Wolves..OKC

 

8 fucking views..go figure.

I'll likely make at least 1 more video about the WCF. I do still hold true to my feeling about OKC. Their defense is at times, very effective, and part of that is playing 9 or 10 guys. 

But they still get away with fucking murder and it feeds it.

They resemble the Bad Boys in some ways, how smothering they are.

Did the Wolves play up to their potential? no. Had they, could have won? I still contend they could have. 

But it does go back to that video and this thing we have seen so many more times. Why this loss and so many other Final 4 losses or even a few championship round losses in the history of Minnesota Sports is to always be ASSUMED.

OKC down the road gonna have a dynasty..youngest team in the league, blah blah..that remains to be seen. Let's see if they even win the title 1st. If it is the Pacers, I may not watch that much, but I'll admit, if the series is closer, or if Indiana goes up on them..I may.

Not that I love the Pacers, but I respect them after those 2 losses and after beating Cleveland, who I contend, impressed me more than OKC this season. They dealt with injuries. But the Pacers did them in.

But the question is..can the Wolves do more, learn more to beat OKC and for that matter, the other Western Conference teams that'll get better. Lakers, Spurs, Rockets even. Can they? Maybe even the fucking Mavericks..although again with Flagg..I wouldn;'t be shocked if he doesn't end up being as hyped as he's getting.

I kind of think unless Ant does progress a lot, also demanding teammates to play better..that he actually may be best as a 1b or even #2. Dwayne Wade who he reminds me most of. Not Jordan or Kobe. 

Ant needs a guy like Jokic or Giannis. Put Ant and Giannis together, and some effective role players and they could win. But I'm uncertain at his current ability, he can be the clear cut #1. Randle and Kat were good, but they were not 1a or 1b level enough. Ant would thrive as a #2 or a #1a or #1b, drawing the defense, so he would not be swarmed so much.

He needs to benefit from being 1 on 1 for the majority of the game. The last 2 seasons, that hasn't happened, and it's affected him.

Plus this is 2 straight years of WCF meltdowns. Not showing up in Game 5. And now looking at it, it does have the feel of those Yankees Twins series, or 41-0 or 38-7 Vikings meltdowns. 

If tonight they had loss like Game 4 or even maybe Games 1-2, I don't know if it would feel quite as bad. I mean after what happened in Game 4, it was like, that's it. We can't win, give OKC the game and series.

We can't beat them, we won't be able to beat them because they're deep, young, and had this gaudy record., 5th best all-time. So that means they're the 5th greatest team in NBA History? lol..and their depth, youth, and now experience deems them to dominate the NBA for extended years? So why even try?

or why even bother paying attention to the NBA? kind of like I did tune it out in the mid-late 2010's.

They're a boring team to watch anyway, lol

Back to the French Open and the PGA tour it is I guess....

Paige Bueckers..and some other Hoops notes

 

Some thoughts and observations:

PAIGE BUECKERS…and CAITLIN CLARK

Paige Bueckers basically said sorry Oklahoma, not gonna happen. Scoring a career high 40 points tonight in the Sweet 16 in a game that was basically over midway through the 3rd quarter.

It sucks she will not be able to play against USC with Juju Watkins again, who beat Connecticut earlier this season. I feel for Juju and USC, but I still want to see UConn beat them, even though if they do, it will sort of feel like it would need an asterisk.

But let’s say Paige and UConn win on Monday against USC. Looking at the bracket, I think they would end up playing the winner of UCLA vs LSU in the Semifinal on Friday.

And if UCONN were to win that, they could face South Carolina potentially.

If they win the National Championship, all the Caitlin Clark loudmouths are gonna have to back off.

Yeah, first off, that still needs to happen, but 2nd, the argument of Bueckers and Clark will be decided in the WNBA. And Bueckers will likely end up with Dallas who have the 1st pick in the draft.

That kind of sucks, but I get it. Fair is fair. And while I came to not care for the Mavericks and Dallas sports in general (Cowboys..who I once actually liked as a kid per I was a Tony Dorsett fan, but then the Herschel Walker trade happened and the Cowboys won 3 Super Bowls while the Vikings, well remained the Vikings, even with Moss; also to include the Dallas Stars who probably still should be in Minnesota), I can’t hold their WNBA franchise responsible so much for being annoyed by the Mavericks team and their fans from the aftermath of the playoff series with the Wolves last season.

