Minnesota Sports Forum

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 20, 2025 4:10 pm

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Sat Dec 20, 2025 3:58 pm

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 20, 2025 3:28 pm
What are you trying to drag me into here? I'm good with everyone on the board.

I'm not trying to drag you into anything. It's your declaration of being the voice of objectivity and reason that conveys an air of superiority since it implies the rest of us are subjective and unreasonable. Perhaps you didn't mean it that way, but that's how I read it.

I can be more careful.

This conversation hurt my head to read

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 20, 2025 5:41 pm

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 20, 2025 12:41 pm As the objective voice of reason here, let me add some perspective on last night's win. We won because Finch executed his planned exit early in the game, allowing for the Wolves to get a fair whistle the rest of the night. We also won because we played with grit, especially on defense, and hustled for 48 minutes. And finally we won because Ant did what very few players can do in the final minute. But I can't help but feel it was a bit of a one off. If we play OKC 10 times, I think they win 7 or 8. They are by far the more professional unit. They focus on basketball and play with a certain confidence and swagger that comes with winning a championship. They don't yell "HEY!" in the middle of a play trying to get a call. As the commentator said multiple times, the Wolves spend way too much time engaging with the officials. It's a bad look and takes energy from what is most important. I don't think last night proved or changed anything. We're still miles behind the Thunder. And we're not winning the West without a floor general who can lead the offense and help us get easy baskets, which we rarely see. Fun game and terrific win, enjoy it.

I would say that to regard any single game, win or loss, that happens in December as evidence of something broader is unreasonable.

Portland best OKC for crying out load.
Last night can provide a blue print tho, as proof of concept for the players as to how they can win at a high level- I think they really need this, especially on defense.

Last night we saw how Rudy can be dominant, absolutely dominant, against elite competition. We also saw how they can play good minutes with him on the bench.
They missed a lot of shots, but they generated a high amount of quality looks against a great defense.

I don't know if they'll ride this win, for all we know they'll blow another 20 point lead against the bucks. But they played high level basketball and they need to learn how to build on that

How do you feel about the professionalism point? To me the way each team handles themselves provides a stark contrast. We appear immature compared to the Thunder.

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 20, 2025 8:09 pm

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 20, 2025 5:41 pm

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 20, 2025 12:41 pm As the objective voice of reason here, let me add some perspective on last night's win. We won because Finch executed his planned exit early in the game, allowing for the Wolves to get a fair whistle the rest of the night. We also won because we played with grit, especially on defense, and hustled for 48 minutes. And finally we won because Ant did what very few players can do in the final minute. But I can't help but feel it was a bit of a one off. If we play OKC 10 times, I think they win 7 or 8. They are by far the more professional unit. They focus on basketball and play with a certain confidence and swagger that comes with winning a championship. They don't yell "HEY!" in the middle of a play trying to get a call. As the commentator said multiple times, the Wolves spend way too much time engaging with the officials. It's a bad look and takes energy from what is most important. I don't think last night proved or changed anything. We're still miles behind the Thunder. And we're not winning the West without a floor general who can lead the offense and help us get easy baskets, which we rarely see. Fun game and terrific win, enjoy it.

I would say that to regard any single game, win or loss, that happens in December as evidence of something broader is unreasonable.

Portland best OKC for crying out load.
Last night can provide a blue print tho, as proof of concept for the players as to how they can win at a high level- I think they really need this, especially on defense.

Last night we saw how Rudy can be dominant, absolutely dominant, against elite competition. We also saw how they can play good minutes with him on the bench.
They missed a lot of shots, but they generated a high amount of quality looks against a great defense.

I don't know if they'll ride this win, for all we know they'll blow another 20 point lead against the bucks. But they played high level basketball and they need to learn how to build on that

How do you feel about the professionalism point? To me the way each team handles themselves provides a stark contrast. We appear immature compared to the Thunder.

I think it's difficult to say from where we're sitting when it comes to how "professional" they're being, cause what are we talking about exactly?

The team is known for having a great locker room culture and leaders on the team - Ant, Rudy, Jaden, and even Naz are known as incredibly hard workers. The team has also demonstrated resilience after tough losses or tough stretches in games. Does that demonstrate professionalism? I'd say so.

Either way, obviously were talking about being able to keep their composure in game and how that compares to the Thunder, and I'd say that the teams just have different personalities. The Wolves feed off adversity and challenges like what happened last night. Finch took the heat off the players by getting ejected- it was their choice how they wanted to respond to that. The energy could have either spiraled out of control or get harnessed into a more competitive focus.

