Re: Go for the Jugular, Nuggets @ Wolves GAME FOUR GDT
Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2026 12:08 am
Lip I have to point out that idk if this was the best Donte has ever played in the playoffs or not. I know the advanced numbers are really great but that last year he played for the Knicks the guy was going bonkers on offense. Regardless he was playing his role and what he does well perfectly and that's gonna be hard not to have available and from the games I did with this year he was that guy pretty much all season.Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 26, 2026 9:31 pmI have the same sense of things as you, Q. That win in game 2 had me starting to believe in this team. Ant has always been a great playoff performer and Donte was playing the best playoff basketball he’s ever played by far. The entire team was defending the way they should. So there’s definitely a sense of what might have been. But I’m not morose. I’m proud of the way the team responded last night. I’m excited about what we’ve been seeing from Ayo and what that can mean going forward next season and beyond. And I still see a bright future ahead for TJ as a T-Wolf if we keep him. Now we’ll have to see how far Ayo, Jaden, Randle, and Rudy can take us the rest of this post season. If we’re going to have a shot at advancing beyond this round (perhaps even in this round), I think we’ll need to see the TJ and Mike Conley we saw in last year’s playoffs. Will we see a 35-40 point game or two from Jaden? Will we see Randle dominate some games the way he did last year before the Western Conference finals?Q-is-here wrote: ↑Sun Apr 26, 2026 9:03 pmI have the feeling of "what could have been" even though we are still very much in the here and now with more playoff basketball to play. The combination of the switch being flipped defensively (and yes, Ant was part of that defensive switch flipping in the Game 2 comeback win) plus the emergence of Ayo off the bench would have given me the confidence that perhaps we'd have a shot against the Spurs and OKC.Phenom wrote: ↑Sun Apr 26, 2026 8:20 pm It's strange how morose the vibe is on this board overall. This team spent the year with the switch only semi-erect, promising that they'd switch it on when it mattered, much to the lamentatuon of us all, but they are doing it.
We all wanted defense and ball movement and we are getting it. Some of us are sick of Rudy but he is doing exactly what they would have asked of him. Some of us are fed up with Ant but he is out of the way now.
What gives?
But alas, the path is severely narrowed without Ant especially and DDV, who had been off to a terrific start in the playoffs. It would require Ayo to keep up what he did in Games 3 and 4 plus another "A Star is Born" moment with someone like TJ for us to have any shot at making a run to the Finals at this point.
I don’t want to get too giddy when it comes to Ayo, but perhaps TC’s acquisition of him is akin to OKC’s acquisition of SGA. If so, we’ll have two all-star caliber guards in our backcourt next season. OK, I’m a bit too giddy. And I’m certainly not morose..
I still think the reason I have some faith in this group has a lot lot to do with Bones Hyland. He is the type of guy this team hasn't had for quite a while coming off the bench. He is basically in addition to what we have had before. Another actual PG ball handler that can also make 3's and get a bucket while not being a total liability on defense is a pretty big deal. One of the reasons this team has struggled playing against those teams with rim protectors is that lack of another scorer. Bones is a flawed player which is why he is a bench rotation guy but he has the ability to do a lot of stuff and he plays with quite a bit of energy too which this team often needs. We are all hopeful that this is the opportunity for TSJ to make an impact but Hyland has already shown he can do it this season.