GDT: The Promise of Hope

[AbeVigodaLive]

Years ago, during the second of four or five re-re-rebuilds... I coined the phrase the Promise of Hope as we all searched for reasons to be optimistic about overmatched young players, high-flying rookies, potential draft picks and all the other fun stuff that fans of perpetual lottery teams do to stay interested in the team. The process is built on nothing more than blind hope. Even irrational hope.

Today's Promise of Hope is different. Today, we're rooting for a team trying to do something unprecedented in NBA history. It's long odds. But, there are reasons for hope. This is the most resilient team in Timberwolves history. Can they become one of the more resilient teams in NBA history? This team has Anthony Edwards. After all of those years talking ourselves into Derrick Williams, Michael Beasley, Andrew Wiggins, Rashad McCants (BOO!) and many others... the Wolves finally have THE guy. He's here. Now. And he's supported by a pretty decent cast of players, including All NBA players, DPOY, and seasoned vets.

So it's ok to hold on to the promise of hope in this case. This team has actually done something to earn it.

Just win. One game at a time.

[Wolvesfan21]

I believe. Zero times in 155 have teams ever come back from 0-3 in the NBA playoffs. It seems highly impossible but now all the pressure is on Dallas to not fold and be the first one. Dallas looked shook last game and the Wolves gained confidence. The ball is on our court. Time to start putting in daggers tonight.

I love the Wolves and this team.

[FNG]

Good kickoff, Abe. Any truth to the rumor that the Wolves are retiring McCants' jerseys at halftime? Long overdue...

It's interesting to me that the national media is actually engaged in discussion of the Wolves coming back to win 4 in a row. They always start out by reminding us that 0-3 teams have lost 154 series in a row...those are almost impossible odds. So why is it even a talker now? I think for two reasons:

1) All 4 games have been close...it's not hard to imagine the Wolves up 3-1 right now instead of down.

2) More importantly, this might be the only time in 155 series where the 0-3 team was considered to be the superior team. How do I know that? As Cool referred to a couple days ago, look at the betting lines. Dallas at home was a 1 1/2 point favorite at home Tuesday. The Wolves are a 4 1/2 point favorite at home tonight. That essentially means the betting world thinks the Wolves are 3 points better than the Mavs. Dallas has the two best players, but it's clear to me that we have the slightly better team. Not much better though. Being 3 points better is generally not enough to beat a team 4 straight games. But unlike any other 0-3 series I can remember, at least there is a real chance in this one.

Does Lively play tonight? Sham says "there is a chance". That doesn't sound very likely to me, and I would rather see the guy with the third best playoff plus/minus in NBA history on the bench again. Gabbert needs a blow now and then, and Powell is not a good replacement and Kleber doesn't look ready to play.

Let's go get this one!!!!

[TheGrey08]

Marc Davis crew tonight. LFG!

[FNG]

Marc Davis crew tonight. LFG!

We all love a Davis reffed game compared to a foul-happy Foster game, but it also would be nice to have The Extender reffing in a close out game...he refuses to let a series end! I saw something in Game 4 that I have never seen before, and probably earned Foster a reprimand from the league if they noticed. I wonder if anyone here also noticed. When Finchie indicated he wanted to challenge KAT's offensive foul in the third quarter, Foster actually looked at him and subtly shook his head...he was telling him to save his challenge, because it was not going to be successful! The Extender at his best!

Oh well, at least a Davis game is much more watchable. Let 'em play!

[AbeVigodaLive]

Marc Davis crew tonight. LFG!

We all love a Davis reffed game compared to a foul-happy Foster game, but it also would be nice to have The Extender reffing in a close out game...he refuses to let a series end! I saw something in Game 4 that I have never seen before, and probably earned Foster a reprimand from the league if they noticed. I wonder if anyone here also noticed. When Finchie indicated he wanted to challenge KAT's offensive foul in the third quarter, Foster actually looked at him and subtly shook his head...he was telling him to save his challenge, because it was not going to be successful! The Extender at his best!

Oh well, at least a Davis game is much more watchable. Let 'em play!

Finch said Foster is the official least likely to overturn his own call...

It's amazing just how many statistics NBA teams collect and use.

