The Wolves after a crap start now look more promising than the Wild. ?
And KAT is supposed to be close to returning.
The big question is if KAT's return will help or hurt the Wolves. I'm not sure he's a net gain.
I like KAT's fit more with Conley running the point than I did with DLo running the point. Conley is a court general - he can score a little but he's a much better distributor than Russell was and lightyears better on pick-and-roll plays than DLo was. We'll see if that comes to fruition but it seems like KAT's strengths will be amplified by Conley's strengths, IMO.
The best way to defend a pick-and-roll defensively is to force the ballhandler to kick the pass out to a bad shooter. If Gobert is setting the screen, which he excels at and always has, for Conley, he's got Ant, KAT, and Jaden McDaniels to dish to. All of them are shooting above league average from 3pt range, with Ant being the worst of the 3 at 36.6%. If Gobert is setting the screen for Ant and Ant gets downhill, he's going to get two points almost every time because he's so explosive getting to the rim. If teams double up on Ant and close down the roll on Gobert, Ant has KAT, Jaden, and Conley to dish off to for 3 and again, all 3 of them are above league average at 3pt range. Theoretically that makes the offense very hard to defend. It didn't work well with DLo because he's just not a very good pick-and-roll guard. It should work better with Conley.
The game last night was an extremely impressive win. They dominated with Gobert on the court early when Dallas was trying to match them with big men (Rudy and Conley played extremely well together and Gobert had 20pts and 13 rebounds without missing a shot). Dallas moved to a small ball rotation to counter Rudy (which is what every team did against Utah in the playoffs to basically take Rudy off the court, and is why I was concerned about the trade in the first place), and Finch countered with a small ball rotation for the first time. They finished the game with Ant, Jaden, Prince, Conley, and Kyle Anderson on the court for the last 5ish minutes of the game while trying to hold on to the lead and it worked (barely, but it worked).
The Wolves after a crap start now look more promising than the Wild. ?
And KAT is supposed to be close to returning.
The big question is if KAT's return will help or hurt the Wolves. I'm not sure he's a net gain.
I like KAT's fit more with Conley running the point than I did with DLo running the point. Conley is a court general - he can score a little but he's a much better distributor than Russell was and lightyears better on pick-and-roll plays than DLo was. We'll see if that comes to fruition but it seems like KAT's strengths will be amplified by Conley's strengths, IMO.
The best way to defend a pick-and-roll defensively is to force the ballhandler to kick the pass out to a bad shooter. If Gobert is setting the screen, which he excels at and always has, for Conley, he's got Ant, KAT, and Jaden McDaniels to dish to. All of them are shooting above league average from 3pt range, with Ant being the worst of the 3 at 36.6%. If Gobert is setting the screen for Ant and Ant gets downhill, he's going to get two points almost every time because he's so explosive getting to the rim. If teams double up on Ant and close down the roll on Gobert, Ant has KAT, Jaden, and Conley to dish off to for 3 and again, all 3 of them are above league average at 3pt range. Theoretically that makes the offense very hard to defend. It didn't work well with DLo because he's just not a very good pick-and-roll guard. It should work better with Conley.
The game last night was an extremely impressive win. They dominated with Gobert on the court early when Dallas was trying to match them with big men (Rudy and Conley played extremely well together and Gobert had 20pts and 13 rebounds without missing a shot). Dallas moved to a small ball rotation to counter Rudy (which is what every team did against Utah in the playoffs to basically take Rudy off the court, and is why I was concerned about the trade in the first place), and Finch countered with a small ball rotation for the first time. They finished the game with Ant, Jaden, Prince, Conley, and Kyle Anderson on the court for the last 5ish minutes of the game while trying to hold on to the lead and it worked (barely, but it worked).
I do think Conley helps the KAT equation, but I have lost so much faith in KAT I won't believe it until I see it in terms of him helping the team.
Wolves are in the play-in games for the playoff again. They play @ the Lakers to try to get the 7 seed and a rematch with Memphis. If they win against LA, they will get the 7 seed. If they lose they will host the winner of New Orleans vs OKC.
Jaden McDaniels, our best defensive player, will be greatly missed. What a stupid thing to do.
Funny because I grew up a fan mostly because McHale and Bird sparked my interest. From there my interest grew and watched the NBA pretty regularly when it was available and always during the playoffs. I don't know exactly when I lost interest but I know it happened shortly after Jordan started playing for Washington. It was a slow downhill slide from there and I have probably watched 10 NBA games (all playoff games) start to finish in the last 20 years.
In the post-game interview, even after hitting this shot (and dropping 36 for the game and becoming the 2nd all-time player with 5 or more 30pt playoff games before turning 22, only LeBron has more with 8), all he did was praise his teammates. Specifically KAT, Nickeil Alexander-Walker (effusive praise for NAW), and Gobert. First game of the series the Wolves won the rebounding battle.
