***Official Raptors @ Timberwolves GDT 3 Apr Official***

[somuchyummy]

I wonder if our status as a good team has the downside of frittering away the talents of guys like Minott. When does he start to get regular minutes to build his game? 27 games in the bigs this season at less than 3 mpg. Always garbage time. And just 8 games in the G. That's a lot of sitting around. Tonight he picked up 3 fouls in about 4 minutes.

[weimy froob]

Alan Horton
@WolvesRadio
Wolves clinch a top-4 seed & home-court advantage in the 1st round with a win tonight vs. Raptors.

this.

One more win or one more Clippers loss and and we clinch a guaranteed top 3 seed.

it's happening. wolves are going to take friday's game very serious too. finch mentioned it could be a possible playoff opponent. they should be ready to compete. looking how the standings looked today #2 looked like the sweet spot to me. nothing wrong with being the #1 seed though.

[weimy froob]

Alan Horton
@WolvesRadio
Wolves 48-point margin of victory is their largest since a 53-point win over the Bulls on Nov. 8 2001.

[SHAFA]

Garza’s such a black hole.

I don't mind it. It's better than watching the lead dip. I love Garza, but recognize he might help us better as a trade sweetener - and even considering the crap competition tonight, 16 pts from a post player I 9 mins isn't something u see every day.

Yeah, I kinda get it. I’d like to see him succeed. He played his ass off that night in Denver without the other three bigs. I guess I just remain skeptical of that dude being a cog off the bench of a winning group. I’d really like to be wrong, but with the way the team is built as-is I don’t think he’ll get the minutes needed to change my mind.

[aztimberwolves]

Garza’s such a black hole.

I don't mind it. It's better than watching the lead dip. I love Garza, but recognize he might help us better as a trade sweetener - and even considering the crap competition tonight, 16 pts from a post player I 9 mins isn't something u see every day.

Yeah, I kinda get it. I’d like to see him succeed. He played his ass off that night in Denver without the other three bigs. I guess I just remain skeptical of that dude being a cog off the bench of a winning group. I’d really like to be wrong, but with the way the team is built as-is I don’t think he’ll get the minutes needed to change my mind.

What’s he supposed to do? Not shoot? Only in Rube Chat a guy will get roasted for scoring 16 points on 7-10 shooting. lol

I’ll be transparent and admit i’m a Hawkeye fan so I’m biased towards Garza. But you can’t help root for a guy that was complete waste of space his freshman year and WORKED his way to player of the year candidacy and is now a fringe quality rotational piece in the NBA.

I’m surprised he didn’t get much run this year. I thought he played pretty well last year when called upon. He’s improved defensively from awful to at least ok. If they trade Towns (a mistake in my book) I’d love to see them sign Garza and see if he can continue on his trajectory.

[Jimi_Thing]

I don't mind it. It's better than watching the lead dip. I love Garza, but recognize he might help us better as a trade sweetener - and even considering the crap competition tonight, 16 pts from a post player I 9 mins isn't something u see every day.

Yeah, I kinda get it. I’d like to see him succeed. He played his ass off that night in Denver without the other three bigs. I guess I just remain skeptical of that dude being a cog off the bench of a winning group. I’d really like to be wrong, but with the way the team is built as-is I don’t think he’ll get the minutes needed to change my mind.

What’s he supposed to do? Not shoot? Only in Rube Chat a guy will get roasted for scoring 16 points on 7-10 shooting. lol

I’ll be transparent and admit i’m a Hawkeye fan so I’m biased towards Garza. But you can’t help root for a guy that was complete waste of space his freshman year and WORKED his way to player of the year candidacy and is now a fringe quality rotational piece in the NBA.

I’m surprised he didn’t get much run this year. I thought he played pretty well last year when called upon. He’s improved defensively from awful to at least ok. If they trade Towns (a mistake in my book) I’d love to see them sign Garza and see if he can continue on his trajectory.

Yeah. I think Luka is a much smarter player than what Shafa is worried about. If Luka is needed to play physical and fight for offensive rebounds he will. If he’s in there when they need scoring, he can try to provide that spark. He’s shown that he can be effective on the court without being a black hole.

[witljon]

I wonder if our status as a good team has the downside of frittering away the talents of guys like Minott. When does he start to get regular minutes to build his game? 27 games in the bigs this season at less than 3 mpg. Always garbage time. And just 8 games in the G. That's a lot of sitting around. Tonight he picked up 3 fouls in about 4 minutes.

Not gaining game time experience is a downside, but a slow development learning from the talent ahead of him is good.