[TheGrey08]

Marc Davis crew tonight. LFG!

We all love a Davis reffed game compared to a foul-happy Foster game, but it also would be nice to have The Extender reffing in a close out game...he refuses to let a series end! I saw something in Game 4 that I have never seen before, and probably earned Foster a reprimand from the league if they noticed. I wonder if anyone here also noticed. When Finchie indicated he wanted to challenge KAT's offensive foul in the third quarter, Foster actually looked at him and subtly shook his head...he was telling him to save his challenge, because it was not going to be successful! The Extender at his best!

Oh well, at least a Davis game is much more watchable. Let 'em play!

Yeah well the refs did a bad job of trying to extend the series the other night with multiple sht calls

[Wolvesfan21]

Good kickoff, Abe. Any truth to the rumor that the Wolves are retiring McCants' jerseys at halftime? Long overdue...

It's interesting to me that the national media is actually engaged in discussion of the Wolves coming back to win 4 in a row. They always start out by reminding us that 0-3 teams have lost 154 series in a row...those are almost impossible odds. So why is it even a talker now? I think for two reasons:

1) All 4 games have been close...it's not hard to imagine the Wolves up 3-1 right now instead of down.

2) More importantly, this might be the only time in 155 series where the 0-3 team was considered to be the superior team. How do I know that? As Cool referred to a couple days ago, look at the betting lines. Dallas at home was a 1 1/2 point favorite at home Tuesday. The Wolves are a 4 1/2 point favorite at home tonight. That essentially means the betting world thinks the Wolves are 3 points better than the Mavs. Dallas has the two best players, but it's clear to me that we have the slightly better team. Not much better though. Being 3 points better is generally not enough to beat a team 4 straight games. But unlike any other 0-3 series I can remember, at least there is a real chance in this one.

Does Lively play tonight? Sham says "there is a chance". That doesn't sound very likely to me, and I would rather see the guy with the third best playoff plus/minus in NBA history on the bench again. Gabbert needs a blow now and then, and Powell is not a good replacement and Kleber doesn't look ready to play.

Let's go get this one!!!!

You're right about Kleber. His shot looked a bit wonky with that bad wing. I'd leave him open to prove he can make them in favor of covering Luka and Kyrie more close.

[Wolvesfan21]

Marc Davis crew tonight. LFG!

We all love a Davis reffed game compared to a foul-happy Foster game, but it also would be nice to have The Extender reffing in a close out game...he refuses to let a series end! I saw something in Game 4 that I have never seen before, and probably earned Foster a reprimand from the league if they noticed. I wonder if anyone here also noticed. When Finchie indicated he wanted to challenge KAT's offensive foul in the third quarter, Foster actually looked at him and subtly shook his head...he was telling him to save his challenge, because it was not going to be successful! The Extender at his best!

Oh well, at least a Davis game is much more watchable. Let 'em play!

Yeah well the refs did a bad job of trying to extend the series the other night with multiple sht calls

Foster (I think it was him) did call 3 seconds twice as well which normally gets ignored. As a crew and whole, yeah I thought we were getting some bad calls though, look at our foul trouble we were in. I did like that they called 3 seconds twice though. That was rare.

[AbeVigodaLive]

We all love a Davis reffed game compared to a foul-happy Foster game, but it also would be nice to have The Extender reffing in a close out game...he refuses to let a series end! I saw something in Game 4 that I have never seen before, and probably earned Foster a reprimand from the league if they noticed. I wonder if anyone here also noticed. When Finchie indicated he wanted to challenge KAT's offensive foul in the third quarter, Foster actually looked at him and subtly shook his head...he was telling him to save his challenge, because it was not going to be successful! The Extender at his best!

Oh well, at least a Davis game is much more watchable. Let 'em play!

Yeah well the refs did a bad job of trying to extend the series the other night with multiple sht calls

Foster (I think it was him) did call 3 seconds twice as well which normally gets ignored. As a crew and whole, yeah I thought we were getting some bad calls though, look at our foul trouble we were in. I did like that they called 3 seconds twice though. That was rare.

The L2M report indicates that both teams received ONE favorable call.

- Edwards fouled Doncic before his shooting motion.
- Edwards was not called for defensive three seconds.