WCS Game 1: Minnesota at Denver, Saturday

[Movics]

Thanks god we drafted Edwards
Thanks god no1 drafted Naz

How can I sleep now? 3:30 am in Italy…need some suggestions!!

Who needs sleep when the Wolves finally appear legit? It's 3.30 here in Norway, too.

My plan heading into the postseason was to watch games on replay while staying off of social media to avoid spoilers but I reckon this will not be possible anymore. I feel really inclined to watch the games live and not give a damn about sleep.

This was my plan too… but I’m too excited and can’t sleep well

It’s a Saturday night game. There are no excuses for not staying up, my fellow Europeans man, I don’t miss waking up at 4:30 am to watch the lakers play as a 13-14 year old…

[TimberKat]

Gobert may have redeem himself with those last two basket. It wasn't his best still no too bad.

[BlacJacMac]

We outscored them by 11 in the 2nd half.

Our depth won out over their altitude advantage.

[80HD]

This is the team we were supposed to have against Denver last season.

Having Naz + McDaniels is a game-changer.

That being said, it’s a 7-game series and we need to stay locked in.

[TimberKat]

Ant is the next MJ/Kobe. He is that guy. We have a generational player on our team. 20 years from now he's going to be in that debate.

Definitely, although his game reminds of a hybrid of T-Mac and MJ.

This team kind of mirrors the '04 squad. Imagine if KG had a prime Sprewell instead of a 33 year old Sprewell.

Yes, I can see it - it's the Celtics.

[jpatrick]

And we won with a starter playing 39 minutes and not scoring. You hope Jaden gets it going a bit more on the offensive end.

[Basti]

Who needs sleep when the Wolves finally appear legit? It's 3.30 here in Norway, too.

My plan heading into the postseason was to watch games on replay while staying off of social media to avoid spoilers but I reckon this will not be possible anymore. I feel really inclined to watch the games live and not give a damn about sleep.

This was my plan too… but I’m too excited and can’t sleep well

It’s a Saturday night game. There are no excuses for not staying up, my fellow Europeans man, I don’t miss waking up at 4:30 am to watch the lakers play as a 13-14 year old…

That's fair point but in my defence, I stayed up far too many nights (regardless of the weekdays or weekends) to watch the Wolves lose when I was younger. Nowadays, I am approaching my 40s and sudden changes to my sleeping habits aren't as easily handled as they used to be.

And that's the end of my old man rant

[Note30]

And we won with a starter playing 39 minutes and not scoring. You hope Jaden gets it going a bit more on the offensive end.

He's so inconsistent. Our Khris Middleton

[Basti]

And we won with a starter playing 39 minutes and not scoring. You hope Jaden gets it going a bit more on the offensive end.

He wasn't as assertive offensively as he was against Phoenix but didn't really force any bad shots either. His stat sheets looks worse because he had a few attempted tip ins in traffic and didn't get a few obvious calls in his favour. Where he excelled was on defence against Murray. And if Jaden can continue to keep him in check we have a big advantage as the series goes on.

Edit: typo

[Nick K]

When the national announcers are calling out how bad the whistles are against the Wolves…

This. I never saw that day coming but here we are.

It was like music to my ears. It's so obvious they don't call it the same way for each team.

[Guest84]

I can see something similar happening in this series just like with Phoenix. Denver’s bench is light which forced Jokic to play 40 min. He also has 7TO.

I think the longer it goes, they could get worn down. This is considering the poor play of a few of our normal contributors.

This is the league’s money series so idk if they’ll allow a sweep…can’t wait until Mon

[FrenchMinnyFan]

For Jaden, his defense was huge tonight. Scoring my help but tonight we got enough weapons to carry the team offensively. ANT is consistent right now, KAT do a great job ( he will have to reduce his number of fouls). Mike is the overall general, Rudy the defensive one and anytime this team can put 3 points fire. Tonight Jokic and Murray have to work hard to score . I'm glad in in Asia so don't have to wake up 2 or 3 am to watch games..

[Nick K]

Well, Reid and Conley come thru in the 2nd half. We played as bad as we could and get the win. Ant was Ant. 43-7-3. Kat had another nice game. We finally took care of the ball in the 2nd half and it made all the difference.

Based on this first game Denver has to be thinking they are in trouble. Maybe we can return the favor and win in 5.

[younggunsmn]

Aroooo what a win!
The Brand Managers were pretty biased towards Denver, but this game was pretty mild considering what we are used to seeing from Scott Foster and Tony Brothers. Had they reffed Jokic and Murray would have shot 20 free throws each.
And those games are coming. League aint letting this one only go 4 or 5 games, it will cost them a LOT of money.
Great to see Reggie Miller calling out the BS multiple times on the broadcast.

