Game Report - Win & In

[Monster]

I just saw this tweet and it reminded me of that play. Did anyone else wonder about this while that unfolded? Seemed like an easy call to me.

https://twitter.com/haralabob/status/984256612436094976?s=21

"Watch that Butler Postup, who / what was Jokic guarding. He was actually illegal for most of the possession. the corner man came down to help on Taj to free up Jokic who chose to guard air."

[Lipoli390]

Yeh, Abe. Not getting the ball more to KAT down the stretch of both the 4th and overtime was infuriating. And the overdribbling was still to prevalent tonight. Interestingly, we were playing with much better pace than usual throughout most of the game. When we built our lead to 99-91, I thought we would pull away. Then suddenly, inexplicably, we slowed it down with Teague or Butler going into full over-dribble mode. Within about a minute-and-a-half, Denver had tied the game. Hard to explain.

I watched the post game show and a bunch of stats they had up while they were talking were in the Wolves favor including a shockingly resounding win in fast break points. It was kinda like how was this a close game? It looked like at least early on in the 4th Teague was getting it up the floor.

Yes, Teague was doing a pretty good job pushing pace until that point when we were up 99-91. Then we went from iso-ball to mega iso-ball. The result was predictable. The game shoudn't have been as close as it was. But to be fair, Jokic simply couldn't miss. Taj showed how you guard a guy like that. It's not enough to get your hand in his face. Like most really good shooters, once he gets squared up with his feet set, he'll likely hit the shot. Taj showed you have to get into the body and rough the guy up. Towns hasn't learned to do that yet. And unfortunately, officials for some reason give don't give him any latitude to defend with the same physicality as Gibson and others.

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

Glad you enjoyed the game, Lip.

Butler really does make a difference on this team. His will to compete is special. Injuries... yeah. A shortened career... maybe. Who cares. Sometimes, it's ok to applaud guys who compete like that. It's not normal... unfortunately. The guy is a special player. (That being said... no more turnaround 21 foot jump shots at the end of a shot clock with seconds on the clock after dribbling the ball for 15 seconds... and the game's most efficient big man on the floor. Thanks.)

Gibson was sensational in the 4th quarter and OT vs. Nokic. His stat line won't look like much... 8 points and 6 rebounds. And he did make some uncharacteristic errors... but that defense. Oh. That. Defense. It was amazing. Several plays in a row.

KAT and Nokic played up to their star billing in this one. Gibson took care of Nokic late to slow him. The usual Wolves trappings sapped Towns of making a bigger impact late. Get him the ball.

That being said, I like this team more when Butler and Towns end the game with the most shot attempts. That's how it should be.

Wiggins is much maligned lately. And he might be again next year once the contract kicks in. So it's good to see him hit those clutch free throws. It's a great moment for him.

Yes. Teague overdribbles and he's not as aggressive in the PnR as I think he should be... but I thought he did well tonight.

Stats be damned. Jamal Crawford had arguably his worst offensive game of the season... and finished a team-high +13. Wait. What?

Belly played with great energy off the bench. I thought Tyus Jones played with more aggression.

Is is telling that Towns and Wiggins went a solid 12 minutes at the end of that game barely touching the ball? Both were invisible for vast stretches. I don't think they necessarily shrunk from the spotlight. But it's still telling...

Jamal Murray is really good. Nokic is very special. Barton was pretty damn good. Harris was hurt, it's obvious. So why did Wilson Chandler play the most minutes? His intentional foul late in the 2nd quarter when his team was in the penalty was atrocious. And get this... he's done it before! I saw him do something similar in a random game vs. another team this season. How does an 11-year vet make that play multiple times and not only keep his job... but get 48 minutes in a must-win game? He went scoreless by the way. I can only imagine how Denver message boards are lighting up about him and Malone's commitment to him right now. Trey Lyles played 0 minutes.

Good to be in the playoffs... even for 4 games.

I might have seen Thibs sorta smile. It was awkward.

You might be interested to know including tonight Wilson Chandler played 40 or more minutes 8 times for the Nuggets this year. It was weird to keep hearing he had played more than any player in the game.

