Pups vs Nuggets G4 GDT

[KiwiMatt]

Disapointing loss. But hats off to Denver. Just elite shotmaking.

Lets just hope it's KAT that steps up and says this loss is on him. I highly doubt it though.

[FNG]

Optimistic take: 2-2 is right where we thought we might be after 4.

Realistic take: Denver looks much better than us.

Yeah, we're technically not out of it, but I thought our defense threw everything we had at them tonight and their execution and poise just shrugged it off. That is a soul sucking defeat because the effort, intensity, and home crowd were all there. Denver is just flat out better.

Yep, we threw everything we had at them on defense (I thought Jaden was awesome), we kicked their butts on the boards (as dumb and poor shooting as he was, KAT was tough on the boards) and had a wonderful offensive game from Ant, and it still wasn't enough. Gotta tip our hats to the Nuggets.

[kekgeek]

Optimistic take: 2-2 is right where we thought we might be after 4.

Realistic take: Denver looks much better than us.

Yeah, we're technically not out of it, but I thought our defense threw everything we had at them tonight and their execution and poise just shrugged it off. That is a soul sucking defeat because the effort, intensity, and home crowd were all there. Denver is just flat out better.

Agreed but are the combo of Gordon, Braun and Holiday going to continue to shoot 12-17 from 3 like they did these last 2 games.

[TheGrey08]

Yeah, we're technically not out of it, but I thought our defense threw everything we had at them tonight and their execution and poise just shrugged it off. That is a soul sucking defeat because the effort, intensity, and home crowd were all there. Denver is just flat out better.

They also had non stars shooting out of their minds. Team 57% shooting with 44.8% from 3 in the game and in the regular season they shot 45.8% with 34% from 3.

Huge games in MN for DEN and they came down to shooting. We can still look to game 2 and the absolute defensive domination by the Wolves D. They are capable. Time to dig deep and show that #1 defense in game 5.

[FNG]

Optimistic take: 2-2 is right where we thought we might be after 4.

Realistic take: Denver looks much better than us.

Yeah, we're technically not out of it, but I thought our defense threw everything we had at them tonight and their execution and poise just shrugged it off. That is a soul sucking defeat because the effort, intensity, and home crowd were all there. Denver is just flat out better.

Agreed but are the combo of Gordon, Braun and Holiday going to continue to shoot 12-17 from 3 like they did these last 2 games.

Very little chance, but I also don't think MJP only scores 4 next game. But yeah, our best hope is that they regress to the mean on shooting and KAT finds his game.

[Q-is-here]

Yeah, we're technically not out of it, but I thought our defense threw everything we had at them tonight and their execution and poise just shrugged it off. That is a soul sucking defeat because the effort, intensity, and home crowd were all there. Denver is just flat out better.

Agreed but are the combo of Gordon, Braun and Holiday going to continue to shoot 12-17 from 3 like they did these last 2 games.

Very little chance, but I also don't think MJP only scores 4 next game. But yeah, our best hope is that they regress to the mean on shooting and KAT finds his game.

I guess that's my point. The only strategy we have left is to hope they miss shots. Plus whenever Jokic put his mind to it, he made it look so easy. He might have the best touch from between 4 and 10 feet as anyone that's ever played.

[KiwiMatt]

No in-depth analysis needed as to why we lost this game.

Their starting PF shot 82% and ours shot 27%. That’s the difference.

[rapsuperstar31]

[Jon Krawczynski] Anthony Edwards had 44 points, 5r, 5a. He played 45:20. The Wolves won those minutes by 5. They lost the 2:40 he sat by 13 points

[Q-is-here]

[Jon Krawczynski] Anthony Edwards had 44 points, 5r, 5a. He played 45:20. The Wolves won those minutes by 5. They lost the 2:40 he sat by 13 points

What a shame. But damn we're lucky to have him.

[Lipoli390]

The crowd was fantastic tonight. And so was Ant. Naz was OK and Jaden gave everything he had on the defensive end.

The Nuggets are very good. No surprise there; they’re the defending NBA champions. And yes, the Wolves came out with a lot more intensity than we saw from them in Friday night’s game. But KAT played well below his capability offensively while Rudy was bad again on both ends of the court, albeit a little better especially in the rebounding department than last game. KAT’s effort was there; he was just making dumb decisions and missing some shots he normally makes. Dumb decisions are just part of what we’ve learned to expect from KAT, but he can and should play much better offensively. Rudy finally showed some life in spurts but his performance overall was still soft and lethargic. I believe he had one block and maybe one altered shot. They there were his 5 turnovers. The last two games we’ve seen the Rudy from least season.

Can’t say enough positives about Ant’s effort and performance. Yes, he made a few ill-advised plays when he tried to do a little too much and it resulted in turnovers, but that comes with the territory when you have to carry the entire team offensively the way he did tonight.

I can still see the Wolves winning game 5 in Denver and then winning the series in game 6 at Target Center. So I’m not ready to declare Denver the series winner by any stretch. But KAT and Rudy need to both be much better - KAT offensively and Rudy on both sides of the ball since he’s been terrible on both sides these past two games. If I were betting, I’d bet on Denver to win the series now, but I wouldn’t bet the farm. Of course, I don’t have a farm.

Whether the Wolves should bring our core personnel back next season as a 2nd-apron team depends on the outcome of this series in my view. If Denver prevails then the Wolves should move Rudy, KAT or both this offseason and re-tool around Ant, Jaden, Naz, NAW and Garza. If we get past Denver, then I think we bring the team back for one more shot before moving guys along. The one thing this series has solidified for me is that it’s problematic to rely on Rudy and KAT as key players for winning playoff games. Their reputations precede them so we should not be surprised by what we saw tonight and Friday night. This is Ant’s team and we don’t need to entirely start over as long as we have Ant, Jaden, Naz and NAW to re-tool around.

By the way, watching the bench tonight secured Wendell Moore’s position as winner of the “Wes Johnson I love to joke and don’t give a shit about my teammates or winning” award. Runners up are Leonard Miller and Jaylen Clark. This isn’t just based on what I saw tonight. I’ve seen the Wes Johnson behavior from those three consistently all season in every single game I’ve been to. Some of you might be surprised to hear that Jaylen Clark is among the three given his reputation for defensive intensity, but he has been nearly as bad as Wendell Moore. Miller might be slightly better than those two, but not much. Miller strikes me as a guy who just doesn’t take basketball or winning very seriously - something that also seems evident in his horrendous lack of defensive effort in G-League play. There were multiple times tonight when our players are fighting their ass off to stay in the game and those three were laughing and joking as if they were at a party. At one point, Clark was showing off his talent for spinning the ball on his finger as he and his buddy Wendell Moore were yucking it up. My friend who joined me at the game tonight noticed all of this too and was appalled. So I have all three on my “let’s move them this summer” list. I’m all for moving Miller while he still has some value because he’ll eventually be out of the League.

That’s it for my game report.