Warriors vs Timberwolves - Game 1

[Onus]

Let's go get game 1. Transfer that game 7 energy into game 1 and keep the momentum going.

[Jester_]

the lack of rest is really gonna hurt us... would have been nice to have that last series wrapped up in 5-6

but oh well.

Podz will be key to the series... they don't have the perimeter defense that Houston does, so they'll be busy with jimmy and steph

we need podz to have a big series or we lose this imo

[heyrayray]

Need to score in this series. This Minny team is loaded with offensive weapons

[Onus]

the lack of rest is really gonna hurt us... would have been nice to have that last series wrapped up in 5-6

but oh well.

Podz will be key to the series... they don't have the perimeter defense that Houston does, so they'll be busy with jimmy and steph

we need podz to have a big series or we lose this imo

Podz, Buddy, Moody need to be able to hit shots. Maybe Post as well.

[HiRez]

the lack of rest is really gonna hurt us... would have been nice to have that last series wrapped up in 5-6

but oh well.

Podz will be key to the series... they don't have the perimeter defense that Houston does, so they'll be busy with jimmy and steph

we need podz to have a big series or we lose this imo

Podz, Buddy, Moody need to be able to hit shots. Maybe Post as well.

If you want to get Rudy out of the paint, Post is the ideal guy to do it. But only if he makes his shots of course, otherwise Rudy just stays home, blocks off any drives, and gets fairly easy buckets on the other end. But if Post is hot, I'll take trading 3s for 2s all day long.

Santos could actually be useful for some stints as well, not only can he hit 3s but he has the size and energy to bother guys like Randle, Reid, and McDaniels.

As always though, the biggest issue is figuring out how to spring Steph for some shots. Having a lot of possessions ending in late shot clock Draymond 3s is no bueno.

Second biggest issue is limiting turnovers, can't afford them vs. this Wolves team. They did a good job there against Houston in game 7 but really need to value every possession. None of this stepping out of bounds, 8-second violation, lazy one-handed pass nonsense, that's all preventable.

GP2 listed as GTD.

[Impuniti]

the lack of rest is really gonna hurt us... would have been nice to have that last series wrapped up in 5-6

but oh well.

Podz will be key to the series... they don't have the perimeter defense that Houston does, so they'll be busy with jimmy and steph

we need podz to have a big series or we lose this imo

Podz, Buddy, Moody need to be able to hit shots. Maybe Post as well.

If you want to get Rudy out of the paint, Post is the ideal guy to do it. But only if he makes his shots of course, otherwise Rudy just stays home, blocks off any drives, and gets fairly easy buckets on the other end. But if Post is hot, I'll take trading 3s for 2s all day long.

Santos could actually be useful for some stints as well, not only can he hit 3s but he has the size and energy to bother guys like Randle, Reid, and McDaniels.

As always though, the biggest issue is figuring out how to spring Steph for some shots. Having a lot of possessions ending in late shot clock Draymond 3s is no bueno.

Second biggest issue is limiting turnovers, can't afford them vs. this Wolves team. They did a good job there against Houston in game 7 but really need to value every possession. None of this stepping out of bounds, 8-second violation, lazy one-handed pass nonsense, that's all preventable.

GP2 listed as GTD.

How is Steph going to be, that's the question.

And is Himmy's back going to be back to normal soon enough? He got hurt game 2, and Kerr said if it was the regular season he would have been rested for 1-2 weeks. Well today marks nearly two weeks.


Need some of these injuries to get better otherwise this series is a wrap, esp for the main two guys. Any doctors in here able to give some better insights?

[Old_Blue]

It could go either way - depending on Draymond. He piled on so many techs and flagrants against Houston that he's now hanging by a thread. All it'll take is for Gobert to goad him just a little bit and for Draymond to have another psychotic episode and the Dubs could find themselves in a 3 games to 1 hole. Somewhere there must be a Heisenberg who could concoct a drug that would allow Draymond to channel his rage for good and not evil.

