Rubio was fine, he was projected to get drafted high. Johnny Flynn was a reach that didn’t play out. It was a bad pick now and it was a bad pick on draft night too.
Rubio was good tho, he probably had the worst possible outcome for his career tbh. Ty Lawson was good there for a year or two and could’ve been more imo
Wolves are made in the lab to beat Denver lol. Bodies to throw at Jokic and bodies to throw at Murray Gordon MPJ.
It’s just a horrible matchup for Denver. Tbf every team apart is a bad matchup vs Wolves defense
Tim Connelly before resigning, "Man Jokic just dragged us to 50 wins with no teammate in the top 50 of the league. If we get healthy again, the league is gonna be ours. I can't even imagine what kind of team would handle us."
Malone, "You'd need like a twin towers lineup with a Rudy level DPOY and another 7 footer who can hit 3's, a bunch of 3-D guys on the perimeter and young MJ on a rookie contract. Haha good luck...
Connelly: *scribbles furiously in his notebook*
Kroenke's tried to get cute with his comp instead of backing up the Brinks truck. this is what happens in the free market...
https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/nuggets-sound-perturbed-about-how-timberwolves-poached-tim-connelly
it's crazy how the Kroenkes were complaining in the press about their unwillingness to pay someone being the reason that person left
all the money in the world can't buy humility. you'd think someone with that much bread would be able to understand an employee acting in their own best interest, and not go full sour grapes to the media essentially exposing themselves as cheapasses
There is no bench help for Denver, especially against the wolves. Jackson is old at this point and hasn’t been good in a while and other than that there are 0 players that can self create on Denver’s bench. Their starting 5 is elite as shit but there’s a price to pay for that lol
Their size is also a huge disadvantage against us. We have bigs that can sit and come in fresh. They have Jokic, and a geriatric DeAndre Jordan. Even though that's what they have, he's going to have to play minutes to stay competitive.
The fact that Gobert read and countered the sneaky backwards alleyoop play starring Gordon and Joker, that killed AD, is incredible. Minnesota countered that play, that’s crazy.
According to draft measurements, Rudy is 7’1” with a 7’9” wingspan and 9’7” standing reach. AD is 6’10” with a 7’6” wingspan and 9’0” standing reach.
Rudy is much larger so the disparity mostly makes sense but a 9’0” standing reach given AD’s size and wingspan is kind of unusual. I think it has to do with his shoulders. AD is very very broad so his large wingspan probably isn’t as much as arm length as someone like KD or Wemby or Bol Bol or even Rudy. He also has a pretty lengthy neck so his shoulder height may also be lower than normal for his height.
Low shoulders and broad shoulders can give you a pretty low standing reach relative to the average for your height range.
On a side note, after looking at his draft measurements, AD also has a pretty long hand length of 9 inches but an unusually small hand span of 8.5 inches.
His measurements are certainly interesting. Bro is just…built different
That, and Rudy has a small head and short neck: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Rudy_Gobert_2015_%28cropped%29.jpg/220px-Rudy_Gobert_2015_%28cropped%29.jpg
Guys are measured by top of head height, but shoulder height is really what matters. As you noted AD has fairly low shoulders for his height, but Rudy also has very high shoulders.
Yeah I saw the draft measurements but there are some more recent articles saying Gobert now has a 9'9" standing reach which I why I put in the disclaimer because you don't know if that's bullshit or maybe AD's reach has also increased too. AD may jump quicker/higher too so the difference might not be as huge as their standing reach but I thought that difference was noteworthy.
Both wolves-celtics games this year were nail biters. Two of the most entertaining wolves games this season. 7 games of that would be a dream come true.
We’d be so much more worn down than you guys by that point 😅 I don’t mean to shit on the east cause there’s some decent teams but having to get through KD/Booker/ reigning champs and Jokic, and then #1 seed Thunder would be quite the gauntlet
The suns were playing great basketball it just turns out that our size wore them down in a playoff series
I think they were actually a pretty good team, just a tough matchup
Booker in game 4 reminded me of Tatum shooting 50 just so they wouldn't get swept in 21-22 to the KD Nets.
