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Just look at the front page of /r/lakers. 4 posts right now celebrating our L or calling us bad as if we didn’t wrap up our series with them in 5. We hurt them so badly they are now celebrating vicariously through the Warriors of all teams. They are also all over /r/nba struggling to comprehend how they lost to a team that performed this badly. Yeah, we’ve been ass, but even at our worst we still took care of business against them.

Let’s see how they handle it when we come back and take this series too. Wolves in 6

Just for fun, Wolves fans, if any of you are also F1 fans, you may enjoy how Oscar Piastri has been called out in the same way Jaden has for having a multitude of expressive faces depending on his mood.

https://preview.redd.it/ftalglgu7hze1.png?width=694&format=png&auto=webp&s=91e6bc074acb380d03c0276255a9c77f058324ec

Who am I? Absolutely nobody. But I still wanted to throw out my observations nonetheless of things that went wrong in Game 1 that either don’t worry me or do worry me as potential problems for the rest of the series.

What Doesn’t Worry Me:

3pt Shooting - Missing our first 18(?) shots from 3 last night was brutal but that was an all-time aberration in awfulness. If even four of those drop, last night would’ve been a completely different game. Lots of them were open looks which means it isn’t an issue of Golden State defending the 3-ball in a suffocating way.

Energy - The commentators last night talked about the Warriors played with the energy of the rested team and the Wolves didn’t have it. Disagree. The problem last night was not effort but execution. Last night was different than other games this year where they pooped the bed against inferior teams due to not bringing their best effort. Guys were diving into the stands for loose balls and hitting the offensive glass which to me says it was definitely turnovers, shots late in the shot clock, and just bricking open shots that tanked them rather than a lack of energy.

Defense - Wolves D played well enough to win. Minor issues of letting Jimmy B grab offensive rebounds and Gobert not switching when Draymond brings the ball up the floor, but no macro issues.

What Does Worry Me:

No set plays: Finch’s free-flow philosophy to basketball offense is good, but it’s infuriating that he doesn’t seem to have a bag of set plays or sideline out of bounds plays to get easily looks when the team is struggling and playing rag-tag, disorganized ball. This is not a new critique, but Finch clearly has no tricks and no intention of making tricks to get his team out of slumps.

Rotations: I get on a psychological level why Finch gives his players long leashes. Having security that every mistake isn’t getting you benched is healthy during a long season. But the playoffs are different. In a game where Ant clearly had the yips and missed all ten of his FGs and went 1/2 from the line in the first half and Julius Randle missed all his threes and committed three egregious turnovers in the first half, you gotta sub guys out. I’ve noticed Finch almost doubles-down and plays guys who are slumping MORE minutes trying to let them play outta a slump. But when guys are missing shots and not boxing out on D? You gotta go to your bench to shake things up. TSJ with 2mins and Jaylen Clark with 0 on a night that we stunk that bad seems inexcusable.

And I don’t know what Finch was thinking when Naz pulled up hurt which resulted in an easy score for his man, then Finch let his team play 4 on 5 and get stopped on offense, then had to wait for Naz to foul a guy to get subbed out. Call a timeout, dude - that’s what they’re there for.

Jaden’s Aggressiveness: He woke up in the 2nd half, but he was a ghost in the first half. This team has always been at its most dangerous when Jaden is looking to score and furthermore, Jaden is one of those unique players whose efficiency rises with his volume. He can’t regress to the passive Jaden from the first part of the season if we want to win this series.

When not a single employee is wearing them? and crucially-- the fucking opponent is wearing their white jersey tonight? How dumb did we look on the national broadcast?
If you want to make game shirts a thing, make them the right color. Otherwise the game was fucking amazing, absolutely dominating performance. My voice is hoarse. I just can't deal with the whiteout if it's gonna be executed so thoughtlessly

After this historic cold stretch surely we’re due for some historically hot shooting.. Right?… please?….🙏

Anyone else really superstitious about game day habits. I’ve found 2 definitive things that I’m avoiding for the rest of the playoffs.

Game 2 vs LA I wore my Pek jersey, we lose. Game 3, I was wearing my Al Jefferson jersey until half and I changed into my KG jersey because they were playing so bad. Then Game 1 yesterday, I wore my Gobert jersey and we lost. I’m swearing off any jerseys for guys the played center for the rest of the playoffs.

