Wolves vs Blazers GDT: quest for the 8th seed

[Duke13]

Kevin Lynch is so anti Rubio it's hilarious, he has been for years actually. Hopefully this starts the transition. Doper you said it. It's not on Rubio, but he was terrible in this game, along with other players down the stretch. This was one of Zach's worst games. Play Dunn with the starters and Tyus with the 2nd. I think it's potentially a big upgrade.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Even before reading through the thread, I knew that "one poster in particular" would once again put the blame on the Thibs for this game. Forget that this was arguably the worst games of the season for several of our key players. Somebody said it in the other thread, but you see what you want to see, and you blame those you want to blame -- even when it's misguided.

[KiwiMatt]

Didn't watch the game, but going by the box score it looks like Rubio and Towns had terrible games shooting a combined 3 - 20. That can't happen. I think the sooner we start Dunn the better. Baptism by fire.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Even before reading through the thread, I knew that "one poster in particular" would once again put the blame on the Thibs for this game. Forget that this was arguably the worst games of the season for several of our key players. Somebody said it in the other thread, but you see what you want to see, and you blame those you want to blame -- even when it's misguided.

Oh, there's no question most of us here form opinions and then look for clear evidence that supports our opinion...it's human nature. And I think continuing to defend Thibs as doing a good job after an 11-23 start against a weak schedule is another example of this very human phenomenon.

What we need to do as astute basketball observers is adjust our pre-conception when the evidence is overwhelming against our initial impression. It's difficult to admit fallibility, but we do it. I was firmly against McCollum as a viable NBA player, but the preponderance of evidence has convinced me that I was completely wrong...and tonight was yet another example. I keep looking for evidence to turn me around on Thibs because he seems like a good guy and we're stuck with him for awhile...but he just doesn't seem to be getting it. My opinion that he has had a hand in the regression of this team doesn't seem to be far-fetched to me...actually seems rather logical. But I'm remaining hopeful...

[Coolbreeze44]

Couple of pertinent tweets:

Jon Krawczynski ?@APkrawczynski 1h
1 hour ago

Wolves in the 3rd quarter:
Wiggins (4/6) and Dunn (1/1): 5-7
Rest of team: 0-14.


Alan Horton
?@WolvesRadio
Wolves now 9-11 (.450) in games they lead by 10 or more points. Across the league teams win at a 79% clip when leading by double digits.

[KiwiMatt]

Couple of pertinent tweets:

Jon Krawczynski ?@APkrawczynski 1h
1 hour ago

Wolves in the 3rd quarter:
Wiggins (4/6) and Dunn (1/1): 5-7
Rest of team: 0-14.


Alan Horton
?@WolvesRadio
Wolves now 9-11 (.450) in games they lead by 10 or more points. Across the league teams win at a 79% clip when leading by double digits.

That third quarter stat is beyond concerning. What is happening in the locker room at half time to cause this?

Simply put there are no excuses for losing at home to a team like the Portland Blazers missing their best player. No excuses.

If there is one games where KAT should stand up and say this loss is on him then this is probably it. Anyone shooting 3 - 15 is unacceptable let alone one of the best emerging big men in the league. And Rubio scored 1 point tonight and didn't make a field goal. This team can't go one with a PG who can't score not matter how good he is in other departments. I'm sorry but that's not good enough.

[thedoper]

Well the bright side is that if KAT didn't shoot any 3s he only would have been 3-9.

[Monster]

Basketball is a game of runs. Good teams even give up runs. What is different about this Wolves team compared to others the last couple years is if they are down by 8 within 2 mins I have some hope they can come back because they actually have 3 point shooters that have some reasonable chance of making shots.

CJ had a big game but I bet some of that was by design. Let him hit mid range jumpers and limit the damage he has hitting 3's. The Wolves didn't lose the game because CJ hit all those shots they lost because they let Plumblee hit some easy baskets, let CJ get his own rebound off a FT and a number of other plays. Did Rubio play good enough D on him? No he did not. Dunn wasn't perfect but he played a nice game today. Let's hope he builds on it he showed some pretty good things. Defensively the guy is a straight up beast and will likely only get better. I'm starting to be a Dunn believer as a really solid piece going forward. Let's find a combo forward that's more of a wing defender that's at worst legit rotation level as a player.

Towns keep jacking up 3's....my goodness it's frustrating when he takes them and he is not hitting them. Should he stop taking them? Idk I think it's actually really hard to say because that 3 ball is a big deal.

Wiggins Lavine and Bazz all had some drives that ended in empty possessions for the team. It really sucked. I thought there were a number of times Wiggins was really good dribbling out and beating the double teams on the perimeter. He needs to get even better but I've seen Steph Curry (against much much better defensive pressure) have issues in the past not making the right plays so let's see how Wiggins does as more time passes. It's really remarkable how Thibs is coaching this team taking time to look to develop these guys.

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

trade Rubio

Wiggins is handling the ball and has five turnovers (actually should have been 6) and KAT is 0 from 6 from outside and he has a complete greenlight from there and why is Thibs ok with this? We should have blown out a Portland team without Lillard at home, but the gameplan is terrible. Its on the players too, but I really have been disappointed with Thibs game management.

what the fuck do you do at this point when teams literally have a player play centerfield against us, how do you coach around a PG that can't shoot at all? Teams are going to aggressively go after us on defense with doubles and traps like crazy now once they see this and there is nothing we can do to stop it, this isn't on Towns improving passing out of the doubles he can get better but Ricky has to go. Can any of you find me clips of another pg who was so ignored and let open to shot THAT bad on every play? It doesn't matter if it's a 3 or a 10 footer you can't win that way, we are seeing what any team we faced in a playoff game would do to us and it was brutal to watch

Ricky has consistently been our top plus guy every year until this year. Thibs is the X Factor. He's been a complete disaster so far. If we had the option of getting rid of Thibs, I would do that before getting rid of Ricky who's elite in every category for a point guard outside of Field goal shooting.

[Monster]

Is this the low point in the most dreadful of all seasons?

How is it such a low point? We lost to team with more wins than us and went to the playoffs last year. To me it's closer to a 50/50 game. The Blazers are now a game over .500 when Lilliard doesn't play.