Game Report - Wolves v. Mavs

[Lipoli390]

A big, but not particularly loud crowd tonight. It was a fun game, but a bad loss. Doncic was great, but the Wolves still should not have lost at home to the Mavs. KAT was tremendous tonight. He carried the team on his back tonight and almost willed the team to victory with his 30 points, 11 boards and 4 blocks. It took charge down the stretch in the 4th, hitting big shot after big shot. It was clear, he was not going to be denied. Unfortunately, no one other than Derrick Rose and Okogie were helpful on offense. Meanwhile, our PGs simply couldn't stop JJ Barea. Teague was pretty bad, but I liked his effort.

Ultimately, this loss came down to certain Wolves players who are expected to score, but didn't hit their shots. Wiggins was bad Wiggins again, settling for too many contested long twos. He ended up hitting 41% of his field goal attempts and only had two foul shots all night. That's not acceptable. Saric was terrible tonight, missing all five of his field goal attempts. That last play of the game wasn't the only open three he passed up. After struggling with his shot, in the second half Dario showed absolutely no interested in shooting. He'd touch the ball in the offense and it seemed he couldn't wait to get rid of it. All he had to do was hit one of his missed 5 shots and the Wolves win the game.

This game just further emphasized that it's about he future, not the present for the Wolves. There more fun to watch now with Thibodeau gone, but their already a whole. No telling how good Saunders will be as head coach, but no matter what it will take him time to put his own distinct stamp on this team. Ultimately, the Wolves need to improve the talent around KAT.

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

The last minute and a half encapsulates this team.

Taj with a great defensive play to dislodge the ball.
Then okogie with a i dont even know what to call that play.

A excellent drawn up play to get not 1 open look, but 2 open looks from 3.
Then saric passes it up, then rose passes it up only drive into 3 mavs for a contested shotput.

As bad as the bench were and as bad as we shot, we were winning with a minute left in the game.

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

One more, kats fouling is out of control right now. Hes an absolute monster on ther court, but the drop off his too big when dieng comes in. I found it interesting that saunders is playing taj more minutes at the 5 spot.

We need more from dieng, as much as i don't like kat fouling out, i want him to continue being aggressive on defense.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Canuck's right, the killer was Saric and Rose not taking the 3 on that possession with 10 seconds left or so when we were down 2. Maybe Saric was thinking about not wanting to leave any time on the clock and Rose seemed to be trying to get Towns for an easy layup for a better chance to tie, but you gotta shoot that shot. I'm sure they both really wish they had that back.

But we dug the hole for ourselves with that cold shooting in the first half and letting Barea and Powell beat us so often. And you guys are right about Towns' fouling. I love his improved D, but he needs to be a little more disciplined and keep those hands straight up. He's just so good, we can't afford to have to sit him in key minutes of close games because of foul trouble.

One minor quibble with Saunders is that he brought in Okogie for Rose for defense on that late play instead of Okogie for Teague. Rose had played some really great D and was better on offense than Teague too. It probably wouldn't have mattered because of what happened, but going with Teague over Rose on that play was questionable.

Doncic is already a star. That guy is unbelievable. He's already Harden-lite. Imagine where he'll be in 3-5 years. I thought we actually played pretty good D on him for the most part. He's just that good. Tough loss.

Man, this is a good season for competitive basketball in the NBA as a whole.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Too bad we lost Ryan's home opener, but it must have been a fun one to watch...I'm looking forward to being there tonight to watch them against the Pels, although it's going to be a long night if KAT is out.
If anyone has video of the sequence where Saric and Rose didn't take the three at the end of the game, please post it. I maintain that Saric (despite being awful all night) made the right play in making the extra pass to get the ball to a much hotter Rose...Rose's ignored three looked like a much better choice to me than Saric's. Why he didn't take it is a mystery.
But the biggest disappointment of the night was Wig reverting to his bad self. His stat line is actually not too bad...17-6-3...but he just didn't look like the guy we saw in OkC. We need that Wig every night on both sides of the ball.
How about Josh Okogie last night? Not only did he have to defend the marvelous Doncic, but he also made 4 out of 6 threes...and this from a guy who hit 13% of his threes in December and was 2 for 12 in January before last night. Better yet, his shot looked very good to me, which leads me to believe he has the ability to become a decent 3-point shooter. If he does, we will have a legitimate NBA player. We just need to find out who the real Josh Okogie is going to be...the guy we saw last night, or the 13% December shooter.
But his blunder when we were up one with 30 seconds to play was a monumental rookie mistake. I just rewatched the play several times, and it's clear to me that he could have secured the ball and given us a possession with a chance to go up 3...instead he tried a flashy behind the back pass to Taj and he created a 5 on 4 break for Dallas, and we know what happened next. We love his energy, but he simply has to play with more poise at that point of the game. He's a rookie though, and he will learn from this.
As Lip says, KAT was unstoppable down the stretch...now we just have to hope he doesn't have a high ankle issue, because if he does, we can start focusing on the draft thread.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Wait, KAT's out tonight? He came back and played and looked good, so I figured he was ok.

