Game 45: Denver Nuggets (28-16) @ Minnesota Timberwolves (23-21)

[TimberKat]

I am calling this a win with Ant hitting that logo 3. Great game, Miller time.

[guest81]

Doesn't seem possible that Ant is already ahead of kat in career 3s

[winforlose]

Looks like white flag might have waived for Denver. Gonna see the garbage time lineup. Miller and Clark might even score.

Let’s try his again. Another timeout by Denver, now the white flag is waived and garbage time begins

[_AIJ_]

Flu game Ant!

[_AIJ_]

Been a while since the Wolves had a blowout win

[shrink]

Nice that Finch kept Conley’s minutes down to 23.

[winforlose]

It’s kinda funny, hungry Wolves get to devour some Nuggets, and thanks to garbage time Wolves fans get free chicken.

[Dalvin]

Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrooooooooo!!!!!! A dominant win against Denver! They just beat two teams ahead of them in the standings

[winforlose]

Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrooooooooo!!!!!! A dominant win against Denver! They just beat two teams ahead of them in the standings

Wire to wire, free chicken, ends with Luka. Cannot get more dominant.

[winforlose]

Been a while since the Wolves had a blowout win

Two words… free chicken!!!!

[shrink]

133 is the second most points we scored this year

We had 135 against CHI early on - Nov 7

[Guest84]

It almost feels like Denver just concedes that the wolves are a bad matchup for them. Once they get down they just give up and it seems weird that they do it so often.

[wolves_89]

A few thoughts from a great Wolves game:
- Dillingham needs to take the 3 when he's got space, there were 4-5 times I thought he created good separatation but didn't shoot.
- Randle needs to cut down on the dribbling turnovers (and breaking out of his shooting slump would be good too).
- Re-signing NAW is going to be important for Jaden since it let's him spend more time defending off ball. McDaniels rebounding has been great lately and I think a lot of that is due to him not being 20 feet from the basket when a shot goes up.
- Mike hitting open looks makes a huge difference for the offense.

[Domejandro]

You know it’s a blowout when AIJ has nothing but praise.

Great win, officially seventh in the Western Conference!

[Domejandro]

I also merged the two threads. Might make the flow of the thread a bit funky, but should be fine!

[TimberKat]

This game is the blueprint for how we should play activate Gobert early, move the ball, Dilly is the new microwave and turnover less than your opponent. Good things and personal stats will follow.

[shangrila]

It almost feels like Denver just concedes that the wolves are a bad matchup for them. Once they get down they just give up and it seems weird that they do it so often.

It's ironic, given that this is also the story that goes around when the Lakers play Denver.

I do think we've cracked whatever code Denver has though.

[younggunsmn]

Have to give some credit to the coaching staff, the offense looked worlds better after a couple of days to practice at home with better spacing and much more purposeful and intelligent ball and player movement.

In the first quarter Rudy was catching the ball in the middle of the floor and moving it to the weak side very quickly when Ant got double teamed and that absolutely shredded the Denver defense.
Good schematic adjustment by the coaches and executed well by Rudy.
His teammates did him bad a few times dropping him live grenades after stalled drives but he did very well passing and catching the ball overall.

Rudy catching the ball up high and moving it right away has been something he has struggled with mightily when he has been bad this season and this was a great game for him from an effort and team basketball perspective.

Is the Jaden McDaniels we have been seeing for the past 6 weeks or so the real deal?
Cuz I really like that player.

The offense got rolling so well that Denver eventually just threw their hands up and said "We'll just leave Julius Randle wide open every possession". Which has been a pretty good strategy lately.
Aaron Gordon clearly not playing at his usual level after the injury and they aren't the same team defensively without him.
I thought maybe we would put Randle on Joker and let Rudy roam, but with Denver's small starting lineup it made that hard to do.
Good decision to just put Rudy on Joker and make him work to get his.
Joker this year just on a whole nother level offensively, even for him.
Better to let him get his and not let him elevate lesser teammates by giving them wide open looks off of double teams.
Joker made a lot of "business decisions" defensively in this game, didn't even challenge the shot several times in transition.

Rob had some times where he looked really good and he used his speed and quickness to get his hands in the passing lanes and break some stuff up defensively. Got to cut down on the turnovers and take better care of the ball better.
Kid can play though and has a future in this league.

And Naz Reid did Naz Reid things.

Shout out to a much maligned coaching staff on this performance.
More of this team going forward please and less of the team where ANT and Julius are going 1 on 3 for half the game.

Massive fail on the announcers for not making one single Nuggets pun after Wolves fans won free chicken twice.

[winforlose]

Have to give some credit to the coaching staff, the offense looked worlds better after a couple of days to practice at home with better spacing and much more purposeful and intelligent ball and player movement.

In the first quarter Rudy was catching the ball in the middle of the floor and moving it to the weak side very quickly when Ant got double teamed and that absolutely shredded the Denver defense.
Good schematic adjustment by the coaches and executed well by Rudy.
His teammates did him bad a few times dropping him live grenades after stalled drives but he did very well passing and catching the ball overall.

Rudy catching the ball up high and moving it right away has been something he has struggled with mightily when he has been bad this season and this was a great game from him from an effort and team basketball perspective.

Is the Jaden McDaniels we have been seeing for the past 6 weeks or so the real deal?
Cuz I really like that player.

The offense got rolling so well that Denver eventually just threw their hands up and said "We'll just leave Julius Randle wide open every possession". Which has been a pretty good strategy lately.
Aaron Gordon clearly not playing at his usual level after the injury and they aren't the same team defensively without him.
I thought maybe we would put Randle on Joker and let Rudy roam, but with Denver's small starting lineup it made that hard to do.
Good decision to just put Rudy on Joker and make him work to get his.
Joker this year just on a whole nother level offensively, even for him.
Better to let him get his and not let him elevate lesser teammates by giving them wide open looks off of double teams.

Rob had some times where he looked really good and he used his speed and quickness to get his hands in the passing lanes and break some stuff up defensively. Got to cut down on the turnovers and take better care of the ball better.
Kid can play though and has a future in this league.

And Naz Reid did Naz Reid things.

Shout out to a much maligned coaching staff on this performance.
More of this team going forward please and less of the team where ANT and Julius are going 1 on 3 for half the game.

Massive fail on the announcers for not making one single Nuggets pun after Wolves fans won free chicken twice.

We should have seen more Minott in the 2nd half, Dilly should not have subbed out in the 4th for 4 minutes before garbage time. I would have liked Miller to have had the 2 minutes before the Nuggets pulled their starters. Beyond that, I liked the coaching performance. Timely timeouts, mostly good rotations, (didn’t like the lineup to start the 2nd,) and no major mistakes like a bad timeout or benching the hot hand.

The difference was the Wolves being aggressive on defense (attacking the passing lanes,) and getting out in transition. Also being aggressive on the boards and getting 2nd chance points.

[younggunsmn]

Even 2 for 2 on coaches challenges on plays that mattered.
Definitely a game the coaches will put on their reels if they are ever looking for work again.