Will the switch be flipped? Nuggets/Wolves Game 1

[AussieWolf3]

We need a coach with a system around running the ball.

I think we have the coach who can put in that system, but we don't have the star player who can flourish in a system like that. Folks will disagree with that, but I think it's the truth.

To be fair, he could certainly flourish, but the will to do so just isn't there.
It was surprising today to see how slow they played, passing up a lot of opportunities to run. The Nuggets are slow as hell, run on em!

[thedoper]

We need a coach with a system around running the ball.

I think we have the coach who can put in that system, but we don't have the star player who can flourish in a system like that. Folks will disagree with that, but I think it's the truth.

I think Ant and Finch have become too comfortable with each other, they have run their course. Ant, Ayo, Jaden and Naz all focusing on transition is the way to push this thing forward. Playing Kyle and Comley just for safety flies in the face of that. I dont believe its on Ant.

[rapsuperstar31]

We need a coach with a system around running the ball.

I think we have the coach who can put in that system, but we don't have the star player who can flourish in a system like that. Folks will disagree with that, but I think it's the truth.

I think Ant and Finch have become too comfortable with each other, they have run their course. Ant, Ayo, Jaden and Naz all focusing on transition is the way to push this thing forward. Playing Kyle and Comley just for safety flies in the face of that. I dont believe its on Ant.

Ant has also played most of his career with KAT/Rudy or Julius/Rudy. He has worked hard on his game each summer to fill in the gaps in between the players on this team. Rudy was clogging the paint, so he learned how to shoot threes. If the team needs to run more next season, he will work on it in the summer.

[mjs34]

Ant needs to be shutdown for the season before this becomes a chronic injury if he isn't already there.
This team has zero chance of winning a title so why risk our future.

We need a coach that can implement some type of offense along with a pg that can run it. We need to stop throwing more and more on Ant's plate, and instead find ways to make his job easier. That should be our main focus in the off season when we replace Finch with someone more qualified.

Rudy played a good first half while Joker was trying to take him in isolation. Not so much when they were running more PnR on him. Finch has to understand that you can't run drop coverage with Rudy falling back into the restricted area. Joker is about 15 pounds lighter this year which is why Rudy was able to body him up (unlike last couple of seasons). Rudy needs to play Joker straight up and guard against the three and take away some of the passing lanes. We need to take advantage of Rudy's lateral ability against Joker.

I thought someone stated earlier that Joker had one of his worst games. Not sure what they saw, but Joker had a tripe double with decent efficiency from the field.

[FNG]

Reflecting on game 1 a day later. I thought we played hard and gave us fans some hope both with the 10-point first quarter lead and the late game rally. Here were the bright points:

Rudy: He was active at both ends and finished around the rim unusually well. Jaden said if Rudy continues to play like that, we will win. I'm not so sure at all.
Jaden: He missed all 4 of his treys and was a team-worst -17, but I thought he played well. His length was a big factor in Murray going 0 for 8 beyond the arc, and only 4 of the fouls on Murray were his. I also liked his aggressiveness on offense and the boards.
Donte: Unlike a few of his teammates, the moment didn't seem to big for him. His quick start with two treys (neither of which I saw...thank you Prime) was instrumental in getting us the big lead at the end of the first quarter. But for some reason, the Wolves quit looking for him on offense as the game progressed. He also showed his usual hustle including one of the most spectacular dives I've seen trying to keep a ball from going out. I know many of us have anointed Ayo is the starter next year in place of Donte, but I'm not on board yet.
SloMo and Mike: It was only a combined 18 minutes, but they were very good minutes. Mike taking a charge against Gordon felt like the kind of play that was going to bring us a win. I don't expect either of them to play very much the rest of the series but it has to be comforting for Finchy (and us) to know he can turn to them.

And the negatives:

Naz: His slump continues. He made one of his two treys and showed the same footwork that allows him to get to the rim, but he wasn't able to make the shot, And if he's not scoring, we all know he doesn't provide much value. Maybe it's the shoulder or maybe it's attitude...but something has to change with Naz to make us competitive.

Ju: Scoring 16 points on almost 50% shooting should mean a good game for Ju...it wasn't. Ju is at his best when he is distributing, and we're not going to win very often when he only has 2 assists. I actually thought his defense was okay, although he did get lucky a few times when his man missed an open shot,

Ayo: His box score looked good with 14 points on 10 shots, and he showed his customary 100% hustle. But I thought he had a very poor game. Frankly, he looked nervous the entire time he was out there, and he really did nothing on offense to help his teammates out. And he was a disaster trying to guard Murray...completely unable to keep in front of him. I'm a big fan of Ayo and expect him to play better once he gets past those jitters.

