Time to punch back. . .again Wolves at Nuggets GAME TWO GDT

[Wolvesfan21]

Jaden McDaniels, deadpan delivery, on what worked for the Timberwolves offensively.

Jaden: Go at Jokic, Jamal, all the bad defenders. Tim Hardaway, Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon, their whole team.”

Q: They’re all bad defenders?

Jaden: “Yeah, they’re all bad defenders.”

https://x.com/christopherhine/status/20 ... _u6IL2a9cQ


I love Jaden and this rivalry

I both love this, and kind of don't. It's never a good idea to poke the bear and provide bulletin board material. We might see some inspired defense from guys like Gordon and Brown Thursday.

I get what you are saying but I don’t think any comments are going to make the nuggets want to win more or play harder. They will already to self motivate so this does not scare me one bit

I think it does make a difference in mentality just slightly. Both going the wrong way too. Nick Saban use to grill his team even harder after a big win and pump them up after a loss. You start easing up that 1% while giving them that extra 1%, that can be the difference. I'm concerned about our immature makeup. I think that's why we also were the 6th seed versus top 2-3.

Now if you can trash talk off the court and still back it up, we'll see. I don't like it though.

[FNG]

Jaden McDaniels, deadpan delivery, on what worked for the Timberwolves offensively.

Jaden: Go at Jokic, Jamal, all the bad defenders. Tim Hardaway, Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon, their whole team.”

Q: They’re all bad defenders?

Jaden: “Yeah, they’re all bad defenders.”

https://x.com/christopherhine/status/20 ... _u6IL2a9cQ


I love Jaden and this rivalry

I both love this, and kind of don't. It's never a good idea to poke the bear and provide bulletin board material. We might see some inspired defense from guys like Gordon and Brown Thursday.

I get what you are saying but I don’t think any comments are going to make the nuggets want to win more or play harder. They will already to self motivate so this does not scare me one bit

I hope so, Kek, but we've also all seen instances where a criticism or a snub has inspired a player to play much harder. Take Rudy last night for instance. He is clearly unhappy about not being in the top 3 for DPOY and he played one of his best defensive games of the season. Now that we have home court advantage and just have to "hold serve" I hope Jaden's comments don't inspire the Nuggets to "show 'em".

[AbeVigodaLive]

Abe’s “so THAT’S where the flip to switch is located” DVR Review:

- How do I do a DVR Review on this game? I have no idea. I’d be missing so so many things.

- I won’t comment too much on the start, except to say that maybe how terrible it was actually helped the team find its oft-discussed “switch.”

- The Timberwolves tried to hard in this game. It was startling how different the intensity was from most of the season.

- I’m moving Donte DiVincenzo here. Sometimes, he’s overmatched. Sometimes, he’s just a bit meh. But if there’s been one constant over the first two games, it’s his “I give a shit about this, dammit!” commitment. EVERY team needs a guy like Divincenzo. Heck, OKC has multiple guys like this, so does Boston. And look where that’s gotten them the past couple of years. Give this man his flowers. His impact is so much more than hitting three pointers… although those were huge, too.
Ayo Dosunmu might be a better player overall. But I feel like the energy/effort that screams through the television is a great differentiator for Donte.

- Edwards looked hobbled early, and then, stopped caring about the knee? Got used to the pain? Adrenaline? He still doesn’t have enough lift on his jumpers, but he’s playing a cleaner game so far and got off the ball better in this one. But the best part was when he attacked the rim instead of settling. It helped spur the comeback. He also seemed to recover while chasing on D significantly better. In fact, I thought his lack of closing speed in Game 1 was one of the telltale signs he wasn’t 100%.

- Bones Hyland is a rollercoaster. I do NOT feel confident with him out there a lot of the time. Anything could happen… 3 three pointers? TOs? A fight? A dead body? Yesterday was a good day careening down the coaster. Whew, glad it’s over though. To be fair, this is just the Bones Hyland Experience. He’s averaging 11 ppg on 41% 3fg for three months now.

- I really want to know what Naz Reid was yelling to Edwards about. Good to see Naz have at least a little success.

- “Rudy’s probably the most misunderstood player in the history of the game.” That’s a quote from longtime teammate Mike Conley. And it sort of sums up the Rudy Gobert Experience. I don’t know if there’s any way to truly stop Jokic. And Jokic might light him up for 40 point triple doubles the rest of the series. But that shouldn’t take away what Gobert has done in the first two games. Anybody else notice that Randle didn’t risk throwing it to a WIDE OPEN Gobert at the end and gave it to Donte instead for the game-sealing dunk? LOL.

- Julius Randle is not an easy player to love. He’s not even a fun watch most of the time. But he is still a legit good player in the NBA. A proven player. And he answered the bell. There were still moments of Randleisms… both good and bad. He battled Jokic hard when it was needed with Gobert’s foul troubles. Granted, it helps that he’s allowed to just punch guys sometimes on defense (McDaniels is so jealous). But veterans know how to take what they’re given. Enjoy those flowers, Randle.

