Game Report - Wolves v. Hawks

[Lipoli390]

Obviously a critical win tonight over the Hawks. What's troubling is that it took 56 points and 15 rebounds from KAT to get a 12 point win against a G-League caliber Hawks team that hung with the Wolves the entire game. If the team doesn't play better defense against the Nuggets, Jazz or even the Grizzlies in our 3 remaining home games, we will probably lose ast least two if not all three of them. And we will certainly lose our road games to the Nuggets and Lakers. KAT's not going to have any more 56 point games and if the Nuggets or Jazz had been our opponent tonight we probably would have lost in spite of KAT's prolific scoring night.

We became a much better team on both ends of the floor when Tyus substituted for Teague tonight. Neither one shot well, but Tyus's defense was MUCH better than Teague's and he did a much better job running the offense. But that's fairly typical. Teague is a net plus only when he's scoring efficiently, which he did not tonight. Gorgui provided some great toughness and solid play off the bench and Crawford was hitting his shots.

Overall, the Wolves ball movement was better than usual. But part of that is that we were playing a very poor defensive team. Nonetheless, when we're moving the ball, we score and generally when we score over 112 points, we win.

Some other observations:

1. Patton is really tall. I saw his standing next to Gorgui and he was easily a full head taller. Speaking of Patton, note that Collins was on the floor playing as he displayed an awesome move for a bucket that had KAT on his heels turning the wrong way. :)

2. Patton was smiling and laughing on the bench. He's too Wes Johnson-like for me. Same for Anthony Brown. Way to jovial on the bench for my taste. But I love Amile Jefferson's demeanor. He doesn't pal around and yuck it up with the other guys on the bench. He has a great, serious stoic game face. I really wanted to get a big lead so we could see him in action. I'd like to see him against NBA competition, although I'm not sure it's fair to call the Hawks team on the court tonight "NBA competition."

3. At one point, Taj was running down the court yelling back at Thibs. Taj looked really pissed.

4. Butler loves to talk. I think he talked to every Wolves player repeatedly on and around the bench tonight.

That's it for now. We won a game we had to win and KAT had a historic performance. Now it's on to Dallas. This is another huge opportunity for the Wolves. Beating the Mavs and then winning our three remaining home games should get us at least up to the 6th seed and possibly as high as 4th. I don't see us beating the Lakers or Nuggets on the road, so this Mavs game is clearly our best chance at a road win down the stretch. Maybe Wiggins can give us a 50-point performance in one of these remaining games.

[Porckchop]

Why does it have to be troubling that the Wolves win becuz their best player put up huge numbers?
Houston Cleveland and GS all rely on big games from their stars from time to time. Isn't that the reason you need one on your team? To carry the load sometimes?

[Monster]

Thanks for the report Lip.

I think you need a guy or 2 that can keep things light. Patton and Brown may be really enjoying being up at the NBA level. Brown might be happy to be getting a break. The dude played a lot of basketball this year for the Iowa Wolves. I watched Amile's media availability from the other day and yes the guy is absolutely locked in. I don't know how you can't hope the guy works out. He said all the right things and it seems genuine. One thing that jumped out at me was he basically said he was learning everything he can from Taj and it seemed from his comments that's the type/style of player he sees himself being which I think is about as good of a comp as there is.

There was a GIF of Jimmy on the bench having fun I believe it was from this game. He and MGH were having a fun moment together. Jimmy needs to put in a good word for him like Deng did for him. Lol

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Thanks for the report Lip. Glad you got to see a win after that miserable loss against Memphis.

- On the G-league call-ups....Your comments on Patton's bench demeanor just reinforce my impression after watching him play quite a bit. He's soft and doesn't have that dog in him. I love what Jefferson has done down in Iowa, but it's just tough to see that translating to the next level. Energy/rebounding type guys that can't shoot from outside are not that valuable anymore (Exhibit A: Kenneth Faried). And he certainly doesn't play Taj Gibson level defense. Probably not a bad end of bench guy.

- KAT had a terrific game, but guess who else had a career game? Mike Muscala, the guy KAT was guarding.