Ant: Maybe he's hurt, maybe he isn't. He didn't look hurt to me on his three blocked shots or when he got to the rim several times. But Ant is the straw that stirs the drink for us, and that drink just wasn't stirred yesterday. As Chris Hine said on Dane's pod, Ant views Murray as competition for top 10 status. I agree...they are both on the cusp of breaking into that top 10. But we need Ant to outplay Jamal in order for us to beat Denver...just like he has regularly done before this season. And yesterday Jamal looked like the top 10 player with his 30/7/5 and +13 despite having Jaden hanging on him much of the game, and he totally outplayed Ant. If things continue this way, many of us will be watching the Wild rather than the Wolves when they are on at the same time.

Hyland: A Bones jolt would have been really nice yesterday, but Finchy saw early it wasn't going to happen. I had no problem with him being limited to 5 minutes,

So a tough start, but all is not lost. If we can steal Game 2, things will look very bright. But it ain't going to happen without Ant, Ju and Naz doing what they need to do.

[Wolvesfan21]

Ant needs to be shutdown for the season before this becomes a chronic injury if he isn't already there.
This team has zero chance of winning a title so why risk our future.

We need a coach that can implement some type of offense along with a pg that can run it. We need to stop throwing more and more on Ant's plate, and instead find ways to make his job easier. That should be our main focus in the off season when we replace Finch with someone more qualified.

Rudy played a good first half while Joker was trying to take him in isolation. Not so much when they were running more PnR on him. Finch has to understand that you can't run drop coverage with Rudy falling back into the restricted area. Joker is about 15 pounds lighter this year which is why Rudy was able to body him up (unlike last couple of seasons). Rudy needs to play Joker straight up and guard against the three and take away some of the passing lanes. We need to take advantage of Rudy's lateral ability against Joker.

I thought someone stated earlier that Joker had one of his worst games. Not sure what they saw, but Joker had a tripe double with decent efficiency from the field.

Shutting him down might be the right play. With his injury and repeated knee issues or chronic issue, if I were him if he hasn't already go see some specialists. Not just one, but several. If you need to go to Mayo clinic or Germany or where ever. Maybe he and the team already know everything needed to know. But I am concerned also that his best course may be to simply take 2-3 months off and rest for the long term. We know he likes to work, but if you can't stay on the court during the season then the work is useless.

Oh and I think we saw Jokers F game. Thats as bad as he gets.

[AussieWolf3]

Ant: Maybe he's hurt, maybe he isn't. He didn't look hurt to me on his three blocked shots or when he got to the rim several times. But Ant is the straw that stirs the drink for us, and that drink just wasn't stirred yesterday. As Chris Hine said on Dane's pod, Ant views Murray as competition for top 10 status. I agree...they are both on the cusp of breaking into that top 10. But we need Ant to outplay Jamal in order for us to beat Denver...just like he has regularly done before this season. And yesterday Jamal looked like the top 10 player with his 30/7/5 and +13 despite having Jaden hanging on him much of the game, and he totally outplayed Ant. If things continue this way, many of us will be watching the Wild rather than the Wolves when they are on at the same time.

So a tough start, but all is not lost. If we can steal Game 2, things will look very bright. But it ain't going to happen without Ant, Ju and Naz doing what they need to do.

I don't disagree with most of what you've said, but I'm getting a bit frustrated with everyone wanting the world from this kid.
Is he the teams superstars and therefore should have the highest expectations? Yes
Should we give him any grace for still needing to find his wind and his legs after the long absence? That's up to you.

But the reality is he was 22/9/7 and -3 in a game they lost by 11 which was 2nd best among the starters. It wasn't amazing game by any stretch but he is far down my list of people to blame. The dude's hustling for rebounds and for 3/4th of the game moved the ball well.
The power outage in the 3rd is definitely on him at least 50% but it's just wild how much we expect of this guy. Play great defense, play point guard, be a bucket... It's just a little over the top.

