All Things 2023-2024 Minnesota Timberwolves In-Season Thread

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56-47 Wolves at the Half.

Gobert, Reid and NAW have looked good. KAT has been decent. Anderson a non-factor and Edwards has been awful. He has 4 fouls and 2 points.

Hawks vs. Timberwolves (Apr 12, 2024) Box Score - ESPN

Box score for the Atlanta Hawks vs. Minnesota Timberwolves NBA game from April 12, 2024 on ESPN. Includes all points, rebounds and steals stats.
www.espn.com
 

Announcers just said the Edwards was "under the weather and questionable to play tonight. At least that explains his performance. Wonder if SloMo is also sick?
 






Oklahoma City won. So it now a 3 way tie. OKC is 1st, Wolves 2nd and Denver 3rd. OKC has the tiebreaker in a 3 way tie due to better record between the 3 team.
 








A few notable people were back in Target Center on Friday night for the Timberwolves 109-106 win over the Hawks.

Minority owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez were sitting across from the Wolves bench for the first time since their public spat over the future of the team began with controlling owner Taylor late last month. Taylor, meanwhile, was in his usual seat near the Wolves bench.

There was another significant return for the immediate future of the team – Karl-Anthony Towns, who made his return to the lineup following left meniscus surgery that kept him out since March 4.

The Wolves benefited from the Hawks resting their starters in the fourth quarter of a game that meant nothing to Atlanta, who's locked into the No. 10 seed in the East, but still had significance for the Wolves as they try to secure as high a seed as possible.

Towns, who had 11 points on 4-for-11 shooting, saved his best for last when he hit a key three from the left corner to put the Wolves ahead 101-100 with 2 minutes, 29 seconds remaining. Then Anthony Edwards, who had struggled most of the night after landing on the injury report with an illness, hit a pair of jumpers for a 105-102 Wolves lead with 49.5 seconds to play.

While Edwards (4-for-12, 12 points) and Towns searched for their shot, Rudy Gobert had an important night offensively with 25 points on 10-for-10 shooting with 19 rebounds. Trae Young had 19 to lead Atlanta.

With the win and Denver's loss to San Antonio, the Wolves, Denver and Thunder are in a three-way tie atop the Western Conference. Oklahoma City holds the tiebreaker based on the teams' head-to-head records against each other (5-3) with the Wolves coming in second at 4-4. Denver would then be the three seed if that holds after Sunday's games..

Timberwolves escape over Hawks 109-106 as Western Conference standings get crowded

Karl-Athony Towns returned to the court for the Wolves, and with their win and Denver's loss to San Antonio, the Wolves, Denver and Thunder are in a three-way tie atop the West.
www.startribune.com
 



Denver getting the 1 seed doesn't bother me much, but OKC getting it is the worst case scenario due to possibly seeing both Phoenix and Denver before the Western Conference finals.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Denver getting the 1 seed doesn't bother me much, but OKC getting it is the worst case scenario due to possibly seeing both Phoenix and Denver before the Western Conference finals.
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I'm not sure there is an "easy" opponent for any team in the West regardless of how things shake out. The Play-in games alone should be incredible.
 


Didn't see the game last night. How did Towns look?
 

Slim Tubby said:
I'm not sure there is an "easy" opponent for any team in the West regardless of how things shake out. The Play-in games alone should be incredible.
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Nothing will be easy. But I would rather see LA, Sacramento, or the Warriors in the 1st round over Phoenix or NO. I would also rather not see Denver until the WC finals.

If standings stay the way they are now, the Denver loss last night hurt sthe Wolves more than helps them. I'd much rather play OKC in the 2nd round.
 
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Gonna be a big day tomorrow for the Western Conference playoff schedule. Last night the Wolves, Thunder, Pelicans, Suns and Lakers won and the Nuggets, Clippers, Mavericks, Kings and Warriors lost. They are all in but where they finish and who they play isn't.

OKC should win the West. They play the Mavericks who aren't going to play Luka and Kyrie.

 

Iceland12 said:
Gonna be a big day tomorrow for the Western Conference playoff schedule. Last night the Wolves, Thunder, Pelicans, Suns and Lakers won and the Nuggets, Clippers, Mavericks, Kings and Warriors lost. They are all in but where they finish and who they play isn't.

OKC should win the West. They play the Mavericks who aren't going to play Luka and Kyrie.

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Question is what strategy does Denver employ? Will they play starters?

Couple of factors:

Do they prefer wolves or OKC in second round?
Do they prefer Suns or Pels in first round? Suns have had their number.

If OKC and Wolves win, Denver is stuck as the 3rd seed. So on the road in 2nd round no matter what. Who would they rather open at in 2nd round?

If I had to guess, they'll play starters in first half. But if Wolves and OKC are in a good position to win, Malone may play bench guys.
 


JimmyJamesMD said:
still better than Slo Mo.