[Coxy]

Will be interesting to see how Kerr try's to expose Gobert to ouir advantage.

Will also be interesting to see if we can slow down Edwards, if at all. He's on another level right now.

[Coxy]

Steph didn;t look himself for a lot of that last series. The thumb thing must be an issue, but he also looked his age a lot.

Same with Jimmy, he looked very much his age after the fall he had.

Chuck them in the cryo chamber.

[Samurai]

If you want to get Rudy out of the paint, Post is the ideal guy to do it. But only if he makes his shots of course, otherwise Rudy just stays home, blocks off any drives, and gets fairly easy buckets on the other end. But if Post is hot, I'll take trading 3s for 2s all day long.
.

Wolves could counter this just by putting Rudy on Green. Like most defenders, sag off of Draymond, daring him to make 3's and stay near the basket as much as possible. Even if Dray hits one or two, the more he shoots from deep will (statistically) result in more misses for us. We will need to get Rudy on switches and use our smaller, quicker players to beat him off the dribble. Sure, he can still block a layup with his length, but putting him on an island and constantly run after quicker players could also take a toll on his endurance as well.

[Onus]

If you want to get Rudy out of the paint, Post is the ideal guy to do it. But only if he makes his shots of course, otherwise Rudy just stays home, blocks off any drives, and gets fairly easy buckets on the other end. But if Post is hot, I'll take trading 3s for 2s all day long.
.

Wolves could counter this just by putting Rudy on Green. Like most defenders, sag off of Draymond, daring him to make 3's and stay near the basket as much as possible. Even if Dray hits one or two, the more he shoots from deep will (statistically) result in more misses for us. We will need to get Rudy on switches and use our smaller, quicker players to beat him off the dribble. Sure, he can still block a layup with his length, but putting him on an island and constantly run after quicker players could also take a toll on his endurance as well.

More likely they put Gobert on Podz or Moody, like what the rockets did with Sengun.

[AirP.]

What's interesting is when Butler tore his meniscus during the season he had them 3rd in the West after missing the playoffs 14 straight years, he chose to have his meniscus removed so he could get back to the team before the season was over vs having it repaired and being done for the season. This is the main reason Butler has had knee issues. They'll never mention that. BTW, they made the playoffs on the last day of the season beating Denver on the road and snapping that 14 years drought.

Read on Twitter

[Onus]

What's interesting is when Butler tore his meniscus during the season he had them 3rd in the West after missing the playoffs 14 straight years, he chose to have his meniscus removed so he could get back to the team before the season was over vs having it repaired and being done for the season. This is the main reason Butler has had knee issues. They'll never mention that. BTW, they made the playoffs on the last day of the season beating Denver on the road and snapping that 14 years drought.

Read on Twitter

I’m curious do you think Jimmy was ever a top 10 player for a season? And if so which season(s)?

[Samurai]

McDaniels guarding Curry will be a big factor. Being 6-9 will make it tough for Curry to get his shot off, but his 7-foot wingspan can also disrupt Curry's dribbling and tip his passes, something Curry struggled with during the first 6 games against Houston. If McDaniels can keep Curry from getting comfortable, Kerr needs to devise the right switches to get Curry on a more favorable matchup.

Oh, and we should also just ask Buddy to chip in with another 33 points and smother Edwards with the same intensity he had on VanVleet in game 7; that might be helpful as well!

[Grumpy Heat Fan]

NBA really should think about adding a few extra days inbetween series. Why do they rush this? add a week to the playoff schedule so you can give teams an extra 2-3 days inbetween series

[thunderdunk]

NBA really should think about adding a few extra days inbetween series. Why do they rush this? add a week to the playoff schedule so you can give teams an extra 2-3 days inbetween series

Because they don't want the season to end in July... The schedule favors teams that win their series quickly, like it should.

[AirP.]

