Wolves at Nuggets R2G1

[FNG]

Though I give my review of the game.

I coach Highschool baseball and this weekend we played a tourney up north in Minny. Our head coach has cabin in that area we were so we had 15-16 teenagers all in cabin watching the game. I can tell you these 16 kids are now fans for life because of this team.

I’ve never had a better sports moment in my life than when Naz Reid slammed that putback down watching those kids explode in chants of two words Naz Reid.

My favorite comment of the night was when it looked like the Nuggets were gonna go to hack a Rudy and kid ask why are they trying to foul Gobert. Another kid said it’s because Gobert sucks at free throws. Then our senior captain says that’s not true… Regular Season Gobert sucks at Free throws but playoff Rudy is the Steph curry of free throws lol.

Phenomenal game with much can’t be improved Denver scored 26 pts off turnover and scored more threes and still lost the game. Sadly I will be on cruise in Alaska for the games at home but hopefully I can find a bar on the ship and watch the team.

Also FNG Jokic was -12 last night I think the Nuggets Should cut him lol Bazinga!!!

LOL! Jester, I just got off the phone with a good friend of mine who is a big Nuggets fan. After praising Ant for several minutes (well deserved), he spent the next 10 minutes ripping Jokic (who he admits is his favorite player) for his poor game. I said "Come on...he went 32/8/9. How can that be a bad game?" He replied "Because he turned the ball over 7 times, shot 44% from the field and 22% on threes, and played crappy defense. And he was a -12...that's not Joker!"

I had to agree that this was a bad game for Joker...and he doesn't have many. He averaged 58% shooting this season (compared to 44% last night), and only 3 turnovers per game. And I thought his poor defense when he was the guy being screened was helpful to Ant's big night. Cut him? Lol, nope...I still think he's the best player in the Association, even if he wasn't the best player on the court last night! But you gotta believe Malone is going to urge him to play better in Game 2...just like it was reported Finchie urged Naz to get his head out of his ass and play better in the second half. And we gotta expect that he will. Nikola is the best on/off player in the league...he was a frickin' +23.7 this season! But as Q said in another thread this morning, you need to take all stats into consideration when evaluating a player. When we see that Joker shot poorly, turned the ball over at an uncharacteristic high rate, and was targeted on defense, it's easy to see why the best on/off player in the league was a -12.

Warning though: the Wolves better be ready in Game 2, because I think they are going to see a particularly inspired Joker. And that's scary...

[davemang]

Blast from the past: Somehow a Dave Benz tweet popped up on my screen. "Ants thrive at altitude!". Brought back memories of all his corny comments about ants. Nice guy, but I don't really miss him.

My day after thought was how ordinary we made Jokic look last night, despite his 32/8/9. He's the best player in basketball, but he was not the best player on the court last night. We stayed away from doubling most of the night, but Rudy was always lurking. Forcing Jokic into 7 turnovers and 44% shooting was critical to our win.

Ill-advised looking ahead way too soon alert: The Wolves will have finished their second game before the other West semifinal will have even started. If we're fortunate to advance, we should be more rested than our opponent (who I think may be Dallas).

(especially if we sweep the nuggets)

Grady is a bit corny to me like a Saturday Night Live skit. "Caaaash!" "Bottoms!" So cheesy.

Benz was a bit annoying too for sure at times. His corniness was more on purpose. He was corny to be corny. I think most announcers suck though, it's a tough job to stay fresh and on point and not annoying. Not many people can do it well. I would say Harlan was the only real good one.

I don’t have a cable / sat service, so I watch most games via replay sites or streaming sites of questionable legality and am at the mercy of other local broadcasters a lot. A lot of them are so bad that they can really suck the life out of a game - I’d say the wolves have one of the best crews, next to NY and LAL (surprisingly). The GS crew for example, seem like they’re watching a different game with how much of salty homers they are.

[Lipoli390]

Anthony Edwards’ (MIN) technical foul at 1:15 of the 3rd quarter on 5/4/24 (vs. DEN) has been rescinded upon league office review.

The issue is moot, but I like the vindication. What troubles me more than the technical call on Ant was the ensuring decision not to assess a technical on Murray as he performed his air-gun antics at Ant after hitting a three. The juxtaposition of those two is what should concern the League about the integrity of NBA officiating.

[Coolbreeze44]

Anthony Edwards’ (MIN) technical foul at 1:15 of the 3rd quarter on 5/4/24 (vs. DEN) has been rescinded upon league office review.

The issue is moot, but I like the vindication. What troubles me more than the technical call on Ant was the ensuring decision not to assess a technical on Murray as he performed his air-gun antics at Ant after hitting a three. The juxtaposition of those two is what should concern the League about the integrity of NBA officiating.

Spot on Lipster

[FNG]

Anthony Edwards’ (MIN) technical foul at 1:15 of the 3rd quarter on 5/4/24 (vs. DEN) has been rescinded upon league office review.

The issue is moot, but I like the vindication. What troubles me more than the technical call on Ant was the ensuring decision not to assess a technical on Murray as he performed his air-gun antics at Ant after hitting a three. The juxtaposition of those two is what should concern the League about the integrity of NBA officiating.

Spot on Lipster

Yep, I agree with both points. I don't think the rescinding is meaningless though. After acknowledging that a bad call was made against Ant in game 1, I think tonight's referees are less likely to tee up Ant unless it is really egregious.