And most of that was not caring for Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, and seeing the Wolves being a superior team, which I still do (I will likely always contend, the Wolves were out of gas, but had they played Dallas in the 1st round, the Wolves would have beaten them, maybe handily), but that’s also very different now with the trade, and where they are at now.

But if Paige goes to Dallas, I will actually hope her team does well, and see how to she does against the rest of the league, including the Lynx. But the Indiana Fever game(s) could be a must-see.

The Dallas Wings play in the same conference as the Lynx, but the Indiana Fever are in the East, so Bueckers and Clark would only play twice during the season. And if they met in the playoffs, it would have to be in the WNBA Finals. Same would hold true if Bueckers were on the Lynx.

Which I think like Lindsay Whalen, depending how things go, I think eventually, there will be effort to try and get Bueckers to the Lynx. It may be many years (like Whalen), but it will be brought up often. Like Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor and several others. McHale sadly never did get to play for the Wolves, but I imagine there may have been interest. He was too loved/and loved it too much in Boston I suppose.

But we will hopefully see, and my belief and contention, Bueckers has the chance and could easily be a better WNBA player than Clark. If she stays healthy of course (which is a big part of course given her injuries in college). But she’s a more skilled player overall, and as I’ve said many times, she’s a better athlete. She’s a better defensive player, and honestly, regardless of how many assists Clark gets, Bueckers is better at making her teammates better.

She has that whole cliche of a high basketball IQ. Clark? to me, she is basically a great shooter and she is good at drawing the defense. But it’s not like she could play all 5 positions, but Bueckers? it seems she could. In the WNBA she will be a guard, but she can play in the post and she can rebound. And even though they are about the same height, Paige is LONG, which makes her even more a threat potentially on defense.

I just think all these naive people who kissed Clark’s butt the last couple of years, failed to do any research and realize coming up in the different levels, Bueckers WAS BETTER. They knew and played each other regularly. They played with each other on some of the National Teams. And actually Clark wanted to go to UCONN, but Auriemma already had promised a spot for Bueckers and couldn't have foreseen the 2 of them together. Which, might have happened anyway, but didn’t.

However, given Clark’s being from Iowa, like Bueckers (whose from Hopkins, MN), likely grew up a Lynx fan. I mean she may have also been a fan of Chicago or Indiana, but the Lynx and Minneapolis were naturally the closest team geographically for her.

So, I suppose Clark also wanting to play close-to-home could end up with the Lynx. Or even both at some point? I kind of doubt it, but it wouldn’t be impossible. Paige likely will be able to play multiple positions, so they actually could both start.

What sort of sucks in retrospect about Bueckers and Clark in some ways is they both could have also ended up in college at Minnesota. But, that’s a broken record and most of the best players in Minnesota or surrounding areas don’t come to Minnesota still. I thought I read, Minnesota did recruit Clark (and Bueckers), but that is a revisionist fantasy pipe dream from a Minneota sports fan now.

But we’ll see over the coming weeks and then months. Seeing the idiots on Social Media though is still going to happen. But if UCONN were to win, no matter, Bueckers would have that. And that believed respect from those WNBA people that took shots at Clark last year for not winning title. I dunno, many of them went to UCONN, so maybe publicly they would give Bueckers a pass if she didn’t win given she’s from the same school. That would be a bit of a double standard.

My feeling though is even if UCONN don’t win the NCAA championship, the WNBA is what will really be indicative of how they compare. Again, health permitting.

COOPER FLAGG

Cooper Flagg while appearing to be probably the best player in the country, I have seen several other guys much like him. Lauded and considered 1 of if not the best players in college, that were a bust or merely a mediocre or role player in the NBA. Including from DUKE.

Adam Morrison? ..even Keith Van Horn

I honestly would hardly be surprised if the same happened to Flagg. He could easily get pushed around or just not be quick enough to warrant the hype he probably will get.