Minnesota Sports Forum

mjs34 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2026 2:35 pm

Wolvesfan21 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2026 10:27 am

mjs34 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 18, 2026 11:39 pm 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.

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2026 1:47 pm 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.

kekgeek wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2026 4:15 pm

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2026 1:47 pm 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.

How is net +\- calculated?

FNG wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2026 4:09 pm

mjs34 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2026 2:35 pm

Wolvesfan21 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2026 10:27 am

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.

Mjs, Ant is widely considered our best player, and while we don't expect him to be more impactful than the Nuggets' best player (Jokic), I don't think we have much of a chance of beating the Nuggets unless Ant significantly outplays their second best player (Murray). I agree both shot like crap, but in fairness to Murray, he had a much better defender on him. With Ant being guarded by the likes of Braun and Murray, he simply has to be more productive on offense than Murray with Jaden mostly on him...and he wasn't. Again, if it's the knee holding him back, we have to give Ant a pass. And if his knee is really as bad as some here think it is, I don't think we have much of a chance of winning any more than one game in this series. But when I watched him go up for his blocks or athletically get to the rim, I didn't see a guy that seemed to be injured, so I'm not giving up on Ant "flipping the switch" and playing better.

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2026 5:29 pm I don't think we can have it both ways. If you want to claim Ant is a top 5 player in the league, You have to stop making excuses for him every time he doesn't perform like a top 5 player. He's the best we have but it's time to show what he really has. One year it was the back injury, which I didn't buy, this year it's the knee which I'm sure is hindering him. It's his 6th year in the league, he's a full fledged veteran now. True great players impose their will in the playoffs, and show you why they're great. We are still waiting while Wolves fans insist this guy has the elite chops. Maybe instead of Shai, he's more Donovan Mitchell. Nothing wrong with that but the excuses need to end.

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2026 5:44 pm

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2026 5:29 pm I don't think we can have it both ways. If you want to claim Ant is a top 5 player in the league, You have to stop making excuses for him every time he doesn't perform like a top 5 player. He's the best we have but it's time to show what he really has. One year it was the back injury, which I didn't buy, this year it's the knee which I'm sure is hindering him. It's his 6th year in the league, he's a full fledged veteran now. True great players impose their will in the playoffs, and show you why they're great. We are still waiting while Wolves fans insist this guy has the elite chops. Maybe instead of Shai, he's more Donovan Mitchell. Nothing wrong with that but the excuses need to end.

The Donovan Mitchel that is 5 years older than Ant and has never gotten out of the 2nd round of the playoffs? Right now I have Ant as the modern evolved Ray Allen. Ray had a great season in Milwaukee taking his team far before getting traded for for the Glove in a ridiculous trade. But he didn't win a championship until he formed a super team in Boston with star players that hadn't won until they got together. Lebron did the same thing when he gave up on his home team Cleveland and chased a ring with a proven champion in Wade. Lebron is considered top 3 if not the goat to some. And he had to form a super team to win his first championship at 27 years old. Yes while Ant is injured, he still needs to rise above it. Luka is injured every year and still got his team to the Finals at 25 years old. That's not to say Ant cant' get there, while Joker got there he failed until he won a championship at 27 years old. SGA failed until he was 26. Jordan failed until he was 28, Shaq 28, Curry 27, Durant 28, Hakeem 31, Dirk 31, KG 32.