Game 80 Wolves at Nuggets. 4/10/24 55-24

[TimberKat]

Ok, now I am confused. Don't we have the tie breaker over OKC? Or this game throw us from 1st down to third?

[Calinks]

Will be interesting to see if Finch either calls out Naz in the presser, or at least eludes to it..

Naz has been great but he isn't Towns, he's not a starting all-star center. It's really tough to play against this Denver team and Jokic, can't dump on him for having a bad game. Dude has played above and beyond his expectations this season. Denver has just turned on the championship switch and ran away with it. They are on that elite tier of execution, there are levels to this.

Karl is more consistent. Naz can get hot and light it up. But he can also disappear, or worse anchor it down. He is also not big enough or strong enough to guard Joker. We need more from Jaden, Kyle, NAW, and the JMAC/Morris half rotations. Ant also really disappeared in the 2nd half. It is the difference between an All NBA and former MVP Jokic and the 22 year old Ant.

This is also why Shai gets rightfully more hype for MVP than Ant. Ant has been amazing but he doesn't have the consistency or go-to moves yet to be a major force that pushes wins as consistently. Shai can be relied upon to get to his spots and do his thing when it matters and OKC has pulled a ton of clutch games out of their butt cracks because of that. Its something I am sure Ant well develop over time.

[_AIJ_]

He'd find something to complain about. All he does is complain. He rarely adds anything of substance.

Nobody asked you my brother

Nobody has to ask me. I'll take a lesson from your playbook.... You suck man! Seriously, that's all I get from your comments.

Tell me about Naz tonight. He was one of the reasons why we fumbled the game

[winforlose]

Nobody asked you my brother

Nobody has to ask me. I'll take a lesson from your playbook.... You suck man! Seriously, that's all I get from your comments.

Tell me about Naz tonight. He was one of the reasons why we fumbled the game

6 of 19 from the field. 0 of 4 from deep. 1 of 5 from the line. Naz killed us.

[Nick K]

Nobody asked you my brother

Nobody has to ask me. I'll take a lesson from your playbook.... You suck man! Seriously, that's all I get from your comments.

Tell me about Naz tonight. He was one of the reasons why we fumbled the game

Guys have off nights. It happens. Get over it. Lots of guys hurt us tonight late. We went cold and didn't block out. That's all part of sports. They have a good team too.

Please try to look for something to contribute that's a little more positive. When guys are playing badly we all see they suck. You don't have to tell us that.

[minimus]

Nobody has to ask me. I'll take a lesson from your playbook.... You suck man! Seriously, that's all I get from your comments.

Tell me about Naz tonight. He was one of the reasons why we fumbled the game

Guys have off nights. It happens. Get over it. Lots of guys hurt us tonight late. We went cold and didn't block out. That's all part of sports. They have a good team too.

Please try to look for something to contribute that's a little more positive. When guys are playing badly we all see they suck. You don't have to tell us that.

I wonder how much last playoff games contributed in NAW, Edwards grow. Confidence, clutch execution etc. I wish Reid and McDaniels got same experience last year, because it looks like playoff spotlights is the best "natural growth hormone" for young players.

[younggunsmn]

This one hurts. We had them and then just completely fell apart from the late 3rd quarter on.

Championship team and championship coach vs players and coach who fell apart mentally tonight when it got tight.
You don't win many games where you let the other team shoot 55% and then give up 11 offensive rebounds on the 37 misses.
That's not enough stops to beat anybody.
Their defense was also very good tonight, we had a really hard time finding any seams to drive, and other than a good first 2 1/2 quarters from Ant, Mike's 3-point shooting was the only offense we could really muster.

Starting late in the 3rd, Denver amped up their defense and went to their bread and butter plays for shots at the rim.
We quit moving our feet on defense and started overplaying off the ball and chasing blocks and steals.
And while Jokic was bulldozing Rudy all night to the basket, Ant was chucking 3 pointers and begging the refs to bail him out at the rim.

