WCF Game 1 5-22-24 Series tied 0-0

[karch34]

3 point loss in uncharted territory for all but Conley. Luka has been to the conference finals and Kyrie has won the finals. Some unexpected good and uneven D and O. It’s one game. Clean up some stuff and adjust.

[Calinks]

Ant needs to drive more

He treid to but they locked the paint down all night, that hurt Towns to. We probably have to go through them anyway because we aren't a team that hits a ton of shots. Our best action inside were the Gobert lobs. That was killing them but you probably cant live off of that. Need a new plan next game, Dallas definitely has the pieces to get past us, I see that now, the question will be if we can make an adjustment to counter their defense. We also need to board HARD.

[TimberKat]

Just first reaction after the game: Twolves should continue to shot 3s. That is what they give you. I feel like they got away from it and try to look for closer shots. Also feel like the 3s weren't falling in the second half. I think the defense is as good as it gets. We just need to score a few more points

[Loaf_of_bread]

Better fundamentals.. and less focus on the 3pt shot plus positioning.

We just seemed to lack overall discipline.

[Note30]

I know this is probably not what's going to happen but they need to clear the paint. Gobert just clogs it way too much. Start Reid. Force empty side action with Jaden and Towns, and have Towns get on the block. Have Jaden cut through and if the options there take it otherwise, baby hook, if it's not there have Reid pass through where Jaden passes through and feed it to him. Have Ant and Mike at the top rotate through to the wing and corner.

[Loaf_of_bread]

Just first reaction after the game: Twolves should continue to shot 3s. That is what they give you. I feel like they got away from it and try to look for closer shots. Also feel like the 3s weren't falling in the second half. I think the defense is as good as it gets. We just need to score a few more points

Idk, we were hunting it, and we lost.

[jpatrick]

I still don’t understand why we weren’t trapping Luka/Kyrie on the pick and roll. Make them pass it to Lively/Gafford out in space. Neither is a great decision maker or ball handler. I know it gets us in scramble mode on defense but that’s what we do best. Giving up those layups and dunks killed us.

I know Washington made his shots against OKC. But if were going to lose, I’d rather it be because he and Jones made jumpers instead of Kyrie/Luka.

[TwolvesFanRome]

Even though we shot well from outside, we played poorly and conceded too many points in the paint. Despite this, we had the chance to win and the match was very close. I believe that beyond the two phenomena that Dallas has, we are the best team in this series.

I believe that already in G2 we need to develop traps for Kyrie and Luka especially on the PnR and let them give the ball to others.

LET'S GO WOLVES!

[minimus]

Conley with a truly awful game, probably should have given Anderson more minutes tonight.

Morris?

[minimus]

Should they switch: Edwards on Luka, McDaniels on Kyrie?

[shangrila]

Should they switch: Edwards on Luka, McDaniels on Kyrie?

That's an interesting thought and probably doesn't hurt to try.

Depends on what's more taxing to guard; Kyrie's quickness or Luka's strength

[UglyBugBall]

I still don’t understand why we weren’t trapping Luka/Kyrie on the pick and roll. Make them pass it to Lively/Gafford out in space. Neither is a great decision maker or ball handler. I know it gets us in scramble mode on defense but that’s what we do best. Giving up those layups and dunks killed us.

I know Washington made his shots against OKC. But if were going to lose, I’d rather it be because he and Jones made jumpers instead of Kyrie/Luka.

Lively is an excellent decision maker and passer. Teams have blitzed them and Lively is really good at making the followup play. Gafford, not so much, because he only sees the basket. Lively sees the floor.

[UglyBugBall]

I was prepared to drop a game or 2 in this series because Dallas shot the lights out that night.
To blow the first one in a game where they made only 6/24 has me greatly disturbed.

Since the deadline Dallas doesn't rely on shooting to win games. We attack the boards and play physical defense, and then let Lukai close it out if it's close. If I'm Minesota, I would not have Edwards on Kai though. I'd put him on Luka, because he plays a much slower game and won't tire him out the same way Kai will. He's also a better physical matchup. Of course, if he gets torched you can always change it.

[UglyBugBall]

We can not underestimate Luka and Kyrie.

The bigger issue is that a lot of Wolves fans underestimated our front court and PJ/DJJ. I've seen so many guys here saying PJs too slow for Edwards, DJJ too thin. Rudy & KAT are all-stars, Lively & Gafford do not. The reality is, those 4 guys on the Mavs bludgeon teams on defense and the boards on a nighty basis. MIN has the tools to counter, but they gotta play tougher than they did last night. Rudy/KAT have to significantly outplay Lively/Gafford to make this a series. They have the awards to suggest they can do it, now it's down to execution.

[UglyBugBall]

Their centers are 9/13

At least that's worse than the 30 straight Gafford gave us earlier this year. Mavericks centers will always be uber efficient. But you can't also have them have similar volume of rebounds and points as Rudy/Kat.

[UglyBugBall]

They’re going to have to figure out the PnR defense going forward.

Yep. I see now why some are bullish on Dallas, they do offer us some problems, particularly with our current playstyle. Again, marvelous job locking down the paint. Our best attack has been feeding Rudy on open looks. We aren't getting any post ups or drives.

As a Mavs fans, I can say that we are an elite paint defense. But we sell out on the 3 to pack the paint. There's one big problem with Minesota's lineup that plays into Dallas' hand; they have two non shooting threats in Gobert and Kyle. Dallas defense is predicated on ignoring the non scoring perimeter threats to pack the paint. At least Gobert keeps our centers busy, but I do not think you can play Kyle in a series against us. This is the exact same way we beat OKC (completely ignoring Giddy) and the Clippers (Westbrook/Coffee). Kyle played pretty good today and it still wasn't enough. Do you guys have someone else that could space the floor better to play instead of Kyle?

[Colbinii]

I know this is probably not what's going to happen but they need to clear the paint. Gobert just clogs it way too much. Start Reid. Force empty side action with Jaden and Towns, and have Towns get on the block. Have Jaden cut through and if the options there take it otherwise, baby hook, if it's not there have Reid pass through where Jaden passes through and feed it to him. Have Ant and Mike at the top rotate through to the wing and corner.

LOL.

We outscored Dallas by 10 in Gobert's minutes and were outscored by 13 in the 10 minutes Gobert sat.

We would get absolutely shilled if Gobert played anything less than 35 minutes.

Do you guys watch the games?

[KATKlownFeet]

Relax boys....we have this!

No, we don't!

[KATKlownFeet]

I wish we had benched NAW. He was getting cooked by Kyrie and had no offensive game. I don't get Finch not playing Monte Morris as he played well for Connelly in the past. He's a better ballhandler and facilitator than NAW, has a better outside shot and couldn't have defended worse than NAW. I don't wish an injury on any TWolf, but when NAW rolled his ankle, I thought that this might get Monte into the game and be a blessing in disguise.

[KATKlownFeet]

Missed free throws killed us. I was hoping Finch would send KAT to take technical but Conley took it and missed it. Conley missed 3 free throws, one of which was intentional and NAZ missed two. Rudy missed a couple, but you expect that with him, but not multiple misses from Conley and Naz. In a tight game, each missed free throw can make the difference