ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Timberwolves 4/21/2018 (Playoffs Round 1, Game 3)

he had a bad shooting night in game 2..

did we lose game 3 where despite of harden's play or because of harden's play?

 

deserves its own thread

 

Rockets WOULDN'T and SHOULDN'T be favored over GS to begin with.

Rockets playing SUBPAR to their regular season production only makes it worse.

 

Rockets got lazy and lost the killer instinct they had early in the season. Pringles is right the team hasn't played particularly well in months. How many blown leads and lackadaisical games? It was good they got that ass beat like they did last night, maybe they will play with more urgency moving forward.

 

Had the rockets winning this series in 5 really hard to beat a playoff team 8 straight times win game 4 we can close them out at home

 

All it takes is a little sense of urgency for them to find their form. They are going to come out hot next game similar to what Minnesota did tonight having a chance to make real adjustments. You don't fix what is working. They will have a new scheme for Minnesota for Game 3 and it will be up to Minnesota to adjust. It is a poker game.

 

If the Rockets want to continue to show up playing lackadaisical basketball with no urgency, we can I expect us not to be champions by years end

 

Last time I checked, the other team is playing to win as well. It's called THE playoffs for a reason.

 

That quote by MDA is odd to say the least and just not true!

 

Some of the Twin Cities media seem more optimistic about the Rockets' chances (pessimistic about the Twolves' chances) than some of y'all here. Bolded for emphasis.

https://www.twincities.com/2018/04/...rwolves-give-fans-hope-by-bouncing-the-bully/

Brian Murphy: Timberwolves give fans hope by bouncing the bully

Fourteen years is an eternity for catharsis, way too long for any professional fan base, let alone the forsaken Timberwolves faithful.

Minnesota recently ended the NBA’s longest-running playoff drought with a Game 82 overtime victory, but all that did was buy the Wolves entry to the annual postseason party.

After one disheartening loss and another lopsided defeat to the relentless Rockets in Houston, their return to Target Center on Saturday night foreshadowed more of an Irish wake than a franchise awakening.

Well, put the rosaries down and the kegs back on ice. Rumors of the Wolves’ impending demise were unfounded. At least for one liberating night that was only a decade-and-a-half in the making.

The roar returned to First Avenue as Minnesota bopped their first-round bully in the nose with a convincing, essential and wholly entertaining 121-105 victory over Houston in front of 18,978 revelers.

The Wolves still face tremendously long odds in this best-of-seven series against the league’s best and most prolific scoring team. But they gave their fans hope and hubris with a surprising blowout.

It was Minnesota’s first playoff win since Kevin Garnett, Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell were roving during Game 5 the 2004 Western Conference Finals, when texting on flip phones was the rage and our long, cold winter seemingly had just begun.

After Jimmy Butler buried a three-pointer to give Minnesota an 18-point lead with 5:37 remaining, delirious fans leaped to their feet, waved their white towels and engaged in full-throated wishful thinking.

“Wolves in six!”

“Wolves in six!”

This might very well turn out to be their only win of this series. You can bet the unfazed Rockets will regroup, readjust and provide an affirmative answer.

But for one refreshingly balmy spring night in downtown Minneapolis, the Wolves had more bite than the NBA’s alpha dogs.

“It’s what we needed,” said guard Derrick Rose. “Tonight was fantastic. We’re trying to bring something to this city that’s never been. We’re trying to start something new here.”

It certainly took the edge off and makes Monday night’s Game 4 relevant.

Falling behind 3-0 would have been a prelude to getting swept and left the Twin Cities crestfallen just as the market buried the Wild for another off-season of recrimination.

“Our fans were absolutely insane,” said center Karl-Anthony Towns, who answered for his vanishing act in Houston.

“When you have fan support like that behind you, anything’s possible. It’s just humbling to see fans that elated and buy into us that much.”

The Wolves were the aggressors, pushing the ball up the court and not backing down defensively. They matched the Rockets in long-range prowess. Both teams made 15 three-pointers, but the Wolves only needed 27 attempts compared to Houston’s 41.

Their all-stars also came to play, rising to the moment instead of being swallowed by it.

Towns was a physical presence at both ends of the floor and finished with a double-double, 18 points and a game-high 16 rebounds.

Jimmy Butler attacked the Rockets’ interior defense and was rewarded with 28 points.

Andrew Wiggins has been Minnesota’s best all-around player this series, rebounding and reading the defense while trusting his instincts to feed his teammates the ball during key possessions.

Rose shaved a decade off his creaky body and came off the bench to pour in 10 in second-quarter, helping the Wolves open an 11-point lead.

The Rockets and superstar James Harden rallied to pull within 52-51 at halftime. But the Wolves erupted in the third quarter, led by point guard Jeff Teague, who led a 9-0 breakout.

His three-point play at the start and three-pointer on the other end had Teague chest thumping and stoking the sellout crowd into a frenzy.

“They’re such a great team you have to play like that against them,” said Minnesota coach Tom Thibodeau. “You can’t have a lull. You can’t have a letdown. You have to play for 48 minutes. I thought our guys did a great job.”

An interminable drought is finally over.

An intriguing series has just begun.

 

ima just quote myself for the idiots mad we didn't sweep a team that healthy is the nber 3 seed. People give these hot takes n don't even know what the *** they talking about.

 

Fair weather fans.

 

Wanna bet?

 

Ok, so we're not going "fo, fo, fo". Let's see how the team reacts to a loss before panicking.

 

Can yall stop with this nonsense about IF they were healthy, they would've could've been the 3rd seed.