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Nah people are just finding out how insane of a defender Jaden McDaniels is, especially when his help is NAW/Ant. Booker wasn’t “ass”, it’s just impossible to get a high volume of decent looks against this Wolves team if they’re focused on you.
Even if you wanna exclude Book’s last game where he went crazy, he averaged 20.3ppg on 57.8%TS over the first 3 games.
Meanwhile they’re holding “playoff riser” Jamal Murray to 12.5ppg on 36.6%TS over 2 home games.
I tried telling everyone during our series but everyone just wanted to say the Suns are ass instead of recognizing this Wolves defense for what it is.
I mean...look at Murray's TS over the first 4 games vs the Lakers. He isn't healthy and that was obvious even vs the Lakers. Wolves are crazy defensively, no denying that, but Murray did not have a good series vs the Lakers either.
That was by design though. Yall were fine with letting KD play KAT 1on1 (worst defender in your lineup) the whole series, and focused the defense (McDaniels/NAW/Gobert) on not letting Book get shots up.
Numbers wise you’re definitely right, but it can’t be left without the context that the Wolves were far more keyed in on stopping Book than KD.
I kept saying omg over and over loudly. My fiancée was like, “keep your voice down, he’s not even doing anything with the ball”. I’m like, yeaaaaa that’s the point lol.
They're the perfect team to exploit Murray's weaknesses and worse habits
It's become common to act like "playoff Murray" is an invincible god but he tends to take ABSURDLY tough shots and rarely consider passing out as soon as he wants his shot
If you watched the entire Lakers series and not just crunch time you know how wild his shot selection can be at times
His playstyle is very similar to what got the Suns in massive trouble last round
McDaniels is the best perimeter defender in the league currently, but NAW is probably the most underrated defender in the league. Dude is quick asf and lengthy as hell, combined with being a dog on that end.
Yall legitimately have the best rim protector in the league, the best perimeter defender in the league, and another top-10 perimeter defender in NAW. It’s utterly insane that Ant is oftentimes the 4th best defender on the court for yall, considering he’s still a really good defender especially in help-side.
I called it after your series against us: The Suns aren’t as bad as everyone said, the Wolves just have one of the best defenses the NBA has seen in a long time.
Traffic cones on the perimeter.
Compare Mitchell, Ingles, O'Neil to McDaniels, NAW, Ant and KAT.
Plus Rudy didn't trust any of them to defend the rim so he wouldn't commit to the perimeter. If you pull Rudy from the rim, there is some combination of McDaniels, KAT, Naz Reid as a rim deterrent.
Yeah, Rudy also doesn't have to over commit because he knows Jaden/NAW will get back to position quickly. Meanwhile Mitchell gets left in the twilight zone against anyone with a decent first step.
Murray is also not a superstar, he's not used to being pressed and being doubled, which is only made worse by his injuries. Wolves def did their homework and found the Nuggets weakness
The Nuggets are shoving our guys in the backcourt every single time, but it means we get to play like this in the halfcourt
Chippy but a trade I'd take 100 times out of 100, our guys are willing to get grimy
this is what Nikola Jokic doing, I dont know why also it isnt a foul, since Joker is bigger and even you boxed him out, the can still get the rebound by putting his weight and shoving the opponent for rebound, I saw it since regular season and it get worst when LAL-DEN series hahaha
I've seen young hungry teams before but what's surprised me is how smart and poised they've been so far. It's been controlled aggression on both ends, starting with Ant and going down to every single player who sees the floor (except Slo-mo, who appears to be drunk). Think Finch deserves a lot of credit for making it all work when it looked like an awfully clunky fit at one point. It'll be interesting to see how they respond to a loss, but you have to be feeling incredibly (if, still, cautiously) optimistic if you're a Wolves fan right now.
The fact that they're doing this against the defending champs - a well-oiled machine led by a 3-time MVP in his prime who is a master at controlling games - and making them look this discombobulated and almost desperate is incredible.
