Game 72 : Timberwolves @ Mavericks, 7:30 pm CST

[wolves_89]

The last 3 minutes really didn't go the Wolves way. The Mavs get two layups with literally tenths of a second on the shot clock and hit their open 3s. The Wolves had Nowell's layup roll out, missed an open 3, and Beverley missed the critical first free throw with 6.5 seconds left.

Overall the Wolves didn't really play a great game. They missed a ton of makeable layups and couldn't stop the Doncic/Powell pick and roll. On the plus side, to still have a chance in the last seconds shows that the team can compete against good teams even on off nights.

I do wonder if Finch should just have Towns switch on the pick and roll (rather than try to do drop coverage). Tonight showed that switching couldn't possibly be worse than Towns dropping and getting stuck in no man's land.

[WolfAddict]

Puppies have played 3 healthy teams in the last 11- Philly, Orlando, and Dallas. Guess what — lost them all. Too bad you can’t petition the league to have the opposing teams best player sit out.lol

Back to reality

Were you born a complete prick, or do you have to practice?

I'm gonna go with it's a natural talent.

Only cowards create alts to hide. Weak. As. Piss.

Like I said on the other team has a full squad you never win

And like I said, you're **** weak as piss mate.

[WolfAddict]

Hey you never know maybe the next game the opposing team will have at least one of their two best players out

Hey you never know, you might grow a set of balls and stop being a weak ****...

[winforlose]

Bev shooting 2/10 from field and 3/8 from FT line was costly

This. Even just the FT's.

If he hit even close to league avg we win.

Still, it's such a nice change to be actually competing with top tier teams...

True, but Prince shouldn’t be taking 16 shots and Dlo should know when to move the ball instead of taking 16 when he is ice cold. We had a bunch little plays that could have resulted in points but didn’t, and we only lost by 2. But if you have to pinpoint a single reason why we lost, we let Dallas put the ball in the hands of the guys who were not in rhythm.

[Calinks]

Puppies have played 3 healthy teams in the last 11- Philly, Orlando, and Dallas. Guess what — lost them all. Too bad you can’t petition the league to have the opposing teams best player sit out.lol

Back to reality

Were you born a complete prick, or do you have to practice?

I'm gonna go with it's a natural talent.

Only cowards create alts to hide. Weak. As. Piss.

Don't feed the troll, ignoring him is best thing you can do, he lives off the negativity.

[WolfAddict]

Don't feed the troll, ignoring him is best thing you can do, he lives off the negativity.

True. I was in a smart arse mood so couldn't help myself... Sorry brother - Won't happen again

[Calinks]

The last 3 minutes really didn't go the Wolves way. The Mavs get two layups with literally tenths of a second on the shot clock and hit their open 3s. The Wolves had Nowell's layup roll out, missed an open 3, and Beverley missed the critical first free throw with 6.5 seconds left.

Overall the Wolves didn't really play a great game. They missed a ton of makeable layups and couldn't stop the Doncic/Powell pick and roll. On the plus side, to still have a chance in the last seconds shows that the team can compete against good teams even on off nights.

I do wonder if Finch should just have Towns switch on the pick and roll (rather than try to do drop coverage). Tonight showed that switching couldn't possibly be worse than Towns dropping and getting stuck in no man's land.

Dallas has been insanely clutch this year. They are no push overs in pressure situations, they executed very well when they needed to. We fought back and I loved seeing that but we need another layer of maturity and poise. Again, there were possesions early where KAT and Ant were complaining about calls and Dallas ran back and got easy buckets. You cannot do that against teams at this level, we have to be better at all the little things. Dallas was tonight and they got the W. We will get destroyed in the playoffs if we are displaying lapses of judgment and outburst like that. We have to be better disciplined.

[winforlose]

The last 3 minutes really didn't go the Wolves way. The Mavs get two layups with literally tenths of a second on the shot clock and hit their open 3s. The Wolves had Nowell's layup roll out, missed an open 3, and Beverley missed the critical first free throw with 6.5 seconds left.

Overall the Wolves didn't really play a great game. They missed a ton of makeable layups and couldn't stop the Doncic/Powell pick and roll. On the plus side, to still have a chance in the last seconds shows that the team can compete against good teams even on off nights.

I do wonder if Finch should just have Towns switch on the pick and roll (rather than try to do drop coverage). Tonight showed that switching couldn't possibly be worse than Towns dropping and getting stuck in no man's land.

