Nuggets at Wolves GDT

[WildWolf2813]

Only thing I hate about Jaden's 26 point efforts is that they came in losses, but that's what he needs to do, at least until KAT returns. Hopefully he can do this as we win. Summer league McDaniels would be HUGE for this team as they search for options offensively.


and Garza, flawed as he may be, assuming they have money under the 2nd apron to do it, convert his deal to a standard deal. He deserves it.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Earlier this season, the Wolves went into Finals favorites Boston on the backend of a back-to-back... and at the end of a road trip... and when they couldn't fly until the day of the game.

They lost in OT. I was impressed.

Tonight, after a string of injuries left them without their three best bigs (and arguably 3 of their top 4 players)... and after an emotional win the night before on the road... and after a sorta successful and very eventful 6-game road trip... the Wolves battled against the defending champs until the very end losing by 3.

I was impressed.

I don't know where this team ends up. I know even less about what it looks like next year. But I know these types of games are not normal in the NBA. Teams often/usually take scheduled losses. Either guys sit. Or, they go through the motions. Sometimes, it just takes one guy. These Wolves compete. The players want to be on the court. They play like they want to win.

We'll all remember this team fondly for its regular season run... and oddly enough... it's in two losses where they've possibly been the most impressive.

[FNG]

Kinda fun to read through the GDT...I've never seen such positive comments about our Wolves, and I agree. This was a really fun game! I fully expected we were too small to hang with the Denver Giants, and that I would turn this one off maybe 20 minutes in. But our guys made it far too interesting. To play a great team like Denver even on the back end of a BTB missing our three tallest players (including 2 starters) was truly impressive. We need to get our hurt guys back, but this game showed us that we can compete with anyone.

We all know Garza has slow feet, but did he body up Jokic about as well as anyone could? I was impressed!

Oh, please keep playing like this, Jaden!

Third consecutive game in which we have been outrebounded by double digits...hurry back Rudy.

On the other hand, has this team corrected its turnover problem? Only 7 last night, continuing a recent trend of protecting the ball well.

Box score aberration: on a night he was not particularly effective, Mike Conley was the only TWolf to have a positive +/- in a very close game!

[Carlos Danger]

I was not expecting this to be even close. And I sure looked smart after Denver jumped on them in the first half.

I love the grit this team showed in not quitting. I was shocked when I checked back to see a tight game in the fourth. That's a feather in the cap to the coach and the players as it would have been real easy to pack it in (as I had done as a fan - ha!).

Edwards is amazing, but last night showed that he's still not Jordan (yet). McDaniels sure did his part. But Edwards only took 4 shots in the 4th quarter and missed them all....that's not going to do it. There is such a fine line between winning and losing somethings...it sucks they couldn't have closed that out. Oh well. Next.

[Q-is-here]

There were the Ant misses (along with others in the 4th), but you also have to tip your cap to Michael Porter, Jr., who hit three big jumpers, two of which were very well contested 3's, to help Denver re-take the lead and then expand it before our last gasp run that ended in Ant's game-tying miss.

MPJ plays in the shadow of Jokic, Murray, and Gordon, but he is SUPER important to that team because he is a high volume 40%+ 3-point shooter and his height allows him to get that shot off with tight coverage. If only KAT would cut back on his drives and let it fly more!

[Wolvesfan21]

I was not expecting this to be even close. And I sure looked smart after Denver jumped on them in the first half.

I love the grit this team showed in not quitting. I was shocked when I checked back to see a tight game in the fourth. That's a feather in the cap to the coach and the players as it would have been real easy to pack it in (as I had done as a fan - ha!).

Edwards is amazing, but last night showed that he's still not Jordan (yet). McDaniels sure did his part. But Edwards only took 4 shots in the 4th quarter and missed them all....that's not going to do it. There is such a fine line between winning and losing somethings...it sucks they couldn't have closed that out. Oh well. Next.

I couldn't see an outcome of Ant being a big time superstar again after such an effort and emotional output the night before. It was just too much for him or possibly anyone to really achieve. It was really up to Denver to blow it considering our lack of starting players and tired legs. Do they miss a bunch of shots/etc. They didn't.

[DNatagal]

Every important game that Ant plays in, he seems to learn a different lesson. Tired legs at the end of a season are a real thing. Hopefully he will work on nutrition to help at the end of the season.

At the same time, he is shouldering a massive workload right now and even 22 yo legs need a break. Finch has never been compared to Thibodeau for running his players into the ground, but does it take for the rest of the bench players to get some run? The lack of confidence in those players is starting to hurt the chances of "next man up" mentality that works for other teams.

[TheFuture]

Every important game that Ant plays in, he seems to learn a different lesson. Tired legs at the end of a season are a real thing. Hopefully he will work on nutrition to help at the end of the season.

At the same time, he is shouldering a massive workload right now and even 22 yo legs need a break. Finch has never been compared to Thibodeau for running his players into the ground, but does it take for the rest of the bench players to get some run? The lack of confidence in those players is starting to hurt the chances of "next man up" mentality that works for other teams.

I mean, we were playing our typical 10-12 players pretty heavy minutes.

Ant, Conley, Morris, Jmac, NAW, Jaden, Warren, SloMo, Garza - that's 9, our other 3 were out and they are 3 of our top 4/5 players.

The rest - Minott, Moore, Miller, Nix, Clark likely would've done more harm than good in that game.

The next man up was actually on full display last night.

As long as we split the next 2 games with Denver and continue to beat other conference teams we should still hold the tiebreaker over them and okc.

[DNatagal]

Ant and Jaden logged 38 min each last nite. TJ Warren played 9.

Ant played some 4, sure would be nice to have a couple forwards to take a few minutes there.

[FNG]

Every important game that Ant plays in, he seems to learn a different lesson. Tired legs at the end of a season are a real thing. Hopefully he will work on nutrition to help at the end of the season.

At the same time, he is shouldering a massive workload right now and even 22 yo legs need a break. Finch has never been compared to Thibodeau for running his players into the ground, but does it take for the rest of the bench players to get some run? The lack of confidence in those players is starting to hurt the chances of "next man up" mentality that works for other teams.

D'- I once hear Derrick Rose say that he never had a problem with the minutes Thibs played his guys during games. What wore out his players (and why they were always burned out in the playoffs) were Thibs' in-season full court practices. I also heard Sam Mitchell say the same thing a couple weeks ago. He said it didn't make a difference if a player played 25 or 38 minutes...took the same toll. It's practices on days the players would like to rest that wear out players. I don't know what Finchie's approach is with respect to practices, but I suspect he doesn't use them like thibs does.