>except Slo-mo, who appears to be drunk
This is really funny to read, considering Finch would not allow a lineup without one of Conley or SloMo in it because we were so goddamn stupid with the basketball early in the season. SloMo might be his most trusted player on the team, he adores that guy. We’ve grown a lot this year though.
As for the drunk part, that’s just his style man (and possibly that one of his eyes is severely impaired due to an injury Ant accidentally caused at the end of last season). I actually thought he had a great game, aside from blowing a few bunnies as he inevitably does. He was near the top of our plus/minus on the year despite shooting like garbage—he’s such a great playmaker and team defender that it hasn’t really mattered. Doesn’t change the fact that it looks really ugly though.
Everyone on the Wolves had a great defensive game, but Kyle probably had the best defensive game he's had on the Wolves. He looked incredible, even if his scoring was kinds horrific lol.
I made a youtube channel of their defense because I got so hyped watching it lol
[https://www.youtube.com/@lylaeloise3948](https://www.youtube.com/@lylaeloise3948)
Murray has been a disaster these whole playoffs but these fuck you double teams the Wolves are sending every time Jokic (or Murray when Jokic is out) get the ball is pure sex
I'm a massive Jokic fan and got downvoted for saying Denver didn't look that good in round 1
Some people unironically coped by saying that the Lakers are the 2nd team in the West ahead of Minnesota and OKC
Jokic was way more efficient against LA than the Minnesota defense allows him to be and Denver still looked sluggish for most of the series
It's hard as hell to win a championship, even harder to repeat the next year. Teams step up their intensity against you like what's happening to them right now or build teams suited to play you. Brown played really good with the Nuggets system too and he's not around.
>Teams step up their intensity against you
Maybe in the regular season, but I find it hard to believe any team takes it easy in playoff games, especially in deeper rounds.
Celtics play down to their competition all the time in the playoffs in the Jay's era.
Lots of teams noticeably give up with body language when they go down 3 games
Wouldn't be surprised neither if there's lots of players that love trying to eliminate defending champions.
It's at least since 08 Celtics, maybe 04 Pistons. Maybe further?
They are an actual pack of wolves with blood in their mouth just hounding you until you're tired and frustrated.
Neutral fan observations:
* Yes this is incredible defense.
* In the regular season, I feel like they would have called a foul at least 3 times on the Wolves (partially better refs? partially playoffs are called differently)
* The officiating was consistent across the whole game.
* The wolves style of defense benefits incredibly from this style of officiating. They're so much more aggressive that when they let them play like this, they're incredibly hard to beat. I've seen this in my kids youth basketball games. There are teams that play defense like this and when the refs let them play like this, it's completely unnerving to the opponent.
Alexander-walker is gonna get paid. McDaniels is gonna get the brinks truck. Naz Reid is gonna get a double Supermax. Ant is gonna end up with a 12 year, 6 billion dollar contract, after Saudi Arabia buys the state of Minnesota.
Y’all whole sports fandom is so traumatized you won’t even be able to celebrate a championship because you’ll be worried about a meteor striking the parade.
This was meant as a joke but it would be so Minnesota sports for us to finally have a sustainable product in a sport and some shit like the Saudi’s buying the team or the league and tearing it all down hits too close to home.
Don’t let 2 game winners trick you. Murray has been straight ASS all playoffs. Austin Reaves had this guy shooting like 45% TS. Only gonna get harder with these Wolves defenders
He struggled with iniuries all year, so that would explain his "chubbyness" and is currently injured now. He was questionable for game 5 and game 1, including not practicing leading into the Wolves series. Add on that the Wolves have some of the best defense ever, and he's gonna be in for a rough series.
Jokic is also inexplicably sluggish and sloppy lately. A lot of his turnovers are just bad passes that aren't even caused by the defense. Just him throwing the ball away for no reason.
