Why I'm worried about Game 2 (not the GDT!)

[FNG]

A win tonight would be huge...it would start to look a lot like the Suns series last year. But this one is going to be very tough I think for several reasons:

1) Teams heavily favored to win the series seldom lose the first two games at home. The Lakers are going to come into tonight's game feeling desperate, and are going to give it 100%

2) The Wolves are a weird team...they play very well when they're not expected to, and not well at all when they're feeling cocky. They said all the right things post-game, but I'm guessing they're coming into this game feeling maybe a little too confident.

3) There's a reason the Lakers had one of the best home records this season...it's a distracting place to play. I lived in LA for three years a decade ago and went to every Wolves game against the Lakers and Clippers, and I can tell you it's like no other arena. Not because the crowds are loud...they're not. But literally every time you turn your head, you see another celebrity. Oh look, there's the greatest music producer of all time, Lou Adler...why isn't his best friend Jack Nicholson here with him? I recognize her...she used to be married to Warren Beatty. What's her name again? Whoa...that's Jack Black in the 4th row. Why can't he get better seats? (That's what Ju was thinking in the first quarter right before he airmailed a pass to him). You try to notice, but you can't help yourself.

4) While the margin of victory was wide, there were sub very abhorrent numbers that are likely to revert to the mean tonight. We were proud of holding Luka to only 1 assist, and LeBron, Reaves and him to only 7 total. But I didn't even know "potential assists" was a stat, but it is...and usually teams convert over 50% of their potential assist. But the Lakers converted only 7 of 24 potential assists. Progressing to the mean gives them another 10 points.

5) The Wolves shot the lights out on 3's...that's good. But I heard on Dane Moore's broadcast today that they made something like 75% of their open 3's...25 percentage points than their season average. Maybe they can do it again, but we all know it's tough to fight stats. With his characteristic lack of humility, Reddick said there was nothing wrong with the game plan of keeping a tight shell to prevent Ant and others from getting to the basket (translation, it was the players' fault, not mine). He may be right. I don't know that we will see much different in the Laker's defensive scheme tonight. We just have to make those open shots again.

OK Wolves, now prove me wrong...

[Phenom]

Ant is right that basically everyone is still picking the Lakers. All of the podcasts and TV shows concluded that it was flukey shooting by the Wolves and the Lakers just have to do this or do that and they will be fine. No one believes or expects the Wolves to win tonight. That is a great formula for this team.

[FNG]

Ant is right that basically everyone is still picking the Lakers. All of the podcasts and TV shows concluded that it was flukey shooting by the Wolves and the Lakers just have to do this or do that and they will be fine. No one believes or expects the Wolves to win tonight. That is a great formula for this team.

Lakers are favored on all betting sites for Game 2 as they should be. The problem is the Wolves are now a -135 favorite to win the series, and you know our guys are all aware of that. That will flip around in the Lakers' favor if they win tonight, but the fact that we're currently favored to win the series is exactly the kind of situation that brings complacency for our Wolves.

[Phenom]

Ant is right that basically everyone is still picking the Lakers. All of the podcasts and TV shows concluded that it was flukey shooting by the Wolves and the Lakers just have to do this or do that and they will be fine. No one believes or expects the Wolves to win tonight. That is a great formula for this team.

Lakers are favored on all betting sites for Game 2 as they should be. The problem is the Wolves are now a -135 favorite to win the series, and you know our guys are all aware of that. That will flip around in the Lakers' favor if they win tonight, but the fact that we're currently favored to win the series is exactly the kind of situation that brings complacency for our Wolves.

Hopefully the outlook for the Wolves is still game to game. I believe it will be.

[FNG]

Ant is right that basically everyone is still picking the Lakers. All of the podcasts and TV shows concluded that it was flukey shooting by the Wolves and the Lakers just have to do this or do that and they will be fine. No one believes or expects the Wolves to win tonight. That is a great formula for this team.

Lakers are favored on all betting sites for Game 2 as they should be. The problem is the Wolves are now a -135 favorite to win the series, and you know our guys are all aware of that. That will flip around in the Lakers' favor if they win tonight, but the fact that we're currently favored to win the series is exactly the kind of situation that brings complacency for our Wolves.

Hopefully the outlook for the Wolves is still game to game. I believe it will be.

Well, Ant (and others) said all the right things after Game 1, so that's encouraging. Should another fun one tonight.

[TAFKASP]

Minnesota fans should know better than to have expectations by now. At a minimum, expect the worst and you'll never be disappointed, and occasionally pleasantly surprised!

I'm sure the Lakers are not interested in another serving of donkey balls, so it should be a good game.

[Jester1534]

Not gonna lie they will probably lose this game.

But you can tell this total fake physicality these first 5 mins you can tell there a soft team

[Phenom]

Just need to hang while the Lakers come out and show how tough they are.

[Jester1534]

Just need to hang while the Lakers come out and show how tough they are.

Im not the only one right? You can tell this some fake ass toughness right?

[FNG]

Just need to hang while the Lakers come out and show how tough they are.

Im not the only one right? You can tell this some fake ass toughness right?

Yep...not who they are