Minnesota Sports Forum

Gobert’s intangibles were on full display tonight.

I'm hoping Dillingham took some confidence from this game. I realize it's one measly stint and there wasn't anything that great about it, but he played with a ton of energy defensively and was truly disruptive at times on that end. He also injected pace into the game and made pretty much the right play on offense every time. Not quite an A-game from him (that blown layup hurt), but close.

Denver is really good and had a terrific offseason, but a lot of their improvement is from within. Aaron Gordon is a different player than back in the days when Rudy could "guard" him and play the lurker role. Gordon's transformation into a legit shot maker and the perimeter defense of Peyton Watson and Spencer Jones made a huge difference in this game.

Abe's Great Giveaway DVR Review:

- Denver coming out playing VERY physical defense. They're standing up the Timberwolves on every attempted drive.

- Nikola Jokic is a giant man. He's even larger when he gets to use the chicken wing when setting picks. He's a superstar though... he gets to do that.

- They called Julius Randle for a free throw lane violation. WHAT A BULLSHIT CALL. Not that it wasn't a lane violation... but it's literally ignored 10 or 15 times EVERY game. So what makes an official call it in that situation, especially since it wasn't even that egregious? I found it amusing that on the ensuing free throw, Naz Reid tapped his foot in the lane four times... wasn't called. Either call it more often... or NEVER call it. Bullshit.

- The Wolves have looked overmatched facing good teams this season... in large part because dominant lead guards seem to be able to get wherever they want very easily. Murray is getting into the lane with ease for the 2nd time vs. the Wolves. They used to have his number. No more.

- I hate this 3rd quarter. The Wolves are just giving away points. Gobert is just playing silly dumb right now. He's taking terrible fouls. He missed a layup from 8 inches away.

- And now Randle and Edwards are committing silly fouls with Denver in the penalty. These free points will matter in the end. Can't do it against really good teams.

- Didn't like Edwards game tonight. He forced his own number.

- It's not just that the Wolves are losing vs. good teams. They haven't been competitive. And those teams haven't even been at full strength in some of those games. Denver was without two starters.

- Tim Hardaway is a professional shooter. And he's making the league minimum. The perfect guy to have as an 8th or 9th man.

- This one was over when Denver went on an 8-0 run in the 4th quarter... without Jokic. Ouch.

- Nikola Jokic is a basketball god. Heck, he might be the GOD.

- I like the Wolves vibe despite another loss to another good team. They seem like a 50-win team. No chance to beat anything close to a healthy top team in the playoffs... but there was a time when I'd kill a man to see the Wolves win 50 games.

When Rudy is overmatched it shows glaringly. Last night it showed on the court and in the box s score with only 4 points, 6 rebounds and 4 turnovers. An absolutely horrible performance by Rudy.

I still put this loss mainly on Ant and Donte. Denver doesn’t have any elite perimeter defenders, yet Ant shot 34.6% from the field and was 0-8 from behind the arc. Meanwhile, our so-called sharp-shooter off the bench, Donte, hit only 1 of 6 three-point attempts. We lost by 11. If Ant had hit 3 of his 8 three attempts and Donte had hit 2 of his, that’s 12 points. I was a bit hyperbolic in another thread when I declared Cunningham a cut above Edwards but my point is that I still don’t see Ant in the came category as SGA today or other past and present superstar guards on championship teams like Magic, MJ, Kobe, Wade, Curry etc. Substitute Curry, Kobe or Dwayne Wade in their prime for Edwards last night and I think we would have won in spite of the terrible performances by Rudy and Donte. It’s not like Edwards doesn’t have a lot of talent around him on this team. He has a ton to talented teammates. I know most will think I’m not being fair to Ant and maybe that’s true. But true superstars that lead their teams to championships go off for 40 points on nights like last night and don’t let their teams lose.

I also thought Jaden’s defense was disappointing last night and his -22 tells us something.

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 16, 2025 11:29 am When Rudy is overmatched it shows glaringly. Last night it showed on the court and in the box s score with only 4 points, 6 rebounds and 4 turnovers. An absolutely horrible performance by Rudy.

