Wolves vs Thunder GDT: will we play up/down to our competition again?

[thedoper]

Wiggins had a rough game for the first 3 quarters but played great man D against George in the 4th and made a big 3 when it counted. George was on fire until the 4th and Wiggins dug in. Great team win. Positives to go around.

[kekgeek]

Wow, Jimmy Butler. That travel was unfortunate, but the guy made repeated clutch plays in the 4th, making something out of nothing several times. So that's what it's like to have an All-Star!

I was happy with some hustle plays from Wiggins tonight too. He still has lapses defensively, but seeing him dive on the floor for a ball was great tonight. Need to keep seeing that.

Watching Butler and Gibson play D is fun. Those two moved on a string perfectly a few times when OKC swung the ball tonight. We need to get everybody doing that.

KAT was still letting Adams get great position down low and get rebounds he shouldn't have gotten, but it's tough to argue with the overall stats. I'm not sure I've ever been disappointed in a guy putting up such big numbers for us, but it's just so frustrating seeing him get pushed around and just be oblivious to how to box out or get post position down low.

Lol. I'll have a game report later. But let's take a step back. You don't get 19 rebounds without boxing out -- a lot. Adams is a huge load down low. And he's a really good player. So there will be times when KAT or anyone else gets pushed around by him. Praising Wiggins for hustle plays is all well and good. But KAT had twice the hustle plays, including hustling to block 4 shots. The negativity some are directing towards KAT is laughable. He and Butler were the two stars for the Wolves tonight. Teague and Taj played nice supporting roles while Wiggins had one of his better games defensively and hustling, but hit only 33% of his shots. KAT was spectacular as was Butler. That's the reality of tonight's game.

I think some of it is, in the heat of the moment we get caught up in some little things, and blame a player we don't think has played well this season (like Kat or Wig) and every little thing they do wrong we magnify it. I have a big problem with doing that during the game on the thread. (ala me saying bench Kat, when Adams beat him down the court off a made basket).

I thought he played excellent defense in the 4th quarter though and we take for granted his production sometimes on the offensive end (top 2 offensive big man in the NBA).

I think we are so hungry for a winner here, that we struggle taking a step back and seeing what actually is happening in the game.

Overall best Kat game of the year, and I hope he builds off his 4th quarter defense.

Also Damn Jimmy is damn good.

[Duke13]

Believe me I'd love to get on here and praise him. He got picked so easily tonight also. Ended up passively trailing George when he screened.

And Lip, Kat played well tonight but most metrics have him last or second to last defensively, so there is room for criticism.

[BloopOracle]

Towns did a MUCH better job on the boards this game but Steven Adams still put up 20 has had his two highest scoring games of the season against Towns, almost matching his career high of 24 in a game. Still many big defensive lapses by Karl this game that gave up easy buckets to Adams but at least he was putting for an effort this time on the glass.

[kekgeek]

Believe me I'd love to get on here and praise him. He got picked so easily tonight also. Ended up passively trailing George when he screened.

And Lip, Kat played well tonight but most metrics have him last or second to last defensively, so there is room for criticism.

For being picked so easily, he had 1 Turnover. Was it Wiggins best game of his career, of course not. But he was solid and made plays to help the team win. He had a contested Rebound late in the game, hit 2 4th quarter 3s. 2 steals and 2 blks. Held George to zero 4th quarter points

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Wow, Jimmy Butler. That travel was unfortunate, but the guy made repeated clutch plays in the 4th, making something out of nothing several times. So that's what it's like to have an All-Star!

I was happy with some hustle plays from Wiggins tonight too. He still has lapses defensively, but seeing him dive on the floor for a ball was great tonight. Need to keep seeing that.

Watching Butler and Gibson play D is fun. Those two moved on a string perfectly a few times when OKC swung the ball tonight. We need to get everybody doing that.

KAT was still letting Adams get great position down low and get rebounds he shouldn't have gotten, but it's tough to argue with the overall stats. I'm not sure I've ever been disappointed in a guy putting up such big numbers for us, but it's just so frustrating seeing him get pushed around and just be oblivious to how to box out or get post position down low.

Lol. I'll have a game report later. But let's take a step back. You don't get 19 rebounds without boxing out -- a lot. Adams is a huge load down low. And he's a really good player. So there will be times when KAT or anyone else gets pushed around by him. Praising Wiggins for hustle plays is all well and good. But KAT had twice the hustle plays, including hustling to block 4 shots. The negativity some are directing towards KAT is laughable. He and Butler were the two stars for the Wolves tonight. Teague and Taj played nice supporting roles while Wiggins had one of his better games defensively and hustling, but hit only 33% of his shots. KAT was spectacular as was Butler. That's the reality of tonight's game.

