GDT: Minnesota at New Orleans

[DNatagal]

Defense travels. The Wolves had more of the hustle plays on both ends of the court that made the difference in an ugly game. Winning an ugly game is probably more important for the teams confidence than the perfect game against Memphis.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

McDaniels making much more sense off the bench

Definitely. I had hoped he was ready for being a starter, but that wasn't the case. Vando and PBev are really good choices to compliment our three main scorers as Bev can help take on some of the ball handling duties and Vando never needs anything run for him to make a massive impact on the game.

[Lipoli390]

This was a good win. Yes, this Pelicans are a pretty bad team, but the Wolves were in their arena and were able to win comfortably with Russell and Beasley shooting a combined 6 for 26 from the field and 2 for 17 from behind the arc. And Edwards had a pretty bad game as well. They won with defense, hustle and great play from KAT, Vanderbilt, McDaniels and Beverley.

KAT played a great game tonight. Four keys to KAT playing well are: (1) keeping his emotions in check and acting like adult professional; (2) using his quickness to the rim to get by big defenders rather than trying to overpower them; (3) making quick decisions with the ball; and (4) putting up perimeter shots when he has open looks rather than trying to get to the rim against multiple defenders. He did all four of those things tonight. KAT is an extraordinary perimeter shooter and as Q pointed out he is a terrific shooter from everywhere on the court, not just from behind the arc. KAT is also an extraordinarily skilled player for his size and position. Finally, he's amazingly and deceptively quick for a player his size and he appears to be a bit quicker this season after losing some weight in the off season. He needs to put all those attributes to work consistently every game. When he tries to bully his way to the rim against defenders with size he substantially diminishes his effectiveness.

Vanderbilt is a lot of fun to watch, and as Finch said shortly before the season started, Vando makes winning plays. As I and others have said, Vando's energy and rebounding are reminiscent of Rodman. However, he's just scratching the surface of a skill set that goes well beyond Rodman. He's actually an excellent ball-handler and passer. He's turned himself into an excellent free-throw shooter and I can see him developing into a good mid-range shooter. Injuries prevented him from developing his game in college and until late last season he never had much of a chance to develop his game in the NBA. As he gets more playing time, we're going to see why he was a five-star recruit coming out of high school.

[kekgeek]

This was a good win. Yes, this Pelicans are a pretty bad team, but the Wolves were in their arena and were able to win comfortably with Russell and Beasley shooting a combined 6 for 26 from the field and 2 for 17 from behind the arc. And Edwards had a pretty bad game as well. They won with defense, hustle and great play from KAT, Vanderbilt, McDaniels and Beverley.

KAT played a great game tonight. Four keys to KAT playing well are: (1) keeping his emotions in check and acting like adult professional; (2) using his quickness to the rim to get by big defenders rather than trying to overpower them; (3) making quick decisions with the ball; and (4) putting up perimeter shots when he has open looks rather than trying to get to the rim against multiple defenders. He did all four of those things tonight. KAT is an extraordinary perimeter shooter and as Q pointed out he is a terrific shooter from everywhere on the court, not just from behind the arc. KAT is also an extraordinarily skilled player for his size and position. Finally, he's amazingly and deceptively quick for a player his size and he appears to be a bit quicker this season after losing some weight in the off season. He needs to put all those attributes to work consistently every game. When he tries to bully his way to the rim against defenders with size he substantially diminishes his effectiveness.

Vanderbilt is a lot of fun to watch, and as Finch said shortly before the season started, Vando makes winning plays. As I and others have said, Vando's energy and rebounding are reminiscent of Rodman. However, he's just scratching the surface of a skill set that goes well beyond Rodman. He's actually an excellent ball-handler and passer. He's turned himself into an excellent free-throw shooter and I can see him developing into a good mid-range shooter. Injuries prevented him from developing his game in college and until late last season he never had much of a chance to develop his game in the NBA. As he gets more playing time, we're going to see why he was a five-star recruit coming out of high school.

I've been meaning to post this for awhile but he transformation at the FT line is actually amazing. Credit to him because now he can play at end of games!

Also unnecessary shot from me but the Wolves are now 5-1 when Okogie doesn't play a 3-8 when he does. Just saying. Goodnight everyone. Haha

[kekgeek]

The Dlo and Kat pairing moves to 21-17 when they both finish the game healthy. Sample size is getting larger!!! What is encouraging.

