Pandemic game- Lakers GDT

[FNG]

45-29 rebounding advantage...didn't see that coming,

[Jester1534]

Love me some EyeChart he's seeing the bottom row of letters tonight!!!!!!!!!

[Jester1534]

45-29 rebounding advantage...didn't see that coming,

I wish I could adopt Vando

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

When I say Lakers, you say old! Lakers! Old! Lakers! Old!

[FNG]

Anthony horse collars vando after his 16th board...frustration. And target center goes crazy. Fun Friday night now!

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

The numbers won't do justice for D-Lo tonight. He's made a number of simple yet effective passes tonight that didn't get registered in the box score. And the defensive impact continues to be real.

Jaylen Nowell and Malik Beasley did enough to make up for the scoring they lost with Anthony Edwards being inactive. Kudos to both of them. The Wolves needed someone to step up.

But the real stars tonight have been Karl-Anthony Towns and Jarred Vanderbilt. They've really carried the Wolves in more ways than one. Hard not to be proud of this win. Minnesota moves to 14-15 on the year with a so-so Dallas team missing Luka Doncic up next. I can smell .500!

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

The Wolves are now 14-9 (.609) this year when both Karl-Anthony Towns and D'Angelo Russell suit up. That includes a 7-7 record against teams .500 or better. They're 27-21 (.563) when they have both played since the trade that brought Russell to Minnesota.

It just keeps growing...

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Watched the game on ESPN, which is very rare for me.

- The ESPN cast and crew, both at the game and in the studio, were desperately trying to pretend that the Lakers actually have a shot this year at contending. Jalen Rose was the only realist among them. Needless to say, it was fun watching the Wolves humiliate them in the second half on national TV.

- ESPN continued...."there is so much talent on this team (i.e. the Lakers), they will get it together soon". Yeah, but they are freakin' OLD as Cam kept reminding us in the game thread. And the one starter they have that isn't very old, Anthony Davis, actually plays like he's old. He looked terrible even before he got nicked up.

- Most of the first half was some of the ugliest basketball I've seen in a long time. Just clank after clank after clank. Luckily we have one of the most reliably efficient scorers in the NBA with KAT. He was the only one that didn't look like a YMCA'er out there in the first half.

- It was nice to see Nowell come alive in the 2nd half. Beasley needs to be pushed, because he continues to struggle. Nowell is theoretically a more well-rounded version of Beasley, but he's never been able to string together multiple good shooting nights. May be that will finally change this year??

- While it was nice to see some solid bench play in the second half, they were awful in the first half. Finchy is trying everything he can to see if someone - anyone - can earn a permanent spot being that 8th and 9th man.

- Vando continues to impress. He is the epitome of a "do shit" player. Impacts the game in so many ways without needing to score. He still has unreliable hands which might limit him even more than his lack of an outside shot. Seriously, if he could catch, he'd be a much more dangerous roll man and cutter given the personnel around him. Regardless, all the other things he does well outweighs the bad by a ton.

We are still early in the tough part of our schedule. But its a war of attrition and we seem to continue to run up against teams that are also fighting injury and illness. That certainly helps.

[FNG]

I was in the house and Q was watching on TV, but his analysis is right on. I'll just add a few comments.

-terrific to be back in the building...first game for me since last April.
-PatBev is constantly entertaining. Always talking with the crowd, his teammates and the opponents. Truly Mr. 94 feet! I actually loved his glare at Rondo that drew a tech, and so did KAT. Also loved the moment when the ref fell down, and Pat reached down to pick him up without giving up his dribble!
-I noticed last spring what a great teammate DLo is, and last night I also noticed him engaging with the crowd. I mentioned in teeing up this thread that I was with 3 LeBron-loving teenagers all dressed up in Laker gear, and at one point during the game DLo looked over at them and asked "Why y'all Laker fans?". I really enjoy Russell's demeanor during games. And his passing lane-clogging new-found awareness...3 more steals last night.
-LeBron either wasn't engaged tonight, or was totally flummoxed by Vando. I think a little of both, but more the latter, because he did seem more engaged on offense and actually attacked the few minutes JO was on him. Vando was extraordinary tonight.
-There's no question that AD started the game hurt (and obviously ended up more hurt)...he's a shadow of himself out there. KAT was like a hungry lion eyeing a wounded prey when he got the ball on offense...he knew AD wasn't able to stop him.
- Undoubtedly a terrific win last night, but we need to keep it in perspective because the Lakers really didn't seem to want to be there. I thought they looked interested for about 2 minutes...that stretch in the third quarter when they cut the lead down to 3 points and looked like they actually wanted to win. But after Beasley (who was terrible in the first half) hit those big threes, the Lakers seemed focused on the plane ride home.

Now 2 games with Dallas. I hate to say it, but we certainly didn't seem to miss Ant much (the ball clearly moved much better), so we need to win both with Luka out.

[thedoper]

Towns had a perfect game. Thats two in a row for him plus the first half in Portland. The guy is ramping up and if he keeps playing with this discipline on both sides of the ball it will be hard not to think of him as the best big in the league. Weve all seen his crappy side this season but he is really playing well. Its the proper balance for our team that everyone else's contributions are gravy but KAT took this game over.