Minnesota Sports Forum

AbeVigodaLive wrote: ↑Thu Nov 05, 2026 10:20 am Abe's 1st real next-day DAZN review of the Season:

- Last year, we heard a lot about the Timberwolves coaching talent when it came to replays. Did everything get shuffled when Nori left and Jeff Newton moved up the coaching ladder or something? It’s been a disappointing start to the season with challenges. The challenge on the Trey Lyles out of bounds play was odd. (1) It was NOT a high leverage play. (2) It was super early. (3) Trey Lyles hasn’t earned his stripes yet to force that challenge. (4) It was clearly off Lyles.

- Reed Sheppard had 3 steals in 4 minutes. (And very nearly a 4th) I feel like that’s statistically impossible.

- Ayo Dosunmu is an interesting player. He moves differently. He plays differently. And it’s just a different look than we’re used to. But, he’s elite at finishing with speed. I keep wondering how he’s getting the ball to the glass… and how easily he makes it look.

- McDaniels looked terrible shooting from distance. He also made some really bad passes early… even on no TOs. He kept getting into the lane and then seemed like he didn’t trust himself so he’d throw it way out top to start over. But damn… he’s a really good player. Despite the glaring issues early… still makes a bunch of his signature pullups and finishes 14 / 8 / 4 with efficiency.

- Of all the Timberwolves, Bones Hyland would be the one who I’d fear most if I was in a random run with him. (Even over Edwards) That guy is built to shoot off the dribble. I’m convinced he’d score 397 straight points in any pickup game I’ve ever played in. And he’d celebrate every bucket along the way. It’s like he saw Jamal Crawford as a kid and said… “Yep. I found my basketball hero.”

- I can’t recall a PG who’s as tight with his dribble one moment… and as loose with his dribble the next… than LaMelo Ball.

- I’m glad I don’t have to root for Alpert Sengun. It doesn’t seem like much fun. Boxscore savant though.

- I’m guessing rooting for Durant is a bit of a soul-less adventure, too. I mean the guy isn’t the most boring, dour player ever or anything. It’s just that his game is so good in such a specific way… that it’s almost robotic. I get the vibe that’s how his demeanor is as well, which is part of how he’s so consistent. He knows his spots. He knows the game. He knows exactly what’s going on. He’s seen it all, so nothing really gets to him… or inspires him. It’s just “business.” Rinse. Repeat. For 20 years.

- Marcus Smart. I believe Chris Finch was thinking (yelling) the same thing every non-Houston fan or non-Marcus Smart family member did when he flopped on the screen… “How are you people STILL falling for his gimmicks?” He’s reached the TJ Tucker point of his career now. It’s literally the only “positive” (ahem) thing he can bring to the court. Dillon Brooks is waiting in the wings to carry the torch for this type of veteran.

- Fun to see Ball take over late after an uneven first few weeks. His shooting. His scoring. His passing. His presence. All of them were on display when it was needed. The best part is that it certainly seems like there’s a lot more in the tank and that he’s still feeling out his role and teammates. Things like 3 fouls in 30 seconds. Or, more TOs than assists… again. But… his impact is obvious.

- Amen Thompson has hit a plateau offensively, or even a slight step back. An incredible defender. A great athlete. He's good at a lot of things. But, his limitations are pretty clear, too. I think it's all worth it even as he's about to make 3x or even 4x more money annually, but it'll come with more "Is that it?" questions too.

- Very nice win. It was weird, because I was planning on writing about how the Wolves are arguably the best 5 – 4 team in the league because all but one of their losses was a “good” loss while facing tough circumstances. Feels even better to appreciate the win. This team is playing with some legit intensity. I think the players deserve most of that acclaim… but I also think it can be a bit of an organizational culture thing.

