WCS Game 5: Minnesota at Denver, Tuesday

[jpatrick]

Denver is just way way better than us, from the coaches down to the players.
They have a plan, they play smart, and they play together.
Their offense has countermoves to everything.
Their defense focuses on the couple guys they really have to worry about without cheating and just leaving guys wide open.

Their BBIQ at his point is about 20 points above league average and about 40 points above ours.

Congrats Nuggets fans what you have been watching the past couple of years is truly something special.
Good luck the rest of the way.

This. Denver is just flat out a better team. They have, by far, the best player in the world and maximize him with elite shooting and AG, who is their defender, dirty work guy. Jokic BBIQ is insane but the entire team plays with high IQ, knowing their roles. There is a reason they rolled through the playoffs the last two years.

Our team is not built nearly as well for the playoffs as the regular season. Playoffs, coaches are going to scheme to make your worst player beat you. With us, they aren’t guarding anyone but KAT/Ant on the perimeter and outside of early shots by NAW, we couldn’t make them pay.

[shrink]

I couldn’t watch the second half. I saw Towns played 38 minutes. Did his knee look like it bothered him?

[Movics]

I couldn’t watch the second half. I saw Towns played 38 minutes. Did his knee look like it bothered him?

He looked healthier than Murray

[life_saver]

Nuggets role players were bricking lot of open looks in the Lakers series but they have started to make them in this series. That's the main difference.

[life_saver]

We have to try something different in G6, especially if Conley is fit. Probably would prefer to see more minutes of KAT at 5 and NAW playing with starters.. atleast offense might look better. Also Finch needs to be questioned if he plays another minute of Gobert-SloMo together

[FrenchMinnyFan]

Today the best team wins. Denver is impressive; they are my favorite to win it one more time.
ANT was struggling almost all night. Not sure it’s physical or mental. After his huge performance on game 4, he may be affected and realize guys around him are not good enough to win it.
KAT was not bad but one more time, he should be able to do much more for a star player.
Jaden is struggling on offense. He is young and definitely has some works to do to improve on this part of the game.
Rudy was great offensively but got destroyed in defense by Jokic, as usual. Jokic is just too good. Coach should have make some adjustments and probably put more Naz on joker.
NAW was pretty good. He did his job.
Without Mike, ball movement was not too good and we got lot of TO especially in first half. But I’m convincing that Mike playing would not have change the result.
Slomo is definitely down this year. It’s a mental thing but at this level, he is hurting the team a lot specially when he is on the field with Rudy.
Anyway, Thursday night may be the last game of the season. It will be disappointing but after the bad feeling gone, we have to remember how the season was great, how well we play against Phoenix, how young players improves, how Rudy was good during the regular season, how ANT is on the way to be a top 5 NBA player…lot of positive things and strong base to build the future. I’m proud of this team. We are just one or 2 pcs away to be able to compete with Denver. Hopefully we make some adjustments for next year and make a run. Go Wolves!

[Kineto]

A lot of overreaction tonight, especially about Rudy.

Jokic's performance tonight is more about Jokic's exceptional shot making than Rudy's poor one on one defence (and by the way, Rudy's value have never been about him being a stunning one on one post defender, but more about his help defence).

Rudy played 40 minutes tonight and he has the best plus/minus of the team (-2), he is not the main reason why the Wolves lost.

(And Minnesota would probably not be in the second round of the playoffs this year without him, for those crying -again- about the trade).

[KATKlownFeet]

Kyle Anderson is the worst basketball player in the NBA.

But the player I’m most worried about is Jaden McDaniels. He needs to make a jump next year on offense or this whole thing with our salary structure doesn’t not work. If he doesn’t develop to another level we are screwed.

Wendell Moore and Bones Hyland are worse players than SloMo. SloMo has no range, but he has some skills. I've seen Hyland throw brick after brick and turn the ball over on three or four consecutive plays and go completely deer in the headlights bad. I've seen Wendell Moore chuck up like ten misses in a row against G League competition.

[Note30]

A lot of overreaction tonight, especially about Rudy.

Jokic's performance tonight is more about Jokic's exceptional shot making than Rudy's poor one on one defence (and by the way, Rudy's value have never been about him being a stunning one on one post defender, but more about his help defence).

Rudy played 40 minutes tonight and he has the best plus/minus of the team (-2), he is not the main reason why the Wolves lost.

(And Minnesota would probably not be in the second round of the playoffs this year without him, for those crying -again- about the trade).

