Judgement Day - Wolves at Thunder Game 5 GDT

[60WinTim]

Judgement Day is here. Have a nice offseason...

Randle has had two stinkers out of the four games this series. I don't know how much one more game will have on his potential Wolves future, but another stinker can't help. And both NAZ and NAW are looking to leave a good impression if this is the end of the playoff run. The talking heads have also been pretty harsh on ANT.

The Thunder played really well in the last game. Can they carry that through in their first Conference Finals closeout game?

[Q-is-here]

I'm going to buckle down and watch even though it could be painful. OKC is absolutely going to want to close this thing out.

At the end of the day, we simply need OKC to miss shots, including some wide open ones. The thing that really broke our back in the last game is that every time we were mounting a run, someone on the Thunder would hit a huge shot - usually Chet or Jalen. The reason Denver hung around for 7 games is because those guys were missing similar shots (they both shot less than 25% on 3's against the Nuggets). Not the case in this series!

[FNG]

I'm going to watch this one also, although with the Thunder installed as a reasonable 8 1/2 point favorite, I'm not very optimistic. By the way and not to quibble with Tim and many in the media, unlike the Wolves two 5-game series wins, this will be a true Gentleman's Sweep if OkC wins tonight. Similar to when a superior tennis player lightens up in one game to avoid a 6-0, a Gentleman's Sweep in the NBA is when a clearly superior team takes its foot off the gas for one game because they are not concerned about losing, and are quite dominant in the other four games. Take the Wolves 4-1 loss to Houston in 2018...I was at the game we won, and the Rockets basically mailed it in, similar to what I saw the Thunder do in Game 3. I don't think the Wolves lost game 1 to the Warriors or game 2 to the Lakers because they thought they had the series in the bag...they just got beat. Okay, enough of that!

I actually feel pretty good going into this game tonight. We had a very good season, and we have had some good moments against OkC after two dominant series wins. And we have both a competitive roster and an interesting offseason coming up. Combine those things with the fact that anything can happen in the NBA and a win tonight isn't out of the question, and I'm looking forward to the game. Let's play well!

[Coolbreeze44]

Of course we're going to watch. It could be 20 years before we get back to a conference final. I agree with LST the line is pretty accurate. I'd really like to not get embarrassed as is normally the case with the Vikings on the way out. Anyone know if TSJ is okay for tonight?

[mjs34]

Bunch of negative nancys on here. I am looking at a severe overreaction to game 4. Stephen A is lambasting Ant, but I am guessing he didn't look at the actual numbers. SGA had a TS% of 55 with the team as a whole at 60. Ant had a very similar game to SGA's game 3. Difference is we won game 3 by 42, and they won game 4 by 2.

I am hoping we finally saw our bench wake up, and if they can get a decent output from Ant and Randle we should be fine tonight. We saw the adjustments that OKC came up with in game 4, will we see adjustments from FInch to free up Ant more?

[60WinTim]

Bunch of negative nancys on here. I am looking at a severe overreaction to game 4. Stephen A is lambasting Ant, but I am guessing he didn't look at the actual numbers. SGA had a TS% of 55 with the team as a whole at 60. Ant had a very similar game to SGA's game 3. Difference is we won game 3 by 42, and they won game 4 by 2.

I am hoping we finally saw our bench wake up, and if they can get a decent output from Ant and Randle we should be fine tonight. We saw the adjustments that OKC came up with in game 4, will we see adjustments from FInch to free up Ant more?

Yes, there is certainly a lot of over-reaction by some of the talking heads. And your positives are absolutely correct. Randle has been having alternating good games and stinkers. He should have a good game tonight, right?!?

Needing to beat the Thunder three straight games seems like a daunting task, thus the negative nancy. But just one win tonight would make things interesting...

[AbeVigodaLive]

OKC’s defense is too good. Yeah, they clutch and grab and tug and pull… but so did a lot of other legendary defensive teams in history. Years later, we just remember that they were great defensively. The Thunder have some great defenders who care about being great defenders. And they’re strong and smart. OKC is smart to play up to the line… or even create the line of physicality/fouling. It’s a big part of what makes them so damn good.

