There was still a good deal of ball movement but they led to a lot of short jumpers tonight. Pacers definitely had more of the juice.Crazysauce wrote: ↑Mon Mar 17, 2025 10:04 pm Those games happen because of piss poor effort and a hell of a lot of isolated basketball. Right when you think we figured it out and we pull this bs.
Keeping Pace - Pacers at Wolves GDT
Re: Keeping Pace - Pacers at Wolves GDT
Re: Keeping Pace - Pacers at Wolves GDT
Also credit to the pacers. Great effort
Re: Keeping Pace - Pacers at Wolves GDT
Re: Keeping Pace - Pacers at Wolves GDT
Absolutely ridiculous shot making by the Pacers down the stretch.
Re: Keeping Pace - Pacers at Wolves GDT
Inexcusable loss though really against a severely depleted Pacers team.
It’s these types of loses that have defined our season unfortunately.
It’s these types of loses that have defined our season unfortunately.
Re: Keeping Pace - Pacers at Wolves GDT
And the way it happened too with Ant (and DDV earlier in clutch time) missing shots that would have closed out the game in regulation. Thought we shook off those demons, but obviously not. This one reminds me a bit of the Milwaukee loss where they were missing Giannis and Dame. I mean, just inexcusable. And at home to boot.
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AbeVigodaLive
- Posts: 10124
- Joined: Thu Jul 11, 2013 12:00 am
Re: Keeping Pace - Pacers at Wolves GDT
Abe's "Fuck around and find out" DVR Review:
- This is an NBA thing, not just the Wolves... although it's a vice for Anthony Edwards right now in his career. Effort. That 1st half was embarrassingly bad. The team competed hard in the 2nd half even if they didn't play particularly well for most of it. But who cares?
We're living in a society of haves and have nots right now. And NBA players are definitely in the Haves category when you consider 3 of the Wolves starters are essentially making between $300k and $600k EVERY game.
So sorry... I'm not ready to absolve the Wolves from that 1st half. It's embarrassing and insulting to fans. For comparison sake... a dad making $100k taking his two kids to that game in the lower bowl would be paying about $700. That's equivalent to a guy making $40M paying $300k... or 1/2 of one game of basketball.
Enough with the anti-athlete stuff... onto basketball.
- Why did Julius Randle struggle with dribbling so much? All game. His handle is never tight... but it was out of control.
- Speaking of out of control... there was a 40 second spell where Jaden McDaniels channeled his inner Karl Anthony Towns and was begging to be called for his 4th foul. He got it.
- So many bunnies missed. Shots just rattling out.
- Indiana played without its 3 best players. And finished the game without any of its top 6 scorers/players.
- Credit to Indiana for outhustling the Wolves over and over. And for not caving over and over and over again. Check this out...
- Minnesota up 8 in the 4th quarter. Indiana came back to take the lead.
- Minnesota up 4 with 3 minutes left in the 4th. Indiana came back to take the lead.
- Minnesota up 4 with 3 minutes left in OT. Indiana came back to tie.
- Minnesota up 5 with 1 minute left in OT. Indiana came back to win.
- Add to the list of games the Wolves would have won vs. bad or severely undermanned teams if they simply played harder... remember... most of those have been home games, too.
- Anthony Edwards is an incredible player. We all love his exuberance. His skill. His personality. But he's the leader of this team and he's simply not serious enough for anyone to take this team seriously. His effort in that 1st half was insulting to the fans who paid money for that game.
I don't care how hard he tried for 1/2 a game.
- As for late game execution... the Wolves were a slog. It was cumbersome. it was slow. Indiana kept moving and attacking. They deserved to win. Right now, it looks like the Wolves deserve the #7 seed.
- This is an NBA thing, not just the Wolves... although it's a vice for Anthony Edwards right now in his career. Effort. That 1st half was embarrassingly bad. The team competed hard in the 2nd half even if they didn't play particularly well for most of it. But who cares?
We're living in a society of haves and have nots right now. And NBA players are definitely in the Haves category when you consider 3 of the Wolves starters are essentially making between $300k and $600k EVERY game.
So sorry... I'm not ready to absolve the Wolves from that 1st half. It's embarrassing and insulting to fans. For comparison sake... a dad making $100k taking his two kids to that game in the lower bowl would be paying about $700. That's equivalent to a guy making $40M paying $300k... or 1/2 of one game of basketball.
Enough with the anti-athlete stuff... onto basketball.
- Why did Julius Randle struggle with dribbling so much? All game. His handle is never tight... but it was out of control.
- Speaking of out of control... there was a 40 second spell where Jaden McDaniels channeled his inner Karl Anthony Towns and was begging to be called for his 4th foul. He got it.
- So many bunnies missed. Shots just rattling out.
- Indiana played without its 3 best players. And finished the game without any of its top 6 scorers/players.
- Credit to Indiana for outhustling the Wolves over and over. And for not caving over and over and over again. Check this out...
- Minnesota up 8 in the 4th quarter. Indiana came back to take the lead.
- Minnesota up 4 with 3 minutes left in the 4th. Indiana came back to take the lead.
- Minnesota up 4 with 3 minutes left in OT. Indiana came back to tie.
- Minnesota up 5 with 1 minute left in OT. Indiana came back to win.
- Add to the list of games the Wolves would have won vs. bad or severely undermanned teams if they simply played harder... remember... most of those have been home games, too.
