Game 28 Wolves at Kings 12-23-23 Record 21-6

[winforlose]

5-2 on this tough 16 game stretch so far. Anybody here still be happy if we finish it 8-8?

My hope is that we’re still #1 in the West at the end of it. The next game against OKC will be big for that.

We are currently leading the West by 2.5. My hope is we up that to 4 or more by the end of it.

Sadly Nuggets won, but OKC lost

[younggunsmn]

Whew. I thought we were going to blow a 22 point 4th quarter lead for a minute there, but some phenomenal defense in the final 2 minutes sealed the win.

Jaden did a great job on Fox who is one of the toughest guys in the league to guard.
He was not letting him get to his spots in the 2nd half and even denying him the ball on several occasions.
Also, if Jaden can consistently put up an efficient 15+ points like he has been it will take a lot of pressure off the other guys to score, and our offense will be that much more dangerous.

Rudy also had an awesome game, Sacramento is a good matchup for him as they are incredibly weak on the interior.
He crashed the boards, ended possessions, and turned around guys on drives all night.
Huge game for him after a disappointing last few games.
Sabonis should have had at least 4 fouls in the first quarter alone but of course he became invisible to the refs after he picked up his 2nd foul. Utter BS again.
He should be suspended for the elbow to the head he gave Rudy on the dunk, that was 100% intentional when watching the replay.

Pretty decent game from Ant but still a lot of poor decision making with way too many step back 3's when the paint was wide open for him or a teammate all game long.

Kyle looked better playing a more natural 4 position. He is a drag on the offense with his complete inability to shoot outside the paint, but his intangibles and defense are still really valuable. Finch has been playing him as a backup PG lately, even swapping him out 1 for 1 with Conley. I don't think that is a tenable position for the team to be in.

NAW can run the 2nd unit at times, but only if Ant is out there with him. NAW or Kyle out there with Shake or TBJ has been an absolute disaster. Shake has been the biggest disappointment this year, I keep waiting for him to turn it around but every game he looks worse, struggling to control the ball let alone make shots or plays for others.

Keegan Murray is going to make an All-Star team in the next 5 years, he's a really really solid player and looks like he has worked on his body and gotten stronger since last year, and the shot is just wet.
He and Fox are going to be a great combo for years to come.
Sacramento has a bright future, but the lack of any interior defense is going to hurt them in the playoffs.
They had the Dubs beat last year but got clowned by Kevan Looney of all people.

Mike Conley? What more can you say? Guy already deserves a statue outside of TC.
Get him in a room with Tom Brady and do whatever we need to so he can play into his 40's!

[moss_is_1]

only 3 minutes for TBJ
did he get hurt?

Nah he was just really bad when he played. 3 pretty bad fouls.

[winforlose]

Post cast just said we won fast break points 28-5. That is nuts. Especially when Sac is a team that just wants to run on you.

[Murphs56]

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Last year, Jaden was an analytics darling but I don't think he had the respect around the league just yet to make an all-defensive team. This year, opposing coaches are taking notice.

[winforlose]

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Last year, Jaden was an analytics darling but I don't think he had the respect around the league just yet to make an all-defensive team. This year, opposing coaches are taking notice.

Based on how many calls we have got about Jaden the past few years, I think the secret has been out a while. The consistency between seasons just reinforces how real last year was for him.

[younggunsmn]

I need to talk with my brother again about Finch. 5 months ago he was saying Finch needed to be fired and he wasn't a head coach. Dude is looking like coach of the year right now lol.

Finch and the staff made a lot of mistakes last year scheme and otherwise. I love Finch but last year I was super down on him. It was warranted.

This year they made the very changes we talked about last year to their credit. Last year is a distant bad memory. This year they've done most everything right especially with the defense and next with how they use Rudy. They're using Rudy exactly as I wanted them to last year. I'm not the only one to see the obvious. Mike Conley is a revelation.

