Minnesota Sports Forum

FNG wrote: ↑Fri May 16, 2025 8:54 am

TheFuture wrote: ↑Fri May 16, 2025 7:10 am I think we match well against any team to win the Finals. Then I see the team go up 25 and sink to like 9 and gulp. Then they explode.

I think this is the best chance to win.

Funnily enough I believe the Knicks are the hardest to beat. Brunson is just a Shai with a center that screws Rudy rotations.

Not afraid of Celtics without Tatum.

Pacers I don't know how they're there again.

I think Julius Randle can actually body up Jokic most of the time and let others play free.

Turns out "funnily enough" is a fairly commonly used expression...who knew?

I'm wondering about the reasoning of the two who would rather play OkC instead of Denver.

The rest of these playoffs are going to be really interesting. I don't disagree that we would have a chance against any of the teams, but I also am fairly certain we will be an underdog in any remaining series (barring a significant injury on our opponent), if only because we would not have home court advantage. Here's how I rank the remaining teams from most difficult for us to beat to least difficult, and what I think the Vegas odds might be.

OkC- 150
Indiana -125
Denver -120
Knicks -140 (Vegas will value them higher than I would)
Boston (only because of Tatum out) -115

I am not taking "odds" into my viewpoint. I just actually believe that the Knicks will be the toughest based on matching.

The rest we actually match well with.

TheFuture wrote: ↑Fri May 16, 2025 9:46 am

FNG wrote: ↑Fri May 16, 2025 8:54 am

TheFuture wrote: ↑Fri May 16, 2025 7:10 am I think we match well against any team to win the Finals. Then I see the team go up 25 and sink to like 9 and gulp. Then they explode.

I think this is the best chance to win.

Funnily enough I believe the Knicks are the hardest to beat. Brunson is just a Shai with a center that screws Rudy rotations.

Not afraid of Celtics without Tatum.

Pacers I don't know how they're there again.

I think Julius Randle can actually body up Jokic most of the time and let others play free.

Turns out "funnily enough" is a fairly commonly used expression...who knew?

I'm wondering about the reasoning of the two who would rather play OkC instead of Denver.

The rest of these playoffs are going to be really interesting. I don't disagree that we would have a chance against any of the teams, but I also am fairly certain we will be an underdog in any remaining series (barring a significant injury on our opponent), if only because we would not have home court advantage. Here's how I rank the remaining teams from most difficult for us to beat to least difficult, and what I think the Vegas odds might be.

OkC- 150
Indiana -125
Denver -120
Knicks -140 (Vegas will value them higher than I would)
Boston (only because of Tatum out) -115

I am not taking "odds" into my viewpoint. I just actually believe that the Knicks will be the toughest based on matching.

The rest we actually match well with.

Could be...a Wolves/Knicks final sure would be fun though!

I voted Denver only because there wasn't an option for "bring them all on!"

I just voted now for OKC. Denver might be a lot tougher than history might suggest. But as I mentioned before, going through OKC on our way to a championship would add more to the legend of ANT than just beating Denver again...

When we play at our best we could beat any team left. Ant can take over a game on both ends. Randle has played as well as anyone left in the postseason so far, including defensively. We've got shooting. We've got defense on the perimeter and at the rim. Between Jaden, Ant, and NAW, we have defensive blankets to try to put out fires or keep them from starting, and Rudy's doing a good job defending the paint. We have a lot of lineup flexibility with Naz and Rudy. Offensively, we can win with hot outside shooting, or we can win in the paint. We've been here before, we have reason to be motivated, and we've got a good coaching staff. Since March, with a few embarrassing exceptions, things have really been clicking for us. We're improving as a crunch-time team. Other than Indy (who I think people are sleeping on), I think all the remaining teams have shown some flaws. Boston will have to defend their title without Tatum, assuming they even manage pull off a comeback against the Knicks. Gordon might have a hamstring issue if Denver gets past OKC. There are a lot of reasons to be opTIMistic.

But I wish I felt better about our chances.

I just haven't yet seen the level of sustained focus and intensity in these playoffs that I think it will take.

• We absolutely need to take better care of the ball at all times. We have made some of the dumbest turnovers I've seen from a postseason team.

• We need to sprint back on D better.

• We need to stop whining to the refs.

• We absolutely need to stop fucking around after building leads.

• And while Ant has taken over at times offensively and has played consistently good D this postseason, he's still had moments when he's inexplicably looked mentally checked out, especially early in games. He is our superstar, and if we're going to win it all, we need him to consistently pressure opposing defenses, to handle the ball more alertly, and to make sure he's taking good shots and finishing strong at the rim.

