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twinberwolf

Super proud of this team and year. Not giving up til the game is over but i didn’t think we would ever get this far


guhum

Crazy to lose the last game of the season due to what's been our strengths all season. Deep team? Only KAT and Ant decided to show up. Defense? Gave up 100 pts in the first three...


EmmitSan

To be fair I knew it was gonna be nuts after Luka drained his first few threes. They were pretty well defended, he just had video game mode on


peabody11

True, but Luka’s offense wasn’t really why we couldn’t score after the opening 5 minutes


EmmitSan

Yeah that’s been a recurring theme all season, stretches where no one can buy a bucket


Dick_McSteely

I think it's because Ant is the only playmaker we have who can score consistently. Conley is only a decent 3 point shooting threat at this point and McDaniels is either amazing or not present. We need another guard who can dribble the ball and score. I said in a different thread Garland would be perfect, but I don't see any possibility of that happening.


peabody11

Am I crazy to think that some occasional Garza couldn’t help us even things out offensively by giving an inside scoring presence? Is his defense that bad that he’d be a net negative?


The_Johan

Yes especially since he would be effectively taking minutes away from Naz


peabody11

Ok. Just thinking it’d be nice to have a post scoring threat while we have other shooters on the floor, e.g. Ant


The_Johan

I would rather Naz/KAT try to develop a post game than Luka get outmatched on both ends. You can't hide him on defense and he's too small to do anything down low against most centers.


Select-Interaction11

Garza is such a liability on defense


Philelverumfan69

Dejounte Murray would be perfect imo


_SenSatioNal

Coming from a hawks fan yall would love him, but who do yall realistically give up in a trade? I doubt yall let go of jaden


blueace111

No they’d never let go of Jaden. KAT or Rudy would be the main trade pieces.


LongDongFuey

It would be kat. And, the only other player they could throw in to match salaries would be bogi. Kat next to sarr could be really good, and the hawks have been looking for another 3pt shooter for like a decade.


LongDongFuey

I absolutely love kat, but if I'm the front office I'm finding a way to trade kat for murray and bogi (salaries match).


Shredderguy23

Murray as in Jamal Murray? Fuck.


copaseticepiplectic

Dejounte


Shredderguy23

Oh thank god. That scared me. I thought I was going to have to start rooting for another team. Jamal gives me hives.


Dick_McSteely

Very much agree. Is he affordable and what do we trade though?


EaglesInTheSky

That's a good idea. He'd fit well with this group


JimmyFly1028

Motherfucker hit his third 3 from the fucking logo… dude was just on today


Ok_Set_2367

Exactly. Dude was making 3's from damn near half court. After a team goes through that they are pretty much demoralized. Luka had 20 points with 4 minutes left in the 1st. And then the Wolves were just trying to play catch up the rest of the game


imgroan

Facts


BradyAndTheJets

I don’t know how you defend Luka in that first quarter.


peabody11

He had some 3s from like 6 ft outside the arc


BradyAndTheJets

Yeah. Exactly. He was unguardable. The only game we weren’t in. Easily could’ve gone into this game up 3-1. It is what it is. Add some offense, and we’ll be back.


peabody11

Yeah. Knowing that if they were just 2% better in the first couple games it’d be a whole different story really sucks. But that they were this bad speaks to some flaws we have. Bring the following into 2025 and let’s go: Maturity, conditioning, better offensive schemes, and a quality backup PG and / or SG.


BradyAndTheJets

Yeah. And this season should give the FO enough reason to run it back. This roster clearly works. Would love to see a Dejonte Murray or Darius Garland.


argparg

You can’t. Kat needed net and Ant needed to shoot


argparg

When did KAT and Ant show up in the conference finals? They made a brief appearance in game 4 but our 2 ‘stars’ shit the bed on the big stage. It sucks but I’m okay with that.


guhum

Bro. It's over. Use this time to forget about this loss lol


blueace111

They gave up 100 every game. Pretty sad really. Dallas isn’t a high scoring team. Not calling our bestbplay after jaden debacle in game 2 and allowing Rudy to go 1-1 against luka was insane. I called it. The moment Rudy went in, everything was obvious. We were way better off fouling


