All Things 2024-25 Minnesota Timberwolves In-Season Thread

Donate To GopherHole
Reusse's take is laughable as usual. This team needs to play together with the new pieces. Not go 10-11-12 deep on night 1. Randle and Naz's inside D was horrible last night. They have proven they are much better than that in the past. Garza isn't the answer to improve the interior D.

They were slow and sloppy, much like they were when they dropped game 1 in Toronto last season. It'll take them a few games to get their legs under them and figure out how to play together.
 

tikited said:
I'm encouraged by the notion that NAW was our 7th man last year and will probably be 9th at best this season.
Click to expand...
Well, I was wrong. He is still in that 7-8 role. Finch obviously didn't trust the bench last night.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Reusse's take is laughable as usual. This team needs to play together with the new pieces. Not go 10-11-12 deep on night 1. Randle and Naz's inside D was horrible last night. They have proven they are much better than that in the past. Garza isn't the answer to improve the interior D.

They were slow and sloppy, much like they were when they dropped game 1 in Toronto last season. It'll take them a few games to get their legs under them and figure out how to play together.
Click to expand...
Naz is a poor defender inside and always will be.

I'd have loved to see Garza or Minnot get some minutes last night. We had no energy and were flat. Garza would have at least bodied up Davis. Try something! Minnot is instant energy off the bench and I would have loved to see him in the first half when we looked putrid.
 


jamiche said:
Really bad opening night. Let's hope that's all it was. Randle did nothing on either end except refuse to hustle. Ant played hero ball in the fourth. The offense looked congested the defense looked wide open. On to Sactown.
Click to expand...
When Finch went to small ball in the 2nd Quarter, he stayed with it way too long and the Lakers went on a 15 - 0 run and won the Quarter br 14 points. The Wolves won the other three (3) Quarters.

* Randle is still out of shape and looked disinterested on defense all night.

* Jaden will never live up to his contract IMO. I'm not sure I can recall someone his size being a worse rebounder.

* I sure hope Conley hasn't hit the wall at his age. His reliable defense was even non-existent.

* Ant and Julius both pound the rock into the center of the Earth on offense.

* Not even a whiff of the court for Minott, Dilly and TSJ when everyone but NAW and Rudy were having terrible nights.

* We seem to have gone from one (1) of the biggest teams in the NBA to playing like one (1) of the smallest.

Just a single game...lots of knee jerk reactions by myself, but if they don't play with more intensity on defense tomorrow night, SAC is going to run us out of the gym.
 



kg21 said:
Naz is a poor defender inside and always will be.
Click to expand...
Naz had the fourth highest Defensive Player Rating in the entire NBA last year and four of the Top 6 were Wolves (Kyle, NAW, Reid and Gobert).

I agree with you on one (1) thing, kg...you wouldn't know that about Naz just by watching him play at times. He was terrible last night.
 

Last night was bad—there's no way around that. The Lakers are not a very good team, and we let one guy kill us all night (he does that to a lot of teams).

I agree that Randle was horrible on both ends. You would think the new guy in town would want to impress night one.

Donte wasn't hitting shots all night. I hope this season doesn't go where we have to have Donte hitting to win. That's too much for one guy who has only had one really good season.

They need another big that can rebound. Naz and Randolph are not quality rebounders.

They need a vet PG for when Conely misses games. Relying on Dilly and pg by committee is not a good plan IMO.
 




It’s one game, right?
No big deal. It will take time for them to gel. The Mavs were horrible for a good size chunk of the regular season, last year.

If there are issues after 10% of the season has been played, then I’ll furrow a brow.
 


kg21 said:
Naz is a poor defender inside and always will be.

I'd have loved to see Garza or Minnot get some minutes last night. We had no energy and were flat. Garza would have at least bodied up Davis. Try something! Minnot is instant energy off the bench and I would have loved to see him in the first half when we looked putrid.
Click to expand...
A few minutes of Garza would have turned a 35 point Davis night into a 50 point Davis night. There's a lot to criticize about Finch's decisions and the wolves play last night. The decision not to play Garza against any of the Laker bigs is not one of them.
 

jamiche said:
A few minutes of Garza would have turned a 35 point Davis night into a 50 point Davis night. There's a lot to criticize about Finch's decisions and the wolves play last night. The decision not to play Garza against any of the Laker bigs is not one of them.
Click to expand...
Could have put Garza in when David sat. I don't think a couple of bench guys would have been the difference but I would have given a few a couple of minutes to see if the energy improved.
 



tikited said:
Could have put Garza in when David sat. I don't think a couple of bench guys would have been the difference but I would have given a few a couple of minutes to see if the energy improved.
Click to expand...
Hayes, Rui and LeBron would have killed him. He hustles like crazy and he's easy to root for. The reality is that he's a slow, undersized big with a decent outside shot. He remains a liability on defense. A really big team like the Lakers would pounce on him.
 

jamiche said:
Hayes, Rui and LeBron would have killed him. He hustles like crazy and he's easy to root for. The reality is that he's a slow, undersized big with a decent outside shot. He remains a liability on defense. A really big team like the Lakers would pounce on him.
Click to expand...
No more than Naz trying to guard bigger players.
 

tikited said:
No more than Naz trying to guard bigger players.
Click to expand...
It is apparent that the wolves have left themselves undersized but I would take Naz over Luka on both ends against any of the Laker bigs. Naz rotated with KAT and Rudy last year. Luka rotated between Minneapolis and Iowa.

