GopherWeatherGuy
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This is what getting healthy has looked like for this seasons Wolves.
2020-2021 Minnesota Timberwolves In-Season Thread
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Iceland12
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Detroit — In some games, the score isn’t indicative of the game. One team isn’t as bad as the score and the other isn’t as good. The Pistons are better than they showed, and the Minnesota Timberwolves might be as good as they showed.
Maybe better.
What matters in the end is the score, and the Timberwolves were on the right side of it, with a convincing 119-100 victory on Tuesday night at Little Caesars Arena..
With eight regulars sitting because of rest or injury, the young players had to split up big minutes, and some new lineup combinations that put some of them in different positions. Josh Jackson (fourth season) and Jahlil Okafor (sixth) were the two most-veteran players active for the Pistons..
The Timberwolves led from wire to wire and led by as many as 27 points.
The Pistons got within 44-38 midway through the second quarter on a 3-pointer by Bey. Minnesota answered with an 18-0 run, keyed by Anthony Edwards (22 points) and Ricky Rubio (19 points and five assists), who combined for 14 points during the spurt..
That trimmed the deficit to 62-52, but the Timberwolves had an answer, running off 11 straight points, with a basket by Karl-Anthony Towns (28 points, eight rebounds and a lay-in and 3-pointer by D’Angelo Russell (15 points and 10 assists)..
Maybe better.
What matters in the end is the score, and the Timberwolves were on the right side of it, with a convincing 119-100 victory on Tuesday night at Little Caesars Arena..
With eight regulars sitting because of rest or injury, the young players had to split up big minutes, and some new lineup combinations that put some of them in different positions. Josh Jackson (fourth season) and Jahlil Okafor (sixth) were the two most-veteran players active for the Pistons..
The Timberwolves led from wire to wire and led by as many as 27 points.
The Pistons got within 44-38 midway through the second quarter on a 3-pointer by Bey. Minnesota answered with an 18-0 run, keyed by Anthony Edwards (22 points) and Ricky Rubio (19 points and five assists), who combined for 14 points during the spurt..
That trimmed the deficit to 62-52, but the Timberwolves had an answer, running off 11 straight points, with a basket by Karl-Anthony Towns (28 points, eight rebounds and a lay-in and 3-pointer by D’Angelo Russell (15 points and 10 assists)..
'You can't win like that:' Turnovers plague Pistons in 119-100 loss to Timberwolves
Despite 21 points from Saddiq Bey, the Pistons lost their third straight game and moved closer to earning one of the three worst records before the draft lottery.
www.detroitnews.com
LakevilleBro
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True, but Chris Finch deserves credit also.
GopherWeatherGuy
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Definitely
Oregon Gopher
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Unfortunately it’ll likely lead to no draft pick for the wolves this year.
Iceland12
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True. Sadly in today's NBA fans of about 22 teams start dreaming of losing as much as they can about 20-30 games into the season. Particularly those without Season Tickets.
Ogee Ogilthorpe
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This is where I've been for months now. Losing is for losers, period. Finish the season strong, if you still nab a top-3 pick, great, if not it will be good to get that over and done with and not have that hanging over their heads for next year (unprotected).
Iceland12
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In most seasons this game might have been decided before the tip.
The closing days of the regular season. One team competing for a lottery pick, the other for seeding in the upcoming NBA playoffs.
But this isn't normal. Since Chris Finch took over as Timberwolves coach the idea has been to compete to win rather than for lottery position. So Thursday's game with Denver — a team that entered the night seeded fourth in the Western Conference, a game behind third-seeded L.A. Clippers — was entertaining.
"Listen, we should fight,'' Finch said. "That's one thing we've been instilling in our guys since we got here. Up the level of competitiveness.''
Thursday at Target Center the Wolves lost 114-103. But it wasn't from a lack of trying. It had more to do with Denver's sizable lineup and the Wolves' inability to finish a game still in reach when the fourth quarter began..
www.startribune.com
The closing days of the regular season. One team competing for a lottery pick, the other for seeding in the upcoming NBA playoffs.
But this isn't normal. Since Chris Finch took over as Timberwolves coach the idea has been to compete to win rather than for lottery position. So Thursday's game with Denver — a team that entered the night seeded fourth in the Western Conference, a game behind third-seeded L.A. Clippers — was entertaining.
"Listen, we should fight,'' Finch said. "That's one thing we've been instilling in our guys since we got here. Up the level of competitiveness.''
Thursday at Target Center the Wolves lost 114-103. But it wasn't from a lack of trying. It had more to do with Denver's sizable lineup and the Wolves' inability to finish a game still in reach when the fourth quarter began..
