The talk has been talked, the walk remains, Nuggets @ Wolves GAME THREE GDT

[AbeVigodaLive]

This feels like a 43/18/14 type of Jokic game.

It felt really weird to write that. Those are NBA2K on rookie mode numbers. And amazingly, not unrealistic.

This guy is an idiot!

That's why he's a perpetual third-rate poster on some second-rate team message board.

[rapsuperstar31]

Ayo/Donte: Both were brilliant last night and really fun to watch...the pace they bring, especially when Ant is out, is a big factor in wearing Denver out. A few weeks ago we had anointed Ayo as the running mate to Ant in the starting lineup next season. I hope this doesn't happen. As hard working and spectacular as Ayo is getting to the basket, there remains the mystery of his substandard +/- and on/off numbers. In the admittedly too small 3 game sample size, Donte is an absurdly brilliant +48.3 on/off...we score 18 more points per 100 possessions when he is on compared to off, and hold Denver to 30.3 points fewer! In contrast Ayo is at -15.5 in the three games. Too small a sample size, you say? True, but Donte also led the team in on/off for the entire season. They both hustle their tails off, but for some reason, Donte's hustle is consistently more effective. Ayo's best role has to continue to be as an energy guy off the bench, both for the rest of the playoffs and next season.

Since Dosunmu arrived, we've discussed it in largely "either/or" terms when it comes to him and Divincenzo.



They seemed to be playing with some legit chemistry yesterday. How often will they play together when Edwards is playing 35 mpg? Dunno. But I want both.

That is certainly dooable if we ever want to go small ball in future years, sliding Jaden to pf. We've seen Ayo be a good defensive rebounder at times, and when they challenge Jaden to rebound he can do it as well when he's not chasing Murray all over the court.

[60WinTim]

Maybe the starting lineup next season is Ayo, Donte, ANT, Jaden and Rudy…

[Edit: rap beat me to it! ]

[FNG]

What's funny (and I've pointed it out numerous times) is that DDV has an awful net rating and net on/off rating track record over his career in the playoffs. This is with multiple teams in multiple contexts and with a large sample size.

I know he isn't the ideal fit in the starting lineup because he isn't really a PG (Ayo is certainly more point guard-y than DDV), but he's close to ideal with all the "white space" he fills up without the ball in his hands: Shooting, off ball movement, chasing down loose balls, pesky defense, etc. If anything, Ayo has lifted his game as he can pair up with him more with Ayo taking on the more difficult defensive assignment.

I'm concerned about Ant, as you would think after the week off with no games and now shaking the rust off he would be starting to get into a rythym. But I'm not seeing it and there is no reason to think it's going to get any better at this point. So far I'd call his play "adequate". He still draws the opposing team's best defender and attracts a ton of attention, but he obviously isn't shooting the ball well and seems a step slow at times.

I'm with you on Ant. While I think we now can win this series because we're finally playing up to our standard and potential. His injury sounds like the type that needs months of rest to get better, not just a week or a couple. Continuing to play won't help it either.

So with an Ant at 70-80% or whatever number you put on it, we are a very long shot of making the Finals.

With Ant healthy I'd give us a slight chance, with him hobbled. I'm going to say impossible.

I think it's fair to be worried about Ant, WF and Q, and I would also call his play so far only "adequate". But I don't agree that winning this series is impossible if Ant's health remains the same, so I'm remaining optimistic. I didn't like seeing him limping to the locker room twice last night, but I tend to think it's rust more than the knee that is hurting his performance. Here's why I'm not as concerned about the knee as most here:

1) Dane Moore sitting courtside tweeted that Ant looked healthy. I think he mis-tweeted, because a guy who is limping to the locker room can't be deemed healthy. I assume he meant to say it didn't appear his knee was impacting his play that much.
2) And that matches what I am seeing on my TV screen. I don't think he could show the occasional bursts of athleticism he has shown if the knee was really limiting him. His shot has been off to be sure, but he looks quite mobile and athletic on the defensive end. And it shows up in the stats...the Wolves are giving up 14.8 fewer points per 100 possessions when Ant is on the court versus off! He seems to have "flipped the switch" on defense.
3) Finally, we're winning with this subpar version of Ant, because Denver is missing two key players and our role players are so much better than theirs. We've won the non-Ant minutes in the past two wins by 6 and 5 points. I'm not saying we don't need Ant...just that our supporting cast is helping us overcome his poor outside shooting.