There were hints of the former but it was mostly the latter, which speaks to the team's culture. It is true that contesting every call by the refs does too, but for my money that's every team more or less. The Wolves, for better or worse, are an emotional team and the "world against us" mindset galvanizes them. Not letting that attitude completely boil over into a meltdown speaks to a level of professionalism in my opinion so I just don't really jive with what the commentator said on a macro level even if he may have had a point at a micro level.

The Thunder are who they and The Wolves need to be who they are- trying to be the thunder isn't going to get them any closer to a championship cause the culture and personalities are just different

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 20, 2025 8:46 pm

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 20, 2025 8:09 pm

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 20, 2025 5:41 pm

I would say that to regard any single game, win or loss, that happens in December as evidence of something broader is unreasonable.

Portland best OKC for crying out load.
Last night can provide a blue print tho, as proof of concept for the players as to how they can win at a high level- I think they really need this, especially on defense.

Last night we saw how Rudy can be dominant, absolutely dominant, against elite competition. We also saw how they can play good minutes with him on the bench.
They missed a lot of shots, but they generated a high amount of quality looks against a great defense.

I don't know if they'll ride this win, for all we know they'll blow another 20 point lead against the bucks. But they played high level basketball and they need to learn how to build on that

How do you feel about the professionalism point? To me the way each team handles themselves provides a stark contrast. We appear immature compared to the Thunder.

I think it's difficult to say from where we're sitting when it comes to how "professional" they're being, cause what are we talking about exactly?

The team is known for having a great locker room culture and leaders on the team - Ant, Rudy, Jaden, and even Naz are known as incredibly hard workers. The team has also demonstrated resilience after tough losses or tough stretches in games. Does that demonstrate professionalism? I'd say so.

Either way, obviously were talking about being able to keep their composure in game and how that compares to the Thunder, and I'd say that the teams just have different personalities. The Wolves feed off adversity and challenges like what happened last night. Finch took the heat off the players by getting ejected- it was their choice how they wanted to respond to that. The energy could have either spiraled out of control or get harnessed into a more competitive focus.

There were hints of the former but it was mostly the latter, which speaks to the team's culture. It is true that contesting every call by the refs does too, but for my money that's every team more or less. The Wolves, for better or worse, are an emotional team and the "world against us" mindset galvanizes them. Not letting that attitude completely boil over into a meltdown speaks to a level of professionalism in my opinion so I just don't really jive with what the commentator said on a macro level even if he may have had a point at a micro level.

The Thunder are who they and The Wolves need to be who they are- trying to be the thunder isn't going to get them any closer to a championship cause the culture and personalities are just different

You're post comes off as an apology for the Wolves. Calling them an emotional team or just like every other team isn't genuine. You've watched them play enough. Ant, Randle, NAZ, and Rudy do way too much complaining, and it often has them not getting back on defense as quickly as they should. Getting involved with the officials every night, yes every night, is a weakness. There are certainly other teams with this fault too, but other than the Lakers few teams are as extreme as the Wolves. Those players I mentioned need to grow up if we want to take another step.

Seems like a worthless hill to plant your flag and die on…

The Wiz just went into Memphis and got a win against the same team that beat the Wolves two days ago! Of course, we were missing ANT. But I’m not sure we beat OKC without the lessons learned/chewing out received from that loss.

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 20, 2025 9:07 pm

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 20, 2025 8:46 pm

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 20, 2025 8:09 pm

How do you feel about the professionalism point? To me the way each team handles themselves provides a stark contrast. We appear immature compared to the Thunder.

I think it's difficult to say from where we're sitting when it comes to how "professional" they're being, cause what are we talking about exactly?

The team is known for having a great locker room culture and leaders on the team - Ant, Rudy, Jaden, and even Naz are known as incredibly hard workers. The team has also demonstrated resilience after tough losses or tough stretches in games. Does that demonstrate professionalism? I'd say so.

Either way, obviously were talking about being able to keep their composure in game and how that compares to the Thunder, and I'd say that the teams just have different personalities. The Wolves feed off adversity and challenges like what happened last night. Finch took the heat off the players by getting ejected- it was their choice how they wanted to respond to that. The energy could have either spiraled out of control or get harnessed into a more competitive focus.

There were hints of the former but it was mostly the latter, which speaks to the team's culture. It is true that contesting every call by the refs does too, but for my money that's every team more or less. The Wolves, for better or worse, are an emotional team and the "world against us" mindset galvanizes them. Not letting that attitude completely boil over into a meltdown speaks to a level of professionalism in my opinion so I just don't really jive with what the commentator said on a macro level even if he may have had a point at a micro level.