FNG wrote: ↑Thu Nov 05, 2026 11:43 am Just finished the DAZN replay...wow, what a win! A few thoughts:

-With Ant out, it's nice to have an alpha like Melo to take charge at crunch time. Yes, his turnovers have been an uncharacteristic problem this season, but I liked everything else about his game tonight. The 3 fouls on one possession were odd, but I thought at least one of them was a bad call. I don't think anyone pointed out in the GDT who he was guarding most of the day...Jabari Smith Jr! I thought it was a strange decision by Finchy (I would have had JK on him with Ball on Amen), but you can't argue with the results...Smith only took 4 shots, and finished with only 11/4. Melo's length gives Finchy the flexibility to do so many different things on defense.

-Houston was averaging 119 PPG coming into the game, and we held them to 107. So many contributed to the defensive effort, but I'm going to cite Rudy. Sengun was averaging over 23 PPG, and Rudy held him to NO buckets...he was 0 for 9 against Rudy and 5 for 6 against Joan. The defensive gap between our 2 centers is immense, but I continue to feel more positively about Joan...5 defensive rebounds in just 13 minutes (and some contested) and so active on the offensive boards. I've been saying the key to winning this season is to thrive in the Rudy minutes and survive the Joan minutes, and we followed the script nicely tonight...Rudy was a +11 and Joan close to breakeven at -2.

-Speaking of Sengun, I have to agree with Aussie...he is my least favorite player in the league. I don't know for sure, but my sense is his teammates don't like him either...I think he was the biggest problem in their collapse last season.

-Ayo was terrific tonight...21/6 and aggressive defense. His recognition that despite their length the Rockets are horrible rim protectors led to a tsunami of easy layups...so much fun to watch him beat his man off the dribble and corkscrew his way to the bucket.

-Jaden was 0 for 6 on threes and is now the only TWolf shooting less than 37% on threes...last year we had NINE players making less than 37%. And I'm not the least bit worried about Jaden beyond the arc, and he continues to be money in the paint...7 for 8 tonight.

-There will be a few games this season that would be L's without Bones' shooting...tonight might have been one of them.

-WTF with our free throw shooting this season...we're now at 63.4% for the season, over 7 percentage points behind the next worse team. Tonight Ball was 4 for 5, but nobody else made more than 50%! But again, I'm not worried...we're going to progress to a much better mean.

FNG wrote: ↑Thu Nov 05, 2026 11:43 am -Speaking of Sengun, I have to agree with Aussie...he is my least favorite player in the league. I don't know for sure, but my sense is his teammates don't like him either...I think he was the biggest problem in their collapse last season.

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 05, 2026 7:13 pm

FNG wrote: ↑Thu Nov 05, 2026 11:43 am -Speaking of Sengun, I have to agree with Aussie...he is my least favorite player in the league. I don't know for sure, but my sense is his teammates don't like him either...I think he was the biggest problem in their collapse last season.

It would have been easy to miss cause it was during a couple of FTa in the middle of the game and the they were broadcasting from the camera below the basket. However, Sengun hit a FT, and literally not one of his teammates moved for the ritual high five while at the same time he's got his hands out stretch for them. After a few awkward seconds a couple gave him what I would call rather resentful fivers.

I'm normally very adverse to reading into this stuff, but I don't think it could have been more obvious how much they just don't like him

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 05, 2026 7:26 pm https://www.reddit.com/r/timberwolves/s/KEN69MPDTi

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 05, 2026 9:30 pm I missed the game last night but I’m now satching the replay and just finished watching the first half. It’s amazing we beat a terrific Houston team on their court without Ant or TSJ. Even more amazing we won in spite of a first half with three missed bunnies by Rudy, a missed dunk by Kuminga after some great passes, and a flagrant foul by Kuminga. And we didn’t just win; we won by 10 points.

A tremendous win last night. This Wolves team is looking pretty good - tough and resilient.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Thu Nov 05, 2026 6:52 pm

AbeVigodaLive wrote: ↑Thu Nov 05, 2026 10:20 am Abe's 1st real next-day DAZN review of the Season:

- Last year, we heard a lot about the Timberwolves coaching talent when it came to replays. Did everything get shuffled when Nori left and Jeff Newton moved up the coaching ladder or something? It’s been a disappointing start to the season with challenges. The challenge on the Trey Lyles out of bounds play was odd. (1) It was NOT a high leverage play. (2) It was super early. (3) Trey Lyles hasn’t earned his stripes yet to force that challenge. (4) It was clearly off Lyles.

