![]() Most in the organization expected it to take time for the Wolves to adjust to a completely different way of doing things. They grabbed eight offensive rebounds to Minnesota’s six, outscored them 50-44 in the paint, raced down the court before the big guys could get moving and shot a blistering 76 percent in a 47-point first quarter that rendered the rest of the game moot. The Warriors, whose tallest starter was the 6-foot-9 Kevon Looney, crushed the Wolves on the glass, out-rebounding them 47-31. That puts more pressure on the guards and wings to retreat, and they just aren’t doing so with any real conviction or communication. The Wolves are 27th in the league in opponents points off turnovers, and their two 7-footers simply can’t get back on defense in transition quick enough. The reality to this point has not lived up to the hope. ![]() With the two of them side-by-side in the frontcourt, they would also dominate the boards to end possessions after one shot and reduce the chances of a small-ball opponent stretching them out and exploiting their lack of foot speed. When the Timberwolves made the decision to go big with Gobert, the belief internally was they would be able to compensate for any issues they faced against smaller teams on defense by punishing them on the other end with Towns and Gobert, two of the most efficient big men in NBA history. This is an existential problem for Minnesota. It’s getting to the point where a lot of games are coming by now, so we’ll just continue getting better.” It’s early, but at the same time, it’s not. If we’re going to continue to play that way, we’ve got to find ways to get better at it. “ If we’re going to play big, we’ve got to be big. “I f we are going to play (big), we’ve got to dominate in the paint,” Rivers said after the 137-114 loss. The most troubling aspect of this game, and this first quarter of the season for the new-look roster, was laid bare afterward by veteran guard Austin Rivers, who put into stark relief what has been the defining characteristic of this 10-10 team. ![]() If not for some knucklehead moments over the last four minutes or so of the half, the T-Pups - and their home crowd - could’ve been completely buried early.Even the biggest Wolves optimist would not have been surprised to see them struggle to match up with the Warriors, a title-drenched core that is smarter and more connected than any team in the league, and one that has found its stride after a slow start. In the final 3:20 of the second quarter, he was 1 for 4 from the field, scored three points and committed a pair of turnovers. Over the first 20 minutes and 40 seconds of the game, Nuggets guard Kentavius Caldwell-Pope poured in 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting. Riding the KCP roller-coaster, baby! If Charles Dickens was a Nuggets fan, he might have described the first half of Game 3 as the best of KCP times … followed by the worst of KCP times. With 7:21 to go in the contest, the Nuggets’ bench had outscored Minnesota’s by a count of 29-8.ģ. And yet another high-five for Connelly’s successor, Calvin Booth, who inserted such savvy pieces - Brown, Christian Braun, KCP - to finish off an NBA title contender. Credit to Tim Connelly for getting this franchise back up off the mat and setting up foundational pieces in Jokic and Murray. After three quarters, Brown had put up a plus-12 on Minnesota and his third quarter helped the visitors weather Jokic’s absence after the he got whistled for his fourth foul halfway through the quarter. ![]() Coming into Friday night, Nuggets super sub Bruce Brown had recorded a positive plus-minus number (plus-1 or higher) in 12 of his previous 18 playoff appearances going back to the spring of 2021. No NBA team has ever flipped a 3-0 deficit.Ģ. Anthony Edwards’ shoulder charge on Jamal Murray with 4:06 left in the game finally got the Nuggets in the bonus and started sucking the oxygen out of the hosts, who now trail 3-0 in the best-of-seven series. ![]() While Minnesota fans shouted, “Refs, you (expletive)” for the hundredth time with 4:46 to go in a five-point game, the T-Pups had gone to the stripe 31 times to Denver’s seven. What about phantom fouls on the NBA MVP? Or Rudy Gobert’s attempts at defending him? Home cooking on the home court happens, but the free-throw disparity Friday night bordered on the absurd. Timberwolves media couldn’t stop whining on Twitter late Friday about phantom Nikola Jokic traveling calls. Initial observations from the Nuggets’ win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 3 of their first-round Western Conference playoffs matchup.ġ. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menu ![]()
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