WCF Game 3, 5/24: OKC @ Timberwolves, 7:30 PM CST

[Loaf_of_bread]

I hope I'm wrong, but jaylen's body language to me showed he wasn't having it at the end of the game..

That dude is dialed, and sadly, I want to see him succeed on another team..

[KGdaBom]

I'm disappointed we gave up 100.

Can't agree more. How did we give up 100+ points to a bunch of subs

We could have slowed it down and kept them under. But I console myself with the fact that we dropped 143 on this historic OKC defense.

Scoring 143 takes a little sting off of the surrendering over 100.

[KGdaBom]

And my guy Luka Garza 3 of 3 7 pts in 5 minutes! The guy's a star!
Remember he was consensus National College Player of the Year in 20-21.

He lacks a bit on defense but the guy has game. Go Luka!

He's an incredible offensive talent. I think he should get minutes.

[Nick K]

Jaylen Clark boxes out better than any other Wolf.

Yes he does. The other guys don't know what a box out is, except for Ant. Especially Rudy.

[Loaf_of_bread]

Jaylen Clark boxes out better than any other Wolf.

Yes he does. The other guys don't know what a box out is, except for Ant. Especially Rudy.

Yes, we suck at boxing out.. I'm short, but could outrebound anyone on the team easy. Bunch of pussys we have when it comes to rebounding

[younggunsmn]

Watch on YouTube

Lol. Without my free throws I'm Bronny James.

The guy who makes these is funny as hell.

[Slim Tubby]

Great game, gentlemen...you've proven to yourselves that it can be done. One game at a time, boys.

And more TSJ, please.

Sent from my N152DL using RealGM mobile app

[younggunsmn]

Watch on YouTube

[Loaf_of_bread]

Jaylen Clark boxes out better than any other Wolf.

Yes he does. The other guys don't know what a box out is, except for Ant. Especially Rudy.

Yes, we suck at boxing out.. I'm short, but could outrebound anyone on the team easy. Bunch of pussys we have when it comes to rebounding.

I've been bitching about our crap rebounding all year.

[Domejandro]

Great performance from your team. I said many times on the general board and Thunder board that it wasn't over. OKC was terrible on the road during all playoffs so I think OKC in 7 or Wolves in 6 are the two most likely scenarios. Gonna be a long series.

For sure, it’s a huge case of “Will Minnesota take care of the basketball?”

When Minnesota isn’t turnover prone, they are arguably the best team in basketball, but it’s a HUGE problem in most games, especially when Mike Conley has to sit. With OKC being the best ball-pressure team in the NBA, it’s hard to see Minnesota winning four, but that’s the blueprint for it happening.

[Loaf_of_bread]

Julius was fantastic tonight. We needed it, and will need it Monday..

[FrenchMinnyFan]

When we focus on the ball and not turn it over, we are the best team in NBA. Tonight it was a huge effort from the team until we got a large margin. I also see Mike speaking much more on the field than he usually do, showing spot to others where to pass the ball. We can maintain this, we have a chance as our defense will always be good. I also like tonight the way we guard SGA putting many different players on him. This way Jaden can stay out of foul trouble. But OKC will come back hungry at game 4, nothing done yet.

[Dalvin]

Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrooooooooooooo!!!!! Nice response at home! What a beatdown! Do this 3 more times on the Thunder please.

[younggunsmn]

Watch on YouTube

(Satire AI video)

[younggunsmn]

Watch on YouTube

[younggunsmn]

Watch on YouTube

I like the quote at the very end when Finch was asked about the more aggressive defense tonight and abandoning all the zone looks from games 1 and 2.
"Sometimes you just gotta throw your fastball"

[Basti]

What a great bounce back game. Now focus on the next one and keep the energy up to not let them get comfortable.

[younggunsmn]

Wow did not expect that.
That's what you call peak performance.
This is what I meant when I said the Wolves have the higher ceiling but the Thunder have the lower floor.

We won the extra possession battle (Off reb and turnovers) by 10 tonight.
I think we will win every game we win that battle and it will be hard to win the games we don't.

Only had 8 turnovers before garbage time. That's ideal.
Our shots were falling and theirs weren't but I think we win by 20 even with the shooting normalized.

Bench players played smarter and more within themselves.
TJ Shannon was amazing and he better get minutes going forward and big minutes next year.
That aggressive and-one he got when he smashed J-Will in the face with his elbow was just filthy.
If he can shoot consistently he can be really good as early as next season.
Has great length and great effort defensively too.
Gave Chet big problems in the 2nd quarter.

The aggressive defense was the spark for everything else tonight.
We were much more proactive in anticipating and getting guys off their spots.
The Shai jumpers and Ihart floaters were 2-3 feet deeper and that made all the difference.
We were much smarter about how much space to give them and Rudy in particular was much better about not getting caught in between.
Honestly they probably got 10 cheap points on free throws in the first half or this would have been an even bigger blowout.
It was a good idea to scrap the zone looks.
Legler had a good point on the ESPN postgame about the zone making players less aggressive.

Julius was making big shots but they were really tough shots for the most part.
He was better on defense after a horrible previous 6 quarters.
Zero turnovers was HUGE but all of the traffic he dribbles into makes me constantly nervous.
If we get a whistle like games 1 and 2 that becomes a bad situation.
When most of their hacking, pushing, and grabbing gets called like it did tonight it takes the air out of their defense.

The 20-4 run after they cut it to 22 in the 3rd was huge.

The effort was great tonight.
Mike Conley doesn't show up in the box score much but his smarts and effort on both ends were HUGE tonight.
He only grabbed 3 rebounds but they were super high effort chasing down long rebounds against bigger players.
He's going to be a great coach soon after he retires if he chooses that path.
Ant grabbed 9 rebounds. The guards rebounding all those long missed 3's is super important against a team like OKC.

Naz was much, much better on both ends. Better defense and good rebounding too.

Rudy was a lot better tonight too.
Small things like keeping the ball high in the paint were huge.
Had better spacing on offense too.

We had a good 4th quarter in game 2, maybe some of that good momentum carried over to tonight and we figured a few things out.

[Domejandro]

And my guy Luka Garza 3 of 3 7 pts in 5 minutes! The guy's a star!
Remember he was consensus National College Player of the Year in 20-21.

He lacks a bit on defense but the guy has game. Go Luka!

He's an incredible offensive talent. I think he should get minutes.

Unfortunately, he would look like he is wearing these shoes if he ever ended up switched onto one of OKC's perimeter players.

[KGdaBom]

Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrooooooooooooo!!!!! Nice response at home! What a beatdown! Do this 3 more times on the Thunder please.

The Thunder have been in Dire need of a Beat Down, but I don't think one will be enough for them. 3 more would be just right.