On Green Dolphin Steet - Wolves@Jazz

[Monster]

Hell of a game. Even with Jazz missing Hood the Wolves crushed them and the defense was real. The Wolves were mostly near a guy they have been in position to contest more shots lately.

Tyus had a tough matchup physically with Exum and at worst played even.

Not much else to say here except this team looks right now like a team making a legit playoff run.

Man it's a good thing this organization didn't just give Rubio away. Dude is playing unbelievable right now. He is scoring like a guy looking to score. It's crazy. Keep this team together. Just add more to it.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Wow, just watched that game on replay. The Jazz looked bad, and we looked good! I love the PG play in the 2nd quarter in particular, Tyus was really good and Rubio was great the whole game, the bench was good overall, and Wiggins and Towns are playing at a high level. Most importantly, our defense looked really good. Let's keep it up!

[DNatagal]

The defense has really improved over the course of the season. One of the reasons has to be defending without fouling. I have noticed less and-1's (looking at you Belly and G) and the opponent is rarely in the bonus for more than the last couple minutes of a quarter. There are more tipped passes and a LOT more steals happening also. Which has led to fastbreaks, which this team is very good at. Split the season into 10 game chunks, pick one random game from each and watch the defense. The amount of wide open shots has gone down dramatically. The team is hustling (Wiggins) and there is flair/joy in the entire team but especially Rubio. Those early losses hurt, but I think the leaders needed to see what it takes to make the team go.

[Monster]

The defense has really improved over the course of the season. One of the reasons has to be defending without fouling. I have noticed less and-1's (looking at you Belly and G) and the opponent is rarely in the bonus for more than the last couple minutes of a quarter. There are more tipped passes and a LOT more steals happening also. Which has led to fastbreaks, which this team is very good at. Split the season into 10 game chunks, pick one random game from each and watch the defense. The amount of wide open shots has gone down dramatically. The team is hustling (Wiggins) and there is flair/joy in the entire team but especially Rubio. Those early losses hurt, but I think the leaders needed to see what it takes to make the team go.

Great point on the defending without fouling. The last few games (sans the Houston game) look at the opponent FT attempts. It's pretty low. Like you said guys are rarely wide open and if they are it's because of great ball movement or some broken play. There are breakdowns but that happens to any team. They have seen fewer. Wiggins and Belly have really stepped up their D.

Jon was saying on the last podcast that when Lavine went down it really took the air out of the sails for a bit. He said Lavine is really popular. Guys really like him and especially with Towns and Wiggins it probably effected them for a few games. I thought that was interesting insight.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

The defense has really improved over the course of the season. One of the reasons has to be defending without fouling. I have noticed less and-1's (looking at you Belly and G) and the opponent is rarely in the bonus for more than the last couple minutes of a quarter. There are more tipped passes and a LOT more steals happening also. Which has led to fastbreaks, which this team is very good at. Split the season into 10 game chunks, pick one random game from each and watch the defense. The amount of wide open shots has gone down dramatically. The team is hustling (Wiggins) and there is flair/joy in the entire team but especially Rubio. Those early losses hurt, but I think the leaders needed to see what it takes to make the team go.

Great point on the defending without fouling. The last few games (sans the Houston game) look at the opponent FT attempts. It's pretty low. Like you said guys are rarely wide open and if they are it's because of great ball movement or some broken play. There are breakdowns but that happens to any team. They have seen fewer. Wiggins and Belly have really stepped up their D.

Jon was saying on the last podcast that when Lavine went down it really took the air out of the sails for a bit. He said Lavine is really popular. Guys really like him and especially with Towns and Wiggins it probably effected them for a few games. I thought that was interesting insight.

Yeah, LaVine's absense has been instructional. On the one hand, the pure numbers would say he was somewhat of an anchor for us, with the worst net rating of our starting 5 and also what a appears to be a much better defense since he went down.

On the other hand, the better defense is clearly because it seems like the broader team is finally buying into what Thibs has been preaching. To your point, we've seen Wiggins step up his effort level in getting into passing lanes and being a more disruptive presence. That has nothing to do with LaVine.

