Jaden McDaniels on attacking the rim when Wemby is on the floor - “You just gotta act like he’s not there. I mean, he’s gonna get blocks. He’s the tallest person in the world.”
Timberwolves against a team with poor rim protection: “Fuck it, we go at em!”
Timberwolves against a team with the best rim protection: “Fuck it, we go at em! (just pretend they aren’t there)”
“If you can’t see them, they can’t see you” strategy.
“Each block is one less made shot for wemby on the other end”
“Every defensive effort we force him into will drain his offensive life force”
Equivalent exchange
Wemby didn’t expect this Magic Card to be played.
Wait til we play Pot of Greed
You’re a third rate blocker with a 4th rate team Vic! -Jaden McKaiba
Victor “Nina Tucker” Wembanyama
And we have like 8 guys to for him to block. He was gased
you miss 100% of the shots they didn’t make
AKA how my brother played hide and seek with me when he was 2 years old lol
There was a really stupid monster on Traal that was very vicious, very ravenous, but also mind-bogglingly stupid and believed this. This is why you gotta know where your towel is (so you can put it around your eyes while it’s around).
they can’t see you
The ol’ JOHN CENA defense
🎺🎺🎺
You can hear the difference in his voice and words though. He hates the nuggets and how Jokic plays. He respects Wemby, while also realizing that this is their best strategy.
It’s pretty funny how like immediately when the clock hit zero against the nuggets, there was a palpable sense of “alright let’s take this shit seriously again” lol
Bro rim protection isn’t real
I’d know
Rim protection is a social construct used to oppress slashers.
it was a psyop created by Big Shooting to sell more floor stretchers. wake up sheeple
Adam Silver is putting gambling in the timeouts to make the dunkers shoot!
This is the best comment I’ve read in the sub this year. Awesome
Run through a mfers face…then you aint gotta worry bout them no more.
Just say no. They are not allowed to block you without consent.
I mean, it’s just going at their best player in both cases with the desired impact being “wear them tf out”
Jokic wasn’t really exerting enough defensive effort to get worn out…
“If he spends the entire game jumping and swatting us on one side, he won’t have energy for any output on the offensive side”.
this jaden mcdaniels guy seems pretty good at exposing teams, “they all play no defense” “just go straight at him”
“he plays too much defense”
“Just go straight at him”
Jaden “Horatio Nelson” McDaniels
Leeroy McJenkins
There’s something I just like about a guy that isn’t afraid to attack the rim at all costs.
Jordan vibes
Wemby has a preset block limit so just send wave after wave of of your own men until he reaches that limit and shuts down. Then their house of cards will fall like dominoes, checkmate
Jaden what do I call it?
*sigh* blocklexia
Jaden, show them the metal I won.
“shows World Series trophy”
im glad i get this reference but man this must go over SO many people
What are you, gay?!?!?
I can’t go 5 minutes without seeing a futurama reference on the internet, it’s honestly crazy
Jaden McDaniels told me Wemby keeps blocking his shots, so I asked how many rim attempts he has and he said he just keeps driving at him and tries a new layup every possession. So I said it sounds like he’s just feeding blocks to Wemby and then Mike Conley started crying.
*claps*
underrated reference
Beautiful reference
I know this is a joke, but he probably does have a “jump” limit. Those knees can only do so much
He doesn’t need to jump to block
It’s not just a joke… it’s a REFERENCE!!!
The best kind of joke
Literally the Alamo part 2
they thought we forgot! we were explicitly instructed to remember!
Jaden McDaniels copying Santa Ana’s moves
Modern day drone warfare
Wemby looks like a Steakhouse, but he handles like a Bistro.
Stop getting blocked, you cowards!
The Soviet Timberwolves
Everybody gets minutes. Everybody scores points. Everybody plays defense.
Just some good old fashioned commie ball right now
Sherrif Clark is now Comrade Clark and his Jail is now a Gulag.
It’s like in Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, every unit has a set amount of retaliations they can do per turn
If we can hit that bullseye.
Looks like someone on the spurs forgot he is paid a max contract for his offense capabilities specifically for when situations like this happen, let’s hope he remember next game.
Fox is a very up and down player who will completely check out at the worst possible time. I’ve been watching since he and Monk were together at Kentucky. He’s a good player but not worth his contract
We knew
I mean…. kind of?
