Game Report - Wolves v. Warriors

[Lipoli390]

A funny moment in the game when Thibs was barking at one of the officials (for good reason I'll add). Finally, the official barked back and you could clearly read his lips saying several times in a row, "You want to control this game? You want to control this game? I think it was in the form of a question but not sure. Anyway, Thibs quickly backed off, actually backpeddling away from the ref with his hands up probably sensing an impending technical.

Big crowed tonight and overall an entertaining game. Credit the Wolves for hanging in there and actually taking a 10 point lead by the end of the 3rd. However, I'm guessing that the Warriors were pretty much coasting the first three quarters. When they turned up the defensive heat in the 4th they pretty much shut us down although we did battle back late in the final quarter. Still, much more fun tonight than two nights ago in that 27-point drubbing at the hands of the mediocre Pistons. By the way, the Pistons were soundly defeated by Sixers tonight. Oh, and note the Sixers have the same record as the Wolves. But I digress. Back to the report on tonight's game.

Wiggins decided to play defense tonight and overall he did a nice job on Durant. Thibs had him in isos at the top of the key at the beginning of possessions too often tonight and we had some terrible possessions as a result -- turning the ball over dribbling into traffic or taking bad off-balance two-point jumpers. But again, hard to blame Wiggins. Those players were called by Thibs and were not the highest and best use of this team's talent.

I read some criticism of KAT in the game thread. But I have a hard time getting too down on him after pulling down 18 rebounds -- many of them big, hard-fought rebounds. And he continues to pull down double-digit rebounds game after game. Oh, and he scored 25 points to boot. I agree that he seems to be struggling compared to last season, but the effort and rebounding are always there with him every minute of every game.

Gorgui's defense and overall effort in the 2nd half were tremendous. He's a gamer.

I'll close with what I think was the main reason for tonight's 4th quarter collapse. Part of it was definitely the Warriors getting more serious after sort of coasting for 3 quarters. But I think most of it was fatigue. Our starters were clearly exhausted, especially Zach who was constantly moving without the ball and also handling the ball on the offensive end while chasing a fresh Klay Thompson around in the 4th. We have a really weak bench again this season and it resulted in our starters getting big minutes and wearing out by the 4th. Our bench is weak to begin with, but without Belly it's terrible. Rush gave us nothing tonight. Payne gave effort, but... Dunn still has a long way to go. Bazz gives great effort, but he just hasn't developed the way Flip foresaw. Still, if we hit 33 instead of 27 of our 37 free throw attempts, we might have won this game. Or if Thibs hadn't put Wiggins in the typical 1 on 5 situation. Or if Ricky could have hit a couple threes. Anyway, there are lots of reasons for our loss tonight against probably the most talented team in the League. But it sure would be nice to have a competent bench that could give us a lift through their play AND give some relief to our starters so they could be fresh in the 4th.

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

Lip you deserve a special award for continuing to go to games and writing these reports despite the losses piling up. Maybe something like a trophy with a guy on it doing a facepalm.

I'll add two thoughts. First, what happened to Brandon Rush? Wasn't this guy supposed to be a legit role player who gave us some desperately needed 3-point shooting off the bench? He's looked completely out of it the little he has played this season. Maybe got into Hill's weed?

Second, so far we have only seen how the team responds to Thibs when things are going bad. But I really wonder how different things could be if they had not blown all those big leads early in the season. That said, you get the sense they are close to breaking through with a few wins (even the butt ugly Detroit game was close until the end of the 3rd). I'd like to see what happens when (if?) this team wins a couple games in a row. Maybe Thib's bullhorn on the sidelines starts sounding more like a rallying cry. Maybe these young players buy into his defense more. Bottom line is this year's team, under Thibs, doesn't even know what winning feels like yet. 24 games in, and they haven't won 2 in a row! They need to taste some real success under Thibs and see if it snowballs into something greater, or if instead they quickly revert back to bad habits and more losing.

[Lipoli390]

Misty -- I like your quip about Rush getting into Hill's stash. Lol. If Thibs ever mellows his sideline insanity then we'll know he's gotten into that same stash. :).

