Wolves Playoff Seeding Race Thread

[witljon]

Wouldn't shock me, this is the worst matchup for us.

With that kind of attitude, you guys might as well not even watch it.

My attitude doesn't affect the team.

It did today

[BBG]

Let's see Finch cook


The wolves can do this

[weimy froob]

Let's see Finch cook


The wolves can do this

they know what doesn't work--now it's time to find out what will work. the right adjustment and this can/will be a competitive series. finch has to figure it out and then get his team to do it. they should be all ears after getting their butts whipped in three straight games.

[aztimberwolves]

Let's see Finch cook


The wolves can do this

they know what doesn't work--now it's time to find out what will work. the right adjustment and this can/will be a competitive series. finch has to figure it out and then get his team to do it. they should be all ears after getting their butts whipped in three straight games.

Its kinda of a weird thought, but maybe today was a good thing that happened. Wake some people up. Come out focused in the first. The Suns have gotten cooked by teams they took for granted, 1-3 against the Spurs this year, lost to Washington etc etc. Maybe they come into this very overconfident and go in to what they have done all year, think they can just win by showing u p and flipping a switch.

The Suns are a Jekel and Hyde team. Their season leads me to believe they are ready for some stinkers against us.

[BBG]

Let's see Finch cook


The wolves can do this

they know what doesn't work--now it's time to find out what will work. the right adjustment and this can/will be a competitive series. finch has to figure it out and then get his team to do it. they should be all ears after getting their butts whipped in three straight games.

I would hope that coaching can cure an assortment of terrible turnovers for the first half

I'm not an NBA coach, tho

[weimy froob]

contenders or pretenders? we're going to find out right away.

Karl-Anthony Towns believes the test of Phoenix in Round 1 is best for the Timberwolves. Here’s why

Spoiler:

The scenario that played out Sunday looks to be a doomsday scenario of sorts for Minnesota. The Timberwolves fell to the No. 3 seed. They will not have home-court advantage if they meet Denver in the second round. And that “if” is suddenly looking like a questionable proposition.

Because Minnesota’s first-round opponent is a team in Phoenix that just swept Minnesota in three regular-season meetings, and none of the contests were particularly competitive. Given the three results this season — the Wolves weren’t within single digits of Phoenix in the second half of any of the three losses — you could make a strong argument that the Suns are the worst matchup for Minnesota.

In that way, Karl-Anthony Towns thinks they’re the best matchup.

“There’s no better team to be playing in the first round than a team that we struggled with all year,” Towns said.

What Towns means by that is Minnesota will be tested at the highest level right out of the postseason gates. The Wolves will get punched in the mouth. How can they respond? How can they evolve and grow?

“If there’s one thing these three games have shown, they’ve won decisively. We have to show our mettle, and we have to show our mental toughness come Game 1. Throw those three games out the window, utilize those games as learning experiences and find ways that we can utilize those games to finally put one on the left column against the Suns this year,” Towns said. “It’s a great opportunity for us to show what we’re made of and to show the NBA and the fans the team we say we can be. It’s going to be a great Game 1 (Saturday at Target Center). I’m excited. I’m happy to have this opportunity to show that championship pedigree that we’re saying that we have and that we’ve garnered through the year.”

Minnesota won a lot of games — 55, to be exact — this season. That’s the second-highest tally in franchise history. The reward is home-court advantage in the opening round of the playoffs. Minnesota sold out all 41 games at Target Center this season. The home crowd has, indeed, been an advantage, though it wasn’t close to enough Sunday.

“Everything is in front of us. We’ve asked for this position to be a home-court team with the advantage that we’ve been dying for,” Towns said. “We’ve got a team that has tested us the most this year. So we have everything set up for a really amazing series, and we have everything set up for us to prove our mettle and to prove if we’re that championship team we’ve been talking about since Day 1.”

Towns said he’s “really excited” that Minnesota has to take the difficult Round 1 matchup.

“It’s only right. It’s going to make us better. It’s going to test our mental fortitude, and it’s going to test our discipline,” he said. “Those are going to be things that, if we get past Round 1, we’re going to need those types of things if we expect to be a championship team. So there’s no better place to put it to the test at the highest level than in Series 1.”

