82-0 still in play...Nuggets GDT

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Again, what a game from Towns. If he can play anywhere close to that consistently, watch out!

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

It was also fun listening to Jim Pete gush about him all night. I'm trying not to get too excited as a wolves fan but all the signs are there for superstar

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

mentor= a veteran guy who has nothing left to give on the court so his presence is justified by saying he tutoring people. Their actual stats produced are not their own, but of what the young players averaged.

example: KG' stats was 4 and 6. But actually his line was 28 and 14 and 4 because it was because of him that Towns produced those numbers.

KG and Princes combined stats through 2 games: 6 points, 9 boards, 2.5 assists shooting less then 40%. Those guys are mentors.

Kevin Martin: 18.5 points, 2 boards, shooting higher percentage. Not a mentor

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

mentor= a veteran guy who has nothing left to give on the court so his presence is justified by saying he tutoring people. Their actual stats produced are not their own, but of what the young players averaged.

example: KG' stats was 4 and 6. But actually his line was 28 and 14 and 4 because it was because of him that Towns produced those numbers.

KG and Princes combined stats through 2 games: 6 points, 9 boards, 2.5 assists shooting less then 40%. Those guys are mentors.

Kevin Martin: 18.5 points, 2 boards, shooting higher percentage. Not a mentor

I can only conclude that KAT, Wig and Ricky are the three greatest players of all time, because they are 2-0 on the road despite having to be on the same court with two guys who have "nothing left to give on the court". Imagine how good this team is going to be when Sam abandons this foolish experiment and puts some real players on the court!

Alex, are you watching the games, or just reading the box scores? Yes, KG and Tay are not going to be impressive in the box score, unless you look a little closer. Tay was a +22 on the night, best on the team, and held Denver's best scorer to 10 points on 4-13 shooting. Tay and KG combined for 4 of our 7 steals. And how about the perimeter defense? Have you ever seen a Wolves' team defend the perimeter and contest so many shots as they have in the first two weeks? Sure, Sam Mitchell deserves some of the credit for that with all the time he spent on defense in practices, but if you watch the games, Tay and KG are playing a major role in ensuring our rotations are proper and there are no wide open threes...it's like having two coaches on the court at the start of halves to set the proper defensive tone. Ricky's on-the-ball defense helps a lot too by denying penetration, but I can't say enough about how much our 2 starting veterans' length, quick feet and defensive smarts have improved our defense.

Mock the mentoring concept if you need to, but I see a completely different team out there, and it's pretty clear the vets have a lot to do with that.

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

It's funny that you see a completely different team out there, considering they played the two of the worst teams in the league this year. I seem to remember about a week ago about how everyone was complaining on how bad the team looked. Yea ones preseason and ones regular season, but also ones against good teams and ones against bad teams.

Prince did not hold Gallo to 4-13 shooting. go watch his shots on NBA.com. He held him to 3-6 shooting with 2 of which he blew right by him. One miss was from a Towns cleanup. Mostly Gallo just missed open shots otherwise

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

It's funny that you see a completely different team out there, considering they played the two of the worst teams in the league this year. I seem to remember about a week ago about how everyone was complaining on how bad the team looked. Yea ones preseason and ones regular season, but also ones against good teams and ones against bad teams.

Prince did not hold Gallo to 4-13 shooting. go watch his shots on NBA.com. He held him to 3-6 shooting with 2 of which he blew right by him. One miss was from a Towns cleanup. Mostly Gallo just missed open shots otherwise

I agree that LA and Denver are not very good teams, but I don't recall too many 2-game winning streaks last year on the road regardless of who we were playing. And I do see a completely different looking team out there. I take it that you don't? I think you are right that we shouldn't expect to see the same results once we start playing very good teams...we're still a developing team... but that doesn't take away from the different look this club has showed so far.

I was one of the guys here saying the team didn't look very good two weeks ago, and I was pessimistic about the upcoming season. But I have been positive about this club since the final preseason game against the Bucks, which was the first game after which Sam announced that Prince and Wig would be his starting wings, and Zach would be the backup PG. Like many of us, I questioned the move at the time, but three consecutive well-played games is influencing me. It's early, but I think Sam got this one right.

You and I must have watched different games last night, because I didn't see many wide open shots by Gallo...I saw contested shots. I have seen wide open perimeter shots constantly the last two years so I'm painfully aware of what they look like, and I just haven't seen many the first two games outside of that one 8-minute stretch against the Lakers. Yes, Gallo beat Prince off the dribble early the game, and I mentioned in the GDT thread that Prince was having a tough time staying in front of him. But the last 3 1/2 quarters he shut him down.

I'm trying to understand your premise here. Maybe you think the first two games are fools' gold because we were playing two lottery teams, and I agree that our opposition is reason for caution. But to deny that we look entirely different on defense than any Wolves team we have watched over the last decade is baffling to me.

[m4gor [enjin:6667447]]

actually Bjelica did better job on Gallo than Prince imho, but the thing is that we want to force trio Rubio/Wigg/KAT to score and close out games and that is right approach as in long run these guys priority no.1, they are running ISO with Wigg which is crucial for his development and Rubio/KAT will develop some mean PnR this way .. Sam is doing really good job in this

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

actually Bjelica did better job on Gallo than Prince imho, but the thing is that we want to force trio Rubio/Wigg/KAT to score and close out games and that is right approach as in long run these guys priority no.1, they are running ISO with Wigg which is crucial for his development and Rubio/KAT will develop some mean PnR this way .. Sam is doing really good job in this

You're right, m4gor, Belly really impressed me with his D on Gallo last night...he showed that he has the ability to guard some 3's and that is really important for his versatility. Belly is not nearly as effective as Prince at "help" defense and defensive positioning, but his on-the-ball defense on Gallo was terrific. Not to mention he was a big part of our not getting badly rebounded by Denver...his defensive rebounding has been very good to date. We'll forget about his three missed free throws after getting fouled outside the arc, because history tells us that is completely out of character.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Saw this comment on an article.

"According to NBA.com, players being guarded by KG or Towns shot 6-21. Include Rubio in that and it's 6-24. The rest? 13-20."

If that's true, Towns (and Garnett) really is having a great impact defensively by the numbers, and that matches what I've seen so far.

[60WinTim]

Saw this comment on an article.

"According to NBA.com, players being guarded by KG or Towns shot 6-21. Include Rubio in that and it's 6-24. The rest? 13-20."

If that's true, Towns (and Garnett) really is having a great impact defensively by the numbers, and that matches what I've seen so far.

Yup! Towns has been outstanding. And there was a bit of mystery as to what KG might still provide on the court. His first two games have been very good. Hopefully his body will continue to hold up. And we desperately need Rubio to hold up as well!