Minnesota Sports Forum

Just a terrific win on the road against a team with 2 certain HOFers who were almost unstoppable late in the game...69 combined points on 43 shots. Conley said the Wolves worked mostly on defense in their two practices this week (he said offense comes naturally...you just go out and ball), and our improvement on defense was clear tonight. I loved the way Finchie kept changing defensive assignments (Conley on Bullock was brilliant because he leads the league in corner 3's...and he was held to 6 points).

Kudos to Finchie also for benching Rudy for much of the 4th quarter when it was clear Dallas was going to emphasize 3-pointers. We needed perimeter defense, not rim protection. But nobody was going to stop Kyrie and Luka in the 4th...until the huge final possession.

This is Ant's team, and a lot of our future also depends on Jaden, but what a blessing to have savvy veterans like SloMo, Conley, Rivers and Prince to turn to down the stretch. TC has been ripped mercilessly about his two big deals, but I love the balance in this roster he has assembled. We're finally seeing what I love in a team...effective scrambling defense and great ball movement while also protecting the ball. This is a team I can really get behind.

We get Washington next, and they're playing well...but if we show up like we did tonight, I think we will be fine. I'm hoping that our new veteran PG is not going to allow the letdowns against clearly inferior teams that has been the hallmark of this season. Let's go Wolves!

60WinTim wrote:

Phenom's_Revenge wrote:If you haven't yet, you should count the Wolves among the likes of the rest of the West. Teams need to hang with the Wolves. Everyone is making a deal about who the Wolves face the rest of the way but guess what? They have to face the Wolves too.

This team has built up some grit this season and I love it.

While this is true, the Wolves have a lot of those games on the road where they have not faired as well. But the performance by the new-look Wolves on the road against a very good Mavs team is quite encouraging. I did not see this win coming.

I had a good feeling about this game considering the Wolves had a 2 day break. The Wolves are at the top of games played. At one point within the week they had played four more games than Sacramento, for example. The silver lining is now they have a tad fewer games the rest of the way.

FNG wrote:Just a terrific win on the road against a team with 2 certain HOFers who were almost unstoppable late in the game...69 combined points on 43 shots. Conley said the Wolves worked mostly on defense in their two practices this week (he said offense comes naturally...you just go out and ball), and our improvement on defense was clear tonight. I loved the way Finchie kept changing defensive assignments (Conley on Bullock was brilliant because he leads the league in corner 3's...and he was held to 6 points).

Kudos to Finchie also for benching Rudy for much of the 4th quarter when it was clear Dallas was going to emphasize 3-pointers. We needed perimeter defense, not rim protection. But nobody was going to stop Kyrie and Luka in the 4th...until the huge final possession.

This is Ant's team, and a lot of our future also depends on Jaden, but what a blessing to have savvy veterans like SloMo, Conley, Rivers and Prince to turn to down the stretch. TC has been ripped mercilessly about his two big deals, but I love the balance in this roster he has assembled. We're finally seeing what I love in a team...effective scrambling defense and great ball movement while also protecting the ball. This is a team I can really get behind.

We get Washington next, and they're playing well...but if we show up like we did tonight, I think we will be fine. I'm hoping that our new veteran PG is not going to allow the letdowns against clearly inferior teams that has been the hallmark of this season. Let's go Wolves!

Yes a great win. I agree with most of your post, but I don't think TC has been ripped mercilessly for the Conley deal. The reaction to that deal has been mixed and mild on both sides. He's also been praised universally for the Anderson signing and his draft picks. He's been ripped for only one thing - the Gobert deal - and deservedly so.

Like you, I love the effective scrambling defense we've seen recently. It reminds me of last season and it was one of the things I loved about that team. :) The Wolves have committed more turnovers per game this season than last, but the recent trend the last few games is really encouraging. Conley protects the ball and knows how to run the offense. Ant is maturing and with experience he's less turnover prone.

The really exciting thing about this team is the development of Edwards and McDaniels. It looks like we have our MJ and Scottie. I'm not saying that either one is or will be as good as Jordan or Pippen. But it's the same dynamic - two gifted two-way wings developing together. Watching those two shut down Kyrie and Luka at then end of last night's game reminded me of my days as a Bulls fan watching MJ and Scottie. It was a thing of beauty.

