Hop on the Hope Train! (Clippers vs. Wolves GT)

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

How many shooting fouls are the Clippers going to get here? Ticky tack nonsense. Swallow the whistle.

[Jester1534]

Nowell just turn his hips so much to let people go right on by

[Q-is-here]

Clippers just hanging around. Get 1 more run

Thank God for Jaden here. Making those two 3s and now getting to the line.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Beautiful play call. Beautiful lob. Beautiful finish. This one has been mostly fun.

[Q-is-here]

Gobert, Anderson, DLO, and McDaniels for the win. Those four guys played great ball tonight.

[WallyBall]

Gobert! Just when I thought you were still in France, you come out like a boss! I mean who cares that George and Leonard weren't on the floor!

[FNG]

An 8pm start, and the booze was flowing and the joint was rocking ...what a great time at Target Center last night. The change in this team since the players only meeting convinced me that they were watchable again, and I coughed up for a 3-game package. I'm glad I did! Sure, the Clips were missing their two best players, but they are incredibly deep, and we were missing KAT, JMac, and for most of the game, Ant and Naz. And this one was never in doubt. A few comments:

Gobert: What can you say? An efficient 25-21 with great defense...he is a true force out there. One thing I haven't appreciated watching him on TV is how well he runs the court. Often, he is is one of the first guys down the court on both offense and defense. He gets down the court so quickly with those long strides. Plus 31 is pretty good, isn't it?

Anderson as PG: SloMo was our other +31 guy last night, and it's easy to see why. He is a human basketball instruction manual. It's so much fun to watch him directing the offense...he's very Luka-like (okay, Luka-light) as he controls the ball and surveys the court, and he almost always seems to make the correct decision. When the ball is in his hands, I'm always confident something good is going to happen. Oh, and despite not being the most athletic guy on the team, he plays textbook defense too. We don't have to worry about this yet, but I'm still concerned about how we are going to look when KAT returns, and we (most likely) no longer have SloMo controlling the offensive flow.

Jaden: He's my gal's favorite player, and it's easy to see why. It's freakish to see a guy that tall move so well, and he has shown he can defend anyone except the most physical centers. I thought it was odd to have him guarding either Jackson or Wall (I would have probably had him on Powell), but he has no problem defending a quick PG. And the emergence of his effective 3-point shooting has turned him into a 2-way player too...he's now 38.4% on threes for the season and 42.9% his last 10!

Ball movement: I know some of us would like to see more pick and roll, but it's also been gratifying to see them moving the ball around the perimeter and making the extra pass in the three games since the players only meeting. Finchie has been asking for it all season, and they're finally getting it. They had fewer than 20 assists in the 2 or 3 losses before the meeting, and they are have been in the high 20s since the meeting. Much more fun to watch, and more effective too. Funny how the extra pass can lead to wide open threes...we've seen it against us all season, and now we're doing it to our opponents.

Jaylen and DLo defense: both get ripped here and for good reason at times...neither has been very effective on defense this season. But I have seen a vast improvement in both recently...Jaylen for over a week, and DLo with a huge improvement since being called out in the player's meeting. Both worked hard on defense last night and were reasonably effective. And by the way, there's been a change in the former No-pass Jaylen on offense too...6 assists last night with some nifty passes. These two guys (along with Ant) are our two best shot creators, but we also know they are going to be inconsistent with their shot...only 2 for 7 on threes last night. But if they both lock in on defense like they have recently, it's going to be really good for this team.

So now, on to Houston...probably without Ant. If we play like we did last night, we won't need him. But still, hurry back Ant.

[Q-is-here]

Glad you could watch a good game FNG with a good crowd.

If Ant is out for a game or two, expect a heavy dose of pick and roll between DLO and Gobert and Anderson and Gobert. They were cashing in on that action big time last night.

[FNG]

Glad you could watch a good game FNG with a good crowd.

If Ant is out for a game or two, expect a heavy dose of pick and roll between DLO and Gobert and Anderson and Gobert. They were cashing in on that action big time last night.

That would be good to see, Q. Houston has lost 6 in a row and all but one by double digits, so we should prevail in that one even without Ant. Detroit though seems to be improving with 3 wins in their last 6, so it's good to hear Ant say he expects to be back by then. I guess it depends on whether this is merely a bone bruise (painful, but something that you can play through) or something he pulled in his fall. If it's the latter, we may have to worry about him missing a few games. It's an odd injury. I didn't like it when he grabbed his hip right after the opening tip in the Portland game, but he was able to play through it very nicely.

It was loud last night! My gal had her earplugs in, and she usually only uses them at Vikings games. There's a lot of pent-up enthusiasm for this team...they just need to show us we can believe in them.

[Q-is-here]

Glad you could watch a good game FNG with a good crowd.

If Ant is out for a game or two, expect a heavy dose of pick and roll between DLO and Gobert and Anderson and Gobert. They were cashing in on that action big time last night.

That would be good to see, Q. Houston has lost 6 in a row and all but one by double digits, so we should prevail in that one even without Ant. Detroit though seems to be improving with 3 wins in their last 6, so it's good to hear Ant say he expects to be back by then. I guess it depends on whether this is merely a bone bruise (painful, but something that you can play through) or something he pulled in his fall. If it's the latter, we may have to worry about him missing a few games. It's an odd injury. I didn't like it when he grabbed his hip right after the opening tip in the Portland game, but he was able to play through it very nicely.

It was loud last night! My gal had her earplugs in, and she usually only uses them at Vikings games. There's a lot of pent-up enthusiasm for this team...they just need to show us we can believe in them.

Seems like the vets are starting to assert themselves more, which is good to see with Naz and Ant hobbled and never quite knowing what we'll get from Nowell. They really need to stay locked in as we still have plenty of digging to do to get out of this hole.

My hope is that, with the exception of the occasional bump and bruise that costs someone a game or two, we gradually get healthy as a squad just as others start encountering more injuries! Wishful thinking, but we need a little lady luck on our side. Not having to face Leonard and George was a good start!