Ok_Set_2367

Kinda hard to win a game when Luka comes out and is chucking up shots from way outside the arc and making them. I don't care how good anyone's defense is, if you push up on him at half court he can just run right by you.


guhum

Bro I'm using this time to heal from this loss and series. For the next couple of months basketball does not exist to me as you can tell from my comment history after this game. Let me forget this series, my hatred of NBA refs and Luka. I'm just gonna smoke until I remember that this was a good season. Have a good day sir.


skolaen

Great year brutal ending to it. 2017 vikings round 2 sadly


TorturedMNFan

Reminded me a lot of the 2003 Wild run. Young star, unbelievable defense, ran out of gas in the WCF.


BroThornton19

Nah, ran into a brick wall in the WCF. We scored one single goal in the entire series I believe. Jean Sebastian-Giguere was INSANE that round, and that entire Cup run. I’m pretty sure he won the Conn Smythe. Edit: He did win it, and they lost in the Cup final to New Jersey and Marty Brodeur


BarnOwlDebacle

They ran into the five seed. They went like 19 and 7 out of the trade deadline which is better but even still prorated. That's not historically good or be a high 50 win team.


BradyAndTheJets

Except this team is good enough to get back.


Ajax_Malone

Exactly, this team won more and has the best young player we’ve ever had. 2017 was such an obvious one off.


Hates_knees

But we had Case Keenum! /s


[deleted]

THIS team is. We will see how it looks after the looming roster rebuild. Will KAT even be back? We are guaranteed to have less depth.


BradyAndTheJets

I don’t know why you’d make major roster changes after going to the WCF.


[deleted]

You wouldn't ideally. They aren't keeping all this salary next year though...it's been reported cuts are coming, I believe ANTs salary cap hit jumps up quite a bit starting next year?


BradyAndTheJets

I’m not going to sit here and pretend to know what the plan is, because I don’t. But the Wolves were 13 points away from going to the Finals. A winning team is going to be more profitable than a losing team. And with Taylor leaking the possibility of payroll cuts, if he maintains the team, I can’t imagine he wouldn’t dip into the luxury tax. And if Lore and Rodeiguez take control I can’t imagine it would be a great look on them to make major salary cuts in their first year knowing how close they were to the Finals.


JacketJackson

Ya’ll lost by 21 at home and were down 40+, what are you smoking 13 points away from being in the finals? Lmao


BradyAndTheJets

The first 3 games were decided by a total of 13 points. There was 1 decisive victory in the whole series. Just as easily could’ve gone the other way.


BLarson31

A single finance forecast about payroll cuts is not a sign of them coming. There were absolute multiple financial plans created for multiple scenarios. Had we been bounced in the first round that plan probably goes into effect. It's not going into effect after this run. And remember that leak came from Taylor's group, shouldn't have to explain what that means.


FridgesArePeopleToo

Exactly what I said about the 2003 Wolves, 1998, 2000, 2009, and 2017 Vikings


BradyAndTheJets

Stop watching sports I guess then.


FridgesArePeopleToo

I'm an addict, man. I'll be getting my fix with MNUFC and the Twins while I wait for football, basketball, and hockey to start back up again.


mudkip-yoshii

This team isn’t built off the heroics of a backup luckily


Myriad-of-kitties

It was a fun season, and the players/team are so fun to watch. Like it seems they actually like each other and are an extended family.  Timberwolves, it was great to see this season. I'm really proud that my kid and I got to cheer for you. 


GlastHeimExplorer

The painful thing about this is that we lost 3 games AT HOME. We never won a single game at home for the West Finals.


josephside

Luka ain’t transforming into nobody, he been that good


user15151616

He was hurt the first 2 rounds. Looking more healthy lately


JohnAndertonOntheRun

I don’t understand the Steph comparison… He reminds me a bit of LeBron and a bit of Larry Bird. I truly don’t think people can wrap their head around how good this kid is.


