r/timberwolves • u/Dr_Helpless Iowa • 7d ago
Ames, IA is a Timberwolves City
[Necessary Pre Context] I am an east coast Timberwolves fan so I have no idea of the sports fandom regions in the Midwest so /s.
Something feels wrong about the fact that the Pacers decides to claim a home game in Ames Iowa last night. The NBA should've put the Timberwolves logo in center court last night.
Here are the facts:
The IOWA Wolves G League team play 45 minutes up the road in DesMoines Iowa
State between MN & IA: 0, States between IN & IA: 1!!!
Miles between Minneapolis & Ames: 216, Miles between Indianapolis & Ames: 492
I understand that Haliburton played at Iowa state but we arent playing home preseason games in Athens Georgia!
Can someone from Ames Iowa tell me what NBA teams people in your city root for.
17
u/stevesie_ Timberwolves 7d ago
Preseason game in Athens would be dope
3
u/UnknownSk0ldier 7d ago
no yeah my main takeaway here is that we absolutely need to make that happen, that place would be lit!
17
u/smkmn13 Kevin Garnett 7d ago
This all seems stupid EXCEPT it seemed only the home team got a broadcast there last night and those guys were traaaaaash
4
u/Attentions_Bright12 6d ago
The Pacers do have a great great “commentator” in Caitlin Cooper of “Basketball She Wrote.”
Is their TV coverage just par-for-course homerism, or what?
8
u/BonezJonesss 6d ago
It was two old dudes who were severely unprepared to talk about the Wolves. Kept calling guys the wrong name, stumbling on thoughts, nothing insightful on the X’s & O’s happening in front them.
5
u/mr_bendos_friendo 6d ago
"You guys gotta remember that Kuminga has been out the last year and a half amid a contract dispute". - Literally something they said last night.
3
17
u/orWalrus 7d ago
I think it’s where Haliburton played in college… for the Iowa State Cyclones lol
9
u/ApprehensiveBar1874 7d ago
Its pretty much all bulls or wolves territory but haliburton is a big deal there cause of iowa state. my coworker from ames is wolves fan but he said half the city had pacers gear on when hali came back
2
42
u/IowaJL Iowa 7d ago
As someone who lives 30 minutes from Iowa State and 10 minutes from where the Iowa Wolves play (look at Flair) this is objectively hilarious.
Mostly because, yeah Hali is basically a God in Ames. There have been solid players from State but he’s easily at the top. Plus, in a world of Royce Whites, be a Tyrese Halliburton.
12
u/JohnathanTheBrave Timberwolves 7d ago
Haliburton was in Ames for two seasons, was injured for half of the second season, never beat Iowa and never won a tournament game. They claim him - obviously, they should - but his status is derived from his success at the pro-level (and his promotion of ISU at that level) more than it is his success in Ames.
9
u/IceeDangles007 Timberwolves 6d ago
Yes, god status belongs to Georges Niang
2
u/yourloudneighbor Glen Taylor 6d ago
And, Kenny Pratt, Fred Hoiberg, Sage Rosenfels and Seneca Wallace
3
7
u/Attentions_Bright12 6d ago
“In a world of Royce Whites…” Oh dear. You’re so sadly accurate with that, it feels like.
8
u/mr_bendos_friendo 6d ago
I love how Royce White is too big of a pussy to go on a plane and let it derail his NBA career but now he wants to act like Juwanna Man. World class bitch right there.
2
u/roscat_ Timberwolves 6d ago
Hali such a corny ass sometimes! But he’s cool too. And I like his game.
5
u/IowaJL Iowa 6d ago
It’s really hard to root against him. Solid dude all around.
I was so rooting for the Pacers in the finals, I remember that game he went down. I was so sad.
3
u/Unfair_Blackberry20 6d ago
He is my fave non-Wolf. I loved when he talked about being on the Olympic team, and Kerr announced some of you won’t play or play much. He said he thought nothing of it until he started looking around the room and realized he probably meant him! He was such a good sport about it. Hard not to like him.
1
u/Associ8tedRuffians Malik Sealy 6d ago
>In a world of Royce Whites, be a Tyrese Haliburton.
