Minnesota Sports Forum

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2026 8:04 am Man this board is awesome, thanks to all of you for your great insights and morning after thoughts.

What a great win!

I just wanted to shout out a few macro observations I've had.
One, how nuts is it that wolves have gone, in just a few months, from living and dying by the 3 to an aggressive downhill team? A huge credit to coaching staff and to the adaptability of the players

Two, which is kind of a splinter of one, adaptability has pretty much become the theme for this team in their current playoff run. It's always been more true in theory than in practice with these guys that they can vary their offensive and defensive approach --- go big, go small, play fast, spread you out, attack the basket, play drop, switch everything ---- but in the last six games they have really proven the theory. It's the biggest reason that I continue to believe (while often doubting) in a Julius Randle wolves future, because he is more or less the centerpiece of that variability

Three, I'll double down here on my post from above: the Wolves are the better team right now, and they're not even fully healthy yet--- I think they're going to shock the world and win in 5. Yes it was only a 2 point win and they were inches from a gutting loss, but in a lot of ways the 2 points undersells the margin of victory. The wolves are a more mature, physical and adaptable team and I don't think Wemby and company are championship ready, and to be honest I have to wonder if there isn't a bit of reverence on their end towards the Wolves. They're looking across the court at a team that's gone to b2b WCFs, just took down the nuggets as huge under dogs and just came into their house with a hobbled superstar and kinda big brothered them. What I see from the Spurs is young team and the lights look a little too bright for them. We're not really talking enough about the fact that Vic went 0 for 8 from 3 or the fact that is not used to playing 40 minutes of playoff basketball and was completely gassed at the end of the game. Castle has been bad in the playoffs thus far and he does not look ready for this moment.

Last I'll just say how impressive it is the scalability of nearly every player on the Wolves roster. Naz quietly had 9 rebounds and is finding more and more ways to contribute beyond scoring, but he can also bring a scoring punch when it's needed. Julius is finding the same kind of "win on the margins" identity. Jaden is slowing --- or maybe suddenly --- becoming one of the most versatile players in the league, on both sides of the ball! There is just a long list of players on this team that can grow or shrink their role as needed for the team and better yet they're all totally bought in on that

Yosimar wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2026 12:44 am Im not that familiar with the Spurs aside from Wemby but I can already tell I’m going to absolutely despise Castle by the end of this series. His flopping was already annoying the hell out of me, the head snapping he was doing to draw some of the fouls he did, SGA level acting. Hopefully the Wolves see this and are smarter defending him in the upcoming games.

Carlos Danger wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2026 7:31 am Wow. I did not see that coming. It's always a kick in the nuts for the higher seed to lose the first game (at home). But to lose to a short sided/wounded team, is even worse. Ayo I assume will be back soon. Edwards showed last night that he can play. Even if he's limited in minutes/ability, he's going to be a better option than anyone else they have.

I like that they keeping Kyle Anderson off the court. If we can get Ayo back soon, we are fine. Naz has been good again right when we needed it most. Hopefully he's healthy again. Bones is a streaky dude and I like that Finch is limiting him when his shot not falling. But with all streaky shooters, there will be a game or two where he will make a difference.

Game two is playing with house money - yes, we want to win, but if you told me we'd split the first two at SA, I would have been totally ok with that. The longer this series goes, the more I like our chances.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2026 8:26 am

Carlos Danger wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2026 7:31 am Wow. I did not see that coming. It's always a kick in the nuts for the higher seed to lose the first game (at home). But to lose to a short sided/wounded team, is even worse. Ayo I assume will be back soon. Edwards showed last night that he can play. Even if he's limited in minutes/ability, he's going to be a better option than anyone else they have.

I like that they keeping Kyle Anderson off the court. If we can get Ayo back soon, we are fine. Naz has been good again right when we needed it most. Hopefully he's healthy again. Bones is a streaky dude and I like that Finch is limiting him when his shot not falling. But with all streaky shooters, there will be a game or two where he will make a difference.

Game two is playing with house money - yes, we want to win, but if you told me we'd split the first two at SA, I would have been totally ok with that. The longer this series goes, the more I like our chances.

