Have RealGM Wolves fans become Elitists?

[Klomp]

We are a great regular season team.

One thing that many people seem to forget though is that Anthony Edwards steps his game up in the postseason. People are so worried about Towns and Gobert, but the Edwards playoff jump is very real.

[KGdaBom]

We are a great regular season team.

One thing that many people seem to forget though is that Anthony Edwards steps his game up in the postseason. People are so worried about Towns and Gobert, but the Edwards playoff jump is very real.

Great point. Ant has come up huge in previous playoffs.

[Klomp]

Also, I think you need a bit of a reality check.
It's a very long season and there are 6 months left until a winner is crowned.
Yes, we are 23-7, but we've caught some pretty good breaks along the way.
Are we really as good as that record?

We have won 11 games against teams missing a star player.
MIA without Butler
NOP without Zion (twice)
@GSW minus Curry (and Dray and Klay for 46 mins)
PHI without Embiid
@MEM without Ja Morant (twice)
@DAL without Kyrie
IND without Haliburton
LAL without Lebron
DAL without Kyrie and Doncic
In contrast we have played only 3 games without Ant and 1 without KAT.

We have 3 wins by single digits against teams with single digit win totals (CHA, SAS twice).
Yes we lost those games last year, those games should not have gone down to the wire, we did not play well.
We have 2 wins against lowly Utah by 10+.

We have 4 what I would consider high quality home wins
DEN, BOS, NYK, OKC
And 3 Quality road wins against full strength teams:
GSW, MIA, SAC

We have lost only one home game, against a quality team in Sacramento
We have 4 noncompetitive road losses against good teams (PHX, NO, PHI, OKC)
and 2 bad road losses against bad teams (TOR, ATL).

Perhaps you missed Finch's postgame tirade where he called his players selfish and said
"There are a lot of different ways to be immature"

A guy who has never made a 3 in 12 years chucking one early in the shot clock is being immature and hurting his team.
All 3 of our key players need to start valuing every possession more.

Yes it's absolutely wonderful that we are 23-7 and having a great season.
There has also been a lot of bad play, a lot of turnovers, and things that could be much better.
And it's no sin, as a fan, to keep wanting more.

I love enjoying a win as much and anybody, but there have also been quite a few wins this year that kinda left a bad taste in my mouth. Not as bad as that awful 3-0 Vikings game, but bad.
I don't think our execution and composure have matched our talent level a whole lot this season, and for us to consider ourselves a championship contender, I think that needs to change.

I want to go back to this discussion, because I think it's at the core of everything in this entire thread. The idea that it's fair game to call guys out because Finch does. Finch is directly responsible for the messaging to the team. The fan base is not. Finch is saying guys need to play a more mature brand of basketball. He is communicating directly to them. Fans seem to say that players are so immature that we must get rid of them or the season is doomed to be a failure.

I don't think we've played our best ball. Not even close. But to me, that's a great thing. We shouldn't be playing our best on Jan. 3 when the playoffs don't start until mid-April.

At the end of the season, the playoff standings are not determined by how many times fans left with a great taste in their mouths. Wins and losses are what determine the standings. To this point, the team has been able to play poorly and still win. Even against good teams. That ultimately matters more than the feeling the game gives.

[younggunsmn]

I want to go back to this discussion, because I think it's at the core of everything in this entire thread. The idea that it's fair game to call guys out because Finch does. Finch is directly responsible for the messaging to the team. The fan base is not. Finch is saying guys need to play a more mature brand of basketball. He is communicating directly to them. Fans seem to say that players are so immature that we must get rid of them or the season is doomed to be a failure.

I don't think we've played our best ball. Not even close. But to me, that's a great thing. We shouldn't be playing our best on Jan. 3 when the playoffs don't start until mid-April.

At the end of the season, the playoff standings are not determined by how many times fans left with a great taste in their mouths. Wins and losses are what determine the standings. To this point, the team has been able to play poorly and still win. Even against good teams. That ultimately matters more than the feeling the game gives.

I think we've been beaten down for so long as wolves fans that having a top seed in the conference 30 games in means more than it should.
I illustrated pretty clearly in my post how almost half of those wins have come against teams missing a star player.

We don't watch the games all at once like we are binge watching a TV show,
We watch them one at a time and the players play them one at a time.
When playoff time comes around, you are only as good as your last game.

The right question to ask is, "Did the team play well tonight?"
For most of the past month, the answer has been a resounding NO.

And it's not just one area. Defense has been very bad. Turnovers have been very bad.
Fouling has been bad, both offensively and defensively.
The maturity has been bad.
We're not picking at nits here.

The Thunder have been playing very well, the Pelicans have been playing very well.
We have resoundingly NOT been playing well for quite a while now.

[shrink]

I tried to think of another fanbase who would be comfortable and happy right now, if they were watching their team very closely.

DEN? They keep getting beat by OKC, and needed a 40-footer to get past the mediocre Warriors.

OKC? Great wins vs BOS and DEN, but they just gave up 141 points in a loss to ATL.

LAC? They seem to have turned it around, but couldn’t beat the good teams (losses to BOS and OKC).

DAL? 4-6 in their last 10

PHX, LAL, GSW? All struggling to make the play in.

MIL? I just watched them barely get past the Spurs.

All teams are in the doldrums of the NBA season. I’m sure every fanbase is focusing on their worries of their own weaknesses a month before the trade deadline, and forgetting about their own strengths. MIN is still #1 in DRtg. They still have three potential All Stars, the likely DPOY, and a young player who could become the NBA’s MVP one day. They have Naz and McDaniels locked up longterm, and Mike Conley has been healthy (played 81 or the last 82 games), and has been tremendous. And the Wolves are in 1st place in the West, 40% of the way through the season.

Change this face. Be happy. Enjoy it.