Also want to give a shout out to both Kat and Dlo. They both have made strides on the defense end and even though Bev, vando and McDaniels are significantly better defenders than those 2. Those 2 improvements are the reason why the defense is making a legit jump.

Probably the 1st time in dlo career when his shot isn't falling he is still a massive net positive this year. That is what gives me hope.

Now Kat continue to not act like a baby and Dlo don't try and win games by yourself and this will continue to be a fun year

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

The Dlo and Kat pairing moves to 21-17 when they both finish the game healthy. Sample size is getting larger!!! What is encouraging.

Also want to give a shout out to both Kat and Dlo. They both have made strides on the defense end and even though Bev, vando and McDaniels are significantly better defenders than those 2. Those 2 improvements are the reason why the defense is making a legit jump.

Probably the 1st time in dlo career when his shot isn't falling he is still a massive net positive this year. That is what gives me hope.

Now Kat continue to not act like a baby and Dlo don't try and win games by yourself and this will continue to be a fun year

That's pretty impressive and (somewhat) justifies the DLO trade. And the fact that DLO has been a hot mess offensively yet carries a MASSIVE net positive rating and net on/off rating is a testament to how great team defense can paper over a lot of offensive warts.

But we are going to need him and Beasley to start making more shots in this upcoming stretch of games. We can't keep clanking this many 3's and expect to beat really good teams.

[FNG]

Well, I predicted a 12 point win, and instead it was 14. My apologies to any gambler here who made an exacto bet on 12... I think I didn't take into account those 2 points from Nathan Knight ;-) .

This was one we had to win with Zion and Graham out and Ingram clearly not even close to 100% with his injuries this season. But I take issue with Lip calling them a bad team...I think they are a good team missing 3 key players. Still, I saw a lot of nice ball movement from them tonight (albeit with eventual missed shots), and JoVal is a force. Zion is back practicing with the team, and if he can play 80% of the remaining games, they will be a playoff team. We were fortunate to get three games against them with Zion out.

I'm going to talk about DLo again, because I thought he played his best defensive game of the year. Sure PatBev, Vando and Jaden are the major disruptors on defense, but my award for most improved defensive player goes to DLo...with KAT being runner up. Despite now shooting 38% on the season (32% from beyond the arc), he remains far and away our best on/off performer this season. He was 3-16 last night, but I actually didn't think he was forcing anything...he just missed. And his stellar defense and 8 assists (with only one TO) made up for his shooting. As others have said, this is a Bizarro season for DLo, with everything backwards...poor shooting, but great D and ball protection. And it all leads to him being a positive contributor on the court for one of the few times in his career. Give me this version of DLo all day.

Nothing else to add because I agree with all the positive comments in this thread about Vando, KAT, PatBev and Jaden. Two blowout wins in a row has Wolves Nation feeling pretty good. And the Scheduling Gods are with us again and giving us at least a chance against a Heat team on the back end of a BTB.

[Coolbreeze44]

Well, I predicted a 12 point win, and instead it was 14. My apologies to any gambler here who made an exacto bet on 12... I think I didn't take into account those 2 points from Nathan Knight ;-) .

This was one we had to win with Zion and Graham out and Ingram clearly not even close to 100% with his injuries this season. But I take issue with Lip calling them a bad team...I think they are a good team missing 3 key players. Still, I saw a lot of nice ball movement from them tonight (albeit with eventual missed shots), and JoVal is a force. Zion is back practicing with the team, and if he can play 80% of the remaining games, they will be a playoff team. We were fortunate to get three games against them with Zion out.

I'm going to talk about DLo again, because I thought he played his best defensive game of the year. Sure PatBev, Vando and Jaden are the major disruptors on defense, but my award for most improved defensive player goes to DLo...with KAT being runner up. Despite now shooting 38% on the season (32% from beyond the arc), he remains far and away our best on/off performer this season. He was 3-16 last night, but I actually didn't think he was forcing anything...he just missed. And his stellar defense and 8 assists (with only one TO) made up for his shooting. As others have said, this is a Bizarro season for DLo, with everything backwards...poor shooting, but great D and ball protection. And it all leads to him being a positive contributor on the court for one of the few times in his career. Give me this version of DLo all day.

Nothing else to add because I agree with all the positive comments in this thread about Vando, KAT, PatBev and Jaden. Two blowout wins in a row has Wolves Nation feeling pretty good. And the Scheduling Gods are with us again and giving us at least a chance against a Heat team on the back end of a BTB.