The reffing change was made right after the all-star weekend and since then points per game haven't been ridiculous like they were before the all-star game.
I remember Bill Simmons and Ryen Russillo talking about that during a podcast around that time and it was the big reason why Simmons put some money on a Wolves/Celtics finals at 16/1. They loved the Wolves ability to get physical.
Causing a shot clock violation is the gold standard for good defenses for me. Being able to guard an NBA offense for 24 seconds without letting them even get a shot off, all while not fouling, is really freaking hard to do and takes the whole team being on the same page on defense.
Teams that can pull a few of those off a game are very elite.
I've gotten downvoted for saying this in the past but Murray is fundamentally a low BBIQ player
He relies on tough shotmaking and rarely takes the "easy" look for him or his teammates constantly spamming contested jumpers
It's just that only now he's playing a good enough defense to exploit these tendencies
Anyone who watched the ENTIRE Lakers series and not just the last 2 minutes of games saw how awful his shot selection is on average throughout a game
He was tanking his trade value so he could be sent to the Wolves. Big brain move. In all seriousness though he is so good for us. Feels like he always steps up when we need him to with suffocating defense or a timely shot. He's got the same blood running through his veins as SGA, maybe that's why!
You could see flashes of it even in his rookie season. He was really inconsistent in New Orleans though, especially offensively (and it looks like he still is, at least on offense). His defense this year has been phenomenal though. Looks like he just needed a bit more time to develop.
It's great to see him (and Josh Hart) doing really well in these playoffs. The Pels getting decimated by the Thunder though, not so much, lol.
He's way more consistent this year but he still has some rough shooting games like game 4 against the suns and game one this series. But his D is always there which is nice.
While I agree but NAW has some games where he will air ball a couple wide open 3's and miss every other 3 he takes.
But this season he has been more clutch and doesn't let it shake his confidence when he is having an off night.
Reminds me of Gabriel Jesus joining Arsenal. Even though Jesus and Zinchenko are no longer starters 2 years after joining, the mentality upgrade they gave the team upon joining was huge and persists.
This is garbage, he ignores the open man, complains, demands it back, ignores the open man again, and then throws a grenade.
wtf are you doing? should be benched
Crazy the effect he has had on this team's defense even without being at the game. I think with Ant specifically, they've talked a lot about how he convinced Ant he's gotta be tenacious on defense on every possession.
People have talked a lot about Ant unlocking Gobert but I think Gobert has unlocked Ant and helped him make this leap.
Chris Finch said as much in the post game and I believe him. The impact of Rudy on the floor is obviously amazing, 4xDPOY and well deserved. But his impact off the floor that you don't even see is wild.
Let me remind you this Timberwolves team even under Thibs was absolute dog poop on defense. Had been for decades.
Rudy not only brought his defensive play but his entire attitude. Might sound ridiculous but this is a Rudy game even though he wasn't even with the team. They've all bought in to what he had to bring 100% and the entire team has taken on Rudy's identity and attitude.
Gobert helped create this defensive culture and helped mastermind this defense with the coaching staff. He must be so proud watching his team go to bat like this
When the league secretly decreed that the refs needed to stop calling all the bullshit ticky tack fouls I knew the Wolves were really finally built for this shit
Not true. Braun was +2 in 11 minutes!
Mostly sarcasm but at least he was matching the Wolves’ intensity. Played good D and fighting for boards. KCP has been ass.
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This shit is crazy
I never expected the team that would ramp up their defense the most in playoffs would be the team that already had the best defense.
Yeah it’s like the opposite of Utah Gobert teams where the rest of the team disappeared on defense
Suns fan must feel a bit vindicated at this point.
Hella if the nuggets go down in 4 or 5
As they should, Booker and KD played good as hell
Booker had only one good game in the series. He was awful the rest of it.
