Blazers v Wolves

[kekgeek]

Wolves improve to 25-19 when both Dlo and Kat play in 3 or more quarters lifetime

[FNG]

Great bounce back win after 3 blow-out losses at home. I had this one in the win column in our December/January wins projection thread, but only because I assumed Lillard would be out. Beating Portland on their court with Dame playing is huge.

With DLo and Vando playing the best games I've seen either of them play, it might be a surprise that I give the game ball to PatBev. His defense is always good, but what he did in the 4th quarter to Lillard was criminal...he was in his shorts the entire quarter!

While we got an important road win and our defense looked revived again, I have serious concerns about our offense (some of you commented on this in the GDT). Way too much one-on-one for my taste, and way too little flow. I'm so tired of Ant, KAT and Dlo getting the ball and leaning in and out for 5-10 seconds before jacking up a shot. We can still win games with this ISO strategy, but it's all dependent on making big shots. DLo did it tonight, but I think most of us know it's not sustainable. There's a lot of offensive talent on this roster, but it's not going to be fully utilized if we can't develop some reasonable flow.

Best post-game moment: Ant complaining about Anfernee Simons using the nickname Ant. "He spells his name (checks the box score) A-n-f...how does he get Ant out of that!" Ant is much more fun after wins!

[AbeVigodaLive]

Abe's late night DVR review:

"Z-Z-Z"

I fell asleep at halftime with Towns at 18/10 and 6 - 10 fg? I awoke with a few minutes minutes left in the game... and see that Towns finished 23/10 and 7 - 17 fg?

What happened? I know most of the 4th quarter was a bunch of iso actions with Russell and Edwards with Towns missing a couple of open threes. But was that the entire second half?

[thedoper]

Abe's late night DVR review:

"Z-Z-Z"

I fell asleep at halftime with Towns at 18/10 and 6 - 10 fg? I awoke with a few minutes minutes left in the game... and see that Towns finished 23/10 and 7 - 17 fg?

What happened? I know most of the 4th quarter was a bunch of iso actions with Russell and Edwards with Towns missing a couple of open threes. But was that the entire second half?

Towns took two dumb fouls that took him out of the game and out of his rhythm from what I could tell. His first half was one of the best I've seen from him.

[rapsuperstar31]

Wolves improve to 25-19 when both Dlo and Kat play in 3 or more quarters lifetime

It's pretty sad that DLO and Kat have only played in 3 or more quarters together 44 times in since trading for DLO. Health is everything for this team, if we stay healthy we can finish in that 4-8 seed if we can't stay healthy we may not make the playoffs.

[FNG]

Abe's late night DVR review:

"Z-Z-Z"

I fell asleep at halftime with Towns at 18/10 and 6 - 10 fg? I awoke with a few minutes minutes left in the game... and see that Towns finished 23/10 and 7 - 17 fg?

What happened? I know most of the 4th quarter was a bunch of iso actions with Russell and Edwards with Towns missing a couple of open threes. But was that the entire second half?

Towns took two dumb fouls that took him out of the game and out of his rhythm from what I could tell. His first half was one of the best I've seen from him.

Yeah, terrific first half by KAT...night and day from his disinterested performance against the Cavs. One thing I didn't like though was the return of turnover KAT...five is too many.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Abe's late night DVR review:

"Z-Z-Z"

I fell asleep at halftime with Towns at 18/10 and 6 - 10 fg? I awoke with a few minutes minutes left in the game... and see that Towns finished 23/10 and 7 - 17 fg?

What happened? I know most of the 4th quarter was a bunch of iso actions with Russell and Edwards with Towns missing a couple of open threes. But was that the entire second half?

Towns took two dumb fouls that took him out of the game and out of his rhythm from what I could tell. His first half was one of the best I've seen from him.

Oh, so something we've seen countless times before? And I assume at least one was an offensive foul?

[KiwiMatt]

DLO won us that game. Two clutch 3 pointers after being down 4 that gave us the lead and never gave it up there after.

Now if he can sort his shooting out quarters 1 to 3 we will be a significantly better team.

[thedoper]

DLO won us that game. Two clutch 3 pointers after being down 4 that gave us the lead and never gave it up there after.

Now if he can sort his shooting out quarters 1 to 3 we will be a significantly better team.

Big steal and altering a lot of shots in the final 3 mins too. He was great.

[FNG]

DLO won us that game. Two clutch 3 pointers after being down 4 that gave us the lead and never gave it up there after.

Now if he can sort his shooting out quarters 1 to 3 we will be a significantly better team.

Big steal and altering a lot of shots in the final 3 mins too. He was great.

Agree...the big difference in DLo this season is his instincts in the passing lanes. It was fun to watch him sniff out that pass before his big steal. He has a nice wingspan, but wingspan doesn't help much if you either don't have the instinct or interest in off-ball defense. And this year for the first time DLo is playing some terrific help defense. As a long-time Wolves fan interested more in what happens long-term than what happens this season, I want to know why his defense has improved so much this year...has the lightbulb finally gone on and we can expect this from him for several years, or is this another contract year spurt? The answer to that is vital to the future of this franchise.