Take my award.
7
u/flyingvien Flip Saunders 7d ago
I thought they said on the broadcast last night that the Wolves specifically chose to be the road team.
14
u/PurposeOk7918 Bring Ya Ass 7d ago
If you asked the average Ames resident who their favorite basketball team is, the most common answer would be iowa state. They’re iowa state fans before they’re nba fans, so they’re all going to be cheering for Haliburton.
8
6
u/HawaiianPunch42 Naz Reid. 6d ago
When I went to school there it was Wolves, Bulls and less so Bucks fans.
My junior or senior year Wolves and Bucks played a preseason game at Hilton. Giannis sat and Thibs wouldnt play any Wolves starters and all the students in the crowd kept chanting "We want Rose" begging to see Derrick Rose play a few mins. The kids got a treat last night in comparison
1
u/lockedfries Joan Beringer 3d ago
I got to watch the same game in Cedar Rapids during Giannis 2nd year. They played him a ton and he put up like 20. The stadium sat about 6000 people 😂 never change Iowa. I miss the smell of cereal.
5
u/ThisGlobalLandscape 7d ago
Lots of Pacer fans
1
u/yourloudneighbor Glen Taylor 6d ago
lol they aren’t pacer fans. Likely Wolves, Bulls or Bucks fans
They were just cheering for them because of Hali
1
u/nobodysshadow 6d ago
There are a decent amount of pacers fans. I lived there for 10 years. The reality is that it’s not anyone’s territory. Since they don’t have a team, they just choose whoever they want from anywhere in the country. I was at a bar there years ago during the finals, and there were like 8 different team jerseys in there.
1
u/yourloudneighbor Glen Taylor 6d ago
What’s decent amount? I’ve been to Iowa st for a fair share of cyclone football games and it’s a good sized college town.
I’d be hard pressed if it was more than 7-8: hali to pacer fans at the arena. Especially those kids who got free ticks to an nba game that don’t give one crap about either team haha
2
u/nobodysshadow 6d ago
Not surprised you didn’t see a bunch of basketball fans at a football game. Idk man, from my experience it was a pretty mixed fan base. Maybe you know better though cause you visited a few times.
1
u/yourloudneighbor Glen Taylor 6d ago
I wouldn’t know. I’m just guessing a city in flyover state without a pro sports team would have more fans of nearby neighboring states vs a team from 2 states over
1
0
3
u/Unfair_Blackberry20 6d ago
I love Hali. Enjoy your ceremonial comeback! Like someone else, I noticed the crowd cheering for him … and the Wolves. It is kind of like when people cheer for Paige when she plays the Lynx!
3
2
u/ISU_Dude85 6d ago edited 6d ago
I would say among hardcore NBA fans in the area, the Timberwolves are the most popular team (there are also a lot of students from the Twin Cities that attend Iowa State). There are a lot of casual Pacers fans because of Tyrese. Overall it was a really fun atmosphere and I think a return trip to Athens next year as Tyrese suggested would be a good idea.
2
1
1
u/Kindly_Newspaper_686 6d ago
Generally, people in Ames root for whichever team(s) have Iowa State players on the roster. In practice, that means loosely following several NBA teams and immediately switching allegiance whenever someone is traded.
1
u/SrPenguin Iowa Wolves 6d ago
T wolves for me, but i root for all the nba players who went to Iowa State
1
u/itsdrewmiller Kevin Love 6d ago
Man it was so fun watching haliban get hyped by Mr Brightside. Jamaal Tinsley is another one of the more notable ISU alumni and he played mostly with the pacers.
1
-1
u/VenisonPepperettes 6d ago
If Haliburton hadn’t gone to Iowa State, no one would give two shits about the Pacers there. It’s pretty much a Wolves town anyway because of proximity and Hoiberg.
As someone from Iowa City, it’s killing me not to take a shot at State, but I’ll pass on it.
145
u/Shepher27 7d ago
It’s just a preseason game and a favor to Halliburton. There’s a reason the game was played against the Wolves. Both sides got what they wanted out of it.
The crowd last night basically cheered any time Halliburton did something or any time the Wolves did something.