LaMelo And Ant Already Look Like They Wanna Speed This Shit Up

The thing I wanted to see most was LaMelo and Ant together, and even in limited minutes you could already see why Minnesota might wanna play faster with those two. LaMelo had 11 points, four rebounds and three assists in under 17 minutes, Ant had 14 in about 18, and there were already little flashes of them getting into offense before the defense could really settle. Minnesota’s been talking about playing with more pace and getting out in transition more, and LaMelo naturally wants to push the ball anyway. I’m not taking one preseason game and saying that’s what they’re gonna look like for 82 games, but stylistically it makes sense. Joan Beringer was another one who caught my eye with 12 points and seven boards in about 15 minutes, while Ryan Rollins gave Milwaukee 15 in about 14. That’s exactly what preseason is for to me — not giving a fuck about the final score and figuring out who looks comfortable and what kind of basketball these teams might be trying to play.

And from the FanDuel side, Minnesota playing faster would matter for damn near everybody involved. More possessions means more opportunities for Ant points and threes, more LaMelo assists, more missed shots creating rebound chances, and just more counting stats in general. That doesn’t mean I’m blindly taking overs because “fast team = free money,” because if they turn the ball over or blow teams out, that can fuck you too. What I’m saying is if the regular-season version of Minnesota actually keeps pushing the tempo like this, I’m gonna be looking harder at LaMelo assist lines, Ant points/threes and even some rebound props around the bigs, because an extra handful of possessions over the course of a game can be the difference between a prop dying one short and actually cashing. That’s something I wanna keep tracking, not something I’m declaring after preseason.

IF THE PACE STICKS: more possessions = more prop opportunities.WHAT I’M TRACKING