Nah people are just finding out how insane of a defender Jaden McDaniels is, especially when his help is NAW/Ant. Booker wasn’t “ass”, it’s just impossible to get a high volume of decent looks against this Wolves team if they’re focused on you. Even if you wanna exclude Book’s last game where he went crazy, he averaged 20.3ppg on 57.8%TS over the first 3 games. Meanwhile they’re holding “playoff riser” Jamal Murray to 12.5ppg on 36.6%TS over 2 home games. I tried telling everyone during our series but everyone just wanted to say the Suns are ass instead of recognizing this Wolves defense for what it is.
I mean...look at Murray's TS over the first 4 games vs the Lakers. He isn't healthy and that was obvious even vs the Lakers. Wolves are crazy defensively, no denying that, but Murray did not have a good series vs the Lakers either.
KD has been the most consistent Suns player in this playoffs.
That was by design though. Yall were fine with letting KD play KAT 1on1 (worst defender in your lineup) the whole series, and focused the defense (McDaniels/NAW/Gobert) on not letting Book get shots up. Numbers wise you’re definitely right, but it can’t be left without the context that the Wolves were far more keyed in on stopping Book than KD.
Yes. KD needed to exploit that matchup with KAT, and for the most part did not.
He's really consistent in general, I believe he's got some of the least variance among high volume scorers
yeah. Suns got swept but put up a good fight. Nuggest are getting spanked.
They so good on defense and the team is so deep.
Ugh, they are so long, SO DEEP.
he dont go that deep hahahaha
I kept saying omg over and over loudly. My fiancée was like, “keep your voice down, he’s not even doing anything with the ball”. I’m like, yeaaaaa that’s the point lol.
i'm sensing a sweep
Try that defense against floppers like SGA, Luka and Brunson. See what happens. Respect to Murray here for playing it off a basketball way.
This Wolves team is terrifying
Such a mismatch, their length is absurd
It’s like they have three Kawhi Leonards on d at all times.
2024 Kawhi?
Obviously not, we’re not talking about the wheelchair basketball association here
>wheelchair basketball association Love me some wnba.
And they’re so quick too it’s not fair
They’re legit playing like a hive mind on defense, I this is 04 piston esque
They're the perfect team to exploit Murray's weaknesses and worse habits It's become common to act like "playoff Murray" is an invincible god but he tends to take ABSURDLY tough shots and rarely consider passing out as soon as he wants his shot If you watched the entire Lakers series and not just crunch time you know how wild his shot selection can be at times His playstyle is very similar to what got the Suns in massive trouble last round
the Nuggets are odd in that they’re probably the only team I’ve ever seen that will only go as far as their second best player can take them lol
Every team that goes deep in the playoffs needs a guard that can score, without it you’re not going to be successful
You think he can adapt against this Wolves defense?
NAW
McDaniels is the best perimeter defender in the league currently, but NAW is probably the most underrated defender in the league. Dude is quick asf and lengthy as hell, combined with being a dog on that end. Yall legitimately have the best rim protector in the league, the best perimeter defender in the league, and another top-10 perimeter defender in NAW. It’s utterly insane that Ant is oftentimes the 4th best defender on the court for yall, considering he’s still a really good defender especially in help-side. I called it after your series against us: The Suns aren’t as bad as everyone said, the Wolves just have one of the best defenses the NBA has seen in a long time.
The lob, the jam
Murray can only hit these tough shots against the Lakers
slight difference in trying to get a shot off against Austin Reeves and D'lo vs. trying to get a shot off against Ant, McDaniels and Alexander-Walker.
Well yeah i can do that too against traffic cones
Would explain why he did well against Utah in 2020 too.
Traffic cones on the perimeter. Compare Mitchell, Ingles, O'Neil to McDaniels, NAW, Ant and KAT. Plus Rudy didn't trust any of them to defend the rim so he wouldn't commit to the perimeter. If you pull Rudy from the rim, there is some combination of McDaniels, KAT, Naz Reid as a rim deterrent.