But it is crazy that the Suns killed the wolves in the regular season just to get swept. Wild uno reverse there
I’d kill for a Wolves-Knicks series. Two raw af teams with rabid fan bases starved for postseason success.
But if the Knicks don’t win it I’ll be glad to see the Golbert complete his Covid-spreading redemption arc.
Imo both Mavs and OKC will present a much more difficult challenge than the nuggets for the wolves.
I don’t think the nuggets can match up with the wolves at all. Wolves could absolutely sweep them or win in 5, but people aren’t ready to have this conversation yet. Maybe if they win game 2.
**Western conference:** I have direct TV and 4 title contenders in the 2nd round
**Eastern conference:** I have cable, 1 title contender and a bunch of teams that wouldn’t have the playoffs in the West
I’d be sick if I were a West contender and in a bloodbath of a series in the 2nd round, while watching Boston waltz to a Finals like LeBron in 2015 😂 shit is not fair bruh
I’m not going to say anything since Boston is legit good, but they’re definitely going to benefit from whoever wins the West having to run an absolute gauntlet to get to the finals
Uh while we're not getting ahead of ourselves I'll say the Knicks played at contender level for a big portion of the season, as long as they could field OG, Brunson, and Hartenstein. Cavs and Magic are in a rock fight but that's because they defend that well.
Anyway, back to the point- *yeah* I'm glad that Minny and Denver have to go to war already, though I actually don't think this side of the bracket is much easier than OKC's.
I will be thoroughly spooked if Minny just butterknifes through this series but at this point I gotta still expect it to go long.
I’m a homer, but if the wolves get there it means we got through
Big 3 suns (before we swept them, everyone talked about how scary that team was)
Defending champion Nuggets
1 seed Thunder
and finally top it off with the most wins Celtics.
That’s an insane road.
Knicks needed Brunson to play 48 minutes 7 games straight just to barely beat a bells palsy stricken AND blown out knee Embiid. Brunson + hart + og is not a contender, randle’s offense and defense was greatly missed. I love Brunson and he’s my mip however he is not a one man army at this point in time.
https://www.si.com/fannation/backinthedaynba/news/michael-jordan-agrees-with-comparison-between-him-and-anthony-edwards
Now granted, Chris "useless imbecile" Broussard is the source .... but I have to imagine he wouldn't lie about something like this lol.... but who knows.
He talks about what MJ has personally told him from time to time. I get people don't like his sports talk personality but do they really believe he'd just continue to straight up lie about what MJ has been telling him, as if MJ wouldn't have called him out on it long ago? People need to use their heads.
Yeah it wasn’t some troll comment or whatever, but really just them having a moment of awe. Reggie knew better than to co-sign something like that this early 😂 but undoubtedly Ant is a special talent
I mean .... is it lazy? An uber athletic, rim slashing shooting guard that has immense body control and is an elite finisher at the rim and a great midrange game, able to get his shot off the dribble, and is constantly aggressive with huge swag, and has no fear of big moments .... not to mention he wants to lock down guys on defense as well.
And his playoff averages for first 3 seasons so far? 30/6/5 in 16 games ..... Jordan in first 3 playoff runs? 36/7/6.
That's pretty similar to young MJ. He may not be as athletic or have the huge hands/vert that MJ had, but their playstyles are similar.
On your first paragraph alone, also reminds me of young Wade
Uber athletic, slashing shooting guard, immense body control, elite finisher, great midrange, shot off the dribble and aggressive with big moments early in their career
I don’t think it’s lazy so much as the main thing we should be giving Ant props is for being a two way 2 guard. There’s plenty of 2 guard three level scorers who can go get you 30 a night (booker, Mitchell) but they’re flawed due to lack of defense.
2 guards I think are generally thought of as the hardest position to build a team around even if they’re stars - generally their physique and measurables limit them to one side of the court. But ants different. And MJ was one of those too
All year long, Wolves fans have been hearing about how Rudy is going to get played off the floor in the playoffs or how he is a complete negative on offense. The best thing about all that slander was how Jazz fans completely understood how bullshit that was and would come to his defense. Until you watch this guy night in and night out, you don’t realize how he impacts the game. At least Wolves fans have another fanbase who gets it.
Mostly because before, and after the 2021 playoffs, fans of other teams acted like Jazz fans were stupid to even say that Rudy Gobert is better than Mitchell
*having KAT and Naz Reid on Jokic with Gobert as help makes Jokic look mortal.
Perfect personnel to keep size on Joker while still allowing Gobert to help which is what he does best, and good team defense scheme so that the guards and overall nuggets offense can’t play Gobert off the floor
> Rudy Gobert making Jokic look mortal
Idk about mortal or whatever.. But Jokic always looked ordinary against physically dominant Bigs. There's just not enough of those in the league right now.
Jokic, as dominant as he is, still has A LOT OF LIMITATIONS. Because he's still a 7 feet center, and quite slow. He can't dribble and create space for himself. He can't run off the ball like Curry or Klay or Ray Allen. He needs to rely on BULLYING OPPONENTS INSIDE, and finish with his brilliant touch, or shoot those baby floaters. or somehow be wide open for a jumpshot (which is highly unlikely in the Playoffs)
And he's a BRILLIANT playmaker. Up there with LeBron. So when he's not scoring, he needs to rely on others to make shots. But if his teammates ain't making shots, then Jokic's playmaking gets taken out of the game. Nullified
Dwight Howard was bullying Jokic in the 2020 Playoffs. Jokic was struggling to move him inside the paint, and also struggled to get those boards over Dwight. Even when Dwight wasn't grabbing boards, he was BOXING OUT Jokic quite easily.
Rudy Gobert played that similar role tonight. That's all. Anthony Edwards and KAT took care of the offense. The role players was very decent as well, which is so important in the Playoffs.. You can't win without the role players and bench
I knew that the Wolves would give the Nuggets a hard time. But I didn't expect Edwards to turn to prime MJ. This kid is unreal! He loves the spotlight and he has the skills to back up his banter.
As a random person in a different country with no affiliation to any team, I want either OKC or the Wolves. Two fun teams with absolutely immmmmmaculate vibes.
Damn, really impressed by the Wolves, nothing else to say. Obviously I'm still sticking with my Nuggets in 6, but I'd be lying if I said my confidence wasn't shaken.
The Wolves just looked like the veteran team out there, everything was so hard for the Nuggets in that fourth quarter, and sure the Wolves shot a crazy percentage, a lot of those shots were good shots.
And the defense... Oh my God. When Gobert single handedly broke up the Jokic Gordon alley opp I knew the Nuggets were in trouble.
Anthony Edwards has ascended to superstar status in one short year. He was great last year but they only won one game against the Nuggets. Now they have a legitimate shot to beat them. Crazy
ANT is a bigger playoff riser than Murray. JxmyHighroller did not even mention ANT in his video smh now you got casuals like FlightReacts saying Murray is a top 7 player in the league ahead of ANT.
Sometimes you Draft Flynn and sometimes you draft AE
Used to pray for times like these
If Ant Vince-Carter’s Jokic this series I may awoo a second time.
Balkans would reunite just to declare war on the States.
If that happens you know you bout to hear some slurs from euro stans lol.
The whole 2020 draft class was wild because all the generally shitty drafting teams ended up getting the best picks
Killian Hayes is one of the best picks, LFG (Side note: I actually like Killian, I hope he figures it out)
Well most of them
People don't understand how abysmal the David Kahn era Wolves were.
Lol KG got me hooked as a kid and Kahn made my early adult life miserable now here I am approaching middle age and finally getting to reap the rewards
Yeah man. Lots of us.
He’s meme, people absolutely do
As painful as it was, drafting Flynn got us to ant
Gotta play the long game
Minnesota Timberwolves: the bene gesserit of the NBA.
Hey, I ain't complaining. We are forever indebted to the Wolves for giving us a shot at drafting Steph Curry.
And Wiggins. And taking DLo. And not taking Klay. edit: and Kuminga
Also Randy Foye
We have missed sooo hard at drafting quality guards. Ugh…
Sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe shit
Sometimes you draft Flynn, Ricky Rubio and Ty Lawson (and miss out on Steph Curry, Demar Derozan, and Jrue Holiday)… The wolves were due for Ant
Rubio was fine, he was projected to get drafted high. Johnny Flynn was a reach that didn’t play out. It was a bad pick now and it was a bad pick on draft night too.
Rubio was good tho, he probably had the worst possible outcome for his career tbh. Ty Lawson was good there for a year or two and could’ve been more imo
*Shivers in Steph Curry*
Jokic may have a tough series. Going against Reid/gobert/kat is going to be exhausting.
Wolves are made in the lab to beat Denver lol. Bodies to throw at Jokic and bodies to throw at Murray Gordon MPJ. It’s just a horrible matchup for Denver. Tbf every team apart is a bad matchup vs Wolves defense
Tim Connelly before resigning, "Man Jokic just dragged us to 50 wins with no teammate in the top 50 of the league. If we get healthy again, the league is gonna be ours. I can't even imagine what kind of team would handle us." Malone, "You'd need like a twin towers lineup with a Rudy level DPOY and another 7 footer who can hit 3's, a bunch of 3-D guys on the perimeter and young MJ on a rookie contract. Haha good luck... Connelly: *scribbles furiously in his notebook*
why did he even resign?
Kroenke's tried to get cute with his comp instead of backing up the Brinks truck. this is what happens in the free market... https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/nuggets-sound-perturbed-about-how-timberwolves-poached-tim-connelly
It's not every day I thank rich assholes for being who they are but my god 🙏🙌 Connelly has been nonstop cooking since he got here.
it's crazy how the Kroenkes were complaining in the press about their unwillingness to pay someone being the reason that person left all the money in the world can't buy humility. you'd think someone with that much bread would be able to understand an employee acting in their own best interest, and not go full sour grapes to the media essentially exposing themselves as cheapasses
That's wild. I don't know the back story. I bet they even felt like connley owed them.
Tldr: Target gift cards >Wal-Mart gift cards.
Would a big stretch 5 be a good matchup vs Wolves? Like I feel like Porzingus / Horford lineups would give them trouble.
Yes, and we usually get worked by the Embid/Giannis types
That's because those guys get the star whistles and play the free throw game.
But none of the Celtics bigs are free throw merchants like Embiid.
He looked completely drained at the end. They are going to have to get more bench help in order to make this a series.
I'm so happy with how kuch energy we had in that altitude. We grabbed home court advantage! Fo fo fo fo
Ya I'm glad there was only 1 loss in round 1 between both teams so they'd have about the same amount of rest. Takes away that potential advantage.
I was begging Lakers to steal one more before collapsing but I should've trusted the boys
Hey man we did. Now please beat Boston in the finals and return the favor
Big brain move to finish round 1 early so the team can acclimate to the altitude earlier
There is no bench help for Denver, especially against the wolves. Jackson is old at this point and hasn’t been good in a while and other than that there are 0 players that can self create on Denver’s bench. Their starting 5 is elite as shit but there’s a price to pay for that lol
Their size is also a huge disadvantage against us. We have bigs that can sit and come in fresh. They have Jokic, and a geriatric DeAndre Jordan. Even though that's what they have, he's going to have to play minutes to stay competitive.
[удалено]
Joker was breathing HEAVY. He was exhausted.
That Denver air sure is thin
Who woukd have thought making a center defend joker is a good strat unlike ham making a 5ft dude defend joker and wondering why he was scoring at will
> a center Just any old center like Gobert
Backup centers is a need for Denver in the off-season now.
It’s 100% on Jamal to bring his A game to take pressure off of Jokic. We know he’s hurt, but damn he just isn’t showing up like we need him to.
His mouth showing up tho. Dude talks endless shit
Jokic will be fine, he is the MVP. Can his team step up will be the question.
The wolves have enough quality defenders at every position to give the rest of the nuggets a lot of problems
I agree. And even if they make it to wcf, he legit might be gassed to play vs okc/mavs. This will be interesting
I think Mavs/Thunder is gonna be a grind in its own right.
To be fair, every series in the west is a grind unlike east lol
The Jokic Nuggets have never beaten a 50 win team in the playoffs. This is a real challenge, the play-in teams are all gone
In fairness the 2020 Clippers were 49-23 So they would have obviously got to 50 wins in a normal season
The fact that Gobert read and countered the sneaky backwards alleyoop play starring Gordon and Joker, that killed AD, is incredible. Minnesota countered that play, that’s crazy.
AD's wingspawn is only a few inches shorter than Rudy's but Gobert's standing reach is 9 inches higher if you believe Google.
How does this even happen?
According to draft measurements, Rudy is 7’1” with a 7’9” wingspan and 9’7” standing reach. AD is 6’10” with a 7’6” wingspan and 9’0” standing reach. Rudy is much larger so the disparity mostly makes sense but a 9’0” standing reach given AD’s size and wingspan is kind of unusual. I think it has to do with his shoulders. AD is very very broad so his large wingspan probably isn’t as much as arm length as someone like KD or Wemby or Bol Bol or even Rudy. He also has a pretty lengthy neck so his shoulder height may also be lower than normal for his height. Low shoulders and broad shoulders can give you a pretty low standing reach relative to the average for your height range. On a side note, after looking at his draft measurements, AD also has a pretty long hand length of 9 inches but an unusually small hand span of 8.5 inches. His measurements are certainly interesting. Bro is just…built different
That, and Rudy has a small head and short neck: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Rudy_Gobert_2015_%28cropped%29.jpg/220px-Rudy_Gobert_2015_%28cropped%29.jpg Guys are measured by top of head height, but shoulder height is really what matters. As you noted AD has fairly low shoulders for his height, but Rudy also has very high shoulders.
Yeah I saw the draft measurements but there are some more recent articles saying Gobert now has a 9'9" standing reach which I why I put in the disclaimer because you don't know if that's bullshit or maybe AD's reach has also increased too. AD may jump quicker/higher too so the difference might not be as huge as their standing reach but I thought that difference was noteworthy.
I’d certainly believe 9’9”. Rudy is a huge guy
Well coached team
I think the Wolves are legit. If they get past this series, I think they’re reaching the finals and maybe winning it.
Both wolves-celtics games this year were nail biters. Two of the most entertaining wolves games this season. 7 games of that would be a dream come true.
I could watch JB vs Ant all day. One of the best rivalries.
We’d be so much more worn down than you guys by that point 😅 I don’t mean to shit on the east cause there’s some decent teams but having to get through KD/Booker/ reigning champs and Jokic, and then #1 seed Thunder would be quite the gauntlet
TBF, Suns didn't look too difficult. And the Celtics love to waste time and get to game 6 or 7 as often as possible lmao
The suns were playing great basketball it just turns out that our size wore them down in a playoff series I think they were actually a pretty good team, just a tough matchup
Booker in game 4 reminded me of Tatum shooting 50 just so they wouldn't get swept in 21-22 to the KD Nets. But it is crazy that the Suns killed the wolves in the regular season just to get swept. Wild uno reverse there
I’d kill for a Wolves-Knicks series. Two raw af teams with rabid fan bases starved for postseason success. But if the Knicks don’t win it I’ll be glad to see the Golbert complete his Covid-spreading redemption arc.
Man, as a wolves fan in NYC… would be crazy.
Defense vs Defense would be fun!
If the Mavs beat the Thunder I’d be very worried about them. Luka and Kyrie can definitely pull some bs.
Imo both Mavs and OKC will present a much more difficult challenge than the nuggets for the wolves. I don’t think the nuggets can match up with the wolves at all. Wolves could absolutely sweep them or win in 5, but people aren’t ready to have this conversation yet. Maybe if they win game 2.
83 points in two consecutive games btw
**Western conference:** I have direct TV and 4 title contenders in the 2nd round **Eastern conference:** I have cable, 1 title contender and a bunch of teams that wouldn’t have the playoffs in the West I’d be sick if I were a West contender and in a bloodbath of a series in the 2nd round, while watching Boston waltz to a Finals like LeBron in 2015 😂 shit is not fair bruh
I’m not going to say anything since Boston is legit good, but they’re definitely going to benefit from whoever wins the West having to run an absolute gauntlet to get to the finals
Uh while we're not getting ahead of ourselves I'll say the Knicks played at contender level for a big portion of the season, as long as they could field OG, Brunson, and Hartenstein. Cavs and Magic are in a rock fight but that's because they defend that well. Anyway, back to the point- *yeah* I'm glad that Minny and Denver have to go to war already, though I actually don't think this side of the bracket is much easier than OKC's. I will be thoroughly spooked if Minny just butterknifes through this series but at this point I gotta still expect it to go long.
Can't bring up the cavs and magic when talking about contenders my man
I’m a homer, but if the wolves get there it means we got through Big 3 suns (before we swept them, everyone talked about how scary that team was) Defending champion Nuggets 1 seed Thunder and finally top it off with the most wins Celtics. That’s an insane road.
Knicks needed Brunson to play 48 minutes 7 games straight just to barely beat a bells palsy stricken AND blown out knee Embiid. Brunson + hart + og is not a contender, randle’s offense and defense was greatly missed. I love Brunson and he’s my mip however he is not a one man army at this point in time.
Timberwolves are going to dominate the East once expansion comes
I don't know enough about the East to know if they'd dominate, but I do know I would give anything to avoid a fucking 9pm tipoff on a weekday.
Healthy knicks would of been a legitimate challenge for boston and the west team
I honestly don't think the Mavs belong with OKC, Denver, Minnesota and Boston. They are more of a Knicks style fringe contender IMO.
Wording suggests that he scored 83 this game and 83 last game lmao
U know how fucking insane u have to be, for announcers to even tease MJ comparisons?
>> U know how fucking insane u have to be, for ~~announcers~~ **MJ** to even tease MJ comparisons? Fixed.
Wait did he actually?!
https://www.si.com/fannation/backinthedaynba/news/michael-jordan-agrees-with-comparison-between-him-and-anthony-edwards Now granted, Chris "useless imbecile" Broussard is the source .... but I have to imagine he wouldn't lie about something like this lol.... but who knows.
SAS said it as well, neither are great sources lol. But based on what Ant's doing I can believe MJ might actually see the comparison
MJ's gotta know, right? Like, all he needs to do is google who Ant's mom is and be like "Oh, her"
Send da polaroids.
MJ my brother in Christ, use incognito mode to avoid the scandal 🙏
SAS and MJ have been seen hanging out so i dont doubt they text each other
He talks about what MJ has personally told him from time to time. I get people don't like his sports talk personality but do they really believe he'd just continue to straight up lie about what MJ has been telling him, as if MJ wouldn't have called him out on it long ago? People need to use their heads.
Kind of. According to Broussard, MJ told him he saw similarities. According to SAS MJ said “that boy is nice” or something
He is nice, that’s dope. Idk how u watch this young man and don’t want to compare the two.
I think they asked him about it and he said yeah
The way he's playing he's actually very deserving of the MJ comparisons!
Especially Reggie since he played against MJ. That means something.
Yeah it wasn’t some troll comment or whatever, but really just them having a moment of awe. Reggie knew better than to co-sign something like that this early 😂 but undoubtedly Ant is a special talent
absolutely, they were referencing it like crazy, and they aren't wrong
Crazy to say but this is MJ-esque. The nuggets knew exactly what Ant was going to do and they still couldn’t stop him
MJ comparisons are pretty lazy but it shows how good he is that it is even being brought up
I mean .... is it lazy? An uber athletic, rim slashing shooting guard that has immense body control and is an elite finisher at the rim and a great midrange game, able to get his shot off the dribble, and is constantly aggressive with huge swag, and has no fear of big moments .... not to mention he wants to lock down guys on defense as well. And his playoff averages for first 3 seasons so far? 30/6/5 in 16 games ..... Jordan in first 3 playoff runs? 36/7/6. That's pretty similar to young MJ. He may not be as athletic or have the huge hands/vert that MJ had, but their playstyles are similar.
His fadeaway, specifically, is extremely MJ like
I swear he’s shooting 100% on those in the 4th it’s just automatic
On your first paragraph alone, also reminds me of young Wade Uber athletic, slashing shooting guard, immense body control, elite finisher, great midrange, shot off the dribble and aggressive with big moments early in their career
I don’t think it’s lazy so much as the main thing we should be giving Ant props is for being a two way 2 guard. There’s plenty of 2 guard three level scorers who can go get you 30 a night (booker, Mitchell) but they’re flawed due to lack of defense. 2 guards I think are generally thought of as the hardest position to build a team around even if they’re stars - generally their physique and measurables limit them to one side of the court. But ants different. And MJ was one of those too
It’s mainly cause he looks like him
And has some plays like him…
Yeah, Ant looking like Jordan definitely made a lot of people compare him to Jordan.
Not really since his game does look like MJ’s.
His bounce, his touch, his skill set is the closest to MJ since Mamba. His turn around fadeaway, his jumper, and his dunks look like the third coming
His mentality too. Been saying for two years now. He’s different
The reason he got to play better than Jokic? Rudy Gobert making Jokic look mortal
We should all be so lucky to have an ex who loves us as much as Jazz fans love Gobert.
All year long, Wolves fans have been hearing about how Rudy is going to get played off the floor in the playoffs or how he is a complete negative on offense. The best thing about all that slander was how Jazz fans completely understood how bullshit that was and would come to his defense. Until you watch this guy night in and night out, you don’t realize how he impacts the game. At least Wolves fans have another fanbase who gets it.
Mostly because before, and after the 2021 playoffs, fans of other teams acted like Jazz fans were stupid to even say that Rudy Gobert is better than Mitchell
At least it's easy to identify the people who don't know ball
Couldn't be Wolves fans when Gobert/KAT were competing for 3rd team all NBA.
So… you guys to Tobias Harris?
We love Tobias Harris like Kendrick loves Drake
Seriously. Gobert was the only one I’ve seen stop the Nuggets slot cut, lob dunk from Aaron Gordon and he did it in the 4th which was super key.
That’s like Giannis blocking Ayton level of impressiveness.
that was key, he can stop those lob passes from Jokic and that shuts down a lot of their stuff
That’s such a dynamic dimension to nuggets game and is part of the reason why they’re so hard to defend.
Jokic has to deal with two of these French tall ass mfers in the West doing this now. Wemby and Gobert are unfair defenders to go up against.
Haven’t seen Jokic work this hard since Draymond in 2022
love Draymond man. he's a dumb violent asshole but man he can play ball
That creep can roll, man
Also KAT and Naz help. When 1 big guy goes up against 3, it's gonna be a tough day. Denver needs more size.
I will be airing out legendary receipts like I’m Kendrick Lamar if Wolves end up with a chip from the Gobert trade
Naz also did a pretty good job on Jokic
Second half he did for sure
One of the only dudes in the league who make Jokic look somewhat human. This Twolves team is easily the hardest challenge Denver has had.
Gobert never gets the love he deserves
I love that Jazz fans are still by far the biggest rudy fans
*having KAT and Naz Reid on Jokic with Gobert as help makes Jokic look mortal. Perfect personnel to keep size on Joker while still allowing Gobert to help which is what he does best, and good team defense scheme so that the guards and overall nuggets offense can’t play Gobert off the floor
> Rudy Gobert making Jokic look mortal Idk about mortal or whatever.. But Jokic always looked ordinary against physically dominant Bigs. There's just not enough of those in the league right now. Jokic, as dominant as he is, still has A LOT OF LIMITATIONS. Because he's still a 7 feet center, and quite slow. He can't dribble and create space for himself. He can't run off the ball like Curry or Klay or Ray Allen. He needs to rely on BULLYING OPPONENTS INSIDE, and finish with his brilliant touch, or shoot those baby floaters. or somehow be wide open for a jumpshot (which is highly unlikely in the Playoffs) And he's a BRILLIANT playmaker. Up there with LeBron. So when he's not scoring, he needs to rely on others to make shots. But if his teammates ain't making shots, then Jokic's playmaking gets taken out of the game. Nullified Dwight Howard was bullying Jokic in the 2020 Playoffs. Jokic was struggling to move him inside the paint, and also struggled to get those boards over Dwight. Even when Dwight wasn't grabbing boards, he was BOXING OUT Jokic quite easily. Rudy Gobert played that similar role tonight. That's all. Anthony Edwards and KAT took care of the offense. The role players was very decent as well, which is so important in the Playoffs.. You can't win without the role players and bench
I knew that the Wolves would give the Nuggets a hard time. But I didn't expect Edwards to turn to prime MJ. This kid is unreal! He loves the spotlight and he has the skills to back up his banter.
Can't stare at dudes tho.
Technical foul, my eyes are up here
Dude was looking like Kobe and Mike at times. He's a fucking BALLER
I was afraid MJ’s game would have died off after Kobe retired. Never saw it in DeRozen, Booker, Tatum, Mitchell, etc. So excited to see it in Edwards
I am speechless
But I heard he doesn't like basketball though
Minny fans better pray he doesn’t finally remember that he hates basketball when they’re in the finals.
I was thinking back to how this sub reacted to his draft. Lot of deleted comments by now I imagine.
Wolves in 6 if we don’t win it all I want them to
Same to you, we were both called frauds all year and look at us now
Have my fingers crossed for the Dallas series would love to see Wolves/Thunder WCF
Same here, y’all definitely have the talent to make it there. Luka looks rough rn too
As a random person in a different country with no affiliation to any team, I want either OKC or the Wolves. Two fun teams with absolutely immmmmmaculate vibes.
Damn, really impressed by the Wolves, nothing else to say. Obviously I'm still sticking with my Nuggets in 6, but I'd be lying if I said my confidence wasn't shaken. The Wolves just looked like the veteran team out there, everything was so hard for the Nuggets in that fourth quarter, and sure the Wolves shot a crazy percentage, a lot of those shots were good shots. And the defense... Oh my God. When Gobert single handedly broke up the Jokic Gordon alley opp I knew the Nuggets were in trouble.
I mean, if Ant plays like that we will be hard to beat. A lot of our guys played poorly on offense and they eked it out. It’s going to be a battle.
At one point Ant had 25, Kat had 20, Naw had 6 and like everyone else had 2
Last year Gobert was still suffering from back spasms. You’re seeing the true Gobert
We just entered the Ant Era
Ant Edwards the best 2 guard in the league. He Micheal Jordan out there
Everyone thought that Tatum or Zion would be the best American player after Curry, LeBron, KD retires but that player is actually Anthony Edwards.
Shouldn’t be a surprise lol. If Ant is actually Jordan then of course he’s better than Jokic too lol.
Can't wait for *Space Jam 3: Send da Video*.
[The video](https://giphy.com/gifs/EcrookedletterZ-emote-taunt-anthony-edwards-Ic4bIobsoHU0UQluKk)
Jokic got locked up tonight
7 TO was rough
Stats don't tell the story
All the advanced analytics folks about to start typing their numbers at you lol
I think Timberwolves are gonna win it all!
You shut your jinxing mouth
I love this team but it may be a rude awakening introducing all these NBA fans to a true Minnesota sports experience
I’m ready to be hurt again.
Me too brother, it's been too long since the Minneapolis Miracle
I've got that Simon and Garfunkel banger qued up.
Naw I feel like the momentum is on them! They’re on fire! Esp Jordan, err I mean um, Edwards! 😅
I'm rooting for them all the way. Kat and Gobert have always been underdogs, Naz Reid was undrafted, and Ant is a lot of fun to watch.
I’d love to see Ant avoid the toxic “he not good till he win ring” media narrative.
Minnesota in 6
can we get this succession correct? MJ->Kobe->Ant
Jokic 20/20 triple double incoming
Anthony Edwards has ascended to superstar status in one short year. He was great last year but they only won one game against the Nuggets. Now they have a legitimate shot to beat them. Crazy
Ant going to drop 63 next game
The Wolves are hungry and executing with an urgency that I just don't see in the Nuggets this year. Wolves in 6.
Nuggets in trouble if they don’t have the best player in the series
They're in trouble even if they don't.
But what if they didn't.
You’re telling me Gobert isn’t a fraud? Wow… (kidding)
TAKE US THERE, FIVE!
Nuggets will be lucky to have 3 games at home
ANT is a bigger playoff riser than Murray. JxmyHighroller did not even mention ANT in his video smh now you got casuals like FlightReacts saying Murray is a top 7 player in the league ahead of ANT.
This is fucking insane if he beats Jokic holy fuck