Wolves vs Nuggets 5/12/24 7PM Wolves lead 2-1

[Calinks]

The excellence of execution Nuggets are back. No team is better at executing their offensive gameplan than these guys. They are just unreal when they get clicking. The shot making and ball movement was incredible tonight. Sheesh! It is going to take a tremendous jump in our level of play to beat them if they are looking like this.

Also big props to their bench coming through huge. They outclassed us and we have had a big bench advantage all playoffs until this point.

[Note30]

Tonight the best team wins. We can’t put this one on the refs ( 27 FT for us, 15 FT for Denver…). We were not good in defense at allow way too much open 3.

Our bench was totally dominated by Denver bench which is really a disappointment.
If we look at our players :

- ANT was MVP level, he did all he could to keep the team alive but it was not enough. Another impressive performance from 22 years guys.
- Mike was quite good ( 15 pts,9 Assists, 0 TO) is what you can expected.
- Rudy came alive on second half but his defense was not really good and his weakness on the perimeter were obvious tonight.
- Jaden is so inconsistent on offense. And when his defense is not at his best, he become a really average player. But he is young and will learn from this series.
- KAT : One more time, a real disappointment at PO. Miss too many shoot and did not impact the game in any way. For a self proclaimed best 7’’ 3 points shooter in the world, it was not enough. Considering our much money he make, we should consider a trade for him as I doubt he improve more at his career stage.
- Naz was okay, not at this best but at least he hit some shoot.
- NAW is still very inconsistent ( cf comment on Jaden)
- SLomo : Probably the last 2 games he will play with the Wolves, he is a nice guy but is so down this year.
Overall, we see tonight what is missing to become a real contender. Denver will win the series and probably the title. Being able to dominated us with Porter, KCP as non factor, Murray just average show how strong they are and how experiences and having good bench players matters in PO.

We should consider trading Rudy way before KAT. He's a non factor.

KAT didn't play well cause he had to guard their best player all night. Rudy let Gordon score 30 pts. Who TF even is Aaron Gordon.

[bluethunder0005]

I was blown away by Denver's shotmaking tonight. Defense wasn't at their top form but guys like Jamal and crazily Aaron Gordon were hitting a bunch of tough shots. Denver is going to be extremely hard to beat if Gordon is hitting everything. I also agree that the team needs to stop doubling and helping on Jokic.

[KATKlownFeet]

I don't believe in momentum that much, this can still go either way. Likely the best series out of the semis, I feel the Mavs-OKC games were lower quality games so far.

Either way, LOL! Wolves got schooled badly on their home court twice. Denver has woken up. I would say Minnesota's chances are very low. Denver made adjustments and Wolves failed to adjust.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

Tonight the best team wins. We can’t put this one on the refs ( 27 FT for us, 15 FT for Denver…). We were not good in defense at allow way too much open 3.

Our bench was totally dominated by Denver bench which is really a disappointment.
If we look at our players :

- ANT was MVP level, he did all he could to keep the team alive but it was not enough. Another impressive performance from 22 years guys.
- Mike was quite good ( 15 pts,9 Assists, 0 TO) is what you can expected.
- Rudy came alive on second half but his defense was not really good and his weakness on the perimeter were obvious tonight.
- Jaden is so inconsistent on offense. And when his defense is not at his best, he become a really average player. But he is young and will learn from this series.
- KAT : One more time, a real disappointment at PO. Miss too many shoot and did not impact the game in any way. For a self proclaimed best 7’’ 3 points shooter in the world, it was not enough. Considering our much money he make, we should consider a trade for him as I doubt he improve more at his career stage.
- Naz was okay, not at this best but at least he hit some shoot.
- NAW is still very inconsistent ( cf comment on Jaden)
- SLomo : Probably the last 2 games he will play with the Wolves, he is a nice guy but is so down this year.
Overall, we see tonight what is missing to become a real contender. Denver will win the series and probably the title. Being able to dominated us with Porter, KCP as non factor, Murray just average show how strong they are and how experiences and having good bench players matters in PO.

We should consider trading Rudy way before KAT. He's a non factor.

KAT didn't play well cause he had to guard their best player all night. Rudy let Gordon score 30 pts. Who TF even is Aaron Gordon.

I agree but the return we can get from Rudy will probably be far away the one we can get from KAT. Both have been extremely disapointing so far.

[Calinks]

I am so ******** depressed right now.

Sorry man. Hope things get better. I hope the Timberwolves figure something out and can upset Denver at home again, they were incredible tonight. That's why they are the champs.

To be the champs you have to beat the champs. Everything we did up to this point is gone, now we got into hostile territory and take some wins again.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

I was blown away by Denver's shotmaking tonight. Defense wasn't at their top form but guys like Jamal and crazily Aaron Gordon were hitting a bunch of tough shots. Denver is going to be extremely hard to beat if Gordon is hitting everything. I also agree that the team needs to stop doubling and helping on Jokic.

Totally agree. We did not double much on the first 2 games and it was working well. Doubling Jokic is not efficient at all as anyway you can't stop him to go for +/- 30/10/30, he is not 3 time MVP for nothing. But lettting open 3 just kill us.

[gandlogo]

14 feet of dumb on full display tonight.

[Calinks]

I actually more worry about our offense. There has to be better execution and not just Ant. Maybe run some plays for Towns. DEN is going to score around 110. We have to score more points besides play good D to keep them on check
DEN is way too good on offense.

This has been my worry all season. Our offense isn't great. It has been amazing in the playoffs but we have our tremdous defense generating points for us. Now that the defense hasn't been there we can't score again. We will not win a shootout. We have to win a slog, drag fest. We are not a team that trades buckets.