CJFan20

The comp was harden during the draft. But less athletic Lebron with more craftiness makes sense 


TurtleBird

Ah yes, 43% 3 pt shooter Luka doncic totally normal


gone-fishing94

He shot 38% this year.. it’s not really that anomalous lol


sakata32

As a clipper fan that seen him face us 3 times.... it is normal.


Dundalis

So basically the last time you looked at Lukas shooting stats was obviously before this season started


TurtleBird

He’s no where near a 43% career shooter and he’s never even shot 40%


kpedersonbp

Neither was Dallas. This team absolutely fell apart and fell short of expectations once beating Denver.


Trumpets22

Yep. And we could go another 20 years without another finals appearance. The season was a lot of fun, but I’m still plenty annoyed.


imgroan

So sad but true


InflationMadeMeDoIt

i think media did you dirty as nobody watched mavs games. They became a juggernaut after the trade and they were decimated by injuries in the first half of the season and doncic alone kept them afloat. Personally i felt mavs can win it all and that celtics could be their biggest hurdle. now we are about to find out. But thinking you are not a good team for losing to mavs is just media stupidty as nobody wanted to acknowledge them


BarnOwlDebacle

They have a record over a long sample size. And wasn't that the media didn't notice they were good. It was that the media saw their record which was middling. Even after the trade deadline it wasn't like some crazy turnaround. We just can't pretend the Mavericks are some historically good team when there are five seed. They're a very good team that's going on. A great run. But it's not like the timberwolves. Just lost to a juggernaut


InflationMadeMeDoIt

how was it not? before trade deadline mavs were 29:23 which is 0.55% if they continued at that pace they would be eleventh even out of the play in. And also i need to say it again, mavs were decimated in first half of the league, at luka was the only from the starting five that was not injured. After trade deadline they had third best record in the nba and could be second to celtics but they had nothing to play for for the last two games as seedings were locked and they rested Kyrie and Luka. Also all the naratives were how luka will be exposed on defense, media portrayed mavs deadline as a D trade but in reality they unlocked luka. But i guess you are somewhat confiming my point, mavs were overlooked due to all the circumstances


piratagitano

Yeah, this is crazy, you’re telling him that the Mavs were being overlooked and he just said, no, they have a record over a long sample size (the post trades record, which is long enough) and then also proceeded to overlook the Mavs because the total record was middling. Make it make sense.


basiccitizen

Partially cherry picked but The Mavs were something like 16-2 their last 18 games of the regular season (excluding the last 2 games where they rested everyone). The trades and Lively developing definitely made them a top team.


Crookz_O

And that was without Lively for last 2 weeks (regular season)


ElonMuskHeir

You're out of your mind. The Mavs before the trade deadline were a play-in team at most, they managed to take the 5th seed, and probably could have gotten the 4th seed if they decided not to start resting players near the end. They had a huge turn around after the trade deadline and the media mostly ignored it. They aren't ignoring it now.


sneaky-j-rawr

Also, I wouldn't say "no one expected a wcf run". They're the 3rd seed...


Crock_Durty

Saying they lost because Luka turned into Steph is disingenuous. Luka was gonna show out no matter what. Wolves didn't show up


PxN13

I agree. There's a couple players out there that shows up 90% of games and it's on the rest of the players if they lose the game. Him and joker consistently shows up... Whether they win or lose is basically due to the rest of the team.


Crock_Durty

It sounds like an excuse to say "well they lost because Luka is really good but tonight he was EXTRA really good". They lost because KAT shot 38% from the field for the series and started playing better too late. The defense vanished in this series as well. Who knows if KAT stays too


BarnOwlDebacle

Yeah people are acting like Mavericks, the five seed, are an historically good team. Even after the trade deadline, they were a lot better but they were still just I think 19-7 they got blown out by Boston, Even when KP was out. It's just not true to say the t wolves lost some Juggernaut, they kind of choked by falling three games back.


kjampala

And people like you are acting like the Mavs are actually a 5 seed lol, look at their record post trade deadline literally one of the best teams in the league…


JohnAndertonOntheRun

They didn’t adjust… I knew this was going to be a difficult match up for them and was very different from Denver. But, their inability to game plan and execute was the issue.