The other thing was I made some pasta before game 2 and they lost. Last night I made Alfredo in honor of Jaden and we lost. No more pasta before the game either.

Anyone else a psycho like me?

Reminder: if you're overreacting to one game you really need to work on some self awareness and self control.

I think he was drafted higher than any other Wolves player out there at the end.

He’ll be the head referee tonight. I really can’t stand him

The Wolves only won 1 more game than the Warriors. They just knocked off the 2 seed. We are the 6th. I believe they beat is head to head this year. If we clean up our offense and stop giving them wide open 3’s, the games will be much more competitive.

https://preview.redd.it/86v4m9hwmeze1.png?width=1149&format=png&auto=webp&s=7579328827605f4b0b9a925a0f0420b2d7894933

"The Minnesota Timberwolves have invited the Moeding family to Thursday’s Western Conference semi-finals game at Target Center. The Timberwolves will play the Golden State Warriors at 7:30 p.m. However, it’s unclear if the Moedings will attend."

https://www.startribune.com/st-louis-park-basketball-hoop-lawsuit-neighbor/601345768?utm_source=gift

Fuck Jimmy butler and his garbage time points. He sucked tonight. Don’t let anyone try to tell you otherwise.

I’ve had this jersey for 2 years in my closet given to me by my dad.

Tried to find other jerseys similar to this but couldn’t find a single one

If he gets his first ring this year after beating

Luka and lebron

Kd and Devin booker

Steph curry and Draymond with butler

And then Jayson Tatum

I believe that puts him on track since he's so young but he has to dominate the leauge like Mike did in the 90s but this kid looks and sounds special

What does Timberwolves fans think about Edward's ceiling?

Some stats from the last five games: 226/521 FG or 43% remove the first Lakers game and that drops to 182/435 or 41%. Our regular season average FGP was ~47%. From 3 we’ve been 65/179 (36%) remove the first game and that plummets to 44/137 (31%) while our regular season 3PT % was ~38%.

I’m just hoping this slump ends and the law of averages swings back in our favor. (However, being a wolves and MN sports fan in general for 30 plus years…)

Edit: Can’t believe I have to had this disclaimer but here it is: This is a light hearted post hoping they will break out of their poor shooting slump as a hopeful fan. It’s more fun to say the law of averages than they’ll shoot better eventually.

this is exactly the same bipolar team we’ve had all season. a comfy game one after a comfy round one would have been too weird.

wolves in 5

I might be in town for it and trying to decide if I should go as a road fan

https://preview.redd.it/r4cmooo87fze1.png?width=2160&format=png&auto=webp&s=c56168aafcf5cad90b64f4613a79335ec72a6c0b

Other interesting stats: has only had 27 minutes on the court with Anthony Edwards NOT on the court

Most used lineup: J.McDaniels, R.Gobert, M.Conley, J.Randle, A.Edwards: 71 MIN, +7, 4.7 Net Rtg, 119.2 Off Rtg, 114.5 Def Rtg

Most successful lineup: J.McDaniels, D.DiVincenzo, J.Randle, N.Reid, A.Edwards: 31 Min, +31, 47.5 Net Rtg, 131.7 Off Rtg, 84.2 Def Rtg

Ever had the pressure on? Like really, really on? Like everyone is looking to you and only you? And you freeze up a little?

I keep seeing the narrative that Ant was playing down to his opponent, but I got the sense that he was more frozen than anything. He looked timid, not bored. He wants the smoke, for sure, but coming off a dominant performance against two of the eras greats, coming up on another one, may have just hit him like a ton of bricks. As a 23 year old with the world on his shoulders.

I don't think he's playing down. I don't think he would ever think we're that favored against Steph fucking Curry. I think he got hit in the face with pressure. And I think the rest of the team internalized that nervous energy.

I also think he's past it, now, and ready to come in swinging.

Wolves in 👋

Not trying to single out Nickeil for the loss last night. That was an up and down the line failure from everybody on the roster.

But it’s becoming increasingly clear that he’s a weak link on this roster right now, regardless of the outcome last night.

He has not been reliable on offense in the playoffs since the Phoenix series. I think a lot of us have been patient with him because he’s also a hustle guy and one of the better perimeter defenders on the team. But last night, he was one of their weakest links on both ends of the court, with his poor defense in the third quarter when they were trying to get back into the game particularly standing out. If you can't even rely on NAW to go out there and get stops, I don't know where his value is coming from.