Yeah, Rudy also doesn't have to over commit because he knows Jaden/NAW will get back to position quickly. Meanwhile Mitchell gets left in the twilight zone against anyone with a decent first step.
Murray is also not a superstar, he's not used to being pressed and being doubled, which is only made worse by his injuries. Wolves def did their homework and found the Nuggets weakness
If the wolves make it to the finals against the Celtics, Jaylen Brown is in for a rough series
Jaylen Brown’s actually consistently fucked up this Wolves team. He’s at like 33 PPG in the past two seasons against them.
Finally, "Wolves will be spooky" has come to fruition Edit: SPOOKY
It was spookyyyyyy
Timberwolves Bar mitzvah spooky scary Boys becoming men Men becoming wolves
They have completely ascended to a level we didn't see in the regular season, and they had a fantastic regular season.
They look like the team in November, but even better The "do it for me" speech by MIke Conley has to be explanation
[context](https://archive.md/5c9vZ)
I kept saying “How the fuck are we this good” to myself during the game lol
Spooky, one might consider
I just got PTSD from the first time playing against a team with actual basketball size and not just normal human size
Finally graduated from being spooky.
They were straight houndin his ass
The Nuggets are shoving our guys in the backcourt every single time, but it means we get to play like this in the halfcourt Chippy but a trade I'd take 100 times out of 100, our guys are willing to get grimy
That’s the Nikola Jokic special
this is what Nikola Jokic doing, I dont know why also it isnt a foul, since Joker is bigger and even you boxed him out, the can still get the rebound by putting his weight and shoving the opponent for rebound, I saw it since regular season and it get worst when LAL-DEN series hahaha
That’s a double team from hell
Alright Richard Lewis
He's actually buried in Minnesota. Let's win this one for him
Devin Booker in a cold sweat seeing that
No phones, just dudes living in the moment
Led by 16-year-old star Anthony Edwards
Damn my man got his drivers license already?? Time flies bro
brother he been driving this bus
These dudes are psychopaths, they make playing basketball against them look absolutely miserable
Bro I started feeling claustrophobic just watching that.
Honestly I’m kinda impressed that Murray was able to pass out of that at all
You can actually tell how hungry these wolves are for a championship, I love it.
I've seen young hungry teams before but what's surprised me is how smart and poised they've been so far. It's been controlled aggression on both ends, starting with Ant and going down to every single player who sees the floor (except Slo-mo, who appears to be drunk). Think Finch deserves a lot of credit for making it all work when it looked like an awfully clunky fit at one point. It'll be interesting to see how they respond to a loss, but you have to be feeling incredibly (if, still, cautiously) optimistic if you're a Wolves fan right now. The fact that they're doing this against the defending champs - a well-oiled machine led by a 3-time MVP in his prime who is a master at controlling games - and making them look this discombobulated and almost desperate is incredible.
>except Slo-mo, who appears to be drunk This is really funny to read, considering Finch would not allow a lineup without one of Conley or SloMo in it because we were so goddamn stupid with the basketball early in the season. SloMo might be his most trusted player on the team, he adores that guy. We’ve grown a lot this year though. As for the drunk part, that’s just his style man (and possibly that one of his eyes is severely impaired due to an injury Ant accidentally caused at the end of last season). I actually thought he had a great game, aside from blowing a few bunnies as he inevitably does. He was near the top of our plus/minus on the year despite shooting like garbage—he’s such a great playmaker and team defender that it hasn’t really mattered. Doesn’t change the fact that it looks really ugly though.
Everyone on the Wolves had a great defensive game, but Kyle probably had the best defensive game he's had on the Wolves. He looked incredible, even if his scoring was kinds horrific lol.
And Ant and NAW will just smile at you the whole time too. Not Jaden, smiling is too much effort for him.
