Game Report - Wolves v Warriors

[Lipoli390]

How great was last night's game? Well, it has prompted me to write my first game report in weeks. So much for tanking. The win might push us down to #11 or 12 in the draft order, but I'll accept it in return for the great feeling we all had in the arena at the end of the game.

As you'd expect, there was a sizable Warriors contingent among the 18,000+ in attendance last night. They were clearly the loudest in the arena in the first half, making me think that they might have been at least half of those at the game. But the second half revealed that the Golden State fans were nothing more than a small vocal minority. Throughout most of the second half - expecially the 4th quarter and overtime, the arena had an energy and excitement we haven't had there in months. It was fun.

Some on this Board have fallen prey to a false narrative that the Wolves' players haven't been giving an all-out effort in recent weeks. Last night's game should help correct that narrative. I'd say that last night's game was the culmination of the high level of effort and developement of our young guys that we've seen all along through the Wolves otherwise dreadful stretch run. That effort and developement propelled us to a win over a pretty bad Memphis team and last night it propelled us to victory over a very good Golden State team.

KAT had his second off-game in a row. I can tell you this with absolutely certainty -- KAT is exhausted -- physically and mentally drained. That shouldn't be surprising when you look at the total minutes he's played this season and the load he has had to shoulder on a team with minimal suporting talent. But credit KAT for coming through in the overtime with some big plays, especially that block from behind as he came sprinting down the court.

Wiggins may have had his best game of the season, even though in typical fashion he disappeared as a scorer by early in the second half. But I loved his defense and hustle - yes, his hustle. His loose handle was on display several times, but I'll live with that if he gives the kind of effort he gave last night.

The heroes of the game were many, but I'd put Gorgui and Okogie at the top.

Gorgui was everywhere - playing like a man possessed. He was taking and making his 12-foot shot, knocking balls lose, intercepting passes, getting his body on buys and rebounding the ball. It looked like the confidence Thibodeau sucked out of him had returned. Confidence is so important to success in anything, especially sports.

What can you can about Josh. His defense was phenomenal and disruptive as evidenced by his 4 steals, but his defensive prowess extends beyond those 4 steals. He single-handily disrupted the flow of the Warriors' otherwise pristine offense. At his best, that's what Josh does. But then there was his offense. As I've noted before, Josh seems to have breached the rookie wall and gotten his shot in order. So last night's 24 points on 54% shooting wasn't an aberration; it was a continuation of the development we've seen from him in recent weeks. That's why you play the young guys lots of minutes when you're out of the playoff picture!!! There is no doubt that Okogie has freakish length (7'0 wingspan) and great athleticism to go with his relentless energy and competitive drive. I'll note also that he is fearless - willing to take on anyway and take the big shot. All those things combined are the ingredients of great players. But last night's game also illustrated what I've noted many times about Okogie - the fact that he has a high basketball IQ. He has terrific instincts - reacting to the ball on both ends of the court, knowing where to go in the floor in the offense, knowing when to shoot and when to pass, etc. The only legitimate issue of concern with Josh has been his shot. But I'v noticed that he's actually a good shooter when he gets his feet set. That explains why he's always been a good free-throw shooter. As the game slows down for him and he relaxes a bit, he's no longer rushing his shot but is instead getting his feet set in his shooting motion. I think that's the difference in his shooting that we've seen over the past couple weeks.

Other players worth mentioning include Tyus, Tolliver and Bayless. Tyus wasn't in there down the stretch, but he was instrumental in our second-half comeback before Bayless came in. As everyone knows, I don't like the idea of giving Bayless minutes, but he was a key to last night's win although I think we would have won in regulation if Ryan had replaced him with Tyus in the last couple minutes of the 4th quarter when Bayless was hogging the ball and way too shot-happy. Nonetheless, Bayless was terrific overall. Tolliver was really huge with his 14 points and 9 rebounds.

I'm still on the soft-tank bandwagon, but I'll admit that last night's win was a treat. The most important thing about last night's game is that it was a culmination of some good things that were already happening in previous games the past few weeks and actually ever since Ryan Saunders took over, including the following:

1. A high level of effort and enthusiasm that Thibodeau had all but extinguished;

2. A faster pace, better floor-spacing, less hesitation on shots and more three-point attempts;

3. The development of Okogie as Ryan kept playing him through his shooting and other struggles hitting the rookie wall; and

4. An overall better level of effort and aggressiveness from Wiggins, albeit still uneven.

I can now see a core group of players coalescing for next season consisting of the following:

Young Core:
1. KAT (obviously)
2. Wiggins (necessarily because his trade value is as low as it can go)
3. Covington (his healthy return will be critical)
4. Dario Saric (he's shown enough recently to be positive about him)
5. Josh Okogie (the one guy on our roster who could eventually be our 2nd all-star)
6. KBD (He's been impressive in his limited minutes lately. Could be very good)
7. Tyus Jones (Many will disagree, but he's underestimated in my view. Depends on the contract)

Vets
8. Tolliver (His vet leadership, smarts & 3-point shooting are worth keeping)
9. Rose (I'm not sure about this, but he can be a great offensive spark. He's also well liked by his teammates and a fan favorite. It depends on the contact)

Those are my core 9. I suspect that Gorgui will be back because of his contract. I wouldn't trade him if we have to give up assets or take back a worst contract as part of the deal.

