The Ayo Era Begins - Pelicans at Wolves GDT
Re: The Ayo Era Begins - Pelicans at Wolves GDT
On to the next one.
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Coolbreeze44
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rapsuperstar31
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Re: The Ayo Era Begins - Pelicans at Wolves GDT
We shouldn't have needed Ayo to beat this team, but man we could have used him with Jaden in foul trouble. Seriously 4/4 from three for Queen who hit 10 all year coming into the game! Really need more from Jaden, Donte, and Naz, at least one of them needs to show up. Bad 2nd half for Ant.
Re: The Ayo Era Begins - Pelicans at Wolves GDT
It's the same old story and it probably won't change as long as Ant and Finch are leading the way.
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Coolbreeze44
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Re: The Ayo Era Begins - Pelicans at Wolves GDT
That late possession where he forced his own shot with under a half minute remaining while Jaden was standing next to him alone behind the arc. SMH. If you're going to live with hero ball, you are going to die with hero ball. There was nary a chance Ant was going to give that ball up after having some success this year in the clutch. But I remember all the failures too.
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rapsuperstar31
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Re: The Ayo Era Begins - Pelicans at Wolves GDT
Yeah I thought Ant should have tried to swing it on that possession. Not sure if Jaden would have been the right target he wasn't in rhythm at all this game with his foul trouble 2-8 and had just missed a wide open three a procession or two before that.Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 06, 2026 10:14 pmThat late possession where he forced his own shot with under a half minute remaining while Jaden was standing next to him alone behind the arc. SMH. If you're going to live with hero ball, you are going to die with hero ball. There was nary a chance Ant was going to give that ball up after having some success this year in the clutch. But I remember all the failures too.
Re: The Ayo Era Begins - Pelicans at Wolves GDT
His teammates didn't give much confidence in me with how they were shooting. I more or less wanted Ant to shoot. I think Finch should have brought Ant in a little sooner in the 4th based on, how I at least, felt the game going. Finch lets the guys on the floor wallow in their own shit far too often for my taste. This is just how the regular season is going to go with this group. Its annoying but I'm resigned to it at this point.rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 06, 2026 10:32 pmYeah I thought Ant should have tried to swing it on that possession. Not sure if Jaden would have been the right target he wasn't in rhythm at all this game with his foul trouble 2-8 and had just missed a wide open three a procession or two before that.Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 06, 2026 10:14 pmThat late possession where he forced his own shot with under a half minute remaining while Jaden was standing next to him alone behind the arc. SMH. If you're going to live with hero ball, you are going to die with hero ball. There was nary a chance Ant was going to give that ball up after having some success this year in the clutch. But I remember all the failures too.
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AbeVigodaLive
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Re: The Ayo Era Begins - Pelicans at Wolves GDT
Abe's "Is team is about to get serious down the stretch of the season" DVR Review:
- Saddiq Bey and Zion Williamson are bullying the Wolves. Zion ALWAYS bullies the Wolves. I believe if my memory is correct, Zion is averaging 39.7 ppg on 87.6% shooting vs. the Wolves in his career while drawing 43 fouls per game.
- Layups are tough sometimes when you're 7'2" ... oh... free throws, too. Rudy is now below 50% on the season. It's gonna be a problem in the playoffs.
- Sometimes, you know McDaniels is going to foul before he gets called for one. We call that a Towns. McDaniels has had a couple of those tonight. Heck, sometimes, it looks like he's trying to get a foul because he fouls like three times on the same possession before it's finally called. Terrible game so far for him.
- Best first half of the season for Edwards? 23 points and 4 assists with 0 TOs. He had three early assists showing he can get others involved before looking for his own shot more. Great game so far.
- Donte Divencenzo isn't much better than McDaniels. Two TOs and a bad foul for an and-one within 30 seconds in the 3rd quarter. And then 30 seconds later, he blows a defensive rotation to leave Trey Murphy wide open for a three.
- Speaking of Murphy, leave a guy like him wide open for a three or two of them... and he starts to get hot. He was nearly invisible until the Wolves stopped guarding him for some inexplicable reason.
- Wolves wasting a 20 point Bones Hyland game because Divincenzo, Reid and McDaniels are playing so awful.
- I thought Jeremiah Fears looked really solid for a rook in earlier games. He looks AWFUL tonight. Terrible shooting. Terrible decisions. He's 1 - 7 fg with 4 TOs and multiple stupid fouls.
- The Wolves are losing to a 3-man team right now. Well... four... sorta. Queen has been quiet until he's left WIDE OPEN to shoot three pointers. He came into the game 10 - 47. He's 4 - 4 right now. Again... a lot of NBA players can make shots when they're that wide open.
- 23 points. 4 assists. 7/9 shooting in the 1st half for Edwards. 14 points. 0 assists. 4 - 13 fg in the 2nd half. I thought I was watching Gilbert Arenas at the end there. (That's NOT a compliment.) Pass the ball Edwards. You're awesome... but that's not winning basketball.
- And then there's Julius Randle. 24/8/7 on 50% shooting with 0 TOs. That's a GREAT stat line. And I'm sure it looks great to him and his agent. But his effort and demeanor as chronicled here was definitely contagious. Yikes.
- None of this matters. The Timberwolves players clearly don't care about the regular season. These guys are going through the motions for most of almost every game at this point. It's painfully obvious. So why should we care if they don't care? They'll wake up in the playoffs, I'm pretty sure. But will it be too late? Even at their best they might not be good enough to win a 1st round matchup depending on the opponent (see Denver in a #2 v. #7 matchup).