[SHAFA]

I don't mind it. It's better than watching the lead dip. I love Garza, but recognize he might help us better as a trade sweetener - and even considering the crap competition tonight, 16 pts from a post player I 9 mins isn't something u see every day.

Yeah, I kinda get it. I’d like to see him succeed. He played his ass off that night in Denver without the other three bigs. I guess I just remain skeptical of that dude being a cog off the bench of a winning group. I’d really like to be wrong, but with the way the team is built as-is I don’t think he’ll get the minutes needed to change my mind.

What’s he supposed to do? Not shoot? Only in Rube Chat a guy will get roasted for scoring 16 points on 7-10 shooting. lol

I’ll be transparent and admit i’m a Hawkeye fan so I’m biased towards Garza. But you can’t help root for a guy that was complete waste of space his freshman year and WORKED his way to player of the year candidacy and is now a fringe quality rotational piece in the NBA.

I’m surprised he didn’t get much run this year. I thought he played pretty well last year when called upon. He’s improved defensively from awful to at least ok. If they trade Towns (a mistake in my book) I’d love to see them sign Garza and see if he can continue on his trajectory.

Did I say I was rooting against him? High usage in garbage time against C-squads just doesn’t tell me enough. I’m not going to apologize for thinking that way.

And I don’t know how anybody could be surprised by him not getting more minutes. Where were you expecting them to come from? Who’s supposed to sit?

They went all-in with Gobert, signed Anderson in the same offseason, brought in Conley a few months later and are facing a massive tax bill with looming decisions on roster construction in two months.

It’s a deep, vet heavy roster built to win NOW. We’re not the team we were 4+ years ago when we were banking on growth among our fringe youth. Everyone should want them to play the guys that’ll get us across that line, and right now our nine-man depth just isn’t going to include Garza, Minott or Miller.

G-League/two-way guys aren’t going to get the minutes people wish they’d get.

Sorry, not sorry.

[aztimberwolves]

Yeah, I kinda get it. I’d like to see him succeed. He played his ass off that night in Denver without the other three bigs. I guess I just remain skeptical of that dude being a cog off the bench of a winning group. I’d really like to be wrong, but with the way the team is built as-is I don’t think he’ll get the minutes needed to change my mind.

What’s he supposed to do? Not shoot? Only in Rube Chat a guy will get roasted for scoring 16 points on 7-10 shooting. lol

I’ll be transparent and admit i’m a Hawkeye fan so I’m biased towards Garza. But you can’t help root for a guy that was complete waste of space his freshman year and WORKED his way to player of the year candidacy and is now a fringe quality rotational piece in the NBA.

I’m surprised he didn’t get much run this year. I thought he played pretty well last year when called upon. He’s improved defensively from awful to at least ok. If they trade Towns (a mistake in my book) I’d love to see them sign Garza and see if he can continue on his trajectory.

Did I say I was rooting against him? High usage in garbage time against C-squads just doesn’t tell me enough. I’m not going to apologize for thinking that way.

And I don’t know how anybody could be surprised by him not getting more minutes. Where were you expecting them to come from? Who’s supposed to sit?

They went all-in with Gobert, signed Anderson in the same offseason, brought in Conley a few months later and are facing a massive tax bill with looming decisions on roster construction in two months.

It’s a deep, vet heavy roster built to win NOW. We’re not the team we were 4+ years ago when we were banking on growth among our fringe youth. Everyone should want them to play the guys that’ll get us across that line, and right now our nine-man depth just isn’t going to include Garza, Minott or Miller.

G-League/two-way guys aren’t going to get the minutes people wish they’d get.

Sorry, not sorry.

I didn’t mean major minutes Shafa. Just like 3-5 min a game here and there when Kyle wasn’t playing well, Reid with games he was off. Hell the minutes they gave TJ warren would be better off with Garza.

He’s looked good pretty much all year when given the chance. That Denver game he battled his ass off. Games like that should get you some regular minutes here and there. That’s all.

[Beef Supreme]

I like Luka too, but right now he can’t guard anyone in the NBA.

If you can’t guard anyone, you can’t play meaningful minutes on good teams.

He’s still got work to do.

[weimy froob]

Wednesday marked the largest loss in Raptors franchise history.

[weimy froob]

finch gets asked a question about leonard miller. nice, long answer. probably the highlight of the presser.

