Wolves vs Heat GTD: All eyes on KAT

[kekgeek]

Teague was the Mvp for sure. 23/5/11/6 steals. Huge game, especially late.

Please forgive me Rubio.

Of course, Rubio is lighting it up tonight against the Mavs!

Good for him. Both are good players and I think both are better off where they are at now compared to the opposite

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Future, Those long 2's are 13% of opponents' shots so far, which ranks us 5th in the league, meaning our defense gives up that shot the 5th most as a proportion of all other ranges measured. Again, this is a GOOD thing. There is no way teams will sustain 57% shooting from that range. We are doing a solid job running guys off the 3-point line, but yeah, lots of shots are happening at the rim. I'd argue most of that is poor transition defense.

Still early, so the sample size is screwy, but those crazy shooting numbers suggests to me that when we aren't getting burned in transition defense, our half court defense is generally yielding the right kind of shot. Teams are not going to keep shooting at that level.

[TheFuture]

I still am worried about our offense. Nothing comes easy for us. We are just lucky to have extremely talented offensive players. There is no creativity from Thibs on that end. Also, I cannot recall a single great screen that totally isolates the man being screened ala Adams (who does it all game). They are all half ass screens l. Its sad.

[kekgeek]

Wow, crazy game. Great win.

- We played like lazy dogs in the first quarter. Miami was simply out working us.

- I thought KAT's defense was solid this game. He still made a couple of poor decisions, but the effort was there and he made some nice plays.

- Waiters made both Wiggins and Butler look a little silly at times. That guy has blossomed into a kinda dangerous scorer in Miami.

- Wiggins' 4th quarter dunk....Wow. What I loved most about it is he went left!!!!

- KAT's made a couple of those really clutch corner 3s late in games.

- Butler is still feeling his way offensively.

- Teague was horrible in the first quarter and was part of our crappy start. Give him credit for coming up huge thereafter. He made some big plays late and sunk both free throws to put the game away for good in OT.

- I continue to be amazed at how teams shoot 2-point jumpers against us. I need to look up the stat, but it feels like we get killed by long and mid-range 2's. These are shots you want the other team to take, but jeebus, it feels like guys go nuts on us with those looks. The good news is we are doing a much better job defending the 3 these last couple of games. Miami and OKC both shot poorly from beyond the arc.

I haven't felt the same way about the 2 point jumpers. What drives me nuts is how we are a freeway to the rim in every game. Zero resistance. Again, everyone is still feeling each other out. At least we are gutting out wins. Warriors and Cabs aren't super impressive yet. I'm confident we will find our stride after 20 games.

Holy crap, I just looked up the stat! And this is before tonight's game. We are dead last in the NBA in opponent 2-pt % from 16 feet out to the arc (so long 2's). Teams are shooting 57% from this range against us! That is by far the worst in the NBA and simply unsustainable. This is actually a good thing!

Wow that is amazing. I didn't think the defense was that bad tonight even though the stats will say other wise

[TheFuture]

Future, Those long 2's are 13% of opponents' shots so far, which ranks us 5th in the league, meaning our defense gives up that shot the 5th most as a proportion of all other ranges measured. Again, this is a GOOD thing. There is no way teams will sustain 57% shooting from that range. We are doing a solid job running guys off the 3-point line, but yeah, lots of shots are happening at the rim. I'd argue most of that is poor transition defense.

Still early, so the sample size is screwy, but those crazy shooting numbers suggests to me that when we aren't getting burned in transition defense, our half court defense is generally yielding the right kind of shot. Teams are not going to keep shooting at that level.

Thanks. Maybe the blowouts aren't far away!

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Kek, that's what got me looking up the stat. My eyes were telling me tonight that the defense was playing well and giving up the right kind of shot attempts (contested 2's), but damn, it feels like we are always getting torched. I don't know what the stat was tonight, but up until this point teams have indeed gone nuts on long 2's and pretty good on mid-range 2's also.

[TheFuture]

Am really liking Jimmy as the star we received. He is deferring to KAT as the #1, realizing that Wiggins and teagues strengths are greatest on offense, and finding where he fits there. He is focusing on D and teaching. All while not showing any sign of frustration. He also doesn't bitch/whine constantly. Can't see this coming from a George, Anthony, Irving etc. Loving it.

[Coolbreeze44]

Just a couple observations:

- We simply don't run enough. You can't bang away in the half court 95% of the time when you have the athletes we have

- Taking a brief hiatus from commenting on Wiggins: Did you notice when Butler couldn't stop Waiters at the end of the game, Thibs switched Wig on to him for the OT and that was the end of that.

- Good teams win these kind of games, especially on the road, We still need to learn to lock up our home court, but I think we will get there. Another couple weeks and we should have a better idea of what we have

[kekgeek]

Just a couple observations:

- We simply don't run enough. You can't bang away in the half court 95% of the time when you have the athletes we have

- Taking a brief hiatus from commenting on Wiggins: Did you notice when Butler couldn't stop Waiters at the end of the game, Thibs switched Wig on to him for the OT and that was the end of that.

- Good teams win these kind of games, especially on the road, We still need to learn to lock up our home court, but I think we will get there. Another couple weeks and we should have a better idea of what we have

Yep Wig played very good for a guy who shot it bad. Also went 5/6 from the line.

Good overall game

[Lipoli390]

Just a couple observations:

- We simply don't run enough. You can't bang away in the half court 95% of the time when you have the athletes we have

- Taking a brief hiatus from commenting on Wiggins: Did you notice when Butler couldn't stop Waiters at the end of the game, Thibs switched Wig on to him for the OT and that was the end of that.

- Good teams win these kind of games, especially on the road, We still need to learn to lock up our home court, but I think we will get there. Another couple weeks and we should have a better idea of what we have

I had the same thought, Cool, that we're not running enough. I also can't stand the lack of movement, flow and screens in our half-court offense. In my view that's on Thibs.

Wig did a really nice job defensively in the OT. He's learning how to contribute when he's not scoring well. I love the emotion he showed after is monster 4th quarter dunk. We would have won in regulation if the obvious foul had been called when he drove and missed that layup near the end of regulation.

It's a work in progress, but winning these close road games is a good sign. Wednesday night's game in New Orleans will be tough. Winning that one would be huge. But no matter what happens Wednesday night, this team needs to win both home games next weekend.