Porks first Game thread to 55 wins

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Teague had a terrific all-around game, but Thibs did him a disservice by not resting him during the game...he was clealry gassed the last five minutes of the game, and that allowed Russ to completely dominate the game

Not to say that Teague being tired late didn't contribute, but I doubt it had as much impact as suggested. Throughout the entire game I kept waiting for Russ to don his cape. His play until about halfway through the fourth quarter to me looked like a guy who was, if not deferring to George and Carmelo, he was more focused on getting them involved and building the chemistry they're going to need to challenge GS. The Westbrook of the last 8 minutes of the 4th was the Westbrook of all of last season, an unstoppable monster. If Teague, Butler, and Wiggins had sat for an additional 5 minutes or so earlier I just don't it makes a difference in terms of slowing down Westbrook at the end.

IMO it was Westbrook that kept Westbrook under control most of the game, not the Wolves.

Yeah, I had the same feeling, SP. Westbrook held himself back for the first 2 7/8 games of the season, trying to allow George and Melo to carry the scoring load. Halfway through the 4th, it looked like he said "enough of this...I'm going back to being the Russ of last year". And he was unstoppable the last 8 minutes. I have to agree with you that OkC's effective offense the last 8 minutes had a lot more to do with Russ deciding to be Russ than our defense being tired. The guy is unbelievable, and it's even more impressive that we held on to win with him playing like that on his home court.

I agree that the key to OKC is for "Russ to be Russ". George and Melo then need to play off of him better and learn how to move without the ball and find the open space. It's a little similar to how we have seen Wiggins at times make some great cuts off of Butler's ability to get into the lane.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

They really need to fix Towns defensive positioning. He has happy feet and he jumps at every fake. Even if it is a little fake it kills his base and makes him easy to push around. Keep him grounded with a wide base and restrict him from going for blocks and he would be a significantly better defender. You can't keep good defensive position when you are looking to leave the ground all the time for the block. G has the same issue, but he does it much less often. These are defensive basics that I don't get why they haven't been hammered home with him yet. Stop stat stuffing hunting for blocks and just be a good positional defender and we would significantly improve on defense.

This perfectly sums up what I am talking about that he's doing really poorly: https://twitter.com/DaneMooreNBA/status/922259772966965248

[Lipoli390]

KAT is far and away the unique wildcard that separates our talent from other teams. He gets huge offensive numbers in a seemingly effortless manor. I hope he isn't forcing 3s and I hope his d comes around. But he plays with intensity and passion. I see him overreacting on D, but he can do some great things out there already. I think his passion overrides his awareness still. But I don't think he's that far off.

I agree, Doper. KAT's defensive shortcomings to date seem more rooted in mental mistakes, which you accurately termed "overreacting" and described as his "passion overriding his awareness." Good insights.

[Duke13]

I'd say it's more stat hunting with Kat then passion.

[Coolbreeze44]

I'd say it's more stat hunting with Kat then passion.

I think it's a little of both. When he decides its his turn to get up a shot, i don't care if a teammate has a gimme bucket with a simple pass, KAT is going to try and get his.

[Lipoli390]

I'd say it's more stat hunting with Kat then passion.

I think it's a little of both. When he decides its his turn to get up a shot, i don't care if a teammate has a gimme bucket with a simple pass, KAT is going to try and get his.

Obviously, it's tough for any of us to read into KAT's mind. But I'd have to agree with Cool that it's probably a combination on the offensive end. There are times, as Cool mentioned, when it sure looks like KAT's all about getting his rather than facilitating a better shot by a teammate. Some of that might be his youthful intensity that results in tunnel vision. On the defensive end, it's passion and poor judgment. I like the passion and the judgment can be corrected.

Maybe I'm deluding myself, but I'm no longer worried about Wiggins and I'm not now worried about KAT. Both are incredibly talented, durable players who work hard and ultimately want to win. They happen to be very young with a lot to learn. Yet, they both have been consistently putting up tremendous numbers -- Wiggins as a scorer, KAT both scoring and rebounding. Wiggins has shown marked improvement in his 3-point shooting, defense and rebounding so far this season and he continues to show a cold-bloodedness I wasn't sure he had. I'm confident he'll continue to improve and I expect KAT will improve his defense and decision-making over time. I'm just thrilled that we have both on this team for what should be years to come.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I'd say it's more stat hunting with Kat then passion.

I think it's a little of both. When he decides its his turn to get up a shot, i don't care if a teammate has a gimme bucket with a simple pass, KAT is going to try and get his.

Obviously, it's tough for any of us to read into KAT's mind. But I'd have to agree with Cool that it's probably a combination on the offensive end. There are times, as Cool mentioned, when it sure looks like KAT's all about getting his rather than facilitating a better shot by a teammate. Some of that might be his youthful intensity that results in tunnel vision. On the defensive end, it's passion and poor judgment. I like the passion and the judgment can be corrected.

Maybe I'm deluding myself, but I'm no longer worried about Wiggins and I'm not now worried about KAT. Both are incredibly talented, durable players who work hard and ultimately want to win. They happen to be very young with a lot to learn. Yet, they both have been consistently putting up tremendous numbers -- Wiggins as a scorer, KAT both scoring and rebounding. Wiggins has shown marked improvement in his 3-point shooting, defense and rebounding so far this season and he continues to show a cold-bloodedness I wasn't sure he had. I'm confident he'll continue to improve and I expect KAT will improve his defense and decision-making over time. I'm just thrilled that we have both on this team for what should be years to come.

Well said...I'm also not worried about either of them, and am excited that they both still have a lot of upside.