- McDaniels quote about the entire Denver team being bad defensively will get a lot of attention… especially if the Nuggets end up playing better defense. Just another typical game from McDaniels, except his defense got better and better vs. Murray, who seemed to tire from the relentless nature of the Wolves (and McDaniels) in this game. I’ll also leave this here… McDaniels will have a pretty serious on-court incident at some point in his career. I feel like his emotions are often near the breaking point, only masked by a seemingly calm demeanor.

- Ayo had some rough moments again… and some good ones. I think he’ll break out at some point. Overall, the Wolves primary bench guys shot 12 – 22 fg. A legit 8-man rotation again.

- I don’t really know what to say about the officials. Obviously, we can complain about calls. The rub is that I don’t know how to even call a game like that. It was so physical at times. It’s gotta be next to impossible. I guess the goal is to just hope to get most of them right while being sorta consistent.



- Too bad the game had such a late start. Every NBA fan deserved to watch that game last night. Just a great battle. A really fun game to watch.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I know I have hindsight by usually waiting until the end of games to comment... but... the Finch stuff in this thread from earlier in the game...

Yikes.

I'd think as Timberwolves fans, we'd know by now just how much worse it could be. Finch and the staff aren't the best in the NBA. But, they sure seem to be in the upper echelon of coaching staffs. I don't know how much more proof we need at this point.

Players are going to play well... or play poorly. We can't blame the coach every time it happens. And if we do rip the coach when players or the team is struggling... maybe we should do more glazing of the coaching staff when the players respond. It's a weird phenomenon in sports fandom, and is much worse beyond this really good forum with really good posters.

I think the staff is facing a fairly tough challenge with up to 11 players who could see time in this series. Tonight, it worked. But it's NEVER going to be perfect.

In the end, however, the players will decide who wins/loses the vast majority of the time.

[Q-is-here]

Abe’s “so THAT’S where the flip to switch is located” DVR Review:

- How do I do a DVR Review on this game? I have no idea. I’d be missing so so many things.

- I won’t comment too much on the start, except to say that maybe how terrible it was actually helped the team find its oft-discussed “switch.”

- The Timberwolves tried to hard in this game. It was startling how different the intensity was from most of the season.

- I’m moving Donte DiVincenzo here. Sometimes, he’s overmatched. Sometimes, he’s just a bit meh. But if there’s been one constant over the first two games, it’s his “I give a shit about this, dammit!” commitment. EVERY team needs a guy like Divincenzo. Heck, OKC has multiple guys like this, so does Boston. And look where that’s gotten them the past couple of years. Give this man his flowers. His impact is so much more than hitting three pointers… although those were huge, too.
Ayo Dosunmu might be a better player overall. But I feel like the energy/effort that screams through the television is a great differentiator for Donte.

- Edwards looked hobbled early, and then, stopped caring about the knee? Got used to the pain? Adrenaline? He still doesn’t have enough lift on his jumpers, but he’s playing a cleaner game so far and got off the ball better in this one. But the best part was when he attacked the rim instead of settling. It helped spur the comeback. He also seemed to recover while chasing on D significantly better. In fact, I thought his lack of closing speed in Game 1 was one of the telltale signs he wasn’t 100%.

- Bones Hyland is a rollercoaster. I do NOT feel confident with him out there a lot of the time. Anything could happen… 3 three pointers? TOs? A fight? A dead body? Yesterday was a good day careening down the coaster. Whew, glad it’s over though. To be fair, this is just the Bones Hyland Experience. He’s averaging 11 ppg on 41% 3fg for three months now.

- I really want to know what Naz Reid was yelling to Edwards about. Good to see Naz have at least a little success.

- “Rudy’s probably the most misunderstood player in the history of the game.” That’s a quote from longtime teammate Mike Conley. And it sort of sums up the Rudy Gobert Experience. I don’t know if there’s any way to truly stop Jokic. And Jokic might light him up for 40 point triple doubles the rest of the series. But that shouldn’t take away what Gobert has done in the first two games. Anybody else notice that Randle didn’t risk throwing it to a WIDE OPEN Gobert at the end and gave it to Donte instead for the game-sealing dunk? LOL.

- Julius Randle is not an easy player to love. He’s not even a fun watch most of the time. But he is still a legit good player in the NBA. A proven player. And he answered the bell. There were still moments of Randleisms… both good and bad. He battled Jokic hard when it was needed with Gobert’s foul troubles. Granted, it helps that he’s allowed to just punch guys sometimes on defense (McDaniels is so jealous). But veterans know how to take what they’re given. Enjoy those flowers, Randle.