Rudy has never been part of a team that has made it to even the WCF. Excuse after excuse he's overrated af.

I don't want to be in the second round because this is all we will ever be in at this point. Unless the Western conference loses a bunch of stars we'll never win a chip.

Also you don't know that because we could have done a million things with those assets besides burn them on a player who clearly doesn't fit with KAT on offense or defense. KAT isn't a necessity to win a chip, but Gobert isn't better than KAT.

KAT is at best a 3rd option on a championship team. If you're gonna burn assets you better bring in a #1 or #2 option.

[Guidus88]

what an epic performance from the Joker. Really unbelievable, in the 2nd half he completely destroyed our defense (and I think that Gobert did a good job).

Other nuggets helped a lot with an efficient night for all of them. If their streak continues it's obvious that we are done. We have only 1 day to try to find a solution, only a perfect night from 3 could help us.

Nuggets were super lucky in the series: Murray deserved a suspension in game 3 and after the first two games there was a 5 days rest in which they could recover from a mental/physical perspective and could implement proper adjustments. If game 3 was 2 days after game 2 I'm confident we would have swept them.

[Kineto]

A lot of overreaction tonight, especially about Rudy.

Jokic's performance tonight is more about Jokic's exceptional shot making than Rudy's poor one on one defence (and by the way, Rudy's value have never been about him being a stunning one on one post defender, but more about his help defence).

Rudy played 40 minutes tonight and he has the best plus/minus of the team (-2), he is not the main reason why the Wolves lost.

(And Minnesota would probably not be in the second round of the playoffs this year without him, for those crying -again- about the trade).

Rudy has never been part of a team that has made it to even the WCF. Excuse after excuse he's overrated af.

I don't want to be in the second round because this is all we will ever be in at this point. Unless the Western conference loses a bunch of stars we'll never win a chip.

Also you don't know that because we could have done a million things with those assets besides burn them on a player who clearly doesn't fit with KAT on offense or defense. KAT isn't a necessity to win a chip, but Gobert isn't better than KAT.

KAT is at best a 3rd option on a championship team. If you're gonna burn assets you better bring in a #1 or #2 option.

Overreacting again...

Twolve have their best playoff run in 20 years, are 2-3 against defending champions and title favourites, with a stellar performance from a 3-time MVP, and you act like this team is the Atlanta Hawks.

Denver didn't become a champion in one season, and even if Minnesota doesn't go further in the PO this year, it would still be a very good year and a promising one for the future.

[Note30]

A lot of overreaction tonight, especially about Rudy.

Jokic's performance tonight is more about Jokic's exceptional shot making than Rudy's poor one on one defence (and by the way, Rudy's value have never been about him being a stunning one on one post defender, but more about his help defence).

Rudy played 40 minutes tonight and he has the best plus/minus of the team (-2), he is not the main reason why the Wolves lost.

(And Minnesota would probably not be in the second round of the playoffs this year without him, for those crying -again- about the trade).

Rudy has never been part of a team that has made it to even the WCF. Excuse after excuse he's overrated af.

I don't want to be in the second round because this is all we will ever be in at this point. Unless the Western conference loses a bunch of stars we'll never win a chip.

Also you don't know that because we could have done a million things with those assets besides burn them on a player who clearly doesn't fit with KAT on offense or defense. KAT isn't a necessity to win a chip, but Gobert isn't better than KAT.

KAT is at best a 3rd option on a championship team. If you're gonna burn assets you better bring in a #1 or #2 option.

Overreacting again...

Twolve have their best playoff run in 20 years, are 2-3 against defending champions and title favourites, with a stellar performance from a 3-time MVP, and you act like this team is the Atlanta Hawks.

Denver didn't become a champion in one season, and even if Minnesota doesn't go further in the PO this year, it would still be a very good year and a promising one for the future.

Except you're missing a whole bunch of stuff. For one, there are at least 3 teams in the West that have a much brighter future than ours. So even if this is considered a success of a year, we're going to be competing against teams that are about to get better. OKC being one of them and was the 1st seed this year. We won't be able to beat Denver next year unless some crazy internal developments happen with McDaniels or we somehow luck into an amazing draft pick or FA.

Two. We're maxed out. Unless we strike lottery gold and draft a #2 option behind Ant, this is as good as we will be for a long time. We don't have any flexibility, we'll need a new PG after next year and we'll have to resign Gobert. We might not be able to hold onto our current core.