That’s kinda a good strategy from Minny
Go at Wemby , if you’re going to get blocked well it is what its , nothing you can do
Tire him out then force him to close out on a Reid and get screened a ton
Yeah it’s fucking Wemby, you can’t do shit about it other than try to get your best shot off. Can’t let the blocks rattle you, since he can’t block everything lol
He certainly tried last night.
Yeah it was a good match.
I think teams not attacking wemby in the paint (because of being scared being blocked) gives wemby some breather, vs attack endlessly regardless if you are getting blocked just to make him work and tire
In a world where everyone’s chucking 3s the Wolves are like fuck it we’re attacking the paint.
I guess it probably helps the Wolves can shoot 3s. I think you have to be able to otherwise they’ll just dare you to shoot outside but you can’t do that with the Wolves because guys like Ant, Naz Reid, Conley, etc. will hit open 3s all night if available. Even Bones, Ayo when he’s healthy, and TSJ can punish beyond the arc if you give them a bit of space
the counter the nuggets did some was crash into the lane more, I wonder if the spurs do that with Wemby since he is such a better rim protector than Joker or they swarm certain guys on the perimeter to press us out of some of the easy drives we got.
The adjustments in this series are going to be interesting. Finch did a great job drawing Wemby to the perimeter for some drives then calling action to target Castle to get him out of the game. Really solid 4Q from Finchy & Nori
Nuggets started playing like a hybrid zone. Usually the answer to that is shoot over it, but what’s interesting is the Wolves were like “Actually you guys aren’t good enough to run a zone so we are just going to hit it anyway.” Lol.
Spurs on paper should be much better at this, but Wolves have like sheer force of will and athleticism. Spurs don’t really have an answer to the physicality of Randle and they’re getting worn out having to contain all of the Wolves guards, despite all the injuries depleting the roster.
I think they will probably try to pack the paint more and maybe try to decrease Wemby’s responsibility so he doesn’t get worn out. But again the Wolves can shoot 3s, they have not even been shooting them very well for the whole playoffs so far but they could have a super hot night against a team trying to prevent drives. Like a 15⁄30 type of night is entirely plausible.
I miss Ayo im glad youre taking good care of him!
In contrast Blazers ran the worst option: play scared of Wemby and nope out of the paint, jack up a bunch of 3’s, but also be really bad at shooting 3’s lol.
Blazers are young and their young core had no playoff experience. Timberwolves are experienced at this point and also have a collection of guys with no fear. They’re called the CTE Wolves for a reason haha
Yeah it helps that Wolves can also shoot midrange and threes. They have the length to generate turnovers and can score in transition too. They can score a variety of ways
When everyone zigs, you zag
That has been a theme, I think it is in part Tim Connelly. When everyone was trying to remake the Warriors he put together the Jokic Nuggets and then came to the Timberwolves and brought in Gobert to build a defensive juggernaut.
Wemby had TWO games over the regular season (one going OT) where he touched 40 minutes. He hit 40 minutes last night for the first time this playoffs.
If Minnesota keeps being physical and making him work, his cardio could be a big negative for him. It’s something to watch for. He’ll get the highlight blocks and go-go gadget dunks but you could also see shorter jumpers, being off correct defensive positions, and less effective in transition.
Wemby even talked after the game about how exhausted he was at the end and that everything was just a blur and he couldn’t keep his mind straight. Proves he can absolutely get worn out throughout a game and could take away his offensive threat away at the end of games
5 years from now he’s gonna be conditioned like Steph and everything will end
I’d just like to get one title before this happens, please…
We saw those short jumpers at the end of last night
not to be too picky, but in those two games in regular season he didn’t make it to 40 minutes either
39:36 in the OT game, 39:42 in the other one
I guess last night was also only 39:52, but we might get there this week!
Feels like a very Edwards type of mentality. If you get blocked, fuck it, he ain’t gonna block all of them.
Maybe he gets in foul trouble too, like Jaden last night, and then he has to think twice about contesting shots.
If he wasn’t in foul trouble the way he played last night he’s not going to be in foul trouble all series.
The reffing crew last night is notorious for allowing physicality.
from Minny
Please stop calling us Minny. No one here says that.
Fuck it, then it’s Torry for Toronto.