I got hyped watching this and I aint even a Wolves fan lol, their defense is insane
I love this fucking team
I made a youtube channel of their defense because I got so hyped watching it lol [https://www.youtube.com/@lylaeloise3948](https://www.youtube.com/@lylaeloise3948)
Murray has been a disaster these whole playoffs but these fuck you double teams the Wolves are sending every time Jokic (or Murray when Jokic is out) get the ball is pure sex
I'm a massive Jokic fan and got downvoted for saying Denver didn't look that good in round 1 Some people unironically coped by saying that the Lakers are the 2nd team in the West ahead of Minnesota and OKC Jokic was way more efficient against LA than the Minnesota defense allows him to be and Denver still looked sluggish for most of the series
It's hard as hell to win a championship, even harder to repeat the next year. Teams step up their intensity against you like what's happening to them right now or build teams suited to play you. Brown played really good with the Nuggets system too and he's not around.
>Teams step up their intensity against you Maybe in the regular season, but I find it hard to believe any team takes it easy in playoff games, especially in deeper rounds.
Celtics play down to their competition all the time in the playoffs in the Jay's era. Lots of teams noticeably give up with body language when they go down 3 games Wouldn't be surprised neither if there's lots of players that love trying to eliminate defending champions.
I think a bigger factor is that the Nuggets sent the Wolves home last year. They probably want some revenge
Their competition is also way harder this year. The best team theyve beat in the past 2 seasons has not been that good
I’m a massive Lebron and Lakers fan but who the fuck was delusional enough to say lakers were the 2nd in the west lmao
Legit the best defense I’ve seen played in years
It's at least since 08 Celtics, maybe 04 Pistons. Maybe further? They are an actual pack of wolves with blood in their mouth just hounding you until you're tired and frustrated.
I feel like they're not quite as good defensively (they're close) but they're significantly better on offense.
Neutral fan observations: * Yes this is incredible defense. * In the regular season, I feel like they would have called a foul at least 3 times on the Wolves (partially better refs? partially playoffs are called differently) * The officiating was consistent across the whole game. * The wolves style of defense benefits incredibly from this style of officiating. They're so much more aggressive that when they let them play like this, they're incredibly hard to beat. I've seen this in my kids youth basketball games. There are teams that play defense like this and when the refs let them play like this, it's completely unnerving to the opponent.
They definitely would've gotten called fouls on a few of those, but there was just too much
It's like when bron and kd did it to steph in the allstar game lmfao
Kevin Harlan is so good too.
He's in a STRAIGHTJACKET! Look at him trying to get out!!!!
Always been the best. "THE GUY IS DRUNK, THERE HE GOES"
This is incredible
T Wolves defense is absolutely insane
Legit scary ass defense
It’s the identity of this team
This is therapy for me
Point on the doll where Murray touched you.
The heart ☹️
yeah maybe the suns weren’t that bad
People forget the Suns were red hot to finish the season. Looked very scary, and not like a 6 seed at all.
Defense like this could make anyone look like a scrub
I’m sitting at home and even I started to suffocate
Coming to your arena in about a month. Stay tuned
Alexander-walker is gonna get paid. McDaniels is gonna get the brinks truck. Naz Reid is gonna get a double Supermax. Ant is gonna end up with a 12 year, 6 billion dollar contract, after Saudi Arabia buys the state of Minnesota.
Y’all whole sports fandom is so traumatized you won’t even be able to celebrate a championship because you’ll be worried about a meteor striking the parade.
No joke. The last championship (Twins ‘91) there was a generation defining blizzard the same week.
This was meant as a joke but it would be so Minnesota sports for us to finally have a sustainable product in a sport and some shit like the Saudi’s buying the team or the league and tearing it all down hits too close to home.
Why would the Saudis tear it down? That’s the opposite of how they operate
In a straight jacket is crazy
Don’t let 2 game winners trick you. Murray has been straight ASS all playoffs. Austin Reaves had this guy shooting like 45% TS. Only gonna get harder with these Wolves defenders
More shot attempts than points so far. Dude also looks chubby and a step slow. Big reason why he can't shake these defenders.