The refs were really awful for both teams in the 2nd half, missed a ton of calls.
But I can't stand the way they ref Jokic. He's pushing off with his off arm literally every time he goes to the basket but you can't breathe on him without a whistle. And he can do whatever he wants on rebounds or on defense.
It's hard enough when you can't be physical with a guy, it's impossible when he is also pretty much allowed to foul at will.

The turning point in the game was when Jokic chucked Rudy to the floor on that loose ball in the 3rd quarter, no whistle, and then gets a cheap and-1. We never recovered any momentum after that.

Their 2nd unit of Braun, Watson, and Jackson beat ours pretty badly tonight.
I didn't see that kind of rim protection coming from Watson, he has really gotten better.
NAW had a couple of inexcusable turnovers.

It really hurt no having KAT tonight because he gives Jokic trouble defensively.
It also hurts because Naz is gassed on the 2nd unit in the early 2nd and 4th quarter minutes instead of coming in fresh.
6-19 tonight, 0/4 from 3, 1/5 from the line. A really poor game yet he was a +3 while Rudy was a -17.
Rudy was the one getting beat defensively.

A couple of warning signs:
1. Jaden McDaniels doesn't need to be guarded on the perimeter and that's going to be a big problem in the postseason, it allows teams another player besides Rudy they can let a defender load up on Ant and KAT with.
NAW has been a much much better corner 3 point shooter this year.
I also didn't think jaden gave Murray enough resistance on defense.
2. We had the yips at the free throw line in a big game. Ant, Naz, Rudy. Nerves were getting to us.

It sucks losing the #1 seed, but Denver earned it.
That awful play in January/Early February where we were losing to bad teams and almost getting beat in the games we did win is where we blew it. Denver was more consistent.

Who knows who we will play in the playoffs. I really want to avoid Phoenix, but we may have to beat them the last game of the year to avoid dropping to 3rd and giving them the 6 seed.

So as a 2 or 3 seed, our pool of potential opponents will be phoenix/NO/SAC with an outside shot of Lakers or Warriors passing them and claiming the 7 seed. PHX/NO/SAC all have given us trouble this year, so it makes me nervous.

[Dewey]

Wolves cannot handle the top seed … 3-4 is about right - got to beat them all anyway. If we think we got something to prove, go to Denver and take them down in the WCF’s (if we get there).

[m2002brian]

Denver played the second half as if they knew we were playing the second game of a back to back.
We just ran out of gas and they pushed harder on theirs.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

Tonight we have seen the difference between a favorite for the title and a good team. We play well but tonight we had only 3 players Playoff level, Mike, Ant and Rudy. Ant play well but we see he is only 23 and still have plenty of room for improvement.. I find hard some comments on Rudy. Yes he got dominated by Jokic, as 100% of opponent on the league, nothing to be ashamed.

We are still the underdog here. Semi final conference will be good, WCF the cherry on the cake for me. If we can play again Denver in final and give them a good fight, i will be happy with it.

[shrink]

Since we played them so evenly for three quarters, I do wonder if elevation finally got to us.

They condition at elevation (like our Olympic athletes do in Colorado Springs) and except for one game at LA, they have been at elevation since March 25th. I do a lot of hiking in Colorado, and even though it’s not NBA-level exertion, it’s no joke.

[BlacJacMac]

Read on Twitter

[shrink]

Michael Malone: "Rudy Gobert is going to be a Hall of Fame player one day. He's going to be regarded as one of the greatest defenders of his generation…nobody can guard Nikola 1-on-1."

[Calinks]

Elite offense beats elite defense. Shaq will use this as a reason for why Rudy isn't DPOTY. He thinks it should all be about shutting someone down one on one.

I think what will ultimately hold us back this season is our offense. We just don't have the power to contend at the top end. We have shown some flashes but we aren't there. Towns still hasn't been fully integrated into the offense, we don't know how to maximize him in this scheme and that will be a problem.

