NBA Wolves

[Steve-o]

I'm trying to remember...  I thought there was a basketball or hockey playoff game in the not to distant past where a star player was suspended for a game.

I might try to see if I can dig that up.

Here is what I was thinking of - the Draymond Green suspension in 2016.  There is precedent for suspensions in the NBA playoffs.

5 Infamous suspensions that changed the course of the NBA Playoffs that year

#5 Zach Randolph - 2014 NBA Playoffs

#4 Patrick Ewing and co. - 1997 NBA Playoffs

#3 Alonzo Mourning - 1998 NBA Playoffs

#2 Amar'e Stoudemire and Boris Diaw - 2007 NBA Playoffs

#1 Draymond Green - 2016 NBA Finals

Golden State was in command of the series 3-1, but Green scuffled with LeBron James and Green hit James in the groin.  Green was suspended for game 5, the Warriors gained the series momentum back, and the Cavs beat them in 7.

[glenn57]

Not so sure Murray is Denver's best player but he does avg 20 pts/gm & you're right, they're not going to suspend him with the Nuggets being down 2-0.

why??????? so it matter......playoffs or not. 

what he did could of been dangerous!!!!!!!

[Steve-o]

I'll be VERY interested in seeing how the refs call Friday night's game.

I watched the Knicks/Pacer's game last night.  Knicks up 2-0 in the series.

After the game, the Pacer's coach was b!tc#in' about the officiating.  He said he was thinking about lodging a formal complaint with the NBA league office after game 1, but thought better of it.  However, after game 2, he said he was going to do so - referencing one egregious shove in the back that wasn't called.

No foul was called on Josh Hart for this blatant shove on Haliburton

After the game, the TV broadcast panel was talking in general about calls in the playoffs.  Shaq was talking about how the home team ALWAYS gets the calls in their favor in the playoffs - and good team have to figure out how to suck it up and win anyway.  (And he ought to know about when fouls get called and when they don't)

So...  I will be really curious to see if the Woofies get the benefit of the doubt and the home team advantage in the next game - ESPECIALLY after Murray's petulant and the coach's disrespectful behavior in game 2.

[Gunner55]

 “I didn't actually see it happen, but when it was explained to me; the referees didn't see it either, so they're not able to issue technical unless they see it. There probably aren't many fans in the building who have a heat pack, so it probably had to come from the bench,” Finch told reporters on Monday night. “But yeah, it's inexcusable and dangerous. I'm sure it was just mistake and an oversight. I'm sure there was nothing intentional by the officiating at all, but you certainly can't allow that to happen.”

[KEN W]

Just heard on the radio that the Wolves/Nuggets tickets for tonight's big playoff game is the toughest to get for a major sporting event in the last 40 years..

Starts at 8:30 tonight on ESPN. Should be a good one. Crowd should be really into it.

[Steve-o]

 

  Check out the ticket price in the nose bleed seats on the far right of the pic!     There a sucker born every minute.   

[Steve-o]

I just checked...  The price of those $13,000 courtside seats has dropped down to a mere $9,515. 

This could be your best chance to rub elbows with Jimmy Jam or JLo.   

[mike89]

 

[Steve-o]

Seriously...  I'd love to hang with Jimmy Jam and talk sports and music and culture.  JLo, not so much.

[Gunner55]

Edwards leads the T-wolves with 19 & Denver shoots 48% from 3, Mn goes down 117-90. Fans were leaving at the start of the 4th qtr. It's anybody's series now.

[Steve-o]

Word.

[KEN W]

DENVER - Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert was fined $75,000 for rubbing his fingers together in a money-sign gesture directed at the officials during Game 4 of the Wolves' second round series with the Denver Nuggets, the league announced Tuesday.

[Steve-o]

Gobert wasn't wrong.

Timberwolves draw referee Scott Foster for Game 4 against Nuggets

Known as "The Extender" to NBA fans, teams with the lead in a series typically lose when referee Scott Foster is officiating. At one point in 2022, teams trailing in a series had a 19-2 record when Foster was in the building.

...and Foster has plenty of recent history with Minnesota. Foster issued a technical foul after Rudy Gobert gave him a money gesture for a foul in the final minute of regulation during a 113-104 overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Mar. 8

So it looks like Rudy did again and this time instead of a Technical, the league slapped him with a fine.  It is never good to show up the officials, even if they are on the take.   

