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Man, what a team. I said it to my girlfriend after game 3--this is the best Timberwolves team we have ever had [I love you 2004 KG and co].

We lost last year to Denver in 5, with Anthony Edwards leaving game 5 in disgust, throwing/kicking the chair, and really that moment captured the 2022-2023 season as a whole for the Timberwolves. The Wolves are back with a vengeance, we are healthy and we have some advantages over Denver.

1) Depth

Our bench has a lot of pieces, with both NAW and Naz leading the way. Look for SlowMo to get some of the Jokic minutes as he did an admirable job on March 29th against him. This could be a Monte Morris series, playing his old team and giving us an offensive boost off our bench to keep pace with Denver's offense. There are a lot of players Monte Morris can "hide" on defensively, from Peyton/Braun/KCP/Jackson all mediocre offensive talents at best.

2) Lack of Rim Protection

ANT MAN put up 31/5/5 last year against Denver's poultry defensive back-line. He had just 8 turnovers in the entire series [compared to 26 Assists] to go along with 9 steals and 10 blocks. He is going to fill up the box-score but, more importantly, it is going to translate to winning. Small sample size alert, but last year Edwards had a +30 Net On/Off in the series, where we played Denver even when he was on the court, but we were outscored by an incredible amount when he sat.

This last point re-iterates how valuable our bench is.

3) Karl-Anthony Towns

Simply put, man needs to play like he did for 75% of the Phoenix Series compared to the foul-trouble, 25%. He can be so skilled offensively when he is playing within the offense. I like to think of him when he is at his best as a 7' Mike Conley--Lights out shooting, ability to drive and penetrate but not overzealous, a true connector offensively but also abusing his size downlow and scoring/playmaking when ANT receives a wall of defenders.

This is really going to be a crucial series for Towns since he will propel us to outscore Denver's talented offense when on the court but could also damage our offense when resting on the bench.

Thank you for opening this up. I planned to do the same, since we're looking at roughly a week off until we play again. We will return to individual game threads once we get a day or two out from the series, I'm guessing.

Klomp wrote:Thank you for opening this up. I planned to do the same, since we're looking at roughly a week off until we play again. We will return to individual game threads once we get a day or two out from the series, I'm guessing.

I don't make these threads and almost reached out to you but I had a lot on my mind

Another big sticking point is Jamal Murray's calf. Calf injuries, as we all know with Towns last year, can be a long lasting injury. There is a chance he doesn't even play against LAL tonight, which gives LAL another chance to extend the series.

If Jamal isn't 100%, I see little to no chance of Denver beating us.

Colbinii wrote:Another big sticking point is Jamal Murray's calf. Calf injuries, as we all know with Towns last year, can be a long lasting injury. There is a chance he doesn't even play against LAL tonight, which gives LAL another chance to extend the series.

If Jamal isn't 100%, I see little to no chance of Denver beating us.

I'm glad you looked at the multiple layers of what it could mean. It's not just about whether he'll be healthy for our series, but how a potential absence affects their current series. Murray is arguably the biggest difference-maker for Denver. I think he's a big part of what makes Jokic the weapon he is.

With @PAOnTheMic on KFAN, here are some quotes from Micah Nori on Chris Finch:

"One thing about Finchy, he's as tough as they come. He will find any way he possibly can to be out there in any shape or fashion. Thankfully, it wasn't his mind, (Nori said while laughing); it wasn't a head injury; obviously, legs are fixable. He's still just as sharp and is able to do what he needs to do to put us in position to be successful"

Nori on his altered role with Finch injured:

"I hope that [Finch] is able to go about in a normal way, whether he has a leg brace or something, so he can do what he needs to do. A worst-case scenario that I need to be prepared for is that he would have to sit maybe behind the bench with his leg, crutches, or whatever. Essentially, he would be the maestro pulling the puppet strings, and I would be Pinocchio, the frontman, but he would tell me what to do and what to say. Unless there comes a time when I act like I don't hear him and I want to try something (Nori let out a cackle after saying that) ... If you see me standing at midcourt for an elongated period of time, that means that I'm in trouble and I'm trying to get out of earshot from him."

Give ‘em hell, Minnesota. This is the unofficial Conference Final.

This is the series for Karl to shine, he always plays up against Jokic and defends him fairly well. If he is gonna get real playoff redemption on the wolves it’s now or never!

BlacJacMac wrote:

Read on Twitter

Hopefully he can still coach up to his usual standards. This is one nasty injury.

KGdaBom wrote:

BlacJacMac wrote:

Read on Twitter

Hopefully he can still coach up to his usual standards. This is one nasty injury.

I think he'll be fine, there's a full week, he just needs to be able to have it in a boot right?

Note30 wrote:

KGdaBom wrote:

BlacJacMac wrote:

Read on Twitter

Hopefully he can still coach up to his usual standards. This is one nasty injury.

I think he'll be fine, there's a full week, he just needs to be able to have it in a boot right?

True, but under normal circumstances he would be doing some serious coaching the entire week leading up to the next series.

KGdaBom wrote:

Note30 wrote:

KGdaBom wrote:Hopefully he can still coach up to his usual standards. This is one nasty injury.

I think he'll be fine, there's a full week, he just needs to be able to have it in a boot right?

True, but under normal circumstances he would be doing some serious coaching the entire week leading up to the next series.

Coach Finch almost certainly will have to get surgery immediately, which will lead to him being unable to do any walking (even supported) for a couple weeks. It’s a pretty gnarly injury, can’t really hold off on surgery, or there’s a risk of more permanent damage.

Note30 wrote:

KGdaBom wrote:

BlacJacMac wrote:

Read on Twitter

Hopefully he can still coach up to his usual standards. This is one nasty injury.

I think he'll be fine, there's a full week, he just needs to be able to have it in a boot right?

His knee in a boot?

BlacJacMac wrote:

Note30 wrote:

KGdaBom wrote:Hopefully he can still coach up to his usual standards. This is one nasty injury.

I think he'll be fine, there's a full week, he just needs to be able to have it in a boot right?

His knee in a boot?

I have those in black and hot pink... Very supportive

I know Denver is clearly the better team, but if the Lakers manage to pull this off, you're going to have to overcome like a 40 free throw difference every game. It'll be like game 4 on steroids

I would like to see the lakers having a game 6 at LA. I don’t like them but the more they give trouble to Denver the better for us.

guest81 wrote:I know Denver is clearly the better team, but if the Lakers manage to pull this off, you're going to have to overcome like a 40 free throw difference every game. It'll be like game 4 on steroids

After watching the Twolves, both teams looks like stuck in mud. LAL had their chances and Davis play 1/2 the game with one arm. All tie with 3 min to go

Denver is absolutely beatable

OK, bring it on DEN. Wolves better get to DEN early. Lakers were so much closer than the 4-1 record.