that I thought everyone had at least a decent game (I don't count Moore and Knight because I don't see them as true NBA players...they only played because of missing players and fouls). Ant ripped himself postgame and I agree he was not up to his usual standards, but it's a sign of his stardom that he isn't pleased with a 16/9/3 game...especially when he played one of his more impressive defensive games in my opinion. SloMo proved the fallacy of +/- numbers in a small sample size by putting up a brilliant 13/11/8 with 4 steals but getting saddled with a team-worst -12. (If I had to explain the anomaly, I would attribute it to Finchie always making sure SloMo was out there whenever Jokic was...that's not going to help your +/-)!

I think we saw last night what Jaden is becoming...I thought he was brilliant. Much more aggressive on offense with some nifty moves in the paint, hitting his open 3-point shots, and spectacular defense with 3 nice blocks.

I'm really focusing on Jaylen recently because I'm seeing some green shoots. He works hard on defense...even though he obviously has moments of ineffectiveness, I'm seeing hustle and improvement. His 2-point creation and shooting continues to be excellent (lots of similarity there to DLo), and it was nice to see him drain a three last night (although he missed two others of course). And he had two very nice interior passes for assists. We need more games from Jaylen like the last three.

Taurean Prince and SloMo are both simply a joy to watch. I am totally comfortable whenever the ball is in SloMo's hands, and Prince (nope, not gonna call him TP) is having a career season...even if the deep analytics are not always kind to him. What a bench we will have if we can just stay healthy!

So yeah, I am a moral victory kind of guy, and hanging with a team with a bona fide superstar like Jokic on their court tells me a lot about this team. We're not going anywhere if we don't get healthy, but I don't think any Western Conference team will look forward to playing us if we're 100%.

It means nothing if the team gets run by Toronto tonight... back-to-back or not.

All-too-often bad teams (e.g., Timberwolves teams for decades) offer a glimmer of hope even in a close moral victory defeat... or to piss that goodwill away with poor effort the next game.

And sadly, that's sort of been the Timberwolves deal this season, too. Hopefully, the uptick in performance/consistency sticks tonight.

I just don't see it that way...last night was impressive in my opinion regardless of what happens tonight. I don't disagree that historically the Wolves have offered glimmers of hope only to piss it away, but this situation feels different to me. This team is going nowhere if we can't stay healthy (my god, we're like last year's Clippers...tons of talent but can't keep our best guys on the court), and if Rudy is out tonight, I give us little chance. Toronto is playing better lately (won 4 out of 5 before losing in Milwaukee Tuesday, and VanVleet is out of his season-long funk), and they're healthy and rested...they were playing video games in their plush Loews hotel room last night, while the Wolves were playing a tight game and taking a red eye home. A back to back with a depleted roster against a team playing well? No thanks...

[AbeVigodaLive]

I wasn't going to watch this one...didn't think we had much of a chance against a loaded Nuggets team while we were missing KAT, Rudy JMac and Rivers. But a friend called me this morning and said "watch the replay", so I did...and I'm glad I did. SloMo said after the game that he doesn't believe in moral victories, but that he felt the team was really starting to gel recently. I think he was saying he was happy with the way we played and felt okay despite the loss...and I guess that's the definition of a moral victory.

It's rare that I can say that I thought everyone had at least a decent game (I don't count Moore and Knight because I don't see them as true NBA players...they only played because of missing players and fouls). Ant ripped himself postgame and I agree he was not up to his usual standards, but it's a sign of his stardom that he isn't pleased with a 16/9/3 game...especially when he played one of his more impressive defensive games in my opinion. SloMo proved the fallacy of +/- numbers in a small sample size by putting up a brilliant 13/11/8 with 4 steals but getting saddled with a team-worst -12. (If I had to explain the anomaly, I would attribute it to Finchie always making sure SloMo was out there whenever Jokic was...that's not going to help your +/-)!

I think we saw last night what Jaden is becoming...I thought he was brilliant. Much more aggressive on offense with some nifty moves in the paint, hitting his open 3-point shots, and spectacular defense with 3 nice blocks.

I'm really focusing on Jaylen recently because I'm seeing some green shoots. He works hard on defense...even though he obviously has moments of ineffectiveness, I'm seeing hustle and improvement. His 2-point creation and shooting continues to be excellent (lots of similarity there to DLo), and it was nice to see him drain a three last night (although he missed two others of course). And he had two very nice interior passes for assists. We need more games from Jaylen like the last three.

Taurean Prince and SloMo are both simply a joy to watch. I am totally comfortable whenever the ball is in SloMo's hands, and Prince (nope, not gonna call him TP) is having a career season...even if the deep analytics are not always kind to him. What a bench we will have if we can just stay healthy!