Nikola Jokic leads Denver to 114-103 win over Timberwolves
Behind 31 points and 14 rebounds from Nikola Jokic, Denver continued its march to the postseason by turning away the Wolves.
www.startribune.com
tikited
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The offensive rebounding by Denver hurt a lot last night. Jokic is simply amazing.In most seasons this game might have been decided before the tip.
The closing days of the regular season. One team competing for a lottery pick, the other for seeding in the upcoming NBA playoffs.
But this isn't normal. Since Chris Finch took over as Timberwolves coach the idea has been to compete to win rather than for lottery position. So Thursday's game with Denver — a team that entered the night seeded fourth in the Western Conference, a game behind third-seeded L.A. Clippers — was entertaining.
"Listen, we should fight,'' Finch said. "That's one thing we've been instilling in our guys since we got here. Up the level of competitiveness.''
Thursday at Target Center the Wolves lost 114-103. But it wasn't from a lack of trying. It had more to do with Denver's sizable lineup and the Wolves' inability to finish a game still in reach when the fourth quarter began..
Nikola Jokic leads Denver to 114-103 win over Timberwolves
Behind 31 points and 14 rebounds from Nikola Jokic, Denver continued its march to the postseason by turning away the Wolves.
Iceland12
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No kidding. They're 46-24 and Jokic has played in all 70 games. He has a great shot at an MVP trophy.
Unless they're gonna shot 38-40% from 3, the Wolves desperately need another big man who can rebound, block shots and get some put backs.
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Yep. Vanderbilt is a very nice player coming off the bench, but he can't be counted on for starting minutes.
Jokic is the goofiest looking great athlete or greatest looking goofy athlete I've ever seen. He frustrates the hell out of KAT and you can tell he loves it.
Iceland12
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The Wolves didn't really show-up for today's matinee game against the Celtics.
The Celtics were locked into the No. 7 seed in next week’s play-in tournament regardless of how this weekend unfolded, and the absences of most of their key rotation players in Saturday’s game against the Timberwolves were surely a result of that.
But that also created one possibility that would have seemed unfathomable at the start of this year: finishing the season with a losing record. Boston at least avoided that ignominy, defeating Minnesota, 124-108, to ensure that it finishes this season no worse than .500.
Jayson Tatum had 26 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Celtics, and Evan Fournier added 18 points. Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart, Robert Williams, and Tristan Thompson sat out and are not on this road trip.
▪ The Timberwolves were playing some end-of-season, time-to-go-home defense, but the Celtics were happy to take advantage of all of the wide open 3-point looks that were waiting for them. Boston attempted 30 3-pointers in the first half, a higher total than they had in 13 full games this year..
www.bostonglobe.com
The Celtics were locked into the No. 7 seed in next week’s play-in tournament regardless of how this weekend unfolded, and the absences of most of their key rotation players in Saturday’s game against the Timberwolves were surely a result of that.
But that also created one possibility that would have seemed unfathomable at the start of this year: finishing the season with a losing record. Boston at least avoided that ignominy, defeating Minnesota, 124-108, to ensure that it finishes this season no worse than .500.
Jayson Tatum had 26 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Celtics, and Evan Fournier added 18 points. Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart, Robert Williams, and Tristan Thompson sat out and are not on this road trip.
▪ The Timberwolves were playing some end-of-season, time-to-go-home defense, but the Celtics were happy to take advantage of all of the wide open 3-point looks that were waiting for them. Boston attempted 30 3-pointers in the first half, a higher total than they had in 13 full games this year..
The Celtics were missing a lot of key players, but it didn’t matter against the Timberwolves - The Boston Globe
Jayson Tatum led Boston with 26 points and 11 rebounds.
Iceland12
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Two years in, Gersson Rosas says he is seeing potential in his roster..
The organization grappled with the death of George Floyd from afar, Karl-Anthony Towns dealt with family tragedies and then was injured and caught COVID during the season. D'Angelo Russell also was hurt, and all that delayed the evaluation of what the Wolves exactly have when those two play together. On top of that, Rosas decided to make a coaching change and replaced Ryan Saunders with Finch after a 7-24 start.
With the Wolves eschewing tanking in the final weeks and finally putting more wins on the board, maybe they've weighed down the menus.
"We've had what we've had the last two years for whatever reasons there are," Rosas said. "Things we can control, things we can't control, and our record is what it is and that's who we are. We really feel confident about the core, the roster we have in place. … Even though it's a small sample size, when our top guys are on the floor, we're a winning team and that's our belief."
"If we get the pick, there's a strategy in place there," Rosas said. "If we don't get the pick, there's a strategy in place there."
The team didn't mind relinquishing odds in the draft because for the first time they got to see what the team Rosas assembled looked like when most players were healthy. Rosas stood pat at the trade deadline, saying that was a primary reason he didn't make any moves. He also said then that power forward was a position the Wolves had to still address. That hasn't changed as the Wolves prepare for the offseason.