He needs to play better but even top form Ant isn't going to win this series if Naz, Julius and to a lesser extent Jaden can't play better

[Wolvesfan21]

Ant: Maybe he's hurt, maybe he isn't. He didn't look hurt to me on his three blocked shots or when he got to the rim several times. But Ant is the straw that stirs the drink for us, and that drink just wasn't stirred yesterday. As Chris Hine said on Dane's pod, Ant views Murray as competition for top 10 status. I agree...they are both on the cusp of breaking into that top 10. But we need Ant to outplay Jamal in order for us to beat Denver...just like he has regularly done before this season. And yesterday Jamal looked like the top 10 player with his 30/7/5 and +13 despite having Jaden hanging on him much of the game, and he totally outplayed Ant. If things continue this way, many of us will be watching the Wild rather than the Wolves when they are on at the same time.

So a tough start, but all is not lost. If we can steal Game 2, things will look very bright. But it ain't going to happen without Ant, Ju and Naz doing what they need to do.

I don't disagree with most of what you've said, but I'm getting a bit frustrated with everyone wanting the world from this kid.
Is he the teams superstars and therefore should have the highest expectations? Yes
Should we give him any grace for still needing to find his wind and his legs after the long absence? That's up to you.

But the reality is he was 22/9/7 and -3 in a game they lost by 11 which was 2nd best among the starters. It wasn't amazing game by any stretch but he is far down my list of people to blame. The dude's hustling for rebounds and for 3/4th of the game moved the ball well.
The power outage in the 3rd is definitely on him at least 50% but it's just wild how much we expect of this guy. Play great defense, play point guard, be a bucket... It's just a little over the top.

He needs to play better but even top form Ant isn't going to win this series if Naz, Julius and to a lesser extent Jaden can't play better

You are correct that many of the other dudes simply didn't play well enough for us to win. I've said before if we don't get Ju's best version, we're just cooked. And thats why I was picking Denver, he showed me not much these last 30-40 whatever games to believe he all of a sudden starts playing great ball.

Now saying that, I think we also need Ant to become a top 1-3 player for us to win it all. Are the expectations a bit ridiculous? Sure, but the standard of winning a championship against 30 other teams is ridiculous to start with. It's a tall ask. No question about it. So I have been critical of him only because I actually think he can become much better and in that Jokic/Wemby/SGA category if even BETTER and win MVP eventually surpassing them all.

I'm kind of with FNG a bit, but I also think he was fine. Coming back from time off, still not 100%. He was fine. We probably need more then fine to beat Denver though. Isn't that what we want?

[AussieWolf3]

This isn't really to make the above point, as I just think it's a crazy stat, but Ant was a game best +26.6 net on/off. Better than anyone on either team.

Ant: +26.6
Gobert: +7.3
DDV: +25.7
Jaden: -52.6
Randle: -5.4
Ried: -16.2
Ayo: +1.5
Anderson: +10.8
Conley: +18.7


Jokic: -4.1
Murray: +18.1
Gordon: +4.1
Johnson: -34.6
Bruan: -31.9
All Denver's bench players were positive.

[mjs34]

Ant needs to be shutdown for the season before this becomes a chronic injury if he isn't already there.
This team has zero chance of winning a title so why risk our future.

We need a coach that can implement some type of offense along with a pg that can run it. We need to stop throwing more and more on Ant's plate, and instead find ways to make his job easier. That should be our main focus in the off season when we replace Finch with someone more qualified.

Rudy played a good first half while Joker was trying to take him in isolation. Not so much when they were running more PnR on him. Finch has to understand that you can't run drop coverage with Rudy falling back into the restricted area. Joker is about 15 pounds lighter this year which is why Rudy was able to body him up (unlike last couple of seasons). Rudy needs to play Joker straight up and guard against the three and take away some of the passing lanes. We need to take advantage of Rudy's lateral ability against Joker.

I thought someone stated earlier that Joker had one of his worst games. Not sure what they saw, but Joker had a tripe double with decent efficiency from the field.

Shutting him down might be the right play. With his injury and repeated knee issues or chronic issue, if I were him if he hasn't already go see some specialists. Not just one, but several. If you need to go to Mayo clinic or Germany or where ever. Maybe he and the team already know everything needed to know. But I am concerned also that his best course may be to simply take 2-3 months off and rest for the long term. We know he likes to work, but if you can't stay on the court during the season then the work is useless.

Oh and I think we saw Jokers F game. Thats as bad as he gets.

If Ant wanted to go to the Mayo he can walk across the skyway. Mayo square is right next door to the wolves practive facility. Been in there many times for the knees.

With regard to Joker's game, I think Rudy surprised him when he bodied him up. Rudy was not able to do that in the past seasons.


FNG, I came away with totally different take on Ant vs Murray. They had similar TS% with Ant posting more rebs, and blks with also one more turnover. Even with 16 FT's (deserved or not) Murray had simliar efficiency.