Game Report - First Playoff Win in 14 Years

[Lipoli390]

I didn't think the energy in the arena could surpass the level we had in the Denver game. I was wrong. The noise was deafening and the energy was inspiring. The crowd was constantly on its feet. No need for electronic hand claps or a cheerleading MC trying to lead the crowed in cliche chants. The crowd took over and the Wolves players clearly fed off the energy we generated just as we fed off the effort and energy from the Wolves players. Tonight's game put to shame all of us who feared making the playoffs as an 8th. Tonight's game was why making the playoffs, even as an 8th seed, was the right thing.

This was a total team win. The ball moved better than it has been and the Wolves ended up with 29 assists. The Wolves are something like 25-5 when they have at least 25 assists. Hmm. Our defense was very good tonight, but as I've said over and over, this team wins with offense. Tonight we scored 121 points and we won.

Every Wolves player who got on the floor played well on both ends and contributed to this win. It's hard to single out any one player for special praise. I could give my game ball to Butler as our leading scorer with 28 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. But Wiggins arguably deserves it just as much with his 20 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists a that huge block down the stretch. Wiggins has been good all series so far, but tonight he was absolutely tremendous on both ends. No doubt that Wiggins played like a max player tonight. Teague came up big tonight with 23 points and some tenacious defense on Chris Paul down the stretch.

Yet, in the end, I'm giving my game ball to Derrick Rose. His 17 points on 50% shooting and 2 steals in 21 minutes only tell a small part of hte tale. D. Rose repeatedly brings an incredible level of energy on both ends of the floor unlike any other player on this team. he did it again tonight. And you can't fully appreciate it on TV. Rose is all heart. Interestingly, Rose looked more like a team leader tonight than Jimmy. When the Wolves were struggling a bit in the 2nd quarter, Jimmy was yelling at KAT and then yelling at Belly. Crawford started talking to Butler at one point and you could see Butler become really defensive and then blowing him off. Then Jimmy walked over to Crawford a minute later and shook his hand. Otherwise, I never saw Butler simply talk to any of his teammates or pat any of them on the back. Meanwhile, D. Rose was talking to KAT and Wiggins, explaining things, patting guys on the chest. Butler is our best player. But Rose and Taj looked like real leaders.

I also want to give some props to Gorgui Gieng. Looking at the box score, I see that he only played about 9 minutes, but sitting in the arena tonight it seemed like he played 29. His defense was tremendous and that corner three he hit in the second half was absolutely huge.

I've watched nearly every other playoff game around the League this year The officials are allowing a lot of contact, but they appear to be allowing it equally. The exception seems to be the Wolves-Rockets series. The officials clearly gave the Rockets far more leeway than the Wolves in allowing contact. The contact they allow against KAT is beyond ridiculous. It's almost scandalous. Capela was grabbing and holding him on every possession except when Anderson or Harden guarded him in which case they were grabbing and holding him. Yet, KAT gets called if he simply brushes the guy he's defending. It's disgusting. But kudos to KAT for fighting through it tonight and having a good game, especially on the defensive end with 16 rebounds, 2 big blocks and a steal. He's actually played well defensively in both of the last two games and in the second half of the first game.

The Wolves are a very talented team. We all knew that when the season started. If our guys play hard, move the ball and shoot with confidence, they can beat anyone. We still didn't move the ball the way the Jazz, Sixers and Pelicans do, but we have so many talented scorers we can get away with less movement than a lot of other teams. But we moved the ball enough and our guys were hitting their shots. The result was a huge win in a highly energized arena.

Cautions going forward?

Caution #1. Beware bad Teague. We had good Teague tonight and when we do we play well and generally win. Good Teague is aggressive scoring the ball and feisty defensively. The caution is that we suffer greatly when Teague isn't scoring the ball because he isn't a particularly good PG. There were a number of possessions (I lost count) when he had KAT posted up and open against Anderson or Harden early in the possession but failed to get him the ball. He repeatedly fails to get the ball to open player in good position early in possessions. But he's mainly a score, not a PG. So he has to score to be effective. Bad Teague is the one who's passive or not hitting his shots. Because of the way we play, we can't afford to have bad Teague in this series. So let's hope good Teague is the only Teague we see the rest of this series.