So… the story of tonight for me is Anthony Edwards. I wrote something up while watching Game 3 about Edwards being the FIRST Timberwolves player who could be THAT guy, only I never hit SUBMIT. He picked his spots masterfully in that game. He was a superstar in every way. A legend in the making.

He made mostly the “right” plays in Game 4 and was ripped possibly more than any other time in his career. All this despite the Wolves having one of their best offensive performances of the season. If they won, the narrative would have been different. Instead it was “why did Edwards pass so much. He lost the game!”

So… do we see an Anthony Edwards that plays to the social media crowd and random hoops pundits… or does he keep trusting in his teammates?

Tough call for a 23-year-old still trying to “get his.”

I think we see a bit of both. But I don’t think him shooting in the midrange over double teams instead of kicking to wide open teammates behind the arc is going to work. Again, OKC is too good defensively.

Thunder win this one by 23.

[60WinTim]

OKC’s defense is too good. Yeah, they clutch and grab and tug and pull… but so did a lot of other legendary defensive teams in history. Years later, we just remember that they were great defensively. The Thunder have some great defenders who care about being great defenders. And they’re strong and smart. OKC is smart to play up to the line… or even create the line of physicality/fouling. It’s a big part of what makes them so damn good.

So… the story of tonight for me is Anthony Edwards. I wrote something up while watching Game 3 about Edwards being the FIRST Timberwolves player who could be THAT guy, only I never hit SUBMIT. He picked his spots masterfully in that game. He was a superstar in every way. A legend in the making.

He made mostly the “right” plays in Game 4 and was ripped possibly more than any other time in his career. All this despite the Wolves having one of their best offensive performances of the season. If they won, the narrative would have been different. Instead it was “why did Edwards pass so much. He lost the game!”

So… do we see an Anthony Edwards that plays to the social media crowd and random hoops pundits… or does he keep trusting in his teammates?

Tough call for a 23-year-old still trying to “get his.”

I think we see a bit of both. But I don’t think him shooting in the midrange over double teams instead of kicking to wide open teammates behind the arc is going to work. Again, OKC is too good defensively.

Thunder win this one by 23.

I knew you could bring Jordan into the equation somehow!!!

[FNG]

OKC’s defense is too good. Yeah, they clutch and grab and tug and pull… but so did a lot of other legendary defensive teams in history. Years later, we just remember that they were great defensively. The Thunder have some great defenders who care about being great defenders. And they’re strong and smart. OKC is smart to play up to the line… or even create the line of physicality/fouling. It’s a big part of what makes them so damn good.

So… the story of tonight for me is Anthony Edwards. I wrote something up while watching Game 3 about Edwards being the FIRST Timberwolves player who could be THAT guy, only I never hit SUBMIT. He picked his spots masterfully in that game. He was a superstar in every way. A legend in the making.

He made mostly the “right” plays in Game 4 and was ripped possibly more than any other time in his career. All this despite the Wolves having one of their best offensive performances of the season. If they won, the narrative would have been different. Instead it was “why did Edwards pass so much. He lost the game!”

So… do we see an Anthony Edwards that plays to the social media crowd and random hoops pundits… or does he keep trusting in his teammates?

Tough call for a 23-year-old still trying to “get his.”

I think we see a bit of both. But I don’t think him shooting in the midrange over double teams instead of kicking to wide open teammates behind the arc is going to work. Again, OKC is too good defensively.

Thunder win this one by 23.

Abe, I agree that Ant mostly made the right plays last game...6 assists and several hockey assists. Ultimately, quick and correct decision making is going to accelerate his journey to his ceiling. I would like his passing to be more accurate though, too often they are delivered too high, low or wide, and that disrupts the recipient's shooting rhythm. Could be a factor in his 5 turnovers too.

But I thought he was ripped more here for his indifferent ineffective defense (such a contrast from Game 3) and his 1 for 7 shooting on threes...at least those were my criticisms. I have Randle as my number one culprit in the loss, but I wanted way more from our star too.

[Wolvesfan21]

Last game of the year, better enjoy it.