It’s not just isolated to the playoffs, either. Though he was generally better in the regular season, his playoff shooting so far this season marks a concerning trend going back to March during the regular season; over the final two months of the regular season, Nickeil shot 32% from three and 42% from the field.  

He's been a liability as a shooter in the playoffs going on his 4th straight playoff series, and right now he doesn't look like he's able to defend well either. Finch clearly trusts him a lot and he's earned a long leash with his hustle, defense, and intelligence on the court, but at some point idk how if you're Finch you don't consider letting TSJ and even Clarke soak up some of those minutes. Right now, it seems like the only thing he's doing well is that he knows his role and isn't trying to do too much, but he can't really execute that role in the slightest.

This is clearly going to be a difficult series, and I'm not sure this team has the margin for error to let him continue to try to work through his issues on the court.

One particular sequence that stood out to me last night was when Nickeil subbed in the third, and in literally a three and a half minute span starting when he subbed in at 6:49 got beat off the dribble above the break by Buddy Hield for a layup; got beat off the dribble on the baseline by Pat Spencer for a driving layup; got called for a foul on Kuminga, extending a Warriors possession which ended in a Butler three, and then lost Hield on a scramble for another made three.

You just can’t have a defense first player giving up a run like that at the moment when they’re trying to claw back into the game.

• Draymond isn’t gonna shoot like that again

• Status on Curry is up in the air

• Jimmy Butler is old and slow. We let him have far too many rebounds though which can be cleaned up.

• Buddy Hield can easily disappear back into the abyss

• The Wolves played probably their worst game of the entire season and only lost by 11

I have a single seat for this playoffs and this is my first time doing playoff strips. I won’t be able to go to the game tomorrow. Most seats in my section are listed at a lot above their face playoff strips value but I also don’t see them being sold. Is there any reference as to what I should list my ticket for outside of just face value?

I see a lot of the lower bowl is up for sale still. Will these tickets actually get bought before the game?

By no means does Ant get a pass for last night’s performance but reading some of the comments on this sub and you’d think Ant is the only star player ever to have down playoff games.

Just for fun, let’s take a look at some all-time stinkers:

• 25 year old Curry in Game 5 of second round playoffs in 2013: 9 points, 4 turnovers, 4-14 shooting, -21. Warriors lost in 6.

• 27 year old LeBron in Game 4 of 2011 Finals: 8 points, 4 turnovers, 3-11 shooting. Miami lost in 6.

• 26 year old Kobe Bryant in Game 3 of 2004 Finals: 11 points on 4-13 shooting, -20, Lakers lost in 5. Kobe shot 38% from the field and 17% from 3pt for the entire series

• 25 and 26 year old Michael Jordan had poor games in back to back years in the playoffs and got bounced each year

I could keep going down the list and pull out these types of performances from every superstar player to exist. All of these guys were older than Ant too. It’s the nature of basketball. Sometimes you just don’t have it.

It was disappointing to watch but it’s not reality to think Ant has to carry us to victory every time. Teammates also need to step up when he doesn’t have it.

Everyone sucked ass tonight. 31 points in a half. Golden State cooked up a good game plan and then shots just didn't go in.

We don't have to Fire Finch and trade Randle and cut NAW and ship DDV to guangdong. They fought back at the end. Win or lose these are our guys. So let's not play the blame game, and just continue to stay united over our shared hatred of General Soreness and Dragmond.

Don't get me wrong, if we lose this series I will be so fucking pissed off. But we've seen what this team can do before.

This one does sting a little, but I say fuck Game 1, who needs it?

For those of you who were physically at yesterday’s game - how was the home crowd overall? It was hard to tell during the broadcast how much hooting and hollering occurred. During player intros - did the home town give Draymond and Jimmy appropriate responses? During the play of the game I heard some boos for Jimmy, but they seemed to tail off as the game progressed. Anything for Draymond?

Obviously, just an egg of a performance offensively by the Wolves so can appreciate how the crowd didn’t get into it, but was anyone making an effort in the crowd to root the team on during the really bad parts? It seemed like a rather quiet crowd.

Let’s remind ourselves that OKC, BOSTON AND CLEVELAND ALL LOST THEIR GAMES. A series has NEVER been defined by game 1. Tighten up y’all, there are problems but we have 100% shown some fight, just isn’t our night and we came out slow.