San Antonio at Minnesota: Not Your Father’s Spurs

[Monster]

Weird to watch a Wolves team just look like the flat out better team against the Spurs in just every way. Always felt like they were going to pull away and it be fairly comfortable win. Wiggins was the best player in the court. Towns was pretty good. Teague was pretty good. Layman pretty good. Culver showed some good stuff.

[Monster]

I feel like okogie doesn't get calls because he looks out of control and not smooth driving to the basket.

And sometimes he shouldn't get those calls. When I was an official I wasn't going to give the benefit of the doubt for some guy just out of control throwing up crap. What Okogie has going for him is he does have a knack for drawing fouls an he doesn't complain and whine a ton.

[Monster]

Is Tim Duncan hair freaking anyone else out as well?

Yeah, it looks kinda dumb to me.

It's definitely unexpected. Lol

[Monster]

Abe's slightly behind real-time DVR Viewing Review:

- Wiggins was awesome. Again. It was interesting to hear Jim Pete discussing the difference between the old Wiggins warming up and the new Wiggins.

- Teague was the good Teague tonight. He was pushing the pace. He was aggressive. We see that when he gets upset or wants to get even. His energy was huge tonight. Speaking of...

- ... how many deflections with a Wolves player saving the ball while falling out of bounds did we see? That stuff is contagious and energy stuff. That might have been the most impressive thing of all. Now, if they keep up that level of energy and intensity... this could get fun.

- We hear about how Aldridge and especially DeRozan hold the Spurs back as they play an old-school game. Small sample size, but they were the only two Spurs worth a damn tonight.

- The Wolves seemed very loose on the bench in the 3rd quarter. Laughing, eating, et al. Earlier in the year, Chris Vernon (Memphis play-by-play guy) was ripping the Wolves for being loose and clowning after the Grizzlies loss. But I dunno yet. It's a new breed of athlete. Having fun and playing free and loose might not be the worst thing in the world. We'll see if the Wolves are still having fun in March and whether there's anything to this or not.

- It's simple and we've seen other teams/players do it for years... but the Wolves + Saunders really do seem intent on taking advantage of the 2-for-one at the end of quarters. Modern hoops!

- I'm very surprised the Wolves are 7 - 4, especially as they're changing how they play. But I aint complaining.

By the way... the Wolves shot 34 three pointers in each of the past two games. Is that just a fluke or is it part of the new "system" and the guys are just figuring out what are good and bad shots?

Abe Dane Moore has commented a lot about how Wiggins would practice AND warm up shooting long jumpers last year and years before that. Personally I think warming up some with long 2's might be ok whatever gets you warmed up but based on what Sane reported it was a massive percentage of his shots to get ready.

[Monster]

?Chase Budinger had to die so Minnesota could enjoy Jake Layman. Bless you.?

?11 GP, 26.5 MP, 10.5 PPG (44.8 FG%, 35.6 3P% on 4.1 3PA, 66.7 FT%), 2.8 RPG, and 1.0 SPG.?

?He's not setting the world on fire by any means, but he's done his job and played his role well.?

Layman just looks like he knows what he doing and he looks better as a defender than what Blazer fans said he was. I'm glad we have him locked in for a few years. I like how he can actually dribble and attack the rim enough where you feel good about it and don't cringe.

[Monster]

I have yet to see it mentioned, but a huge component to Wiggins' early season success has been his ability to change speeds to keep defenders off balance. That comes with an improved handle and a rediscovered want to get to the rim. All of those things combined leave us with the player we've seen through the first 10 games.

I agree with you! In a post a couple days ago I mentioned 3 things I thought were different about Wiggins this year and change of pace is one of them. Okogie needs to find some different speeds also because it's body control (he isn't really gathered to get lift and just wild) combined with not really having a feel around the rim that brings on the struggles. Culver has a feel and how to change speeds.

[AbeVigodaLive]

?Chase Budinger had to die so Minnesota could enjoy Jake Layman. Bless you.?

?11 GP, 26.5 MP, 10.5 PPG (44.8 FG%, 35.6 3P% on 4.1 3PA, 66.7 FT%), 2.8 RPG, and 1.0 SPG.?

?He's not setting the world on fire by any means, but he's done his job and played his role well.?

Layman just looks like he knows what he doing and he looks better as a defender than what Blazer fans said he was. I'm glad we have him locked in for a few years. I like how he can actually dribble and attack the rim enough where you feel good about it and don't cringe.

$4M per year or whatever seems like decent value for what Layman can bring.