- Anthony Edwards is an incredible player. We all love his exuberance. His skill. His personality. But he's the leader of this team and he's simply not serious enough for anyone to take this team seriously. His effort in that 1st half was insulting to the fans who paid money for that game.
I don't care how hard he tried for 1/2 a game.
- As for late game execution... the Wolves were a slog. It was cumbersome. it was slow. Indiana kept moving and attacking. They deserved to win. Right now, it looks like the Wolves deserve the #7 seed.
Re: Keeping Pace - Pacers at Wolves GDT
Welp, my thread title was correct... The Wolves kept pace with the Warriors as they lose to the Nuggets playing without Jokic or Murray or Braun.
Of course, the Wolves had a klunker. The KOM predicted the Warriors were going to lose anyway. At least they aren't invincible. And now they have a back-to-back hosting the Bucks tomorrow night.
Of course, the Wolves had a klunker. The KOM predicted the Warriors were going to lose anyway. At least they aren't invincible. And now they have a back-to-back hosting the Bucks tomorrow night.
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Coolbreeze44
- Posts: 12502
- Joined: Mon Jul 08, 2013 12:00 am
Re: Keeping Pace - Pacers at Wolves GDT
Two things really bother me about this one:
1) We do what we always do in crunch time. The ball stops moving, the shot clock gets wasted, and we end up settling for forced shots. This is counter to what we do for most of the game. And as good as he is, both Ant and the coach are culpable for these problems. I don't know if Mike is still capable, but we need a point guard who can get us into our set while Ant is off the ball. Facts are facts, Ant hasn't been the answer in these end of game situations. He isn't MJ, Kobe, Steph, or even Jimmy Butler. We all know what the definition of insanity is.
2) Why we sat on our challenge and didn't contest the pass by DDV that went off TJ's elbow is beyond me. I believe Kek said it wasn't obvious to him, but it sure was to me. The ball clearly hit TJ and Jim Pete noticed it live on air. We had nothing to lose and everything to gain by initiating the challenge. If we challenge that call, I believe we win the game.
In his postgame Finch said we lost the game in the first half. We played a bad half, but when you have the leads that Abe ran down in his post, you should win.
1) We do what we always do in crunch time. The ball stops moving, the shot clock gets wasted, and we end up settling for forced shots. This is counter to what we do for most of the game. And as good as he is, both Ant and the coach are culpable for these problems. I don't know if Mike is still capable, but we need a point guard who can get us into our set while Ant is off the ball. Facts are facts, Ant hasn't been the answer in these end of game situations. He isn't MJ, Kobe, Steph, or even Jimmy Butler. We all know what the definition of insanity is.
2) Why we sat on our challenge and didn't contest the pass by DDV that went off TJ's elbow is beyond me. I believe Kek said it wasn't obvious to him, but it sure was to me. The ball clearly hit TJ and Jim Pete noticed it live on air. We had nothing to lose and everything to gain by initiating the challenge. If we challenge that call, I believe we win the game.
In his postgame Finch said we lost the game in the first half. We played a bad half, but when you have the leads that Abe ran down in his post, you should win.
Re: Keeping Pace - Pacers at Wolves GDT
Such a disappointing loss last night. I have been clinging to the belief that Ju was the secret sauce in not allowing this squad to lose to teams we should beat, but he was one of our worst players last night...17/6/4 with 4 TOs and a minus 7 was not what we needed from him, and there was no excuse for him missing the last shot in overtime that he makes 80% of the time.
Overall a horrible performance but our guys, but I need to shout out three players who actually showed up last night. Naz rediscovered his offense that has been missing, and despite erratic defense, scored enough to be a +5. And Jaylen Clark had 2 steals in only 9 minutes...he may be a riverboat gambler at times on defense, but on balance he is an incredibly disruptive defender. Finchie needs to play him more.
But other than Clark, the player we were most impressed with on defense as we watched the replay was Mike. A couple times as he was scrambling around on defense blocking passing lanes or not letting TJ get past him, I didn't feel like I was watching a 37 year old player. Ant and Ju have not been terrible ball stoppers recently, but they were last night...time after time Mike was open, and they didn't look for him. He is our most clutch 3-point shooter, and he needs to get more than 3 shots in 32 minutes. But despite the ball hogging from Ju and Ant, our offense looked much crisper when Mike was on the court. Case in point...the Wolves were a +24 in the 32 minutes he played, and a -26 in the 16 he didn't!
Now, we have to beat the Pelicans two straight...
Overall a horrible performance but our guys, but I need to shout out three players who actually showed up last night. Naz rediscovered his offense that has been missing, and despite erratic defense, scored enough to be a +5. And Jaylen Clark had 2 steals in only 9 minutes...he may be a riverboat gambler at times on defense, but on balance he is an incredibly disruptive defender. Finchie needs to play him more.
But other than Clark, the player we were most impressed with on defense as we watched the replay was Mike. A couple times as he was scrambling around on defense blocking passing lanes or not letting TJ get past him, I didn't feel like I was watching a 37 year old player. Ant and Ju have not been terrible ball stoppers recently, but they were last night...time after time Mike was open, and they didn't look for him. He is our most clutch 3-point shooter, and he needs to get more than 3 shots in 32 minutes. But despite the ball hogging from Ju and Ant, our offense looked much crisper when Mike was on the court. Case in point...the Wolves were a +24 in the 32 minutes he played, and a -26 in the 16 he didn't!
Now, we have to beat the Pelicans two straight...