It was the turbulent Kyle Anderson who best summed up Wolves’ performance in Game 1 against the Nuggets: ” I feel like we played a regular season game when it’s the playoffs“. For his coach, the Nuggets were much more physical. They were faster, more powerful, and they smashed us in every possible sector imaginable. »
Beaten by 34 points on February 7 during the last clash between the two formations, Chris Finch’s players will return to the hotel with a new big suitcase: 29 points difference! The most striking thing is that they only scored 80 points! That hadn’t happened to them for seven years… The fatigue of two “play-in” encounters or the always-so-specific conditions at altitude don’t explain everything.
“It’s the NBA. She does not forgive. Things like that happen” recalls Karl-Anthony Towns. “They did a good job, they have to be congratulated. They had a long week to prepare, they prepared and we could see on the ground that they knew our systems and that they knew what they were doing. So we have to come back ready for the second game. It’s a series, you have to move forward and prepare. »
A problem of defensive withdrawal
The Wolves were attacked from the first minutes, like a huge tumble from Aaron Gordon, and they never responded to the image of a Karl-Anthony Towns out of the game with his 11 points to 5 out of 15 on shots, but also his four beautiful lost.
“I felt my shots well. Frankly, I was fine” he assures. “But it’s one of those evenings where it doesn’t want to come in. I took some good shots, I stayed aggressive… But let’s move on, and throw this game away. I am a great shooter. I know it. I proved it. »
For Rudy Gobert, transparent in attack and unable to limit the impact of Nikola Jokic in the paint, the Wolves lacked attention and responsiveness on the defensive withdrawal.
“You have to turn around and run… We don’t have time to look at each other. We don’t have time to watch the referees. We don’t have time to think about who we’re defending. We have to sprint and then we can talk. But you have to turn around, sprint and then talk. If we do that, all individually, and focus on that, I think a lot of the easy stuff will be taken away from them, when they really benefit from it. »
A failed preparation
Like Rudy Gobert, Chris Finch and Mike Conley point to the defense but also the haste on the other side of the field. “You can’t put it down to one thing. There were times when guys took hard shots for no reason, or they replaced a simple action with something complicated. That’s what got us into trouble and led to ball losses.” analyzes the leader.
The latter also believes that his team was ill-prepared: “You have to be ready… You have to know their systems, their habits… It will be a long series. We know that it is not played on a match, and that it will always be like that. You have to be ready to play, and it could be a good booster shot for many in the team. »
A reaction is expected on Wednesday. Same opponent, same room…