Thanks for the correction, Lip. Yes, TC has actually not been ripped here for the Conley deal...the vote was 22-2 in favor! I meant ripped for the Gobert deal, which I agree is worthy of different opinions.

Rudy Gobert last night:

? 21 PTS
? 14 REB
? 9-9 FG

Gobert now has eight career 20p/10r games in which he hasn't missed a shot from the field, the most such games since the ABA-NBA merger:

8 -- Rudy Gobert
6 -- Dwight Howard
4 -- Artis Gilmore

Reggie Bullock is a great defender, so they had him on Ant most of the game. Didn't matter. Seemed like Ant got by him and to the hoop every time he wanted to.

In a related matter, Bullock and I have the exact same hair style...

FNG wrote:Reggie Bullock is a great defender, so they had him on Ant most of the game. Didn't matter. Seemed like Ant got by him and to the hoop every time he wanted to.

In a related matter, Bullock and I have the exact same hair style...

Lol. I suspect that's all you have in common with Reggie. :)

lipoli390 wrote:

FNG wrote:Reggie Bullock is a great defender, so they had him on Ant most of the game. Didn't matter. Seemed like Ant got by him and to the hoop every time he wanted to.

In a related matter, Bullock and I have the exact same hair style...

Lol. I suspect that's all you have in common with Reggie. :)

Wrong...neither of us can stop Anthony Edwards!

FNG wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

FNG wrote:Reggie Bullock is a great defender, so they had him on Ant most of the game. Didn't matter. Seemed like Ant got by him and to the hoop every time he wanted to.

In a related matter, Bullock and I have the exact same hair style...

Lol. I suspect that's all you have in common with Reggie. :)

Wrong...neither of us can stop Anthony Edwards!

I won't dispute that. :)

FNG wrote:Just a terrific win on the road against a team with 2 certain HOFers who were almost unstoppable late in the game...69 combined points on 43 shots. Conley said the Wolves worked mostly on defense in their two practices this week (he said offense comes naturally...you just go out and ball), and our improvement on defense was clear tonight. I loved the way Finchie kept changing defensive assignments (Conley on Bullock was brilliant because he leads the league in corner 3's...and he was held to 6 points).

Kudos to Finchie also for benching Rudy for much of the 4th quarter when it was clear Dallas was going to emphasize 3-pointers. We needed perimeter defense, not rim protection. But nobody was going to stop Kyrie and Luka in the 4th...until the huge final possession.

This is Ant's team, and a lot of our future also depends on Jaden, but what a blessing to have savvy veterans like SloMo, Conley, Rivers and Prince to turn to down the stretch. TC has been ripped mercilessly about his two big deals, but I love the balance in this roster he has assembled. We're finally seeing what I love in a team...effective scrambling defense and great ball movement while also protecting the ball. This is a team I can really get behind.

We get Washington next, and they're playing well...but if we show up like we did tonight, I think we will be fine. I'm hoping that our new veteran PG is not going to allow the letdowns against clearly inferior teams that has been the hallmark of this season. Let's go Wolves!

Maybe someone has mentioned this but now with Conley on board the Wolves now are much more playoff seasoned than last year especially in terms of who will be handling the ball. Of course having a guy that's been there done that In Gobert is nice too but there will be times where he isn't going to be on the floor. Meanwhile we have Conley Anderson and to some extent Rivers all with playoff experience to either make a play or settle things down and not screw things up. Just because a guy has playoff experience doesn't mean he is gonna for sure be better than a guy that lacks it but I do feel that's a positive for this roster if the Wolves can get into the playoffs and participate in an actual playoff series. The future of who will handle the ball other than Edwards is not clear whatsoever but for now we have a couple really smart players helping things out for a while. That's not a bad thing.

I'll also add that this offseason while there maybe isn't a clear starting job wide open with Conley on the roster (unless he gets moved) there is clearly a spot open to play next to Ant in the near future. There may be a reasonably talented young or youngish player that sees an opportunity to play rotation minutes (especially depending on what other guards leave in FA) with a chance to work themselves into a starting spot once Conley moves on. I can't think of anyone that fits this description at the moment but it's something I'll be thinking about.