What's interesting is when Butler tore his meniscus during the season he had them 3rd in the West after missing the playoffs 14 straight years, he chose to have his meniscus removed so he could get back to the team before the season was over vs having it repaired and being done for the season. This is the main reason Butler has had knee issues. They'll never mention that. BTW, they made the playoffs on the last day of the season beating Denver on the road and snapping that 14 years drought.

Read on Twitter

I’m curious do you think Jimmy was ever a top 10 player for a season? And if so which season(s)?

For a season, probably not, people care too much about scoring. I do think he's been one of the best team raisers in the NBA. He can do basically anything a team needs him to do outside of jacking up 3s.

With that said, I think there's been a stretch of years that had he went all out he could have been in MVP consideration.

It's interesting to me how little he's interested in scoring during most games; most players want to score if they're playing.

[Jester_]

What's interesting is when Butler tore his meniscus during the season he had them 3rd in the West after missing the playoffs 14 straight years, he chose to have his meniscus removed so he could get back to the team before the season was over vs having it repaired and being done for the season. This is the main reason Butler has had knee issues. They'll never mention that. BTW, they made the playoffs on the last day of the season beating Denver on the road and snapping that 14 years drought.

Read on Twitter

I’m curious do you think Jimmy was ever a top 10 player for a season? And if so which season(s)?

For a season, probably not, people care too much about scoring. I do think he's been one of the best team raisers in the NBA. He can do basically anything a team needs him to do outside of jacking up 3s.

With that said, I think there's been a stretch of years that had he went all out he could have been in MVP consideration.

It's interesting how little he's interested in scoring during the most games, most players want to score if they're playing.

In the last few years, Butler and Jokic have had some of the top calculated ORTG since 2000 for 20 ppg guys.

i think pandemic years he was squarely and solidly a top 10-ish regular season player, and elevated to top 3 in the playoffs

[AirP.]

I’m curious do you think Jimmy was ever a top 10 player for a season? And if so which season(s)?

For a season, probably not, people care too much about scoring. I do think he's been one of the best team raisers in the NBA. He can do basically anything a team needs him to do outside of jacking up 3s.

With that said, I think there's been a stretch of years that had he went all out he could have been in MVP consideration.

It's interesting how little he's interested in scoring during the most games, most players want to score if they're playing.

In the last few years, Butler and Jokic have had some of the top calculated ORTG since 2000 for 20 ppg guys.

i think pandemic years he was squarely and solidly a top 10-ish regular season player, and elevated to top 3 in the playoffs

He did make All-NBA 2nd team in 2023, 4 All-NBA 3rd teams , 5 All-defensive 2nd teams and got MVP votes 3 different years but most people consider top 10 guys scorers, which Butler "could" do but doesn't really seem interested in doing although he's had a 40 point half.

People don't really value possession players, Butler doesn't really turn over the ball (more shots for his team) while also being one of the top steals leaders (taking away shots from the other team), toss in his ability to get to the line and you have a player who dramatically helps a team win.

[Jester_]

For a season, probably not, people care too much about scoring. I do think he's been one of the best team raisers in the NBA. He can do basically anything a team needs him to do outside of jacking up 3s.

With that said, I think there's been a stretch of years that had he went all out he could have been in MVP consideration.

It's interesting how little he's interested in scoring during the most games, most players want to score if they're playing.

In the last few years, Butler and Jokic have had some of the top calculated ORTG since 2000 for 20 ppg guys.

i think pandemic years he was squarely and solidly a top 10-ish regular season player, and elevated to top 3 in the playoffs

He did make All-NBA 2nd team in 2023, 4 All-NBA 3rd teams , 5 All-defensive 2nd teams and got MVP votes 3 different years but most people consider top 10 guys scorers, which Butler "could" do but doesn't really seem interested in doing although he's had a 40 point half.

People don't really value possession players, Butler doesn't really turn over the ball (more shots for his team) while also being one of the top steals leaders (taking away shots from the other team), toss in his ability to get to the line and you have a player who dramatically helps a team win.

yeah there were people here who thought he wasn't even an upgrade on wiggins so.....