"The four spot needs help," Rosas said. "Our rebounding needs help..
www.startribune.com
The organization grappled with the death of George Floyd from afar, Karl-Anthony Towns dealt with family tragedies and then was injured and caught COVID during the season. D'Angelo Russell also was hurt, and all that delayed the evaluation of what the Wolves exactly have when those two play together. On top of that, Rosas decided to make a coaching change and replaced Ryan Saunders with Finch after a 7-24 start.
With the Wolves eschewing tanking in the final weeks and finally putting more wins on the board, maybe they've weighed down the menus.
"We've had what we've had the last two years for whatever reasons there are," Rosas said. "Things we can control, things we can't control, and our record is what it is and that's who we are. We really feel confident about the core, the roster we have in place. … Even though it's a small sample size, when our top guys are on the floor, we're a winning team and that's our belief."
Edwards making a leap
That belief comes in part from the second half of Anthony Edwards. The rookie guard thrived under Finch, and went from averaging 13.9 points on 37% shooting before the All-Star break to 23.6 points on 45% after it.."If we get the pick, there's a strategy in place there," Rosas said. "If we don't get the pick, there's a strategy in place there."
The team didn't mind relinquishing odds in the draft because for the first time they got to see what the team Rosas assembled looked like when most players were healthy. Rosas stood pat at the trade deadline, saying that was a primary reason he didn't make any moves. He also said then that power forward was a position the Wolves had to still address. That hasn't changed as the Wolves prepare for the offseason.
"The four spot needs help," Rosas said. "Our rebounding needs help..
Wolves basketball boss believes he has built a winner
Two years in, Gersson Rosas says he is seeing potential in his roster.
www.startribune.com
Iceland12
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There was a definite last day of school vibe on the Timberwolves bench before Sunday's 136-121 win over the Mavericks.
Josh Okogie was dancing with strength coach Bill Burgos, and the bench was just bouncing around like it was a mini moshpit before tip-off.
The mood was understandable at the end of a trying season filled with plenty of losing, a coaching change, not to mention the isolation and frequent testing that came with a season playing amid a pandemic..
Wolves locked up the sixth-worst record in the league, assuring themselves of 27.6% odds of keeping the pick. They could have maxed those odds around 40% if they had finished in the bottom three of the league. Even a loss Sunday would have given them an extra 4.3% in the odds, up to 31.9%, of landing in the top three after Oklahoma City beat the Clippers. But the Wolves maintained they were trying to win out and that didn't change Sunday. It was essential for their morale..
Sunday's performance was the polar opposite of Saturday, when the Wolves looked like they wanted nothing to do with playing in a listless loss to Boston. The Wolves at least ended the season on a positive note and what it made the win noteworthy was that their rookies, Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels, ignited the spark.
Edwards was electric in scoring 30 points and shooting 5-for-9 from three-point range, a performance that showcased how far he came in the second half of the season. From getting the label as an inefficient chucker who turned into a legitimate first option for the rookie of the year race. Finch was asked afterward when he realized Edwards could be a focal point of the offense. Finch said it came when D'Angelo Russell was hurt, Malik Beasley was suspended and Edwards scored 42 in a win against Phoenix..
www.startribune.com
Josh Okogie was dancing with strength coach Bill Burgos, and the bench was just bouncing around like it was a mini moshpit before tip-off.
The mood was understandable at the end of a trying season filled with plenty of losing, a coaching change, not to mention the isolation and frequent testing that came with a season playing amid a pandemic..
Wolves locked up the sixth-worst record in the league, assuring themselves of 27.6% odds of keeping the pick. They could have maxed those odds around 40% if they had finished in the bottom three of the league. Even a loss Sunday would have given them an extra 4.3% in the odds, up to 31.9%, of landing in the top three after Oklahoma City beat the Clippers. But the Wolves maintained they were trying to win out and that didn't change Sunday. It was essential for their morale..
Sunday's performance was the polar opposite of Saturday, when the Wolves looked like they wanted nothing to do with playing in a listless loss to Boston. The Wolves at least ended the season on a positive note and what it made the win noteworthy was that their rookies, Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels, ignited the spark.
Edwards was electric in scoring 30 points and shooting 5-for-9 from three-point range, a performance that showcased how far he came in the second half of the season. From getting the label as an inefficient chucker who turned into a legitimate first option for the rookie of the year race. Finch was asked afterward when he realized Edwards could be a focal point of the offense. Finch said it came when D'Angelo Russell was hurt, Malik Beasley was suspended and Edwards scored 42 in a win against Phoenix..
Wolves end season with 136-121 rout of playoff-bound Dallas
The Wolves played loose and well in their final game, showing the promise of their up-and-coming roster and showing off Rookie of the Year-hopeful Anthony Edwards.
www.startribune.com