Some of these other playoff series this year have displayed a level of sustained intensity from both sides that it doesn't feel like our games so far this postseason gotten to. We need to get ready to ratchet up to that level.

We can dominate teams. We jumped out to a 29-15 lead in the 1st quarter after falling down 0-1 to the Warriors. We blitzed the Lakers in the 2nd quarter of game 1, outscoring them 38-20.

But can we sustain that kind of intensity for longer stretches? We had a couple dominant regular-season games down the stretch where we were just absolutely locked-in the whole game. But for the level of intensity I think we need to be ready for, I'm thinking back to Denver last year. Remember our defense on Denver in game 2 last year? In the 1st quarter we jumped out to a 28-20 lead, but Denver was still playing really hard despite our defensive intensity. Then what happened? We held them to 15 points in the 2nd. 15! We looked like the '03-'04 Pistons! They came out a bit more ready in the 3rd and scored 25, and then we held them to 20 again in the 4th. They were the defending champs and came out fighting and we just suffocated them throughout the game. And then there was game 7 as well. Denver was playing incredibly tough the whole game, and yet we matched or exceeded their intensity down the stretch and pulled off the biggest 4th quarter comeback in a game 7 in playoff history.

Regardless of how our shots are falling, we'll need to play with that kind of intensity consistently if we want to really challenge for the title. If we do, and if we hit those bullet points above, I like our chances.

I tend to agree with your concerns, Drew. Although, I will point out this team has a tendency to play at or near its opponents level. I mean, they did win their first two series 4-1, which is pretty impressive no matter who you play.

The Wolves have a lot of positives going into the Conference Finals, especially compared to last year:

• They are not coming off a grueling, emotional 7-game series.

• ANT really carried the team last year. His decision making has been better this year, if not his scoring. He had a bad fall towards the end of the Denver series, and his 3-point shooting was never the same afterwards. How much was fatigue versus not being 100%? Plus his attempt at guarding Irving took it's toll, too.

• KAT had a bunch of good games, but also some bad games. He also took a bad fall late in the Denver series, aggravating his repaired knee, and never recovered to play well in the Dallas series.

• Conley rolled an ankle in the Denver series, missing the next game. He was not 100% in the Dallas series.

This year we look to be pretty darn healthy heading into the Conference Finals. We are getting extra rest, compared to our opponent who will have just one day following the end of a grueling 7-game series. The pressure will be on our opponent to win those first 2 games at home -- house money for our Wolves. And hopefully they learned that "extra rest" doesn't guarantee success in the first game, as they found out against the Warriors. Just like they learned earlier in the season a 20+ point lead in the 4th quarter doesn't mean squat!

Overall, the Wolves are really in a great position heading into the Conference Finals.

Yeah, I actually thought our occasional sloppy play was due to complacency. I felt strongly the series was over when Curry got hurt, and many of the smarter media guys said the same thing. Players watch the TV coverage, so they knew what the analysts were saying, and it had to have an impact on them. We know how this team plays when they think they're better than the other guys.

But absent a key injury to an opponent, there will be no reason for complacency the rest of the way. We're almost certain to be underdogs in the next series...and the one after that. I expect us to play at a different level the rest of the way.

Denver is wounded.


Gordon has a hammy issue

Porter's shoulder might be really messed up.

Murray tend to unravel against us.

I don't really care who we play, but Denver's the team we'll have an easier time playing against.

Wolves are a nuggets G7 win from a championship

If we end up playing OKC in the WCF, one area they seem vulnerable is that nearly every guy they play other than Hartenstein and Holmgren are mid-sized to smallish guards and wings that are 6'5 or under. Jaylin Williams is the only "big" they bring off the bench and he's mostly been used to guard Jokic. But he himself isn't all that tall and plays more of a stout, strength-based style of defense.

My point is it feels like we could deploy a big "small-ball" lineup that can punish these guys with size, strength, and athleticism: Julius, Naz, Jaden, DDV, and Shannon for example. That group can run, make 3's, and play with pace. And they aren't small by any stretch! Throw NAW in for Julius or Ant in for Jaden and it's still a big, athletic group.

I know Finch dipped his toe into the Shannon pool in the first series against the Lakers and he seemed to do fine in limited minutes. But let's hope Finch remembers this game from the regular season:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V8WLd_WHNM

I mean, he's just bullying guys around the hoop. Keep in mind that in our two wins against OKC during the regular season, we were missing Rudy, Julius, and DDV.