Ant has been much more effective driving to the rim than jacking up 3-pointers and Denver's lack of interior defense fits into that very nicely...he may be only 25% on threes, but he is 16 for 31 on layups and midrange shots. You can bet Finchy and Ant's teammates are encouraging him to keep attacking the rim. Now looking ahead (sorry, guys), this will not be as effective a strategy if we end up going against Wemby in the next round. I'll be cheering for Portland along with the Wolves in the first round!

[Monster]

What's funny (and I've pointed it out numerous times) is that DDV has an awful net rating and net on/off rating track record over his career in the playoffs. This is with multiple teams in multiple contexts and with a large sample size.

I know he isn't the ideal fit in the starting lineup because he isn't really a PG (Ayo is certainly more point guard-y than DDV), but he's close to ideal with all the "white space" he fills up without the ball in his hands: Shooting, off ball movement, chasing down loose balls, pesky defense, etc. If anything, Ayo has lifted his game as he can pair up with him more with Ayo taking on the more difficult defensive assignment.

I'm concerned about Ant, as you would think after the week off with no games and now shaking the rust off he would be starting to get into a rythym. But I'm not seeing it and there is no reason to think it's going to get any better at this point. So far I'd call his play "adequate". He still draws the opposing team's best defender and attracts a ton of attention, but he obviously isn't shooting the ball well and seems a step slow at times.

I'm with you on Ant. While I think we now can win this series because we're finally playing up to our standard and potential. His injury sounds like the type that needs months of rest to get better, not just a week or a couple. Continuing to play won't help it either.

So with an Ant at 70-80% or whatever number you put on it, we are a very long shot of making the Finals.

With Ant healthy I'd give us a slight chance, with him hobbled. I'm going to say impossible.

Yeah, it would be a really tough road. It also clouds the offseason a bit because assuming we fall short, the front office will be left wondering what if Ant was 100%? Would they maintain the continuity theme we came into this season with or still look to make some pretty big changes.

What I think we have learned about Connelly is he is comfortable with continuity. He also has no qualms about shaking up the roster too. Almost regardless I can see him looking at any options to improve the team. I mean that is his job but there is a real track record of him doing that since taking the job.

[FNG]

This feels like a 43/18/14 type of Jokic game.

It felt really weird to write that. Those are NBA2K on rookie mode numbers. And amazingly, not unrealistic.

This guy is an idiot!

That's why he's a perpetual third-rate poster on some second-rate team message board.

Tim, please ban this poster...we simply can't have takes like this muddying up this board.

While you're at it, please ban the knucklehead who said Jokic was going to be much better on defense in Game 3 because of Jaden's comments.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

[FNG]

Maybe the starting lineup next season is Ayo, Donte, ANT, Jaden and Rudy…

[Edit: rap beat me to it! ]

As fun as it has been watching Ayo and Donte running the court together, I would be concerned about starting a 185-pound PF next to a 6'4" SF. If Julius is traded on the offseason, I have to believe TC will be looking to get back or sign a non ball-dominant, physical PF to replace him. Also, Ant's deliberate style somewhat negates what Donte/Ayo bring to the table when out there together. Donte and Ayo will always get some moments together, but I think it's more likely to be when Ant is off the court.

[Monster]

What's funny (and I've pointed it out numerous times) is that DDV has an awful net rating and net on/off rating track record over his career in the playoffs. This is with multiple teams in multiple contexts and with a large sample size.

I know he isn't the ideal fit in the starting lineup because he isn't really a PG (Ayo is certainly more point guard-y than DDV), but he's close to ideal with all the "white space" he fills up without the ball in his hands: Shooting, off ball movement, chasing down loose balls, pesky defense, etc. If anything, Ayo has lifted his game as he can pair up with him more with Ayo taking on the more difficult defensive assignment.

I'm concerned about Ant, as you would think after the week off with no games and now shaking the rust off he would be starting to get into a rythym. But I'm not seeing it and there is no reason to think it's going to get any better at this point. So far I'd call his play "adequate". He still draws the opposing team's best defender and attracts a ton of attention, but he obviously isn't shooting the ball well and seems a step slow at times.