[Shaka_Zulu]

Can't we believe we blew most of our trade assets on this **** center. Clint Capela would have been better tonight. Isiah Hartenstein would have been better. Embarrassing.

Settle down. Its easy to be emotional in gut wrenching loss like this. But no need to go overboard. And forget the stellar season up to this point.


He had an awful game, but that was it is, a single game.

[Johnny Firpo]

I don't believe in momentum that much, this can still go either way. Likely the best series out of the semis, I feel the Mavs-OKC games were lower quality games so far.

Either way, LOL! Wolves got schooled badly on their home court twice. Denver has woken up. I would say Minnesota's chances are very low. Denver made adjustments and Wolves failed to adjust.

We'll see, I think this Minny team is really, really good.

[KATKlownFeet]

The schedule has been unkind to the Wolves. The four days between games 2 and 3 did wonders for Denver and it allowed the national media to hype the Wolves up for four days. Now we only have two days between games 4 and 5 and the Wolves badly could use some time off to get their minds straight. Sadly, I'm seeing Denver winning the series from here on out. I hope I am wrong but I don't see the fight in the Wolves that was there in the first six games and Denver's confidence is sky high.

[Nick K]

We need to figure out a way to slow down the Murray/Jokic two man game. They are getting EASY shots every time. Awful. It was only slowed in the first games because Murray was injured.

Literally everyone today was awful except for Ant. Conley/Naz didn’t make an impact were not hurting the team. Everyone else was actively hurting us when they were on the court.

It's simple really, we had one guy that played great. Everybody else was below average. That can't happen if you want to win in the playoffs. I'm shocked really that we played so bad as a team after game 3 at home.

Denver did play very, very good basketball. They shot 57%fg, 45% 3, 80%ft. Their bench was 8 of 14 from the field.

And the 7 point swing to end the 1st half was a total killer.

[thinktank]

I actually more worry about our offense. There has to be better execution and not just Ant. Maybe run some plays for Towns. DEN is going to score around 110. We have to score more points besides play good D to keep them on check
DEN is way too good on offense.

We targeted Gordon on Towns in the first half and it. Was. A. Disaster.

[guest81]

Tonight the best team wins. We can’t put this one on the refs ( 27 FT for us, 15 FT for Denver…). We were not good in defense at allow way too much open 3.

Our bench was totally dominated by Denver bench which is really a disappointment.
If we look at our players :

- ANT was MVP level, he did all he could to keep the team alive but it was not enough. Another impressive performance from 22 years guys.
- Mike was quite good ( 15 pts,9 Assists, 0 TO) is what you can expected.
- Rudy came alive on second half but his defense was not really good and his weakness on the perimeter were obvious tonight.
- Jaden is so inconsistent on offense. And when his defense is not at his best, he become a really average player. But he is young and will learn from this series.
- KAT : One more time, a real disappointment at PO. Miss too many shoot and did not impact the game in any way. For a self proclaimed best 7’’ 3 points shooter in the world, it was not enough. Considering our much money he make, we should consider a trade for him as I doubt he improve more at his career stage.
- Naz was okay, not at this best but at least he hit some shoot.
- NAW is still very inconsistent ( cf comment on Jaden)
- SLomo : Probably the last 2 games he will play with the Wolves, he is a nice guy but is so down this year.
Overall, we see tonight what is missing to become a real contender. Denver will win the series and probably the title. Being able to dominated us with Porter, KCP as non factor, Murray just average show how strong they are and how experiences and having good bench players matters in PO.

We should consider trading Rudy way before KAT. He's a non factor.

KAT didn't play well cause he had to guard their best player all night. Rudy let Gordon score 30 pts. Who TF even is Aaron Gordon.

I feel like you didn't really watch the game

[Guest84]

The wolves changed their defensive game plan the kart two games for no reason. Let joker get 40 on twos and close everything else off.

Instead, they’ve been giving up everything. AG and the bench should not be that efficient. Jokic average like 4apg against us, continue that strategy.

Get back to moving the ball. Who would’ve thought each team would have home court on the road…

[FrenchMinnyFan]

We probably loose in 6 or 7 but it will be a great experience and we will learn a lot from this. FO can also see the obvious and what is missing to move to next step. Now just home the next 2 games we play with fun as we got nothing to loose. Go wolves!

[Shem]

Blazer fan chiming in again. Just remember, the Wolves are my playoff team this year before I say anything. Now that we got that out of the way.

I really think overall in the first two games of the series, the Wolves didn't have any pressure and expectations on them for stealing those two games in Denver. They did it and all of a sudden they're mega favorites to beat the Nuggets. This is where the inexperience comes in. The young OKC Thunder as the #1 seed in the West is dealing with that too.

Are you guys are real? Yes, you are despite the disappointment of the last two games. I still stand by that statement. This is a good learning experience no matter how this series turns out with Denver. Anthony Edwards is going be debated as the best player in the NBA very soon. He's only 22 and he's a winner.

The future is still bright in Minnesota despite the recent disappointment. Besides, you can't expect Aaron Gordon to continue to shoot 11-12 from the field, right?

[life_saver]

I think Wolves still have a chance...Nuggets have shot extremely well from 3 last 2 games but they were not shooting well from 3 before that, especially in Lakers series. They were missing lot of open looks from 3 in Lakers series. We just need our bench to not lose minutes badly vs Nuggets bench....bench has been a real disappointment in this series.

[guest81]

Series is tied guys. Let's take a deep breath. We still have Anthony Edwards