Duke13 wrote:It's inexplicable to me to not have Okogie in the rotation, and have Gorgui in it. I don't know if it's stubbornness by Tibs insisting to play Gorgui because of his contract. Gorgui is a liability in defense and hinders your offense. With our lineup flexibility now you can slide plays down and play Okogie in Gorgui's place which gives you a much better lineup, offensively and defensively. Tibs has no understanding of how important spacing his.
He insists on playing 2 bigs at all times. I fucking hate him.
I agree Duke. It's baffling and frustrating.
People hate on Gorgui a ton here, but what other choice do we have?
You hope he gets in a rhythm so you can trade him or so that he is a serviceable backup.
We have no true C here outside of him, so unless another trade happens - we do need him and could do worse.
If KAT does get hurt is the plan to run Tolliver and Taj at center all game??
The east helped out tonight Utah Phoenix and Denver all lost.
That mighty Jazz team that's been mostly healthy all season is one game up on the Wolves. What is their excuse? The Wolves are in this playoff race folks until they aren't. There isn't that much ground to make up.
I expect the Wolves will eventually finish ahead of Phoenix, Dallas and Sacramento in the standings. So I don't see the Wolves finishing lower than 12th in the West. Although the Wolves have the talent to finish in the top 8, I don't expect a top 8 finish while Thibodeau is head coach.
Assuming no major long-term injuries, I would expect the following teams to finish ahead of the Wolves:
1. Golden State - Still the team to beat in the NBA.
2. Houston - Slow start, but seem to have it together. May not finish 2nd this season
3. Portland - No reason they won't be as good as last season; already look good
4. New Orleans -- No reason they won't be as good this season.
5. Lakers - LeBron is too good not to be a top 5 or 6 team.
6. Memphis - They're for real.
That leaves the Wolves competing with 5 teams -- Denver, Utah, OKC, San Antonio and the Clippers -- for the final 2 playoff spots. That means the Wolves will need to finish ahead of 4 of these teams to make the playoffs. Which 4 will likely finish below the Wolves in the standings?
The Wolves slow start is a significant factor in the Wolves chances of making the playoffs this season. We have the talent to make the playoffs in spite of our slow start, but not the coaching.
Good night for the Wolves with only Dallas winning against the Celtics and all the other East teams helping us out. Wolves are 1.5 games out of 8th place.
monsterpile wrote:Good night for the Wolves with only Dallas winning against the Celtics and all the other East teams helping us out. Wolves are 1.5 games out of 8th place.
Yep, and the Celtics poor recent play makes a home win next week more likely...8-2 in the 10-game stretch is still a possibilty! 1 1/2 out of 8th, and 4 games out of second where the Clippers, Nuggets and Griz are tied...I still think our roster is better than all of them if they can overcome Thibs.
monsterpile wrote:Good night for the Wolves with only Dallas winning against the Celtics and all the other East teams helping us out. Wolves are 1.5 games out of 8th place.
Yep, and the Celtics poor recent play makes a home win next week more likely...8-2 in the 10-game stretch is still a possibilty! 1 1/2 out of 8th, and 4 games out of second where the Clippers, Nuggets and Griz are tied...I still think our roster is better than all of them if they can overcome Thibs.
I would not get overconfident though. Any NBA team can win on any given night. Even if you played 10 teams that you could give us a 80% chance 10 times we should still lose 2 times in those 8 games
bleedspeed177 wrote:We will pass the Jazz, but I doubt we catch the Suns.
(pssssst, bleed...turn your newspaper rightside up. You're looking at the standings upside down)
That said, kek is right...I do get overly exuberant after a couple good double digit wins. It's just as easy for this team to get Thibodeaud and lose two in a row that we should win. I could easily see Thibs playing his starters 50 minutes apiece in Cleveland and then putting them through a 2-hour full court practice Tuesday, leaving them with nothing left in the tank for San Antonio.