Three. We'll likely have to trade KAT for a lesser return if Taylor doesn't want to go into the 2nd apron. Unless we also strike gold there we aren't going to be better than this year's version.

Four. If by some miracle none of those things are problems, we still have get better offensive and defensive schemes and see growth in our current team. I'm not holding my breath.

Fifth. The best FA we've ever signed was SlowMo, so don't hold your breath their even if we did have room to sign players.


Honestly, we're fuicked and this was our best shot, we might have another shot at it next year, but unless there are injuries I don't expect a different result.

Ant's probably going to leave or ask for a trade in a couple of years and then we'll be back to where we started.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

A lot of overreaction tonight, especially about Rudy.

Jokic's performance tonight is more about Jokic's exceptional shot making than Rudy's poor one on one defence (and by the way, Rudy's value have never been about him being a stunning one on one post defender, but more about his help defence).

Rudy played 40 minutes tonight and he has the best plus/minus of the team (-2), he is not the main reason why the Wolves lost.

(And Minnesota would probably not be in the second round of the playoffs this year without him, for those crying -again- about the trade).

Rudy has never been part of a team that has made it to even the WCF. Excuse after excuse he's overrated af.

I don't want to be in the second round because this is all we will ever be in at this point. Unless the Western conference loses a bunch of stars we'll never win a chip.

Also you don't know that because we could have done a million things with those assets besides burn them on a player who clearly doesn't fit with KAT on offense or defense. KAT isn't a necessity to win a chip, but Gobert isn't better than KAT.

KAT is at best a 3rd option on a championship team. If you're gonna burn assets you better bring in a #1 or #2 option.

I agree with you on the fact that Rudy has some weakness. As do KAT. Overall they are good players but clearly overpaid for me. The point FO have to deal with is can we run again with the same players as starters and win it? For me the answer is clearly no. And if you answer no, then you have to trade KAT or Rudy. I’m afraid Rudy value is not really high. There is not much option then to trade KAT. But in this case it has to be for a better player not just to save money.

[Note30]

A lot of overreaction tonight, especially about Rudy.

Jokic's performance tonight is more about Jokic's exceptional shot making than Rudy's poor one on one defence (and by the way, Rudy's value have never been about him being a stunning one on one post defender, but more about his help defence).

Rudy played 40 minutes tonight and he has the best plus/minus of the team (-2), he is not the main reason why the Wolves lost.

(And Minnesota would probably not be in the second round of the playoffs this year without him, for those crying -again- about the trade).

Rudy has never been part of a team that has made it to even the WCF. Excuse after excuse he's overrated af.

I don't want to be in the second round because this is all we will ever be in at this point. Unless the Western conference loses a bunch of stars we'll never win a chip.

Also you don't know that because we could have done a million things with those assets besides burn them on a player who clearly doesn't fit with KAT on offense or defense. KAT isn't a necessity to win a chip, but Gobert isn't better than KAT.

KAT is at best a 3rd option on a championship team. If you're gonna burn assets you better bring in a #1 or #2 option.

I agree with you on the fact that Rudy has some weakness. As do KAT. Overall they are good players but clearly overpaid for me. The point FO have to deal with is can we run again with the same players as starters and win it? For me the answer is clearly no. And if you answer no, then you have to trade KAT or Rudy. I’m afraid Rudy value is not really high. There is not much option then to trade KAT. But in this case it has to be for a better player not just to save money.

There's nothing to attach to KAT to get a better player.

I don't think our pick this year holds much value.

We're not getting a Giannis or Luka for KAT, and unfortunately that's the amount of gap between where we are now and where we need to be.

Unless you get lucky and get some under the radar young player who blossoms into a #2 this is all ****.

[Kineto]

Rudy has never been part of a team that has made it to even the WCF. Excuse after excuse he's overrated af.

I don't want to be in the second round because this is all we will ever be in at this point. Unless the Western conference loses a bunch of stars we'll never win a chip.

Also you don't know that because we could have done a million things with those assets besides burn them on a player who clearly doesn't fit with KAT on offense or defense. KAT isn't a necessity to win a chip, but Gobert isn't better than KAT.

KAT is at best a 3rd option on a championship team. If you're gonna burn assets you better bring in a #1 or #2 option.

Overreacting again...

Twolve have their best playoff run in 20 years, are 2-3 against defending champions and title favourites, with a stellar performance from a 3-time MVP, and you act like this team is the Atlanta Hawks.

