Wolves vs Nets GDT

[kekgeek]

Since Karl-Anthony Towns, D'Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards returned from COVID protocols 9 games ago the Wolves are...

6-3
No. 1 offense in the NBA (119.0)
No. 18 defense (112.0)
No. 4 in net rating (+7.0)

They beat Brooklyn tonight, the No. 2 offense during that stretch.

Per Dane Moore

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Minnesota also matched last season's win total (23) with tonight's victory. Injuries matter. Coaching matters. Player development matters. All of that.

Sitting at 23-23 currently, Minnesota would have to go 10-26 or worse the rest of the way to hit the under on the original 33.5 wins total from Vegas.

[Q-is-here]

Great win!

- Kyrie Irving is probably one of the two best one-on-one scorers in the game (the other being Durant) and probably top 10-15 all time. The fact he's doing this while basically taking half a season off and only playing road games just blows my mind. There is zero rust.

- Really like how Okogie is deployed these days. He's basically a situational wing defender that you throw there for a 5 or 6-minute stint. That's exactly how he should be used versus being in the regular 8-man rotation.

- Along with Okogie, I thought McDaniels and Vando did their part as well in flying around and playing great defense. Vando with 5 steals tonight. Also used his right hand to finish a great dime by DLO!

- Edwards made some really slick passes out there tonight - a couple nice pocket passes and that great dime to KAT after he got stuck in the air.

- Prince with an unexpected great game. If he could just eliminate the total duds now....

- Nowell just keeps on rolling. He has become by far our most reliable bench contributor.

- I like how Finch rewarded Prince with extended playing time. He's a real master at player rotations IMO.

Go Wolves!

[Jester1534]

Chris Finch says Anthony Edwards told him he's "straight"

I heard Ant is not only the best basketball player bowler but also the best doctor in world too lol

[Monster]

Watched the extended highlights and then the box score. I'll watch an entire Wolves game but tonight I watched another terrific NFL game.

Kyrie was absolutely hitting bonkers shots but the Wolves were always up when they showed the score. It looks like some of the guys that need to play good or slid like Prince and McDaniels played well. Naz had some blocked shots. We don't need some of those guys to be awesome just average versions of themselves and it will be an improvement. Price not missing a shot in this game was NICE.

I was kinda thinking watching the highlights that Nowell kinda reminds me of Will Barton. Barton is more of a wing and Nowel is more of a guard but Barton has actually played a PG role for Denver at teams the last few years and isn't actually a huge volume 3 guy. Nowell looks like a REALLY awesome 6th man type because on offense he can do a lot of things. Play as a solid PG type and handle the ball. Get some buckets at all 3 levels. He can also play with a PG also it looks like he played with Russell a decent chunk in this game. I'm trying not to get my hoes up too high on him but if he turns into a solid version of the player I've always envisioned he could be that would be a pretty big development.

In the highlights I saw it looked like this was a game where Towns kept his cool. Is that accurate?

[thedoper]

I really liked this game for Kat. It wasnt going his way and he could have gone all bitchey but he kept battling on both sides of the ball and absolutely dominated the 4th. Huge.

[Q-is-here]

Watched the extended highlights and then the box score. I'll watch an entire Wolves game but tonight I watched another terrific NFL game.

Kyrie was absolutely hitting bonkers shots but the Wolves were always up when they showed the score. It looks like some of the guys that need to play good or slid like Prince and McDaniels played well. Naz had some blocked shots. We don't need some of those guys to be awesome just average versions of themselves and it will be an improvement. Price not missing a shot in this game was NICE.

I was kinda thinking watching the highlights that Nowell kinda reminds me of Will Barton. Barton is more of a wing and Nowel is more of a guard but Barton has actually played a PG role for Denver at teams the last few years and isn't actually a huge volume 3 guy. Nowell looks like a REALLY awesome 6th man type because on offense he can do a lot of things. Play as a solid PG type and handle the ball. Get some buckets at all 3 levels. He can also play with a PG also it looks like he played with Russell a decent chunk in this game. I'm trying not to get my hoes up too high on him but if he turns into a solid version of the player I've always envisioned he could be that would be a pretty big development.

In the highlights I saw it looked like this was a game where Towns kept his cool. Is that accurate?