Its a shibboleth, I immediately know someone hasnt been purified in the waters of Lake Minnetonka when they say it.
Nothing pure about those waters, especially Big Island lol
I was on this crusade last season. It seems futile. Now I know how people from San Francisco feel.
THANK YOU!
I love how literally 100% of people in this sub who say Minny don’t have wolves flairs lol.
Yeah we say Minnie /s
The thing with blocks is it doesn’t even guarantee possession. There was a block he made that ended up back in Jaden’s hands who passed it to Conley for a 3. So much for the block
Not only does it not guarantee possession, but Wemby usually ends up on the floor. He will get tired out.
Block all you want. I personally don’t think blocks are that great if possession isn’t guaranteed and it takes so much energy out. This is why I think Rudy is the smarter defender.
Shit I just made a similar comment before I got down to read this one haha. Totally agreed though, blocks are cool splash plays but aren’t always indicative of shutdown defense
Honestly better than the alternative. And if you get him to foul once for every 2 blocks, and he gets 12 blocks, welllll….
It’s 100% a good strategy from the Wolves.
If you let Wemby deny an entire area of the court uncontested, you’ve already lost. You have to challenge him and force him to win defensive possessions. It’ll tire him out, it’ll get him in foul trouble, and it’ll force the Spurs defense to adjust.
Wemby was tired in the 4th
I don’t think playing him 12 minutes in the fourth did the Spurs any favors either.
You have to manage his minutes more, he should be more of a 34-35 mpg guy in playoffs, not a 40 mpg one.
Him going from 30 minutes per game in the regular season up to 35 is a lot by itself
Eh, those also include the “just play enough minutes to qualify for awards” games though.
His regular season MPG was 33 last season, probably a more realistic outcome for him.
I just disagree any star player getting 12 minutes in the fourth quarter for a playoff game, even the most durable players get tired towards the end.
Conditioning 2 years ago doesn’t really help you in the now.
And they are playoff minutes. Ant got gassed by the Mavs series 2 years ago. It has a real impact
Yea, playing him the entire 4th is an insane decision. An even insaner decision is playing him 40 minutes with the 2nd most on the team was at 36 minutes.
Wemby is not going to last playing that many minutes.
He’s only gotta keep it up for about four or five more games and then he can go relax in Galveston.
What’s French Galveston? Marseilles?
We were almost twice as effective on offense with him off the floor.
I’m not really exaggerating. 0.99 points per possession with him on the floor. 1.71 points per possession with him off. Sure, it’s an 8 minute sample size, but that’s a 72% increase.
Yeah TJ was relentlessly attacking Kornet every time Wemby sat, it was a guaranteed bucket.
Too bad they were bleeding points without him lol
Kornet couldnt contribute anything impactful
he should be more of a 34-35 mpg guy in playoffs, not a 40 mpg one.
Never heard that about a supposed star player before
Yeah, he was getting challenged a lot at the rim and then he got the ball on the perimeter most of the time. He can either try to get into the lane, but a Wolves player is there leaning on him the whole time or he can take a jumper, but that’s a big victory for Minny as they don’t have to challenge him at the rim
He gets to deal with A LOT of physicality and has a skinnier frame than Gobert, so it comes down to using more energy and power. That can quickly exhaust you.
Jaden McDaniels is a Smashing Pumpkins fan? Hell yeah.
Why do you say that? Is it the shirt?
Yes
He’s from the big WA
What’s The Big WA? Washington? SP is from Chicago.
Sorry it’s just a meme here (very locally) that all the kids secretly like SP more than Nirvana.
LMAO, Nirvana goat’d tho
Worst of the big 4 though. AIC the goats.
He’s a big grunge music fan, like any true Seattle son. (Not that I’d call pumpkins a grunge band but it’s in the realm)
There’s an era-appropriate association there for sure.
Jaden talking about the Nuggets defenders is like Billy Corgan talking about any other musician of his generation not named Kurt Cobain.
Now now, Billy Corgan almost stole Kurt’s wife from him but thankfully he dodged that bullet
(Edit: Pun realized after the fact)
That shirt looks legit vintage too
I was coming in here to point that out as my takeaway. It’s been forever since I’ve seen the SP heart logo, that’s like Siamese Dream era I think.
