Game 1, 4/19: Minnesota at Los Angeles, 7:30 pm

[BlacJacMac]

Love it. But the key point you missed is that of those 15 Luka had 1. We did to Luka what we normally do to Joker. We accept that they are great and great players get theirs. But we stop them from getting other people easy buckets, and therefore stop them from getting going.

My biggest expectation is 30 minutes for both DFS and Vando in game 2.

Candi can’t play more than 25 minutes his offense is atrocious

Not saying his offense is good, but without him the Lakers defense is… not good enough. Or at least it really wasn’t tonight. Ant can break down any of the LAL big 3, and when they run switching scheme like tonight that is exactly what happened. If you throw Vando at Ant or glue him to someone you will risk “beating you,” and have Vando as the designated helper. Either way, LAL needs size to contain Rudy, Randle, Jaden, and Naz. If it isn’t going to be Hayes, who else but Vando?

His defense is overrated. I lost track of how many unnecessary double teams he did that left his man open and/or the Lakers scrambling.

[Jkam31]

Love it. But the key point you missed is that of those 15 Luka had 1. We did to Luka what we normally do to Joker. We accept that they are great and great players get theirs. But we stop them from getting other people easy buckets, and therefore stop them from getting going.

My biggest expectation is 30 minutes for both DFS and Vando in game 2.

Candi can’t play more than 25 minutes his offense is atrocious

Not saying his offense is good, but without him the Lakers defense is… not good enough. Or at least it really wasn’t tonight. Ant can break down any of the LAL big 3, and when they run switching scheme like tonight that is exactly what happened. If you throw Vando at Ant or glue him to someone you will risk “beating you,” and have Vando as the designated helper. Either way, LAL needs size to contain Rudy, Randle, Jaden, and Naz. If it isn’t going to be Hayes, who else but Vando?

Finch will counter with Gobert on Vando and allow him to float around also vando can’t hurt you guys rolling or in pick and pop there offense would be regulated with him playing major minutes. On defense Ant can still hunt a switch which LA would give up so the Vando thing won’t happen

We were 21 for 42 from 3s today. We aren't going to shoot like that the next game.

I would not be surprised to continue to see a lot of open three’s - maybe not next game but for most of the series.

If the Lakers want to challenge three point shots, all our guys can drive past them, and they have no interior defense to prevent drives to the baskets, or kick outs.

Ya I love seeing the talking head saying y’all won’t shoot like that and they’ll adjust. Newsflash most were open because Luka and reeves can stay in front of anyone if they don’t over help Any and Randle will live at the rim.

[BlacJacMac]

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[BlacJacMac]

Lakers not named Luka/Bron/Austin scored 7 points after halftime tonight vs Timberwolves

2 of those points were a Vando tip-in after Naz Reid was face down on the baseline

The other 5 came from Dalton Knecht in garbage time

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:paf4vetn26bu7uggsie3vyrc/post/3ln7ok6c3sk2h

[KGdaBom]

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Amazing stat.

[Mattya]

They are gonna be contesting threes and pressuring for steals in game two. We need the guys to really have strong dribbles and attack close outs smart. Could open up for some Gobert lobs.

[winforlose]

Candi can’t play more than 25 minutes his offense is atrocious

Not saying his offense is good, but without him the Lakers defense is… not good enough. Or at least it really wasn’t tonight. Ant can break down any of the LAL big 3, and when they run switching scheme like tonight that is exactly what happened. If you throw Vando at Ant or glue him to someone you will risk “beating you,” and have Vando as the designated helper. Either way, LAL needs size to contain Rudy, Randle, Jaden, and Naz. If it isn’t going to be Hayes, who else but Vando?

Finch will counter with Gobert on Vando and allow him to float around also vando can’t hurt you guys rolling or in pick and pop there offense would be regulated with him playing major minutes. On defense Ant can still hunt a switch which LA would give up so the Vando thing won’t happen

We were 21 for 42 from 3s today. We aren't going to shoot like that the next game.

I would not be surprised to continue to see a lot of open three’s - maybe not next game but for most of the series.

If the Lakers want to challenge three point shots, all our guys can drive past them, and they have no interior defense to prevent drives to the baskets, or kick outs.

Ya I love seeing the talking head saying y’all won’t shoot like that and they’ll adjust. Newsflash most were open because Luka and reeves can stay in front of anyone if they don’t over help Any and Randle will live at the rim.

Not only that, but DDV (also known as D3V) and NAW are two of our best 3 point shooters and they combined for 2 of 11. Ant going 4 of 9 is fairly sustainable based on the regular season. Jaden and Naz won’t always be that hot, but we can and probably will hit 18+ a game against that type of defense.

[shrink]

Nice job, Chris Finch

[TimberKat]

They are gonna be contesting threes and pressuring for steals in game two. We need the guys to really have strong dribbles and attack close outs smart. Could open up for some Gobert lobs.

I actually see a Randle lob to Gobert dunk in game one. That maybe the first one this year. Yes, need to see that more when we drive by the closing 3 pt defender

[thinktank]

They are gonna be contesting threes and pressuring for steals in game two. We need the guys to really have strong dribbles and attack close outs smart. Could open up for some Gobert lobs.