Dallas has been insanely clutch this year. They are no push overs in pressure situations, they executed very well when they needed to. We fought back and I loved seeing that but we need another layer of maturity and poise. Again, there were possesions early where KAT and Ant were complaining about calls and Dallas ran back and got easy buckets. You cannot do that against teams at this level, we have to be better at all the little things. Dallas was tonight and they got the W. We will get destroyed in the playoffs if we are displaying lapses of judgment and outburst like that. We have to be better disciplined.

I don’t disagree, but I think that kind of stuff happened for Dallas too. Jokic, CP3, Booker, ect… all do similar stuff. You could argue our volume is a problem, (and again you wouldn’t be wrong,) but the truth is the contact allowed against us is not acceptable relative to the contact allowed against other teams. There is an actual bias that infected this game long ago and is actively working against us because we are a historically bad team. Maybe a couple of years of consistent winning seasons and playoff runs would change that, maybe getting older would change that, but it is a problem.

The contact against guys like Ant, Nowell, Prince, ect… forces us outside and then it becomes a numbers game. When we are hitting our 3s we are dominant, but when we miss them our small size and again that degree of allowed contact, makes rebounding a serious problem.

In summary, your right they need to get back on D and complain less. But it’s also not a conspiracy when refs are consistently treating you differently than the opposing team in big games against good teams.

[King Malta]

The NBA needs to bring in unsportsmanlike fouls for the last 2 minutes of games in my opinions

It's ridiculous that Doncic can make a play where he barely grazes Bev (but clearly has no intention of playing the ball) which then costs us the opportunity to hit a 3 point shot and level the game, instead sending us to the line to score a maximum of two.

FIBA uses the rule excessively (take fouls, fouls in transition, hard shooting fouls etc) which gets messy but I think utilizing it just for those final two minutes would be beneficial, especially in situations where a team fouls to avoid a 3 point shot.

[Calinks]

The last 3 minutes really didn't go the Wolves way. The Mavs get two layups with literally tenths of a second on the shot clock and hit their open 3s. The Wolves had Nowell's layup roll out, missed an open 3, and Beverley missed the critical first free throw with 6.5 seconds left.

Overall the Wolves didn't really play a great game. They missed a ton of makeable layups and couldn't stop the Doncic/Powell pick and roll. On the plus side, to still have a chance in the last seconds shows that the team can compete against good teams even on off nights.

I do wonder if Finch should just have Towns switch on the pick and roll (rather than try to do drop coverage). Tonight showed that switching couldn't possibly be worse than Towns dropping and getting stuck in no man's land.

Dallas has been insanely clutch this year. They are no push overs in pressure situations, they executed very well when they needed to. We fought back and I loved seeing that but we need another layer of maturity and poise. Again, there were possesions early where KAT and Ant were complaining about calls and Dallas ran back and got easy buckets. You cannot do that against teams at this level, we have to be better at all the little things. Dallas was tonight and they got the W. We will get destroyed in the playoffs if we are displaying lapses of judgment and outburst like that. We have to be better disciplined.

I don’t disagree, but I think that kind of stuff happened for Dallas too. Jokic, CP3, Booker, ect… all do similar stuff. You could argue our volume is a problem, (and again you wouldn’t be wrong,) but the truth is the contact allowed against us is not acceptable relative to the contact allowed against other teams. There is an actual bias that infected this game long ago and is actively working against us because we are a historically bad team. Maybe a couple of years of consistent winning seasons and playoff runs would change that, maybe getting older would change that, but it is a problem.

The contact against guys like Ant, Nowell, Prince, ect… forces us outside and then it becomes a numbers game. When we are hitting our 3s we are dominant, but when we miss them our small size and again that degree of allowed contact, makes rebounding a serious problem.

In summary, your right they need to get back on D and complain less. But it’s also not a conspiracy when refs are consistently treating you differently than the opposing team in big games against good teams.

It's annoying but we just got to play through, we have been getting a lot of calling this stretch and part of that may be due to us laying off the refs a bit. It's also not just the complaining, it's just one of the symptoms of our team getting frustrated. We start getting emotional, making mistakes, and the opposing teams always feeds off of that and starts hitting big shots.

It's a sign of weakness and playoff teams love to capitalize on something like that, don't let them see you sweat and unravel.

[winforlose]

Dallas has been insanely clutch this year. They are no push overs in pressure situations, they executed very well when they needed to. We fought back and I loved seeing that but we need another layer of maturity and poise. Again, there were possesions early where KAT and Ant were complaining about calls and Dallas ran back and got easy buckets. You cannot do that against teams at this level, we have to be better at all the little things. Dallas was tonight and they got the W. We will get destroyed in the playoffs if we are displaying lapses of judgment and outburst like that. We have to be better disciplined.

