lipoli390 wrote:Covington is doubtful for Tuesday's game. The Wolves have been incredibly lucky facing good teams with key players out.
Its such a underrated aspect of this wolves team, the wolves players have missed a total of 16 games (9 by Belly, 2 by Butler, 2 by gorgui and 3 by teague). The wolves had 5 players on their roster who did not miss a game last year, Teague, Wiggins, Gorgui, Towns and Crawford. I do think there is some skill in not missing games, and it has been a huge factor in being the 4 seed and a 1.5 game lead on the 5 seed. You say lucky, I think there is some skill in that.
lipoli390 wrote:Covington is doubtful for Tuesday's game. The Wolves have been incredibly lucky facing good teams with key players out.
Its such a underrated aspect of this wolves team, the wolves players have missed a total of 16 games (9 by Belly, 2 by Butler, 2 by gorgui and 3 by teague). The wolves had 5 players on their roster who did not miss a game last year, Teague, Wiggins, Gorgui, Towns and Crawford. I do think there is some skill in not missing games, and it has been a huge factor in being the 4 seed and a 1.5 game lead on the 5 seed. You say lucky, I think there is some skill in that.
There's a joke there about not playing on the defensive end of the court being a skill... somewhere.
lipoli390 wrote:Covington is doubtful for Tuesday's game. The Wolves have been incredibly lucky facing good teams with key players out.
Its such a underrated aspect of this wolves team, the wolves players have missed a total of 16 games (9 by Belly, 2 by Butler, 2 by gorgui and 3 by teague). The wolves had 5 players on their roster who did not miss a game last year, Teague, Wiggins, Gorgui, Towns and Crawford. I do think there is some skill in not missing games, and it has been a huge factor in being the 4 seed and a 1.5 game lead on the 5 seed. You say lucky, I think there is some skill in that.
There's a joke there about not playing on the defensive end of the court being a skill... somewhere.
Fair, wish I could tell a joke. But since Nov 1 the wolves 17th in defensive rating, Give the 11th least amount of points off of turnovers, 9th least amount of 2nd chance points, 23rd in opps fast break points, 17th in paint points.
So it is not great but we are becoming a middle of the pack defensive team, it is not great but it is a step.
lipoli390 wrote:Covington is doubtful for Tuesday's game. The Wolves have been incredibly lucky facing good teams with key players out.
Its such a underrated aspect of this wolves team, the wolves players have missed a total of 16 games (9 by Belly, 2 by Butler, 2 by gorgui and 3 by teague). The wolves had 5 players on their roster who did not miss a game last year, Teague, Wiggins, Gorgui, Towns and Crawford. I do think there is some skill in not missing games, and it has been a huge factor in being the 4 seed and a 1.5 game lead on the 5 seed. You say lucky, I think there is some skill in that.
There's a joke there about not playing on the defensive end of the court being a skill... somewhere.
Fair, wish I could tell a joke. But since Nov 1 the wolves 17th in defensive rating, Give the 11th least amount of points off of turnovers, 9th least amount of 2nd chance points, 23rd in opps fast break points, 17th in paint points.
So it is not great but we are becoming a middle of the pack defensive team, it is not great but it is a step.
Definitely.
If they can stay in or near the Top 10 offensively... and get anywhere in the teens defensively... they should be firmly entrenched in the playoffs... and maybe even miss having to play one of the big 3 in the first round.
Attended the game and was shocked that even Thibs energy was lower than normal. Growing increasingly frustrated with Thibs insistence on only playing 8. Bazz's offense has struggled this year primarily because he is the 4th option on the second squad, but I'm ok with the D he is playing. Need Belly back.
leado01 wrote:Attended the game and was shocked that even Thibs energy was lower than normal. Growing increasingly frustrated with Thibs insistence on only playing 8. Bazz's offense has struggled this year primarily because he is the 4th option on the second squad, but I'm ok with the D he is playing. Need Belly back.
Agree 100%. Crawford and Bazz together seemed to be more the issue to me than Bazz in isolation. Bazz always played horrible when Zach was running point on 2nd unit too. I'm sure if Bazz was getting minor playing time staggered with Crawford the results would be better. Thibs seems really in love with what Crawford brings though. So we really just need a defensive grinder as a back up wing.
leado01 wrote:Or have Bazz start knocking down 45% of the corner 3 shots that he has... Like he did 3 years ago
Heck if he could hit 33% of them like his career low his rookie year that would help. Right now he is hitting under 29%. Even for the streaky Bazz that's bad. The guy just hasn't been able to buy a basket. He isn't even converting shots at the rim at the rate he usually does. I wonder if just giving him a few games off may actually give him a chance to get relax a bit. I'm sure he was pressing because...he was playing for his next contract. Now he might be playing just to stay in the league. To his credit I haven't seen anything that make me think the guy is checked out. I see him talking with guys on the bench getting up and greeting guys at timeouts etc.I don't really have any issues with Bazz not getting minutes lately. He just wasn't helping the team when he was out there. I think he or someone else on the wing will get a chance to play soon.
