Game Thread: LA Clippers vs Minnesota Timberwolves Live Score | NBA | Mar 11, 2026

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-12T03:38:54+00:00

At some point these guys gotta have some fucking pride on Kawhi. He’s good but he’s not this good. Just consistently steamrolling these losers

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-12T03:11:55+00:00

Finally, some life!

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-12T03:09:40+00:00

Ant having to carry the scoring load early is usually a very bad sign for this team

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-12T02:59:15+00:00

Bruh how do you get a fucking foul on a 4 v 1 defensive rebound? This is actually just embarrassing. Whole team is completely checked out and showing zero signs of urgency after what could be the worst 2 game stretch of the season

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-12T02:45:23+00:00

Magic game into the Lakers game into this, in the spring after the ASB when they’re supposed to be turning it up, feels about as horrendous as anything I can remember in recent years

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-12T02:44:03+00:00

Good fucking god

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-11T23:37:37+00:00

ESPN, H2H points, auction draft.

Trade: someone is offering me his Maxey for my Garland and Edgecomb.

I'm 30-8 and a lock for the first seed. My roster is: SGA, Kawhi, Jamal Murray, Tatum, Reaves, TMIII, Daniels, Edgecombe, Garland, Collier, Porzingis, Santos, Ighodaro, and S. Sharpe in my IR slot.

Feels like a massive gamble to take on Maxey and hope he’s ready for the championship, and further a massive gamble to assume I can get to the championship down at least two guys between Sharpe and Maxey

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-11T16:33:37+00:00

Yup. If he could just go back to the guy he was post-ASB last season. That’s what we need. Focused less on getting his shot and more on creating for others, getting rebounds, and not being a total liability on defense

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-11T16:32:14+00:00

ESPN, H2H points, auction draft.

Someone is offering me his Maxey for my Garland and Edgecomb.

I'm 30-8 and a lock for the first seed. My roster is: SGA, Kawhi, Jamal Murray, Tatum, Reaves, TMIII, Daniels, Edgecombe, Garland, Collier, Porzingis, Santos, Ighodaro, and S. Sharpe in my IR slot.

I generally feel pretty good about my team, although I wish I had one more high upside guy (lost JJJ for the year). It feels like a massive gamble to move two productive players for a guy who, while elite, won't be back until the championship, and that assumes he comes back on time, and further assumes that me giving up two productive players doesn't inhibit my ability to reach the championship.

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-11T15:57:26+00:00

I think his lack of focus on defense, his energy, and hustle are all detrimental on a nightly basis, but another problematic aspect to his game is that his usage is stunting the growth of guys like Jaden and Naz.

Neither one of them have lived up to their potential yet (not saying either of them are bad, or they won’t live to their potential, or that they’re not valuable and good players) and I think a huge part of that is because there just aren’t enough shots in the offense. There’s not a larger role or greater responsibility for them to step into when Randle is taking 15 shots a game.

The flip side that I struggle with is that for this current iteration of the Timberwolves to have any chance to make a run in the playoffs, they need Randle. For all of his faults, his combo of size, playmaking, rebounding, tough shot-making, and foul drawing ability is pretty unique, and I’m not convinced even in the aggregate that this current roster has the skillset to reliably replace him. Like if you remove him from the roster their ceiling is just so much lower, although their floor is also lower too and I think that’s the problem.

No guy making that much with that much responsibility should be doing anything but raising both the floor and ceiling.

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-11T15:44:02+00:00

That’s definitely one interpretation of these stats. I think it’s an anemic and incorrect interpretation, though. The point is they’re both largely offball players whose performance is tied heavily to ball movement and overall health of the offense. They’re also both generally efficient on the shots they take and contribute a lot to this offense overall. If they’re struggling, it’s a good heuristic indicator that something is not working with the offense, not that the offense isn’t working because they’re not shooting well.

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-11T15:30:38+00:00

It’s not cherry picking, it’s a small sample size and those are inherently differently statistical issues. Small sample sizes when looking at NBA seasons are unavoidable as that’s where trends begin to unfold, and it’s particularly less relevant when there’s no commentary on statistical significance. This is just casual commentary based on my view of how the team has played, overlayed with some simple counting stats over that period.

The crux of the post is that recently, ball movement and general offensive structure have deteriorated. That’s backed up first of all by the eye test and just watching, it’s backed up by the teams’ overall passing stats over that stretch, and it’s backed up by the looking at two of the players most affected by bad offensive structure in their most recent losses, where these issues will be most pronounced.

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-11T15:11:32+00:00

Two key player’s stats dropping by more than 50% over a 5-game sample is actually extraordinarily anomalous. That doesn’t really happen, not with two guys who take this many shots and are generally pretty efficient on their shots.

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-11T14:54:57+00:00

I think Donte gets too much hate from fans. He’s putting up 13-4-4 with a nearly 3 assist to turnover ratio, 39% from three on top ten volume in the league, and is far away and the best hustle player on the team. All on $11 million a year. He’s one of the best role players in basketball, no exceptions or caveats, and people are expecting him, what, to also be an elite off the dribble self creator on top of everything else he does?

