Game Report - Win & In

[Lipoli390]

O.K., my nightmare scenario has come to pass. But honestly, it's feeling more like a dream than a nightmare right now. Everyone here knows I expressed my preference for finishing 9th over 8th. But when you're in a packed arena, standing along with nearly every fan most of the game yelling your voice raw, and you see your team will themselves to a hard-fought win that puts the team in the playoffs for the first time in 14 years -- well, you can't walk away without being thrilled by the victory. That's how I feel right now. So I'll amend my vote in the other thread for an 8th place finish as a failure. I still see it as a disappointment because of the missteps along the way, but it's not a failure.

So it was a great win and a fun game to watch. It was extremely physical. The good news is that the Wolves were almost as physical as their opponent. We still came out on the short end of the officiating, which is really annoying me. But our guys didn't back down and fought through the bad calls.

There are a lot of heroes for the Wolves tonight.

I think Wiggins had his best game of the season tonight and it couldn't have come at a better time. I'm glad he was on the court early practicing his free throws because those two makes to essentially put the game away with a 4-point lead were the biggest two consecutive free throws of the season for the Wolves. Wiggins was all-hustle tonight. He had a number of terrific rebounds, but none better than that one where he held onto the ball by force of will and eventually drew the foul signaled by a late reluctant whistle from an officiating crew that didn't want to call the Nuggets for any fouls. Add to all that, his 3 big threes on 5 attempts. He was aggressive, but he also played within himself on the offensive end.

You can't say enough about Butler and Towns -- Butler with 31 points on 47.6% shooting, and Towns with 26 points on 63.2% shooting and 14 rebounds. They both hit a number of really tough shots when we really needed buckets.

Belly, Gorgui and Rose were very good off the bench in limited minutes. Belly didn't score a point, but he worked his ass off defensively in his 11 minutes, getting 3 huge steals and 2 rebounds. Gorgui played only 6 minutes, but those limited minutes were key to the Wolves win tonight. His 5 points and 3 rebounds in that limited span were huge. Rose didn't put up any stats worth noting in his 11 minutes. But once again, he brought an energy level and defensive intensity that was infectious and critical to tonight's win.

Gibson struggled a bit and made more mistakes in tonight's game than I think he's made in all his prior games combined this season. But he really came through defensively in the 4th quarter. That defensive play on Jokic that forced the turnover was probably the play of the game. You can't help but love Taj for the way played in that 4th quarter with a sore neck and for the way he's played all season.

The only T-Wolf who I'd say played poorly tonight was Jamaal Crawford. I'd have preferred to see most of his 17 minutes go to Derrick Rose. But Crawford contributed a big steal and made some good passes.

So back to my nightmare. Responding to those of us who said we'd prefer finishing 9th, Drew argued something to the effect that this franchise needed to show it had taken that next step and become a playoff team. The entire Country was watching this game tonight as the only game that would make or break a team's playoff aspirations. Drew was right and I was wrong. Yes, Houston will likely sweep the Wolves and all four losses will probably be lopsided. But the Wolves needed to win this game. The Wolves were center stage tonight, and finally, for the first time in a long time, the Wolves played the role of winner. That's a big deal. So no nightmare tonight. I go to bed happy, dreaming that somehow, someway the Wolves win a game or two against the Rockets and build on this season's experience going forward.

[thedoper]

Must have been a great game to see live. If Thibs can't steal a game through adjustments in this series I'm open ears to his failures as a coach. I feel we have the talent to get one at least. The D tonight gives me some hope.

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

Enjoy it, you were a part of history and got a great souvenir in those ticket stubs.

Was thibs as loud as ever?

[Lipoli390]

Must have been a great game to see live. If Thibs can't steal a game through adjustments in this series I'm open ears to his failures as a coach. I feel we have the talent to get one at least. The D tonight gives me some hope.

Doper -- No doubt, we have the talent to steal a game from the Rockets. I agree that this series will be a good test of Thibs' head coaching. We didn't overachieve in Thibs' first season and I remain convinced that we underachieved this season with all the losses to sub .500 teams, the poor defense and what I believe to be the failure to take full advantage of our offensive talent even though were 4th in average points per game. But maybe Thibs value will show itself in the playoffs. Win one game and I'll be all ears, listening to those who continue to defend him. Win two games and I'll start to rethink my view of Thibs. Win the series and reverse my view of Thibs -- at least until the next time his pisses me off. :)

[Lipoli390]

Enjoy it, you were a part of history and got a great souvenir in those ticket stubs.

Was thibs as loud as ever?

Canuck - The good news is that the crowd was so loud tonight, I couldn't hear Thibs. That alone greatly improved the game experience. :)

[AbeVigodaLive]

Glad you enjoyed the game, Lip.

Butler really does make a difference on this team. His will to compete is special. Injuries... yeah. A shortened career... maybe. Who cares. Sometimes, it's ok to applaud guys who compete like that. It's not normal... unfortunately. The guy is a special player. (That being said... no more turnaround 21 foot jump shots at the end of a shot clock with seconds on the clock after dribbling the ball for 15 seconds... and the game's most efficient big man on the floor. Thanks.)

Gibson was sensational in the 4th quarter and OT vs. Nokic. His stat line won't look like much... 8 points and 6 rebounds. And he did make some uncharacteristic errors... but that defense. Oh. That. Defense. It was amazing. Several plays in a row.