I'm with you on Ant. While I think we now can win this series because we're finally playing up to our standard and potential. His injury sounds like the type that needs months of rest to get better, not just a week or a couple. Continuing to play won't help it either.

So with an Ant at 70-80% or whatever number you put on it, we are a very long shot of making the Finals.

With Ant healthy I'd give us a slight chance, with him hobbled. I'm going to say impossible.

I think it's fair to be worried about Ant, WF and Q, and I would also call his play so far only "adequate". But I don't agree that winning this series is impossible if Ant's health remains the same, so I'm remaining optimistic. I didn't like seeing him limping to the locker room twice last night, but I tend to think it's rust more than the knee that is hurting his performance. Here's why I'm not as concerned about the knee as most here:

1) Dane Moore sitting courtside tweeted that Ant looked healthy. I think he mis-tweeted, because a guy who is limping to the locker room can't be deemed healthy. I assume he meant to say it didn't appear his knee was impacting his play that much.
2) And that matches what I am seeing on my TV screen. I don't think he could show the occasional bursts of athleticism he has shown if the knee was really limiting him. His shot has been off to be sure, but he looks quite mobile and athletic on the defensive end. And it shows up in the stats...the Wolves are giving up 14.8 fewer points per 100 possessions when Ant is on the court versus off! He seems to have "flipped the switch" on defense.
3) Finally, we're winning with this subpar version of Ant, because Denver is missing two key players and our role players are so much better than theirs. We've won the non-Ant minutes in the past two wins by 6 and 5 points. I'm not saying we don't need Ant...just that our supporting cast is helping us overcome his poor outside shooting.

Ant has been much more effective driving to the rim than jacking up 3-pointers and Denver's lack of interior defense fits into that very nicely...he may be only 25% on threes, but he is 16 for 31 on layups and midrange shots. You can bet Finchy and Ant's teammates are encouraging him to keep attacking the rim. Now looking ahead (sorry, guys), this will not be as effective a strategy if we end up going against Wemby in the next round. I'll be cheering for Portland along with the Wolves in the first round!

Right now the question after 3 games of the playoffs is when Naz Reid comes to the party. To me the Wolves have the talent on their roster to make a run. Whether or not they can put it together in addition to how well other teams play is the question. I'm not saying I expect the Wolves to even get to the WCF again but I think this roster is simply a better version than what got them to the WCF previously. Instead of basically NAW they have Ayo and Bones. Donte is playing better than last year on the playoffs were quite frankly he overall kinda sucked especially considering how valuable he should have been. Meanwhile the Wolves have Conley and Anderson they can play of they need a vet presence. Again I get the teams they are likely to face are a big challenge but the roster has more juice to it imo than it did a year ago even with Edwards having some question about how healthy he would be especially against teams with significantly better defensive ability than the Nuggets. First they need to beat the Nuggets tho.

[AussieWolf3]

Busy day for me so Im not fully caught up on the conversation, but for whatever my two cents is worth I don't the injury was Ant's problem last night it was the fouls.

He obviously not 100% but he was pretty alright in the 1st quarter. He had a some tough and 1s, some nice playmakes, aggressive on the boards and great on defense.

Once the fouls started piling up it seemed really throw off his rhythm or whatever and for some reason his answer to that was to start chucking. All in all that's on him, needs to be more disciplined as a defender even if a few of them were weak calls and you gotta be ready to play when you're back in

I expect a bounce back but I'm still concerned about what happens going forward

[Mnwild1128]

Busy day for me so Im not fully caught up on the conversation, but for whatever my two cents is worth I don't the injury was Ant's problem last night it was the fouls.

He obviously not 100% but he was pretty alright in the 1st quarter. He had a some tough and 1s, some nice playmakes, aggressive on the boards and great on defense.

Once the fouls started piling up it seemed really throw off his rhythm or whatever and for some reason his answer to that was to start chucking. All in all that's on him, needs to be more disciplined as a defender even if a few of them were weak calls and you gotta be ready to play when you're back in

I expect a bounce back but I'm still concerned about what happens going forward

I am expecting a monster performance by Ant in game 4. Highly doubt he has 4 straight medicore games in the playoffs.