Minnesota at Phoenix, 9 pm (Wednesday)

TimberKat · Post #141 » by **TimberKat** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 4:55 am

_AIJ_ wrote:Still confused why Rudy was there the last 5 minutes

Towns-Reid combo sucks. Suns are playing Ayton or Biyombo (I think), so Gobert makes sense but he made a few dumb mistakes. Perhaps got hit on the face one time too many, so stick his hand out.

TimberKat · Post #142 » by **TimberKat** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 5:02 am

With Dallas loss, we basically got the 10 seed because Dallas should have at least one more loss so 41-41. We should at least win 2 of the last 5 for 41-41.

AbeVigodaLive · Post #143 » by **AbeVigodaLive** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 6:21 am

Domejandro wrote:
Nick K wrote:The officiating has turned to **** just like that. The first half was so good. They must have had a call from the league offices. they need PHX to win.

The fix is in.

Eh, I think the reffing has been largely fine, tonight.

Both teams got a bad whistle, at least when it came to screens.

But regardless of who it favored in the end... the way the game was officiated changed SIGNIFICANTLY in the 3rd quarter.

- There were 11 fouls combined in the first half (MN had 5... PHX had 6). The Timberwolves alone had 19 fouls in the 2nd half, with most coming in the 3rd quarter.

Now granted, we all know they're a handsy bunch, but what's more likely... a quicker whistle or the Wolves being 4x worse on not fouling? Adjusting to the whistle is part of basketball... so is officiating at a consistent level.

minimus · Post #144 » by **minimus** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 7:00 am

I hate referees. Byombo hit Reid in the face, and Naz got injured. Referees allowed it.

Baseline81 · Post #145 » by **Baseline81** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 1:01 pm

Not even sure what to say anymore...

Read on Twitter

Guest84 · Post #146 » by **Guest84** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 1:55 pm

One last thing on the officiating. A lot of ppl will just look at the end box scores and say it wasn’t the officiating.

You have to look deeper at times. There’s always seems to be a stretch where the wolves will be called for fouls, techs, or flagrants in a very short span. Resulting in a major run or momentum swing for the other team. Couple this with the same non calls on the wolves and it snowballs.

Half of the calls on Booker were questionable. If I’m not mistaken, Booker prob should’ve fouled out. How do you jump ball on successful challenge? Might as well just gave it to Phoenix.

Yes, wolves have to play through it and earn their respect but we knew Phoenix wasn’t going to be allowed to lose in KD’s home debut.

On another note, we needed Rudy to help offset Phoenix on the boards but my goodness, he has to have some self awareness on offense. Pushing the ball up on the break, post move fadeaway, etc. do what you do best and don’t get outside of yourself.

Team lacks technique and fundamentals on defense.

moss_is_1 · Post #147 » by **moss_is_1** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 1:57 pm

younggunsmn wrote:6 turnovers apiece for KAT and Gobert and 5 for Slo-mo. Only one each for Conley and Ant.
Our bigs are much too involved in the offense.
Ant had 31 pts on 22 FGA and it looked like he had a quiet night.
Some inbalances here that need to be corrected.

6 turnovers from Rudy is absolutely inexcusable and those 3 or 4 ridiculous lefthanded hooks might as well have been turnovers too.

Devin Booker shot 15 FT's and our entire team shot 12 and we were in the penalty for about 10 minutes of the 3rd quarter.
Have to be more disciplined.

Rudy had a couple really bad turnovers(I'm thinking the one under the hoop after an offensive rebound), but he also was hosed on a few bad calls. When he had Booker sealed off and drop stepped for a dunk, and some of those moving screens(believe he had 3).

As much as the refs killed us, we still had a chance to win but we couldn't make shots, take care of the ball, or grab rebounds at times. Let's hope Friday we have everyone feeling better, getting Prince back would be huge. Winning 4 of the last 5 would be massive.

Colbinii · Post #148 » by **Colbinii** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 2:05 pm

Baseline81 wrote:Not even sure what to say anymore...

