Wolves v kings part 2

[kekgeek]

Also a really bad missed call on the buddy hield 3. Haliburton was out of bounds during the possession.

Still Ricky can't have that bone headed mistake on D

[Lipoli390]

I didn't watch until the last few minutes. Why wasn't Edwards in the game at the end?

Wolves were up 11. Then he took an early clock contested 3. Lost his man on D the next possession for a 3. Then didn't hustle back the next defensive possessions leading to another open 3. He deserved the benching

*he played decent today but 3 straight complete losing plays. Have to teach him good habits

Thanks, Kek. Finch did the right thing.

[kekgeek]

I didn't watch until the last few minutes. Why wasn't Edwards in the game at the end?

Wolves were up 11. Then he took an early clock contested 3. Lost his man on D the next possession for a 3. Then didn't hustle back the next defensive possessions leading to another open 3. He deserved the benching

*he played decent today but 3 straight complete losing plays. Have to teach him good habits

Thanks, Kek. Finch did the right thing.

At the end of the day though our 3 highest paid players didn't put the nail in the kings coffin.

Dlo misses a open 3 that was half way down

Kat missed the winner on a tough runner that I think he rushed.

Rubio switches when nobody switch that whole possession leading to an open 3 to give the kings the game.

All 3 played solid tonight and all 3 had a shot to officially put the kings away and they didn't do so. (Ricky, Dlo and Kat all hit big 3s in the 4th also)

[FNG]

I didn't watch until the last few minutes. Why wasn't Edwards in the game at the end?

Wolves were up 11. Then he took an early clock contested 3. Lost his man on D the next possession for a 3. Then didn't hustle back the next defensive possessions leading to another open 3. He deserved the benching

*he played decent today but 3 straight complete losing plays. Have to teach him good habits

Thanks, Kek. Finch did the right thing.

Finch did. And an excellent summary by kek of why Finch had to bench Edwards.

We don't need wins as we fight for one of those coveted bottom three spots in the standings, but this loss was discouraging nonetheless. Yes, KAT, Ricky and Dlo didn't make the plays we needed them to make down the stretch, but we still win this game easily if the refs hadn't blown the call right before the Hield three. Dlo (whose on-ball defense was surprisingly good tonight...and Finch recognized it and let him close the game) bodied up Haliburton and he clearly both traveled and was out of bounds...and the refs missed both calls! Terrible!

Too bad to see us waste terrific games by Naz, Juancho, Vando and Josh.

Naz's array of offensive moves get better every game. Right now he seems to be almost unstoppable one on one, and he ended a mini 3-point slump by making 2 out of three beyond the arc. I didn't realize it until he said it in an interview last game, but he has taken exactly ONE mid-range shot in his entire NBA career...which he missed. He's only 21 so we can expect his offensive game to continue to get better...what an offensive ceiling this kid has! As his defense and rebounding improve (he actually blocked out a couple times tonight), he's going to be a guy who deserves to start at center and command a big contract. It's unfortunate, but I don't think we will be able to afford him in 2023.

Another nice game from Juancho with 16 points in 19 minutes and a +12. I think I continue to be the only one here who is actually praising Rosas for locking him up for three years at $7 million per year. He was a 16/8 per 36 guy last year as a starter, and is almost matching that off the bench this season. If that kind of output isn't worth 5% of our total payroll, I don't know what is.

I'll include Josh and Vando together because they bring a lot of the same value to the table...energy and defensive disruption. Josh deserves more minutes than Vando because, although he is 0-3 on threes his past two games, he has given some indication in the past 10 games he actually might be a decent corner 3-point shooter. Both need to play within themselves on offense (and they are recently), and they both deserve regular minutes.

Two consecutive fun games in Sac-Town, and if the refs don't miss an obvious call in the final seconds, we would have been 2-0. Oh well, bigger picture...this stolen win could be critical in staying in the bottom three.