Reasons for wolves optimism

[guest81]

Wolves lost by 8 last night

Nuggets role players had the game of their life

Nobody outside Ant had a good game

They had a crazy end to the first half that’s a one in a million chance

Homecourt doesn't matter to either of these teams

Nuggets haven't come up with anything to slow down Ant

No reason why the wolves still can't win this series

[Shaka_Zulu]

The issue remains the same as it did pre playoffs off for me as in what caps our ceiling. Offense outside of Ant. No one besides very emotional/streaky Kat can give you regular 12+ points on the regular. Like dependable Offensive production.


We are tough and well rounded but that Offensive limitation (plus playoff experience when facing adversity)is reason I'm not all too optimistic we can go long.

Gobert being your 3rd best Offensive scorer isn't entirely good luck for our offense. Need more steady production from Conley (he done decently in spurts), Jaden (no show except 1 game vs Suns), Naw (super streaky) and finally Naz Reid. Who besides one 4th quarter heroics vs Nuggets is a total no show in these playoffs.

[BlacJacMac]

Wolves lost by 8 last night

Nuggets role players had the game of their life

Nobody outside Ant had a good game

They had a crazy end to the first half that’s a one in a million chance

Homecourt doesn't matter to either of these teams

Nuggets haven't come up with anything to slow down Ant

No reason why the wolves still can't win this series

I honestly don't think they're trying to. They're going to let Ant get his and focus on not letting anyone else go off.

[shrink]

Homecourt doesn't matter to either of these teams

It’s apparently a disadvantage! So if this plays out, we win!

[TimberKat]

Wolves lost by 8 last night

Nuggets role players had the game of their life

Nobody outside Ant had a good game

They had a crazy end to the first half that’s a one in a million chance

Homecourt doesn't matter to either of these teams

Nuggets haven't come up with anything to slow down Ant

No reason why the wolves still can't win this series

I honestly don't think they're trying to. They're going to let Ant get his and focus on not letting anyone else go off.

Yes, Ant could score 60 and we still lose. I think they need to get Towns, JMcD, Conley, and Gobert going on offense. Just easy basket and open 3s. Wolves needs to win a game where DEN scores 113 pts.

[Klomp]

Homecourt doesn't matter to either of these teams

It’s apparently a disadvantage! So if this plays out, we win!

There's the optimism!

[Klomp]

Keep in mind. If you reverse the results of Games 1 and 2 with the results of Games 3 and 4, we would be in the exact same position but without any morbidity about the state of the franchise moving ahead into the remainder of the series.

[BlacJacMac]

Keep in mind. If you reverse the results of Games 1 and 2 with the results of Games 3 and 4, we would be in the exact same position but without any morbidity about the state of the franchise moving ahead into the remainder of the series.

Sure.

And if we won all 4 games, we'd be high as a kite!

But seriously, I think the order of how the games happened is VERY important.

So far Denver appears to have adjusted (and Murray looks much healthier after the long delay between games), and we look lost at this point.

Game 5 we have to come out counterpunching. We can't just keep trying the same things.

[m2002brian]

We win if …
1) we go back to having good ball pressure
2) Rotating at a frantic level
3) keeping KAT on Jokic. He over helps and leaves the dunker spot open far too often, same as last year. Dumb down his defensive assignment.
4)Keeping Rudy off Jokic. He’s a much smarter defender and better at not over helping, but has a tough time with Jokic. He actually better at defending drivers than posters.
5) Attack attack attack
6) Make open shots

[life_saver]

Read on Twitter

[shrink]

Read on Twitter

If one of our players is about to shoot a three and no DEN player is there to contest, should one of our other Wolves try to block it?

[guest81]

Wolves lost by 8 last night

Nuggets role players had the game of their life

Nobody outside Ant had a good game

They had a crazy end to the first half that’s a one in a million chance

Homecourt doesn't matter to either of these teams

Nuggets haven't come up with anything to slow down Ant

No reason why the wolves still can't win this series

I honestly don't think they're trying to. They're going to let Ant get his and focus on not letting anyone else go off.

They've definitely been trying to slow down ant. Doubles, traps, trying multiple different defenders. They aren't just letting kcp guard him one on one.

[TimberKat]

I expect Towns/Gobert to play better in the next game. Gobert has to either stop Gordon or Jokic. I feel Towns was out of position a few times. They have to do better with knowing where the help on Jokic should be coming from. I don't expect they double Jokic every possession but need to mix it up just to keep him under control a little more, especially when he is doing the power dribble leading with his off arm.

[moss_is_1]

Really need our role players to step up. That was our big advantage going into the series, and they've **** the bed the last 2 games.

Sure the nuggets have guys playing higher than usual(Holiday, Gordon, even Jackson) but MPJ and even Kcp haven't been very good yet.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

I would say we need 2 things:

Get back our défense level. We give too many open 3.
More of NAZ . I love Rudy but he has to sit a bit if he play as bad as last 2 games.

[_AIJ_]

Wolves in 6!!!!!!

[thinktank]

I think Gordon is key.

Too many times in the last two games he got mismatches against smaller players.

If Gordon has a smaller player on him, send whatever big is on the weak side to switch with the smaller player.

I’m very tired of seeing Gordon score over Conley, NAW, etc.

It seems preventable.

We tried letting Gordon do what he will. It didn’t work. Need to try something else.

Britt even said that if we leave him and he’s hitting, we’ll lose the series. Well, that’s what’s happening—Gordon is feasting on our little guys.

Denver is the best passing team in the league, but we still look lost on D. I want to see a better game plan from the coaching staff tonight.

[Guest84]

Gordon has actually shot pretty well for the whole series so far. 28/39 overall and 8/12 from 3. They can't let him get matched up with smaller guys outside of Ant.

I also think we need to press a little this game and mix it in. Let them work against our set defense a little more to see how that goes. I also think we need more off ball movement to make their guys work on defense. Hoping for a more competitive game or a blow out from the wolves side.

[shrink]

I’m not an X’s and O’s mind like many here, but I think that teams can’t defend everything well. DEN decided to let McDaniels go free, and MIN decided to let Aaron Gordon go free. I was shocked how well Gordon shot, and disappointed in Jaden. But the loss isn’t on Jaden alone, most of the Wolves players had a bad game.

That said, I don’t expect Gordon to shoot so well next time, or Jaden and the rest to shoot so poorly. Finch will make adjustments. I think there is reason for optimism.

[m2002brian]

If they are going to let Gordon bring the ball up, that should be an easy exploit as he isn’t the best passer.

Having Gordon first on ball should mean we can deny Jokic and Murray and force Gordon to be a decision maker. Stop letting him bring it up and just hand it off.

This may sound insane, but pressure Gordon with McDaniels on the entry, Gobert on Porter, Ant on Murray. Find a way to switch Rudy onto Gordon after the ball is brought up. Plus Porter isn’t the best screener or ball handler so getting Rudy switched to Jokic is harder and Porter doesn’t have the moves or the handle to really shake Rudy one v one

But most especially don’t let KAT become the roamer.