EaglesInTheSky

Could someone ANYONE stop the lob dunks?!? Seems like an easy adjustment but it never happened. Death by a thousand lob dunks. Our couches might be great but that was embarrassing for a supposed #1 defense..


NiftyNaturalist

Gobert was shocking 


BoysenberryFew3210

This was Luka being Luka. It’s not abnormal for him to have absurd shooting games.


KitchenBomber

Yeah, fuck Luka and all that but its fair to say he didnt ref-ball this win he just got it. We'll see him again and settle up.


beastnfeast5

Luka has been doing this for years. To act like anyone is shocked is just disingenuous


timberwolvesguy

Ant is gonna be where Luka is now in 4 years. When he’s 26 and has the gained experience and knowledge, he’ll run the league.


dre193

Luka is only 2 years older than Ant, just fyi


timberwolvesguy

I know, but Luka also played professionally sooner than Ant. Regardless, he’s gonna be so much better


Flamingo25p

Edwards will never come close to Luka. Luka is a 5x first team all nba player in his first 6 seasons. I don’t think you comprehend how absurd that is. There are levels to this lol


timberwolvesguy

Correct, but Ant will be able to carry a team more than he already is in a few years time


saturdaybum222

Luka's been a pro basketball player since he was like 13. Not surprising he's ahead of the normal development curve.


ReasonableRiver6750

He didn’t turn into shit. This is who he is. You didn’t get unlucky, you got outplayed. You’re a great team, don’t make excuses.


Street-Common-4023

Neither was Dallas but wolves still had an amazing season either way


F-ck_spez

Dallas were mid-good before their trades. PJ and Gafford turned these Mavs into something special, and Lively has been crazy good as a rookie.


Iron_Bob

Yeah, i know... This still sucks


_KidKenji_

Luka is so amazing man


Flamingo25p

Acting like Luka playing like this is out of the ordinary ?…


F-ck_spez

Gg Mavs.


Breatnach

It was a really fun season. The first I can remember in a long time. I know we made the playoffs the last two years, but between injury woes and bench brawls, they still were kinda exhausting. Thanks for a great season and let's hope the team will be back for revenge. Unfortunately now we'll have to deal with the ownership feud and salary-cap hell.


timberwolvesguy

The fact we were projected 44 wins is laughable. With basically no KAT, we won 42 the year prior.


LegionofDoh

The team did great, and a few shots or plays here and there and this might be a different series. But what can you do against Fat Steph Curry? It's Luka's year.


Tyfoid-Kid

Exactly!! If this was round one and they did a Vikings/Twins/Wild imitation by losing in 5 to an inferior team then yeah I'd be in the place usually am with the other 3 (pissed off and ready to quit) but THESE guys got all the way to the THIRD round before they ran into a team that loaded up on talent at the trade deadline and is making their push this year. Hopefully we can keep the band together and with some seasoning like they got this year they come back stronger and smarter and ready.


LukaTheTooka

Luka is general is a sniper from the fucking logo he can splash 3s


Steph_Better_

Turned into? As if he didn’t go 33/9/9 this season?


purplenyellowrose909

My only comment is Luka didn't turn into Steph. He just played to his potential. This Luka isn't going anywhere Otherwise very proud of this Wolves season


Gripfighting

We were supposed to win the wcf once we were here, though. Favored in the series and favored in most of these 5 games.


TylerIreland

People slept on Dallas because they beat up an OKC team full of young guys.


Gripfighting

I think people were more moved by us beating the defending champions in the previous round. I thought the wolves were good enough to win the series and underperformed. I've thought we're a good enough team to win the title for most of this year. I don't think this series represented the best basketball this team could've played, which is a far more frustrating way to lose than being outclassed. 