Dane Moore
@DaneMooreNBA
Chris Finch on Leonard Miller's progression this season: “Like most rookies, his first day of training camp his head was spinning. Everything is moving fast. He’s trying to learn and catch up and once he has an understanding of what we’re trying to do, the game kind of slows down for him a little bit, so that’s definitely different. But what we like about Leonard is he’s fearless. He comes in, he just makes basketball plays. He’s kind of just hooping out there right now. But he can do a little bit of everything. He can playmake, he can knock down enough shots, he’s got a nose for the ball on both ends of the floor. That’s what we loved about him in the draft, and it’s held true right now. So we’ve got to just keep polishing him up and keep getting better with his understanding and everything like that and try to figure out who he is best. But the raw materials are pretty intriguing.”

[focker]

I love seeing guys bitch about us not playing deep bench guys enough this season. WTF?? We're in first place in the West and might have the deepest roster in the league. Of course we're not playing Garza and Minot. We need wins, not loses. This ain't the season to develop rookies, it's the season to shoot for the moon.

[SHAFA]

I love seeing guys bitch about us not playing deep bench guys enough this season. WTF?? We're in first place in the West and might have the deepest roster in the league. Of course we're not playing Garza and Minot. We need wins, not loses. This ain't the season to develop rookies, it's the season to shoot for the moon.

[Jimi_Thing]

I love seeing guys bitch about us not playing deep bench guys enough this season. WTF?? We're in first place in the West and might have the deepest roster in the league. Of course we're not playing Garza and Minot. We need wins, not loses. This ain't the season to develop rookies, it's the season to shoot for the moon.

True but there's been plenty opportunities to pepper in some minutes for these young guys throughout the season while also shooting for the moon.

I get what you're saying though. It can be annoying witnessing other Rubes Monday Morning QBing the approach that's been taken when the Wolves are currently the #1 spot in the West.

[Mplsfonz]

Well, there’s really not much to talk about after this one.


#1 again.

We have 3 home and 3 away games. We are pretty good on the road, but I think if we can go 3 of 6 we should stay afloat at the #1 spot.
GS and LA will send one threat home, and the winning team will have played 2 extra games. Should help, but if I'm Finch, I make sure the NBA gives me fair refs, and not the ones who hate Rudy. No team should shoot 30 more FT's than the other.

[Mplsfonz]

I love seeing guys bitch about us not playing deep bench guys enough this season. WTF?? We're in first place in the West and might have the deepest roster in the league. Of course we're not playing Garza and Minot. We need wins, not loses. This ain't the season to develop rookies, it's the season to shoot for the moon.

True but there's been plenty opportunities to pepper in some minutes for these young guys throughout the season while also shooting for the moon.

I get what you're saying though. It can be annoying witnessing other Rubes Monday Morning QBing the approach that's been taken when the Wolves are currently the #1 spot in the West.

I think you are both right. My thing is, why run Rudy into the ground when up by 30 in the 4th? Garza NEEDS those minutes in case he called upon in the PO's. Even if they start to lose a lead you want then battle tested so they can be relied on not to surrender leads, and grow some confidence if their number is called.

[Mplsfonz]

this.

One more win or one more Clippers loss and and we clinch a guaranteed top 3 seed.

it's happening. wolves are going to take friday's game very serious too. finch mentioned it could be a possible playoff opponent. they should be ready to compete. looking how the standings looked today #2 looked like the sweet spot to me. nothing wrong with being the #1 seed though.

Well Denver and the Clippers play tonight so I will root for the Clippers considering they are 5.5 games behind us. We also have to play Phx 2 times in a 2 week span. I would rather have the #1 seed to ensure all roads lead thru MN. Plus, playing NO in the first round seem like a tough win. We need fat boy to be banged up a little. kings are sneaking wins in while nobody is looking. Give ma a beat up Warriors team and send Garza out for the first tip and elbow Green right in the nuts.

[focker]

I love seeing guys bitch about us not playing deep bench guys enough this season. WTF?? We're in first place in the West and might have the deepest roster in the league. Of course we're not playing Garza and Minot. We need wins, not loses. This ain't the season to develop rookies, it's the season to shoot for the moon.

True but there's been plenty opportunities to pepper in some minutes for these young guys throughout the season while also shooting for the moon.

I get what you're saying though. It can be annoying witnessing other Rubes Monday Morning QBing the approach that's been taken when the Wolves are currently the #1 spot in the West.

I think you are both right. My thing is, why run Rudy into the ground when up by 30 in the 4th? Garza NEEDS those minutes in case he called upon in the PO's. Even if they start to lose a lead you want then battle tested so they can be relied on not to surrender leads, and grow some confidence if their number is called.

