The Mike Conley Mega Max: The Play to Take Tonight in Timberwolves/Nuggets
Jovan gives his 5u max play for Wolves/Nuggets Game 6 tonight.
Jovan
CFB + MLB
The Wolves tonight are once again short on offensive options. Of course this is effectively the 3rd game, but the 2nd full game with Anthony Edwards and Donte Divincenzo being out. And while we don’t know how serious it may be, Ayo Dosunmu and Bones Hyland who combined for 33 points in Game 5 have now shown up on the injury report.
Everyone is realistically playing somewhat hurt at this point in the season but as far as injury reports are concerned, the healthy guards in the rotation for Minnesota right now are Mike Conley and Terrence Shannon. Without Ant and Donte the shooting options for the Wolves are limited. Randle and McDaniels are capable shooters but not exactly willing. Ayo has been great but is now getting superstar defensive coverages. Naz Reid can stretch the floor fine but is dealing with a shoulder injury. And the duo of Hyland and Shannon can get hot at any time but are a little too inconsistent to rely on.
All this to say the offense struggled a lot with Mike Conley on the floor in Game 5 because he wasn’t aggressive enough. He’s obviously far from a scorer at this point in his career but he has to look to score at some point in this matchup. The answer for the Wolves can’t be playing essentially 3v5 offensively with Conley and Gobert on the floor. Conley is smart enough as a veteran to know that and I expect the adjustment to be made early on.
He won’t put up 15 shots or anything near, but him being aggressive taking open looks that the Nuggets give him will open up the floor for the guys like Randle and McDaniels who would much rather prefer getting to the rim. The Wolves also did not utilize enough of his decision-making as a passer last game, partially because they couldn’t afford to give him minutes in the 2H. With the injury situation tonight they may not have a choice. But I do think regardless of that, he won’t be this black cloud offensively similar to how teams treat Dyson Daniels. He is the key to opening it up tonight. The 9.5s are starting to get juicy everywhere and will likely get bumped. No number is too high for me if you wait until late to get involved.