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

You might be on to an idea there. Hill should pass the blunt to Thibs pre-game and see if it helps. Problem is, looking at Thibs, he might be stealing hot dogs from people in the front row when the munchies hit. Still, it's a thought.

[Monster]

After being completely disgusted during the Pistons game the Wolves played much better in this game. Durant wasn't hitting but man they were really contesting his shot. Bazz was getting crazy in his face when he was on him. Durant makes a lot of those shots anyway but I'm not sure how many times I've seen better D on him through 3 quarters at least. The D from the Wolves overall was ok. It seemed to me from fairly early on the Wolves were going to have to outscore GS. To me that was the issue. They missed some shots near the end that were make able. I can live with a loss if the team plays the way they played tonight even though there were some issues still

Rubio took advantage of their being no rim protection for GS. That was big.

Dunn hasn't arrived but he has string together a nice stretch of games. I'm feeling more optimistic all the time about him being a useful player as a starting PG.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Thanks for continuing to soldier through these games and giving us reports Lip. You are a trooper!

As a stand alone game, it's hard to get too upset about this loss. We were playing probably one of the greatest teams ever assembled in NBA history.

But it still hurts because we gave up a 10 point lead like it was nothing. What's amazing is that none of us are the least bit surprised by this anymore. We're numb - and I think our players are numb to it at this point too - that it's perfectly normal for us to give up big leads in the second half. It's business as usual in Target Center.

[Wile E Coyote [enjin:17432808]]

Agree with Lip on lack of a bench partially responsible for the collapse. I think I read today that Zach is #2 in the league in MPG. That is way too much. Thibs the coach needs to yell at Thibs the POBO for failing to obtain a bench.

I'll say this about the defense. While it has been bad both last year and this year, at least I see some semblance of a scheme this year. Often I see contested shots. Last year I just didn't see anything organized at all on defense.

I have been a huge Ricky supporter over the years. But if Dunn were 1/2 as good as experts were predicting during the draft, he'd be starting right now. Ricky's inability to knock down open shots really hurt in the 4th, despite all the other good things he was doing. But Dunn does not appear anywhere near ready. His dribble drives are aimless and often go sideways vs. towards the basket, and his passes are basic and off-target.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I saw Jordan Hill at Target on Saturday.

1. He didn't seem quite as tall as I would have thought. But I just checked out his draft review and it says he's a legit 6'10"
2. Yes. He had his groupies pushing around a couple of shopping carts as he just threw stuff in them.
3. No. He didn't seem to be high. I was surprised.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Agree with Lip on lack of a bench partially responsible for the collapse. I think I read today that Zach is #2 in the league in MPG. That is way too much. Thibs the coach needs to yell at Thibs the POBO for failing to obtain a bench.

I'll say this about the defense. While it has been bad both last year and this year, at least I see some semblance of a scheme this year. Often I see contested shots. Last year I just didn't see anything organized at all on defense.

I have been a huge Ricky supporter over the years. But if Dunn were 1/2 as good as experts were predicting during the draft, he'd be starting right now. Ricky's inability to knock down open shots really hurt in the 4th, despite all the other good things he was doing. But Dunn does not appear anywhere near ready. His dribble drives are aimless and often go sideways vs. towards the basket, and his passes are basic and off-target.

Rubio's 3-point shooting as been one of the most disappointing aspects of a terrible start to the season. I have posted before about how he makes his unguarded 3-pointers at halftime and pre-game at an 80+% clip, and his 37% three-point rate after the all-star game last year (not an insignificant sample size) game me some optimism that he was going to continue improving and making defenses pay for sagging off him. But his horrible 22% rate this year is really hurting us, and his misses last night were especially ugly. I don't know what's going on, but Ricky's value is greatly diminished if he can't knock down that shot at a reasonable rate.

[60WinTim]

I don't know what to think about Rush, or even Bazz for that matter. Rush hardly ever touches the ball, so I don't know what he may or may not be able to do! And I blame this on our teams mental block on sharing the ball.