Home Sweet Home - Thunder at Wolves Game 3 GDT

[FNG]

A couple of us were saying the key to success for us was maintaining a 2 to 1 assist to turnover ratio. How about 3 to 1? 30 assists tonight and only 10 TOs. OkC was 19/14. I thought the Thunder came out lackadaisical tonight. We got their attention with this ass kicking, and we're going to see a much more aggressive opponent then. But shoot like we did tonight, smother SGA, and protect the ball, and we have a chance.

[Q-is-here]

A couple of us were saying the key to success for us was maintaining a 2 to 1 assist to turnover ratio. How about 3 to 1? 30 assists tonight and only 10 TOs. OkC was 19/14. I thought the Thunder came out lackadaisical tonight. We got their attention with this ass kicking, and we're going to see a much more aggressive opponent then. But shoot like we did tonight, smother SGA, and protect the ball, and we have a chance.

We basically played the perfect game and beat them in pretty much every category. We would have won even with a mediocre 3-point shooting night, which should hopefully give us some confidence that by protecting the ball and imposing our size we can win games even if the 3-ball isn't falling at a high rate.

[KG4Ever]

Props to the Wolves for coming out and playing with a chip on their shoulder. TSJ deserves more minutes and this game might have showcased that he deserves more minutes going forward. Miller looked good in his minutes too (wish Finch had gotten him more reps in the regular season as its clear he doesn't trust Miller for anything but garbage time minutes), but he has some good tools. Hopefully, Finch will lean on guys outside the 8 man rotation when any of the bench guys goes cold like in Game 1. TSJ, Clark and Dilly are probably the next guys in line after the 8 man. We just don't how good the others can be if Finch won't play them. Only guys who weren't great tonight would be Conley and Minott.

[Monster]

Wolves came out and took care of business. Q's TSJ leveler he suggested came through. You gotta wonder if he is gonna get at least a short stint in the first half of the next game to see if he brings something again.

Defense was better and as it was pointed out in the broadcast it looked like the Wolves may have changed how they were playing.

Weird the Wolves made 3 pointers.

[Wolvesfan21]

Wolves came out and took care of business. Q's TSJ leveler he suggested came through. You gotta wonder if he is gonna get at least a short stint in the first half of the next game to see if he brings something again.

Defense was better and as it was pointed out in the broadcast it looked like the Wolves may have changed how they were playing.

Weird the Wolves made 3 pointers.

100% TJ plays. He brings the energy and controlled aggression which we need in this matchup.

[FNG]

Wolves came out and took care of business. Q's TSJ leveler he suggested came through. You gotta wonder if he is gonna get at least a short stint in the first half of the next game to see if he brings something again.

Defense was better and as it was pointed out in the broadcast it looked like the Wolves may have changed how they were playing.

Weird the Wolves made 3 pointers.

100% TJ plays. He brings the energy and controlled aggression which we need in this matchup.

I tend to agree with you, WF...he was terrific in this game, even taking on SGA on a couple defensive possessions. But let's be honest, it was our core 8 that won this game for us...they built a 34-14 first quarter lead by the time TJ checked in, and were playing with twice as much energy as a lethargic and perhaps overconfident Thunder team. So he was great (+11 in his 13 minutes) but I'm confident we would have won this game with our normal rotation. Still, I like Finchy giving TJ some important minutes in this one...he doesn't lack confidence anyway, but a performance like this can only make him more confident the next time he hits the court. I don't think Finchy will hesitate to put him in, especially if he sees us getting complacent like I thought we were in game 2. And perhaps even more important, it has to make us Wolves fans feel good about the reserve role TJ is going to play next year. I think he will become a fan favorite off the bench.

[Q-is-here]

Wolves came out and took care of business. Q's TSJ leveler he suggested came through. You gotta wonder if he is gonna get at least a short stint in the first half of the next game to see if he brings something again.

Defense was better and as it was pointed out in the broadcast it looked like the Wolves may have changed how they were playing.

Weird the Wolves made 3 pointers.

100% TJ plays. He brings the energy and controlled aggression which we need in this matchup.