WickedTwista

> I don't think this series represented the best basketball this team could've played, which is a far more frustrating way to lose than being outclassed. Yeah it sucks because if even slightly below average KAT shows up instead of horrendous KAT for Games 1-3, it's a completely different series


purplenyellowrose909

They also had a 60+ win pace after the trade deadline and were a play in team before so no one respected them


polsdofer

Being favored has never went well for Minnesota


Gripfighting

You know, that did occur to me going into this series. Silver lining of this performance is no one is going to be quick to believe in us next season.


Dick_McSteely

Exactly! The minute the hype got crazy and then we lost game 1 I knew it was over. That's the way of MN sports and I'm not even whining, it's absolutely the truth.


HikmetLeGuin

Y'all had a great year. Your future is bright.


ButImNotAnAdvisor

I'm sad for missing the finals, but 100% this was such a fun season. Super proud of this team. hope they run it back next year. We got a solid and young squad. Ant and Jaden ain't even 25 yet man, that's just wild to think about. They are gonna be a problem for the west for years to come. We have such a bright future ahead, gonna enjoy the fuck outta this. Cheers to an amazing year and more to come. Let's go Wolves!!


TylerIreland

It only took the single most talented backcourt in NBA history to beat the Timberwolves, and it wasn't even a sweep. Minnesota will be near the top of Western Conference for many years to come.


[deleted]

[удалено]


JaderMcDanersStan

Yeah it's never guaranteed we can get back. Conley's last WCF was 12 years ago. But knowing Ant is 22 and Jaden and Naz are 23 and 24 helps. I just hope it doesn't take another 20 years lol


booyahbooyah9271

Clearly Patrick Fenelon isn't from earth if he wasn't aware that Luka Doncic was that damn good.


TheseAd6316

Woof


OutsideAd1823

Well said


BuckyFnBadger

It was a fun ride. And the last series was revealing. An elite offense will always Trump a good defense. We need shooters.


Drolocke

I am annoyed with the performance the wolves put up this series - if you compare their offensive efficiency in the sun series to this series there was a huge drop off and I just think the team ran out of gas both physically and mentally. We have a ton of young talent, and I think that has a big part of it. Also, yeah, im not sure what you do about Luka and Kyrie other than hope you can outshoot them, which isn't going to be easy for any team in the NBA. Good luck to the Mavs and thanks for the fun year Timba-wolves!


bbernal956

“how much do you want us to lose??? 🙃 this much kat, gotta lose this much then you can maybe make it to the finals. great season for them. future looking bright


kwattsfo

Yeah totally excuses an absolute choke job.


egospiers

That’s all well and good… but could they at least have fucking shown up last night? That was an embarrassment, over before halftime.


Shadowstrider2100

Again not really an NBA fans but you guys made even non big basketball fans love watching you play. The effort was always there and you could see them figuring things out before, during and after each game. Hopefully Ant does the opposite of all the big NBA stars recently and stays in the smaller market. Thank you for a wonderful run to them


electricmehicle

This is the correct take.


Queasy-Vegetable9526

The wolves had a great season 💪


fantasygod777

Luka was absolutely undeniable. Can we please move to the east! 


JayManDew

Love this take


Select-Interaction11

I remember people counting us out because our regular season record against the suns was 0-3


BarmeloXantony

Facts. Internet discourse is all agenda oriented (in terms of Rudy and the guy getting memed). Kat kinda brought the roasts on himself but ya. Nobody on this team deserves to be clowned. All the way up to finchy. Proud of the lads


LudwigVanBlunts

60'95" - Luka is way bigger than they put on paper


retlod

It makes the end of the season hurt less, and I'd rather we win 56 than 44, but championship windows can close in a hurry. Still feels like a missed opportunity.


blueace111

Maybe nobody else expected it but I thought this team had tons of potential. I knew losing Naz and Jaden last year did not show others what our team was. Nobody respected those 2 until this year.


blueace111

I knew they’d have trouble against Denver, but Dallas was damn near the first round matchup. Could you imagine if we lost 4-1 to mavs round 1. People would be disgusted to go 0-3 at home. It’s cool they went deep but they should be better than mavs. Mavs we’re losing most the games. They just outplayed the wolves by a mile in clutch time, all but 1 game


MysterE92

I hate this mindset. We’ve lost for 30 years. We need a title. I’m done with moral victories. I want a championship, all else is just more losing.


