DEN at MIN: It all comes down to this!

[Fastbrk4brkfast]

Crazy thing is we took Denver's best shot, Jokic was making crazy shot after crazy shot and then Murray got hot and the Wolves kept answering....easily the best game the team played all season. Couldn't imagine a better win to break the streak and put the team in playoffs.

Denver was playing so good I was literally feeling like



I mean I was about to be devastated we lost but they wanted it so bad, were hitting so many amazing shots, I was ready to tip my hat to them after the loss. They were that good. They earned it 1000 percent.

I will never understand y'all Wolves fans. Don't let Jimmy or Thibs see this. They will find you.

Congrats! May the playoffs for you be like a trip to Disneyland and Sizzler all rolled into one.

[akeefe03]

wow Taj earned that contract tonight. What incredible individual defense. This feels awesome. It sucks Jimmy going down prevented us from being 3-5 seed but hey, we're in. If we can even take one game from Houston, especially on our home court, that will be so amazing for the guys and our franchise. We deserve this! Congrats everyone

[D1SGRUNTL3D]

wow Taj earned that contract tonight. What incredible individual defense. This feels awesome. It sucks Jimmy going down prevented us from being 3-5 seed but hey, we're in. If we can even take one game from Houston, especially on our home court, that will be so amazing for the guys and our franchise. We deserve this! Congrats everyone

It wont happen..but Id like to see Wiggins on CP3, Butler locked on Harden, take KAT and have him help with Teague on Ariza let the likes of Ariza, Ryan Anderson/PJ and NeNe beat you with open shots.

Id put Taj and his knowledge on Clint Capella and take out the lob. Hes much better guarding the slip than KAT is. If we let Harden or CP3 facilitate with the drive, kick, open 3...we're doomed if theyre draining it...but if we take away their drives and lobs to clint...we can make it interesting.

[Nick K]

We have had this issue all season. This issue where our offense just falls off a cliff. We are easy to shut down and its very annoying. Need to address the offense next season.

Why in the world would you expect Thibs to change it next year when he clearly thinks this is the way to go?

[life_saver]

I would have fancied us against Portland, OKC in Round1...I think we could have had a competitive series even against Curry less Warriors...but one team which I so badly wanted to avoid is Rockets...I absolutely hate playing against Rockets, just bad bad matchup. Only way we can give decent fight against Rockets is by making use of KAT well...KAT usually plays well against Rockets and they don't really have any proper answer for KAT.

[Calinks]

All the Rockets strengths are our biggest weaknesses.

[Murphs56]

All the Rockets strengths are our biggest weaknesses.

P & R with Harden and Paul is going to be a nightmare. Add in Capella rim running, it's going to be a short and painful series. I'll be very happy to steal a game.

[FargoWolf]

If Wiggins can play like he did tonight over the course of a playoff series, I could see the Wolves making it interesting. Hopefully tonight is the spark that can ignite the fire in Andrew.

[Killboard]

It wont happen..but Id like to see Wiggins on CP3, Butler locked on Harden, take KAT and have him help with Teague on Ariza let the likes of Ariza, Ryan Anderson/PJ and NeNe beat you with open shots.

It wouldnt be open shots, at least no 3pt shots. They can exploit cuts to the basket over smaller Teague, but Ariza cant really post up to exploit the matchup. If he put the ball in the deck KAT can help, and he wont throw lobs at the same level than Paul or Harden. You really have to find a way to make the other guys put the ball in the floor. I dont care if we win, but we must make the series competitive. Hope Thibs make honors to his pedigree and cames with something flashy.

Id put Taj and his knowledge on Clint Capella and take out the lob. Hes much better guarding the slip than KAT is. If we let Harden or CP3 facilitate with the drive, kick, open 3...we're doomed if theyre draining it...but if we take away their drives and lobs to clint...we can make it interesting.

Capela is a good matchup for Taj. The problem with this probably is remove KAT from the paint. The team must do a very good team job rebounding without him in the Mix, the upside: you free KAT to roam (He must be careful with Anderson though).

[Worm Guts]

If Wiggins can play like he did tonight over the course of a playoff series, I could see the Wolves making it interesting. Hopefully tonight is the spark that can ignite the fire in Andrew.

He played alright, basically hit his shots but he’s capable of more.

[Domejandro]

If Wiggins can play like he did tonight over the course of a playoff series, I could see the Wolves making it interesting. Hopefully tonight is the spark that can ignite the fire in Andrew.

He played alright, basically hit his shots but he’s capable of more.

I kind of disagree, I thought he did an excellent job containting and stunting on defense all night, and made good decision consistently when he had the ball. If he did this every night, I would not complain about him (and probably give him more love).

[Nick K]

I just want to get swept by the Rockets in peace!

F That. We are taking them down.

Yeh....we're taking them down alright! Never been so sure of anything in my life!! Right!

[Worm Guts]

If Wiggins can play like he did tonight over the course of a playoff series, I could see the Wolves making it interesting. Hopefully tonight is the spark that can ignite the fire in Andrew.

He played alright, basically hit his shots but he’s capable of more.

I kind of disagree, I thought he did an excellent job containting and stunting on defense all night, and made good decision consistently when he had the ball. If he did this every night, I would not complain about him (and probably give him more love).

Sure but he really didn’t create any offense, which a max player needs to do.

[Domejandro]

He played alright, basically hit his shots but he’s capable of more.

I kind of disagree, I thought he did an excellent job containting and stunting on defense all night, and made good decision consistently when he had the ball. If he did this every night, I would not complain about him (and probably give him more love).