Read on Twitter

It is a natural turning motion. Bad call.

Guest84 · Post #149 » by **Guest84** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 2:24 pm

Looks like Rudy sounded off…

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/rudy-gobert-says-nba-is-conspiring-against-wolves-as-part-of-big-market-playoff-agenda-its-just-so-obvious/

shrink · Post #150 » by **shrink** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 2:44 pm

Guest84 wrote:Looks like Rudy sounded off…

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/rudy-gobert-says-nba-is-conspiring-against-wolves-as-part-of-big-market-playoff-agenda-its-just-so-obvious/

Thanks for posting that.

Rudy will get fined for sure, but it’s hard not to feel for the guy. Those picks were legit calls, but he regularly gets hit in the face several times, each game, and it’s never called for him - only against him.

Biyombo his Naz Reid in the face, twice!, on the play he injured his wrist on.

And it also frustrated me listening to the ESPN feed. At one point, McDaniels was called for a foul, and the female color analyst said something like, “We were talking to the Wolves local broadcasting team before the game, and they said Jaden gets kind of a bad whistle. That was a foul - he had his hand on the player’s back!”

The truth is, Jim Peterson is very well respected around the NBA and is known for his impartiality (ever listen to other local broadcasts?). Moreover, saying Jaden gets a bad whistle isn’t going to be disproven if he ever gets a single foul on him…

Guest84 · Post #151 » by **Guest84** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 2:54 pm

shrink wrote:
Guest84 wrote:Looks like Rudy sounded off…

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/rudy-gobert-says-nba-is-conspiring-against-wolves-as-part-of-big-market-playoff-agenda-its-just-so-obvious/

Thanks for posting that.

Rudy will get fined for sure, but it’s hard not to feel for the guy. Those picks were legit calls, but he regularly gets hit in the face several times, each game, and it’s never called for him - only against him.

Biyombo his Naz Reid in the face, twice!, on the play he injured his wrist on.

And it also frustrated me listening to the ESPN feed. At one point, McDaniels was called for a foul, and the female color analyst said something like, “We were talking to the Wolves local broadcasting team before the game, and they said Jaden gets kind of a bad whistle. That was a foul - he had his hand on the player’s back!”

The truth is, Jim Peterson is very well respected around the NBA and is known for his impartiality (ever listen to other local broadcasts?). Moreover, saying Jaden gets a bad whistle isn’t going to be disproven if he ever gets a single foul on him…

Oh yeah he’s def getting fined.

I started out on the ESPN feed but quickly went back to Bally’s. National feeds are so biased during wolves games. They talk up Ant but that’s about it.

Over their last few wins, the sports media hasn’t even mentioned them but focused on the other team. As if they played an unknown team.

Jaden is a bit handsie but two things can be true. I think adding some weight and strength will help him decrease the use of his hands. He also takes bad angles at times. But I also can’t count how many times wolves are back pedaling with hands up high and still get called for the player initiating contact.

Biyambo completely dislodged Naz and guess what, foul on Naz. It’s just a hard watch. Then the refs are telling Finch to basically shut up and go stand over there.

I think Finch needs to get tossed at least once for his team.

shrink · Post #152 » by **shrink** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 2:58 pm

I’ve been thinking a lot about the poor officiating this season, whether it’s after a win or a loss. I have come to the conclusion that the NBA isn’t even trying to officiate fairly - their goal is to make the product more popular. I don’t think anyone will deny that superstars are treated differently by refs - that has been going on forever. And you know, if the refs have their fingers on the scale for a borderline traveling call, I can live with that.

But these days, refs look the other way on every type of call for superstars. Superstars can reach in and hack, and that gets ignored. Technical fouls? Embiid and Doncic can be emotional three year olds and the refs will try to look the other way. Every player cries about getting fouled every play. I HATE all the flopping. And even when the fans have had it, and they make a rule, they don’t enforce it. Booker is an incredible athlete that seems to fall down continually, without any contact, and the refs reward him for it! And the NBA made a rule against players drawing fouls by unnaturally stopping to create contact? Booker was praised for drawing a foul that way last night! And Booker is certainly not alone. Initiating contact if you are a protected star helps your team win, so players practice trying to fool refs, and it really makes it hard for me to enjoy the NBA.

