AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Sun May 24, 2026 9:31 pm
"serious teams don't get blown out in the playoffs!!!!"
Is that referencing the Wolves getting blown out by like 30+ three times versus the Spurs? I get once it might happen. But 2 now even 3 times in a series, yeah. No bueno.
The Wolves blew out OKC last year in the one win we had against them in our playoff series, meaning that yes, even serious/vastly superior teams can be blown out. That's the NBA for you.
Having said that, OKC might be starting to run out of answers with their injuries piling up (JDubs and Ajay Mitchell) in the same way the Wolves did. Against Denver Finch kept being able to pull a rabbit out of his hat despite the injuries but eventually folded against a young and healthy Spurs team.
OKC had the likes of JWill, Caruso, and McCain come up aces in Game 3 but now that the Spurs are respecting those guys and paying more attention, they suddenly are missing more shots. Terrence Shannon Jr. can empathize....
AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Sun May 24, 2026 9:31 pm
"serious teams don't get blown out in the playoffs!!!!"
Is that referencing the Wolves getting blown out by like 30+ three times versus the Spurs? I get once it might happen. But 2 now even 3 times in a series, yeah. No bueno.
By definition the Wolves weren't a serious team after getting blown out in the 2nd round.
However, there was a common refrain after the first blow out loss that championship teams don't get blown out.
Well both the Spurs and Thunder have blown each other out now and one of them is garunteed a finals appearance, which certainly makes them both "a serious team"
It's just silly when people say stuff like that is all, even in the end they were right about the Wolves. Acting like eventual champs or even conference winner don't have a big loss along the way is just not truth
AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Sun May 24, 2026 9:31 pm
"serious teams don't get blown out in the playoffs!!!!"
Is that referencing the Wolves getting blown out by like 30+ three times versus the Spurs? I get once it might happen. But 2 now even 3 times in a series, yeah. No bueno.
The Wolves blew out OKC last year in the one win we had against them in our playoff series, meaning that yes, even serious/vastly superior teams can be blown out. That's the NBA for you.
Having said that, OKC might be starting to run out of answers with their injuries piling up (JDubs and Ajay Mitchell) in the same way the Wolves did. Against Denver Finch kept being able to pull a rabbit out of his hat despite the injuries but eventually folded against a young and healthy Spurs team.
OKC had the likes of JWill, Caruso, and McCain come up aces in Game 3 but now that the Spurs are respecting those guys and paying more attention, they suddenly are missing more shots. Terrence Shannon Jr. can empathize....
It's been miraculous that NYK have been healthy comparatively.
WildWolf2813 wrote: ↑Mon May 25, 2026 10:08 pm
Knicks in the finals and if they win I might not recognize how the city looks
Congrats to the Knicks! 1999 was their last Finals appearance.
Not a single player on their squad received a regular season MVP vote and the series MVP Jalen Brunson has had a negative On/Off rating for three of the past four seasons, including 2025-26. Imagine that!
Also, it gives ammo to the "Fire Finch!" crowd, as the biggest offseason change they made was firing Thibs and hiring Mike Brown.
WildWolf2813 wrote: ↑Mon May 25, 2026 10:08 pm
Knicks in the finals and if they win I might not recognize how the city looks
Congrats to the Knicks! 1999 was their last Finals appearance.
Not a single player on their squad received a regular season MVP vote and the series MVP Jalen Brunson has had a negative On/Off rating for three of the past four seasons, including 2025-26. Imagine that!
Also, it gives ammo to the "Fire Finch!" crowd, as the biggest offseason change they made was firing Thibs and hiring Mike Brown.
Yeah you just never know what the right call is on a coach. Milwaukee fired their coach mid season when they were one of the top two or so seeds a few years ago, and the team completely crumbled. New York fires Thibs, and everyone panned the Brown hire as more of the same, and they make it to the finals. Tim Connelly has his work cut out for him to make the right personnel decisions to get us to the promise land in the next few years.
WF, I agree that Ant has more frequent effective defensive moments than Brunson...another reason I would not consider trading Ant for him. I actually find Julius and Ant mirror images of each other on defense...both have some impressive physical attributes and have some occasional one-on-one effective defensive stands that make you say "Wow, nice...now why can't he do that more often?". In contrast, I never find myself impressed with Brunson's defense.
Very few ball-dominant guys are going to be excellent on defense, too. And Brunson is smaller. And, not all that interested in defense a lot of the time. He does have one defining defensive talent though...
... he led the league in charges drawn.
That's never been a big part of the Wolves gameplan, yet they've still been a good defensive team. Still, it was startling to hear that Shannon had FIVE charges in the postseason... but the entire team only had (6? or 9?) in the first 82 games of the season. That's a crazy stat.
WildWolf2813 wrote: ↑Mon May 25, 2026 10:08 pm
Knicks in the finals and if they win I might not recognize how the city looks
Congrats to the Knicks! 1999 was their last Finals appearance.
Not a single player on their squad received a regular season MVP vote and the series MVP Jalen Brunson has had a negative On/Off rating for three of the past four seasons, including 2025-26. Imagine that!
Also, it gives ammo to the "Fire Finch!" crowd, as the biggest offseason change they made was firing Thibs and hiring Mike Brown.
Yeah you just never know what the right call is on a coach.
It's why I rarely have much of an opinion on coaching. It seems mysterious to me why some coaches click with a group of guys and then that same coach crashes and burns with some other group of guys. The Knicks have the #1 defense AND #1 offense in the Playoffs so far. In the regular season they were better on both offense and defense than the year prior. Why!? What is so different about them? Being healthy has certainly helped, but that can't explain 100% of it.