I heard someone say in an interview yesterday that no one makes money in a short series.  Mo' games = mo' money. 
 
Owners want their luxury suites filled with all the beautiful people.

[glenn57]

  ROH.......roh..........timberwolves are in trouble!!!!!!

[dutchboy]

The NBA is no more a legitimate sport than the WWE. The difference is I will watch the WWE.

The Wolves huffed and puffed through the first 2 games but ultimately they won't be able to blow Denvers house down. 

[Steve-o]

No doubt there is covert or overt slanting of the table to make sure series go seven games and the star players make it to the finals...

But if you want to be the big dog, you have to beat the big dog.  Its an uphill battle to get to the top. 

I only watched the first half and I still don't know how the Whoofies kept it close.  They had to work for every bucket they got and the Nugs made it look easy.  Their "secondary" players were draining 3s and getting slams while the Wooves next tier players were grinding and struggling. 

[Jerkbiat]

Another Mn sports team going down in a fiery blaze. Were use to it.

[Steve-o]

I don't pay too much to the ebbs and flows of teams ascending and descending in the NBA, but I know they exist.

Often times, teams on the way up have to learn what it takes to get past the defending champs, and that can take a season or two.  The wolves are certainly going thru those growing pains right now, but the question is, will the team stay together long enough to mature and develop to that championship level.

OR, you can be like the Knicks - who had a championship-caliber team in the 90s, but never made it to the finals because they kept running into Michael Jordan's Bulls.

[dutchboy]

The NBA is no more a legitimate sport than the WWE. The difference is I will watch the WWE.


Miracle the series made it to 6 games right? Not so fast grasshopper, this one has a game 7 coming.

[Steve-o]

Yeah, the only reason I'm interested in the Wolves this season is because A) they're local and B) this is the first Wolves team that I can ever remember that plays defense.

One of the big reasons I don't watch NBA basketball is because so many of the so-called stars refuse to play defense.  Tibbs had a talented teams between 2017 and 2019 with Jimmy "Buckets" Butler, Towns, Andrew Wiggins, and Zach LaVine (1 year), but no one would play defense.  (Yes, they traded LaVine to get Butler for that purpose.)  Those guys get paid millions and millions and millions of dollars - and they say they want to win, and they probably do - but they want it to be on their terms, not the coach's.  "Why should I listen to this guy when I'm 'building my brand' and make 10 times as much as him?"   

The other reason is all the player-driven drama.  Recall at the end of Tibbs' tenure that Butler forced his way out and Wiggins couldn't or wouldn't figure it out.  It was a good team on paper; it just didn't work out.  And those guys weren't the worst offenders.  "Stars" like Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James, James Harden, and others opting in and out of teams, hunting elusive championship opportunities that don't pan, out or simply wishing to play with their buddies...  No thanks.   

But for this season at least...  Go Whoofies!   

[Steve-o]

The NBA is no more a legitimate sport than the WWE. The difference is I will watch the WWE.

Maybe the NBA/WNBA IS becoming the WWE - more spectacle than competition.

WNBA star Kelsey Plum makes social media swoon over pregame outfit

[mike89]

Glenn would chase that!!   

[dutchboy]

There is not enough room in cyber space to list everything Glenn would hit.   

[Steve-o]

There is not enough room in cyber space to list everything Glenn would hit.   

But we DO have a sticky thread in The BBQ Shack, Wildlife recipes and Cooking forum for all the things he won't eat. 

[mike89]

There is not enough room in cyber space to list everything Glenn would hit.   

he's like the dog that chases cars...  once he catches it he doesn't know what to do with it!!!   

[Jrasmussen]

Glenn may not know what to do with that but I've got some ideas.   

[LPS]

I watched some of the game and couldn't believe how the Wolves were hitting every basket and the Nuggets weren't.  Hard to even believe they won by 45.  Were the nuggets resting up for the last game?

[Steve-o]

It is amazing how on any given night, one team can have the other team's number and soft of unprecedented that there hasn't been a competitive game in the series so far. 

Hoping the wolves advance whether it be a close game or another blowout.  You can't mess around with that Nuggets team.  Or the Wolves. (at least this year )

[Gunner55]

Denver can't play much worse than they did in Game 6 & the T'wolves can't play much better. So, I'm not very optimistic about the game tonight. Just checked & it's Denver -4.5.

[Jerkbiat]

They are still a MN sports team though.