Minnesota Sports Forum

Just finished watching the game. The Wolves did kinda let the Pacers back in at one point but the Pacers deserve credit for making some shots and playing hard. Ultimately the Wolves looked like clearly the better team. Turner had a heck of a game that I would have said that even if he wasn't nailing all those 3's.

The guy I want to highlight in this game was Austin Rivers. He played a really solid game and he was one guy that was actually playing great D on Matherin. He was tasked with guarding Halliburton later in the game and that didn't go as well. Still he played a nice game.

McDaniels was awesome as well. Wow

monsterpile wrote:Just finished watching the game. The Wolves did kinda let the Pacers back in at one point but the Pacers deserve credit for making some shots and playing hard. Ultimately the Wolves looked like clearly the better team. Turner had a heck of a game that I would have said that even if he wasn't nailing all those 3's.

The guy I want to highlight in this game was Austin Rivers. He played a really solid game and he was one guy that was actually playing great D on Matherin. He was tasked with guarding Halliburton later in the game and that didn't go as well. Still he played a nice game.

McDaniels was awesome as well. Wow

Thanks for mentioning Rivers, Monster. We needed him with JMac out and he certainly showed up. Mathurin looks like a ROY to me and a future star, but Rivers locked him up nicely on a couple possessions.

monsterpile wrote:Just finished watching the game. The Wolves did kinda let the Pacers back in at one point but the Pacers deserve credit for making some shots and playing hard. Ultimately the Wolves looked like clearly the better team. Turner had a heck of a game that I would have said that even if he wasn't nailing all those 3's.

The guy I want to highlight in this game was Austin Rivers. He played a really solid game and he was one guy that was actually playing great D on Matherin. He was tasked with guarding Halliburton later in the game and that didn't go as well. Still he played a nice game.

McDaniels was awesome as well. Wow

Good news about Rivers and McDaniels. I have to say that McDaniels is somewhat quietly developing into a really good player. He could eventually become an all-star caliber player based on his talent, serious approach and the improvement we're seeing from him.

lipoli390 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:Just finished watching the game. The Wolves did kinda let the Pacers back in at one point but the Pacers deserve credit for making some shots and playing hard. Ultimately the Wolves looked like clearly the better team. Turner had a heck of a game that I would have said that even if he wasn't nailing all those 3's.

The guy I want to highlight in this game was Austin Rivers. He played a really solid game and he was one guy that was actually playing great D on Matherin. He was tasked with guarding Halliburton later in the game and that didn't go as well. Still he played a nice game.

McDaniels was awesome as well. Wow

Good news about Rivers and McDaniels. I have to say that McDaniels is somewhat quietly developing into a really good player. He could eventually become an all-star caliber player based on his talent, serious approach and the improvement we're seeing from him.

FWIW the Pacers broadcast was very high on him which I thought was interesting because McDaniels isn't exactly a guy you expect them to start praising from the beginning of the game and they did and that was before he had even done anything.

McDaniels had some beautiful cuts to the basket, and his teammates found him for several nice dunks...he was active at both ends!

lipoli390 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:Just finished watching the game. The Wolves did kinda let the Pacers back in at one point but the Pacers deserve credit for making some shots and playing hard. Ultimately the Wolves looked like clearly the better team. Turner had a heck of a game that I would have said that even if he wasn't nailing all those 3's.

The guy I want to highlight in this game was Austin Rivers. He played a really solid game and he was one guy that was actually playing great D on Matherin. He was tasked with guarding Halliburton later in the game and that didn't go as well. Still he played a nice game.

McDaniels was awesome as well. Wow

Good news about Rivers and McDaniels. I have to say that McDaniels is somewhat quietly developing into a really good player. He could eventually become an all-star caliber player based on his talent, serious approach and the improvement we're seeing from him.

He must have had 5 dunks last night

We just crept into the top 10 in defensive rating. I said this season would be a disappointment to me if we didn't get to top 5. I think we keep getting those reps in drop coverage that will work itself out. McDaniels has all the makings of an elite point of attack defender. If everyone else continues to fill the gaps around Rudy we can get better. The rebounding last night was huge for us, got to keep that up.

thedoper wrote:We just crept into the top 10 in defensive rating. I said this season would be a disappointment to me if we didn't get to top 5. I think we keep getting those reps in drop coverage that will work itself out. McDaniels has all the makings of an elite point of attack defender. If everyone else continues to fill the gaps around Rudy we can get better. The rebounding last night was huge for us, got to keep that up.

The thing about McDaniels is that he has help/team defensive instincts too and has length and shot blocking ability. The wolves could eventually have 2 legit DPOY guys on the same roster with him and Gobert. His weakness is rebounding but with his possible development on offense too...man.

I also looked and saw we were around the top 10 in defensive rating as well. Getting there already after where they were just a couple weeks ago is nice progress. 10 blocks in this game and there were a ton of affected shots and it was more than just Gobert.

One thing that the Pacers broadcast crew was saying was that the Pacers were the best team in the league defending the paint and the Wolves destroyed them there plus the Wolves had that massive rebounding margin.

McDaniels doesn't take possessions off on defense. He competes hard every single time. Pretty impressive for a young player.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:McDaniels doesn't take possessions off on defense. He competes hard every single time. Pretty impressive for a young player.

I agree. I really love how serious and intense he is during games. I've seen the same thing in Rudy Gobert. I like players who are all business, serious and locked in. Those are typically the players who become elite winners. It's the opposite of Wes Johnson or Derrick Williams.