GT #79: Bullets @ Timberwolves 8 PM (NBCSW/980 AM)

[80sballboy]

Of course, So Wiz. Can't tell the young guys not to play hard. Porzingis shouldn't be playing in these games. Had 25 pts, but they pulled away without him in the fourth.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

Gafford-Rui-Deni-Kispert finish with 75 points, 31 rebounds, 13 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals. Free throws were the only think that stunk from them, mainly Rui and Deni.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

This would be a real bad loss for the Minny seeing that they are trying to get out of the play-in.

They couldn’t defend the pick and roll tonight. My God.

The Clippers will beat them in in the first Play-In game if they’re gonna play like this.

Yeah at one point ,Ish and Deni with Gafford was just a gimme early in the fourth.

[Doug_Blew]

Beal called it. We need bigger guards. We look good with Sato and Kispert as our starters.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

During game they were promoting their upcoming Fan Appreciation Night (featuring Thomas Bryant bobbleheads), which they decided to have against the Knicks guaranteeing the arena will be filled with NY fans.

Their PR staff are complete morons.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

During game they were promoting their upcoming Fan Appreciation Night (featuring Thomas Bryant bobbleheads), which they decided to have against the Knicks guaranteeing the arena will be filled with NY fans.

Their PR staff are complete morons.

Hey, gotta give away the Thomas Bryant bobble head stock before season’s end.

[J-Ves]

Happy to see the young'uns all play reasonably well the past 15 games or so. I'm beginning to feel the glimmer of hope for next season

[WallToWall]

Good to see the young players do well. If only Sato were 5 yrs younger, he would have made for a good long term PG. They’ve now won 5 of the last 7, and although I like to see the young players go well, I’d prefer that we also loose (better chances with ping pong balls).

[WallToWall]

One more thing…. We did this without Kuzma and Beal.

[DCZards]

One more thing…. We did this without Kuzma and Beal.

Yeah…but two days ago we lost to Boston by 40pts without Kuzma and Beal.

[J-Ves]

One more thing…. We did this without Kuzma and Beal.

Yeah…but two days ago we lost to Boston by 40pts without Kuzma and Beal.

Yeah...but 5 days ago we beat Dallas by 32pts without Kuzma and Beal

[NatP4]

Deni, Rui, Kispert, and Gafford looked great. Team continues to look really good without Kuzma.

Shot 56-101 with 38 assists. Fun to watch.

[Dolevi]

One more thing…. We did this without Kuzma and Beal.

Yeah…but two days ago we lost to Boston by 40pts without Kuzma and Beal.

Yeah...but 5 days ago we beat Dallas by 32pts without Kuzma and Beal

[Ruzious]

I haven’t watched many games recently but tuned into the first half for a bit. Is that the first time we’ve seen KP and Gafford on the court together?

Also, Deni looks like he’s turning the corner. Love how aggressive and confident he’s being. If we don’t land a starting point guard in the summer, I’m all for inserting Deni into the lineup as a point forward. Move KCP back into the backcourt with Beal, and roll with:

KP/Gaff
Kuz/Rui
Deni/Kispert
Beal/Sato
KCP/Ish

With Deni in the lineup, and Beal and Kuz’ improvement as playmakers, along with KP’s passing ability, you have enough playmaking that I don’t think you necessarily need a traditional PG in the lineup. Go big and prioritise defense.

I missed the game and expected a lot more comments about this. They played a total of 58.37 minutes - that's a bid deal, imo. And they both put up outstanding numbers - with Gafford getting career highs. And remember, Gafford is one of our young guys. He's younger than Rui. And Porzingis is talked about here like he's an old guy, but he's 26. The "old" guys are Ish (33), Sato (30), Gill (29), Neto (29), and MCP (29). We have to play old guys in the backcourt, because that's all we got. Kispert's never played guard before this season - for a reason - he's a forward.

And I'm guessing using the Gaff/Zinger combo had something to do with stopping Towns? He had 15 points in the 1st quarter and then just 11 for the rest of the game. Naz Reid had terrible stats. Towns and Reid combined for 11 of 30 shooting in their 48 minutes. Gaff/Zinger combined for 21 of 28. The rest of their stats were comparable overall for the minutes played.

[DCZards]

One more thing…. We did this without Kuzma and Beal.

Yeah…but two days ago we lost to Boston by 40pts without Kuzma and Beal.

Yeah...but 5 days ago we beat Dallas by 32pts without Kuzma and Beal

That’s my point. We don’t know what the outcome of these Ws and Ls would have been with Kuzma and Beal so we oughta stop pretending like we do.

The same posters who gloat about the Dallas win are the ones who wanted to drastically cut KCP minutes. Well, the Zards don’t beat the Mavs without KCP.

Some of those same posters have also been calling for resting KP for the rest of the season. Well, the Zards don’t beat Minny without KP.

[Ruzious]

I can't lie - any double-digit win over a decent team makes me happy - regardless of what it does to our draft position in what I think will be a below average draft.

Of course, I might eat those words on draft day - with a serving of crow. But a bird in the hand... tastes like fried chicken.