Yea I couldn't believe we still had Rudy out there 3-4 minutes into the 4th quarter. That was ridiculous and Coach Finch needs to be called out for that shit. He should have been pulled 2-3 minutes earlier for sure, if not more. One freak injury in garbage time and our season is over.

[focker]

Well, there’s really not much to talk about after this one.


#1 again.

We have 3 home and 3 away games. We are pretty good on the road, but I think if we can go 3 of 6 we should stay afloat at the #1 spot.
GS and LA will send one threat home, and the winning team will have played 2 extra games. Should help, but if I'm Finch, I make sure the NBA gives me fair refs, and not the ones who hate Rudy. No team should shoot 30 more FT's than the other.

Man I hope the Lakers lose in that first round. The way they get calls is downright criminal and IMO a bad look for the league in general.

A West conf playoffs without the Lakers or Golden State would be interesting, just because I think it would be more fairly ref'd without those teams in it.

[twolves31]

I love seeing guys bitch about us not playing deep bench guys enough this season. WTF?? We're in first place in the West and might have the deepest roster in the league. Of course we're not playing Garza and Minot. We need wins, not loses. This ain't the season to develop rookies, it's the season to shoot for the moon.

True but there's been plenty opportunities to pepper in some minutes for these young guys throughout the season while also shooting for the moon.

I get what you're saying though. It can be annoying witnessing other Rubes Monday Morning QBing the approach that's been taken when the Wolves are currently the #1 spot in the West.

I think you are both right. My thing is, why run Rudy into the ground when up by 30 in the 4th? Garza NEEDS those minutes in case he called upon in the PO's. Even if they start to lose a lead you want then battle tested so they can be relied on not to surrender leads, and grow some confidence if their number is called.

I would have pulled Rudy a lot sooner if I was the coach. While that early 4th quarter lineup has been pretty good lately (minus Conley since he was out) and is a newer 5 man lineup than what we were putting out there earlier in the season. It's possible Finch wants that 5 to get as many minutes together to continue to fine tune their chemistry so they are ready to rock it in the playoffs if that unit gets minutes together.

[Beef Supreme]

Well, there’s really not much to talk about after this one.


#1 again.

We have 3 home and 3 away games. We are pretty good on the road, but I think if we can go 3 of 6 we should stay afloat at the #1 spot.
GS and LA will send one threat home, and the winning team will have played 2 extra games. Should help, but if I'm Finch, I make sure the NBA gives me fair refs, and not the ones who hate Rudy. No team should shoot 30 more FT's than the other.

I don’t think 3 of 6 gets it done. But I agree with the rest. Not sure what power Finch has to make the NBA give us one set of refs over another.

[twolves31]

Well, there’s really not much to talk about after this one.


#1 again.

We have 3 home and 3 away games. We are pretty good on the road, but I think if we can go 3 of 6 we should stay afloat at the #1 spot.
GS and LA will send one threat home, and the winning team will have played 2 extra games. Should help, but if I'm Finch, I make sure the NBA gives me fair refs, and not the ones who hate Rudy. No team should shoot 30 more FT's than the other.

I don’t think 3 of 6 gets it done. But I agree with the rest. Not sure what power Finch has to make the NBA give us one set of refs over another.

If we can beat Denver we have the tiebreakers over both Denver/OKC. If we beat Denver we can afford to lose one game and finish first, if we beat Denver and Denver loses to the Clippers tonight we could lose 2 games and still have a pretty good shot at 1st.

[Beef Supreme]

We have 3 home and 3 away games. We are pretty good on the road, but I think if we can go 3 of 6 we should stay afloat at the #1 spot.
GS and LA will send one threat home, and the winning team will have played 2 extra games. Should help, but if I'm Finch, I make sure the NBA gives me fair refs, and not the ones who hate Rudy. No team should shoot 30 more FT's than the other.

I don’t think 3 of 6 gets it done. But I agree with the rest. Not sure what power Finch has to make the NBA give us one set of refs over another.

If we can beat Denver we have the tiebreakers over both Denver/OKC. If we beat Denver we can afford to lose one game and finish first, if we beat Denver and Denver loses to the Clippers tonight we could lose 2 games and still have a pretty good shot at 1st.

Mathematically it could get it done. I just doubt it will.

[aztimberwolves]

I love seeing guys bitch about us not playing deep bench guys enough this season. WTF?? We're in first place in the West and might have the deepest roster in the league. Of course we're not playing Garza and Minot. We need wins, not loses. This ain't the season to develop rookies, it's the season to shoot for the moon.