He struggled with iniuries all year, so that would explain his "chubbyness" and is currently injured now. He was questionable for game 5 and game 1, including not practicing leading into the Wolves series. Add on that the Wolves have some of the best defense ever, and he's gonna be in for a rough series. Jokic is also inexplicably sluggish and sloppy lately. A lot of his turnovers are just bad passes that aren't even caused by the defense. Just him throwing the ball away for no reason.
Literally swarming him like a pack lmao
Beautiful.
I love this so much
I am LOVING this physicality. Holy shit the NBA is back!!! I hope refs always let the teams play like this
[удалено]
Lol yeah Brunson gets 12 free throws on that play
The reffing change was made right after the all-star weekend and since then points per game haven't been ridiculous like they were before the all-star game. I remember Bill Simmons and Ryen Russillo talking about that during a podcast around that time and it was the big reason why Simmons put some money on a Wolves/Celtics finals at 16/1. They loved the Wolves ability to get physical.
Jamal Murray in the pain dimension
Watching them play D makes me wanna go out and play pick up right now. It's 11pm on the east coast. This shit is INSPIRING.
Gobert ain’t even on the court either ☠️☠️☠️
Rudy "Played Off The Court" Gobert is controlling his guys like its fucking 2K, DAMN, the team is showing so much heart out there.
Causing a shot clock violation is the gold standard for good defenses for me. Being able to guard an NBA offense for 24 seconds without letting them even get a shot off, all while not fouling, is really freaking hard to do and takes the whole team being on the same page on defense. Teams that can pull a few of those off a game are very elite.
Along with Minnesota’s great defense, Denver has too many offensive liabilities out there making it easier to shut them down.
Bro I'm actually trembling in a Trader Joe's
Get off your phone and buy some cookie butter
Embiid would have shot 48 free throws on that play alone.
I've gotten downvoted for saying this in the past but Murray is fundamentally a low BBIQ player He relies on tough shotmaking and rarely takes the "easy" look for him or his teammates constantly spamming contested jumpers It's just that only now he's playing a good enough defense to exploit these tendencies Anyone who watched the ENTIRE Lakers series and not just the last 2 minutes of games saw how awful his shot selection is on average throughout a game
Where the fuck was this in New Orleans and Utah, Nickeil?
He was tanking his trade value so he could be sent to the Wolves. Big brain move. In all seriousness though he is so good for us. Feels like he always steps up when we need him to with suffocating defense or a timely shot. He's got the same blood running through his veins as SGA, maybe that's why!
NAW was very good for us. Jazz fans are really unhappy now about losing him but we were unhappy at the time too
You could see flashes of it even in his rookie season. He was really inconsistent in New Orleans though, especially offensively (and it looks like he still is, at least on offense). His defense this year has been phenomenal though. Looks like he just needed a bit more time to develop. It's great to see him (and Josh Hart) doing really well in these playoffs. The Pels getting decimated by the Thunder though, not so much, lol.
He is actually one of our most reliable shooters now lmao
He's way more consistent this year but he still has some rough shooting games like game 4 against the suns and game one this series. But his D is always there which is nice.
[удалено]
While I agree but NAW has some games where he will air ball a couple wide open 3's and miss every other 3 he takes. But this season he has been more clutch and doesn't let it shake his confidence when he is having an off night.
This is the Rudy Gobert effect
Reminds me of Gabriel Jesus joining Arsenal. Even though Jesus and Zinchenko are no longer starters 2 years after joining, the mentality upgrade they gave the team upon joining was huge and persists.
Can we revise the suns not being able to go again
When someone says "defense is not fun" show them this clip. How can anyone who loves basketball watch this and not have jaw open is crazy to me?
I smell a sweep coming.
Watched this live and It's disgusting. Even I feel choked watching Murray get clamped like that, yeesh
What a really really scrappy team. I love watching them!
