WCS Game 1: Minnesota at Denver, Saturday

[BlacJacMac]

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[durden_tyler]

Hello all, cheering (and betting) Wolves in the series vs Nuggets.

What would the primary defensive matchups look like?

McDaniels on Murray
Conley on KCP
Ant on Porter
KAT on Gordon
Gobert on Jokic

Obviously a lot of interchangeable pieces here but mainly who’s defending who in the starting five at least?


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[BlacJacMac]

Hello all, cheering (and betting) Wolves in the series vs Nuggets.

What would the primary defensive matchups look like?

McDaniels on Murray
Conley on KCP
Ant on Porter
KAT on Gordon
Gobert on Jokic

Obviously a lot of interchangeable pieces here but mainly who’s defending who in the starting five at least?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

KAT defends Jokic, Gobert defends Gordon - and is thus available to roam off of him.

[durden_tyler]

Hello all, cheering (and betting) Wolves in the series vs Nuggets.

What would the primary defensive matchups look like?

McDaniels on Murray
Conley on KCP
Ant on Porter
KAT on Gordon
Gobert on Jokic

Obviously a lot of interchangeable pieces here but mainly who’s defending who in the starting five at least?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

KAT defends Jokic, Gobert defends Gordon - and is thus available to roam off of him.

Thank you, i should have backread first before i asked since you've been discussing it already.

Anyway, i don't know why i am still asking since i made my series bet already on the Wolves so maybe i just want assurance i picked the right side. LOL

[shrink]

Thank you, i should have backread first before i asked since you've been discussing it already.

Anyway, i don't know why i am still asking since i made my series bet already on the Wolves so maybe i just want assurance i picked the right side. LOL

This might make you more comfortable

I always thought it’s Minny [who matches up best against DEN - sic] because they are best at negating the things at negating DEN’s match up advantages.

MIN plays Towns on Jokic. Nobody stops Jokic, but Towns length helps reduce his passing ability, and makes Jokic more of a scorer. That allows Gobert to protect the paint while he guards Aaron Gordon. For most teams, that means if they use their PF and C this way, Porter has a big size advantage on his defender. The Wolves though are loaded with quality players 6-9 or taller, with Jaden McDaniels, Naz, and Kyle Anderson. In fact, MIN likely has the size advantage in the match up, because DEN’s bench bigs aren’t as deep as MIN.

Next, Jamal Murray is an under-rated player finally getting his due, and a lot of that credit goes to receiving great passes from Jokic. But MIN is showing that with defenders like McDaniels and Ant (and Nickiel Alexander-Walker), they can really limit perimeter scorers, like Devin Booker.

On the other hand, how does DEN handle Ant? They don’t have Brown this year, and the only player that could maybe defend him is Gordon. However, Gordon is the ONLY option they have to defend Towns size and scoring ability. Towns shoots over smaller guys, and drive past bigger, slower defenders. KCP is a good defender, but can’t stop Ant.

MIN has to win the non-Jokic minutes, and with a much better bench (Naz Reid, NAW, Anderson, Monte Morris), they should easily.

I’m not saying MIN is better than DEN, and they should be favored. I am saying that MIN’s team composition (both built by Tim Connelly) create a lot of match up issues for the Nuggets. I wonder if Connelly realized that for the MIN to have high level success, he needed to build a team that could match up with with DEN, and that influenced him to pay such a high price to acquire Gobert?

[winforlose]

The more I think about and evaluate this series the more I am convinced it comes down to execution. We have multiple offensive and defensive advantages to exploit. We have a coach that seems to have the right mindset and defensive scheme to handle Denver’s strengths. On paper we should be the favorites, (of course no one will say so given that Denver won it all last year.) But, having the edge on paper and winning a series are two very different things. Karl needs to stay out of foul trouble, the team needs to stay healthy, Jaden needs to give the same level of play as round 1, Rudy needs to keep making his free throws, ect… If we play our game and play it well we win. If we don’t we lose. This might sound obvious, but the key take away is even if Denver plays their game at a high level, if we play our game at high level we will win this series.

[TimberKat]

The more I think about and evaluate this series the more I am convinced it comes down to execution. We have multiple offensive and defensive advantages to exploit. We have a coach that seems to have the right mindset and defensive scheme to handle Denver’s strengths. On paper we should be the favorites, (of course no one will say so given that Denver won it all last year.) But, having the edge on paper and winning a series are two very different things. Karl needs to stay out of foul trouble, the team needs to stay healthy, Jaden needs to give the same level of play as round 1, Rudy needs to keep making his free throws, ect… If we play our game and play it well we win. If we don’t we lose. This might sound obvious, but the key take away is even if Denver plays their game at a high level, if we play our game at high level we will win this series.