My anti-Naz bias sometimes gets the best of me. I swear he was directly or indirectly involved on nearly every defensive breakdown that happened while he was on the floor. Usually it's him helplessly backpedaling or getting turned around against a driving opponent and either fouling or being late to contest the shot.

Alas, he was a team-leading +15!

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2026 8:16 am

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2026 8:04 am Man this board is awesome, thanks to all of you for your great insights and morning after thoughts.

What a great win!

I just wanted to shout out a few macro observations I've had.
One, how nuts is it that wolves have gone, in just a few months, from living and dying by the 3 to an aggressive downhill team? A huge credit to coaching staff and to the adaptability of the players

Two, which is kind of a splinter of one, adaptability has pretty much become the theme for this team in their current playoff run. It's always been more true in theory than in practice with these guys that they can vary their offensive and defensive approach --- go big, go small, play fast, spread you out, attack the basket, play drop, switch everything ---- but in the last six games they have really proven the theory. It's the biggest reason that I continue to believe (while often doubting) in a Julius Randle wolves future, because he is more or less the centerpiece of that variability

Three, I'll double down here on my post from above: the Wolves are the better team right now, and they're not even fully healthy yet--- I think they're going to shock the world and win in 5. Yes it was only a 2 point win and they were inches from a gutting loss, but in a lot of ways the 2 points undersells the margin of victory. The wolves are a more mature, physical and adaptable team and I don't think Wemby and company are championship ready, and to be honest I have to wonder if there isn't a bit of reverence on their end towards the Wolves. They're looking across the court at a team that's gone to b2b WCFs, just took down the nuggets as huge under dogs and just came into their house with a hobbled superstar and kinda big brothered them. What I see from the Spurs is young team and the lights look a little too bright for them. We're not really talking enough about the fact that Vic went 0 for 8 from 3 or the fact that is not used to playing 40 minutes of playoff basketball and was completely gassed at the end of the game. Castle has been bad in the playoffs thus far and he does not look ready for this moment.

Last I'll just say how impressive it is the scalability of nearly every player on the Wolves roster. Naz quietly had 9 rebounds and is finding more and more ways to contribute beyond scoring, but he can also bring a scoring punch when it's needed. Julius is finding the same kind of "win on the margins" identity. Jaden is slowing --- or maybe suddenly --- becoming one of the most versatile players in the league, on both sides of the ball! There is just a long list of players on this team that can grow or shrink their role as needed for the team and better yet they're all totally bought in on that

Good stuff. I also thought it was cool how Ant deferred a bit at times, as if he knew others were well-equipped to make plays. I was worried he'd be jacking up clunkers trying to get himself going, but he played a pretty clean and mature game... until the end that is (phew!).

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2026 12:28 pm I want to talk a little about TSJ. Simply put he is a weapon. When Wemby isn't on the floor and we go 5 out, no one is stopping him from getting to the basket. And once he gets there he's no Rob Dillingham at finishing. And to Finchie's credit, he even found a way to clear a path to the basket when Wemby was on the floor. Wemby's man was bringing him to the nail where he would get back screened by Randle or Ant as TSJ flew by. A lot of guys can drive and finesse their way to the basket, but TSJ does it with such force and speed. Like all the Wolves he really is fearless. I feel really comfortable when he has the ball up top, like I said above, a true weapon.

Monster wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2026 1:03 pm

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2026 12:28 pm I want to talk a little about TSJ. Simply put he is a weapon. When Wemby isn't on the floor and we go 5 out, no one is stopping him from getting to the basket. And once he gets there he's no Rob Dillingham at finishing. And to Finchie's credit, he even found a way to clear a path to the basket when Wemby was on the floor. Wemby's man was bringing him to the nail where he would get back screened by Randle or Ant as TSJ flew by. A lot of guys can drive and finesse their way to the basket, but TSJ does it with such force and speed. Like all the Wolves he really is fearless. I feel really comfortable when he has the ball up top, like I said above, a true weapon.

Good stuff. I didn't watch more than a couple Ayo games after he was acquired before the playoffs. Do you think Ayo's attacking was kind of a blueprint for TSJ and the team helping him do that as a whole?