I want Slo Mo's minutes down to zero in playoffs. Would rather TJ Warren come in.
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Towns did look rusty. Particularly shooting threes and some bad turnovers but he did add some rebounding, a lot of assists and his lone three put them ahead for good.

Slo Mo? He again had that "I don't want to be out here" look that tikited talked about. Last night it must have started at the tip off.
 

Iceland12 said:
Towns did look rusty. Particularly shooting threes and some bad turnovers but he did add some rebounding, a lot of assists and his lone three put them ahead for good.

Slo Mo? He again had that "I don't want to be out here" look that tikited talked about. Last night it must have started at the tip off.
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bench him. Ive been calling for it all season. Obviously they needed him with Towns out. But hes just a depth guy at this point. Hes not effective as a rotation guy anymore. They just become too inadequate offensively when hes in there, especially when matched with Gobert.

I dont understand why they arent playing Warren more. He can be a bucket getter when they hit an offensive lull. Same thing with Monte Morris. Unless hes on a minutes restriction, I'm not understanding his 6 minutes last night.
 

JimmyJamesMD said:
bench him. Ive been calling for it all season. Obviously they needed him with Towns out. But hes just a depth guy at this point. Hes not effective as a rotation guy anymore. They just become too inadequate offensively when hes in there, especially when matched with Gobert.

I dont understand why they arent playing Warren more. He can be a bucket getter when they hit an offensive lull. Same thing with Monte Morris. Unless hes on a minutes restriction, I'm not understanding his 6 minutes last night.
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Slo Mo last night. -14 in 16 minutes. Second worst plus minus was -4 by Towns, in 28 minutes of play.

Wolves lost their entire BIG lead yesterday when Slo Mo was in. Time's up for Finch's son
 

JimmyJamesMD said:
bench him. Ive been calling for it all season. Obviously they needed him with Towns out. But hes just a depth guy at this point. Hes not effective as a rotation guy anymore. They just become too inadequate offensively when hes in there, especially when matched with Gobert.

I dont understand why they arent playing Warren more. He can be a bucket getter when they hit an offensive lull. Same thing with Monte Morris. Unless hes on a minutes restriction, I'm not understanding his 6 minutes last night.
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I still like Slo-Mo. He's got a soft shot that the rims around the league seem to love. His eight foot push shot/floaters always seem to bounce around the rim and go in. He is a disaster behind the three point line. His passing, defense and court vision remain excellent. I don't see the wolves trying to hold on to him after this season but I think he remains a valuable rotation player.

Morris is solid. I'm not getting the TJ Warren love. He had some good buckets his first couple of games with the team. After that, diminishing returns. I trust Finch's rotations, other than burning Ant out. If TJ isn't getting minutes, there's a reason.
 

JimmyJamesMD said:
bench him. Ive been calling for it all season. Obviously they needed him with Towns out. But hes just a depth guy at this point. Hes not effective as a rotation guy anymore. They just become too inadequate offensively when hes in there, especially when matched with Gobert.

I dont understand why they arent playing Warren more. He can be a bucket getter when they hit an offensive lull. Same thing with Monte Morris. Unless hes on a minutes restriction, I'm not understanding his 6 minutes last night.
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Can't speak to Warren.Just haven't seen enough of him. Will trust Finch on that.

Still believe that Morris is on minutes restriction. If not maybe he's shooting bad in practice. Though can't believe it's as bad as Kyle has been shooting in the last 10 games, two good, one decent and bad in the other 7. His diminishing minutes during that stretch tells me that Finch is either trying things out or isn't sold on him either.

Kyle Anderson 2023-24 Stats per Game - NBA - ESPN

The 2023-24 NBA season stats per game for Kyle Anderson of the Minnesota Timberwolves on ESPN. Includes full stats, per opponent, for regular and postseason.
www.espn.com
 

JimmyJamesMD said:
bench him. Ive been calling for it all season. Obviously they needed him with Towns out. But hes just a depth guy at this point. Hes not effective as a rotation guy anymore. They just become too inadequate offensively when hes in there, especially when matched with Gobert.

I dont understand why they arent playing Warren more. He can be a bucket getter when they hit an offensive lull. Same thing with Monte Morris. Unless hes on a minutes restriction, I'm not understanding his 6 minutes last night.
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Warren over Slo Mo is insane for all of the reasons @jamiche stated. Kyle has been bad the last two games but before that he had been playing pretty well. He's never going to be good offensively but he's still a good defensive player and does a lot of little things that don't always show up in the box score.
 

I dont subscribe to the narrative hes good at D. All of the olays he does out there would make Dorn from major League blush
GopherWeatherGuy said:
Warren over Slo Mo is insane for all of the reasons @jamiche stated. Kyle has been bad the last two games but before that he had been playing pretty well. He's never going to be good offensively but he's still a good defensive player and does a lot of little things that don't always show up in the box score
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