The Nuggets have no wings with size. They had to send help whenever barton, harris, or murray were matched up with wiggs and butler in the post. I thought both our wings both did a solid job of noticing the doubles and passing out to the open man instead of just forcing an ill-advised shot. Wiggs and Butler are the same height if not taller than their PF (MIlsap).

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

I for the life of me have no idea why our offense completely changes at the end of games or when things get tight.

Jimmy iso or teague overdribbling in pnr. The only decent looking bucket we got in the last couple of minutes of OT was the wiggs drive and dish for that teague floater.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Lip, I was thinking about you when the Wolves won, feeling that you probably got caught up in the moment and changed your position.....and indeed you did! I don't blame you. I was 100% all in on making the playoffs. I think it was really important for this franchise to end the year with 1) a winning record, and 2) getting into the playoffs. They did it!

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I for the life of me have no idea why our offense completely changes at the end of games or when things get tight.

Jimmy iso or teague overdribbling in pnr. The only decent looking bucket we got in the last couple of minutes of OT was the wiggs drive and dish for that teague floater.

This is like the Mike Zimmer strategy...get a lead and then try to grind the other team down. Well, that strategy doesn't really work with a 24-second shot clock guaranteeing multiple possessions within every minute of play!

If God willing we ever end up with a 4th quarter lead against Houston in this playoff series, this strategy will fail spectacularly. Houston will turn a 19-foot forced 2-pointer by Teague, Butler, or Wiggins at the end of a shot clock into 3-points in less than 5 seconds.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I for the life of me have no idea why our offense completely changes at the end of games or when things get tight.

Jimmy iso or teague overdribbling in pnr. The only decent looking bucket we got in the last couple of minutes of OT was the wiggs drive and dish for that teague floater.

This is like the Mike Zimmer strategy...get a lead and then try to grind the other team down. Well, that strategy doesn't really work with a 24-second shot clock guaranteeing multiple possessions within every minute of play!

If God willing we ever end up with a 4th quarter lead against Houston in this playoff series, this strategy will fail spectacularly. Houston will turn a 19-foot forced 2-pointer by Teague, Butler, or Wiggins at the end of a shot clock into 3-points in less than 5 seconds.

By the way... I believe the last 6 minutes + OT took about an hour of real time. Glad I extended the DVR recording.

- Savvy DVR user and avid NBA fan who knows about these things

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

The 4th quarter offense last night went to shit because of Thibs. He tried to beat Jokic's poor defense into the ground with Teague/Taj PnR's and that duo just isn't a great PnR duo. You're supposed to attack weak matchups when you have an advantage, but Taj offense just isn't an advantage even against a guy like Jokic. At that point you just have to know Towns is just too good for even Milsap to guard every play. Thibs just didn't adjust. The Butler iso turnaround jumper was garbage because they waited too long to initiate and again Taj set the pick and he's no threat to get a drop off pass for the win. The Crawford play was just garbage with 1 second left. A little adjustment and we win the game in regulation easily. We still won, but you just have to be better than that as a coach. He got too locked into to attacking their weakness to realize he didn't have the pieces on the floor who could execute that effectively.

[Monster]

The 4th quarter offense last night went to shit because of Thibs. He tried to beat Jokic's poor defense into the ground with Teague/Taj PnR's and that duo just isn't a great PnR duo. You're supposed to attack weak matchups when you have an advantage, but Taj offense just isn't an advantage even against a guy like Jokic. At that point you just have to know Towns is just too good for even Milsap to guard every play. Thibs just didn't adjust. The Butler iso turnaround jumper was garbage because they waited too long to initiate and again Taj set the pick and he's no threat to get a drop off pass for the win. The Crawford play was just garbage with 1 second left. A little adjustment and we win the game in regulation easily. We still won, but you just have to be better than that as a coach. He got too locked into to attacking their weakness to realize he didn't have the pieces on the floor who could execute that effectively.

Towns was being used as a floor spacer. That makes some sense but plenty of people aren't going to like using someone that good for that purpose. Ultimately Towns needs to get the ball and know how to beat Millsap. What he probably should have done is just shot long 2's over him instead of tried to back him down.

Also credit to Murray for being pretty solid defeively against Teague making things more difficult than expected for him and Taj.

One of the positives/negatives of this team offensively is it has a bunch of guys that can score and do a lot of different things all over the floor. Towns Butler Teague Wiggins Belly Crawford and even Tyus to some extent are a threat to do something positive from about any place on the floor. Taj isn't a 3 point threat but can score from various spots within 17 feet or so. Meanwhile you only have a couple of those guys that are really spot up 3 point threats and they are bigs in Towns and Belly. So anyway you have guys that can score or make plays at some level but all have some flaws in one way or another. These various somewhat diverse group is just talented enough as scorers to get themselves and the team in trouble. When do they attack? When do they differ? When should they be running sets and pick and roll etc? Plus most of these guys don't seem to have much interest in running up and down the floor so pace isn't a positive factor in getting easy buckets for the most part.

So at some point if these guys can get on the same page plus adding some more shooting...oh boy they could really be tough to stop and they are pretty good already...at least statistically. I think we would all agree the problem is later in the game. There is some potential for more chemistry between the players and also better coaching as well.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

The 4th quarter offense last night went to shit because of Thibs. He tried to beat Jokic's poor defense into the ground with Teague/Taj PnR's and that duo just isn't a great PnR duo. You're supposed to attack weak matchups when you have an advantage, but Taj offense just isn't an advantage even against a guy like Jokic. At that point you just have to know Towns is just too good for even Milsap to guard every play. Thibs just didn't adjust. The Butler iso turnaround jumper was garbage because they waited too long to initiate and again Taj set the pick and he's no threat to get a drop off pass for the win. The Crawford play was just garbage with 1 second left. A little adjustment and we win the game in regulation easily. We still won, but you just have to be better than that as a coach. He got too locked into to attacking their weakness to realize he didn't have the pieces on the floor who could execute that effectively.

Towns was being used as a floor spacer. That makes some sense but plenty of people aren't going to like using someone that good for that purpose. Ultimately Towns needs to get the ball and know how to beat Millsap. What he probably should have done is just shot long 2's over him instead of tried to back him down.

Also credit to Murray for being pretty solid defeively against Teague making things more difficult than expected for him and Taj.

One of the positives/negatives of this team offensively is it has a bunch of guys that can score and do a lot of different things all over the floor. Towns Butler Teague Wiggins Belly Crawford and even Tyus to some extent are a threat to do something positive from about any place on the floor. Taj isn't a 3 point threat but can score from various spots within 17 feet or so. Meanwhile you only have a couple of those guys that are really spot up 3 point threats and they are bigs in Towns and Belly. So anyway you have guys that can score or make plays at some level but all have some flaws in one way or another. These various somewhat diverse group is just talented enough as scorers to get themselves and the team in trouble. When do they attack? When do they differ? When should they be running sets and pick and roll etc? Plus most of these guys don't seem to have much interest in running up and down the floor so pace isn't a positive factor in getting easy buckets for the most part.

So at some point if these guys can get on the same page plus adding some more shooting...oh boy they could really be tough to stop and they are pretty good already...at least statistically. I think we would all agree the problem is later in the game. There is some potential for more chemistry between the players and also better coaching as well.

Our offense could be miles better even though we score a lot. As you mention, we have a lot of guys who can do a lot of things. That means you need to organize and attack based on what the defense is giving you and if that doesn't work you have to try something else. Not just last night, but down the stretch teams are doing what they can to force the ball to Taj and we've just let them run that strategy. We keep running PnR's with him sometimes multiple times in one possession and that's feeding right into what the other team wants. If Teague/Jimmy/Wiggins/Taj/Towns are on the floor, you want Taj with the ball in his hands if you are defending us and we've just played too much into that lately. At some point you have to realize there are about 4 guys in this league that can guard Towns so against everyone else you have to just get him involved in high PnR's and not worry about spacing or going after the weaker defender on Taj. Stick Taj on the baseline and he can make a cut to the basket on every drive for an easy layup if they are going to use his man as the help defender. That's better than feeding him the ball 15ft from the basket out of the PnR and having him look around for help. It's really just small adjustments that need to be made in the game that don't happen which is the frustrating part. For a team with as much talent as we have, we settle into what the defense actual wants to give us too often.