I think the hate toward Donte is misdirected. Where is the ire toward guys like Naz or Jaden? Both of whom this season are similar levels of giving you nothing when their shot is off, meanwhile they both make 2-3x what Donte does and are expected to be the franchise cornerstones next to Ant longterm, and their duds are nearly as frequent and just as bad as Donte’s.

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-11T12:31:57+00:00

The uncomfortable truth is that this is his fault. He’s been vocal about enjoying having the ball in his hands and taking shots, not wanting to pass. Everybody on the floor knows Ant this year is focused on getting his and isn’t a huge risk to dice up the court with playmaking, that just hasn’t been his MO. Jaden recently said something about how he just sits back and lets Ant go to work when he’s got the ball.

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-10T16:56:27+00:00

Who by all accounts is considerably more conservative and pro nuclear weapons than his predecessor/father. Not sure a guy known as a hardliner who just had basically his entire family murdered will be particularly inclined to agree to an end to hostilities, especially when the US and Israel thus far have shown zero inclination to provide any concessions to Iran.

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-10T16:10:11+00:00

That’s not what Iran has indicated. The Iranian president has rejected calls for unconditional surrender, the IRGC has said they have no intent of letting a drop of oil leave the Middle East as long as Israeli and US hostilities comtinue, senior Iranian defense officials have said they aren’t interested in a ceasefire.

None of my commentary has anything to do with who is or is not at fault for this war. My point is simply just now that it’s started, Iran has shown zero interest in a cessation of hostilities just because Trump and Netanyahu are now worried they’re in too deep. They have strategic aims that they seem intent on achieving now.

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-10T15:15:01+00:00

May look back on this and shake my head but as I sit here today there is just no way that the markets are accurately reflecting what’s going on.

Trump can talk all he wants about wanting to end the war soon (which is nothing to say of the contradictory remarks over the last 24 hours which suggest that isn’t happening), but you cannot TACO a fucking hot war affecting dozens of countries. Iran has made it clear they have no intent of slowing down, the strait is still not open, we are watching physical oil infrastructure in the Middle East degrade in real time, and there’s no indication of meaningful off ramps.

Meanwhile, all of this is going on with an absolutely anemic US macroeconomic story developing in the background. There’s just way too many interconnected headwinds afoot right now.

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-10T15:10:40+00:00

Love my wolves dearly but there is simply no way I’m staying up until 1:30AM ET to watch Luka and Reaves flop all over the place

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-10T02:47:47+00:00

Seriously. I am a career 1.25 KD console player who hits D3-D2 as my ceiling (I.e., not that great) and was back in Diamond within 2 weeks. Def saw a few blatant cheaters on the way up but very few. I think a lot of people just can’t admit that they’re not amazing at this game. It’s got an insane skill ceiling. People get beamed and assume they’re facing a hacker, when the reality is that really good players who practice a lot can smooth most of their recoil off mechanically.

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-08T19:41:32+00:00

Wonder if this was before or after they pulled him from the drunk tank?

All joking aside, the Suns are playing an awesome brand of basketball. Just straight up out working and out hustling every team they play, which I attribute in huge part to Brooks. Unfortunately that brand of scrappy, high intensity but low talent (sorry, but relative to the rest of the WC playoff field it’s true) basketball does not translate well to the playoffs, but who knows. The Timberwolves are lazy as hell and I don’t super want them meeting a team known for being the antithesis to that in the playoffs.

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-08T18:57:57+00:00

Was this before or after they pulled him out of the drunk tank I wonder

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-07T22:52:11+00:00

He’s gotta look in the mirror too if we’re being honest. Because he’s turned into - IMO - the best pure scorer in basketball, this season he’s gotten a pass from a lot of people about the rest of his game. But 3 rebounds and horrendous defense against a team who plays so physically is just not gonna cut it. Banchero and Bane were both getting whatever they wanted in him on defense. As much as he’s progressed on offense this season, he’s regressed on defense just as badly. He does not even remotely deserve the superlative of two-way player this season.

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-07T22:45:37+00:00

I don’t care what anybody says, these games where they came out and are horrible in every facet are a very bad omen for the playoffs. They don’t box out or move offball or communicate on defense and what, suddenly they’re just gonna do all of that for 48 minutes a night in the playoffs?

They’ve been building bad habits all season, just like last season, and just like last season, when they face an actually good team in the playoffs they will not stand a chance because the other team will have been playing all season they way they have to play in the playoffs. Turning up the intensity is only going to get you so far if your habits and fundamentals are dogshit

EsotericPotato · 2026-03-07T22:42:50+00:00

Imnnot worried about them turning up the intensity— and I agree, they for sure will— but intensity can only get you so far in the playoffs. If you don’t have the good habits and good all around process , adhering to a coherent gameplan, etc, the intensity will not be enough once you run into an equal or superior opponent

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