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A “buzzer” qualification for wolves. While the men of Minnesota have been playing out of the Top 6 in the west since February 9, they snatched their direct qualification for the playoffs on Sunday, on the last day of the regular season and a victory against jazz.
With 49 successes-seven less than last year-for 33 defeats, the Wolves finished in 6th place and will therefore face the Lakers (50V-32D), holders of 3rd place, in the first round of the playoffs. A small feat when we remember that at the end of February, after two defeats against the Lakers and Jazz precisely, the Wolves had slipped in 10th place with only three successes above the 50% of victories …
Anthony Edwards and his teammates thought that their qualification for the playoffs would necessarily go through the play-in.
« This is what I said to the guys. We don't want to play the play-in, because I experienced the two situations. We want to be fully prepared by going directly to the playoffs. We want this whole week, we want to be able to face the team studied for three or four days, thoroughly, to be really ready », loose Anthony Edwards.
In 2022, his training had beaten the clippers in play-in to qualify, before losing against the Lakers the following year, then beat the Thunder to access the Playoffs. Last year, his Wolves had qualified directly.
Good adjustments, good sacrifices
« I told the guys that I was super proud of what they had accomplished this season. We did not make a big exchange in the middle of the season to try to settle things. We have not fired coaches to arrange anything. They are the ones who settled it themselves. These guys made the right adjustments, the right sacrifices, and they understood what they had to be collectively », Salues Chris Finch.
A way to highlight the beautiful turn made by his team, the choice of sending Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks last summer, for Julius Randle, aroused debates throughout the season. However, despite some failures like this home defeat against the Pelicans, or another in Milwaukee when the victory seemed promised to them, the Wolves signed a very big end of the season: 17 victories on their last 21 outings, with certainly a globally affordable calendar.
« We still have a lot to do, but all the merit comes back to them, because it was important for them to find the solution. And we found it. They found it Continues Chris Finch. With a much more important yield after the All-Star Game (15 points and 12.5 rebounds), Rudy Gobert embodies this good dynamic well.
« We knew that when I got here, it was a process. There was a lot of adversity, and we learned to overcome it and learn from it. This time, after the exchange (Towns/Randle), Our team has become a little different. We have all had to, individually and collectively, learn to adapt to each other and to progress. We have gone through difficulties, but we held out. Everything we have experienced as a team brought us closer », Analysis French.
His team will now put this dynamic to the Californian test of a certain Luka Doncic, their executioner last season.
| Shots | Rebound | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | To | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Fte | Pts |
| Anthony Edwards | 79 | 36.3 | 44.7 | 39.5 | 83.7 | 0.8 | 4.9 | 5.7 | 4.5 | 3.2 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 27.6 |
| Julius Randle | 69 | 32.3 | 48.5 | 34.4 | 80.6 | 2.1 | 5.0 | 7.1 | 4.7 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 2.5 | 18.7 |
| Naz Reid | 80 | 27.5 | 46.2 | 37.9 | 77.6 | 1.2 | 4.9 | 6.0 | 2.3 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 2.4 | 14.2 |
| Jaden Mcdaniels | 82 | 31.9 | 47.7 | 33.0 | 81.3 | 1.6 | 4.2 | 5.7 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 2.7 | 12.2 |
| Rudy Gobert | 72 | 33.2 | 66.9 | 0.0 | 67.4 | 3.7 | 7.2 | 10.9 | 1.8 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 2.5 | 12.0 |
| Donte Forenzo | 62 | 25.9 | 42.2 | 39.7 | 77.8 | 0.5 | 3.2 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 1.6 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 11.7 |
| Nickeil Alexander-walker | 82 | 25.3 | 43.8 | 38.1 | 78.0 | 0.7 | 2.6 | 3.2 | 2.7 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 9.4 |
| Mike Conley | 71 | 24.7 | 40.0 | 41.0 | 90.0 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 2.6 | 4.5 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 8.2 |
| Rob Dillingham | 49 | 10.5 | 44.1 | 33.8 | 53.3 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 4.5 |
| Terrence Shannon, Jr. | 32 | 10.6 | 48.2 | 35.5 | 81.0 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 4.3 |
| Jaylen Clark | 40 | 13.1 | 46.7 | 43.1 | 78.4 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 4.1 |
| Garza gap | 39 | 5.6 | 49.5 | 27.8 | 68.6 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 3.5 |
| Josh Minott | 46 | 6.0 | 48.9 | 32.6 | 89.5 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 2.6 |
| Leonard Miller | 13 | 2.4 | 40.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 1.5 |
| Bones Hyland | 4 | 4.2 | 66.7 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 1.3 |
| Joe Ingles | 19 | 6.0 | 26.1 | 20.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 0.8 |
| P.j. Dozier | 9 | 3.9 | 66.7 | 66.7 | 16.7 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.8 |
| Daishen Nix | 3 | 4.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Dreary Newton | 3 | 2.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.0 |
| Jesse Edwards | 2 | 2.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 |
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