I still put this loss mainly on Ant and Donte. Denver doesn’t have any elite perimeter defenders, yet Ant shot 34.6% from the field and was 0-8 from behind the arc. Meanwhile, our so-called sharp-shooter off the bench, Donte, hit only 1 of 6 three-point attempts. We lost by 11. If Ant had hit 3 of his 8 three attempts and Donte had hit 2 of his, that’s 12 points. I was a bit hyperbolic in another thread when I declared Cunningham a cut above Edwards but my point is that I still don’t see Ant in the came category as SGA today or other past and present superstar guards on championship teams like Magic, MJ, Kobe, Wade, Curry etc. Substitute Curry, Kobe or Dwayne Wade in their prime for Edwards last night and I think we would have won in spite of the terrible performances by Rudy and Donte. It’s not like Edwards doesn’t have a lot of talent around him on this team. He has a ton to talented teammates. I know most will think I’m not being fair to Ant and maybe that’s true. But true superstars that lead their teams to championships go off for 40 points on nights like last night and don’t let their teams lose.

I also thought Jaden’s defense was disappointing last night and his -22 tells us something.

My personal evaluation regards this as a bit harsh. I personally don't heavily penalize a player if there shot just isn't falling for a game or two. He was 36% from the field but 53% on his two's and was attacking the rim late

For most of the game Ant was making good decisions, and I thought he had number of good hustle plays and defense. My biggest gripe is that he obviously ran out of gas in the 4th.

I know it was a b2b, and from a macro view that's a passable excuse for evaluating the team at a global level. However, it's still a disappointing fact that this team has consistently not been well conditioned.

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 16, 2025 11:29 am When Rudy is overmatched it shows glaringly. Last night it showed on the court and in the box s score with only 4 points, 6 rebounds and 4 turnovers. An absolutely horrible performance by Rudy.

I still put this loss mainly on Ant and Donte. Denver doesn’t have any elite perimeter defenders, yet Ant shot 34.6% from the field and was 0-8 from behind the arc. Meanwhile, our so-called sharp-shooter off the bench, Donte, hit only 1 of 6 three-point attempts. We lost by 11. If Ant had hit 3 of his 8 three attempts and Donte had hit 2 of his, that’s 12 points. I was a bit hyperbolic in another thread when I declared Cunningham a cut above Edwards but my point is that I still don’t see Ant in the came category as SGA today or other past and present superstar guards on championship teams like Magic, MJ, Kobe, Wade, Curry etc. Substitute Curry, Kobe or Dwayne Wade in their prime for Edwards last night and I think we would have won in spite of the terrible performances by Rudy and Donte. It’s not like Edwards doesn’t have a lot of talent around him on this team. He has a ton to talented teammates. I know most will think I’m not being fair to Ant and maybe that’s true. But true superstars that lead their teams to championships go off for 40 points on nights like last night and don’t let their teams lose.

I also thought Jaden’s defense was disappointing last night and his -22 tells us something.

Curry didn't make the playoffs until he was 25. He was injured most of his age 24 season, but had some stinkers at 24 and 25 years old.

Not to mention that 24 years old isn't even an individual's physical prime.
Ant has also has two games already in this young season where he simply decided the team wasn't going to lose

AbeVigodaLive wrote: ↑Sat Nov 15, 2025 11:28 pm Abe's Great Giveaway DVR Review:

- Denver coming out playing VERY physical defense. They're standing up the Timberwolves on every attempted drive.

- Nikola Jokic is a giant man. He's even larger when he gets to use the chicken wing when setting picks. He's a superstar though... he gets to do that.

- They called Julius Randle for a free throw lane violation. WHAT A BULLSHIT CALL. Not that it wasn't a lane violation... but it's literally ignored 10 or 15 times EVERY game. So what makes an official call it in that situation, especially since it wasn't even that egregious? I found it amusing that on the ensuing free throw, Naz Reid tapped his foot in the lane four times... wasn't called. Either call it more often... or NEVER call it. Bullshit.

- The Wolves have looked overmatched facing good teams this season... in large part because dominant lead guards seem to be able to get wherever they want very easily. Murray is getting into the lane with ease for the 2nd time vs. the Wolves. They used to have his number. No more.

- I hate this 3rd quarter. The Wolves are just giving away points. Gobert is just playing silly dumb right now. He's taking terrible fouls. He missed a layup from 8 inches away.

- And now Randle and Edwards are committing silly fouls with Denver in the penalty. These free points will matter in the end. Can't do it against really good teams.

- Didn't like Edwards game tonight. He forced his own number.

- It's not just that the Wolves are losing vs. good teams. They haven't been competitive. And those teams haven't even been at full strength in some of those games. Denver was without two starters.

- Tim Hardaway is a professional shooter. And he's making the league minimum. The perfect guy to have as an 8th or 9th man.

- This one was over when Denver went on an 8-0 run in the 4th quarter... without Jokic. Ouch.

- Nikola Jokic is a basketball god. Heck, he might be the GOD.