Denver didn't become a champion in one season, and even if Minnesota doesn't go further in the PO this year, it would still be a very good year and a promising one for the future.

Except you're missing a whole bunch of stuff. For one, there are at least 3 teams in the West that have a much brighter future than ours. So even if this is considered a success of a year, we're going to be competing against teams that are about to get better. OKC being one of them and was the 1st seed this year. We won't be able to beat Denver next year unless some crazy internal developments happen with McDaniels or we somehow luck into an amazing draft pick or FA.

Two. We're maxed out. Unless we strike lottery gold and draft a #2 option behind Ant, this is as good as we will be for a long time. We don't have any flexibility, we'll need a new PG after next year and we'll have to resign Gobert. We might not be able to hold onto our current core.

Three. We'll likely have to trade KAT for a lesser return if Taylor doesn't want to go into the 2nd apron. Unless we also strike gold there we aren't going to be better than this year's version.

Four. If by some miracle none of those things are problems, we still have get better offensive and defensive schemes and see growth in our current team. I'm not holding my breath.

Fifth. The best FA we've ever signed was SlowMo, so don't hold your breath their even if we did have room to sign players.


Honestly, we're fuicked and this was our best shot, we might have another shot at it next year, but unless there are injuries I don't expect a different result.

Ant's probably going to leave or ask for a trade in a couple of years and then we'll be back to where we started.

I don't have time to continue this conversation right now, but you should take a breath, relax, and think about what has been done, what this team has already achieved, and what is reasonable to hope for in a small market like Minnesota after 20 years of disappointment.

Go Wolves !

[Note30]

Overreacting again...

Twolve have their best playoff run in 20 years, are 2-3 against defending champions and title favourites, with a stellar performance from a 3-time MVP, and you act like this team is the Atlanta Hawks.

Denver didn't become a champion in one season, and even if Minnesota doesn't go further in the PO this year, it would still be a very good year and a promising one for the future.

Except you're missing a whole bunch of stuff. For one, there are at least 3 teams in the West that have a much brighter future than ours. So even if this is considered a success of a year, we're going to be competing against teams that are about to get better. OKC being one of them and was the 1st seed this year. We won't be able to beat Denver next year unless some crazy internal developments happen with McDaniels or we somehow luck into an amazing draft pick or FA.

Two. We're maxed out. Unless we strike lottery gold and draft a #2 option behind Ant, this is as good as we will be for a long time. We don't have any flexibility, we'll need a new PG after next year and we'll have to resign Gobert. We might not be able to hold onto our current core.

Three. We'll likely have to trade KAT for a lesser return if Taylor doesn't want to go into the 2nd apron. Unless we also strike gold there we aren't going to be better than this year's version.

Four. If by some miracle none of those things are problems, we still have get better offensive and defensive schemes and see growth in our current team. I'm not holding my breath.

Fifth. The best FA we've ever signed was SlowMo, so don't hold your breath their even if we did have room to sign players.


Honestly, we're fuicked and this was our best shot, we might have another shot at it next year, but unless there are injuries I don't expect a different result.

Ant's probably going to leave or ask for a trade in a couple of years and then we'll be back to where we started.

I don't have time to continue this conversation right now, but you should take a breath, relax, and think about what has been done, what this team has already achieved, and what is reasonable to hope for in a small market like Minnesota after 20 years of disappointment.

Go Wolves !

Reasonable to hope for. Sounds like cope. Spoken like an apologist for our mediocre FO.

Championships are all that matters in this league.

If you don't have that you haven't actually achieved anything.

[Guidus88]

Except you're missing a whole bunch of stuff. For one, there are at least 3 teams in the West that have a much brighter future than ours. So even if this is considered a success of a year, we're going to be competing against teams that are about to get better. OKC being one of them and was the 1st seed this year. We won't be able to beat Denver next year unless some crazy internal developments happen with McDaniels or we somehow luck into an amazing draft pick or FA.

Two. We're maxed out. Unless we strike lottery gold and draft a #2 option behind Ant, this is as good as we will be for a long time. We don't have any flexibility, we'll need a new PG after next year and we'll have to resign Gobert. We might not be able to hold onto our current core.

Three. We'll likely have to trade KAT for a lesser return if Taylor doesn't want to go into the 2nd apron. Unless we also strike gold there we aren't going to be better than this year's version.

Four. If by some miracle none of those things are problems, we still have get better offensive and defensive schemes and see growth in our current team. I'm not holding my breath.