We're finally a really good team. It's taken us long enough. We, as fans so deserve it. And then some.

There are some things that really frustrate me (lack of in game adjustments #1), but it's not all on him.
He called a timeout to tell Rudy to play tighter on Anthony Davis and he did it for exactly one possession.
Ant took like 10 step back 3's again tonight.
Maybe he does need to be a little stricter, especially with the offense and playcalling, but you can't argue with the overall results so far, and the team does play really hard most nights.
The defense in the last 2 minutes tonight, wow that was the stuff championship teams are made of.
We took one of the most potent offenses in the league and made them look like middle schoolers for a couple minutes.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

Really great win. We are deep solid right now. And not even with KAT. All finger cross ( hand and feet) for Mike remain healthy. Our floor general was huge tonight.

[winforlose]

King’s coach asked about the difference between this game and the win against us earlier in the year. The short version of what he said is Jaden McDaniels. This is all paraphrasing but basically he said “as impressive as Jaden’s 20 points were, his defense goes beyond analytics and stat sheets and is the key factor in the loss.”

[FrenchMinnyFan]

For me JAden is a top 5 defender already in the league. IF he got consistency, he will got the DPOY one day for sure.

[winforlose]

For me JAden is a top 5 defender already in the league. IF he got consistency, he will got the DPOY one day for sure.

I cannot remember which year, but one year I thought he was the best shot blocker among all non centers. Might have been 21-22? His length and quickness just causes such problems for guards and wings. Add to that his offense is starting to pick up and he is a legit two way headache for some of the leagues biggest names.

[LondonWolf91]

Wow, we are 5-2 in the last 7 games against .500 or more opposition. We should be 6-1 if the refs were fair against the 76’ers.

We have another tough 9 game stretch all against .500 or over competition. It would be incredible if we could increase the gap at the top and that starts with a win against the Thunder.

I am proud of this team!

[Klomp]

It’s interesting…I think with as good as he has played, I think it’s actually becoming easier to take Conley for granted.

People are so worried about finding his heir apparent or even his backup that I think everything he brings to the table becomes diminished.

It’s not just his ability to rally the troops and direct the flow of the offense in crunch time. It’s not just his ability to make big shots. It’s not just his ability to come up with timely steals. It’s not just his availability every night. He brings the entire package. This guy is not someone who can be replaced by a minimum/buyout player just because he is older.

And also, he’s not going to age as quickly as most players. He was a top draft pick. He has a lot left in the tank. I don’t think we need to worry about bubble-wrapping him. Utah did that for 3.5 years, and it might actually be to our benefit because he isn’t playing like your average 36-year old.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

Totally agree with that. As a Mike fan, i was totally frustrated seeing the way they use him. Sitting in the corner and let Mitchell playing the hero with not much success. If we smart and with a bit of luck, we have a 2-3 years windows to win a title.

[winforlose]

It’s interesting…I think with as good as he has played, I think it’s actually becoming easier to take Conley for granted.

People are so worried about finding his heir apparent or even his backup that I think everything he brings to the table becomes diminished.

It’s not just his ability to rally the troops and direct the flow of the offense in crunch time. It’s not just his ability to make big shots. It’s not just his ability to come up with timely steals. It’s not just his availability every night. He brings the entire package. This guy is not someone who can be replaced by a minimum/buyout player just because he is older.

And also, he’s not going to age as quickly as most players. He was a top draft pick. He has a lot left in the tank. I don’t think we need to worry about bubble-wrapping him. Utah did that for 3.5 years, and it might actually be to our benefit because he isn’t playing like your average 36-year old.

