Minnesota Sports Forum

Good win against a moribund Orlando team. Sorry Magic, hiring a young hotshot coach isn't enough to overcome a lack of high-end talent.

Orlando will never get very far if Jalen Suggs is their starting PG. Not that good of a shot maker and not that good of a passer. He should be good in at least one of those categories!

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2026 8:06 pm

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2026 8:03 pm

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2026 8:01 pm Great defense by TSJ forced the offensive foul.

His defense is night and day from a year ago. It really makes his offensive ups and downs more tolerable.

I’m not seeing downs from Shannon so far in these two games.

He' a tad out of control, but playing well to start the season, much better than the pre season. I do think he could use a little more finesse/change of pace, he has one speed and makes it harder for him to hit open guys on his passes. I was really hoping he hit Evans there at the end for the wide open corner three to get him his first bucket.

Ant and Ball couldn't hit the broad side of the barn most of the game, we missed a lot of bunnies, and we still crushed a team that gave us problems last season. I believe they beat us pretty good twice last year. The defense let up a bit at the end when the game was in control, but it has been fantastic to start the season by pretty much everyone.

7 players in double digits, all under 20. 9 a piece for Joan and Lyles. Now that is balanced scoring. Everyone who played in the rotation had at least 4 boards. 5 players with at least 4 assists. I love seeing everyone chip in.

I can see how Melo is susceptible to injury the way he plays. He initiates and takes a lot of contact and he's not really built for that. I didn't know he was so long, he gets his hand on passes you don't think he can reach. And so far I have no problem with how hard he is working on defense. Just have to keep him on the court because he makes all the difference in the world when he is out there. He's a plus 35 so far.

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2026 9:24 pm I can see how Melo is susceptible to injury the way he plays. He initiates and takes a lot of contact and he's not really built for that. I didn't know he was so long, he gets his hand on passes you don't think he can reach. And so far I have no problem with how hard he is working on defense. Just have to keep him on the court because he makes all the difference in the world when he is out there. He's a plus 35 so far.

Yeah, his length is such an asset for him. And if he plays hard like he has the first two games, he will be a plus defender. I thought JK would be a plus defender based on what I saw from him last season with Atlanta, but Ball's defense has been a pleasant surprise. He and Ant seem to be feeding off each other at both ends of the court.

FNG wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2026 10:22 pm

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2026 9:24 pm I can see how Melo is susceptible to injury the way he plays. He initiates and takes a lot of contact and he's not really built for that. I didn't know he was so long, he gets his hand on passes you don't think he can reach. And so far I have no problem with how hard he is working on defense. Just have to keep him on the court because he makes all the difference in the world when he is out there. He's a plus 35 so far.

Yeah, his length is such an asset for him. And if he plays hard like he has the first two games, he will be a plus defender. I thought JK would be a plus defender based on what I saw from him last season with Atlanta, but Ball's defense has been a pleasant surprise. He and Ant seem to be feeding off each other at both ends of the court.

I do think Ball is getting beat off the dribble a ton and Rudy is bailing him out. With that said Ball is doing great rotating when beat

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2026 9:11 pm

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2026 8:06 pm

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2026 8:03 pm

His defense is night and day from a year ago. It really makes his offensive ups and downs more tolerable.

I’m not seeing downs from Shannon so far in these two games.

He' a tad out of control, but playing well to start the season, much better than the pre season. I do think he could use a little more finesse/change of pace, he has one speed and makes it harder for him to hit open guys on his passes. I was really hoping he hit Evans there at the end for the wide open corner three to get him his first bucket.

He was actually more in control tonight than Edwards. And his passing was excellent overall. Interspersed among his many really nice plays were some mistakes, which isn’t different from any other player. Putting aside what we’ve seen from him in the past - his reputation - and looking objectively at his play these two games has been excellent overall. I’ll say the same for Melo, Ayo, Jaden, JK and Rudy. Ant was off the charts great against Miami but pretty bad tonight. Beringer was better than he was against Miami but still has quite a ways to go. But knowing that perfection isn’t the standard and that TSJ isn’t a star or expected to be one, TSJ’s play has been excellent through these first two games. We’ll see how things go with him over the course of the season. He’ll undoubtedly have some bad games and bad moments within games. I’ll be watching to see if he continues to asset himself effectively on the defensive end as he has so far while also making good decisions and winning plays on the offensive end. You really can’t expect more from your 7th or 8th guy in your rotation than we’ve gotten so far from from TSJ.

Can’t say enough about what Melo does for this team. One thing in particular is that he substantially raises the collective IQ of the team. Yes, he gets careless at times and takes some shots I wish he wouldn’t. But overall, he’s does so much to raise the level of this team’s play.

And what a night for Dosunmu. 14 points on better than 50% FG shooting along with 7 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and zero turnovers. You can’t overstate what he meant to this team tonight, especially with Edwards playing so poorly.

Abe's 1st kind of mailed-in DAZN laptop DVR Review:

- Yawn. These 20+ point wins are so commonplace now.

- Who cares that the team's two best offensive players shoot 25%... team still wins easily.

- Who cares that the Wolves shoot only 57% from the line (17-30)... team still wins easily.

- Good defense... or TERRIBLE shooting from opponents? Heat and Magic combined to shoot 16 - 72 (22%) on threes through two games.

- lonzo ball joking that he’s never seen his lil bro try this hard on defense before…

- beat two physical teams easily on the road while still ironing things out. Great start.