- Reed Sheppard had 3 steals in 4 minutes. (And very nearly a 4th) I feel like that’s statistically impossible.

- Ayo Dosunmu is an interesting player. He moves differently. He plays differently. And it’s just a different look than we’re used to. But, he’s elite at finishing with speed. I keep wondering how he’s getting the ball to the glass… and how easily he makes it look.

- McDaniels looked terrible shooting from distance. He also made some really bad passes early… even on no TOs. He kept getting into the lane and then seemed like he didn’t trust himself so he’d throw it way out top to start over. But damn… he’s a really good player. Despite the glaring issues early… still makes a bunch of his signature pullups and finishes 14 / 8 / 4 with efficiency.

- Of all the Timberwolves, Bones Hyland would be the one who I’d fear most if I was in a random run with him. (Even over Edwards) That guy is built to shoot off the dribble. I’m convinced he’d score 397 straight points in any pickup game I’ve ever played in. And he’d celebrate every bucket along the way. It’s like he saw Jamal Crawford as a kid and said… “Yep. I found my basketball hero.”

- I can’t recall a PG who’s as tight with his dribble one moment… and as loose with his dribble the next… than LaMelo Ball.

- I’m glad I don’t have to root for Alpert Sengun. It doesn’t seem like much fun. Boxscore savant though.

- I’m guessing rooting for Durant is a bit of a soul-less adventure, too. I mean the guy isn’t the most boring, dour player ever or anything. It’s just that his game is so good in such a specific way… that it’s almost robotic. I get the vibe that’s how his demeanor is as well, which is part of how he’s so consistent. He knows his spots. He knows the game. He knows exactly what’s going on. He’s seen it all, so nothing really gets to him… or inspires him. It’s just “business.” Rinse. Repeat. For 20 years.

- Marcus Smart. I believe Chris Finch was thinking (yelling) the same thing every non-Houston fan or non-Marcus Smart family member did when he flopped on the screen… “How are you people STILL falling for his gimmicks?” He’s reached the TJ Tucker point of his career now. It’s literally the only “positive” (ahem) thing he can bring to the court. Dillon Brooks is waiting in the wings to carry the torch for this type of veteran.

- Fun to see Ball take over late after an uneven first few weeks. His shooting. His scoring. His passing. His presence. All of them were on display when it was needed. The best part is that it certainly seems like there’s a lot more in the tank and that he’s still feeling out his role and teammates. Things like 3 fouls in 30 seconds. Or, more TOs than assists… again. But… his impact is obvious.

- Amen Thompson has hit a plateau offensively, or even a slight step back. An incredible defender. A great athlete. He's good at a lot of things. But, his limitations are pretty clear, too. I think it's all worth it even as he's about to make 3x or even 4x more money annually, but it'll come with more "Is that it?" questions too.

- Very nice win. It was weird, because I was planning on writing about how the Wolves are arguably the best 5 – 4 team in the league because all but one of their losses was a “good” loss while facing tough circumstances. Feels even better to appreciate the win. This team is playing with some legit intensity. I think the players deserve most of that acclaim… but I also think it can be a bit of an organizational culture thing.

Good stuff Abe. Jonathan Kuminga deserves a ton of credit for neutralizing Amen Thompson last night; he really wasn't a factor. I LOVE having a forward that can pretty much match up physically/athletically with nearly anyone in the NBA.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Thu Nov 05, 2026 8:24 pm

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 05, 2026 7:26 pm https://www.reddit.com/r/timberwolves/s/KEN69MPDTi

Thanks for posting Lip. It's always cool to hear other market's pundits/sports personalities comment on Minnesota. They credited us more than blaming their own team for the loss.