Pups vs Spurs GDT G4

[FNG]

No one in the basketball world except you thinks his knees(s) is 100%. You can tell he still isn't moving north/south or east/west with the same burst.

He still going back to the bleeping locker room for treatment!
He's obviously not 100%, and I think we're probably taking it for granted how crazy it is that he just had this kinda game

Well, FNG was right about Ant being gassed, as it was oxygen he was getting, not treatment for his knee (from what I could discern from the broadcast).

I'm not going to excuse every bad shot or turnover by Ant on his knees, but anyone without the FNG-anti-Ant bias glasses on can see he just isn't moving right. He had problems tonight getting past guys he could normally get past on drives. Luckily he's finding other ways to get his shot off and snake his way into the paint. We're basically seeing the 33-year old version of Ant right now!

There aren’t many nba players who aren’t nicked up at this stage of the season, and it’s going to impact how they move. But the coaching and medical staff has to decide if it’s serious enough to put a guy on the list. And you can’t play around with it…several teams have incurred massive fines this season. Atlanta, Philly and Cleveland come to mind. The staff determined he shouldn’t be on the list, and why wouid they do that if they thought he was hurt enough to be on it…creates no strategic advantage I can think of. Maybe there are some trained medical people here, but until I see the credentials, I’m going to side with the team doctors over the board on this one! Gassed yes…he just hasn’t played much the past month. But other than that, I see him moving quite well.

[Q-is-here]

He still going back to the bleeping locker room for treatment!
He's obviously not 100%, and I think we're probably taking it for granted how crazy it is that he just had this kinda game

Well, FNG was right about Ant being gassed, as it was oxygen he was getting, not treatment for his knee (from what I could discern from the broadcast).

I'm not going to excuse every bad shot or turnover by Ant on his knees, but anyone without the FNG-anti-Ant bias glasses on can see he just isn't moving right. He had problems tonight getting past guys he could normally get past on drives. Luckily he's finding other ways to get his shot off and snake his way into the paint. We're basically seeing the 33-year old version of Ant right now!

There aren’t many nba players who aren’t nicked up at this stage of the season, and it’s going to impact how they move. But the coaching and medical staff has to decide if it’s serious enough to put a guy on the list. And you can’t play around with it…several teams have incurred massive fines this season. Atlanta, Philly and Cleveland come to mind. The staff determined he shouldn’t be on the list, and why wouid they do that if they thought he was hurt enough to be on it…creates no strategic advantage I can think of. Maybe there are some trained medical people here, but until I see the credentials, I’m going to side with the team doctors over the board on this one! Gassed yes…he just hasn’t played much the past month. But other than that, I see him moving quite well.

The injury report just reflects the risk level of a player not playing based on an assessment by the medical staff. If someone is experiencing pain or weakness, but not at any further risk of injury, than they don't need to be put on the report. Naz's shoulder is an example of this. He has yet to be put on the injury report even though we've seen him double over in severe pain at times. Aaron Gordon certainly didn't look right in the last series and that's before the strain that did put him on the list.

He's moving well by average NBA standards, but not by his standards. You just choose not to notice.

[AussieWolf3]

He still going back to the bleeping locker room for treatment!
He's obviously not 100%, and I think we're probably taking it for granted how crazy it is that he just had this kinda game

Well, FNG was right about Ant being gassed, as it was oxygen he was getting, not treatment for his knee (from what I could discern from the broadcast).

I'm not going to excuse every bad shot or turnover by Ant on his knees, but anyone without the FNG-anti-Ant bias glasses on can see he just isn't moving right. He had problems tonight getting past guys he could normally get past on drives. Luckily he's finding other ways to get his shot off and snake his way into the paint. We're basically seeing the 33-year old version of Ant right now!

There aren’t many nba players who aren’t nicked up at this stage of the season, and it’s going to impact how they move. But the coaching and medical staff has to decide if it’s serious enough to put a guy on the list. And you can’t play around with it…several teams have incurred massive fines this season. Atlanta, Philly and Cleveland come to mind. The staff determined he shouldn’t be on the list, and why wouid they do that if they thought he was hurt enough to be on it…creates no strategic advantage I can think of. Maybe there are some trained medical people here, but until I see the credentials, I’m going to side with the team doctors over the board on this one! Gassed yes…he just hasn’t played much the past month. But other than that, I see him moving quite well.

Some serious galaxy brain stuff F.... He's hurt, it's obvious, he hyperextended him knee 16 days ago. There's no reason to even debate this

[kekgeek]

I think where you really see Ant injury effecting him is defensively. He is rarely fighting through screens, rarely defending the point of attack, yes he gets a block here and there but his on ball defense is sub par at the moment (the wolves are hiding him well)

I do think his injury has made him a lot more methodical what is huge for his long term development and just a credit to Ant for his consistent improvement on his shooting year after year. He’s still a very productive player even when his athleticism is currently hampered

[Monster]

An ugly win for so many reasons but I'll take it.