[LwnmwrMan222]

Karl's far from mentally tough.

Even Al Horton said today "probably not the best time to flex when you're down by 18 Karl" after he hit a 3.

The big guys can't defend Phoenix, they're too slow.

If I was Finch, I would start with small ball. Something completely different.

It's obvious status quo ain't working since they are what, 2-21 against PHX?

I'd definitely start NAW over Jaden.

Jmac V Connelly? It's a bit of a coin flip, but I think Connelly might be running out of gas.

Maybe he's conserving for the playoffs? But man, I think I'd do some serious changes in the starting line up, try to catch PHX off guard with a completely different game plan, and bring some starters off the bench to play against PHX's rotation players.

I'll also admit I didn't watch the last 4 games, just listened to them on the radio with prior commitments, so maybe what I was told by Horton isn't what actually played out.

[DonaldDouchebag]

With that kind of attitude, you guys might as well not even watch it.

My attitude doesn't affect the team.

It did today

Hahah! What?!

[PurpleValhalla]

We don't have the offense to keep up with the Suns. If we don't bring an insane defensive effort, we will lose.

That being said, Wolves in 6.

[Dan33185]

With that kind of attitude, you guys might as well not even watch it.

My attitude doesn't affect the team.

It did today

I didn't watch the game

[LwnmwrMan222]

+900 for Suns sweep.

+4300 for a Suns/Suns/Wolves/Suns/Suns

+5500 for a Suns/Suns/Suns/Wolves/Suns

[A$$MAN]

January 20th, in Oklahoma City. 4th quarter, Wolves up by 9. Go cold on 3’s, get 21 TOs and only 4 steals. Lose by 5 after getting stomped 28-14 in the 4th. That 12 min is the difference between 1st and 2nd/3rd seed now.

Starting on Jan 22nd and over the next two weeks we blew double digit 4th quarter leads to Charlotte, San Antonio, Orlando and Chicago. I think in all of those games we were up 20+ in the 3rd quarter. I said it then, this team had no clue how to play with a big lead and smartly close out a game, and those games were going to cost us...and here we are.

This team peaked in December when they were absolutely phenomenal.I have no clue what happened to them?

[BuDG123]

January 20th, in Oklahoma City. 4th quarter, Wolves up by 9. Go cold on 3’s, get 21 TOs and only 4 steals. Lose by 5 after getting stomped 28-14 in the 4th. That 12 min is the difference between 1st and 2nd/3rd seed now.

Starting on Jan 22nd and over the next two weeks we blew double digit 4th quarter leads to Charlotte, San Antonio, Orlando and Chicago. I think in all of those games we were up 20+ in the 3rd quarter. I said it then, this team had no clue how to play with a big lead and smartly close out a game, and those games were going to cost us...and here we are.

This team peaked in December when they were absolutely phenomenal.I have no clue what happened to them?

We don’t have an answer when they start tripling Ant. We get stripped often in this scenario or other teams just play the passing lane on the kick outs. We haven’t had focus since the All-Star weekend consistently. We sleepwalk into the 1stQ. Connelly brought it up today-said we get over confident, let our egos get in the way, focus on refs instead of handling what they are doing wrong, etc. part of it’s definitely maturity. Don’t go lefty..don’t think you can just flip a switch..don’t think you can just wait for the 3 to start dropping. We lean on the 3 ball % way too much. Like Chuck said months ago “when you make your 3’s you win. When you don’t, you lose”. That’s called being one dimensional. That’s easy as hell to guard in the NBA. That’s been us since January. Every game we have been down 15+ early, that has been us. If we don’t start driving the lane with authority and start forcing refs whistles we won’t go far. The league has us figured out, we better pull the heads out and acknowledge that. I hope the team isn’t too proud to admit it, and change accordingly.

[DonaldDouchebag]

My attitude doesn't affect the team.

It did today

I didn't watch the game

Yeah, well, then not watching the game caused the Wolves to lose. I hope you're happy, you selfish shit!

[focker]

Should be a couple of great games tonight and super interesting to watch.