Playoffs - Round 1: Lakers Vs. Wolves

game 1 was both disappointing and on-brand in that regard. we seem to like making things harder for us, and it's a trend that's pretty much been here for the whole lebron era. let's see how we respond.

we said all the right things ahead of game 1 and just got smacked around by a less-talented team who played harder and smarter.

 

Just please stop over helping on drives to the basket. Especially if the recipient of the pass out is Naz Reid.

 

I didn't watch game 1, but I'll try to watch Game 2

If we lose that one, I'll let them tie up the series before I bother.

Lots of people figured next year was our best bet, but love to see them pull off small miracles this year too.

 

If we lose tonight, it will end 1-4.

 

If we lose tonight we would get swept
And BSPN already talked about sweep
Former LA Clippers forward Marcus Morris went on ESPN's First Take to make a bold prediction regarding this first-round series. The 13-year veteran claimed that if the Lakers lose Game 2, they have a good chance of getting swept.

 

Don't you all remember how Lakers barely won in play in when all their stars were injured
McDaniels ,Naz Reid and Gobert

 

i guess i'll say that if we're going to lose, let's do it quickly. i want luka and lebron well-rested, healthy, and angry next year if we can't get a ring this year (which, if game 1 was any indication...).

that said, it's not out of the realm of possibility for us to you know, actually play well in game 2.

think i'm just still disappointed at how much more ready to play minny was.

 

Last I checked winning games 1,2 and 3 are the easiest of a series..... It's that fourth that is the hard one. Last season the SD Padres had 2 games to 1 against the Dodgers going into SD. They failed to score for 24 innings and lost to LA. Why bring up the baseball? Easy. If the team is better then they should win 4 out of 7 (or for LA/SD it was 3 out of 5).

I don't think game 2 is do our die but I do think it is important and we should fricken win the damn game. That being said, I think if we play the way we can play we win. Two things have to be better (prob more but I'm picking on these two) the first is finishing those short range and inside the paint shots. When they went on their run I believe Luka missed 3 shots inside the paint and someone else did too (Could of been more but Im not 100% on that). We have to finish our opportunities AND make some of the And1 possible shots. We got a lot of 2 shot freethrows that really should of been And1 freethrows.

The second thing, as stated in here by many, no overhelping off the 3 point shooters and (bonus) crash the boards.

 

I’m taking this series game by game since the Lakers’ collective effort in game one was so surprisingly pathetic.

 

Must win game. Our window is for as long as Lebron's here. After he retires, we are going to need to do some recalibration. Just having Luka doesn't make us a contender, the other teams in the West, will still have high end talent too.

 

LMFAO
Anthony Edwards is fined $ 50,000 per phrase «I have a d*** larger than yours to the fan
Anthony Edwards fined $ 50,000 for an abnormal expression and indecent gesture against the fan, the league press service said.

The incident occurred 4:33 before the end of the third quarter of the 1st playoff series game

 

I give the team a very slight benefit of the doubt because Minnesota is an uncommonly physical team. They've got size and toughness that can overwhelm you if you're not ready for it. Our last two playoff runs we played the Grizzlies/Warriors/Nuggets and then the Nuggets again, none of those teams presented the physical challenge that Minnesota does. The Grizzlies were probably the closest, they're kind of a worse version of the Wolves.

That being said, it was hard to watch that Game 1 and not think we're a guy or two away from being a legit title threat. Right now we have the Luka/AR/LeBron/DFS/Rui lineup that graded well down the stretch of the regular season...but that's kind of it. Hayes has come back down to earth after playing really well around when AD got hurt and the trade first occurred. Lineups with Vando functioning as the 5 on offense haven't worked as well as we'd hope. Gabe is solid, but small. I think there are some matchups where Dalton could/should get minutes, but I'm not sure this is one of them.

We'll see. Every team that wins Game 1 on the road talks about getting greedy and taking both, but there's a reason why a home team down 0-1 wins Game 2 the vast majority of the time. You can't fake desperation and we should be the much more desperate team tonight. But this Minnesota team is very good, better than I gave them credit for. They eliminated the Nuggets in Denver last year, then lost in 5 to the Mavs in a series frankly similar to our "close" 4 and 5 game losses to the Nuggets. They were the third best team in the league last year and swapped KAT for Julius/DiVincenzo, which started to work out for them down the stretch of the regular season.

 

Kang came ready. Better have kept his shirt on. That's several hours where he could've offended an empty gym.

 

i repeat they were 17-4 down the stretch and have had the same team all year. that's no joke. the fact that we were taken by surprise in game 1 was actually really shocking to me. not surprised we could lose it; surprised we just got rudely dismissed. again, just doesn't bode well.

 

2 words...Playoff Luka.

 

That was a big push on Luka where Rudy “stole” the ball from him.

 

Trex, the new donkey. He gets away with murder ffs.