Fifth. The best FA we've ever signed was SlowMo, so don't hold your breath their even if we did have room to sign players.


Honestly, we're fuicked and this was our best shot, we might have another shot at it next year, but unless there are injuries I don't expect a different result.

Ant's probably going to leave or ask for a trade in a couple of years and then we'll be back to where we started.

I don't have time to continue this conversation right now, but you should take a breath, relax, and think about what has been done, what this team has already achieved, and what is reasonable to hope for in a small market like Minnesota after 20 years of disappointment.

Go Wolves !

Reasonable to hope for. Sounds like cope. Spoken like an apologist for our mediocre FO.

Championships are all that matters in this league.

If you don't have that you haven't actually achieved anything.

so at the start of this season you thought that we were a contender? If I'm not wrong all projections had us with a 43-39 record or so (play-in).
We finished 3rd in the WC only 1 game behind the Nuggets and the Thunder.
We swept the Suns.
We are giving a lot of trouble to the Nuggets and in all the 3 games they won basically all their roster step-up.

I understand that after being 2-0 with 2 homes games to play expectations did sky rocket but we have to be realistic and accept that we could (not over yet) lose a series versus the Nuggets.

This year we showed that Twolves are a TOP5 team in the league. I think that only the Nuggets and the Celtics are better than us. we are on the same level of the Grizzles (healthy) and better that the Thunder. But we are talking about to two teams (Nugs and Celts) that have a consolidated roster and that are at top since 3-4 years.

The question now is: how do we improve? Our flexibility is really tight, IMO the guy that need to step-up is JMcD. He is paid like a superstar but his learning curve is flat in the last two years. He will never be a go to guy and his handles suck but if he turns in something similar to MPJ we can really be a contender.

I'd stay at least another season with this roster, trying to develop our young players like we did with Naz, and see where we are at the end of next season.

[guest81]

Rudy has never been part of a team that has made it to even the WCF. Excuse after excuse he's overrated af.

I don't want to be in the second round because this is all we will ever be in at this point. Unless the Western conference loses a bunch of stars we'll never win a chip.

Also you don't know that because we could have done a million things with those assets besides burn them on a player who clearly doesn't fit with KAT on offense or defense. KAT isn't a necessity to win a chip, but Gobert isn't better than KAT.

KAT is at best a 3rd option on a championship team. If you're gonna burn assets you better bring in a #1 or #2 option.

Overreacting again...

Twolve have their best playoff run in 20 years, are 2-3 against defending champions and title favourites, with a stellar performance from a 3-time MVP, and you act like this team is the Atlanta Hawks.

Denver didn't become a champion in one season, and even if Minnesota doesn't go further in the PO this year, it would still be a very good year and a promising one for the future.

Except you're missing a whole bunch of stuff. For one, there are at least 3 teams in the West that have a much brighter future than ours. So even if this is considered a success of a year, we're going to be competing against teams that are about to get better. OKC being one of them and was the 1st seed this year. We won't be able to beat Denver next year unless some crazy internal developments happen with McDaniels or we somehow luck into an amazing draft pick or FA.

Two. We're maxed out. Unless we strike lottery gold and draft a #2 option behind Ant, this is as good as we will be for a long time. We don't have any flexibility, we'll need a new PG after next year and we'll have to resign Gobert. We might not be able to hold onto our current core.

Three. We'll likely have to trade KAT for a lesser return if Taylor doesn't want to go into the 2nd apron. Unless we also strike gold there we aren't going to be better than this year's version.

Four. If by some miracle none of those things are problems, we still have get better offensive and defensive schemes and see growth in our current team. I'm not holding my breath.

Fifth. The best FA we've ever signed was SlowMo, so don't hold your breath their even if we did have room to sign players.


Honestly, we're fuicked and this was our best shot, we might have another shot at it next year, but unless there are injuries I don't expect a different result.

Ant's probably going to leave or ask for a trade in a couple of years and then we'll be back to where we started.

This is such loser mentality

[Shaka_Zulu]

We.do.not.have.the.offense.to.match.these.guys.


It's not more complicated then that. We can emotionally lose it at every individual player and exaggerate our takes on them and the defense.





But it boils down to offense.



Only Wolves player we need to through out heads first is Kyle Anderson.

[Dewey]

Our issue remains the same …

KAT is a kitten …

Strong PG performance is necessary … the Wolves were runnin with KG until Cassell went down. Done. Just the way it is.