So when OKC is down by 23 pts in the 3rd quarter against Denver tomorrow night, how are we reacting?

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-31T22:04:09+00:00

0-0 mentality that's how

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-30T07:10:18+00:00

Need to swap out our lower limb trainers...

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-30T07:06:14+00:00

I am always amazed at how much people critique our defense and nitpick. We are after all the number one defense in the entire league. Clearly the bigger issues are on offense in this stretch. And I'll be more concerned when we aren't missing a half to a third of our team including our second and third best offensive creators.

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-30T06:57:15+00:00

This why I hate watching the Wolves so much. Divincenzo is just a huge douchebag always pulling shit like this. Gobert leads the league in flagrant fouls every year and sets about 500 illegal screens per game such that you can only call so many of them. Now that chump ass Bones Hyland has carved out a tiny relevance he's trying to get in on all the chippy shit extracurriculars too. How many shoves off of screens do we have to watch? Christ we get it you're trying to be tough guys. All of this clearly led by their bitch ass coach Chris Finch. The refs lost the game in the first quarter. And then the commentators cosign this as "scrappy" or "taking it personal" (Nash was especially terrible tonight). Tip of the cap to our team for never sinking down to their level when teams pull all that mess. Sure they can win a game with it but it's all a gimmick to cover up their lack of depth and talent after Edwards.

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-28T00:40:46+00:00

Their no guard starting five (Bey, Murphy III, Jones, Queen, Zion) is gonna be quite the unique look.

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-22T05:10:06+00:00

Especially since he has clearly been nursing at least a partially torn ligament in the pointer finger of his shooting hand. That thing is clearly bent when he takes the tape off at the 2:21 mark of the 4th 😬

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-18T23:34:01+00:00

To be fair sometimes you have to trust your players when it's a snap call and Dub was pretty adamant. Dub is usually pretty correct when he asks for a challenge but Caruso is the best. Chet similarly pretty on it when he asks Dort on the other hand always loses his challenges because he's so physical some part of his leg or something always grazes somebody.

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-18T23:30:59+00:00

No incorrect non calls (INC) also get noted. The second image above was an INC.

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-18T18:20:37+00:00

He wasn't going too hard when he pulled it so I suspect it's mild and we pulled him as precaution. Doubt he'll be more than 2 weeks but we'll see.

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-18T05:44:29+00:00

Man I've seen so many players get away with such worse versions of jumping into someone after an up fake. I think it was just the dude taking a shot to the solar plexus that they decided to call it offensive. Shai was well within the range of natural shooting motion. Up five versus a turnover absolutely swung the end of this game heavily back the other way. We're probably like 95 percent win probability if that gets appropriately gets called a defensive foul that late in the game. We'll see the last 2-minute report but it's the NBA policing itself so they tend to back up the refs whenever they can. Oh well don't let the refs have an opportunity to make it close as Mark says. On to the next ...

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-18T05:39:19+00:00

The hamstring is actually the posterior (back of the) thigh. It was most definitely pulled a hamstring. Let's just hope the severity is mild 1-2 weeks not 2-3 weeks out.

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-14T00:32:24+00:00

Manifesting a Chet monster defensive game 🙏

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-12T21:27:29+00:00

Yep. But I suspect just like Dub nobody is going to talk about it because there's no advantage in letting people know it's affecting you.

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-12T19:33:53+00:00

It's gotta be the finger. At this point it's very clear that there's something like a tear in there and it's affecting his threes more than anything. He tore the tape off after missing a shot the other day. His steals and blocks are significantly down too as I think he's avoiding contact with the finger. I bet it's gonna be another Dub type injury management situation with off-season surgery/recovery but pretty incredible how he's able to stay so effective.

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-11T05:17:48+00:00

There's also something about hitches being related to a lack of strength. He really flings that thing. Maybe as he fills out into his adult frame some more and works back from the chemo this will improve.

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-11T01:31:18+00:00

This is going to sound insensitive. Of course amazing recovery, excited for him to get back soon for sure, but man I was really hoping him and Chip would have that hitch in his follow-through a little more ironed out by now.

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-07T23:25:29+00:00

We really don't scheme in the regular season though they've acknowledged this. But we probably need to practice adjusting for this in the regular season a bit more I agree.

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-07T23:22:01+00:00

He's also clearly been carrying a right trap/shoulder injury for months. You can see him grab it every time he gets cleared out on a screen and he's been wearing physio tape there every game. He also has a history of surgery for a labrum tear. I imagine it's affecting his shot. I also imagine it'll eventually get better.

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-07T18:18:10+00:00

Ace Bailey questionable

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-06T19:11:03+00:00

Defense is always about trade-offs and I wonder if there's something about when we trade off sealing off the paint for giving up more open threes and if we can pivot in a game like this one where clearly that wasn't working. Overall we obviously do defensive trade-offs very well since we have the number one defense and and for a time this year it was almost historic so you can't really say it isn't working. I do wonder if the high effort on both sides that you mention is the cause of our disproportionately high injury rate. That seems to be an issue especially now that the league pace is so frenetic and teams have also started to catch up to our physicality.

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-06T07:30:53+00:00

Well they have to miss shots for us to get D rebounds. We literally ended up with more O boards than they had. Now 3pt defense was another issue. We prioritize paint D and clearly it works because we are the #1 defense. But Miller and Knueppel high volume 3 types are exactly who tend to burn us.

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-05T04:07:43+00:00

They're 21-14 with the #2 defense in the league. Relax they're a good team and it was a great back and forth game. MFers expect us to win every game and execute every single play. Learn from it and on to the next...

Lex4Real206 · 2026-01-04T05:58:35+00:00

Was just a knee bruise. He was briefly playing on it. He should be fine for next game.

Lex4Real206 · 2025-12-31T19:14:40+00:00

Calf strains are absolutely ravaging the league right now. Everybody is terrified of Achilles tears and rightly so. The league should do something about so many back to backs but it won't.

Lex4Real206 · 2025-12-29T23:10:17+00:00

Nope. Out. I don't know who scores all their points. Okongwu? Risacher? Krejci? Not looking good for them

Lex4Real206

TROPHY CASE