The keys to the Wolves being competitive next season will be Covington's health and Okogie's continued development. Having a healthy Covington, Dario and the Okogie we've seen the past couple weeks alongside KAT would make things interesting. Getting Teague to opt out his his deal would allow the Wolves use use the full MLE to sign a good player without paying the luxury tax. Put all of that together and you have the makings of a competitive team.

OK, maybe I'm still intoxicated with last night's win. :) But no reason not to seek a little positivity out of an otherwise dreadful season.

[Monster]

Poor tanking Lip getting caught up in the moment and letting himself be blinded. Too bad LST isn't here (or at the arena) to help him out. :)

Lip Tyus in the first half...was not good. The 2nd half he made those drives to the hoop that were nice to see but I thought playing Bayless was the right move.

Okogie has a good game and I agree with pretty much everything you said but I will point out he had a couple times where he took really bad and wild shots. That doesn't mean he sucks but it's worth pointing out among your praise which was absolutely deserved by Josh.

Unless we draft or add a young player to the roster we should seriously play Dieng next year. Tell him to keep the weight off and play fast. He can play. I was down on him last off-season but honestly I think his overall offensive abilities are better than they ever have been. He is flawed but that's what bench players are. He can give you something though. That doesn't mean he has to play big minutes or even play every night but we may as well play the guy. He isn't worthless. We do need to look for some young bigs as we really only have Towns Saric (who could be a FA in a year) and possibly KBD. This is where your fool proof play to bring back Pattton comes in. :) we don't win this game without Dieng...and even though it was a tough game for him Towns.

I am glad you got to enjoy this game in person Wolves fans deserved to have something to cheer about.

Also i agree that the Wolves effort has been there more than given credit for. GS announcers were saying the Wolveswwre giving more effort all night in this one. These players deserved a nice win also.

[TAFKASP]

If Lip were anymore up and down over the Wolves this site would be rated XXX! It's reached the point where I don't know if I like his basketball insight or emotional swings more!

;)

[AbeVigodaLive]

Saric played 23 minutes... again.

Hasn't reached 30 minutes in 16 straight games. I know the team has another year to make a decision... and that he hasn't actually been all that good... but do we really know what they have with this guy yet?

Any ideas why he's not getting more run, even in largely meaningless games when KAT is in foul trouble?

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

"A high level of effort and enthusiasm that Thibodeau had all but extinguished."

This is an interesting quip considering the fact that the Wolves had won six of their last eleven games -- and 12 of their last 22 -- before Thibs was fired, including back-to-back blowout victories against the Magic and a [at the time] healthy Lakers squad. That stretch was arguably the best and most consistent stretch of basketball for this Minnesota team the entire season yet somehow Thibs wasn't getting a high level of effort from those guys? I don't know, but I don't buy that for a second. Sounds like more unjust anti-Thibs rhetoric being thrown around on this board.

Minus the 13 dysfunctional games with Jimmy Butler to open the season, the Thibs-led Wolves were a respectable 15-12. His record for the season was 19-21.

With Saunders at the helm, the Wolves are 15-20 and that's with Towns playing at a scorching hot level and some nagging injuries to rotation players included.

I don't know, but I think it's a bit unfair to praise Saunders for the job he's done and essentially throw shade at Thibs in the same breath.

[Lipoli390]

Monster - I agree with you on Gorgui. I think his struggles the last couple years have been due mainly to his loss of confidence, losing his starting job immediately to Taj immediately and facing constant micromanagement and negativity from Thibodeau. As I've said, I don't see a realistic trade scenario that deals Gorgui and makes us better. The Gorgui we saw last night is a very good backup center for KAT and a guy who can play some PF alongside KAT as he did fairly well before Taj was signed.

As you said, we still need to shore up our roster with some young bigs. And yes, that's where future allstar Justin Patton comes in. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll have the money to sign him. Just imagine the bidding war over Patton we're about to see this summer. Scary. :)

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

Great write up! I'm still on the soft tank bandwagon, but it was great to see the win last night for two reasons for two reasons for me. 1). We're playing guys who are going to be here for the long term, and 2). I love seeing the whiney Warriors lose a game that actually means something to them. They have such an entitled attitude that they deserve every single call. If anything, I would say the wolves had more right to complain last night than the Warriors. I like your core, but I'll say one thing, and I think I put my finger on why I like the soft tank. I want the Wolves to win games, but I want them to win in a sustainable way, meaning I want the key contributors to be guys who are going to be here for the long run. Rose won us a few games, and would have won us a few more with his offense and I'm just not sold on Rose being a long term contributor (both injuries and do we really want to pay him the full 9 mil we can pay him next year). That's why I liked the win last night. Getting back to your core, I think I would keep either Jones or Rose, but not both. Whichever one is a better value, and if neither or good values, I'm good with letting both go. If they're both good values, I'd go with Tyus. Okogie has been great lately, it's great for us to at least have 2nd guy who could realistically become a star!

