WildWolf2813 wrote:Conley was bad at everything tonight.
Conley (and especially Finch) cost this team.
with 8 seconds to go, there's no point in Conley being there if you need a shot and he damn sure wasn't gonna direct traffic.
Who do you replace him with. Bench was trash
the bench was trash, but if you're looking for one shot, have this lineup out there
Anderson/Edwards/NAW/McDaniels/Gobert
same way Finch put in a cold Reid and he wound up making a lucky 3. In this case we needed someone to drive. There was a lid on the hoop seemingly every time Conley shot. Not that I wanted the last shot to be a corner three, but get to the hoop and don't start so far back.
Conley offered zero resistance to Dinwiddie the entire 2nd half/OT.
February 16 - Timberwolves up all game, including up 11 going into the 4th against the middling Washington Wizards. They're outscored 38 - 19 in the 4th. Mike Conley doesn't score (0 - 6 fg).
February 24 - Wolves tied at 109 with the shit-tastic Charlotte Hornets. Get outscored 12 - 4 rest of the way. Mike Conley doesn't score in the 4th quarter.
March 7 - 76ers come in on back end of a back-to-back. Mike Conley shoots 1 - 6 fg.
March 8 - Nets come in on back end of a back-to-back. Mike Conley shoots 3 - 13 fg.
That's 4 BAD LOSSES in a row at home. And the new PG has shot 10 - 38 fg (26.3%) in them... and has one basket in the 4th quarter in all of them combined.
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If we want to count road losses... Mike Conley didn't score in the 4th quarter vs. GSW in a bad loss after having a late lead.
Mike Conley is shooting 1 - 14 fg in the 4th Q or OT of the team's last five losses.
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I do not like D. Russell. I know the Wolves had to do something or risk losing him for nothing this summer. But Mike Conley has been a huge disappointment this season any way you want to slice it. He's playing horrible on offense.
It's a problem.
This team needs Towns back. Now.
[Note: D. Russell made 5 buckets in a 4th quarter comeback tonight... including 4 three pointers.]
We shouldn't overthink this loss. It's not about the plays drawn up by Finch or Ant's hero ball. This loss was all about poor bench play and our PG's inability to score (I'm given Conley as pass on his poor defense last night). We could have used DLO's 28 points and 9 assists he had last night.
Abe referred to Conley as a "huge disappointment" this season. I wouldn't argue that point. I'll just say I can't be terribly disappointed in him since I didn't expect much from him. He's been about what I thought he'd be. The Wolves front office obviously decided they didn't want to re-sign DLO. I have no doubt DLO's return was totally up to the Wolves. DLO liked it here playing with one of his best friends. So it was just a matter of money. DLO wasn't going to command a max salary and Wolves with Bird rights could have matched any offer. I'm fine with the Wolves decision to move on from DLO and make a deal to preserve his salary slot. I just think Conley was a poor choice to replace him based on his age and offensive production. I still like NAW, but his performance last night was a reminder of why he's been a marginal NBA player with FG percentage under 40% in his 4 NBA seasons. And it's not just the percentage, it's an ugly looking shot. We'll see where things go with him. I also still like that we got three second-round picks. So I can't say I hate the DLO-Conley deal. But it was a deal that was bound to hurt us in the short run - i.e., this season. We have no way of knowing what other possible deals might have been out there. Could the Wolves have acquired Fultz and Harris for DLO? Who knows.
Bottom line is that this Wolves team is a .500 team at best. That's what we are. The important question is this: What will this Wolves team be next season and the season after that?
Fun game and mostly well-played by two very good teams, but ultimately a difficult loss to swallow. I hope the Brooklyn fans are embracing the two big trades, because they are much more fun to watch now...and arguably better. Din-Whiner is one of my least favorite personalities in the league, but he was really good tonight (at least on offense...I've always hated his defense). In contrast Bridges has always been one of my favorite players in the Association, and he was brilliant as usual tonight...I see him as a Kawhi Leonard clone.
You can't ignore Abe's points about the Wolves in their last 4 home games and Conley's role in them, but I'm laying this loss on free throws, Reid defense, and poor 3-point shooting. It's tough to beat a good team when you miss 11 out of 29 free throws. We don't expect Rudy to be good from the line, but his 2-6 is inexcusable. And I think Jaden's 3 for 7 was even more of a killer for us...he's a 72% career free thrower, and he hurt us tonight.
But despite Naz's clutch three (and Finchie's smart move of putting him in and calling that play), he was nothing short of terrible tonight. Take away the big shot, and he was a horrible -9 in his 11 minutes. I haven't read the GDT, but I hope kekgeek did his service to the board by pointing out how big the Nets' eyes got every time Rudy went to the bench, and how easy it was to score on us in those minutes.
