We talk about the scuffle Draymond Green took too far, the Wolves' maturity, the Wild's woes on special teams, preview the Vikings/Broncos Sunday night game, and talk Minnesota 9-player football with Kingsland QB/DB Kaaleem Reiland and assistant coach/defensive coordinator Dan Lowe.
The Timberwolves are Good, and the Warriors Don’t Like It
An altercation broke out minutes into the game between Minnesota and Golden State, Tuesday night, with Jaden McDaniels and Klay Thompson mixing it up and Draymond Green predictably going too far in choking Rudy Gobert for trying to break it up. McDaniels, Thompson, and Green were all ejected. The antics took the Wolves out of their game, but they managed to make the big plays in the big moments to beat the scrappy, hot-shooting Warrior reserves led by Chris Paul.
What I saw was Golden State’s stars realizing they couldn’t beat the Timberwolves without Steph Curry and saying “if I can’t win, I don’t want to play,” and what I saw from the Wolves was maturity, especially given they were punching walls and each other at the end of last season.
Minnesota held Golden State to 26.8% shooting from three-point range on Sunday, where all of this angst started
Draymond Green tried to get into Anthony Edwards head and asked him “what are you gonna do about it?”
He scored 8 points in a little more than a minute immediately after
The Timberwolves remain the top defense in the NBA
Minnesota sat atop the West for a second after the back-to-back wins at Golden State
They enter Wednesday night’s game in Phoenix a half game back of Denver
Can the Vikings, Dobbs Prove It in Primetime Against Denver?
The NFL changed its social media accounts from celebrating Taylor Swift to celebrating the Pastronaut, Josh Dobbs, entering a primetime matchup between Minnesota and Denver on Sunday night.
Denver seems to have fixed its defense since allowing 70 points to Miami
They can be run on, however, and the Vikings seem to have found their running game in their new quarterback
Justin Jefferson could return
Anthony Barr was signed to the practice squad after Jordan Hicks had emergency surgery on his right leg
Hicks will be out at least four weeks
Spurgeon Returns, Wild Allow 8 Goals; What’s Wrong?
Minnesota’s special teams were a mess against Dallas, Sunday. The penalty kill didn’t kill much, and their power play allowed more goals than it scored.
The Wild set a new record for the most power-play goals allowed in an NHL game, with the Stars scoring five on six chances.
Wild defense has been horrible–they’ve allowed 64 goals, the 2nd most over their first 15 games.
Minnesota also allowed two short-handed goals and scored just once on the power play.
Just one goal scored on Marc-Andre Fleury was at even strength.
The return of Spurgeon should improve special teams, but will it improve enough?
The Wild have killed just 63.5% of power plays, which is the worst rate in hockey.
They’re also in the bottom third in power play percentage (17.5), and they take the eighth-most penalties (69).
Minnesota Amateur Athletes of the Week
Bronze: Carmen Shimek distributed 33 of Anoka’s assists to six different teammates in a 3-0 win over Stillwater for third place in Class 4A volleyball. She had 55 assists and 25 digs in the quarterfinal match, a 3-2 victory over Eagan three days prior.
Silver: Tanner Stech scored all 18 points for Mahnomen/Waubun in a shutout of Parkers Prairie to advance his team to the Class A semifinals. He had two touchdown catches, a two-point conversion, kicked a PAT, and hit a 22-yard field goal.
Gold: Kingsland sophomore quarterback and defensive back Kaaleem Reiland made big plays on both sides of the ball to beat Hills-Beaver Creek, 26-14, advancing the Knights to the 9-player semifinals at U.S. Bank Stadium on Nov. 16. [Kingsland High School is located in Spring Valley, MN (south of Rochester–damn near in Iowa)]
He completed nine of 14 passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns, led Kingsland in rushing with 70 yards on 11 carries, and had two interceptions and five solo tackles on defense.
What part of your performance are you most proud of: your passing, your rushing, your picks, or your tackles, and why?
[For Coach Lowe] We should give some credit to Kingsland assistant coach and defensive coordinator, Dan Lowe, for scheming a defense that allowed just 14 points, eight of which came after the game was well in-hand. Coach, what was your game plan and how well did your players execute it?
What is required of defensive backs in the 9-player version of the game that isn’t so much with 11 players on the field, and how does that affect how you coach them?
[Brad] Who do you model your game after, Kaaleem? Are you a Josh Dobbs fan?
[Mike] There’s less than 150 students in your high school, yet you get to play on the same field as the Vikings. How cool is that and what do you expect from that environment?
Kingsland Knights 2023 record: Overall 12-0; Conference 8-0. Points For: 586 / Points Allowed 191. https://www.maxpreps.com/mn/spring-valley/kingsland-knights/football/
Tickets for each day of the Minnesota High School Football semifinals at U.S. Bank Stadium are available at Ticketmaster for $16, before fees. That gets you into all four games on Thursday, or all five games on either Friday or Saturday. The Knights kickoff the semifinal round at 10:30 Thursday morning against the Fertile-Beltrami Falcons who went 13-0 this year. You can stream the games at nspn.tv/MSHSL.
Rules of 9-man football: The rules require that the offense align four players in the backfield and five on the line of scrimmage. A standard I formation has a quarterback, a fullback, a tailback, and five linemen. Usually, the outside linemen are a tight end and a wide receiver, but the alignment varies by formation. The fourth player in the offensive backfield often plays as an additional wide receiver or tight end.
A common defensive formation is the 3-3-3, with three defensive linemen, three linebackers, and two defensive backs with one safety.
The Timberwolves are Good, and the Warriors Don’t Like It