Game Report - Wolves v Clippers

[Lipoli390]

Let me start out by declaring that Doc Rivers is the most annoying head coach in the NBA. He's constantly whining to officials and repeatedly stepping onto the court to get in their faces. He did all of that tonight even as the calls were manifestly in his team's favor. As for the officiating, I'm really sick of the star treatment afforded to players like Kawhi and Paul George while that same treatment is never given to KAT.

Doc Rivers and the officiating aside, the game turned out to be fun one. Not surprisingly, ,I didn't expect the Wolves to come back and make a game of it after falling behind by 27 points, but The more talented team won. It's as simple as that. Towns and Wiggins played well tonight as our two top players, but the Clippers' two best players were better. Teague was terrific on both sides of the ball. Okogie struggled shooting, but was a difference maker with his energy and defense in the 4th quarter. Gorgui contributed as did Covington, but Covington shot poorly. Tonight's game was just another reminder of this team's need for more perimeter shooters. But that fact can't be lost on the Wolves front office.

Speaking of poor perimeter shooting, Jarrett Culver was epically bad tonight. His shot remains a complete mess. The Wolves should send Culver to Iowa and insert Nowell into the rotation. Graham was bad on both sides of the ball. KBD was invisible and couldn't hit anything as he went 0-1 from the field in 11 minutes. I'd like to see all his minutes allocated to Martin and others.

In the end I have to credit with Wolves for not folding and for coming back to make a game out of what looked like it would end as a one-sided embarrassment for the Wolves on National TV. Teague and KAT were the two key catalyst for the comeback with help from Okogie, Wiggins and Covington.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Thanks for the game report Lip. I didn't bother to watch this one as it was going to be an obvious loss. Of course ESPN's front page is just gushing over the Kawhi/George performance along with the obligatory 27 articles and pics of LeBron. Bleh!

Glad to hear our guys had some fight and that our two max players put up some numbers. But as we've seen time and again, these two aren't good enough defensively to get stops and ultimately therein lies the #1 problem with this team.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Thanks for the game report Lip. I didn't bother to watch this one as it was going to be an obvious loss. Of course ESPN's front page is just gushing over the Kawhi/George performance along with the obligatory 27 articles and pics of LeBron. Bleh!

Glad to hear our guys had some fight and that our two max players put up some numbers. But as we've seen time and again, these two aren't good enough defensively to get stops and ultimately therein lies the #1 problem with this team.

To be fair... George and Leonard had 53 points... by halftime.
Every once in a while, SOME of that overhype is deserved.

As for James... what about ALL the Bronny James hype? We could blame the media for this entirely, if we really truly believed the LeBron James Global Brand Marketing organization wasn't behind it. It's in full force right now.

Is it a proud dad... or a dad growing his personal brand? Either way, I'm really not digging it.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Abe's Late LATE DVR Review:

- It's good to have a star wing player. It's incredible to have two star wing players. It's very very bad to have only one above average wing on a team. The vast drop to Okogie, Culver and Graham and KBD was blatantly obvious tonight.

- Towns was 5 - 10 on three pointers. The rest of the team was 5 - 31. That would be an interesting stat if it was the first or second time it's been that obvious. It's not. And it's even beyond a trend at this point. It's reality. A sad, harsh and/or amusing reality.

- I remember watching Portland vs. GSW in the playoffs last season where its defensive strategy of ALWAYS dropping the center in the pick-and-roll was an impossible strategy vs. good teams with great players. We know the Wolves have deployed that strategy along with the new asst. coaches. We saw what happens tonight. It'll work against some teams, especially in the regular season. We simply saw the issues with it tonight. Considering the Wolves would be delighted to reach the WCF sometime this century... this isn't a huge issue...

... other than sorta wishing Saunders was able to switch to Plan B on the fly.

- If offensively challenged to entirely inept "defensive-minded" players can't do anything to slow down a team with ONLY two wing players who get the ball every time... aren't we overrating those guys' defense just a bit. I know it's important to look for pluses in the young guys, so we tout defense.

Meh. The Wolves wings (sans Wiggins) were 6 - 28 fg in this game. (2 - 20 on threes). The completely wrong personnel for this system... as we've discussed often. The ESPN crew shockingly nailed it well. The Wolves take threes, which isn't a bad thing, but they do so without much ball movement and with a hand in their faces way too much. (and obviously, the wrong guys taking them)

You gotta hit shots to make it in today's L. If you can't make shots AND you can't stop anybody... why are you on the court? Covington is obviously the best of the bunch. But it also showed his limitations. He's going to thrive on a team when he's largely an afterthought. To rely on him to be #3... is asking way too much.

- Keep playing for that trade, Jeff Teague. Seriously. The aggressiveness is obvious.

- How ugly would things be without Wiggins' scoring? The lack of a reliable three point shot is going to hurt his efficiency and limit his ceiling, but the overall shot selection is SO MUCH BETTER. He's become a solid high-volume scorer again. We can argue just how good in the margins... but that's a welcome discussion compared to where we were.

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

Its time to give nowell some consistent minutes with the big club.

We cant continue to run out any tandem of okogie, culver, and graham. We just cant.

Lets see if nowell can pop some jumpers because we badly need someone to help kat and wiggs. They are constantly getting met by multiple defenders because we are sending no offense players on the floor.

Teams have figured us out and saunders has yet to adjust.

[Lipoli390]

Its time to give nowell some consistent minutes with the big club.

We cant continue to run out any tandem of okogie, culver, and graham. We just cant.

Lets see if nowell can pop some jumpers because we badly need someone to help kat and wiggs. They are constantly getting met by multiple defenders because we are sending no offense players on the floor.