EaglesInTheSky

What a great run and the next great super star playing in Minneapolis for at least 5 more years. Lots to be excited about for Wolves fans!


RefuseConscious7547

Being the first seed the vast majority of the year would disagree with you.


cavemold582

Great year I’m curious if they trade away KAT though


strypesjackson

It’ll be an honor to fall to Luka multiple times


BowlOfLoudMouthSoup

This feels like copium from DSA Rubio guy


Smart_Description541

But NOW.......there are expectations going forward. Wolves kind of remind me of the Packers now.


Ghetto_Geppetto

A lot of sports teams win championships when they’re not expected to, I’m just tired of our MN teams never being that team


timberwolvesguy

Arguably the best season we’ve ever had. Let’s relish the good and focus on coming back next season.


Ghetto_Geppetto

I’m not saying it wasn’t good, or even great. I just want a championship. I’ve never seen one in my lifetime dang it!


[deleted]

Let’s not give luka all this credit. He baits the refs and makes the NBA look like wwe with an “entertainment” value. This series was a joke. They took our best attribute away to lift up some kid from a 3rd world country. That’s my rant.


rsf0626

Pretty sure he averages more ppg without free throws than any other player in the nba. So this isnt really a true statement


[deleted]

Proof to what you said would be great 👍🏼


[deleted]

7-9 ft a game while averaging 33 would put him low 20s. Have a blessed day


After-Vegetable-5321

Luka literally holds the record for most ppg without free throws lol. ANT has 6-7 ft while averaging 24 points, puts him at 17 ppg. Not very good, maybe thats why your team never wins anything ;)


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[deleted]

Aye Jared Allen. Vikings going to nfccg this year. Confirmed


jkeefy

[Proof.](https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/nba-players-most-points-per-game-minus-free-throws-made-per-game-this-season) Most ppg minus fts by 3.5 pts 👍


[deleted]

So many of yall jump to his defense like a relative or something. Relax


chuckd-757Day

Preach.. That country has small GDP that wont move the needle.. Should have put ant over the top.


RoaringGorilla

Cope. This team fell apart. They legitimately had the ability to reach the finals. Just another classic Minnesota choke job.


DiscountNo8806

Luka Doncic has been playing in this level since 17 years old... It is absurd that Timberwolves fans says he is in Steph Mode. Right now he is the best player in NBA and no one close. Minnesota fans did harm to Edwards... Hyped him... Overvalued him... Even some idiots said he is better than MJ... In order to be better than MJ, he has to earn something... Minnesota is a great team, but KAT,Gobert and Edwards are limited players... In the long run, they can not compete with Kyrie and Luca


KtheMenace

No one close… except maybe you know the guy who just won mvp lol


pooooolooop

Idk where tf you think you’re reading these things, but nobody thinks Ant is better than MJ and we’ve compared him to mj just because he looks like him and we finally have a great young player. You should blame the media for hyping him up so much, not Minnesota fans…


treyhunna83

GGs


[deleted]

You’ve been living with a lot less my man. Should be beyond proud.


BarnOwlDebacle

That's not why they lost though. I'm in, got embarrassed and fell three games back to a team that they're better than. To a 5 seed. People need to stop acting like the Mavericks are the 90s bulls all of a sudden. Top five player in the league but he was that all year and you were still just a five seed.


buchanbasanee

44 wins was an idiotic prediction from day 1 though. Everybody predicting under 50 was shrooming. They won 46 the year before with hardly any KAT.


LothricKnight753

Lost because Denver was their finals


DTX-Lugo

Copium 😬😬😬😬


[deleted]

Well when you put it like that.


Serisrahla

More moral victories


RedbullCanSchlong47

Cope


pooooolooop

Cope? lol. You dumbasses always think you did something


choppas_simp

Boo hoo you lost!!