Minnesota Sports Forum

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Tue May 20, 2025 11:31 pm

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Tue May 20, 2025 11:17 pm Ok. Time for some level setting. The Thunder are a far better team than the Wolves. Before tonight I was predicting the Wolves would lose the series in five games. I’m holding to that prediction. We beat an inferior Lakers team and we a Golden State team playing most of the series without their best or second best player.

The Wolves are a good team. Naz and NAW are good players and Finch is a very good head coach. But we were the 6th seed in the West and OKC was the 1st seed with the best record in the NBA - 68 wins! OKC had some growing pains in their series against Denver, but that series matured them into the team we faced tonight. As for the Wolves — to paraphrase Denny Green, the Wolves are who we thought they were. We were a better team last season and choked against an inferior Dallas team. I chalked that up to the immaturity of our best player and lack of mental toughness on the Wolves. This year, we simply facing a much better team and we should feel fortunate we made it this far with the team we have.

I’ve thought all season that we’ve gone as far as we can go with this iteration of the Wolves and that it’s time for Wolves 2.0 centered around Ant and Jaden. I really like what we saw from TSJ and Clark this season. I see them as part of a new iteration of this team with Ant, Jaden, Dilly and others that can be a true championship contender in a couple years when Ant is 25 like SGA and Jaden us 26. Meanwhile, we’ll see what happens the rest of this series. I think the Wolves can play better and I think we’ll win one, maybe two, games before it’s over.

We had won 30 of our last 36 games. They are not a far better team than us. Even the pundits admit we weren't really a 6th seed. We are going to win at least 3 games in this series.

KG4Ever wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 12:34 am

Wolvesfan21 wrote: ↑Tue May 20, 2025 11:21 pm

KG4Ever wrote: ↑Tue May 20, 2025 10:37 pm Naz and NAW literally suck and I could care less if they leave. You know who else sucks? FINCH. He had three ice cold shooters and he wouldn't bench any of them. He goes all year playing mostly same 8 guys with a few minutes to Dilly and Shannon. What a fuckin idiot coach who won't develop talent during a bunch of meaningless games. If TC had any balls he'd fire him and replace him. But TC has no balls so I hope Finch is gone this offseason as Malone who actually won something was and Jenkins who is a superior coach was.

He actually played JC and I was hoping he might get some open 3's and get hot, he didn't. TSJ passes up open 3's too much to be a positive floor spacer (I still like him though).

As far as Dilly if you want a raw rookie to save the team then we got no hope. He needs another offseason and year, maybe next year he can contribute. The thing is our bench was really fucking stellar for most of the year, playoffs come and they mostly go cold.

Finch is the best coach in Wolves history. He played this game mostly right IMO. The players simply sucked ass. See the thing is if you star benching guys every time they miss a few shots thats not going to help with their game or confidence. We need them to simply step up. This isn't fantasy sports and we will need them in the rest of the series and possibly beyond.

I more so credit him for sticking to the long game. Guys either step up or not at this point.

Wolves need better coaching to ever make it to the finals. Finch is not the answer. The Wolves just had flat out more talent in the first two rounds and now Finch is exposed just as last year. Heck, pretty much every coach who has won a title has been fired and Finch hasn't even made it to a title game. Fire that bum!

Monster wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 4:40 am Naz was bad in this game but this playoffs overall he is shooting the heck out of the ball. He shoots over 40% from 3 in the playoffs. I'd guess we will be getting plenty more from him offensively in future games.

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Tue May 20, 2025 11:31 pm

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Tue May 20, 2025 11:17 pm Ok. Time for some level setting. The Thunder are a far better team than the Wolves. Before tonight I was predicting the Wolves would lose the series in five games. I’m holding to that prediction. We beat an inferior Lakers team and we a Golden State team playing most of the series without their best or second best player.

The Wolves are a good team. Naz and NAW are good players and Finch is a very good head coach. But we were the 6th seed in the West and OKC was the 1st seed with the best record in the NBA - 68 wins! OKC had some growing pains in their series against Denver, but that series matured them into the team we faced tonight. As for the Wolves — to paraphrase Denny Green, the Wolves are who we thought they were. We were a better team last season and choked against an inferior Dallas team. I chalked that up to the immaturity of our best player and lack of mental toughness on the Wolves. This year, we simply facing a much better team and we should feel fortunate we made it this far with the team we have.

I’ve thought all season that we’ve gone as far as we can go with this iteration of the Wolves and that it’s time for Wolves 2.0 centered around Ant and Jaden. I really like what we saw from TSJ and Clark this season. I see them as part of a new iteration of this team with Ant, Jaden, Dilly and others that can be a true championship contender in a couple years when Ant is 25 like SGA and Jaden us 26. Meanwhile, we’ll see what happens the rest of this series. I think the Wolves can play better and I think we’ll win one, maybe two, games before it’s over.

We had won 30 of our last 36 games. They are not a far better team than us. Even the pundits admit we weren't really a 6th seed. We are going to win at least 3 games in this series.

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Tue May 20, 2025 11:37 pm

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Tue May 20, 2025 11:31 pm

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Tue May 20, 2025 11:17 pm Ok. Time for some level setting. The Thunder are a far better team than the Wolves. Before tonight I was predicting the Wolves would lose the series in five games. I’m holding to that prediction. We beat an inferior Lakers team and we a Golden State team playing most of the series without their best or second best player.

The Wolves are a good team. Naz and NAW are good players and Finch is a very good head coach. But we were the 6th seed in the West and OKC was the 1st seed with the best record in the NBA - 68 wins! OKC had some growing pains in their series against Denver, but that series matured them into the team we faced tonight. As for the Wolves — to paraphrase Denny Green, the Wolves are who we thought they were. We were a better team last season and choked against an inferior Dallas team. I chalked that up to the immaturity of our best player and lack of mental toughness on the Wolves. This year, we simply facing a much better team and we should feel fortunate we made it this far with the team we have.

I’ve thought all season that we’ve gone as far as we can go with this iteration of the Wolves and that it’s time for Wolves 2.0 centered around Ant and Jaden. I really like what we saw from TSJ and Clark this season. I see them as part of a new iteration of this team with Ant, Jaden, Dilly and others that can be a true championship contender in a couple years when Ant is 25 like SGA and Jaden us 26. Meanwhile, we’ll see what happens the rest of this series. I think the Wolves can play better and I think we’ll win one, maybe two, games before it’s over.

We had won 30 of our last 36 games. They are not a far better team than us. Even the pundits admit we weren't really a 6th seed. We are going to win at least 3 games in this series.

I hope you’re right, Cool. If you’re right, then the Wolves simply didn’t play well tonight and certain players had particularly bad games. I still come to the same conclusion - i.e., everyone needs to calm down. Naz and NAW don’t suck, and Finch isn’t a terrible head coach. I still think OKC is a much better team than the Wolves. They had the League’s best record and I think they’re going to win the NBA championship.

Monster wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 4:40 am Naz was bad in this game but this playoffs overall he is shooting the heck out of the ball. He shoots over 40% from 3 in the playoffs. I'd guess we will be getting plenty more from him offensively in future games.

60WinTim wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 10:03 am Jason Timpf is one of the better basketball analysts you'll find on podcasts. He is a Lakers' fan, but very objective and very knowledgeable. He does pick the Thunder to win the series, but here is a snippet he posted about Mark Lindsey's reffing last night...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtdLGBdn-BM