It was originally the Gish heart I believe but really became popular when they hit big with Siamese Dream, specifically Today. I bought that shirt at Lollapolooza ‘94 and lost it in a move. Rebought it when I saw them in 2018. I always loved the black and silver one he wore mostly during Mellon Collie
Yeah I started my fandom after Gish, so I’m not surprised it might be even older. But during the 90s, the SP heart and Nirvana goofy smiley shirts or w/e it was called were like staple fashion pieces in suburban high schools. I actually had the Zero mesh shirt, that shit did not look good on 13 y/o me.
lol I still have the long sleeve black Zero. Life comes full circle sometimes, took my son to Green Day/SP last year, some 30 years after I saw em both in ‘94.
And fuck I’m old
“Zero” fucks given.
I am officially a mcdaniels fan.
Welcome to the club. The guy is just so nonchalant about it
The only rough part about being a McDaniels fan is a lot of his highlights have been lost because so few people have known about him. He has so many highlight reel dunks, steals, and blocks, but you can’t find them anywhere! Only a handful of people have been watching Wolves games the last five years and not many videos of his highlights have been posted.
Probably a good thing for the Wolves though. Ant, the team, and the fans know about him and that is what’s important!
I feel like thats why the “ but we have Jaden” thing took off. Most people laughed when Ant said that until Jaden locked down KD in the playoffs and got everyones attention.
Thank you for the draft sir
I am too ever since that series vs KD/Suns in 2024.
Wolves are easily the funniest team in the league in terms of their personalities.
He won me over during our first round series last year. I figured it was just a matter of time before he broke out or at least was more recognized for what he brings to the team
What does that say about Jokic dann
Act like he IS there
Acting like Jokic isn’t there is significantly easier
He had 6 blocks all series. You don’t have to act like he’s not there, he’s just not. Lol
You have to pretend wemby isn’t there. You don’t have to pretend with Jokic.
Damn lol, burn but accurate
Make sure to tip Jokic for the red carpet treatment ☠️
Coat check Jokic will take your hat and scarf for you on your way by him.
“Right this way for two points, or a possible three-point play if you’re a rewards member.”
Even us nugget fans were losing our mind that Jokic refused to ever jump or get in the way of a drive to the basket. He just backed out Gobert from the rim and kept his feet flat. It was infuriating.
There were a few plays were he flat out backpedaled into the crowd and gave up uncontested layins to players half his size and i couldnt help but feel for nuggets fans. Just a total lack of effort and committment to defense.
On the flip side, I was hoping we could get him into foul trouble by taking it to him over and over. He’s smart enough to know where to spend his energy, at least.
I mean he was backpedaling and getting out of the way on every drive, you dont even need to pretend
T-Wolves made Wemby work ALL GAME LONG and you could see how it was affecting him in the 4th
we blitz ALL NIGHT
You make SURE they remember FOREVER the night they played the Timberwolves
Need Ayo at full strength now so we can keep sending bodies at them.
Funniest dude in the league 💀
He’s my new favorite player.
So the same strategy they used on Jokic got it
Russ would’ve fit so well with this group
God I wish Russ was just a few years younger and on the wolves rn Seeing him just barrel towards the rim at Wemby every possession would be so funny
Prime Russ will try to posterize Wemby until he succeeds
Prime Russ would have definitely put it on Wemby head. Hell, an old Russ still is one of the better athletes in the NBA
Jaden McDaniels: “You guys finally put a good defender in front of me”
“Tallest person in the world” hahaha
It is honestly not far from the truth, which makes it extra funny.
“And victors arms stretch so high that they block out the sun when you go to the rim”
Jaden: “Then we will score in the shade”
I think “Then we will score in the shade” works better.
There we go, for it fixed. Now just need one of those really bad photo shops of Jaden in 300
Jaden’s quotes are as much of highlight as he is at this point lol.
Man the Spurs got me watching the NBA again for the first time in 20+ years but the Timberwolves are definitely growing on me.
No dirty unethical play, no flopping and foul baiting, just 2 teams with all the heart in the world.
This is going to be such a bittersweet series. 😅
I was rooting for the Nuggets in the series vs the Wolves in 2024, but this year I became a turncoat halfway through, the Wolves are great to watch
Timberwolves don’t respect Chokic lol
Is he wearing a Smashing Pumpkins shirt??