True but there's been plenty opportunities to pepper in some minutes for these young guys throughout the season while also shooting for the moon.

I get what you're saying though. It can be annoying witnessing other Rubes Monday Morning QBing the approach that's been taken when the Wolves are currently the #1 spot in the West.

Exactly. i wasn’t calling on Garza to get 20 min a game or something. Just a few sprinkled in when guys ahead of him aren’t on their A games. i’m not asking for minutes right now for Miller or Minott either. They are not ready for that. Garza could handle some sporadic minutes here and there

[aztimberwolves]

file:///var/mobile/Library/SMS/Attachments/10/00/805AE1C1-2FD1-4565-8F0A-3C589E277D6E/Screenshot%202024-04-04%20at%2012.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.jpeg

[aztimberwolves]

Sorry that last post should have been screen shot. Garza signed to a regular contract and is eligible for playoffs.

Probably won’t need him but always nice to have if injuries mount.

[Mplsfonz]

Well, there’s really not much to talk about after this one.


#1 again.

We have 3 home and 3 away games. We are pretty good on the road, but I think if we can go 3 of 6 we should stay afloat at the #1 spot.
GS and LA will send one threat home, and the winning team will have played 2 extra games. Should help, but if I'm Finch, I make sure the NBA gives me fair refs, and not the ones who hate Rudy. No team should shoot 30 more FT's than the other.

I don’t think 3 of 6 gets it done. But I agree with the rest. Not sure what power Finch has to make the NBA give us one set of refs over another.

Don't know. Denver has the clippers and Atl and us left, and they barely beat the spurs who they will see again. Who knows how many wins they get with Murray still out.
OKC has a tough few games ahead. Indy, Sacto (looking to make a move) Mil and Dallas. They have a good chance considering they have 4 str8 home games.

If we win our home games, and maybe pull one off on the road, I think we are locked.
Again, I see a couple of losses for all three teams, and we could actually have the tiebreaker with Denver.

As far as refs go, you can send clips of missed calls by refs for Silver to review. If...big if, he does his job he will talk with all the ref crews and let them know they are being watched. We can't afford to have some asshole cost us a game, and if he does Finch should call him/them out in the postgame no matter the cost. Who knows when we will get this close again, so all cards should be left on the table.

[Beef Supreme]

We have 3 home and 3 away games. We are pretty good on the road, but I think if we can go 3 of 6 we should stay afloat at the #1 spot.
GS and LA will send one threat home, and the winning team will have played 2 extra games. Should help, but if I'm Finch, I make sure the NBA gives me fair refs, and not the ones who hate Rudy. No team should shoot 30 more FT's than the other.

I don’t think 3 of 6 gets it done. But I agree with the rest. Not sure what power Finch has to make the NBA give us one set of refs over another.

Don't know. Denver has the clippers and Atl and us left, and they barely beat the spurs who they will see again. Who knows how many wins they get with Murray still out.
OKC has a tough few games ahead. Indy, Sacto (looking to make a move) Mil and Dallas. They have a good chance considering they have 4 str8 home games.

If we win our home games, and maybe pull one off on the road, I think we are locked.
Again, I see a couple of losses for all three teams, and we could actually have the tiebreaker with Denver.

As far as refs go, you can send clips of missed calls by refs for Silver to review. If...big if, he does his job he will talk with all the ref crews and let them know they are being watched. We can't afford to have some asshole cost us a game, and if he does Finch should call him/them out in the postgame no matter the cost. Who knows when we will get this close again, so all cards should be left on the table.

I’m pretty sure they rotate through officiating crews during the playoffs, right? They don’t get one crew for an entire 7-game series. I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure they don’t do that.

[Mplsfonz]

I’m pretty sure they rotate through officiating crews during the playoffs, right? They don’t get one crew for an entire 7-game series. I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure they don’t do that.

Yeah, they rotate, but some of those refs have great relationships with certain players and sometimes it appears they give them special treatment. I will use LBJ for an example, if he doesn't get a call he will bitch and complain, then the rest of the game he's at the line for terrible non fouls.

The Lakers have had by far the biggest free throw advantage against opponents in the league, shooting 387 more free throws than their opponents. That is over twice as much as the next-highest team, the 184 free throw advantage of the Heat.

I can't find the video where Bron actually was fouled by Tatum and he stomped around flailing his arms and collapsing to the floor. Any other player would have been given a tech fined or suspended. But he gets away with it right in front of them. What did Silver do? Nada. But tough with guys like Rudy.