WCF Game 2: Dallas at Minnesota, 7:30 p.m.

[Calinks]

I will say that even if we lose, my hopes are still high for next season. I think we are in sort of a "dead" era of basketball, there's no real dynasty-level teams right now. We just need to win one before the Spurs get enough lottery picks to build around Wemby.

There are no guarantees but usually teams get better after a run like this. I think we will, we may not get better from this season, it may be a step back especially if we make some roster changes but our young guys should improve and everyone will learn a ton from the experience. Again, most great teams have already gone through this, this is how you get better, we are building a big time resume of great experience that started since that Memphis series.

[Domejandro]

Is this a safe space to say that Naz Reid has been a disaster defensively this series, or should I wait a game until the shine of the shooting performance wears off?

He hasn’t just been bad, he has been defense destroying with his play. Towns has been a bit better, but still terrible on that end as well.

[Worm Guts]

I don’t want to look to next year, the last time we were in the WCF air took us 20 years to get back. We’ve lost 2 games by 4 total points, if we tighten things up we can get back in the series.

[Zonarosa]

Finch has been very bad with his schemes and rotations.

im positive you couldnt expound on this in detail if you tried.

1. Better solution for the PNR. Game 1 we tried drop, didn’t work. Game 2 we had some success with blitz and rotation. For whatever reason the halftime adjustment was to go back to drop and uncontested dunks followed. Even knowing exactly what Dallas was going to do in crunch time no adjustments were made beyond switching to create mismatches. Rudy should not be defending Luka with 5 fouls in a 2 point game with under a minute. The defensive scheme was flawed in both games.

2. McDaniels was the hot hand in game 1. Finch benched him as part of the rotation in the first half. Naz was the hot hand in game 2 but barely shot the ball in the fourth quarter. Finch needed to either put Karl in for Rudy or use the unicorn lineup putting Karl in for Jaden. Man defense was failing anyway, go zone and use Karl’s size and/or distance threat to take pressure off the paint and get Ant going down hill.

I can go on if you want a real discussion.

nah, your regurgitation of others analyses is clear.

[Loaf_of_bread]

Is micah nori essentially in a puppet role, and doing as Finch asks? Personally a bit confused in terms of how the details of that is going down.. has this been brought up in a presser I may have missed?

[Worm Guts]

Is micah nori essentially in a puppet role, and doing as Finch asks? Personally a bit confused in terms of how the details of that is going down.. has this been brought up in a presser I may have missed?

I’d assume as much as possible, since it’s not like there was a change in hierarchy. I think Finch did mention that there are adjustments he liked to call out from the sidelines that he cant in the current situation

[Loaf_of_bread]

Is micah nori essentially in a puppet role, and doing as Finch asks? Personally a bit confused in terms of how the details of that is going down.. has this been brought up in a presser I may have missed?

I’d assume as much as possible, since it’s not like there was a change in hierarchy. I think Finch did mention that there are adjustments he liked to call out from the sidelines that he cant in the current situation

Hmm, im not a fan if that is the case. While micah is certainly capable of coaching on his own at this level, every coach will have their own style.

At the highest level, across any spectrum of sport, business, or operation (other than anything run by a gov't entity),.. you need one vision behind it to succeed at the highest level. (Too many cooks in the kitchen)

Wondering if there may be a "conflict of interest" with micah and Finch.

[Worm Guts]

Is micah nori essentially in a puppet role, and doing as Finch asks? Personally a bit confused in terms of how the details of that is going down.. has this been brought up in a presser I may have missed?

I’d assume as much as possible, since it’s not like there was a change in hierarchy. I think Finch did mention that there are adjustments he liked to call out from the sidelines that he cant in the current situation

Hmm, im not a fan if that is the case. While micah is certainly capable of coaching on his own at this level, every coach will have their own style.

At the highest level, across any spectrum of sport, business, or operation (other than anything run by a gov't entity),.. you need one vision behind it to succeed at the highest level. (Too many cooks in the kitchen)

Wondering if there may be a "conflict of interest" with micah and Finch.

I don’t see a conflict, Finch is the head coach, Micah is not.

[Klomp]

I don’t want to look to next year, the last time we were in the WCF air took us 20 years to get back. We’ve lost 2 games by 4 total points, if we tighten things up we can get back in the series.

Bingo. Two one-possession games. We are right there.

This is why I think all the talk that the series is over (*cough cough* Chuck and Draymond) is quite juvenile thinking. Luka and Kyrie are playing great, while our stars are not. While the easy route would be to use this as evidence of the series already being decided, to me it shows a significant area for growth for the Timberwolves to bounce back from a one-possession hole.