Yeah, if he AND Covington are out for awhile, the rest of the season could be really painful.

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

Wait, KAT's out tonight? He came back and played and looked good, so I figured he was ok.

Yeah, if he AND Covington are out for awhile, the rest of the season could be really painful.

If this is true, rose is going to get a lot of shots off unless saunders changes the offense to get others involved.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Wait, KAT's out tonight? He came back and played and looked good, so I figured he was ok.

Yeah, if he AND Covington are out for awhile, the rest of the season could be really painful.

If this is true, rose is going to get a lot of shots off unless saunders changes the offense to get others involved.

KAT said he was sore and would reevaluate if he could go today. I read somewhere that it looked like it could be a high ankle sprain, which would be bad, but it's just as likely he plays tonight...let's hope it's the latter.

[Lipoli390]

Imagine the Wolves with Doncic instead of Wiggins. The Wolves would be a top 6 team in the West right now. KAT needs one other elite player for this team to be a contender. Wiggins isn't it - in spite of another one of his teases the other night against OKC. Yes, I wish KAT would get better control of his fouling, but that's partially a function of his aggressiveness - something sorely lacking in a number of other players on this team. KAT carried us last night. We needed someone else other than Okogie and Rose to step up and hit shots.

Rose or Saric should have taken the 3-pointer each had at the end. Rose was hot, but Saric had at least as good a look and he's supposedly a 3-point shooter. Yet, I'm bothered more by Dario's missed shots and all the open 3-point looks Saric and Teague passed up throughout the game. The Wolves were actually more accurate than the Mavs from behind the arc. But Dallas had 14 more 3-point attempts than the Wolves. That gap in 3-point attempts was the difference in the game. Seriously, Saric was getting the behind the arc with a great look, but never even looked at the basket. He stared at the ball and then looked for someone to pass to. Someone has to tell that guy to toughen up and keep shooting. If not, then Tolliver should have his place in the rotation. And Teague has to stop passing up good 3-point looks for contested 2-point floaters. It's ironic that we're focusing on Rose passing up that three in the end. He clearly should have taken that shot. But he was taking open shots all game when they were available. What he did at the end was what Teague and Saric were doing all game. And that's why the Wolves lost.

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

Imagine the Wolves with Doncic instead of Wiggins. The Wolves would be a top 6 team in the West right now. KAT needs one other elite player for this team to be a contender. Wiggins isn't it - in spite of another one of his teases the other night against OKC. Yes, I wish KAT would get better control of his fouling, but that's partially a function of his aggressiveness - something sorely lacking in a number of other players on this team. KAT carried us last night. We needed someone else other than Okogie and Rose to step up and hit shots.

Rose or Saric should have taken the 3-pointer each had at the end. Rose was hot, but Saric had at least as good a look and he's supposedly a 3-point shooter. Yet, I'm bothered more by Dario's missed shots and all the open 3-point looks Saric and Teague passed up throughout the game. The Wolves were actually more accurate than the Mavs from behind the arc. But Dallas had 14 more 3-point attempts than the Wolves. That gap in 3-point attempts was the difference in the game. Seriously, Saric was getting the behind the arc with a great look, but never even looked at the basket. He stared at the ball and then looked for someone to pass to. Someone has to tell that guy to toughen up and keep shooting. If not, then Tolliver should have his place in the rotation. And Teague has to stop passing up good 3-point looks for contested 2-point floaters. It's ironic that we're focusing on Rose passing up that three in the end. He clearly should have taken that shot. But he was taking open shots all game when they were available. What he did at the end was what Teague and Saric were doing all game. And that's why the Wolves lost.

I dont blame saric as much because hes basically a cold shooter at that point. Rose dominates the ball when he is out there, there's a good and a bad in that. When he has it going, great, but the cost is that no one touches the ball. Saric just came in, and like you said rose, was the hot hand. If saric took that shot and missed, i guarantee everyone would be down his throat for not passing it the wide open rose.

Tolliver is probably the only guy on our team that can shoot cold. Everyone else needs to get a feel for the ball, and unfortunately moving the ball isn't our offense right now.

Give it to kat or give it to rose/teague. Wiggs, okogie, cov, they spread the floor for those 3 while taj crashes the boards. I also think thats one of the reasons we take so many bad shots, they put it up to try and get involved in the offense.

I don't think anyone is free from blame for the loss last night. But, i do agree with monster, the guys were a little too hyped to start the game.