And Randle inside too. Hope he can tighten up.

[winforlose]

Rudy played for 24 minutes Hayes played for 8. There is no excuse for Rudy not being dominant in the minutes when LA went uber small. 6 rebounds is not close to enough, 2 points on 2 shots is also troubling. Game 1 we won with 3 point shooting. Game 2 I would like to see dominate in the paint as well.

[Klomp]

Rudy played for 24 minutes Hayes played for 8. There is no excuse for Rudy not being dominant in the minutes when LA went uber small. 6 rebounds is not close to enough, 2 points on 2 shots is also troubling. Game 1 we won with 3 point shooting. Game 2 I would like to see dominate in the paint as well.

It says a lot about this team and this series that we upset the No. 3 seed on its home floor, leading by 20+ points multiple chunks of the game, and there is still a ton of meat on the bone because their best player scored 37 and our top 3 players really didn't play that well.

[Klomp]

I actually see a Randle lob to Gobert dunk in game one. That maybe the first one this year.

Not even close to being the first one btw

[TimberKat]

I actually see a Randle lob to Gobert dunk in game one. That maybe the first one this year.

Not even close to being the first one btw

Really, I honestly don't remember any other time and keep seeing Randle throw the ball away. When was the last time Randle throw Gobert a lob and how many do we have this year? Not just pass but lob pass.

[Klomp]

2 Key stats for me:
Wolves had 10 turnovers
Lakers shot 16 FTs.

I think we win 9/10 games against the Lakers where we have those numbers or better.
But I don't think they let both teams get away with playing that physical every game.
Julius smashing LeBron in the face while he was trying to flop was chef's kiss for me, as was laying Luka out while he was throwing an outlet pass.
If those guys are going to hunt fouls all game long, make yours count.

Wolves also had 29 assists to 15 for the Lakers. If you can contain their initial actions they revert to ISO ball, and we did a great job at that.
Julius being able to take some of the defensive heat off of Jaden, NAW, and Mike guarding the bigger stronger Luka and LeBron was a key to success tonight.

I expect JJ to switch up his offense a bit going forward to run more off ball actions to get LeBron and Luka going downhill more.
Our primary focus offensively seemed to be hunting advantageous switches for Ant and Julius and letting them go to work.
I'm guessing Finch has been eager to find ways to exploit Luka defensively ever since the Dallas series ended.
If we can keep doing what we are doing and cut down on Julius's turnovers a bit I think we can keep having success, but it's going to depend on our ability to keep making catch and shoot 3's.
Ant missed a ton of makeable layups tonight.

Love it. But the key point you missed is that of those 15 Luka had 1. We did to Luka what we normally do to Joker. We accept that they are great and great players get theirs. But we stop them from getting other people easy buckets, and therefore stop them from getting going.

My biggest expectation is 30 minutes for both DFS and Vando in game 2.

I hope Vando plays 30+ minutes in Game 2.

That's the thing....the Lakers have natural adjustments they can make going into Game 2, but those adjustments play largely into the Timberwolves' hands. Redick talked about the need to play more physical....which I have a feeling will mean more Hayes and Vanderbilt. That kind of schematic shift will allow Gobert to take advantage because he now has a better matchup and he is bigger and stronger than both of them.

[Klomp]

I actually see a Randle lob to Gobert dunk in game one. That maybe the first one this year.

Not even close to being the first one btw

Really, I honestly don't remember any other time and keep seeing Randle throw the ball away. When was the last time Randle throw Gobert a lob and how many do we have this year? Not just pass but lob pass.

I guess it wasn't an alley-oop, but there's this one....

Read on Twitter

[TimberKat]

Not even close to being the first one btw

Really, I honestly don't remember any other time and keep seeing Randle throw the ball away. When was the last time Randle throw Gobert a lob and how many do we have this year? Not just pass but lob pass.

I guess it wasn't an alley-oop, but there's this one....

Read on Twitter

Close enough, that is a lob. I didn't remember that play at all.

[younggunsmn]

Go at Doncic every possession until he's in foul trouble.

[younggunsmn]

I really like the TJ Shannon minutes, he was the only guy who was a plus (+7).
TJ also had a career high 25 @ LA in February, the Lakers are a good matchup for his slashing with their lack of size and footspeed.
He's gonna be a real good defender too when he gets more NBA minutes under his belt.

We finally found a group of 5 guys who were willing to fly around on defense.
Naz and Dante need to get their heads right because we need them to pull this one out.
Vanderbilt did his best Dillon Brooks impression and took them both out by making them lose their cool.
Vanderbilt was about to foul Dante and put him on the line when he gave him that pork chop to the face.

Have to chip away possession by possession.

Our offense is much better from transition so getting stops is going to be key.
We are either going to win this game or lose by 25.
It all depends on the defense getting tighter and the guys all getting on the same page.

I don't know why Rudy keeps insisting on switching onto Luka, with the mountains of evidence that its a bad idea.
On the last play before the half, he did it again, and Jaden was like, OH NO YOU DONT RUDY and went and doubled him and caused a kicked ball.

We need to get our D scheme on the same page.