Dlo - Great D? Let's not get carried away with this. He doesn't defend the opposing team's best player, in fact we hide him as best we can. I like his increased intensity on that end of the floor and it has made a difference. But lets pump the breaks a little bit.

[kekgeek]

Well, I predicted a 12 point win, and instead it was 14. My apologies to any gambler here who made an exacto bet on 12... I think I didn't take into account those 2 points from Nathan Knight ;-) .

This was one we had to win with Zion and Graham out and Ingram clearly not even close to 100% with his injuries this season. But I take issue with Lip calling them a bad team...I think they are a good team missing 3 key players. Still, I saw a lot of nice ball movement from them tonight (albeit with eventual missed shots), and JoVal is a force. Zion is back practicing with the team, and if he can play 80% of the remaining games, they will be a playoff team. We were fortunate to get three games against them with Zion out.

I'm going to talk about DLo again, because I thought he played his best defensive game of the year. Sure PatBev, Vando and Jaden are the major disruptors on defense, but my award for most improved defensive player goes to DLo...with KAT being runner up. Despite now shooting 38% on the season (32% from beyond the arc), he remains far and away our best on/off performer this season. He was 3-16 last night, but I actually didn't think he was forcing anything...he just missed. And his stellar defense and 8 assists (with only one TO) made up for his shooting. As others have said, this is a Bizarro season for DLo, with everything backwards...poor shooting, but great D and ball protection. And it all leads to him being a positive contributor on the court for one of the few times in his career. Give me this version of DLo all day.

Nothing else to add because I agree with all the positive comments in this thread about Vando, KAT, PatBev and Jaden. Two blowout wins in a row has Wolves Nation feeling pretty good. And the Scheduling Gods are with us again and giving us at least a chance against a Heat team on the back end of a BTB.

You actually think the Pelicans are making the playoffs if zion plays only 80% of the games remaining? They are 6 games back of the 10th seed who are the Wolves currently and wolves hold tiebreaker so 7 games back. Not saying they can't do it but they have dug themselves a gigantic hole to dig out of a 1/4th of the way through the season.

[kekgeek]

Well, I predicted a 12 point win, and instead it was 14. My apologies to any gambler here who made an exacto bet on 12... I think I didn't take into account those 2 points from Nathan Knight ;-) .

This was one we had to win with Zion and Graham out and Ingram clearly not even close to 100% with his injuries this season. But I take issue with Lip calling them a bad team...I think they are a good team missing 3 key players. Still, I saw a lot of nice ball movement from them tonight (albeit with eventual missed shots), and JoVal is a force. Zion is back practicing with the team, and if he can play 80% of the remaining games, they will be a playoff team. We were fortunate to get three games against them with Zion out.

I'm going to talk about DLo again, because I thought he played his best defensive game of the year. Sure PatBev, Vando and Jaden are the major disruptors on defense, but my award for most improved defensive player goes to DLo...with KAT being runner up. Despite now shooting 38% on the season (32% from beyond the arc), he remains far and away our best on/off performer this season. He was 3-16 last night, but I actually didn't think he was forcing anything...he just missed. And his stellar defense and 8 assists (with only one TO) made up for his shooting. As others have said, this is a Bizarro season for DLo, with everything backwards...poor shooting, but great D and ball protection. And it all leads to him being a positive contributor on the court for one of the few times in his career. Give me this version of DLo all day.

Nothing else to add because I agree with all the positive comments in this thread about Vando, KAT, PatBev and Jaden. Two blowout wins in a row has Wolves Nation feeling pretty good. And the Scheduling Gods are with us again and giving us at least a chance against a Heat team on the back end of a BTB.

Dlo - Great D? Let's not get carried away with this. He doesn't defend the opposing team's best player, in fact we hide him as best we can. I like his increased intensity on that end of the floor and it has made a difference. But lets pump the breaks a little bit.

I'm not sure we should. Obviously I don't think Dlo is this lockdown defender but the Wolves are in the 97th percentile in defense in all Dlo lineups. The Wolves are 19.5 pts per 100 possession worse on defense when Dlo sits. Obviously there is noise to those stats but shocking dlo has been great on defense this year.

Also dlo lineups defensive numbers do not go down if Pat Bev or Vando or mcdaniels sits