Caution #2. Another caution is that we can't expect this team to hit 55.6% of our threes like we did tonight. I think we can and should get a lot more three-point buckets than we have during the season. But tonight was an extraordinarily good 3-point shooting night for the Wolves that is unlikely to repeat itself.

Caution #3. We have to expect a more active intense defense from the Rockets on Monday. So we're going to have to ratchet up our intensity even more to have chance at evening this series.

The Wolves are good enough to beat the Rockets again on our home floor. It would be sweet to get another win Monday night. I'm looking forward to the game. Playoff basketball at Target Center again is a real treat. Let's go out and get another win Monday night and then come back for one more.

[WildWolf2813]

Must have felt great to see it in person without truly having to sweat it out.


It's on the guys to still have that fire in Game 4.

[Wolvesfan21]

8th seed is a failure.

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

the rockets were daring us to pass the ball to kat and wiggins in the post. daring us all series. i think thibs might have overthought this and thought it was a trap and just played into their hands and faded wiggs and kat to the corner for the first 2 games.

kat and wiggs both commanded doubles and sometimes triple teams tonight. the kids made the right reads and it opened the floor for teague and butler to get open lanes and looks.

The rockets simply cant match up with those 2 due to their speed and athleticism. They know it. Pressure them and hope for mistakes and allow everyone else to beat you.

The added bonus of the rockets pressuring kat and wiggs is that they are looking to make the play for others rather than take a contested shot. And their defense has also taken a step up. This bodes well for the teams future.

[KiwiMatt]

Lip, I can't say I agree with you on giving the game ball to Rose. I thought he took too many ill advised shots. But yes he certainly provided a much needed spark off the bench. It was a real team effort but for me it was Andrew Wiggins with arguably his best career game. I would also like to applaud Jeff Teague, loved the passion he played with tonight. Hey and Jimmy Butler wasn't half bad now was he? And honourable mention to KAT who got mugged all game.

My favourite plays of the game: The steal and euro step dunk by Gorgui and the no call on Harden driving at KAT in the fourth. James Harden is use to getting those calls when HE creates the contact. Was nice to see the officials get it right for once.

The Rockets play such and unorthodox brand of basketball. It's like they have a bunch of linebackers/hockey players out there checking opposition players to create space for Harden and Paul. Illegal screen after illegal screen. The thing is that their whole squad bar Capella can hit the 3 ball at an efficient rate. Then there's the absolute hammering Towns get evertime he establishes low post position. Watching Tucker pushing and arm grabbing him with out any calls was comical to say the least. Don't get me wrong, I like to see the officials let it go a bit like they do in the playoffs, but man that was brutal.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Thanks for the game report Lip. Good insights on Rose.

I gotta tell you. Thibs must have some special connection with him because I thought he was an absolute trash signing. For whatever reason, Thibs seems to bring out the best in these guys that played for him previously.

A few other thoughts...

- When Wiggins hits 3's and drives to the hoop aggressively, he's a game changer. When he's missing open 3s, throws up fadeaway turnarounds and pull up long 2's, he sucks the air out of the offense. More of the former please!

- Even in KAT's bad games, he has still been part of a defensive unit that has guarded Houston about as well as anyone could expect against a team with that kind of firepower. KAT has done his part on that end of the floor for 2.5 games. He got destroyed in the first half of game one, but since then has done nicely.

- Butler may have to sell Harden's arm pushoffs a little harder. He's almost too strong for his own good. I think that one late foul where Butler pushed Harden was a frustration foul because he felt Harden clearing him out yet again with his off ball arm. May be try flopping a little, as much as I hate that strategy. They aren't calling it otherwise.

At this point, I have to say the playoffs have been a success for the Wolves. They have defended well in all three games and won a game against the best team in the NBA. They seem to be improving in ways that could carry over to next season.

[Monster]

the rockets were daring us to pass the ball to kat and wiggins in the post. daring us all series. i think thibs might have overthought this and thought it was a trap and just played into their hands and faded wiggs and kat to the corner for the first 2 games.

kat and wiggs both commanded doubles and sometimes triple teams tonight. the kids made the right reads and it opened the floor for teague and butler to get open lanes and looks.