KAT has shown us that he could be a very effective passer, averaging 2.3 APG in his first two seasons. I don't like seeing him at 1 APG through the first three games, trailing only Belly and Bazz, and expect that our offense is going to be much more effective as he begins to look more for open teammates. I think KAT has the potential to be a 4-5 APG guy eventually.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I'd say it's more stat hunting with Kat then passion.

I think it's a little of both. When he decides its his turn to get up a shot, i don't care if a teammate has a gimme bucket with a simple pass, KAT is going to try and get his.

Obviously, it's tough for any of us to read into KAT's mind. But I'd have to agree with Cool that it's probably a combination on the offensive end. There are times, as Cool mentioned, when it sure looks like KAT's all about getting his rather than facilitating a better shot by a teammate. Some of that might be his youthful intensity that results in tunnel vision. On the defensive end, it's passion and poor judgment. I like the passion and the judgment can be corrected.

Maybe I'm deluding myself, but I'm no longer worried about Wiggins and I'm not now worried about KAT. Both are incredibly talented, durable players who work hard and ultimately want to win. They happen to be very young with a lot to learn. Yet, they both have been consistently putting up tremendous numbers -- Wiggins as a scorer, KAT both scoring and rebounding. Wiggins has shown marked improvement in his 3-point shooting, defense and rebounding so far this season and he continues to show a cold-bloodedness I wasn't sure he had. I'm confident he'll continue to improve and I expect KAT will improve his defense and decision-making over time. I'm just thrilled that we have both on this team for what should be years to come.

Well said...I'm also not worried about either of them, and am excited that they both still have a lot of upside.

KAT has shown us that he could be a very effective passer, averaging 2.3 APG in his first two seasons. I don't like seeing him at 1 APG through the first three games, trailing only Belly and Bazz, and expect that our offense is going to be much more effective as he begins to look more for open teammates. I think KAT has the potential to be a 4-5 APG guy eventually.

Really surprised they don't run more Princeton-like sets on offense with KAT in the high post. I think it would be another way to get some movement and it would further diversify the offense.

[Monster]

Pretty pumped up just finally was able to watch this game tonight. Here are a couple thoughts.

Russ was huge getting this win after Melo hit a dagger was big. If you watch that shot by Wiggins it was not that lucky he wasn't actually that far out either. Teague did not look tired to me sinking FTs. Personally I thought he should have had the ball more than butler feeaking Felton was guarding him. He was getting past guys all night let him do his thing. Also I thought he was better on Russ than Butler was earlier in the game.

Teague was very good in this game. He had a couple very good defensive rotations at times that I bet nobody really noticed.

The bench...other than crawford didn't really deserve minutes. I say Crawford because a few shots he got up softly fell off the rim. Belly made a couple plays but he wasn't as good in this game. Dieng looked better but wasn't that great either. Tyus was ok but Teague was playing REALLY well. Bazz continues to pass. Nifty.

Wiggins hell of a night. Like Q said his d on George was absolutely terrific. Anyone that says Wiggins can't be a complete player I'll refer them to Oct 22 2017. Great game from him.

Towns the guy tries too hard to do too much. I think that's the biggest issue. Still he was a big reason despite his flaws why the team won.

Taj's d on Melo was impressive. He flubbed up some possessions offensively but he did a lot of dirty work.

Butler I don't think was super great in this game but he was still good.

Overall like others said this offensive performance was very encouraging and pleasing to watch.

The Wolves did keep making plays and it felt like they were the team that was going to make enough plays to hold the win and finish it off and probably would have if Russ hadn't gone bonkers at the end.

THE BIGGEST ISSUE for the Wolves in this game was teansistion defense. It was terrible much of the game. The first quarter and a half of the Wolves would have gotten back on D they would have been killed OKC because their half court D was terrific.

Regardless of the circumstances being 2-1 at this point is pretty good playing against likely good WC teams and 2 of them on the road.

[Lipoli390]

I just finished watching the game. I agree with a lot of the points Monster just make, especially his observation about Wiggins' defense on Paul George. This game was, in my view, Wiggins best all-around game of his NBA career -- efficient shooting, hitting big shots, rebounding (7 rebounds), passing (4 assists) and defensive (holding down one of the League's best offensive players).

KAT and Teague were our other two stand-out performers. Yes, KAT made some defensive mistakes. But he scored 27 points and got a lot of huge rebounds among his 12 boards. Teague was exceptional in every phase of the game. The bench didn't play well, but they didn't lose the game either. Gorgui looked better than the box score suggests and Tyus was solid as well. And let's not forget Belly's 3-pointer in the first half. Without that one, the Wolves lose.

One of the fun things about watching a game replay after knowing the result is to concentrate on certain plays, especially in the first half, that don't show up in the box score and tend to be forgotten by the end of the game when we all do our post-game analysis. Three first half plays stand out as huge, but overlooked, keys to the Wolves win. One was a charge Teague took in the 1st quarter. The second was another charge Teague took in the 2nd quarter. The third was Gorgui's shot-altering close-out defense on a Westbrook 12-foot jumper. Both of Teague's charges showed smarts and toughness and combined they were probably worth at least 2-4 points to the Wolves. Gorgui's 1st quarter close-out on Westbrook clearly altered Westbrook's 12-foot jumper, which is usually money for him. Gorgui did a terrific job of getting close and extending his arms on the shot without fouling.

It's hard not to focus on Wiggins' last-second 3-pointer, his great put-back dunk and KAT's awesome floater all in the 4th quarter. But without those three first half plays I mentioned, those three plays would have been likely been in a losing cause.

It was also fun imaging that Wiggins hit his 2-point attempt at the end of the 1st quarter. It was similar to his game-winning shot at the end of the game, but significantly close. He barely missed that one. If it had gone in to end the 1st, we would't have needed his heroics at the end of the 4th. :)