KAT totally kept his cool. He wasn't playing a super physical team team and he was getting his fair share of calls too.

Nowell is the real deal, and yes, it's a big development. This is about 15 or 16 games now of regular playing time and very consistent production. I like that he attacks a lot more now than his prior stints of NBA playing time. He is hitting his 3s, but he is far more likely to try to get into the paint and hit one of his little mid-range shots or get all the way to the rim.

[Q-is-here]

I really liked this game for Kat. It wasnt going his way and he could have gone all bitchey but he kept battling on both sides of the ball and absolutely dominated the 4th. Huge.

Yup, big step in the right direction for him, although he wasn't really playing one of his nemeses - JoVal, Jokic, Gobert, Looney, Capela, etc. And Aldridge was getting called for fouls left and right. It was odd seeing an opposing big like that get called for so many ticky-tack fouls. I'm not saying they weren't legit fouls, but just not used to seeing those calls made against a vet opponent. KAT is usually the one getting those types of calls against him!

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I really liked this game for Kat. It wasnt going his way and he could have gone all bitchey but he kept battling on both sides of the ball and absolutely dominated the 4th. Huge.

Yep, I liked that Towns kept competing and didn't lose focus. For a top scorer, I feel like it could be easy to get super frustrated and spiral out of control when the shots aren't going in. That wasn't him tonight. He instead made play after play defensively and went to work on the glass. He allowed the game to come to him and when it did he took over. As frustrated as I was with him the other night, I'm just as pleased with him for tonight's effort.

[Monster]

Watched the extended highlights and then the box score. I'll watch an entire Wolves game but tonight I watched another terrific NFL game.

Kyrie was absolutely hitting bonkers shots but the Wolves were always up when they showed the score. It looks like some of the guys that need to play good or slid like Prince and McDaniels played well. Naz had some blocked shots. We don't need some of those guys to be awesome just average versions of themselves and it will be an improvement. Price not missing a shot in this game was NICE.

I was kinda thinking watching the highlights that Nowell kinda reminds me of Will Barton. Barton is more of a wing and Nowel is more of a guard but Barton has actually played a PG role for Denver at teams the last few years and isn't actually a huge volume 3 guy. Nowell looks like a REALLY awesome 6th man type because on offense he can do a lot of things. Play as a solid PG type and handle the ball. Get some buckets at all 3 levels. He can also play with a PG also it looks like he played with Russell a decent chunk in this game. I'm trying not to get my hoes up too high on him but if he turns into a solid version of the player I've always envisioned he could be that would be a pretty big development.

In the highlights I saw it looked like this was a game where Towns kept his cool. Is that accurate?

KAT totally kept his cool. He wasn't playing a super physical team team and he was getting his fair share of calls too.

Nowell is the real deal, and yes, it's a big development. This is about 15 or 16 games now of regular playing time and very consistent production. I like that he attacks a lot more now than his prior stints of NBA playing time. He is hitting his 3s, but he is far more likely to try to get into the paint and hit one of his little mid-range shots or get all the way to the rim.

Thanks for the reply Q. I wonder if Finch has given him more rope to attack. Dane Moore has had a few podcasts in the past where he has talked about how the Wolves didn't allow players (except Russell) to play some of that in between game. I think to some extent people saying that was a problem overstate it a bit but I also think it's a really excellent point. I thought Dane and at least one guest on his podcast that discussed it laid it out really well. It was discussed significantly in the podcast this summer about Bolmaro because he is also a guy that gets into some of that in between game as well. There was a lot of talk about if the Wolves were bad for Culver because they didn't let him do anything but 3's and get to the rim. Maybe Culver figures out how to be a solid NBA player but it seems like there was something else not right with him...I mean that shot was a pretty big deal. I think personally there was something mentally that kept Culver from progressing which is obvious but I have a feeling that maybe the Wolves didn't help him but I don't think they like broke him either. Anyway back to my point...I really think Finch is much more flexible and plays to players strengths than Saunders was especially since Saunders seemed kinda dictated to do certain things by Rosas even if that's what Ryan may have thought was the right thing to do as well. Like I've said before Finch seems more of a modern coaching version of McHale than a rigid only do some sort of system type coach.