Minnesota Sports Forum

I'm hitting the road today, so I figured I should keep my undefeated GDTs on a roll.

You would think the sky is falling with so much pessimism on the board after a WIN at Portland. Geez! I still think the Wolves will be doing fine to end October at 3-2. Anything better is gravy. But November offers up a pretty easy schedule. They need to make hay next month! Something like 12-3, or 11-4.

I am hoping tonight's game provides an opportunity for Rob to get some minutes. We already know Shannon has secured his spot -- he played the 5th most minutes at Portland. NAW was basically the "8th" man in Finch's rotation last year. I gotta feeling Shannon will usurp that spot this year. Just another interesting facet to watch.

Clark is on pace to secure that "9th" spot, and may even surpass Conley as the season unfolds. Dilly will likely start out in the 10th spot, even though it didn't happen in Portland. I guess a positive would be can he play well enough to push Conley even further down the totem pole.

I don't know how much people have noticed, but ANT and Shannon seem to have a super strong bond on the court.

Thanks for kicking off the game thread Tim. I think it was pretty well established that Shannon was one of our "eight starters" during the pre-season. There is nothing to usurp there as Finch had all but stated that fact before the regular season started.

It also seems clear that Conley is taking a major step back in minutes and he may effectively become the 8th man. So with DDV starting (for now), that leaves Naz and Shannon as the 6th and 7th men respectively. I have a feeling Shannon is going to really push Naz for that 6th man role. That's less a knock against Naz and more about Shannon's capabilities and growth.

Interesting questions for tonight:

- Do the Wolves go out of their way to target Doncic in isolation or at this early stage of the season is Finch more concerned about ball movement and ensuring everyone gets touches?

- Who the heck guards Ant?

- Does Finch generally guard Doncic straight up while trying to snuff out everyone else on the Lakers (Let's call it the Jokic strategy) and avoid too much help and doubling? The problem is unlike Jokic, Doncic actually likes being more of a scorer!

- Does Ayton show up to play or do we hopefully get the indifferent version?

- Does Dilly play tonight? With Gabe Vincent as one of their primary guards, he seems like someone Dilly could matchup against without being overpowered.

Tim, good call on Ant and Shannon on court behavior. I think Ant loves playing with TJ as he matches Ant's enthusiasm and want to win.

The win in Portland was a professional win for a team that wasn't great in the clutch the past couple years(ever). I think most fans want their team to dominate and destroy their competition, but a win on the road in the West is going to be tough, no matter the team.

McDaniels, Clark, Ant, and maybe Shannon will all get shots at Doncic and hopefully they can hold down the rest of the team like they did in the playoffs last year. Doncic scores 40 and only has 5 assists, that is probably a win for the Wolves. Doncic scores 30 and has 10 assists and it's probably a loss.

Yeah, I didn’t mean Shannon would usurp his way into the rotation, but how far up the MPG totem pole he might go. Against Portland he was 5th. Something to watch.

DNatagal wrote: ↑Fri Oct 24, 2025 9:59 am Tim, good call on Ant and Shannon on court behavior. I think Ant loves playing with TJ as he matches Ant's enthusiasm and want to win.

The win in Portland was a professional win for a team that wasn't great in the clutch the past couple years(ever). I think most fans want their team to dominate and destroy their competition, but a win on the road in the West is going to be tough, no matter the team.

McDaniels, Clark, Ant, and maybe Shannon will all get shots at Doncic and hopefully they can hold down the rest of the team like they did in the playoffs last year. Doncic scores 40 and only has 5 assists, that is probably a win for the Wolves. Doncic scores 30 and has 10 assists and it's probably a loss.

I believe we were actually pretty good in the clutch two seasons ago in our first WCF run. Last year it slipped back to what us Wolves fans have been more used to over the years!

I totally agree on your Doncic calculus, but man, he is as close to unguardable as anyone in the league. We gotta target him on defense, but I'm not sure Finch wants to go there this early in the season when he is trying to get the team to develop good habits in terms of ball movement vs. switch-baiting isolation basketball.

We are slight favorites tonight, so we could start the season with two West Conference road wins. I'm greedier than Tim, so I want to end the month at 4-1 or better. The Lakers play nothing like the Blazers, so this should be an entirely different game tonight. It should provide a little more clarity as to how Finchy views his rotations. I want to see bounce back games tonight for Donte, Naz and Mike.

Not sure if I'm going to bet this one, but if I do, I'll go with the Wolves -2. We handled the Lakers well last spring, and their additions don't make up for not having James and DFS. I think we should win this one.

Dang! Looks like this one is only available on Prime Video! We have a little used Fire Stick in our RV. I dinged around with it and got my wife’s Prime subscription up and running. So, I think I’ll be able to watch it tonight…

I wonder if it will be available on League Pass at a later date?

FNG wrote: ↑Fri Oct 24, 2025 1:48 pm We are slight favorites tonight, so we could start the season with two West Conference road wins. I'm greedier than Tim, so I want to end the month at 4-1 or better. The Lakers play nothing like the Blazers, so this should be an entirely different game tonight. It should provide a little more clarity as to how Finchy views his rotations. I want to see bounce back games tonight for Donte, Naz and Mike.

Not sure if I'm going to bet this one, but if I do, I'll go with the Wolves -2. We handled the Lakers well last spring, and their additions don't make up for not having James and DFS. I think we should win this one.

I like the Wolves to win by 3, but maybe I'm a homer.

Prime is a good network and relatively inexpensive. It sucks they make us purchase all these platforms, but this one is worth it i believe.

Not that I doubted he would play, but Ant isn't on the injury report. Must mean his bask spasms are all OK, but kind of odd to see him on there before the first game and then for it not to be an issue at all two days later after playing 39 minutes against an intense defense. He's built differently I guess.