I hope that when Gobert is fined, the Wolves put together a 15 minute video of all the times Gobert was hit in the face this season, with a running count on the bottom of the times it was called a foul.

shrink · Post #153 » by **shrink** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 3:01 pm

Guest84 wrote:I started out on the ESPN feed but quickly went back to Bally’s. National feeds are so biased during wolves games. They talk up Ant but that’s about it.

Over their last few wins, the sports media hasn’t even mentioned them but focused on the other team. As if they played an unknown team.

At halftime, ESPN decided to highlight Kevin Durant, who was 1-for-7, instead of Towns, who had 20 in the first half.

So they showed KD’s one basket three times.

:noway:

Guest84 · Post #154 » by **Guest84** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 3:06 pm

shrink wrote:
Guest84 wrote:I started out on the ESPN feed but quickly went back to Bally’s. National feeds are so biased during wolves games. They talk up Ant but that’s about it.

Over their last few wins, the sports media hasn’t even mentioned them but focused on the other team. As if they played an unknown team.

At halftime, ESPN decided to highlight Kevin Durant, who was 1-for-7, instead of Towns, who had 20 in the first half.

So they showed KD’s one basket three times.

I thought the same thing. I even rewound it to see if I missed the wolves highlights nope lol.

I see ppl talk up Ant a lot but it’s like the league isn’t acknowledging him yet. It there something he needs to adhere to behind the scenes? Idk

Guest84 · Post #155 » by **Guest84** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 4:31 pm

Good insight by Finch

Watch on YouTube

shrink · Post #156 » by **shrink** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 5:19 pm

Watch on YouTube

Watch Biyombo his Naz in the face, twice!

Gobert gets called for flagrant 1 technical fouls for less. And Rudy gets hit in the face with no call at all at least a couple times each game!

If the NBA doesn’t start calling fouls more evenly, players are going to get hurt. It almost happened here to Naz.

Zonarosa · Post #157 » by **Zonarosa** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 5:23 pm

shrink wrote:

Watch on YouTube

Watch Biyombo his Naz in the face, twice!

Gobert gets called for flagrant 1 technical fouls for less. And Rudy gets hit in the face with no call at all at least a couple times each game!

If the NBA doesn’t start calling fouls more evenly, players are going to get hurt. It almost happened here to Naz.

i found myself yelling the exact thing at the TV last night. totally ridiculous.

Biff Cooper · Post #158 » by **Biff Cooper** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 5:23 pm

Guest84 wrote:Good insight by Finch

Watch on YouTube

Great speaking here by coach. He does a great job here of making his points in a way that should avoid getting fined.

Colbinii · Post #159 » by **Colbinii** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 5:40 pm

Biff Cooper wrote:
Guest84 wrote:Good insight by Finch

Watch on YouTube

Great speaking here by coach. He does a great job here of making his points in a way that should avoid getting fined.

Finch makes a great point and it is something that a baseball reference is good for. In Baseball, you typically find out in the 1st or 2nd inning what the Umpires "Strike Zone" is for the game. This sets the stage for the following innings/pitches. If the Umpire starts to call strikes balls or balls strikes, the inconsistency ruins the game.

The same thing happened here. The 1st half was physical, few fouls were called and defense was being played hard by both sides. Starting in the 3rd quarter, the refs started to call anything and everything and it seemed Booker was getting every call when minor contact was made while the same wasn't true for Rudy or ANT.

Post #160 » by **Klomp** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 6:48 pm

We weren't going to end the regular season on a 10-game winning streak, let's be real. Good place to get a shorthanded, but competitive loss out of the way. Now, an off day to get the sickness out of the locker room before a couple of home games.

Target Center will be rocking tomorrow!