I tend to agree with you, WF...he was terrific in this game, even taking on SGA on a couple defensive possessions. But let's be honest, it was our core 8 that won this game for us...they built a 34-14 first quarter lead by the time TJ checked in, and were playing with twice as much energy as a lethargic and perhaps overconfident Thunder team. So he was great (+11 in his 13 minutes) but I'm confident we would have won this game with our normal rotation. Still, I like Finchy giving TJ some important minutes in this one...he doesn't lack confidence anyway, but a performance like this can only make him more confident the next time he hits the court. I don't think Finchy will hesitate to put him in, especially if he sees us getting complacent like I thought we were in game 2. And perhaps even more important, it has to make us Wolves fans feel good about the reserve role TJ is going to play next year. I think he will become a fan favorite off the bench.

I think the bigger picture takeaway with TJ is the valuable experience he's getting in the WCF as a rookie and the fact that he can be part of the solution in dealing with OKC going forward, meaning beyond this series.

[FNG]

100% TJ plays. He brings the energy and controlled aggression which we need in this matchup.

I tend to agree with you, WF...he was terrific in this game, even taking on SGA on a couple defensive possessions. But let's be honest, it was our core 8 that won this game for us...they built a 34-14 first quarter lead by the time TJ checked in, and were playing with twice as much energy as a lethargic and perhaps overconfident Thunder team. So he was great (+11 in his 13 minutes) but I'm confident we would have won this game with our normal rotation. Still, I like Finchy giving TJ some important minutes in this one...he doesn't lack confidence anyway, but a performance like this can only make him more confident the next time he hits the court. I don't think Finchy will hesitate to put him in, especially if he sees us getting complacent like I thought we were in game 2. And perhaps even more important, it has to make us Wolves fans feel good about the reserve role TJ is going to play next year. I think he will become a fan favorite off the bench.

I think the bigger picture takeaway with TJ is the valuable experience he's getting in the WCF as a rookie and the fact that he can be part of the solution in dealing with OKC going forward, meaning beyond this series.

No question about it, Q...he's important to our future. Now, we can certainly debate whether he should have gotten more run this season. My personal opinion is a 24 year old with an NBA body and a solid college career as a 2 way player was ready to contribute this year. But that's just what I think. What I "know" is that Finchy knows way more about basketball and the readiness of his players that he sees every day than I do, and his decision making is almost always going to be better than mine...maybe always!

[Monster]

I tend to agree with you, WF...he was terrific in this game, even taking on SGA on a couple defensive possessions. But let's be honest, it was our core 8 that won this game for us...they built a 34-14 first quarter lead by the time TJ checked in, and were playing with twice as much energy as a lethargic and perhaps overconfident Thunder team. So he was great (+11 in his 13 minutes) but I'm confident we would have won this game with our normal rotation. Still, I like Finchy giving TJ some important minutes in this one...he doesn't lack confidence anyway, but a performance like this can only make him more confident the next time he hits the court. I don't think Finchy will hesitate to put him in, especially if he sees us getting complacent like I thought we were in game 2. And perhaps even more important, it has to make us Wolves fans feel good about the reserve role TJ is going to play next year. I think he will become a fan favorite off the bench.

I think the bigger picture takeaway with TJ is the valuable experience he's getting in the WCF as a rookie and the fact that he can be part of the solution in dealing with OKC going forward, meaning beyond this series.

No question about it, Q...he's important to our future. Now, we can certainly debate whether he should have gotten more run this season. My personal opinion is a 24 year old with an NBA body and a solid college career as a 2 way player was ready to contribute this year. But that's just what I think. What I "know" is that Finchy knows way more about basketball and the readiness of his players that he sees every day than I do, and his decision making is almost always going to be better than mine...maybe always!

It's also worth noting that the Wolves were already playing the type of game TSJ thrives in. He obviously did what he does to keep that vibe going. I don't know how many times Finch wants TSJ attacking and taking midrange Shots around the FT line.

Remember the days when TSJ his rookie year would have played like 30mpg because there was basically no other options? The Wolves have TWO rookies that have done enough to give us fans legit reasons to think they could deserve minutes in the WCF! I didn't even mention lottery pick Rob Dillingham who was injured but now has no path towards minutes unless there are injuries. There are some other front court guys that won't see minutes either that may have in past years. This is very different.

[FNG]

Only three times in the history of the NBA has a team with the current MVP lost by more than 40 points in the playoffs, and all three were against teams from Minnesota: last night, last year's blowout against the Nuggets, and a victory by the Minneapolis Lakers against the the St Louis Hawks and Bob Pettit. I'm fairly confident of two things: 1) nobody can come up with a cooler stat than that today, and 2) I'm the only one here that ever saw Pettit play live (at the Minneapolis Armory).