Wiz/Wolves GDT

[Coolbreeze44]

Kind of wish I hadn't had to go through all the torment this game caused. But I'm very pleased with the result.

[Coolbreeze44]

Minott is not good

[BloopOracle]

History made! I got spoiled tonight since I didn't turn the game on until 5 minutes into the third quarter

[Q-is-here]

Minott is not good

Got torched on two drives to the hoop by Wizards backups. Sigh.

[davemang]

It’s guess it’s a sign of how good the team is that I just get annoyed when they go down 20 in what would be a classic trap game because I know they’ll get it back rather than just give up on them.

[BloopOracle]

OKC just won damn

[Q-is-here]

History made! I got spoiled tonight since I didn't turn the game on until 5 minutes into the third quarter

You avoided a ton of frustration, congrats! Meanwhile, I've booked appointments with a cardiologist and psychiatrist tomorrow.

[Leado01]

Attended tonight...really didn't notice or appreciate ANT until he got to 18 pts...felt like he was not being selfish enough.

ANT is special

[AbeVigodaLive]

Abe's Next Morning DVR Review:

- Well... Anthony Edwards is kinda fun to watch. He forced his will on this game, came out with his first 50 piece. He hit a bunch of tough shots, but it was a few shots he did NOT take that impressed me. He had the ball on the wing/near the post and Washington was coming with three guys. Now, the obvious pass was to a wide-open Mike Conley for a three at the top. BUT... that's not always the play Edwards makes when he's cooking. A simple play/pass for three easy points. Later, he drew three defenders, passed it to the wing... and then the ball went into the corner for another wide-open three. Wonderful hockey assist. A winning assist.

As for stats... Edwards finished with 30 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists... in the 2nd half!*

- NAW helped save this game. He just plays with extra energy. Very good defender. And when he makes shots... he's a good NBA player. He's also great value right now. But beware... when he gets a 300% raise (or more), the expectations will be higher and I don't know if he'll have the chops for it.

- Yeah... that Naz Reid ejection seemed weird.

- Washington is tied for the #29 best three-point shooting team. I do like Corey Kispert offensively. I don't know who he can guard... but I'd like to see that kind of shooter on the Timberwolves.

- Jordan Poole. As Q lamented during the game... he hit three or four ridiculous shots. But don't worry folks. There's a reason he's the best losing basketball player in the NBA. He came out hot, but was determined to end up being a negative on the court. It's simply what he does best. He finished a respectable 9 - 22 fgs with 5 three pointers... and that was with those ridiculously tough makes. As most know, I absolutely despised watching Rashad McCants play basketball. I felt like he was trying to lose games. Jordan Poole might be worse, which is saying something because I truly believed McCants was the anti-Christ. We all know he was punched by Draymond Green, but it's a miracle nobody on the Wizards has gone after him yet. And that includes his coaches.

- How much is good, but often immature, defense worth? McDaniels' offensive game is pretty suspect. He doesn't create well. He's not a good passer or dribbler. He looks out of control a lot of the time. We've made the comparison before... but Herb Jones is now better on both ends of the court. And he'll be paid less than half of what McDaniels is making for the next few years.





* I saw comments from Rudy Gobert after the game celebrating Edwards' recently improved focus on all the little things off the court. Resting. Training. Et al. Part of me cringed. "How can this guy STILL not get it?" Part of me found it encouraging. "Just how good can this guy be when he gets super serious?"

I think/hope he gets there. As Timberwolves fans, we deserve good things. We've earned it. But it will be the story of the next few years. In any event, it'll be fun to watch... the guy has "it." It's just waiting to see if he really wants "it."

[FNG]

Excellent work on the GDT boys! We weren't going to watch this one, but when I read the first page of the GDT about the disastrous first quarter, we had to turn on the replay. Glad we did...really fun game to watch.

We got to see Ant, NAW and JMac all play their best games of the year. As always, the entire pace of the game changed when NAW and JMac came in, and I don't think anyone is surprised they shared the team lead with an extraordinary +27 (JMac also now leads the team for the season in on/off with a +6.1). Ant was extraordinary. Great shot creating and making, and the best job we have seen all year passing out of triple teams. And only 2 TOs. I thought he was signaling 50 cent with his pantomime after getting to 50, but he might have actually aimed it toward Micah Nori who turned 50 yesterday...either way, fun.

Rudy of course was his usual dominant self with a 19/16 with 4 blocks. But it was almost unfair to see him playing against a team without a center and not even having legitimate PFs. The fact that we only won the rebounding battle 44-41 was a strong indicator that we didn't want this one as much as the Wiz did. Understandable...our season is tonight against the Nuggets. Still, we had enough to pull this one out.

We need second half Conley tonight and in the playoffs. First half Mike missed shots and made sloppy passes.

I know I've already mentioned NAW, but his defense is so much fun to watch. When is he going to start getting some all-defense recognition. I'm going to say there is no better defending bench in the Association with NAW, JMac, Morris and SloMo...they are going to be huge for us in the playoffs.

KAT comin' back, y'all.