Game 2 | MIA @ MIN

[TimberKat]

I thought about writing up my thoughts of this game in article format.

Wolves Outsmart Heat in a Display of Strategic Prowess: A Deep Dive into the October 28 Faceoff

I normally don't have the attention span to read novels like this one, but it was well written and I made it almost all the way through. Thanks.

Watched the game very late last night. Great writing up but doesn't agree with "there were offensive instances, like at 10:20 in Q1, where his paint presence hindered the offensive flow, forcing NAW into a challenging floater." I think Gobert had the best game as a Twolves last night. He was great on offense too. What about the times Conley pass to Gobert for dunks? What about he seal Conley's defender for a easy layup, pass out to corner 3pt shooter, a Euro step layup, a short float jumper (or whatever you want to call it) shot, seal and ran to the top to screen on another play? On defense, he now mix in drops but also chase guys out to perimeter. Didn't block any shots but altered a few. I won't call it play within himself either but we are utilizing him in more situations and he is getting comfortable at it. So, I have zero problem with Gobert in the middle. Not every play is going to work perfectly. We also ran some 5 outs too.

It is great to see Ant trying to make adjustments to the team game (not adjustments to just Gobert), the timing of his passes was off early in the game but got better. Mid-range is improving. He will learn to use picks better like Conley.

We need to have Milton just look for his shots, he can't create separation from dribble. It's not the same Milton I see on highlights (which is also why I hate watch highlights to evaluate a player). Maybe run some pick and roll with Gobert. What is the 3pt shooting pct of Milton, NAW, and Brown? It's not just bad shot selections. Those guys need to improve.

Good to see Towns do more hovering around the elbow. There is no reason why he can't play like KA. Teams are taking away his standing at top of 3pt line then drive to the basket play. He needs to mix in other stuff.

Good game, we traded punches with Heat and eventually was able to knock them out.

[TimberKat]

KAT for Harden. Interesting. I'm not saying I'd do it, but I'd only do it if Harden was extended at a reasonable rate say $30 million per year for the next 3 years.

Harden (plus Simmons and Kyrie) were all given big contracts, all chose to miss games for personal reasons, and all demanded trades. I don’t want any of them anywhere near Ant, who will soon have enough player empowerment to force a trade if he wants.

Someone posted this elsewhere, and I found it educational. It doesn’t deserve to be posted in more than a game thread, but since Simmons (and Harden, lately) trades keep popping up for the last couple years, I thought I’d bring it over.

Watch on YouTube

Good post, I didn't know Rivers was so open about those two but should expect that once he was fired. My initial thought on the Towns for Harden trade was more along the line of it Towns/Gobert doesn't work out (which I still expect it should work), use Harden to get out of Towns' supermax. Obviously, if Harden likes the night clubs in Minneapolis and willing to take a 30mil contract to stay and be nice we take it. If not we either do a sign and trade or use the money to sign KA/Conley. We can see how important they were in game 2.

[Dalvin]

I'm enjoying the half court D. If this keeps up throughout the season and they clinch a playoff spot. That's a really good thing. Since everything bogs down in the playoffs and that D will definite help them there. Defense really wins championships.

[Klomp]

With some of his passes today maybe our future starting pg is Ant?

That's the idea. Learn from Mike, limit TO and there is no reason Ant can not be a great PG.

Read on Twitter

Full tweet:
Noticed Mike Conley sprint over to Ant and bear hug him after this play. Asked Conley about it after the game.

“I called him a point guard. I'm like, 'Man, what are you doing? Are you taking my job?' Because he just kind of manipulated the play from the beginning and it's stuff we've been talking about a lot over the summer, preseason, last game, pregame and he finally kind of just, you know, took it himself and said, 'Hey I got it and we're gonna run this play' and it ended up with Rudy getting the eurostep finish. So I was really happy for him and I just wanted to show him that that didn't go unnoticed, especially from me.”

[Murphs56]

So next we have the Hawks on the road but they are on a back to back. If we have Jaden and the Hawks continue to struggle, that could be another great defensive game.

I was thinking the same thing. I know that Jaden was close to returning for the Heat game, but maybe they sat him to be extra careful after bring JMac back from a calf injury too early, and wanting Jaden 100% to guard Trae?

The Hawks are absolutely crushing the Bucks lol. Looks like the Hawks are back.

[Calinks]

So next we have the Hawks on the road but they are on a back to back. If we have Jaden and the Hawks continue to struggle, that could be another great defensive game.

I was thinking the same thing. I know that Jaden was close to returning for the Heat game, but maybe they sat him to be extra careful after bring JMac back from a calf injury too early, and wanting Jaden 100% to guard Trae?

The Hawks are absolutely crushing the Bucks lol. Looks like the Hawks are back.

Will be a big win tomorrow if we pull it off. Erase that Raptors loss.

[Murphs56]

I was thinking the same thing. I know that Jaden was close to returning for the Heat game, but maybe they sat him to be extra careful after bring JMac back from a calf injury too early, and wanting Jaden 100% to guard Trae?

The Hawks are absolutely crushing the Bucks lol. Looks like the Hawks are back.

Will be a big win tomorrow if we pull it off. Erase that Raptors loss.

The entire Hawks team played lights out. 8 players scored in double digits. 2 nights in a row of that would be wild.