I gotta give the Spurs credit in this game too they lost their best player and some of their guards stepped up and the defense was also pretty good.

Gobert had an excellent game. He could have played more and I would have been happy about it.

Naz Reid was big in this one.

Conley gave them some big minutes. I actually wondered if they could have put him at the end of the game although he is smaller than the other options.

Ultimately the Wolves fought through .issues shots a deficit partly of their own making and pulled out a win giving them a chance in the series.

[Wolvesfan21]

No one in the basketball world except you thinks his knees(s) is 100%. You can tell he still isn't moving north/south or east/west with the same burst.

He still going back to the bleeping locker room for treatment!
He's obviously not 100%, and I think we're probably taking it for granted how crazy it is that he just had this kinda game

Well, FNG was right about Ant being gassed, as it was oxygen he was getting, not treatment for his knee (from what I could discern from the broadcast).

I'm not going to excuse every bad shot or turnover by Ant on his knees, but anyone without the FNG-anti-Ant bias glasses on can see he just isn't moving right. He had problems tonight getting past guys he could normally get past on drives. Luckily he's finding other ways to get his shot off and snake his way into the paint. We're basically seeing the 33-year old version of Ant right now!

I was thinking 40 Y/O version really. I think he moves well at 33.

[Monster]

Well, FNG was right about Ant being gassed, as it was oxygen he was getting, not treatment for his knee (from what I could discern from the broadcast).

I'm not going to excuse every bad shot or turnover by Ant on his knees, but anyone without the FNG-anti-Ant bias glasses on can see he just isn't moving right. He had problems tonight getting past guys he could normally get past on drives. Luckily he's finding other ways to get his shot off and snake his way into the paint. We're basically seeing the 33-year old version of Ant right now!

There aren’t many nba players who aren’t nicked up at this stage of the season, and it’s going to impact how they move. But the coaching and medical staff has to decide if it’s serious enough to put a guy on the list. And you can’t play around with it…several teams have incurred massive fines this season. Atlanta, Philly and Cleveland come to mind. The staff determined he shouldn’t be on the list, and why wouid they do that if they thought he was hurt enough to be on it…creates no strategic advantage I can think of. Maybe there are some trained medical people here, but until I see the credentials, I’m going to side with the team doctors over the board on this one! Gassed yes…he just hasn’t played much the past month. But other than that, I see him moving quite well.

Some serious galaxy brain stuff F.... He's hurt, it's obvious, he hyperextended him knee 16 days ago. There's no reason to even debate this

The injury report is simply whether or not the guy is gonna play. It's not diagnosis of what ailment the player has or doesn't have. It's also not like the NFL where there is more times between games and way more game planning is done for each game where teams will leave things up in the air as long as possible. Edwards is gonna play everyone and their mom and brother and dead great great great grandfather knows he is gonna be out there. There is no reason to have him on the injury list.

Yes at this point pretty much every player is playing with something but Edwards injuries are clearly beyond that.

[FNG]

An ugly win for so many reasons but I'll take it.

I gotta give the Spurs credit in this game too they lost their best player and some of their guards stepped up and the defense was also pretty good.

Gobert had an excellent game. He could have played more and I would have been happy about it.

Naz Reid was big in this one.

Conley gave them some big minutes. I actually wondered if they could have put him at the end of the game although he is smaller than the other options.

Ultimately the Wolves fought through .issues shots a deficit partly of their own making and pulled out a win giving them a chance in the series.

It was kind of ugly, monster, but I think mucking it up is our best chance of winning what now is a best of three. I’m not sure I thought of the Wolves as being “tough” until recently, but now I do. We’re mostly not happy here with Ju, but we all agree he adds some toughness. Jaden has emerged as a fighter with a unique ability to get under the opponents skin. Rudy and Naz can be tough, and although he doesn’t play much, Bones is a street fighter. And I think game 5 is going to be a street fight.

Yeah, several of us thought Mike had to be in there in the last minute. It wasn’t Finchy’s best game, but a long-overdue heroic 4th quarter performance by Ant kept us alive in this series. Really looking forward to game 5!

[Wolvesfan21]

Also, Ant was a +0 and Randle was a team best +12, can we be done with on/off stats now?

I will say Ju played great defense at times, especially the 4th. But I agree a bit with the short term +/-. A few shots missed or made by your teammates versus the other team and that is a 12 point swing. And you could have played exactly the same in both scenarios.

I think in general it's mostly good though short term though too. But obviously not 100% accurate.

[DNatagal]

It is truly amazing that the Wolves can actually win games with the huge dry spells that the offense goes through. This where Finch is a bit lacking in my view. He does not have a go to offensive playset to get a bucket. The offball movement is so poor with the Wolves when Ant and Randle go Iso. It would be amazing to use the Iso game to generate a backcut. Look at what the Knicks are doing right now, it is Iso Brunson scattered into a high post offball screening system that gets a ton of easy layups.