Wolves vs. Spurs

[60WinTim]

It's looking pretty slim for those "Spurs in 5" folks...

[AussieWolf3]

Unlikely to happen but I would submit that Naz should replace Randle or Rudy in the starting lineup.

This isn't to glaze Naz, there is just better floor balance when he is against there starters. I don't think it's a coincidence that the a wolves have started poorly in every game this series

Edit: I just looked up Randle/Rudy lineup combinations and literally, and I mean literally the only positive lineups have either DDV or Naz in them. The two are such a horrible pair simply because of the shooting issues and just can't afford to have that against Wemby

[FNG]

It's looking pretty slim for those "Spurs in 5" folks...

Pretty close to mathematically impossible, I'd say .

I'm actually generally pretty good at basketball predictions...except when it comes to the Wolves postseason! I was wrong on all three series two years ago (only predicted us to win the Dallas series!), and only got the OkC series correct last season. And I didn't think we were going to beat Denver this year. So that's 6 out of 7 incorrect predictions! You'd think I might learn after three seasons that this team is different in the postseason.

The good news? Despite the win in game 4, I still have the Wolves losing this series. So get your tickets for Game 3 against OkC right now!

[FNG]

Unlikely to happen but I would submit that Naz should replace Randle or Rudy in the starting lineup.

This isn't to glaze Naz, there is just better floor balance when he is against there starters. I don't think it's a coincidence that the a wolves have started poorly in every game this series

Edit: I just looked up Randle/Rudy lineup combinations and literally, and I mean literally the only positive lineups have either DDV or Naz in them. The two are such a horrible pair simply because of the shooting issues and just can't afford to have that against Wemby

Aussie, Dane Moore talked about this on his pod with Kyle yesterday. Their conclusion was there's no chance Naz starts in game 5, but if we lose tomorrow and Ju doesn't have a terrific game, Naz just might start in game 6. I thought that was a pretty good take.

[Leado01]

Start Kyle Anderson...play him 3 minutes to get a good wind up shot to Wemby's neck...no fines, no additional suspension...it doesn't matter that it's intentional

[AbeVigodaLive]

I'm cool with no suspension.

But no fine seems to be an anomaly in these types of incidents.

Not that $50k really means much to very rich athletes. It's more about the message (not) being sent.

[rapsuperstar31]

4 games into the Wolves/Spurs series we have.

Randle 14.3 ppg, 7.3 reb, 1.8 assists and 4.5 turnovers shooting 37%, 26.7%.
Jaden 14.8 ppg, 5.3 reb shooting 39.3%, 23.1%
Ayo 7 ppg, 4 reb, 2.7 assists shooting 25%, 30.8%
Shannon 10.3 ppg shooting 32.6%, 23.1%

We need at least two of these guys to really pick it up the rest of the series. And hopefully all of them can have at least one really good game.

[AussieWolf3]

So I've been getting pretty frustrated with the discourse around this series, which is that the Spurs have thoroughly outplayed the Wolves and for lack of better term the Wolves have just been lucky or are putting punching above their weight.

That even seems to be the sentiment among Wolves fans. I don't fully agree and would argue that the wolves have been the better team in 9 of 16 quarters. The rub however is that 4 of the Spurs winning quarters were blowouts (or garbage time I guess)

Well I wanted to put this to the test a little bit, and am also just curious what the number say when you remove the blowout.

So as it is the Spurs have whooping +14.2 Net rating; 114.5 off/ 103.3 def

However if you remove game 2 for the data the matchup drops to a much more evenly matched +1.1 for the Wolves.
Here it is again
111.8 ORTG
110.7 DRTG
1.1 NET

I don't think it's good process to write off a +15.3 single game rating as it bears evidence to the fact that the Spurs likely have a higher ceiling they can reach then the Wolves ---although I'm still not totally sure that true if Ant and Ayo keep getting healthier---

Regardless I believe it's worth pointing out that the one lopsided game was a desperation game 2 from the Spurs in which Ant was still coming off the bench, Conley and Bones were still getting meaningfully minutes and Ayo couldn't even finish the game.
The two subsequent games have had a much different tenor in my opinion in which the Wolves have seemed to solved the puzzle to some extent of how to attack the Spurs defense.
Is San Antonio"s inexperienced coaching staff and roster capable of making the necessary adjustments?
Can the Wolves health remain on an upward trend?

I think those are the macro variables that will decide the series --- with more important micro details truly being the difference ---

And for those who would say that game 4 is an asterisk win due to the ejection, I disagree, the mental and emotional resilience to withstand a playoff grind is part of a team's championship makeup.

I personally don't think the Spurs have that yet, we'll see if the Wolves have gained that through their well earned scars

[AbeVigodaLive]

Aussie,

The only discourse I've been reading is that the Wolves are being too physical with Wemby...

... I thought I read something about Anthony Edwards leading his team through two knee injuries... but alas... it was just a fragmented sentence in a 2,000 word piece about Wemby and physicality and stuff.

[AussieWolf3]

Aussie,

The only discourse I've been reading is that the Wolves are being too physical with Wemby...

... I thought I read something about Anthony Edwards leading his team through two knee injuries... but alas... it was just a fragmented sentence in a 2,000 word piece about Wemby and physicality and stuff.

To be fair, I may have editorialized a bit with the discourse, but the sentiment that I have gotten still features the Wolves as side characters in the story arc of Wembanyama. I have seen and heard from multiple places that, "the spurs have outplayed the Wolves" and I'm just not convinced that's completely true, even tho the reality of the completely butt whooping during game 2 exists.