Yes, both teams know each other so well that I don't know if there is an trick play left. We assume Ant will be good but can he be great like in Suns series (both scoring and passing)? That is a lot to ask for? Can we slow down Jokic while shutdown both Murray and Porter? Can Gordon hit 3s? Will Naz find another Gear? Are the Jokic brothers going to allow Ant to enter Bell Arena?

[winforlose]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/jamal-murray-in-and-out-of-nuggets-practices-with-calf-injury-leading-up-to-game-1-vs-timberwolves/ar-AA1o6SEP?ocid=BingNewsSerp

[Loaf_of_bread]

Let's not even delve into the details, and just focus on straight up obliteration.

[TimberKat]

Here we go with the most anticipated event in twenty years – The Big KAT and Mighty Ant Show.

Starting KAT and Ant as themselves with the Golden Bear. Although you will never see this Bear sink a 3 foot putt. Also featuring Old Man Conley, Stone Face McDaniels, Pacman Naz, and Nickeil Skywalker who can predict his opponent’s every move. No more Tom and Jerry, this is the greatest show on earth. LLLet’s Get Ready To Rumble!!!

[Calinks]

I’m seeing a lot of ppl on socials say this is the real NBA finals. I’m honestly quite surprised.

They are saying it because both teams stand head and shoulders above the Thunder (literally and figuratively,) and because Boston is overrated. They played in an East that was much weaker than the west and injured quite often as well. The winner of our next series is the odds on favorite to win it all.

Ido think we are both better than the Thunder but I think the Thunder are pretty close to us. I'd go Denver>Boston>>Timberwolves>Thunder>>>Other teams right now. I put Denver at the top with Boston right behind them. Boston has more talent but I don't know if they can match Denvers poise. I also feel like we have fantastic talent but our execution and poise hold us back and its under Denver and Boston. OKC has shown really good poise, especially for a young team and they have some really nice talent. I think we would take them but they could beat us.

[Calinks]

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[Note30]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/jamal-murray-in-and-out-of-nuggets-practices-with-calf-injury-leading-up-to-game-1-vs-timberwolves/ar-AA1o6SEP?ocid=BingNewsSerp

Guarantee they bring this up if we win.

[winforlose]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/jamal-murray-in-and-out-of-nuggets-practices-with-calf-injury-leading-up-to-game-1-vs-timberwolves/ar-AA1o6SEP?ocid=BingNewsSerp

Guarantee they bring this up if we win.

If people remember back to the play in game where Rudy was suspended by the team last year (for punching Kyle,) the talk was his back was so bad he would have had to sit anyway. Karl had been far from 100% both with his calf and his conditioning. Jaden and Naz were both out as well. No one says Denver’s glory is not well earned because they beat an injured Timberwolves. If we win a chip people can throw shade, but they cannot ignore the fact that teams beat opponents who are banged up or worse every year.

[winforlose]

Great news. We avoided both Brothers and Foster in game 1.

https://official.nba.com/referee-assignments/

[KGdaBom]

Here we go with the most anticipated event in twenty years – The Big KAT and Mighty Ant Show.

Starting KAT and Ant as themselves with the Golden Bear. Although you will never see this Bear sink a 3 foot putt. Also featuring Old Man Conley, Stone Face McDaniels, Pacman Naz, and Nickeil Skywalker who can predict his opponent’s every move. No more Tom and Jerry, this is the greatest show on earth. LLLet’s Get Ready To Rumble!!!

Skywalker should do well on May 4th.

[Howard Cosell]

Murray’s availability for game 1 is a game-time decision. Just reported.

[winforlose]

Murray’s availability for game 1 is a game-time decision. Just reported.

He will play.

[Howard Cosell]

Murray’s availability for game 1 is a game-time decision. Just reported.

He will play.

Sure. But at any moment Murray could injure the calf even more and we have a different series going forward.

[winforlose]

Murray’s availability for game 1 is a game-time decision. Just reported.

He will play.

Sure. But at any moment Murray could injure the calf even more and we have a different series going forward.

He was “in and out of practice” this week. He was quoted somewhere (I think I got it from a Denver pod,) as saying he is not bothered at all by the calf. Maybe it slows him down, or they rest him more, but for now, assume this injury report stuff is a formality and that he will play mostly healthy.