BloopOracle wrote: ↑Wed Mar 13, 2024 8:00 am
Didn't see the game, how was Gobert's whistle?
I didn’t see any bad whistles for him. His offensive hands were terrible early on which was one of the contributing factors to the early deficit. But he was pretty good later in the game with some nice put backs, and even one very rare dribble drive layup that was actually successful!
I thought the refs were OK in this game. There were a couple of brush fouls early on that were ridiculous. I call them brush fouls because it's one of those cases where the offensive player is going downhill and brushes into the body of a squared up Wolves defender in the paint. BLEEET - Automatic whistle if it's Naz or Jaden. For whatever reason, these two guys are not allowed by refs to wall up and absorb contact even if they remain perfectly vertical. So frustrating! But overall, I didn't think the refs were too bad.
As for Rudy, he had a lot of unheralded plays in the second half where he'd rim-run and seal off his guy in the paint and open up a driving lane for a Wolves player. Led to a lot of layups.
My Nuggets fan brother is visiting, and we sat down late last night to watch the recorded version of the game. Our thoughts were exactly like the first four pages of this GDT (take 5 minutes and go back and read it...very entertaining!) And then I remember when I said "Holy crap, how can we only be down 10?". And then it quickly became 4 and despite it being 8 at the half, we had to watch the second half. And what a half! So many A's or A's as Kek's imposter posted, and the perimeter defense was about as stifling as I've seen from any team. But my bro and I gave the game ball to JMac. The entire pace of the game was different at both ends when he was on the court, and it's no surprise he had a team-high +24...what a game! I love Monte Morris, but the down side of his impending return is that we will see less JMac. The upside is we have a n abundance of riches at PG.
Can it be possible that we had 7 turnovers in the first 8 minutes, and only 2 the rest of the game? Can it be true that protecting the ball is a good thing if you like wins? Love the 26 to 9 A:TO ratio, especially contrasted with the Clippers 22:18!
Shaq off camera predicted a Wolves win when we were down 22 (they said this at halftime). He had to be noticing the total imbalance on the boards when we were getting our asses kicked. We ended up with a 48 to 34 advantage on the boards. Defense and rebounding!
I almost decided to call it a night at halftime (east coast) but the Wolves just looked like a team that was pissed at their own performance. The whining seemed to be less and the Wolves just put there best effort into defense. Ant mixed hero ball with draw and kick and the motion offense. I hope Finch and the coaching staff has him watch the replay of this game as the example of how to exert his will and keep the team involved.
Also, NAW was a great offensive player in college and has become a defensive revelation. Could he become the point-forward a la Pippen that we hoped McDaniels was going to be?
DNatagal wrote: ↑Wed Mar 13, 2024 11:44 am
I almost decided to call it a night at halftime (east coast) but the Wolves just looked like a team that was pissed at their own performance. The whining seemed to be less and the Wolves just put there best effort into defense. Ant mixed hero ball with draw and kick and the motion offense. I hope Finch and the coaching staff has him watch the replay of this game as the example of how to exert his will and keep the team involved.
Also, NAW was a great offensive player in college and has become a defensive revelation. Could he become the point-forward a la Pippen that we hoped McDaniels was going to be?
The Pippen bar is just too high for any of our role players to measure up to. But yeah, NAW is really coming into his own as a 2-way guard. What he gives us that we don't get from McDaniels is the ability to get downhill quickly. For all of Jaden's lateral quickness, he does not have a quick first step and has a tough time getting past his primary defender, instead usually having to shoot over the top. NAW has burst and he's making some impressive finishes in the paint.
What a win! Went from missing everything in the 1st quarter to making everything in the 4th quarter. Normally its the opposite.
What a game from NAW. He is a streaky shooter, but you always know he's gonna defend his heart out. Last night he couldn't miss. Nice to see Minnesota Mike snap out his funk. His 23 points off 9/15 shooting was crucial tonight. Ant was good Ant. Jaden defended well, but is still struggling to score. Need his 3 point shot to come back around more than anything right now. Shout out to JMac, he really is the perfect 3rd PG for us. And he is starting to make the opposition pay for leaving him wide open.
DNatagal wrote: ↑Wed Mar 13, 2024 11:44 am
I almost decided to call it a night at halftime (east coast) but the Wolves just looked like a team that was pissed at their own performance. The whining seemed to be less and the Wolves just put there best effort into defense. Ant mixed hero ball with draw and kick and the motion offense. I hope Finch and the coaching staff has him watch the replay of this game as the example of how to exert his will and keep the team involved.
Also, NAW was a great offensive player in college and has become a defensive revelation. Could he become the point-forward a la Pippen that we hoped McDaniels was going to be?
The Pippen bar is just too high for any of our role players to measure up to. But yeah, NAW is really coming into his own as a 2-way guard. What he gives us that we don't get from McDaniels is the ability to get downhill quickly. For all of Jaden's lateral quickness, he does not have a quick first step and has a tough time getting past his primary defender, instead usually having to shoot over the top. NAW has burst and he's making some impressive finishes in the paint.
I am not saying NAW is the next Pippen. Kind of like Kleenex and Qtips, it is a way to describe something easily. He opens the door to different lineup combinations.
1.NAW and Ant in the backcourt with Jaden at small forward
2. Conley/other point guard with NAW and Ant at shooting guard/small forward
3. NAW running the point as lead scorer with the bench mob. Let NAW get his and take some of drives to the hoop.
That trade for Conley and NAW might be the most important trade up to this coming season since Cassell.