Minnesota is a fun team to watch
I actually think the Spurs biggest flaw right now is that they don’t have anyone to put at the 3⁄4 who is any sort of deterrent at the rim. Meaning if the Wolves can pull Wemby out to the exterior, or just shield him off, they can do a lot of stuff in the paint. Wemby will make a handful of miraculous blindside blocks per game, but that will also wear him out when combined with playing him physically in general.
The Spurs are relying on Wemby and essentially asking him to do too much.
It’s been a roster hole for a while now with us. We drafted Sochan thinking he was the answer but he couldn’t put it together on offense and was even bad on defense at times.
While true. This is still a 7 game series. Teams adjust. Now this Spurs team is young so they may adjust less, but I’d be curious to see how relevant this comment is after game 4 or 5. Not to say that your comment isn’t valid though. Also, the Wolves won by 2 points. Imagine that three went in and we’re all talking about how “effective” Wemby was. Even though Wemby would have done nothing different. Winning and losing changes everyone’s perspectives.
I needed to hear this
I expect this to go 6 or 7 games and Game 1 to have little to do with much of anything. The Warriors got blown out in game 1 of the 2022 Finals.
This kid is becoming one of my favorite nba players. 0 fear. 0 f’s given.
I like whatever is wrong with him lol
I’m starting to love this dude
Strategy when they’re bad defenders: “Just go at them”
Strategy when they’re good defenders: “Just go at them”
There is some truth to that, as good as Wemby - I just imagine having to focus on blocking everything at the rim and guys coming at you is going to exhaust someone that tall and that light.
I did some research on this and apparently extremely tall people face unique cardiovascular challenges and the more he exerts himself the more likely he will experience dizziness and lightheadedness.
There is a gravity tax, the human heart is fighting gravity to get blood from the heart to the brain, and it takes significantly longer which is why Wemby recently admitted he was about to pass out in the first quarter of the Clippers game.
The gravity tax also impacts his legs which pool blood, he has to be constantly moving because his leg muscles act as a secondary pump to make sure blood returns and if it doesn’t, there is less blood that gets sent to the brain. So it’s a whole system his body is trying to provide him, but it can’t do it in long spurts without getting dizzy.
So the more you actually attack him the worse he will be, I think teams avoiding him are doing him a favor. Attacking all players makes them tired, but there is a compounding effect with Wemby that I think teams will start to figure out.
He’s also never experienced the playoffs; they are more tiring than most players realize until they experience them firsthand.
Whatever this man says, I believe
Jaden doesn’t care, so much aura 🥶
I’m starting to like this guy. Every interview is a gold mine. lol
You see, Wemby has a preset block limit. Knowing his weakness, I sent wave after wave of my own men at him until he reached his limit and shut down.
And it is a good strategy.
Wemby isn’t used to doing so much effort he got what 12 blocks on something like 20 try? basically going for it every 2 min on the floors this must be exhausting and he is not used to it since they avoided him all season long
Sounds dumb but then again I wouldn’t have the Wolves with no Donte and an injured Ant getting out of the first round much less taking home court away from the Spurs. Bunch of dawgs up there in Minny.
idk about this from a basketball strategy perspective, but from an individual motivation/playoff energy perspective i love it
It’s worse when teams stop looking at the rim in the paint because they’re afraid of the shot block. Then your whole offense is compromised and the Spurs have already won. And you don’t keep Wemby honest if all he does is threaten to block instead of actually block. I get what they’re saying.
My beats are icky
For the square dance rap
He truly has Evil Kermit energy
Smashing Pumpkins. Mcdaniels knows what’s up.
So many teams scrap their entire playbook for fear of Wemby and I guess it really does kind of let him off the hook. He has the massive impact on defense without having to do literally anything other than exist
He’s Right don’t let San Antonio Deter you. Go at him over and over until Wemby can’t go anymore. Might not be the first couple of games but eventually he takes an elbow to the rib cage or a knee to the thigh contesting all these shots it’ll wear him down and deter him from wanting to contest.
Same Philoshphy in football if they can’t stop the run and you can at least get enough yards out of it that your moving the sticks eventually that great defense will wear down.
Wolves in 5
“Just go at him”
“Just keep doing it, duh”