So yeah, I am a moral victory kind of guy, and hanging with a team with a bona fide superstar like Jokic on their court tells me a lot about this team. We're not going anywhere if we don't get healthy, but I don't think any Western Conference team will look forward to playing us if we're 100%.

It means nothing if the team gets run by Toronto tonight... back-to-back or not.

All-too-often bad teams (e.g., Timberwolves teams for decades) offer a glimmer of hope even in a close moral victory defeat... or to piss that goodwill away with poor effort the next game.

And sadly, that's sort of been the Timberwolves deal this season, too. Hopefully, the uptick in performance/consistency sticks tonight.

I just don't see it that way...last night was impressive in my opinion regardless of what happens tonight. I don't disagree that historically the Wolves have offered glimmers of hope only to piss it away, but this situation feels different to me. This team is going nowhere if we can't stay healthy (my god, we're like last year's Clippers...tons of talent but can't keep our best guys on the court), and if Rudy is out tonight, I give us little chance. Toronto is playing better lately (won 4 out of 5 before losing in Milwaukee Tuesday, and VanVleet is out of his season-long funk), and they're healthy and rested...they were playing video games in their plush Loews hotel room last night, while the Wolves were playing a tight game and taking a red eye home. A back to back with a depleted roster against a team playing well? No thanks...

There's a big difference between losing and getting run.

And EVENTUALLY, we'll have to up our expectations of what we expect from this franchise. Moral victories, schedule losses, et al... every once in awhile, teams can fight through and actually win. In all seriousness, the MN fans have never demanded much, or even enough.

We accepted 60-loss seasons. Then, we accepted annual 1st round exits. Then, we accepted the immediate breakup of the best team in franchise history. Then, we accepted more 60-loss seasons. Then, we accepted mediocrity. And then more 60-loss seasons.

And now... after finally winning 46 games, we're right back to where we were 30 years ago -- celebrating moral victories and offering excuses.




[Note: I'm not suggesting the team should get ripped for last night's loss. But I'm very much over moral victories after following this beleaguered franchise since 1989. EVERY team in the NBA would be a great place if its fans accepted random moral victories in a season where players and coaches and fans have called out the team for poor effort multiple times. Nice job team. The players dogged it enough that when they do finally go all out... we give them a pass. Meh.]

[FNG]

I wasn't going to watch this one...didn't think we had much of a chance against a loaded Nuggets team while we were missing KAT, Rudy JMac and Rivers. But a friend called me this morning and said "watch the replay", so I did...and I'm glad I did. SloMo said after the game that he doesn't believe in moral victories, but that he felt the team was really starting to gel recently. I think he was saying he was happy with the way we played and felt okay despite the loss...and I guess that's the definition of a moral victory.

It's rare that I can say that I thought everyone had at least a decent game (I don't count Moore and Knight because I don't see them as true NBA players...they only played because of missing players and fouls). Ant ripped himself postgame and I agree he was not up to his usual standards, but it's a sign of his stardom that he isn't pleased with a 16/9/3 game...especially when he played one of his more impressive defensive games in my opinion. SloMo proved the fallacy of +/- numbers in a small sample size by putting up a brilliant 13/11/8 with 4 steals but getting saddled with a team-worst -12. (If I had to explain the anomaly, I would attribute it to Finchie always making sure SloMo was out there whenever Jokic was...that's not going to help your +/-)!

I think we saw last night what Jaden is becoming...I thought he was brilliant. Much more aggressive on offense with some nifty moves in the paint, hitting his open 3-point shots, and spectacular defense with 3 nice blocks.

I'm really focusing on Jaylen recently because I'm seeing some green shoots. He works hard on defense...even though he obviously has moments of ineffectiveness, I'm seeing hustle and improvement. His 2-point creation and shooting continues to be excellent (lots of similarity there to DLo), and it was nice to see him drain a three last night (although he missed two others of course). And he had two very nice interior passes for assists. We need more games from Jaylen like the last three.

Taurean Prince and SloMo are both simply a joy to watch. I am totally comfortable whenever the ball is in SloMo's hands, and Prince (nope, not gonna call him TP) is having a career season...even if the deep analytics are not always kind to him. What a bench we will have if we can just stay healthy!

So yeah, I am a moral victory kind of guy, and hanging with a team with a bona fide superstar like Jokic on their court tells me a lot about this team. We're not going anywhere if we don't get healthy, but I don't think any Western Conference team will look forward to playing us if we're 100%.

It means nothing if the team gets run by Toronto tonight... back-to-back or not.

All-too-often bad teams (e.g., Timberwolves teams for decades) offer a glimmer of hope even in a close moral victory defeat... or to piss that goodwill away with poor effort the next game.

And sadly, that's sort of been the Timberwolves deal this season, too. Hopefully, the uptick in performance/consistency sticks tonight.