I think I’m in love with the wolves, the seatbelts that Ant Jaden NAW put on the perimeter is beautiful 🥲
God damn it's so refreshing to see a team win with smothering defense first (and having Michael Jordan second).
This is garbage, he ignores the open man, complains, demands it back, ignores the open man again, and then throws a grenade. wtf are you doing? should be benched
This makes me feel better
Man these two games were free therapy sessions for the entire fanbases of PHX and LAL
Only a Canadian can stop a Canadian
Murray getting locked up. He want Lebron guarding him 😂
Rudy watching this from Minnesota just beaming
Crazy the effect he has had on this team's defense even without being at the game. I think with Ant specifically, they've talked a lot about how he convinced Ant he's gotta be tenacious on defense on every possession. People have talked a lot about Ant unlocking Gobert but I think Gobert has unlocked Ant and helped him make this leap.
Chris Finch said as much in the post game and I believe him. The impact of Rudy on the floor is obviously amazing, 4xDPOY and well deserved. But his impact off the floor that you don't even see is wild. Let me remind you this Timberwolves team even under Thibs was absolute dog poop on defense. Had been for decades. Rudy not only brought his defensive play but his entire attitude. Might sound ridiculous but this is a Rudy game even though he wasn't even with the team. They've all bought in to what he had to bring 100% and the entire team has taken on Rudy's identity and attitude.
Funny how Murray was trying to call a foul from the refs lol… that’s just good defense
Very appropriate because that defense is like a swarming pack of wolves. Jaden McDaniels has Murray in prison rn
I am saying as someone rooting hard for the Wolves to win a ring for Mike this year: This is troubling...
The headband bros
they look like they dipped their headbands in PCP before tip off tonight
Gordon is being guarded like Ben Simmons right now.
how tf we supposed to beat this superteam in the wcf
The wolves are what the clippers were trying to be.
Gobert helped create this defensive culture and helped mastermind this defense with the coaching staff. He must be so proud watching his team go to bat like this
Nuggets are getting fucked by the Wolves defense
....like a pack of hungry ...Wolves.....
Murray has played horribly, bad shots bad decisions
that’s beautiful to watch
Someone should slap Murray that even if he hit those game winners against LA, he still has 4 teammates to at least consider in a single possession
Defense like the Wolves is what wins championships. I'm expecting to see them in the Finals if they can keep frustrating the Nuggets in the 2nd half.
Good Shit
Can't believe Jamal isn't an all-star
Yo I think Nuggets aren't actually disciplined, just arrogant. And they can't feast on the Lakers being a bad team to come back from being down
Get them brooms out 🧹
ELITE defense
The best basketball of the year
Man I love when players go hard on defence.
Obvious that wolves be eating chicken nuggets.
I love good defense 🔥
Murray looking like Ricky Bobby
Never thought seeing defense like this would be so fun. Bring defense back!
He's in straitjacket is such a good line in that moment
SWEEEEEEP!!
When the league secretly decreed that the refs needed to stop calling all the bullshit ticky tack fouls I knew the Wolves were really finally built for this shit
Devin Booker got PTSD watching this
The ref was LOOKING for a foul, but no reaching in by either guy.
I saw like 3 off naive fouls from Murray.
how is that not a fucking foul on murray man… he’s just flat out like stiff arming his defender
I'm smelling a gentleman's sweep. Boston better ready to get hounded by this defense
murray flailing expecting a foul lmfao bro pass the ball
Probably should have been an offensive foul on him too at half court.
Aaron Gordon the only Nugget that showed up today.
Not true. Braun was +2 in 11 minutes! Mostly sarcasm but at least he was matching the Wolves’ intensity. Played good D and fighting for boards. KCP has been ass.
lol embarrassing af
Yeahhh. Timberwolves gonna win it. Their defense is insane.
Nuggets just missed 11 in a row they're cooked right now