Nets made 16 3-point shots, and we made 9. Even though we again dominated in the paint, it's difficult to win with a 21-point deficit beyond the arc. NAW has been terrific since we picked him up, and I again appreciated his hustling defense, but I've been saying that his shooting form is odd, and that he looks like a low 30% 3-point shooter to me. I didn't want him hunting 3's tonight but he did, and his 1 for 6 neither surprised me nor helped us. And speaking of 1 for 6's, Mike Conley's misses really killed us tonight...he's been a 36% 3-point shooter since he joined us (the same as he was with Utah) and a 38% career 3-point shooter, so we simply can't have him going 1 for 6...he needs to be better.
We're 1-3 in overtime games this year, and the two that hurt most are this one and the Sacramento loss, because the opposing center had fouled out in both games. These were two of the most entertaining games of the year, but that 0-2 is really going to hurt our playoff position.
2 guys scored a combined 63 points on the wolves and it's not a big surprise. Dinwiddie was a guy after a few years in the league anyone could have signed and ended up becoming a pretty good perimeter player. Bridges was never supposed to be more than an elite role player and is now a very good offensive player.
The Wolves couldn't get a bucket at times in the 2nd half. Missing some FTs a bad TO or dumb fouls were some things that also kept them from winning this game.
Gobert was absolutely fantastic in this game.
Looking back at the box score McLaughlin only played 9 minutes? That's kinda weird.
monsterpile wrote:2 guys scored a combined 63 points on the wolves and it's not a big surprise. Dinwiddie was a guy after a few years in the league anyone could have signed and ended up becoming a pretty good perimeter player. Bridges was never supposed to be more than an elite role player and is now a very good offensive player.
The Wolves couldn't get a bucket at times in the 2nd half. Missing some FTs a bad TO or dumb fouls were some things that also kept them from winning this game.
Gobert was absolutely fantastic in this game.
Looking back at the box score McLaughlin only played 9 minutes? That's kinda weird.
All good points, Monster. And your comment about JMac's minutes reminded me of something I forgot to mention in my post above.
I blamed Finchie for the 15-2 run the 76ers went on when he inexplicably subbed Rivers into the game (are the reports true that Doc sent a bottle of Dom Perignon to Finchie's apartment after the game?), and he also deserves a lot of blame for subbing NAW in for JMac with 2:36 left in the 3rd period of an 84-83 game. The only explanation I can accept is that JMac was hurt and Conley wasn't ready to come back in, because NAW is NOT a PG. The next 2:36 was almost as much of a disaster as the Rivers minutes, as the quarter ended with the Nets up 9. Without those disastrous 2 1/2 minutes, we don't need the stirring 4th quarter comeback to win this game. Even if JMac is hurt (and I suspect he is, because he didn't play in the 4th quarter), Finchie needs to put Conley back in, rather than experimenting with NAW at PG at such a critical juncture.
I suspect that NOBODY here wanted Finchie to put in Rivers against the Sixers, and NOBODY wanted to see NAW running the point with two capable PGs on the bench. The 21 points the Wolves lost in those critical 5 minutes of two games were a major factor in both losses, and are clearly on Finchie...we have enough depth now to keep Rivers on the bench, and NAW should never play PG.
I think we're 2-0 rather than 0-2 without these 2 coaching blunders...I need much more from Chris Finch with playoffs on the precipice.
FNG wrote:Fun game and mostly well-played by two very good teams...
This is objectively false. Sorry to nitpick, you wrote other good stuff in that post.
I wanted to devote an entire post to Mike Conley and let it sit there... because it's been a glaring problem. But the free throws are indeed an issue. The Wolves were 5 - 11 in the 4th quarter and OT. It's cost the Timberwolves multiple games recently. They went 11 - 21 vs. GSW as they blew the game late. And they're shooting only 70% since the ASB.
As for Dinwiddie... and Bridges... the Nets had two guys who could get a bucket when they needed it. The Timberwolves only have one player who can create his own shot. That's HUGE. The Nets could overload their defense to double Edwards and make him force things. The Nets could take turns with their two guys. This is a pattern in recent games.
The bench was terrible. (I think Reid and Prince were especially bad.)
FNG wrote:Fun game and mostly well-played by two very good teams...
This is objectively false. Sorry to nitpick, you wrote other good stuff in that post.
I wanted to devote an entire post to Mike Conley and let it sit there... because it's been a glaring problem. But the free throws are indeed an issue. The Wolves were 5 - 11 in the 4th quarter and OT. It's cost the Timberwolves multiple games recently. They went 11 - 21 vs. GSW as they blew the game late. And they're shooting only 70% since the ASB.
As for Dinwiddie... and Bridges... the Nets had two guys who could get a bucket when they needed it. The Timberwolves only have one player who can create his own shot. That's HUGE. The Nets could overload their defense to double Edwards and make him force things. The Nets could take turns with their two guys. This is a pattern in recent games.
The bench was terrible. (I think Reid and Prince were especially bad.)
Fair nitpick, Abe. To me though, they looked like two very good teams that will not be sought-after opponents in the playoffs. One of the more entertaining games of the season. Both teams moved the ball well and really got after it on defense, and had players (2 for them and only Ant for us) that seemingly couldn't be stopped even with good defense. Good teams IMO, but Brooklyn is better right now...we'll have to see if the return of KAT changes that equation.