The Thunder are who they and The Wolves need to be who they are- trying to be the thunder isn't going to get them any closer to a championship cause the culture and personalities are just different

You're post comes off as an apology for the Wolves. Calling them an emotional team or just like every other team isn't genuine. You've watched them play enough. Ant, Randle, NAZ, and Rudy do way too much complaining, and it often has them not getting back on defense as quickly as they should. Getting involved with the officials every night, yes every night, is a weakness. There are certainly other teams with this fault too, but other than the Lakers few teams are as extreme as the Wolves. Those players I mentioned need to grow up if we want to take another step.

Oh and here I thought you were actually interested in my opinion about this

What's not genuine about calling them an emotional team? They're consistently galvanized by different things that happen during the course of a game, this is like a defining characteristics of Anthony Edwards. Perceived slights by the refs can certainly be a galvanizing thing for them positively or negatively.

As for the whining - yes I've watched a lot of wolves games, significantly more than most every other team- so I don't feel that I'm much an authority regarding how much they whine relatively. However, what I have seen of other teams isn't any different than wolves players, it just bothers you more cause it's your team.

Call em unprofessional if you want, I just try to understand deeper than that, cause I generally assume that everyone tries their best. If that is the case then you search for underlying causes to help that best become better.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Sat Dec 20, 2025 3:21 pm

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 20, 2025 2:49 pm

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Sat Dec 20, 2025 1:51 pm

You mean the rest of us aren't objective or reasonable?

Can't lump everyone in the same bucket. There are varying degrees and levels from poster to poster.

Right, but you presumably are the most objective and reasonable! Uh huh.

I would submit that it's highly subjective of you to call yourself objective. In fact, none of us are objective.

I disagree, Q. I am completely objective. Objectively speaking, Rudy Gobert is a highly overrated defender.

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 20, 2025 1:39 pm

AbeVigodaLive wrote: ↑Sat Dec 20, 2025 1:27 pm To be fair Cool... that's why people are excited.

OKC is clearly better than the Wolves... or any other team.

There's no feasible way for the Wolves to catch them this season. And that's fine. After 36 years of mostly terrible basketball, I'm enjoying following one of the league's top 4... or 10 teams.

Doesn't mean there can't be improvement. Doesn't mean I won't be disappointed when they lose a game or in the playoffs. But being 18 - 10 at this point... and celebrating a hard-nosed intensity-filled win vs. a 25 - 2 team is pretty fun.

I get that Abe. I enjoyed the hell out of it too. Maybe I'm delusional but I believe the right trade could vault us into the conversation. I'm anticipating and hoping.

Cool - I just don’t know what the “right trade” would be, much less whether there is a realistic “right trade” the Wolves can make. If the answer is a high quality starting PG, I don’t know who would be available realistically. It’s also important to note that we’d have to give up quality to get quality. I can think of quality PGs we could add to make us better, but we have to consider not only whether we can acquire one of those PGs but also what the net impact would be given who we’d likely have to give up.

Just rewatched the game.
I succumbed to being emotional about how the first half was going. When OKC makes every shot for 8 straight possessions, 2 of those makes being layups without a defender in the path, and the start of perceived whistle bias against the Wolves, it felt like it was going to be a long night. But Finch did what he needed to do, the refs started calling fouls that were fouls(because OKC fouls A LOT), and the Wolves started making hustle plays and pushing the ball. Putting pressure on OKC in transition allows the Wolves to have better shots before they can set their defense.
In the first half the refs really only missed 2 calls after Finch got tossed. One on an offensive rebound where Williams had a foot on the line before a made 3 and the other when Naz was diving for the ball a few plays later and was pushed in the chest.
Ant passed the ball 5 times in the first half that directly lead to an open shot attempt and all 5 were in the shot pocket and all 5 were misses.
Ant hitting the glass like a power forward is a big advantage for the Wolves.
Oh, and OKC fouls a LOT! They hardly ever complain and even put up a hand acknowledging they fouled.
Naz played really well on the defensive end when switched onto SGA in the 4th. He moved his feet really well and SGA stopped taking 3s and only went to the drive and kick.

That was an ugly game from a shooting standpoint, but it was very close to playoff intensity. We need Ant to ramp up his intensity more in these regular season games because he is that guy. His new postup and mid-range game is practically unstoppable.
Brett Barry was annoying but he wasn't wrong on how bad the free throw shooting has become for the Wolves. 14 missed freethrows!!!

I have been thinking about the ending sequences of the game quite a bit. How many other players, even top 10 players, can make that 3, block Shai, and pick Shai's pocket? Most of them can do 1, maybe 2 of those things.

Ant is more unique among his peers than he probably gets credit for.