Wiggins has set the bar so low for hustle plays, I gotta be happy when he hits the deck for a loose ball!

My criticism of KAT comes mostly from what I know he's capable of. I can't speak for the criticism others have laid on him. His stats were through the roof tonight as I wrote and Adams is a really good player, but watching the game, there were still too many plays for my taste defensively where KAT went for the block and gave up an easy rebound to Adams, failed to hustle down the floor and gave up post position to Adams, or just plain got pushed around in the paint. KAT's length and talent obviously help him make up for it. At the end of the day, I love KAT (although he's starting to whine a little too much for my taste), and my main point if/when he corrects these bad defensive habits he'll be a real monster.

EDIT: Also, I don't want to get myself distracted from my main point, which was that Jimmy Butler put on a cape tonight and played hero. As big as KAT was statistically, in my opinion it was Butler who was making things happen repeatedly on both ends down the stretch, defending on the ball, securing the loose ball, and making plays for himself and for others. That's what we've lacked for so long. A guy who can make things happen with the ball in his hands, put it on the deck and score or making scoring opportunities for others. Just totally clutch. I do think as an offense, we rely on isolation plays too much and I want to see more ball movement, but when we need a guy to just make something happen, I really have a lot of faith in Butler.

[Lipoli390]

Wiggins had a rough game for the first 3 quarters but played great man D against George in the 4th and made a big 3 when it counted. George was on fire until the 4th and Wiggins dug in. Great team win. Positives to go around.

Yes to all your points. Wiggins wasn't hitting his shots or rebounding much and his loose handle hurt him a couple times. But he stepped up in other areas with hustle plays and some excellent defense in the 4th. I loved when he dove for a loose ball in the first half. So he was hustling most of the game. This was great team win with KAT and Butler leading the way. Butler simply makes everyone else better on both ends. I think his impact is even greater on the offensive end.

[thedoper]

Wiggins had a rough game for the first 3 quarters but played great man D against George in the 4th and made a big 3 when it counted. George was on fire until the 4th and Wiggins dug in. Great team win. Positives to go around.

Yes to all your points. Wiggins wasn't hitting his shots or rebounding much and his loose handle hurt him a couple times. But he stepped up in other areas with hustle plays and some excellent defense in the 4th. I loved when he dove for a loose ball in the first half. So he was hustling most of the game. This was great team win with KAT and Butler leading the way. Butler simply makes everyone else better on both ends. I think his impact is even greater on the offensive end.

I agree. Butler and Wiggins are already looking for eachother. Their two man game is only going to grow. It's hard not to have positive things to say about tonight. All the starters had key points of contribution. Teague has some crafty handles and is a unique finisher. Taj is tough. I am really liking this team when we're full strength.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

It's not laughable to criticize a guy who let his man go 8/8 for 20 points at one point in the game. 4 blocks doesn't cover that up. 33 points is great. Doesn't look as great when you give 20 of them back to a guy who would normally be scoring 10-12. KAT deserves credit for stepping up in the 4th quarter, but it makes you realize how much easier these games would be if he could do that for 4 quarters. The more times his defense is completely absolved because of his offense, the less likely he'll care to fix it.

[Lipoli390]

It's not laughable to criticize a guy who let his man go 8/8 for 20 points at one point in the game. 4 blocks doesn't cover that up. 33 points is great. Doesn't look as great when you give 20 of them back to a guy who would normally be scoring 10-12. KAT deserves credit for stepping up in the 4th quarter, but it makes you realize how much easier these games would be if he could do that for 4 quarters. The more times his defense is completely absolved because of his offense, the less likely he'll care to fix it.

It's OK to criticize a player, even if he has a great night. But the level of negativity did make me laugh -- hence it was laughable to me. KAT's 33 points, 19 rebounds, 4 blocks and a +17 for the night (highest among the Wolves players) makes the level of criticism aimed at KAT last night look silly to me. I got a special kick out of Drew's post at the end of the game about KAT being oblivious about how to box out and giving Adams too many rebounds in the face of KAT's 19 boards and the fact that Adams had 8 boards, which is slightly under his average so far this season. KAT has frustrating lapses defensively at times, which is really all Drew was getting at. But obviously KAT did a lot of boxing out and actually dominated Adams on the boards. That's what made me laugh.