- Unserious team. And sadly... Anthony Edwards is still mostly an unserious player. I mentioned it in the Toronto game... he was going to get all the credit for his heroics down the stretch... but he was awful before then and they only had a chance because he and Randle were on the bench for the big comeback driven by energy and effort on defense.
- Wolves have given up 30+ points in 10 of the last 12 quarters.
- Meh. Wake me (and the Timberwolves) when the playoffs start. (or play-in)
- Saddiq Bey and Zion Williamson are bullying the Wolves. Zion ALWAYS bullies the Wolves. I believe if my memory is correct, Zion is averaging 39.7 ppg on 87.6% shooting vs. the Wolves in his career while drawing 43 fouls per game.
- Layups are tough sometimes when you're 7'2" ... oh... free throws, too. Rudy is now below 50% on the season. It's gonna be a problem in the playoffs.
- Sometimes, you know McDaniels is going to foul before he gets called for one. We call that a Towns. McDaniels has had a couple of those tonight. Heck, sometimes, it looks like he's trying to get a foul because he fouls like three times on the same possession before it's finally called. Terrible game so far for him.
- Best first half of the season for Edwards? 23 points and 4 assists with 0 TOs. He had three early assists showing he can get others involved before looking for his own shot more. Great game so far.
- Donte Divencenzo isn't much better than McDaniels. Two TOs and a bad foul for an and-one within 30 seconds in the 3rd quarter. And then 30 seconds later, he blows a defensive rotation to leave Trey Murphy wide open for a three.
- Speaking of Murphy, leave a guy like him wide open for a three or two of them... and he starts to get hot. He was nearly invisible until the Wolves stopped guarding him for some inexplicable reason.
- Wolves wasting a 20 point Bones Hyland game because Divincenzo, Reid and McDaniels are playing so awful.
- I thought Jeremiah Fears looked really solid for a rook in earlier games. He looks AWFUL tonight. Terrible shooting. Terrible decisions. He's 1 - 7 fg with 4 TOs and multiple stupid fouls.
- The Wolves are losing to a 3-man team right now. Well... four... sorta. Queen has been quiet until he's left WIDE OPEN to shoot three pointers. He came into the game 10 - 47. He's 4 - 4 right now. Again... a lot of NBA players can make shots when they're that wide open.
- 23 points. 4 assists. 7/9 shooting in the 1st half for Edwards. 14 points. 0 assists. 4 - 13 fg in the 2nd half. I thought I was watching Gilbert Arenas at the end there. (That's NOT a compliment.) Pass the ball Edwards. You're awesome... but that's not winning basketball.
- And then there's Julius Randle. 24/8/7 on 50% shooting with 0 TOs. That's a GREAT stat line. And I'm sure it looks great to him and his agent. But his effort and demeanor as chronicled here was definitely contagious. Yikes.
- None of this matters. The Timberwolves players clearly don't care about the regular season. These guys are going through the motions for most of almost every game at this point. It's painfully obvious. So why should we care if they don't care? They'll wake up in the playoffs, I'm pretty sure. But will it be too late? Even at their best they might not be good enough to win a 1st round matchup depending on the opponent (see Denver in a #2 v. #7 matchup).
- Unserious team. And sadly... Anthony Edwards is still mostly an unserious player. I mentioned it in the Toronto game... he was going to get all the credit for his heroics down the stretch... but he was awful before then and they only had a chance because he and Randle were on the bench for the big comeback driven by energy and effort on defense.
- Wolves have given up 30+ points in 10 of the last 12 quarters.
- Meh. Wake me (and the Timberwolves) when the playoffs start. (or play-in)
Re: The Ayo Era Begins - Pelicans at Wolves GDT
As frustrated as Rudy Gobert has been about the Wolves' effort this season. He also said the accountability is not there.
"There's just no effort. We've seen that many, many times this year, last few years since I've been here. We always know it's coming, and when it comes there's no sense of urgency. No accountability. So I think at some point, if the players don't have accountability, someone else gotta have accountability for the players. I'm just talking straight effort."
Asked Rudy Gobert what he meant by accountability and where that accountability needs to come from.
"It starts with ourselves, but it seems like we don't have that. So I think at some point, from the coaches, yeah, from the coaches. It's not an easy position for a coach to take guys out of the game. It's not something you want to do. But I think if the players don't show any effort, at some point, no matter how talented we are as a team, if you don't have that, we just can't be a winning team. It starts with me. If I'm not showing effort, take me out the game. And everybody else gotta follow. Our best players, our leaders, if you don't show any effort, don't matter if you score 50, we're just not gonna win. So at some point, we're not mature enough to have that accountability ourselves. That might be the solution. And I guarantee (if that happens), when we come back on the court, we'd show effort."
-Dane Moore
"There's just no effort. We've seen that many, many times this year, last few years since I've been here. We always know it's coming, and when it comes there's no sense of urgency. No accountability. So I think at some point, if the players don't have accountability, someone else gotta have accountability for the players. I'm just talking straight effort."
Asked Rudy Gobert what he meant by accountability and where that accountability needs to come from.
"It starts with ourselves, but it seems like we don't have that. So I think at some point, from the coaches, yeah, from the coaches. It's not an easy position for a coach to take guys out of the game. It's not something you want to do. But I think if the players don't show any effort, at some point, no matter how talented we are as a team, if you don't have that, we just can't be a winning team. It starts with me. If I'm not showing effort, take me out the game. And everybody else gotta follow. Our best players, our leaders, if you don't show any effort, don't matter if you score 50, we're just not gonna win. So at some point, we're not mature enough to have that accountability ourselves. That might be the solution. And I guarantee (if that happens), when we come back on the court, we'd show effort."
-Dane Moore