Its why we are somewhat vulnerable, if a team can get their offense really flowing, they will get some wins on us. We need Ant to develop some unstoppable go to moves. We need to find a way to get Towns back to the offensive player he was in years past. Our roles guys really have to step up, can't have Jaden bricking crucial open threes.

The level of efficiency you have to be operating at to win a title is ridiculous.

[guest81]

Elite offense beats elite defense. Shaq will use this as a reason for why Rudy isn't DPOTY. He thinks it should all be about shutting someone down one on one.

I think what will ultimately hold us back this season is our offense. We just don't have the power to contend at the top end. We have shown some flashes but we aren't there. Towns still hasn't been fully integrated into the offense, we don't know how to maximize him in this scheme and that will be a problem.

Its why we are somewhat vulnerable, if a team can get their offense really flowing, they will get some wins on us. We need Ant to develop some unstoppable go to moves. We need to find a way to get Towns back to the offensive player he was in years past. Our roles guys really have to step up, can't have Jaden bricking crucial open threes.

The level of efficiency you have to be operating at to win a title is ridiculous.

Nuggets are like 50-7 or something like that at home when they have all their starers playing. It's no shame to lose to them. If they get a 7 game series you also get them at home

[shrink]

I jinxed us.

Going into the fourth quarter, I posted something where I was marveling at what a high level both teams were playing at, how the game was so close, and I was thrilled we were going to get this level of competition in multiple playoff series. So fun to watch.

And .. that’s exactly the moment the Wolves couldn’t keep up.

Throw your brickbats at me. I promise to keep my mouth shut for the actual playoffs.

[TimberKat]

If this is the WCF final matchup, the ratings will be through the roof.

Yes, ratings in Minneapolis and Denver. Too late for New Yorkers and too early for Californians

Maybe I was wrong about New Yorker and Californians. "Wednesday night's matchup between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets averaged 1.57 million viewers on ESPN." I think 1.57 is supposed to be good. Maybe they do want to watch Jokic vs the Wild Kingdom.

[winforlose]

If this is the WCF final matchup, the ratings will be through the roof.

Yes, ratings in Minneapolis and Denver. Too late for New Yorkers and too early for Californians

Maybe I was wrong about New Yorker and Californians. "Wednesday night's matchup between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets averaged 1.57 million viewers on ESPN." I think 1.57 is supposed to be good. Maybe they do want to watch Jokic vs the Wild Kingdom.

For the East, it’s actually 1-2 hours earlier than if the game was in pacific time (depending on where it’s played. Instead of coming on at 10pm for them, it starts at 8 or 9pm. Both of which is reasonable. For the pacific time zone, a 7pm game is 6pm pacific. That isn’t all that late for a game. For a Wolves home game a 7pm start is 5pm, which is early, but don’t forget that DVR can added to the ratings (it’s called live plus 7.) Also at least 2 playoff games are usually on the weekend, so the time zone is less of an issue. Overall, I think two great teams is going to draw eyeballs no matter where they are playing.

[TimberKat]

Yes, ratings in Minneapolis and Denver. Too late for New Yorkers and too early for Californians

Maybe I was wrong about New Yorker and Californians. "Wednesday night's matchup between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets averaged 1.57 million viewers on ESPN." I think 1.57 is supposed to be good. Maybe they do want to watch Jokic vs the Wild Kingdom.

For the East, it’s actually 1-2 hours earlier than if the game was in pacific time (depending on where it’s played. Instead of coming on at 10pm for them, it starts at 8 or 9pm. Both of which is reasonable. For the pacific time zone, a 7pm game is 6pm pacific. That isn’t all that late for a game. For a Wolves home game a 7pm start is 5pm, which is early, but don’t forget that DVR can added to the ratings (it’s called live plus 7.) Also at least 2 playoff games are usually on the weekend, so the time zone is less of an issue. Overall, I think two great teams is going to draw eyeballs no matter where they are playing.

True. My comments is really more about New Yorkers only cares about Manhattan because that is the center of the universe. Californians thinks they are the capital of basketball. If it's not Lakers yellow, it's not basketball. I can say that because I lived in both cities.