- I mentioned it in the game thread, but Tyus Jones has a little bit of that Ricky Rubio "good things seem to happen" vibe when he's on the floor. He created 4 turnovers in his first half stint, two of which won't show up in any box score (drew two offensive fouls). But dammit, just like Rubio, he has a tough time getting the ball in the hoop. We wouldn't be so dependent on Crawford if Jones could create more offense for himself and others off the bounce.

- Crawford really is the worst defender in the league. Wow, guys just blow by him without any resistance. I get that he might be a great locker room presence, but that was a terrible signing in terms of the product on the floor.

I agree Lip that it's tough to see this team win @Denver or @LA. The other games are critical.

[Lipoli390]

Why does it have to be troubling that the Wolves win becuz their best player put up huge numbers?
Houston Cleveland and GS all rely on big games from their stars from time to time. Isn't that the reason you need one on your team? To carry the load sometimes?

Because it was against the Atlanta Hawks -- the worst team in the NBA, missing key rotation players and currently in full tank mode!!!

[Porckchop]

Wins are wins, losses are losses.
Feels like you guys get a lil to caught up in how we get both.

[Wolvesfan21]

KAT was facing G-League defense. They had nobody who could guard him. No doubt he won't do that again against better opponents.

Of course the defense, which was bad all year is currently atrocious. Flat out pathetic.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I agree Lip that it's tough to see this team win @Denver or @LA. The other games are critical.

How sad/ironic is it that we're rooting for a team to make the playoffs... but many/most are expecting a loss to the 33-win Lakers?

[Monster]

Thanks for the report Lip. Glad you got to see a win after that miserable loss against Memphis.

- On the G-league call-ups....Your comments on Patton's bench demeanor just reinforce my impression after watching him play quite a bit. He's soft and doesn't have that dog in him. I love what Jefferson has done down in Iowa, but it's just tough to see that translating to the next level. Energy/rebounding type guys that can't shoot from outside are not that valuable anymore (Exhibit A: Kenneth Faried). And he certainly doesn't play Taj Gibson level defense. Probably not a bad end of bench guy.

- KAT had a terrific game, but guess who else had a career game? Mike Muscala, the guy KAT was guarding.

- I mentioned it in the game thread, but Tyus Jones has a little bit of that Ricky Rubio "good things seem to happen" vibe when he's on the floor. He created 4 turnovers in his first half stint, two of which won't show up in any box score (drew two offensive fouls). But dammit, just like Rubio, he has a tough time getting the ball in the hoop. We wouldn't be so dependent on Crawford if Jones could create more offense for himself and others off the bounce.

- Crawford really is the worst defender in the league. Wow, guys just blow by him without any resistance. I get that he might be a great locker room presence, but that was a terrible signing in terms of the product on the floor.

I agree Lip that it's tough to see this team win @Denver or @LA. The other games are critical.

I agree with you about Tyus but I also would be curious to see how he would do if he wasn't playing with Crawford who basically has the ball most of the time he is in there. I just looked up Tyus stats and his usage rate has gone up so with Jimmy out he must be getting more chances to do things with Crawford playing more idk.

A couple other things jump out at me. His shooting percentages from different spots just keep going up in general. He doesn't get tot he FT line much but he is hitting them over 90%. He has really struggled from 3 in March but is still hitting almost half of his shots overall this month. He takes a lot of his shots within 10 feet of the rim which seems a bit impressive all things considered. I'd be curious how many of his shots at the rim are on blast breaks including steals and scores. His steal rate is still elite.

It feels like if Tyus was playing with some sort of dynamic player either athletically or as a shooter that he could feed and also created some space and gravity in general he would have a better shot at getting some for himself. Playing with Belly would help. If Patton has some actual translatable offensive skills that could help. Dieng has some skills but it doesn't seem like his game helps Tyus too much. Dieng can set screens but his game is that long jumper. If you had a guy that likes rolling to the rim and finished there well (which is what Patton was very good at in college) I think Tyus would feed him well. For example he is a different player but I'd imagine Pek and Tyus would have done some good work together.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

KAT was facing G-League defense. They had nobody who could guard him. No doubt he won't do that again against better opponents.

Of course the defense, which was bad all year is currently atrocious. Flat out pathetic.

True, but you still gotta make the shots. It's not like he was getting layups and dunks all night. He made a number of shots with a hand in his face.

I think Al Horford is by far his toughest matchup because he can stay with KAT on the perimeter and then out-muscle him on the interior without fouling.