To quote Finch “There are no new ways to describe how important Mike is. REALLY GOD DAMN IMPORTANT.” In other words, Mike is sensational, and we cannot do what we do without him. But, what if he had to? What if Mike gets the flu? Nothing serious, just one week (3-4 games) without Mike. Start JMAC? Start Kyle? Did you see how it looked last night when Mike wasn’t out there? Because of all the things Mike does we are spoiled. But then we see all the ways we miss Mike when he is on the bench. Here is another question, what if Mike didn’t want to play the full fourth quarter last night? He played 7:25 in the 3rd and around 6:00 in the fourth before sitting down. What if at that point he was tired, legs sore, and wanted to be done? Do we win? What happened in that 1:50 when Mike sat? We caught a dynamite 3 point shooting and pace team on the back end of a back to back without their 6th man. We built a 22 point lead in the fourth quarter and watched it fall to 5. They did it in a game where we hit more 3s than they did, scored more in transition than they did, and scored more in the paint than they did. So what went wrong. The answer is we didn’t have a PG.

[winforlose]

King’s post cast. 8:48 mark all trash no class. Bragging about the Sabonis elbow to the face of Rudy. Should have been at least a flagrant 1 maybe a flagrant 2. They are celebrating it.

https://youtu.be/AY9v9-iwgg0?si=aj0RlOC3z2BtmEav

[shrink]

This is why you have two Anthony's one goes down, you got a spare.

It’s like a Sopranos episode.

[Klomp]

We built a 22 point lead in the fourth quarter and watched it fall to 5. They did it in a game where we hit more 3s than they did, scored more in transition than they did, and scored more in the paint than they did. So what went wrong. The answer is we didn’t have a PG.

In full transparency, the lead was already down to 14 points when Conley checked out of the game, as Sacramento was on an 8-0 run. And he re-entered with Minnesota holding a 9-point lead. It was another two-plus minutes with Conley in the game before Sacramento got the deficit down to 5 points. That happens in NBA games. The opponents are professionals too, we weren't playing against Oak Hills Christian College.

[Klomp]

It’s interesting…I think with as good as he has played, I think it’s actually becoming easier to take Conley for granted.

People are so worried about finding his heir apparent or even his backup that I think everything he brings to the table becomes diminished.

It’s not just his ability to rally the troops and direct the flow of the offense in crunch time. It’s not just his ability to make big shots. It’s not just his ability to come up with timely steals. It’s not just his availability every night. He brings the entire package. This guy is not someone who can be replaced by a minimum/buyout player just because he is older.

And also, he’s not going to age as quickly as most players. He was a top draft pick. He has a lot left in the tank. I don’t think we need to worry about bubble-wrapping him. Utah did that for 3.5 years, and it might actually be to our benefit because he isn’t playing like your average 36-year old.

To quote Finch “There are no new ways to describe how important Mike is. REALLY GOD DAMN IMPORTANT.” In other words, Mike is sensational, and we cannot do what we do without him. But, what if he had to? What if Mike gets the flu? Nothing serious, just one week (3-4 games) without Mike. Start JMAC? Start Kyle? Did you see how it looked last night when Mike wasn’t out there? Because of all the things Mike does we are spoiled. But then we see all the ways we miss Mike when he is on the bench. Here is another question, what if Mike didn’t want to play the full fourth quarter last night? He played 7:25 in the 3rd and around 6:00 in the fourth before sitting down. What if at that point he was tired, legs sore, and wanted to be done? Do we win? What happened in that 1:50 when Mike sat? We caught a dynamite 3 point shooting and pace team on the back end of a back to back without their 6th man. We built a 22 point lead in the fourth quarter and watched it fall to 5. They did it in a game where we hit more 3s than they did, scored more in transition than they did, and scored more in the paint than they did. So what went wrong. The answer is we didn’t have a PG.

Like I said, I think fans take him for granted. It's not about the depth behind him as much as it's understanding how good Mike Conley Jr. is. This isn't a Derek Fisher, who topped out at 13/4. Conley is a former all-star and a former all-defense player in this league, who put up 20/6 on a playoff team along with another season averaging 21/6. He's damn good, and still damn good at 36. So of course the gap from a player of his caliber to his backup is going to be considerable.

[Calinks]

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