KAT and Nokic played up to their star billing in this one. Gibson took care of Nokic late to slow him. The usual Wolves trappings sapped Towns of making a bigger impact late. Get him the ball.

That being said, I like this team more when Butler and Towns end the game with the most shot attempts. That's how it should be.

Wiggins is much maligned lately. And he might be again next year once the contract kicks in. So it's good to see him hit those clutch free throws. It's a great moment for him.

Yes. Teague overdribbles and he's not as aggressive in the PnR as I think he should be... but I thought he did well tonight.

Stats be damned. Jamal Crawford had arguably his worst offensive game of the season... and finished a team-high +13. Wait. What?

Belly played with great energy off the bench. I thought Tyus Jones played with more aggression.

Is is telling that Towns and Wiggins went a solid 12 minutes at the end of that game barely touching the ball? Both were invisible for vast stretches. I don't think they necessarily shrunk from the spotlight. But it's still telling...

Jamal Murray is really good. Nokic is very special. Barton was pretty damn good. Harris was hurt, it's obvious. So why did Wilson Chandler play the most minutes? His intentional foul late in the 2nd quarter when his team was in the penalty was atrocious. And get this... he's done it before! I saw him do something similar in a random game vs. another team this season. How does an 11-year vet make that play multiple times and not only keep his job... but get 48 minutes in a must-win game? He went scoreless by the way. I can only imagine how Denver message boards are lighting up about him and Malone's commitment to him right now. Trey Lyles played 0 minutes.

Good to be in the playoffs... even for 4 games.

I might have seen Thibs sorta smile. It was awkward.

[Monster]

Glad you enjoyed the game, Lip.

Butler really does make a difference on this team. His will to compete is special. Injuries... yeah. A shortened career... maybe. Who cares. Sometimes, it's ok to applaud guys who compete like that. It's not normal... unfortunately. The guy is a special player. (That being said... no more turnaround 21 foot jump shots at the end of a shot clock with seconds on the clock after dribbling the ball for 15 seconds... and the game's most efficient big man on the floor. Thanks.)

Gibson was sensational in the 4th quarter and OT vs. Nokic. His stat line won't look like much... 8 points and 6 rebounds. And he did make some uncharacteristic errors... but that defense. Oh. That. Defense. It was amazing. Several plays in a row.

KAT and Nokic played up to their star billing in this one. Gibson took care of Nokic late to slow him. The usual Wolves trappings sapped Towns of making a bigger impact late. Get him the ball.

That being said, I like this team more when Butler and Towns end the game with the most shot attempts. That's how it should be.

Wiggins is much maligned lately. And he might be again next year once the contract kicks in. So it's good to see him hit those clutch free throws. It's a great moment for him.

Yes. Teague overdribbles and he's not as aggressive in the PnR as I think he should be... but I thought he did well tonight.

Stats be damned. Jamal Crawford had arguably his worst offensive game of the season... and finished a team-high +13. Wait. What?

Belly played with great energy off the bench. I thought Tyus Jones played with more aggression.

Is is telling that Towns and Wiggins went a solid 12 minutes at the end of that game barely touching the ball? Both were invisible for vast stretches. I don't think they necessarily shrunk from the spotlight. But it's still telling...

Jamal Murray is really good. Nokic is very special. Barton was pretty damn good. Harris was hurt, it's obvious. So why did Wilson Chandler play the most minutes? His intentional foul late in the 2nd quarter when his team was in the penalty was atrocious. And get this... he's done it before! I saw him do something similar in a random game vs. another team this season. How does an 11-year vet make that play multiple times and not only keep his job... but get 48 minutes in a must-win game? He went scoreless by the way. I can only imagine how Denver message boards are lighting up about him and Malone's commitment to him right now. Trey Lyles played 0 minutes.

Good to be in the playoffs... even for 4 games.

I might have seen Thibs sorta smile. It was awkward.

You might be interested to know including tonight Wilson Chandler played 40 or more minutes 8 times for the Nuggets this year. It was weird to keep hearing he had played more than any player in the game.

[Lipoli390]

Yeh, Abe. Not getting the ball more to KAT down the stretch of both the 4th and overtime was infuriating. And the overdribbling was still to prevalent tonight. Interestingly, we were playing with much better pace than usual throughout most of the game. When we built our lead to 99-91, I thought we would pull away. Then suddenly, inexplicably, we slowed it down with Teague or Butler going into full over-dribble mode. Within about a minute-and-a-half, Denver had tied the game. Hard to explain.

[Monster]

Yeh, Abe. Not getting the ball more to KAT down the stretch of both the 4th and overtime was infuriating. And the overdribbling was still to prevalent tonight. Interestingly, we were playing with much better pace than usual throughout most of the game. When we built our lead to 99-91, I thought we would pull away. Then suddenly, inexplicably, we slowed it down with Teague or Butler going into full over-dribble mode. Within about a minute-and-a-half, Denver had tied the game. Hard to explain.

I watched the post game show and a bunch of stats they had up while they were talking were in the Wolves favor including a shockingly resounding win in fast break points. It was kinda like how was this a close game? It looked like at least early on in the 4th Teague was getting it up the floor.

[Monster]

I'm thrilled that you got to be at this game and experience the win. Hopefully this is just the start of a terrific run for this franchise the next 10 years. I got a kick out of seeing video of TSR Steve Terry at those courtside seats reacting to various plays down the stretch since I hear his commercials and his appearances on the You betcha basketball podcast. It's clear he is a pretty big fan. :)