CoolBreeze's 2 Things I Didn't Like Tonight Plus 1

[Coolbreeze44]

Another very disappointing evening at the Target Center. This is going to be very short but poignant. I'm going to tell you what's what. Here's the Time to Grow Up version of the 2 + 1:

1) Of course we lost the game in the 3rd quarter, big surprise right? But do you know why we lost the game at that point? Two reasons: #1) We entered the quarter ahead by 12 points. Andrew Wiggins did not touch the basketball until the lead was down to 3. As much as I despised Sam Mitchell as a coach, that never would have happened under him. #2) The latter half of the quarter was the worst stretch of basketball I have ever seen Karl Towns play. Just miserable. He went hero mode (again trying to do too much) and was almost single handedly responsible for the Charlotte lead going from manageable to 10 points. Thankfully Thibs got him out of there to save him from himself. This one wasn't hard to figure out.

2) To be fair, for some reason the opponent always seems to shoot the lights out during these 3rd quarters. Yes the defense was shoddy, but give the Hornets credit too. Batum, Belinelli, Kaminsky, and Walker all made shots during the crucial period. It was just an onslaught we couldn't stop.

Plus 1 - I suppose there is a silver lining in our ability to dominate these first halves. You have to think the 3rd quarter thing is fixable. So I don't think this is going to last forever. But it's probably going to take the guys finally getting fed up with it and imposing their will throughout the game. Once we figure this out, we will probably win quite a few games. Just hope it isn't too late.

And that's Cool's 2 things I didn't like +1.

[Wile E Coyote [enjin:17432808]]

A few thoughts on the game:

[list]
[*] Wiggins is playing too many minutes! Zach is already hurting, and he was playing too many minutes too. The fact that Shabazz and Rush are giving us zip is causing major problems for a team that lacked wing depth from the beginning.
[*] Bjelly cannot guard wings who have some semblance of speed (a.k.a. not current form Deng)
[*] Dieng was invisible.
[*] Thibs was hot postgame. Really unhappy with turnovers, decision making, and general lack of improvement.
[/list]

I hate to say this, because tonight was not Rubio's fault and I really like Rubio's game. But I feel like Thibs may have made up his mind tonight that Rubio is not the long term answer. You could read some of his comments as pointed at Rubio, such as when he mentioned guys who have been in the league long enough to know better. Rubio's nature is to make the risky pass and the risky steal attempt, and those things annoy Thibs greatly. I think we will see a transition to Dunn ramping up in the coming weeks.

[Coolbreeze44]

A few thoughts on the game:

[list]
[*] Wiggins is playing too many minutes! Zach is already hurting, and he was playing too many minutes too. The fact that Shabazz and Rush are giving us zip is causing major problems for a team that lacked wing depth from the beginning.
[*] Bjelly cannot guard wings who have some semblance of speed (a.k.a. not current form Deng)
[*] Dieng was invisible.
[*] Thibs was hot postgame. Really unhappy with turnovers, decision making, and general lack of improvement.
[/list]

I hate to say this, because tonight was not Rubio's fault and I really like Rubio's game. But I feel like Thibs may have made up his mind tonight that Rubio is not the long term answer. You could read some of his comments as pointed at Rubio, such as when he mentioned guys who have been in the league long enough to know better. Rubio's nature is to make the risky pass and the risky steal attempt, and those things annoy Thibs greatly. I think we will see a transition to Dunn ramping up in the coming weeks.

Ricky had some really careless turnovers in the first quarter. But the offense continues to run better when he's in the game. If we had trouble scoring I think the case could be made he's a problem. I just don't think we have a better alternative at this time.

[kekgeek]

I think we need to look at adding a hard ass type player. Like Evans, Barnes, Allen, faried. We need someone who goes balls to the walls. We don't have winners on this team.

I'm disappointed that is all.

One big bright spot payne has brought good energy/play this year

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Everything needs to get simplified. Towns doesn't get to drive any more. Either hit the jumper/make a move in the post or move the ball. He's trying to be Blake Griffin out there and he's just not that guy yet. His hero ball bullshit needs to stop. He's not that good yet. Ricky needs to get the ball to the right people at the right times. The offense needs to start and end with Wiggins. Everyone needs to stop gambling for steals and stay in front of their man. The bigs need to play like bigs and start grinding in the paint on both ends of the court. Enough with this perimeter crap. That's supposed to be a wrinkle, not the go to play. Only the T Wolves could make the simple things look so hard. This is one area having Pek would help so much because he's a very simple yet effective player. He rolls to the basket and he pushes you out of your spots so you get the ball very far away from where you wanted to limiting your effectiveness in offense. Neither of those things are complicated and yet our young guys can't/won't do either of them. Everything needs to go back to the fundamental level.