- I like the Wolves vibe despite another loss to another good team. They seem like a 50-win team. No chance to beat anything close to a healthy top team in the playoffs... but there was a time when I'd kill a man to see the Wolves win 50 games.

Yeah, hard to see this version of the Wolves make it to the WCF again, much less win more than one playoff series. The continuity thing has been branded as a big positive, but if part of that continuity includes guys in their early/mid/late 30s it means they are getting worse, not better! Meanwhile, other teams went and improved themselves in the offseason, including Houston and Denver.

Still, I kind of gave up on last year's Wolves team making it very far and they surprised me with a late season run of excellent basketball and then knocking out two media darlings in L.A. and Golden State. You never know!

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 16, 2025 1:12 pm

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 16, 2025 11:29 am When Rudy is overmatched it shows glaringly. Last night it showed on the court and in the box s score with only 4 points, 6 rebounds and 4 turnovers. An absolutely horrible performance by Rudy.

I still put this loss mainly on Ant and Donte. Denver doesn’t have any elite perimeter defenders, yet Ant shot 34.6% from the field and was 0-8 from behind the arc. Meanwhile, our so-called sharp-shooter off the bench, Donte, hit only 1 of 6 three-point attempts. We lost by 11. If Ant had hit 3 of his 8 three attempts and Donte had hit 2 of his, that’s 12 points. I was a bit hyperbolic in another thread when I declared Cunningham a cut above Edwards but my point is that I still don’t see Ant in the came category as SGA today or other past and present superstar guards on championship teams like Magic, MJ, Kobe, Wade, Curry etc. Substitute Curry, Kobe or Dwayne Wade in their prime for Edwards last night and I think we would have won in spite of the terrible performances by Rudy and Donte. It’s not like Edwards doesn’t have a lot of talent around him on this team. He has a ton to talented teammates. I know most will think I’m not being fair to Ant and maybe that’s true. But true superstars that lead their teams to championships go off for 40 points on nights like last night and don’t let their teams lose.

I also thought Jaden’s defense was disappointing last night and his -22 tells us something.

Curry didn't make the playoffs until he was 25. He was injured most of his age 24 season, but had some stinkers at 24 and 25 years old.

Who isn’t over matched against Jokic? I’d say Jokic had his least productive game in 7-8 games. Jokic rarely loses his matchup. Lip always seems to be unnecessarily harsh on Rudy.

Porckchop wrote: ↑Sun Nov 16, 2025 11:41 pm

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 16, 2025 1:12 pm

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 16, 2025 11:29 am When Rudy is overmatched it shows glaringly. Last night it showed on the court and in the box s score with only 4 points, 6 rebounds and 4 turnovers. An absolutely horrible performance by Rudy.

I still put this loss mainly on Ant and Donte. Denver doesn’t have any elite perimeter defenders, yet Ant shot 34.6% from the field and was 0-8 from behind the arc. Meanwhile, our so-called sharp-shooter off the bench, Donte, hit only 1 of 6 three-point attempts. We lost by 11. If Ant had hit 3 of his 8 three attempts and Donte had hit 2 of his, that’s 12 points. I was a bit hyperbolic in another thread when I declared Cunningham a cut above Edwards but my point is that I still don’t see Ant in the came category as SGA today or other past and present superstar guards on championship teams like Magic, MJ, Kobe, Wade, Curry etc. Substitute Curry, Kobe or Dwayne Wade in their prime for Edwards last night and I think we would have won in spite of the terrible performances by Rudy and Donte. It’s not like Edwards doesn’t have a lot of talent around him on this team. He has a ton to talented teammates. I know most will think I’m not being fair to Ant and maybe that’s true. But true superstars that lead their teams to championships go off for 40 points on nights like last night and don’t let their teams lose.

I also thought Jaden’s defense was disappointing last night and his -22 tells us something.

Curry didn't make the playoffs until he was 25. He was injured most of his age 24 season, but had some stinkers at 24 and 25 years old.

Who isn’t over matched against Jokic? I’d say Jokic had his least productive game in 7-8 games. Jokic rarely loses his matchup. Lip always seems to be unnecessarily harsh on Rudy.

Not always. . Actually, I’ve been praising Rudy a lot this season so I don’t think your characterization is accurate. Seriously, it seems fair to say Rudy had a horrible game Saturday when he, as our starting center on a $36.5M per year contract, scored 4 points and grabbed only 6 rebounds. Meanwhile, Jokic had his typically stellar game on par with his season averages this season and throughout his career.