The rockets simply cant match up with those 2 due to their speed and athleticism. They know it. Pressure them and hope for mistakes and allow everyone else to beat you.

The added bonus of the rockets pressuring kat and wiggs is that they are looking to make the play for others rather than take a contested shot. And their defense has also taken a step up. This bodes well for the teams future.

I don't know exactly what it was maybe just the energy of the Woves being at home but the post ups went differently in this game. Wiggins and Towns were able to actually make some moves and score and in the previous 2 games it just wasn't successful. The Rockets has also scouted Wiggins and were taking away those cross court passes that he makes. Tonight he was able to get them to guys. One difference was ai think Towns got deeper in his post position more. The whole offense was just really working a lot. It was fun.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Nice report Lip. Wow, first playoff win in 14 years. That was fun to watch. Wish I could have been there.

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

the rockets were daring us to pass the ball to kat and wiggins in the post. daring us all series. i think thibs might have overthought this and thought it was a trap and just played into their hands and faded wiggs and kat to the corner for the first 2 games.

kat and wiggs both commanded doubles and sometimes triple teams tonight. the kids made the right reads and it opened the floor for teague and butler to get open lanes and looks.

The rockets simply cant match up with those 2 due to their speed and athleticism. They know it. Pressure them and hope for mistakes and allow everyone else to beat you.

The added bonus of the rockets pressuring kat and wiggs is that they are looking to make the play for others rather than take a contested shot. And their defense has also taken a step up. This bodes well for the teams future.

I don't know exactly what it was maybe just the energy of the Woves being at home but the post ups went differently in this game. Wiggins and Towns were able to actually make some moves and score and in the previous 2 games it just wasn't successful. The Rockets has also scouted Wiggins and were taking away those cross court passes that he makes. Tonight he was able to get them to guys. One difference was ai think Towns got deeper in his post position more. The whole offense was just really working a lot. It was fun.

I think both guys just took it strong and said screw it.
Kat didn't make a million moves before putting anything up. When he got a chance, he went strong head first.
Wiggs didn't do anything fancy. He just put his head down, went right as usual, and just went over whoever was there.
Most importantly, both guys were actively looking to create for others and look for the open guy. Wiggs especially was on his drive and kick game. He stays in the air for so long that it buys him a little extra time.

It's also crazy that they get no respect from the refs. Kat is constantly mugged and wiggs hasn't gets hit when he goes in.

Both kids showed alot of maturity this game.

[Monster]

Interning insights on what was happening on the floor Lip. I think there could be benefits of having a guy like Butler just getting upset a bit. Have some good cop bad cop. I also think Butler is fitting it out playing back from and through injuries. Maybe he doesn't also have to be the leader also. That one moment what Derrick Rose rubbed and Patted Towns in the head after a play was kind of a neat moment.

I don't know if I would give Tose a game ball but the guy played well. Sure he took a couple long 2's that maybe aren't the best shots but he also made at least 1 and his movement off ball is really impressive. He is taking guys off the dribble when he knows he has an advantage. On the other end he can play defense at the very least enough not to be a liability. He was the guy that had a poke away from Harden late in the game when Harden was kinda bottled up.

I thought Thibs rotations were pretty good. Taj didn't play much down the stretch with Rose playing and Belly had a rebound that was nice but he has struggled in this series and hardly played in this game. We need him to come to the party the rest of the series. Dieng was terrific again. The stats in the playoffs (other than blocks and steals) aren't that impressive but it feels like every game he has been more of a positive than negative.

I'll say this about Jeff Teague his defense on Chris Paul in this series has been pretty good. It looked like Thibs made an adjustment and had Teague guarding Paul in thisbgame instead of Rose. Paul is still putting up nice and efficient numbers but after a very good game last night so is Teague. Wolfson posted some video of Teague talking to the media the other day and his insights were pretty good talking about playing with pace and how and when to get Towns the ball. That might not always translate on the court but it seems like he has some pretty good thoughts on how to play the game that I think a lot of folks here would agree with.

Wiggins looks like he could be a monster defensively. I always thought he might step up in the playoffs. I'll take what I have seen so far in 3 games.