[ItsJustSoSab]

The win might push us down to #11 or 12 in the draft order, but I'll accept it in return for the great feeling we all had in the arena at the end of the game.

I'll hold ya to it come draft time and you get mad that the Wolves didn't get this year's Collins because he got taken a pick before us.

Some on this Board have fallen prey to a false narrative that the Wolves' players haven't been giving an all-out effort in recent weeks. Last night's game should help correct that narrative. I'd say that last night's game was the culmination of the high level of effort and developement of our young guys that we've seen all along through the Wolves otherwise dreadful stretch run.

It's pretty well documented how bad we've been for a while, not just the record but the point differential in those loses. Not really a false narrative. The Wolves have given up in MANY games recently. I do like how then you mention the "dreadful stretch" thus agreeing with the "narrative" right after haha. I don't know Lip, you're all over the place man

KAT had his second off-game in a row. I can tell you this with absolutely certainty -- KAT is exhausted -- physically and mentally drained. That shouldn't be surprising when you look at the total minutes he's played this season and the load he has had to shoulder on a team with minimal suporting talent. But credit KAT for coming through in the overtime with some big plays, especially that block from behind as he came sprinting down the court.


I mean. Yeah. He needs help for sure, but if we want to get to the promise land he's gonna have to play like this night in night out

Wiggins may have had his best game of the season, even though in typical fashion he disappeared as a scorer by early in the second half. But I loved his defense and hustle - yes, his hustle. His loose handle was on display several times, but I'll live with that if he gives the kind of effort he gave last night.

Uffda, I don't know about that. You did watch the whole game so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. The last 5 minutes of the game plus OT he was horrendous. I'll take the OKC game

[Lipoli390]

The win might push us down to #11 or 12 in the draft order, but I'll accept it in return for the great feeling we all had in the arena at the end of the game.

I'll hold ya to it come draft time and you get mad that the Wolves didn't get this year's Collins because he got taken a pick before us.

Some on this Board have fallen prey to a false narrative that the Wolves' players haven't been giving an all-out effort in recent weeks. Last night's game should help correct that narrative. I'd say that last night's game was the culmination of the high level of effort and developement of our young guys that we've seen all along through the Wolves otherwise dreadful stretch run.

It's pretty well documented how bad we've been for a while, not just the record but the point differential in those loses. Not really a false narrative. The Wolves have given up in MANY games recently. I do like how then you mention the "dreadful stretch" thus agreeing with the "narrative" right after haha. I don't know Lip, you're all over the place man

KAT had his second off-game in a row. I can tell you this with absolutely certainty -- KAT is exhausted -- physically and mentally drained. That shouldn't be surprising when you look at the total minutes he's played this season and the load he has had to shoulder on a team with minimal suporting talent. But credit KAT for coming through in the overtime with some big plays, especially that block from behind as he came sprinting down the court.


I mean. Yeah. He needs help for sure, but if we want to get to the promise land he's gonna have to play like this night in night out

Wiggins may have had his best game of the season, even though in typical fashion he disappeared as a scorer by early in the second half. But I loved his defense and hustle - yes, his hustle. His loose handle was on display several times, but I'll live with that if he gives the kind of effort he gave last night.

Uffda, I don't know about that. You did watch the whole game so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. The last 5 minutes of the game plus OT he was horrendous. I'll take the OKC game

Dreadful stretch refers to lots of losses; it doesn't mean a lack of effort. Have you noticed who's been on the court during this time? Did you know Covington hasn't played since Saunders took over? I'm not a Teague fan, but he's a legitimate starting PG and he's been out. There is a distinction between bad play and lack of effort. I just assumed you understood that.

The line that KAT has to "play like that night in night out" is just rhetoric. Even the best players have bad games. The good news is that, in his bad game against the Warriors in which he shot poorly, KAT had 13 rebounds and 7 assists along with some big plays down the stretch. It's ridiculous to expect any player to never had a "bad" game like the one KAT had against the Warriors.

I'll concede that the OKC game was a better one for Wiggins. So I'll rank the Golden State game #2 for him. Keep in mind we're comparing Wiggins to Wiggins and that's a pretty low bar. :)

You can hold me to my comments about being glad we beat the warriors in spite of the harm it does to my tanking strategy. But note that I'll respond by referencing all the other games we won the past month playing veterans like Rose, Gibson, etc. that we might have lost if we had been playing the young guys. Of course, it's not like we've won a lot of games. :)

Let's be clear. The Wolves need another allstar/star to pair with KAT. And the only hope we have of getting that caliber player is the draft - unless Okogie develops into that player. Right now, the only way I see us getting that caliber player is if we get lucky in the lottery and bump up to the 1st or 2nd slot and end up with Zion or Ja. The odds aren't good.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Good stuff. We continue to stay engaged as fans here. I'm not sure why. Maybe we have nothing else to do? We were probably a top 3 finisher in the West with a motivated Jimmy. I don't think Cov and Saric can get us there. Wiggy won't improve so I'll predict a .500 team next season as we won't be able to sign a good free agent.