Who would you rather be relying on to step up their performances going into Game 3, Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns or PJ Washington and Derrick Jones Jr.?

[FrenchMinnyFan]

Mavs fan here. This series aint over. I think the Mavs win it but its still too early to call. I just wanted to say one thing about your team and it's that your coach sucks. The coach is holding this team back. JVG said years ago, a coaches job is to maximize the talent on the roster. I do not think Finch is doing that. I think this team is just talented. The Wolves do not have a real system and they do not consistently put the ball in the hands of their best players to force the defense to make decisions.

The perfect offense for this team would the triangle offense that Phil Jackson ran with Kobe and Pau Gasol. Ant would be Kobe and Towns would be Gasol. This type of offense would give the team some structure and consistent put the balls in the hands of your two best offensive players to score or make scoring plays.

The fact that your benching a talented player like Towns (that has all the skill sets, can score 60 pts in 3 quarters) for a role player is insane. You're paying him 36, 49, 53, 57, and 61 million the next couple of years. If he's healthy, he's needs to play. The offense should be ran through Towns and Ant.

I think Towns should be developed. I think Ant should obviously be developed. These guys need to be put into positions to succeed and I do not believe this coach is doing that to level that justifies he should continue coaching this level of talent. The 3 point shot by Luka on Rudy is a prime example of what I'm talking about....you're up 2 - why wouldn't you trap Luka and force someone else to beat you when the role players around Luka have shown an inconsistent ability to hit a jump shot and at times have made questionable decisions? It's simply another error by the coach. Just like game one allowing Luka and Kyrie to destroy the drop coverage.

Also you're down 1 and you have one of the most athletic guys in the league, why not get something going down hill where Edwards can be fouled or finish at the basket? That's neither here or there but when its all said and done - Towns and Edwards will look like their not showing up but they have a coach who isnt doing them any favors.

I really like the idea of the triangle. That said I'm not sure Towns would be able to effectively run it. He makes questionable decisions as is, perhaps putting him in a triangle system would make his life easier, but at the same time I wonder if he has the decision making skills.

Totally agree. I think we can't expect to see KAT improved at this stage of his career. His basket IQ is not really good which is pretty sad. We got one big with low BBIQ and Rudy who is more smart but don't have good hands...should probably merge the 2 in 1 players

[FrenchMinnyFan]

Finals most often turn one way or another in details. For the moment they are better than us minimizing mistake, doing the right play, coaching strategy period.

[winforlose]

im positive you couldnt expound on this in detail if you tried.

1. Better solution for the PNR. Game 1 we tried drop, didn’t work. Game 2 we had some success with blitz and rotation. For whatever reason the halftime adjustment was to go back to drop and uncontested dunks followed. Even knowing exactly what Dallas was going to do in crunch time no adjustments were made beyond switching to create mismatches. Rudy should not be defending Luka with 5 fouls in a 2 point game with under a minute. The defensive scheme was flawed in both games.

2. McDaniels was the hot hand in game 1. Finch benched him as part of the rotation in the first half. Naz was the hot hand in game 2 but barely shot the ball in the fourth quarter. Finch needed to either put Karl in for Rudy or use the unicorn lineup putting Karl in for Jaden. Man defense was failing anyway, go zone and use Karl’s size and/or distance threat to take pressure off the paint and get Ant going down hill.

I can go on if you want a real discussion.

nah, your regurgitation of others analyses is clear.

It's funny, you almost never post and when you do it is usually to troll me. If I say something you agree with then obviously it isn’t an original thought. If I say something you disagree with you attack me publicly. Then if I happen to be right (The Suns series as an example,) rather than conceding that I was right I was either lucky or you don’t feel the need to acknowledge it because my opinion or predictions were too based on things you don’t agree with. I think I am done with you.

[Klomp]

I want to see us go to the Big 3 lineup for a while in Game 3. Really, this is a perfect team to employ that against. Two of them can guard PJ Washington and Derrick Jones Jr just fine. We've been outrebounded twice in two games. Let's try to enforce our size and our will a little more.

[Loaf_of_bread]

I want to see us go to the Big 3 lineup for a while in Game 3. Really, this is a perfect team to employ that against. Two of them can guard PJ Washington and Derrick Jones Jr just fine. We've been outrebounded twice in two games. Let's try to enforce our size and our will a little more.