I don’t disagree, but I think that kind of stuff happened for Dallas too. Jokic, CP3, Booker, ect… all do similar stuff. You could argue our volume is a problem, (and again you wouldn’t be wrong,) but the truth is the contact allowed against us is not acceptable relative to the contact allowed against other teams. There is an actual bias that infected this game long ago and is actively working against us because we are a historically bad team. Maybe a couple of years of consistent winning seasons and playoff runs would change that, maybe getting older would change that, but it is a problem.

The contact against guys like Ant, Nowell, Prince, ect… forces us outside and then it becomes a numbers game. When we are hitting our 3s we are dominant, but when we miss them our small size and again that degree of allowed contact, makes rebounding a serious problem.

In summary, your right they need to get back on D and complain less. But it’s also not a conspiracy when refs are consistently treating you differently than the opposing team in big games against good teams.

It's annoying but we just got to play through, we have been getting a lot of calling this stretch and part of that may be due to us laying off the refs a bit. It's also not just the complaining, it's just one of the symptoms of our team getting frustrated. We start getting emotional, making mistakes, and the opposing teams always feeds off of that and starts hitting big shots.

It's a sign of weakness and playoff teams love to capitalize on something like that, don't let them see you sweat and unravel.

True, and again I don’t disagree. At the same time, playing through something game altering isn’t as easy as you make it sound. Nowell missed a layup that probably would have won or at least given us a chance to win. But, on that layup he got sandwiched by two defenders with all kinds of contact. You can say play through it, but when enough of those pile up (Prince being denied an and one after being clobbered on a layup, or KAT being held multiple times when going for a rebound, including with 2.5 seconds left and down 2,) then it becomes something that cannot be simply played through. I know when you lose a close one and you did a lot wrong (boy did we ever,) that you shouldn’t simply blame it on the refs. However, if we were LAL, or the 76ers, or Miami, or the Suns, or any other top tier team who has the refs respect, then we would have won that game.

In summary, we should have won despite the refs, but we shouldn’t have to keep overcoming them. This isn’t a homer attitude, this is an objective fact, we are not officiated evenly in big games, and it costs points, rebounds, and possessions.

[minimus]

We were one McDaniels away from the win?

[Dalvin]

Hope this lights up another fire in them and win out against Phoenix, a red hot Boston team and payback this loss when they face the Mavs again

[Neeva]

Ugh too bad Pat Bev didn’t sit this one out, he was horrible.

[life_saver]

I am really not a fan of how some of the guards on the team overhelp constantly on the defense when you are playing against teams like Mavs. It's just too risky to do it against a great passer like Luka who can find wide open players on perimeter even when you collapse on him. Mavs bricked lot of open 3's yesterday even though Luka found them. Lot of lessons to be learnt from this game for Wolves.

[moss_is_1]

Ugh too bad Pat Bev didn’t sit this one out, he was horrible.

Did you watch the game? He had a bad shooting night, but was great for the most part on defense, and had a very key offensive rebound.

We missed too many layups, took a few dumb shots or not great shots early in the clock. Sign of a young team who hasn't been there in big moments.

[KGdaBom]

If we had pulled out the win after being down 16 on the road it would have been one of the best wins of the season. So close.

[Calinks]

Teams that are really good at execution seem to be our Achilles heel. Our defense is largely reliant on teams making silly mistakes. The Suns have been one of the best teams when it comes to playing under control so I don't think that game will bode well. Will be a huge win if we take it though.

[Note30]

Teams that are really good at execution seem to be our Achilles heel. Our defense is largely reliant on teams making silly mistakes. The Suns have been one of the best teams when it comes to playing under control so I don't think that game will bode well. Will be a huge win if we take it though.

That doesn't bode well for the playoffs either

[Calinks]

Teams that are really good at execution seem to be our Achilles heel. Our defense is largely reliant on teams making silly mistakes. The Suns have been one of the best teams when it comes to playing under control so I don't think that game will bode well. Will be a huge win if we take it though.

That doesn't bode well for the playoffs either

It doesn't and worries me. It's why I initial didn't think we could win a series. I do feel we have made some strides though. I'm still not confident we could beat any of the top 6 seeds, I think we could likely get a couple of games but if we take another step mentally, I think we could. Right now though I expect us to collapse under the pressure.

It's about more than just being good, you have to be really disciplined and I still see red flags there for us.