Sure but he really didn’t create any offense, which a max player needs to do.

I get that, but given our roster make-up, I think it is alright if he doesn’t and sticks in his lane to stay a positive. His little turn-around after the in-bound play was a great move, I’m totally happy with him in those mini roles.

[Nick K]

It's amazing that 47 wins got us the 8th seed. No real separation between 3-9.

Yea I was watching ESPN and Billups, Pierce, and Rose plus the lady host, were talking about how its ridiculous that we have 2 all stars and have to play the last game to get in the playoffs (I do agree with that) but they also said that we really dropped the ball cause they were expeting us to be the 4th seed and now we are lucky to be the 8th (only Jalen Rose thought we would win). That last part was unfair to me because the difference between 3rd seend and 8th is like 1.5 games. They are acting like we have fallen 10 games behind or something. They totally ignored the fact that this is a 46 win squad who could get shut out of the post season.

Absolute valid criticism In my view. I picked us based on talent to win 50-54 games. Considering the amount of horrible losses to lottery teams alone not to mention other low effort performances we had, we should be a 3rd place team. We won due to our talent and despite of our coach. We underachieved. Utah and Denver overachieved. Maybe Portland too. Talk about great coaching just look at POP in SA winning with smoke and mirrors without their best players. Talk about coaching look at Utah who was 10 games under 500 going 32-10 down the stretch. Denver improving as the season went on. N.O. losing Boogie turned into a far better team.

[KGdaBom]

It's amazing that 47 wins got us the 8th seed. No real separation between 3-9.

Yea I was watching ESPN and Billups, Pierce, and Rose plus the lady host, were talking about how its ridiculous that we have 2 all stars and have to play the last game to get in the playoffs (I do agree with that) but they also said that we really dropped the ball cause they were expeting us to be the 4th seed and now we are lucky to be the 8th (only Jalen Rose thought we would win). That last part was unfair to me because the difference between 3rd seend and 8th is like 1.5 games. They are acting like we have fallen 10 games behind or something. They totally ignored the fact that this is a 46 win squad who could get shut out of the post season.

Absolute valid criticism In my view. I picked us based on talent to win 50-54 games. Considering the amount of horrible losses to lottery teams alone not to mention other low effort performances we had, we should be a 3rd place team. We won due to our talent and despite of our coach. We underachieved. Utah and Denver overachieved. Maybe Portland too. Talk about great coaching just look at POP in SA winning with smoke and mirrors without their best players. Talk about coaching look at Utah who was 10 games under 500 going 32-10 down the stretch. Denver improving as the season went on. N.O. losing Boogie turned into a far better team.

This is a IMO ridiculous diatribe to denigrate Thibs. When he had his whole team together the record was one of the absolute best in the NBA. The Whole team is together now and unfortunately we are playing the best team in the league. Hopefully we can upset them.

[Crazy-Canuck]

If Wiggins can play like he did tonight over the course of a playoff series, I could see the Wolves making it interesting. Hopefully tonight is the spark that can ignite the fire in Andrew.

He played alright, basically hit his shots but he’s capable of more.

He is, but I dont think the team needs him to. IMO, his defense is a helluva lot more valuable for this roster than his ability to make shots. However, like Pete said in the broadcast, they cant simply ignore him for a quarter because at some point he might need to make a play.

[Nick K]

Yea I was watching ESPN and Billups, Pierce, and Rose plus the lady host, were talking about how its ridiculous that we have 2 all stars and have to play the last game to get in the playoffs (I do agree with that) but they also said that we really dropped the ball cause they were expeting us to be the 4th seed and now we are lucky to be the 8th (only Jalen Rose thought we would win). That last part was unfair to me because the difference between 3rd seend and 8th is like 1.5 games. They are acting like we have fallen 10 games behind or something. They totally ignored the fact that this is a 46 win squad who could get shut out of the post season.

Absolute valid criticism In my view. I picked us based on talent to win 50-54 games. Considering the amount of horrible losses to lottery teams alone not to mention other low effort performances we had, we should be a 3rd place team. We won due to our talent and despite of our coach. We underachieved. Utah and Denver overachieved. Maybe Portland too. Talk about great coaching just look at POP in SA winning with smoke and mirrors without their best players. Talk about coaching look at Utah who was 10 games under 500 going 32-10 down the stretch. Denver improving as the season went on. N.O. losing Boogie turned into a far better team.

This is a IMO ridiculous diatribe to denigrate Thibs. When he had his whole team together the record was one of the absolute best in the NBA. The Whole team is together now and unfortunately we are playing the best team in the league. Hopefully we can upset them.

KGdabom, I like many of your posts but I'll coin John McEnroe...."You can't be serious". Thibs deserves to be denigrated, criticized and removed from his position of coach at the least, but it won't happen. He has done less with more compared to other teams.

It's a shame Thibs can't get our guys to play with the energy we had tonight, If we brought it throughout the year it would be another story.

[karch34]

Great game! Yeah we couldve finished higher by not having some of the bad losses and had home court, but also a 16 game improvement and a very clutch win. Definitely something we can build on regardless of how we do against the Rockets (hoping CP3 and Harden's playoff hard luck continues of course).

Towns showed a lot and Wiggins wasnt bad. Love Jimmy and Taj. Lot of other positives I'll focus on rather than pine for the 14th pick.

[Klomp]

How about the bench!

Crawford +13
Jones +7
Rose +7
Bjelica +7
Dieng +5

They didn't play major minutes in this game or put up major numbers (12 points on 5-19 FGs), but they were important minutes!