- McDaniels quote about the entire Denver team being bad defensively will get a lot of attention… especially if the Nuggets end up playing better defense. Just another typical game from McDaniels, except his defense got better and better vs. Murray, who seemed to tire from the relentless nature of the Wolves (and McDaniels) in this game. I’ll also leave this here… McDaniels will have a pretty serious on-court incident at some point in his career. I feel like his emotions are often near the breaking point, only masked by a seemingly calm demeanor.

- Ayo had some rough moments again… and some good ones. I think he’ll break out at some point. Overall, the Wolves primary bench guys shot 12 – 22 fg. A legit 8-man rotation again.

- I don’t really know what to say about the officials. Obviously, we can complain about calls. The rub is that I don’t know how to even call a game like that. It was so physical at times. It’s gotta be next to impossible. I guess the goal is to just hope to get most of them right while being sorta consistent.



- Too bad the game had such a late start. Every NBA fan deserved to watch that game last night. Just a great battle. A really fun game to watch.

Great stuff Abe. You didn't mention the sheer volume of 4-point plays by the Nuggets, most of which seemed legit. They had at least four or five, right? That is just nuts. And we still won!

[Coolbreeze44]

It takes a village to win a ballgame on the road in the playoffs. Great job.

I thought it was all on Ant?

??

[kekgeek]

I know I have hindsight by usually waiting until the end of games to comment... but... the Finch stuff in this thread from earlier in the game...

Yikes.

I'd think as Timberwolves fans, we'd know by now just how much worse it could be. Finch and the staff aren't the best in the NBA. But, they sure seem to be in the upper echelon of coaching staffs. I don't know how much more proof we need at this point.

Players are going to play well... or play poorly. We can't blame the coach every time it happens. And if we do rip the coach when players or the team is struggling... maybe we should do more glazing of the coaching staff when the players respond. It's a weird phenomenon in sports fandom, and is much worse beyond this really good forum with really good posters.

I think the staff is facing a fairly tough challenge with up to 11 players who could see time in this series. Tonight, it worked. But it's NEVER going to be perfect.

In the end, however, the players will decide who wins/loses the vast majority of the time.

+1

[Phenom]

I know I have hindsight by usually waiting until the end of games to comment... but... the Finch stuff in this thread from earlier in the game...

Yikes.

I'd think as Timberwolves fans, we'd know by now just how much worse it could be. Finch and the staff aren't the best in the NBA. But, they sure seem to be in the upper echelon of coaching staffs. I don't know how much more proof we need at this point.

Players are going to play well... or play poorly. We can't blame the coach every time it happens. And if we do rip the coach when players or the team is struggling... maybe we should do more glazing of the coaching staff when the players respond. It's a weird phenomenon in sports fandom, and is much worse beyond this really good forum with really good posters.

I think the staff is facing a fairly tough challenge with up to 11 players who could see time in this series. Tonight, it worked. But it's NEVER going to be perfect.

In the end, however, the players will decide who wins/loses the vast majority of the time.

+1

The Wolves won but I still dont understand the Kyle, Naz and Ju lineup. I don't feel bad for that take.

[Wolvesfan21]

It takes a village to win a ballgame on the road in the playoffs. Great job.

I thought it was all on Ant?

??

You said our roster was good enough for a star player to take it to a championship, yet game 1 they (non Ant players as a whole) basically sucked ass and we lost, game 2 they were good even really good and we won.

I said it before that how the others play dictates if we win or lose by far more then what Ant does, specifically Ju. We just get so many up and down games by the others that overcoming a stinker game by a few of them at once for Ant is really impossible.

[Wolvesfan21]

I know I have hindsight by usually waiting until the end of games to comment... but... the Finch stuff in this thread from earlier in the game...

Yikes.

I'd think as Timberwolves fans, we'd know by now just how much worse it could be. Finch and the staff aren't the best in the NBA. But, they sure seem to be in the upper echelon of coaching staffs. I don't know how much more proof we need at this point.

Players are going to play well... or play poorly. We can't blame the coach every time it happens. And if we do rip the coach when players or the team is struggling... maybe we should do more glazing of the coaching staff when the players respond. It's a weird phenomenon in sports fandom, and is much worse beyond this really good forum with really good posters.

I think the staff is facing a fairly tough challenge with up to 11 players who could see time in this series. Tonight, it worked. But it's NEVER going to be perfect.

In the end, however, the players will decide who wins/loses the vast majority of the time.

For me every little decision isn't why I think Finch ultimately needs to go. It's the entire big picture. For instance, this team basically doesn't listen to him, plays half ass for most of the season and should be a 2-3 seed really based on talent, but they simply don't live up to their potential. They think they can just do what they want and still win it all, ignoring Finch and staff far too much.

So bottom line is I don't think firing FInch is a big risk. I'd say the bigger risk is not firing him because a potential new coach could be that slight difference maker to take us over the hump.