Ant man is just so damn special, he is totally locked in right now. Playoff Ant has LEVELED UP!
I have no words. Amazing Performance, on both ends of the floor.
Our star rises and falls with him.

Great 2nd half from Mike and Naz Reid, and KAT kept us in the game in the 3rd quarter when we were trading haymakers.
As bad as Naz was in the 1st half, he was that good in the 4th quarter.

Gobert did not pop on the stat sheet, but played great defense and was great in crunch time with 2 huge baskets.
I knew we were destined to win when he hit that bank shot to put us up 9 with 2 minutes left.

Jaden had zero points, but 8 rebounds to go along with great defense and only one foul defending Murray and Porter the whole game.

Got to get that 2nd unit stuff cleaned up, we can't afford to hemorrhage points with NAW as primary ball handler and Anderson out there wrecking our offense.
I like Morris better for the non-Mike minutes, and I like Jaden playing 40 minutes if he can stay out of foul trouble like he's been doing a much better job of in the playoffs.
Give NAW all the backup wing minutes. It's great to have him out there to check Murray when he is normally feasting on the other teams 2nd units and backup guards while Jokic sits.

I really love the game plan of throwing multiple defenders at both Jokic and Murray.
Keeps our guys from getting worn down and makes sure there is a fresh guy with energy to check both at all times instead of one guy getting run through multiple screens possession after possession.

Love the not double teaming Jokic most of the time. Takes away his greatest strength which is his home run passing.
Tonight is the best any team can reasonably expect to defend Jokic. He got 32 and 9 assists, but had 6 turnovers and was 11/25 from the field. Any time you can keep him under both 10FTA and 10 Assists you have a good chance to win the game.

This is gonna be an amazing series, just like the one we played against the Kings 20 years ago.
The depth we didn't have last year really shined through tonight.
40 minutes of great D from Jaden and 14 4th quarter points from Naz, two things we didn't have in last year's matchup.

Denver hit some crazy shots in this one, at least 2 each from Porter and Murray, and scored 8 points in like 20 seconds late in the 4th. They have the DNA of a champion and we are just going to have to be that much better to win this series.
We can't just rely on Ant having the game of his life each time out, we are going to have to keep leveling up to win going forward.

[younggunsmn]

We had 14 turnovers to their 12, but only gave up 3 offensive rebounds and grabbed 7 of our own.
2 teams that really valued each possession, a calling card of really good teams.

Jamal Murray was -22 today and Reggie Jackson +15, mostly from that big run in the first quarter.

Porter looks like a much better all around and consistent player this postseason than he was against us last year, and he's capable of taking and making difficult shots because of his height.
Has to be one bright spot Denver will want to build on going forward, because no team is going to get away with only having 2 guys score against our defense.

Malone hates to play his bench, but I wonder if we might see more Reggie Jackson/Murray 2 PG lineups for a bit going forward to give their offense more playmaking if they fall behind.
Gordon is not doing much but hunting lobs and KCP not much besides being a corner shooter.
Against most teams that might work, but most teams don't have the defenders to play their 2 best players straight up for 48 minutes.
The open shots from the double teams just arent there for them against us for the most part.

[Nick K]

I really believe we played as bad as we could in that first half. Ant carried us. If we play the mistake free ball we have been playing Denver is in trouble. I like our depth and size against them.

[karch34]

I really believe we played as bad as we could in that first half. Ant carried us. If we play the mistake free ball we have been playing Denver is in trouble. I like our depth and size against them.

Feel like last 3 games we got nothing given and a lot taken but we still rose above.

[winforlose]

Watch on YouTube

[TwolvesFanRome]

AAAAAARRRROOOOOOOO!!!!

NAZ REID!!!

In the first half I really hated him...but Naz took the chair when we need!!

Notes for Game 2: limit those f****g gift turnover!

It's only game 1! Calm and cold blood...head on shoulders and..Let's GO Wolves!!

[winforlose]

AAAAAARRRROOOOOOOO!!!!

NAZ REID!!!

In the first half I really hated him...but Naz took the chair when we need!!

Notes for Game 2: limit those f****g gift turnover!

It's only game 1! Calm and cold blood...head on shoulders and..Let's GO Wolves!!

Jaden scored 0 on 0-7 shooting. NAW scored 5 on 2-6 shooting. We have likely improvement points. I am not sure the same is true of Denver. Murray was below his usual, but they really played up the calf issues, not to mention the shin splints, ankle issues, and knee issues he is dealing with. If Murray isn’t Murray I doubt they get much more from MPJ and I think KCP is unlikely to be the guy who picks up the slack. I think we have a solid shot at winning game 2 and getting back to Minnesota in fantastic shape.