Agree, still lost with the Kat benching.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

Is this a safe space to say that Naz Reid has been a disaster defensively this series, or should I wait a game until the shine of the shooting performance wears off?

He hasn’t just been bad, he has been defense destroying with his play. Towns has been a bit better, but still terrible on that end as well.

I totally agree. From our 3 bigs Rudy have been average, KAT under average and NAZ.....don't find words to describe his defense level right now.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

I want to see us go to the Big 3 lineup for a while in Game 3. Really, this is a perfect team to employ that against. Two of them can guard PJ Washington and Derrick Jones Jr just fine. We've been outrebounded twice in two games. Let's try to enforce our size and our will a little more.

Clearly, getting outrebounded by a rookie and Gafford is embarrassing. Mike got 8 rebounds in the 2 game, 1 more than NAZ! this is not serious. KAT, Rudy and NAZ have to do much better if we want to have a chance.

Am i the only one thinking we handle pretty well Luka and Kyrie specially at clutch time but play very poorly against Gafford and Lively?

[Note30]

Mavs fan here. This series aint over. I think the Mavs win it but its still too early to call. I just wanted to say one thing about your team and it's that your coach sucks. The coach is holding this team back. JVG said years ago, a coaches job is to maximize the talent on the roster. I do not think Finch is doing that. I think this team is just talented. The Wolves do not have a real system and they do not consistently put the ball in the hands of their best players to force the defense to make decisions.

The perfect offense for this team would the triangle offense that Phil Jackson ran with Kobe and Pau Gasol. Ant would be Kobe and Towns would be Gasol. This type of offense would give the team some structure and consistent put the balls in the hands of your two best offensive players to score or make scoring plays.

The fact that your benching a talented player like Towns (that has all the skill sets, can score 60 pts in 3 quarters) for a role player is insane. You're paying him 36, 49, 53, 57, and 61 million the next couple of years. If he's healthy, he's needs to play. The offense should be ran through Towns and Ant.

I think Towns should be developed. I think Ant should obviously be developed. These guys need to be put into positions to succeed and I do not believe this coach is doing that to level that justifies he should continue coaching this level of talent. The 3 point shot by Luka on Rudy is a prime example of what I'm talking about....you're up 2 - why wouldn't you trap Luka and force someone else to beat you when the role players around Luka have shown an inconsistent ability to hit a jump shot and at times have made questionable decisions? It's simply another error by the coach. Just like game one allowing Luka and Kyrie to destroy the drop coverage.

Also you're down 1 and you have one of the most athletic guys in the league, why not get something going down hill where Edwards can be fouled or finish at the basket? That's neither here or there but when its all said and done - Towns and Edwards will look like their not showing up but they have a coach who isnt doing them any favors.

I really like the idea of the triangle. That said I'm not sure Towns would be able to effectively run it. He makes questionable decisions as is, perhaps putting him in a triangle system would make his life easier, but at the same time I wonder if he has the decision making skills.

Totally agree. I think we can't expect to see KAT improved at this stage of his career. His basket IQ is not really good which is pretty sad. We got one big with low BBIQ and Rudy who is more smart but don't have good hands...should probably merge the 2 in 1 players

The thing with the triangle is you just really need to run the system through enough practice and understand it through and through and you can implement it. I think it would be possible and yield good results but it would require summer training + training camp + 2 months to get it down pat.

Towns and Rudy merged would be one of the best bigs of all time. Top 25.

[Klomp]

I want to see us go to the Big 3 lineup for a while in Game 3. Really, this is a perfect team to employ that against. Two of them can guard PJ Washington and Derrick Jones Jr just fine. We've been outrebounded twice in two games. Let's try to enforce our size and our will a little more.

Clearly, getting outrebounded by a rookie and Gafford is embarrassing. Mike got 8 rebounds in the 2 game, 1 more than NAZ! this is not serious. KAT, Rudy and NAZ have to do much better if we want to have a chance.

Am i the only one thinking we handle pretty well Luka and Kyrie specially at clutch time but play very poorly against Gafford and Lively?

The verticality of Dallas' offense has been the biggest difference in this series. That threat completely has compromised the Minnesota defense.

[ForeverRDjazz]

As a NBA fan I'm sick of these refs missing calls. Watching Pacer Celts game and Brown levels pacer PG and in the air hit in the face and its ruled common foul? WWF is alive and well.

[ForeverRDjazz]

I don't get how wolves are so close in these games with ANT so off? Plays anywhere close to his normally percentage and your up 2 to 1.