[kekgeek]

Everything needs to get simplified. Towns doesn't get to drive any more. Either hit the jumper/make a move in the post or move the ball. He's trying to be Blake Griffin out there and he's just not that guy yet. His hero ball bullshit needs to stop. He's not that good yet. Ricky needs to get the ball to the right people at the right times. The offense needs to start and end with Wiggins. Everyone needs to stop gambling for steals and stay in front of their man. The bigs need to play like bigs and start grinding in the paint on both ends of the court. Enough with this perimeter crap. That's supposed to be a wrinkle, not the go to play. Only the T Wolves could make the simple things look so hard. This is one area having Pek would help so much because he's a very simple yet effective player. He rolls to the basket and he pushes you out of your spots so you get the ball very far away from where you wanted to limiting your effectiveness in offense. Neither of those things are complicated and yet our young guys can't/won't do either of them. Everything needs to go back to the fundamental level.

I like the take

[Shumway]

Quarterly splits after 10 games:
Q1 +47
Q2 +51
Q3 -91
Q4 +11
Total +18

Cool, good point about the ability to build the leads in the first half. We're plus 98 on aggregate after 10 first halves. That continues to show the talent and potential that we all love about this team. But what kind of voodoo is someone performing at halftime for that continued 3rd quarter result. We've lost 9 out of 10 third quarters.

I'd expected us to be someone inconsistent across the season. Winning a few bunches of games, but remaining inconsistent across the season. But there's no way I'd expected us to be this inconsistent from quarter to quarter (although perhaps poor 3rd quarters is about the most consistent thing about our season so far).

I'm probably not panicking yet. At this stage, I'm still putting it down to a bit of a quirk that perhaps snowballs a bit as it builds on us mentally until we're able to snap out of it. But it is incredibly frustrating.

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

I tortured myself and watched the replay. Let me first off sum up my thoughts:

Cherry Berry time!

But seriously, it's been a maddening first 10 games. Blowing leads, another Rubio injury, KAT is pressing, Thibs is yelling like no tomorrow.

Amazing that the exact same script played out yet AGAIN tonight: good to great first half, the 3rd quarter is a joke, then we wake up and fight to the end, only to fail anyway. This is insanity, the basketball version.

Probably my biggest 10 game takeaway is KAT's overall play. He looks out of sorts, taking a lot of jump shots, hardly ever see him post up right now. I'd like to see that change, especially when our offense is stagnating. KAT needs to get in the paint.

Well, I'm gonna stay the course. We aren't that far off. Still 72 games to right the ship. That said, a loss to the 76ers on Thursday and I might lose my cherry berries.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Quarterly splits after 10 games:
Q1 +47
Q2 +51
Q3 -91
Q4 +11
Total +18

Cool, good point about the ability to build the leads in the first half. We're plus 98 on aggregate after 10 first halves. That continues to show the talent and potential that we all love about this team. But what kind of voodoo is someone performing at halftime for that continued 3rd quarter result. We've lost 9 out of 10 third quarters.

I'd expected us to be someone inconsistent across the season. Winning a few bunches of games, but remaining inconsistent across the season. But there's no way I'd expected us to be this inconsistent from quarter to quarter (although perhaps poor 3rd quarters is about the most consistent thing about our season so far).

I'm probably not panicking yet. At this stage, I'm still putting it down to a bit of a quirk that perhaps snowballs a bit as it builds on us mentally until we're able to snap out of it. But it is incredibly frustrating.

This is mind-blowing. It's not just the fact we are positive in three quarters and negative in one; it's the sheer extremeness of the whole thing. We're losing 3rd quarters on average by over 9 points per game and winning everything else by 13 points per game!

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Everything needs to get simplified. Towns doesn't get to drive any more. Either hit the jumper/make a move in the post or move the ball. He's trying to be Blake Griffin out there and he's just not that guy yet. His hero ball bullshit needs to stop. He's not that good yet. Ricky needs to get the ball to the right people at the right times. The offense needs to start and end with Wiggins. Everyone needs to stop gambling for steals and stay in front of their man. The bigs need to play like bigs and start grinding in the paint on both ends of the court. Enough with this perimeter crap. That's supposed to be a wrinkle, not the go to play. Only the T Wolves could make the simple things look so hard. This is one area having Pek would help so much because he's a very simple yet effective player. He rolls to the basket and he pushes you out of your spots so you get the ball very far away from where you wanted to limiting your effectiveness in offense. Neither of those things are complicated and yet our young guys can't/won't do either of them. Everything needs to go back to the fundamental level.

I like the take

Yeah, several good thoughts here by Khans. So much talent on this team, but they need to determine what is happening during the 15 minute half time that causes them to play like a 15-wiin team in almost every third quarter, after playing like a 50-win team in most first halves.

Until someone comes up with a better reason for the continuing 3rd quarter collapses (I think the sample size tells us it's something other than just happenstance now), I'm going to continue to question what the coaching staff is saying at halftime. We all see (or at least hear) the manic way Thibs coaches on the sidelines...just imagine the impact he can have on a team when he has their rapt attention for 15 minutes! Thibs has a great basketball mind and has had success in the past with veteran teams...my optimism is based on a hope that he is smart enough to recognize that the style that worked in Chicago may not work with a talented group of near teenagers. Thibs, for your sake and the sake of this franchise, dial it back...a lot!