It's fun to root for Luka. He wasn't going to help the cause last night.
 

jamiche said:
It is apparent that the wolves have left themselves undersized but I would take Naz over Luka on both ends against any of the Laker bigs. Naz rotated with KAT and Rudy last year. Luka rotated between Minneapolis and Iowa.

It's fun to root for Luka. He wasn't going to help the cause last night.
Click to expand...
I'm taking about Garza, Minot, Dilly getting a couple of minutes, not 20.
 

jamiche said:
A few minutes of Garza would have turned a 35 point Davis night into a 50 point Davis night. There's a lot to criticize about Finch's decisions and the wolves play last night. The decision not to play Garza against any of the Laker bigs is not one of them.
Click to expand...
The wolves bigs watched Davis do anything he want. Davis all but danced on their graves.

Garza would body up and at least give a schit. If Garza would have been destroyed, it would have been no different.
 

kg21 said:
Naz is a poor defender inside and always will be.

I'd have loved to see Garza or Minnot get some minutes last night. We had no energy and were flat. Garza would have at least bodied up Davis. Try something! Minnot is instant energy off the bench and I would have loved to see him in the first half when we looked putrid.
Click to expand...
Minnot would have been nice to see. Randle aint fragile. He looked physically tired the whole game. From his eyes, to his posture. No shame in that energy off the bench - as long as its earned.
 

kg21 said:
The wolves bigs watched Davis do anything he want. Davis all but danced on their graves.

Garza would body up and at least give a schit. If Garza would have been destroyed, it would have been no different.
Click to expand...
One of the issues was not boxing. I remember austin reeves having multiple rebounds where a body ensures the one of multiple taller Twolves get the ball.
 

atsgopher said:
One of the issues was not boxing. I remember austin reeves having multiple rebounds where a body ensures the one of multiple taller Twolves get the ball.
Click to expand...
problem with that is our bigs seemed to be guarding outside the lane a lot or jumping out to contest shots leaving the rebounding area managed by guards or unmanaged at all
 

Edey with the start last night for Memphis. 15 minutes, 2 of 4 on FG’s, 5 rebounds, no blocks, 6 personal fouls. Man, wanted to watch it, but totally zoned out.
 

Be interesting tonight with Sabonis. (These late games are rough on me.)
Celtics win at Washington.
Doncic, Irving and K Thompson look good for Dallas.
 
Last edited:

Escaped with a 2 point win. Kings last shot was a three pointer that rimmed out.

Didn't want to start 0-2

Randle with 33
 

kg21 said:
Escaped with a 2 point win. Kings last shot was a three pointer that rimmed out.

Didn't want to start 0-2

Randle with 33
Click to expand...
Crazy game. Randle was great. McDaniels drives me crazy.
 


Jim Pete, who I've always regarded as the most forthright analyst in the NBA, has a serious case of homeritis this season. He's always had credibility because he's very knowledgeable, explains things well and calls out the wolves when they suck. He respects his audience. Last night he was syrupy. I want the old Jim Pete back.
 

Fell asleep and missed the finish. Dang! Big win.
Ant and Randle are the first pair of Wolves to each record 30+ points and 5+ 3 pointers made in a win. (Does that imply it’s been done in a loss?)
Think Edwards averaged 6.7 3’s a game last season. Thus far in the 2 games has launched 28? Think that’s correct.

x.com

x.com x.com
 
Last edited:

fan of Ray Williams said:
Fell asleep and missed the finish. Dang! Big win.
Ant and Randle are the first pair of Wolves to each record 30+ points and 5+ 3 pointers made in a win. (Does that imply it’s been done in a loss?)
Think Edwards averaged 6.7 3’s a game last season. Thus far in the 2 games has launched 28? Think that’s correct.

x.com

x.com x.com
Click to expand...
50 3's taken last night by the Wolves. That seems a bit much.
 

tikited said:
50 3's taken last night by the Wolves. That seems a bit much.
Click to expand...
106 by the Celtics in their 2 games. Granted, they were hunting 3’s in the first game to break the record, but that looks like the way the pendulum has swung.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom