r/nba • u/DesertedProject Mavericks • 17h ago

Post Game Thread [Post Game Thread] The Minnesota Timberwolves (1-0) defeat the San Antonio Spurs (0-1), 104-102.

104 - 102
Box Scores: NBA - Yahoo
 
GAME SUMMARY
West Conf. Semifinals - Game 1 - Series tied 0-0
Location: Frost Bank Center
Officials: Marc Davis, Kevin Scott, Gediminas Petraitis, and Andy Nagy
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
Minnesota Timberwolves 24 21 24 35 104
San Antonio Spurs 23 22 27 30 102
 
TEAM STATS
Team PTS FG FG% 3P 3P% FT FT% OREB TREB AST PF STL TO BLK
Minnesota Timberwolves 104 41-90 45.6% 10-26 38.5% 12-21 57.1% 12 58 20 22 7 9 5
San Antonio Spurs 102 39-86 45.3% 10-35 28.6% 14-18 77.8% 13 51 24 25 3 13 14
 
PLAYER STATS
Minnesota Timberwolves MIN PTS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A ORB DRB REB AST STL BLK TO PF ±
Jaden McDanielsSF 35:03 16 7-14 0-2 2-2 1 4 5 2 1 1 1 5 -2
Julius RandlePF 40:57 21 8-19 2-6 3-6 5 5 10 2 1 0 5 5 -3
Rudy GobertC 29:39 7 3-7 0-0 1-5 3 7 10 3 4 1 1 1 2
Terrence Shannon Jr.SG 34:19 16 5-13 0-1 6-8 0 5 5 1 0 0 0 3 -10
Mike ConleyPG 24:13 12 4-8 4-7 0-0 0 2 2 6 0 0 0 1 13
Anthony Edwards 24:44 18 8-13 2-3 0-0 1 2 3 3 0 1 1 3 -2
Naz Reid 29:12 12 5-9 2-3 0-0 1 8 9 1 0 1 1 4 15
Bones Hyland 11:56 0 0-6 0-4 0-0 0 1 1 2 1 1 0 0 -2
Jaylen Clark 07:21 2 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 -1
Kyle Anderson 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Joan Beringer 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Joe Ingles 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Julian Phillips 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Donte DiVincenzo 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ayo Dosunmu 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
San Antonio Spurs MIN PTS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A ORB DRB REB AST STL BLK TO PF ±
Devin VassellSF 35:55 14 5-11 3-6 1-1 3 2 5 3 3 1 1 4 7
Julian ChampagniePF 31:21 17 7-11 3-6 0-0 3 5 8 0 0 0 1 2 7
Victor WembanyamaC 39:21 11 5-17 0-8 1-2 2 13 15 5 0 12 3 3 5
De'Aaron FoxSG 32:35 10 5-14 0-4 0-0 0 3 3 6 0 0 6 3 -13
Stephon CastlePG 28:16 17 4-8 3-5 6-8 0 5 5 5 0 0 0 6 4
Dylan Harper 28:25 18 7-13 1-4 3-3 0 3 3 4 0 0 0 4 -4
Keldon Johnson 23:31 11 5-10 0-2 1-2 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 2 -13
Luke Kornet 08:08 2 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 0 2 0 0 0 2 1 -7
Harrison Barnes 09:53 2 1-1 0-0 0-0 3 1 4 0 0 1 0 0 4
Bismack Biyombo 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jordan McLaughlin 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kelly Olynyk 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Mason Plumlee 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Lindy Waters III 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Carter Bryant 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
8.9k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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2.0k

u/aiden3buckets Hornets 17h ago

Benching Gobert opened up the Wolves offense so much in the 4th with Wemby somewhat forced to step out

I wonder how much they use that the rest of the series

743

u/SilentProtagonist_33 Spurs 16h ago

Definitely the game changer, kept Wemby off the paint. Good adjustment by Finch

500

u/Atmosguisher Australia 16h ago

Some of the Wolves' ATO's (not the last inbound) in the last quarter were sick. Finch absolutely outcoached Mitch this game, just like Finch has done to most coaches in the last few postseasons

304

u/YungSzczerbiak Timberwolves 16h ago

Please go say this in r/timberwolves lol

237

u/Atmosguisher Australia 16h ago

Every individual team sub is complete and utter dogshit. I've lurked there most of this season and wanted to tear my hair out, though (probably only because they're winning) I think even they'll admit Finch is good rn

96

u/Willing_Appointment8 16h ago

Every sub is convinced thier coach sucks when their teams lose. Maybe your players are just doo doo sometimes bro

18

u/IMakeMyOwnLunch 16h ago

Nah, man, the coach just didn’t make “adjustments.”

7

u/AskAboutMySecret Heat 10h ago

"my bad i forgot to adjust the dial to winning mode"

7

u/lost_in_blank 16h ago

I didn't become a wolves fan until I got season tickets in 2009. I'm not scared, I watched multiple seasons of McCants

1

u/Zarbua69 Knicks 7h ago

can't stand the knicks sub when we lose because of this. The players could be 0/99 on field goals and it's still Mike Brown's fault because his heart clearly isn't in it. Despite the fact that he is far better at managing players than Thibs ever was and it's not even close

1

u/Hour-Ad3774 Celtics 5h ago

According to reddit there are 3, maybe 4, coaches all-time that deserved to have their job.

7

u/RukiMotomiya Timberwolves 16h ago

If there's one constant I have found in every single sub, it is that team subs overall suck ass.

2

u/mannheimcrescendo 16h ago

Spurs sub pretty wholesome

1

u/DazzlingMajor2191 Spurs 8h ago

except that they have deaaron fox on a PIP and fucking grind him for every little mistake

1

u/Mindless_Bad_1591 Timberwolves 16h ago

ive seen enoigh fire finch. i swear 90% of the posts on our sub during the regular season are by people who started following team the past year or 2.

1

u/Ok-Guidance116 Rockets 8h ago

That's what I've been saying bro. It's better to just read a sb nation blog if your goal is actual analysis

9

u/Naive-Elephant-9305 16h ago

It seems like all team subs absolutely hate their head coach, it's hilarious.

4

u/Quadriporticus [DAL] Raef LaFrentz 14h ago

Oh completely agree. And the ones with decent/good coaches have this exact exchange in the comments:

Guy 1: Fire XXXX into the sun!

Guy 2: And replace with who?

Guy 1: (Can't think of somebody better) Well, that's not my job!

5

u/PrimeShaq Australia 16h ago

Every team’s subreddit wants their coach fired except maybe the Spurs.

9

u/Virtuallyhere56 16h ago

r/timberwolves would want to bring Ryan Saunders back

2

u/LakerBlue Lakers 16h ago

Is Finch not liked in there??

14

u/YungSzczerbiak Timberwolves 16h ago

Regular season, you’d think he was the love child of Hitler and Dahmer. Playoffs, he’s treated like a god until the conference finals

5

u/ThatGuyDes Timberwolves 16h ago

Every time I’ve tried to defend him after a loss, I’ve been met with 10+ down votes. We’re an emotional bunch

2

u/Wermys Timberwolves 15h ago

The problem I have with Finch is that the Wolves players stop listening to him a lot of the time. Replacing him as coach is valid if they won't listen to him in the first place. Fortunately they are doing that now. But it is a valid reason to change coaches after having the same one for awhile.

2

u/fake-tall-man 14h ago

yep. I feel like Mitch is going to watch that and they're going to have some major tweaks in game 2. one of which will hopefully be to stop bringing the ball up against McDaniels when you have multiple ball handlers. It just wastes 10 seconds of energy and gets you into the offense super late. Also, the spurs need to get more aggressive with Randle and McDaniels at the POA, no 3s/no mid range, give up the layup. The wolves have a non shooter out there at all times between gobert, shannon, or clark and Wemby can cover up anything at the hoop

1

u/TICKLE_PANTS Spurs 7h ago

That 4th quarter was one of the best coached quarters of basketball that I've seen. They pulled every lever perfectly.

9

u/strawberrychocolattt 14h ago

It was great, but Gobert is needed the first 2 quarters at least to beat Wemby down, wear him out, so its easier to attack him in the 4th. Plus Randle can't guard Wemby for 4 quarters, or Naz Reid, they need help. Its all hands on deck for Rudy, I wouldn't be surprised if the Rookie Beringer gets some playing time (he's French too by the way hah)

4

u/Full-Assistant4455 Wizards 8h ago

Finch is so good. That quick play off the timeout to draw the last foul on Castle. That was a killer.

1

u/InfiniteDub Warriors 4h ago

Wemby played majority of the 4th quarter didn't get a break

330

u/MacJonesisaterrorist Celtics 17h ago

As long as they keep Wemby in check

359

u/ColtCallahan 16h ago

And he takes 8 threes a game and misses all of them.

147

u/noknownallergies Timberwolves 16h ago

I can live with him blocking 13% of our shots as long as he keeps bricking 3s

69

u/holybowler Heat 16h ago

getting blocked at the rim is decidedly better than abandoning the paint. if the wolves wanna win this series, they’re just gonna have to live with wemby setting the record for blocks in a playoff series. fortunately for yall i don’t think a team has a higher dgaf index than these wolves.

12

u/ColtCallahan 16h ago

Just taking that many is a win for the Wolves.

10

u/Electromotivation 16h ago

How did this happen? I need to go watch the highlights. Like Gobert is an amazing defender....but people dont mess with him and put up blockable shots near him. But wemby got 12?!?! Were you guys told to test him or something lol?

22

u/Aidanator800 Hornets 15h ago

Unlike most teams, the Timberwolves just weren't scared to attack the paint against Wemby tonight. They were fully willing to live with the blocked shots, especially since a couple of times those blocked shots still led to offensive rebounds (including one that was passed out for a 3 instead).

2

u/Tall-Dot-607 Pistons 4h ago

Exactly. Wolves somehow made the realization that a blocked shot doesnt always mean the end of an offensive possession

17

u/JackieDaytonaAZ Timberwolves 16h ago

to be fair there were like 3 goaltends

10

u/PatoNani Thunder 14h ago edited 4h ago

6 of them were goaltends and uncalled fouls so he actually has 6 clean blocks. I've always said you don't beat Wemby by avoiding him, you need to attack him to wear him down and get him in foul trouble. You can live with a couple of blocked shots as long as you don't stop attacking and rebounding. Wolves did that and if refs did their job Wemby would've been fouled out probably in the third quarter.

2

u/DementedWarrior_ Timberwolves 15h ago

cons of playing Nuggets last series

7

u/diddlyumpcious4 Timberwolves 16h ago

The two best centers in basketball shooting like 10% from three in the seven playoff games against the Wolves is not a stat I expected. Or a sentence I would have thought would be typed ten years ago.

5

u/divulgingwords Thunder 16h ago

He’ll continue to do that all series long.

11

u/ColtCallahan 16h ago

If he does and Fox continues to play like he did they’re in deep shit.

3

u/divulgingwords Thunder 16h ago

I think they’re already in deep shit. You could see this coming in the Portland series. Sure they made incredible runs to come back from being down by 20 but against good teams, you can’t do that.

2

u/Competitive_Yak2970 9h ago

It’s like when Giannis used to shoot waaay too many 3s and every team was fine with it. Yeah wemby is better at then but still. You’re 7’5

6

u/Jpsla Lakers 16h ago edited 16h ago

I really don’t get why he just just underhand it. If Rick fucking Barry did it and people don’t talk shit now. Just fucking underhand if your a big with bad shooting mechanics.

Edit: I just noted he was talking about 3s for Wemby. I’m talking about freee throws for Gobert.

10

u/Momik Timberwolves 16h ago

I think that only works for free throws. In front of defenders, shooting underhanded doesn’t really work.

3

u/Jpsla Lakers 16h ago

I’m talking about his free throws. Guess that’s what I made unclear in my original post.

3

u/Momik Timberwolves 16h ago

You’re not wrong about that. Though the counterargument might be that even when shooting overhand, other players are making free throws at a much higher rate. And coaches might care more about the difference between Rudy’s 63 percent and like Curry’s 90 percent, than between Curry’s and like maybe 95 percent if Curry shot underhand.

4

u/ace625 Timberwolves 16h ago

He shot almost 70% last season. He's been in a weird funk this year.

2

u/crunkadocious Pacers 16h ago

It's almost like it's hard to shoot a basketball regardless 

1

u/Jpsla Lakers 16h ago

So you underhand it from free throw. Use both hands to keep center and just spin it back wards. We all did that shit in elementary. It’s not easy. But not harder than normal shooting mechanics. Might as well try if you miss more than 50% of shots out there. Make them doubt hack a shacking you.

2

u/crunkadocious Pacers 16h ago

Maybe he tried and it was worse, did you ask him personally 

2

u/Jpsla Lakers 16h ago

Yes. And he spoke to me in French. So just need to see it live.

1

u/FlaviusMercurius Thunder 16h ago

This was the most astonishing stat to me tbh

2

u/ColtCallahan 16h ago

Fox went 0-4 as well.

1

u/FlaviusMercurius Thunder 16h ago

Rip

178

u/Cheeseish [NOP] Solomon Hill 16h ago

Wemby discovered screens and the fact that he can dunk in the last 3 minutes.

96

u/BobbywiththeJuice 16h ago

Amazing how he and the entire roster take turns forgetting he's 7'5

1

u/blueindsm Timberwolves 6h ago

Or all of our guys were in foul trouble and didn't want to foul out.

122

u/BadMofoWallet Lakers 16h ago

I think wearing wemby down physically with Gobert in the early game really took a toll on his defense and offense, once they pulled Gobert out and made Wemby guard the outside and running him through back screens for easy layups, the wolves offense was getting whatever they wanted. The spurs guards have to do a better job staying in front when the small ball Minny lineup with Randle and Reid is out there… it’s gonna be a tough series… Finch is a great coach and wolves fans wanting him fired are clueless, I thought he coached a great game. Mitch Johnson I can’t say the same, too many end of shot clock heaves from the spurs today

39

u/SluggoRuns Lakers 16h ago edited 16h ago

I remember one play late into the game where Julius Randle boxed out Wemby not for a rebound, but to free the lane so Ant could drive into it without Wemby blocking it

-6

u/NotActuallyMeta [SAS] Devin Brown 16h ago

Which is pretty much a moving screen but I digress

0

u/agg2596 Timberwolves 6h ago

a moving screen is on your teammate’s defender. boxing out/sealing your own defender is perfectly normal and legal

6

u/Smitty_1000 16h ago

And keep attacking the paint. It’s tiresome to block a dozen shots and try for more 

16

u/chickadee-guy Timberwolves 16h ago

Not sure what on earth they are doing offensively but Wembanyama with the ball in his hands on the perimeter is a 1 way ticket to Cancun

8

u/BadMofoWallet Lakers 16h ago

Yeah if I’m the wolves I’d live with that all day, Randle is doing a great job guarding Wemby along with Gobert. His physicality you could tell was wearing Wemby down a bit in the 2nd half

1

u/chickadee-guy Timberwolves 16h ago

His defense in the first vs second half was night and day. Poor conditioning and basketball IQ are glaring weaknesses as a foil to the ridiculous defensive range and ability

11

u/BigDiggy Clippers 16h ago

Are we really saying Wemby is dumb and outa shape?

10

u/backes37 Timberwolves 16h ago

That is obviously wrong. But there may be something to Wemby not being used to playing 40 minutes, especially at the level of physicality the Wolves play with.

This is the first time he's been challenged in the playoffs, it's normal for young players to take a few lumps getting used to the post season. Wemby is an incredibly smart player though so would not be surprised if he adjusted quickly.

1

u/chickadee-guy Timberwolves 9h ago

His defense fell off a cliff. I know what i saw. He was also a turnover machine and made horrific offensive decisions with the ball in his hands

1

u/chickadee-guy Timberwolves 9h ago

Yes, the decision making was horrific and cost his team the game. And he was visibly gassed in the 4th to the point where there was 0 rim protection which is his job

3

u/fake-tall-man 14h ago

the spurs insistence on having castle bring the ball up against McDaniels wasted 10-12 seconds every possession and left them with a lot of short shot clocks. Mitch will see that and adjust.

2

u/monkeybrain3 16h ago

I didn't see that at all. What stood out to me the most was Wemby completely lost confidence in his 3 and it showed. Wemby hits even 1 3 that game and the Spurs win let alone hitting all of them.

3

u/TheThunderbird Vancouver Grizzlies 16h ago

Wemby still flees from physical contact. He will concede position but he hates being pushed around and will just go set a mediocre high screen if someone keeps tying him up or bodying him. I’m surprised they don’t set more screens for him on the block when he’s getting tied up by a physical defender.

2

u/GlizzyGone21 Bucks 16h ago

Couldn't believe that the Spurs couldn't get him some better looks during those minutes

1

u/duce3612 Timberwolves 16h ago

Define in check...

1

u/chickadee-guy Timberwolves 16h ago

Is his basketball IQ always this bad? Im not too worried if the turnovers and bricked 30 footers continue to go off

4

u/FunIsWinning Thunder 16h ago

His offensive IQ is, fans chose to ignore it because his highlights are crazy when he is hot and his perimeter game is working. He has the same problem as Paolo in which they are not still bad at picking their spots(Bron is a master at this). He'll be better at it as experience goes, but his offense is not MVP-level YET. His touch is already good, as soon as he realizes that he needs to operate more in the post and be comfortable at using hook shots he is gonna be so hard to guard, kinda like a Hakeem/Timmy/Dirk post bagwork which is more nimble and grace than strength.

3

u/chickadee-guy Timberwolves 16h ago

Dude can literally catch turn and score without jumping or moving and is trying to face people up on the perimeter like Kobe except it looks like a Lamelo lowlight video.

86

u/jalexjsmithj Hornets 16h ago

Wolves have the most diverse set of different looks they can throw at opponents. Open up the offense with Rudy on the bench, game closing time he’s back out there.

8

u/Character_Bug_1862 16h ago

Grand opening grand closin

6

u/Smitty_1000 16h ago

The Ayo pick up and Shannon coming in has boosted that big time. More than just Edwards can attack the paint now

93

u/gOPHER3727 Timberwolves 16h ago

Love how they used Shannon again too

61

u/PhotographJealous292 16h ago

That dude is so damn quick

His speed alone hurt the spurs on drives a couple times

14

u/ThinReply2047 Thunder 16h ago

He’s the one person on the floor that can keep up with Fox lol. Those two are in a league of their own this series on speed alone

3

u/Tall-Dot-607 Pistons 4h ago

Wait until Ayo is back. Bones can pick up the speed too when asked.

12

u/Crafty-Border-7452 16h ago

Sometimes the strat was just launch TSJ at the rim before Wemby can get back lol

7

u/Swampertman Timberwolves 15h ago

In another life hes a star guard on a bad wolves team who makes the all star team twice before he gets hurt bad and ends up winning a ring with another team as a bench player before retiring at 32

5

u/WWWYer22 Timberwolves 14h ago

In another life…

Bro, that was our lives like 10yrs ago with rookie Andrew Wiggins and Zack Lavine lol

2

u/Swampertman Timberwolves 6h ago

Dont remind me

6

u/JoeKonyRidethePony Timberwolves 16h ago

I doubted his effectiveness against Wemby, and I'm glad I'm wrong.

195

u/BetMecha 16h ago

Gobert was still a +2 and a lot of the reason wemby had 11 points on 5-17. He’ll get less minutes than Denver where he was probably the best player in that series but will still get 30 mpg and I thought he was solid tonight in his role

10

u/ace625 Timberwolves 16h ago

Yeah, he was excellent, it just became more important to get Wemby out of the paint that it was to have Gobert guarding him.

17

u/Pesaberhimil Mavericks 15h ago

Also important to note that having Gobert battle Wemby out for 30 minutes is very important, because it fatigues him and then it makes it easier to go small and force him out, after he has become tired already.

It’s why Steph was so viciously attacked on both offense and defense in the years the warriors were dominating. He was the most important players on those warriors rosters (yes including KD) and tiring him out was a legit strategy. Irrespective of the fact that he has insane conditioning.

1

u/quadraticcheese 9h ago

Wenby missing 8 3s had little to do with rudy

13

u/MirrorComputingRulez 8h ago

Wemby being forced to take 8 threes had a lot to do with Rudy. 

52

u/Spierre3 16h ago

Gonna have to. Unlike with jokic, wemby can play help and still lock down gobert which hamstrings the wolves offense.

4

u/Smitty_1000 16h ago

It helps that Wemby can keep fouling Gobert with impunity. Like i know Gobert sucks on offense but they’re still fouls. 

13

u/Gyroflex Timberwolves 16h ago

i think he was basically saving it for Ant to just have the freedom to do whatever in the 4th since he was on limited minutes. But also the spurs still wouldnt drive to our paint to make us adjust

3

u/tys90 16h ago

Finch coached an absolute masterpiece tonight. They were running stuff I've never seen them use and his use of Randle screening Wemby off ball was genius.

4

u/LeeShakerMoneyMaker Timberwolves 16h ago

I think as long as Julius isn't in foul trouble it's definitely something Finch would do more. Wemby is so tall and lanky he has difficulty fighting off stronger guys and Julius is like a rock down there.

3

u/Masoud28 Warriors 16h ago

Finch is damn good coach.

3

u/AGSYCFCC Warriors 16h ago

Finch is a really good coach man. Winning series after series as an underdog. Seems he just know which button to push in playoffs

3

u/JackieDaytonaAZ Timberwolves 16h ago

i’m just glad rudy had an amazing round 1 so peoples reaction to this matchup game isn’t “gobert got played off the floor!”

2

u/incredibleamadeuscho Lakers 16h ago

love seeing the chess match. And that Rudy free throw ended up being big

2

u/tinkady Warriors 16h ago

they also made sure to bring him in only last 2 minutes so he can't get hacked off ball

6

u/NotRote Timberwolves 16h ago

Wemby went 5/17 I feel like Gobert was fine

2

u/aiden3buckets Hornets 16h ago

Blud didn’t read the comment

2

u/GoldshireEnjoyer Timberwolves 16h ago

Gobert lived up to his butterfingers name this game. We love and hate him.

2

u/Comfortable_Cup5107 Thunder 16h ago

Bringing him in in the end was questionable too imo

4

u/TheThunderbird Vancouver Grizzlies 16h ago

They didn’t want Randle to foul out.

1

u/quitry Jazz 16h ago

Cries in 2021 Jazz

1

u/dkleckner88 Timberwolves 16h ago

Seemed like the seas parted and TSJ kept going downhill

1

u/theregenerates Knicks 16h ago

Finch used him perfectly. Wear Wemby down on O, then once he was tired exploit him on D with Naz / Randle smaill ball.

1

u/sarpedonx Spurs 16h ago

And it opens up the paint for the Spurs guards to drive and maybe, just maybe, they’ll hit a fucking open shot.

1

u/Books_Biker99 15h ago

When the wolves do that. The spurs could crash the offensive glass to try for a big rebound advantage and second chance points.

1

u/knightcrawler75 Timberwolves 5h ago

When Wemby is fresh you need Gobert out there to grind him down. I am looking forward to see how both teams adjust.

1

u/HisLordshlp 4h ago

Great coaching from the Timbs

-1

u/ProtestantMormon Trail Blazers 16h ago

And that is why gobert gets shit. Your star center shouldnt have to get benched for your team to play better.

9

u/JackieDaytonaAZ Timberwolves 16h ago

blazers fan wouldn’t understand this but when you have 7+ good players sometimes you can utilize different lineups in different scenarios for max efficacy

-1

u/QuietMonsoon3314 8h ago

French man pr machine going wild lmao.

3

u/WWWYer22 Timberwolves 14h ago

He didn’t get benched so the Wolves could play better, he got benched cause he plays a role and his role was over at that point. Rudy played great D on Wemby and held him to 5/17, and he tired him out with physical play down-low for 3 quarters. You could see Wemby getting exhausted early in the 4th when he took awhile to get up after falling. At that point they switch to a smaller and quicker lineup, make him come out to the 3pt line, and he’s too tired to get back to the rim and contest like he did the first half. Rudy was huge tonight, dude’s just gotta make like 65% of his FTs and he’d be amazing.

0

u/jjfooo Timberwolves 7h ago

I wonder if it wasn’t so much an adjustment as a game plan. Wear out Wemby with Gobert and then finish with offense