What is instructional though is that scoring is consistently over-rated. Yes, you absolutely need at least one or two guys on your team that can create something out of nothing when everything else breaks down. It's very hard for a "system team" with a bunch of above average role players but no singular offensive talent to go deep into the playoffs (think Atlanta over the past number of years).

But once you get a couple of guys that can put the ball in the hoop, you absolutely need others that can defend, space the floor, make good decisions, dive for loose balls, and "do shit" that may not involve scoring. Unless your scorers do all of those other things (in which case they are perennial all-stars), you only need so many of them to be a good team.

Do we get the full value out of LaVine's gifts given the fact our offense has not skipped a beat since he went down?

[Monster]

The defense has really improved over the course of the season. One of the reasons has to be defending without fouling. I have noticed less and-1's (looking at you Belly and G) and the opponent is rarely in the bonus for more than the last couple minutes of a quarter. There are more tipped passes and a LOT more steals happening also. Which has led to fastbreaks, which this team is very good at. Split the season into 10 game chunks, pick one random game from each and watch the defense. The amount of wide open shots has gone down dramatically. The team is hustling (Wiggins) and there is flair/joy in the entire team but especially Rubio. Those early losses hurt, but I think the leaders needed to see what it takes to make the team go.

Great point on the defending without fouling. The last few games (sans the Houston game) look at the opponent FT attempts. It's pretty low. Like you said guys are rarely wide open and if they are it's because of great ball movement or some broken play. There are breakdowns but that happens to any team. They have seen fewer. Wiggins and Belly have really stepped up their D.

Jon was saying on the last podcast that when Lavine went down it really took the air out of the sails for a bit. He said Lavine is really popular. Guys really like him and especially with Towns and Wiggins it probably effected them for a few games. I thought that was interesting insight.

Yeah, LaVine's absense has been instructional. On the one hand, the pure numbers would say he was somewhat of an anchor for us, with the worst net rating of our starting 5 and also what a appears to be a much better defense since he went down.

On the other hand, the better defense is clearly because it seems like the broader team is finally buying into what Thibs has been preaching. To your point, we've seen Wiggins step up his effort level in getting into passing lanes and being a more disruptive presence. That has nothing to do with LaVine.

What is instructional though is that scoring is consistently over-rated. Yes, you absolutely need at least one or two guys on your team that can create something out of nothing when everything else breaks down. It's very hard for a "system team" with a bunch of above average role players but no singular offensive talent to go deep into the playoffs (think Atlanta over the past number of years).

But once you get a couple of guys that can put the ball in the hoop, you absolutely need others that can defend, space the floor, make good decisions, dive for loose balls, and "do shit" that may not involve scoring. Unless your scorers do all of those other things (in which case they are perennial all-stars), you only need so many of them to be a good team.

Do we get the full value out of LaVine's gifts given the fact our offense has not skipped a beat since he went down?

Good post. I do think one thing that's been overlooked is how Wiggins and Towns have done what they have done without the best 3 point shooter on the team on the floor. Sure teams can't just leave rush wide open and Other guys like Bazz and Tyus are threats when they get some of Lavine's minutes but his absence in that area should be at least considered.

One thing people mention is Thibs is a defensive guy...and it seems clear as a defensive wizard he understands and appreciates how big of a deal it is to have offensive weapons that are difficult to stop. It's also said by many folks that coaches have egos. Could Thibs think he can get Lavine to play above average defense and do other good things? Probably. It's just a shame for so many reasons Lavine got hurt.

Regardless the Wolves have a good problem to have with the talent they have right now. Other than Bazz I don't think they need to make any decisions on guys they have on the roster (unless a team actually offers something worthwhile for Rubio). I keep saying add to the roster via the draft and FA. Let's build something. Quite shuffling things around. Everyone was down on Rubio and Bazz and to an extent rightly so and now look at how they have been playing for a few months. Maybe this coaching staff can get good stuff out of various players after all. ;)