Teams have figured us out and saunders has yet to adjust.

I agree with you on Nowell. Okogie contributes a lot to this team in spite of his poor 3-point shooting while Culver doesn't. Moreover, Okogie's shot isn't totally broken like Culver's. Graham is a marginal NBA players at best. So I'd go with Okogie, Nowell, KAT, Covington and Wiggins in the starting lineup, with Teague as the 6th man until traded. It's time to send Culver to the G-League to work on his shot.

I also agree that teams have figured us out and that Saunders hasn't adjusted. I'm thrilled that Thibodeau is gone, but I've always had my doubts about Saunders as the right choice to replace him. My doubts remain, but I remain open to his potential for improvement over the course of the season.

[Coolbreeze44]

Coming from me this may not sound genuine, but I thought Wig left everything he had on the court playing defense last night. He wasn't matched up with George and especially Kawhi very much, but when he was the effort was outstanding. And he helped to hold down the rest of the wings. I wish they would have given him more responsibility, but I understand that ROCO and Okogie are going to draw the tougher assignments. But no one should be complaining about Wig's D last night.

[Lipoli390]

Thanks for the game report Lip. I didn't bother to watch this one as it was going to be an obvious loss. Of course ESPN's front page is just gushing over the Kawhi/George performance along with the obligatory 27 articles and pics of LeBron. Bleh!

Glad to hear our guys had some fight and that our two max players put up some numbers. But as we've seen time and again, these two aren't good enough defensively to get stops and ultimately therein lies the #1 problem with this team.

If the Wolves consistently play the way they played in every quarter but the 3rd last night, they have a good chance of beating any team in the League other than the handful of top teams like the Lakers, Clippers, Nuggets, Rockets, Sixers, Bucks, Celtics and Heat.

How close were we to winning last night? The Wolves lost by 7. Culver was 0-5 from the field and 0-3 from behind the arc. His threes were all great looks. If he had simply shot 2-5 (40%) from the field with one of those two baskets coming from behind the arc, that's 5 points. If Okogie had hit just one of his 4 missed 3-point attempts, that another 3 points. If Covington had hit just one more shot from the field (45% instead of 36%, that's another 2 or 3 points. That's at least 10 points if the key rotation players around Wiggins, Towns and Teague had simply shot poorly rather than horribly.

But I'll still come back to our two max players. They both played really well last night. But the Clippers' two stars out-scored them by 15 points. Yet, the margin of victory was 7 points. Our two max guys were stout scored by the Clippers' two max guys by a large margin. Slightly better shooting from Culver, Okogie and/or Covington could have made up for that gap, but alas we ended up with our 7th consecutive loss. The good news is that last night will ultimately improve our lottery position next summer. :)

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

Thanks for the game report Lip. I didn't bother to watch this one as it was going to be an obvious loss. Of course ESPN's front page is just gushing over the Kawhi/George performance along with the obligatory 27 articles and pics of LeBron. Bleh!

Glad to hear our guys had some fight and that our two max players put up some numbers. But as we've seen time and again, these two aren't good enough defensively to get stops and ultimately therein lies the #1 problem with this team.

If the Wolves consistently play the way they played in every quarter but the 3rd last night, they have a good chance of beating any team in the League other than the handful of top teams like the Lakers, Clippers, Nuggets, Rockets, Sixers, Bucks, Celtics and Heat.

How close were we to winning last night? The Wolves lost by 7. Culver was 0-5 from the field and 0-3 from behind the arc. His threes were all great looks. If he had simply shot 2-5 (40%) from the field with one of those two baskets coming from behind the arc, that's 5 points. If Okogie had hit just one of his 4 missed 3-point attempts, that another 3 points. If Covington had hit just one more shot from the field (45% instead of 36%, that's another 2 or 3 points. That's at least 10 points if the key rotation players around Wiggins, Towns and Teague had simply shot poorly rather than horribly.

But I'll still come back to our two max players. They both played really well last night. But the Clippers' two stars out-scored them by 15 points. Yet, the margin of victory was 7 points. Our two max guys were stout scored by the Clippers' two max guys by a large margin. Slightly better shooting from Culver, Okogie and/or Covington could have made up for that gap, but alas we ended up with our 7th consecutive loss. The good news is that last night will ultimately improve our lottery position next summer. :)

Pg and kawhi got 88 pts on 55 shots.
Kat and wiggs got 73 on 42 shots.

I think they more than held their own trying to keep up with those 2 all nba players.


Clippers minus kawhi and george got 36 points off of 24 shots.
Wolves minus wiggs and kat got 44 points off of 43 shots. Take out Teague too, and its 22 pts off of 34 shots.

If we take 10 shots away from the other 9 guys (minus teague) and give them to kat and wiggs, maybe we win. But this free flowing 5 out offense where everyone has the green light bit us in the ass.

[Monster]

I'll say this about Culver...I thought he was actually pretty good on defense. PG and Leonard are midrange killers. The Wolves are trying to do more than just the drop coverage but it hasn't worked out well yet.

As bad as Teague was for a stretch of games he has been at least that good the last few games. His defense has even ramped up early in this one he was really getting into guys. I know he isn't really going to keep this up but I wonder if he starts being more aggressive as a bunch guy playing more of a gunner 6th man type like Rose Crawford Lou Williams than dribbling around tryin to be a worse version of Rubio setting guys up.

That first quarter Dieng at worst played Harrell dead even which is something for the Louisville matchup. Dieng has been more meh in the previous games I had seen but he helped more than he hurt in this one.

I'm becoming a Wiggins fan. He is winning me over.