I just don't see it that way...last night was impressive in my opinion regardless of what happens tonight. I don't disagree that historically the Wolves have offered glimmers of hope only to piss it away, but this situation feels different to me. This team is going nowhere if we can't stay healthy (my god, we're like last year's Clippers...tons of talent but can't keep our best guys on the court), and if Rudy is out tonight, I give us little chance. Toronto is playing better lately (won 4 out of 5 before losing in Milwaukee Tuesday, and VanVleet is out of his season-long funk), and they're healthy and rested...they were playing video games in their plush Loews hotel room last night, while the Wolves were playing a tight game and taking a red eye home. A back to back with a depleted roster against a team playing well? No thanks...

There's a big difference between losing and getting run.

And EVENTUALLY, we'll have to up our expectations of what we expect from this franchise. Moral victories, schedule losses, et al... every once in awhile, teams can fight through and actually win. In all seriousness, the MN fans have never demanded much, or even enough.

We accepted 60-loss seasons. Then, we accepted annual 1st round exits. Then, we accepted the immediate breakup of the best team in franchise history. Then, we accepted more 60-loss seasons. Then, we accepted mediocrity. And then more 60-loss seasons.

And now... after finally winning 46 games, we're right back to where we were 30 years ago -- celebrating moral victories and offering excuses.




[Note: I'm not suggesting the team should get ripped for last night's loss. But I'm very much over moral victories after following this beleaguered franchise since 1989. EVERY team in the NBA would be a great place if its fans accepted random moral victories in a season where players and coaches and fans have called out the team for poor effort multiple times. Nice job team. The players dogged it enough that when they do finally go all out... we give them a pass. Meh.]

Patience, Grasshopper. Good things come to those who wait...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................33 years.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

It's April 16, and I'm going back and rewatching the Wolves-Nuggets games this year on League Pass. A couple of those were blowouts, so I wanted to watch the most competitive one first.

Just finished the first quarter of this one. Min 27, Den 30. You can go back and read the whole thread, but there was no KAT and no Rudy against their full starters, which put Naz on Jokic to start.

Jokic was really working Naz for points in the paint early on. I think he had 12 points right off the bat, basically all in the paint. Rudy will definitely be a step up in that regard defending Jokic in the post. But it was a reminder that Jokic can really do it all so we shouldn't assume he's going to come out like John Stockton. Luka came in and was ok, but man, Jokic is big as hell. I'm more skeptical SloMo could handle him in a pinch than I was before, but I'll be looking to see if he does that later in this game.

Jokic made some great passes, including on one key fast break. That's a reminder about the importance of not turning the ball over and creating those fast break opportunities for Denver, because Jokic is so good at that. We will also want to make sure we get back on D to take away those transition opportunities.

They scored 24 of their 30 points in that quarter from the paint, their 2nd most paint points in any quarter up to that point this season. Lots of Jokic in the paint. Jokic with nice interior passing (he and MPJ had a nice give and go we should be watching out for). Now that we have Rudy and KAT, that should definitely help with that interior defense. And without Jaden, we can expect they'll probably be bombing more during this upcoming series.

Jaden was great on Murray. Murray was basically a non-factor to start the game. Ant also covered him for a bit too. Finch put DLO on KCP and he even guarded MPJ a couple plays. Without Jaden, I think it's going to have to be Conley and Ant guarding him to start the games unless Finch starts NAW.

SloMo had Gordon contained and finished against him and Jokic a couple times. He looked really good.

Wendell Moore Jr. came in and looked energetic, but there's no way we'll see him in the playoffs.

You could see the team energy here despite the sloppy play (we had 8 turnovers in that quarter!). Too many turnovers, but made some great hustle defensive plays to counterbalance it somewhat.

Ok, on to quarter 2.

Starts with a turnover on a Jaden drive when he lost the ball.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

In the 2nd quarter . . .

We took the lead with Jokic on the bench. Their offense basically fell apart.

I'm glad they don't have Bones Hyland anymore. He wasn't great, but he was clearly a threat.

Nnaji is a good long defender. I could see them putting him out there on KAT.

Jaden played so well. Man, we are really going to miss him. At one point, Doris was praising him and then said something like "I love this kid. The sky's the limit for him. The one thing is that he can't let his frustrations get the better of him. He had a moment in the Utah game the other day when his teammates were able to cool him down. And if he can control that, look out." Wow. I forgot what happened in the Utah game, but that comment looks a little prescient now.

Ah, this was the game when Prince and Gordon had words!

Technical problems so I'll have to cut this short and come back to it later.

Jokic called for a ticky-tack foul. They won't call that kind of stuff in the playoffs, but it's a reminder that getting him into foul trouble is one possible way to neutralize him, even if it will be tougher in the playoffs.