The officials continue to let Jokic get away with murder and then call KAT and Rudy any time he gets breathed on but the Wolves were able to overcome it at least for one game.
Definitely the right move, you don’t need to be a basketball guru to know that he was poor at adjusting defensively. The Heat aren’t an elite offense and they were scoring 10-20 points higher than their season average every game that series. Against the Knicks they haven’t done that once.
Watched most of Game 3 last night to see how good the 'The Joker' really is and nothing else was really on. Jokic is the real deal. Big, strong, can play inside and shot. Though the NBA continues to spiral backwards and downwards. It's not basketball, it's not even streetball. The stripes have no clue what they are doing on the court. They are horrible on what they call and what they don't call. They make Angle Hernandez look like Zeus. The game would be better off if the players would call their own fouls then what quality of officiating they have now. And the quality of play outside of 3-4 starters per team is horrible as well. I was shocked how bad the NBA has gotten with the quality of players. I'll always enjoy high school basketball and college. Just the NBA, I have not interest cause of how it's gotten away from the basic fundamentals and basic rules you learn in grade school.
Tuned for a bit to see the Wemby debut and was unneededly reminded that Luka is the funnest player to watch on the planet. Just takes over the game like no one since Bird
Tuned for a bit to see the Wemby debut and was unneededly reminded that Luka is the funnest player to watch on the planet. Just takes over the game like no one since Bird
Tuned for a bit to see the Wemby debut and was unneededly reminded that Luka is the funnest player to watch on the planet. Just takes over the game like no one since Bird
Indeed.. Jokic is fun to watch as well.
I think my favorite part about Jokic is how totally bored he is that he's one of the greatest basketball players on the planet. There was an interview he did earlier in the week where they asked him what his offseason was like and he said (paraphrasing) I spent a lot of time in the weight room getting my body ready, but skipped a lot of time on the court."
Tuned for a bit to see the Wemby debut and was unneededly reminded that Luka is the funnest player to watch on the planet. Just takes over the game like no one since Bird
Indeed.. Jokic is fun to watch as well.
I think my favorite part about Jokic is how totally bored he is that he's one of the greatest basketball players on the planet. There was an interview he did earlier in the week where they asked him what his offseason was like and he said (paraphrasing) I spent a lot of time in the weight room getting my body ready, but skipped a lot of time on the court."
For sure! Haha, I think I saw that interview you’re referring to.. and then comes in opening night and drops a triple-double on the lakers.
Tuned for a bit to see the Wemby debut and was unneededly reminded that Luka is the funnest player to watch on the planet. Just takes over the game like no one since Bird
Indeed.. Jokic is fun to watch as well.
I think my favorite part about Jokic is how totally bored he is that he's one of the greatest basketball players on the planet. There was an interview he did earlier in the week where they asked him what his offseason was like and he said (paraphrasing) I spent a lot of time in the weight room getting my body ready, but skipped a lot of time on the court."
For sure! Haha, I think I saw that interview you’re referring to.. and then comes in opening night and drops a triple-double on the lakers.
I was talking about Luka Doncic from Dallas. He was redonkulous again tonight, pretty sure he’s a robot.
Yet another in a long line of legendary Timberwolves collapses. ?
I've never seen a team blow more big leads under one coach in my life. Seems like 4-5 times a year the Wolves blow a 15+ point second half lead under Finch.
Wolves won again last night on the road against Golden State.
They currently have the #1 ranked defense in the NBA.
They seem to have figured out a way to use KAT and Gobert on the court at the same time, Ant Edwards continues his ascension to one of the top players in the league.
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
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Wolves won again last night on the road against Golden State.
They currently have the #1 ranked defense in the NBA.
They seem to have figured out a way to use KAT and Gobert on the court at the same time, Ant Edwards continues his ascension to one of the top players in the league.
In the last 4 1/2 minutes (leading by 11) Connelly made 2 clutch runners & then with 2:28 to go ANT delivered the dagger with 8 straight points to seal the victory. With 1:16 to go GS waived the white flag (down by 12) emptying the bench. TWolves did the same & the reserves coughed up 8 points of the lead (32 seconds remained) with the guard with the safety glasses bricking 2 FT’s (up by 7) GS actually got a steal and almost cut lead to 1-2 points (much to Finch’s frustration) before holding on to win by 6 (he damn near had to put the starters back in) lol. After 35 years, the Twolves appear to finally have a cold blooded closer in A. Edwards
Wolves could possibly use some scoring depth if not at the expense of their defense. Their bench scoring is 19th in the league and I saw a +/- stat that they're hugely positive with ANT on the floor and quite negative when he's not. Their defense however has been elite so perhaps that's enough to offset. They're Top 10 in every major defensive category except steals and with that they're still a respectable 13th.
