Game Report - Wolves v. Nuggets

[Lipoli390]

Definitely the worst game I've watched so far all season. And as we continue to slide back to lottery level the crowds are getting thinner and quieter. You can feel a losing atmosphere taking over the team and the arena.

I was there with my girlfriend and her sister who was visiting from another country. We hung around not too long after the game to get some photos of her in the arena -- only about 20 minutes after the game ended at most. Before we left, a security guard kept yelling at us to get out -- adding an exclamation point to a terrible game. So here's a summary of our game experience tonight: A terrible losing effort from the Wolves in a marginal arena with bad food and extremely slow concessions. And then we have security harassing us to get out of an arena just 15 minutes after the game. Beyond tonight's game experience, there's another troubling sign. Under McHale and Kahn, even while losing, season ticket holders would have multiple opportunities to meet with front office staff. That hasn't happened even once under Flip's regime.

I mention these things now for the first time because you can overlook them when you're winning or at least when your team looks like it will win. But when you're losing AND the franchise falters in so many other ways, it starts to irritate you and you start to think about reallocating your entertainment dollar to something else -- perhaps the hockey team. Interestingly, I heard several fans saying almost the same thing I'm writing now as we were leaving the building.

O.K. back to the game. I'll cut to the chase. The Nuggets are a better team. More talented? Depends on how you define talent. I'll say this. The Nuggets are far more athletic and faster. I'd say they play harder, but sometimes you can look like you're not playing hard when the other team is substantially faster and more athletic you are. But I do think part of it the Wolves problem was lack of effort because when the Wolves played with more intensity in the 4th, they actually made a run and almost stole the game back. I can tell you the problem is not just a lack of depth. The problem is our starters too.

So here's the bottom line I take away from tonight's game -- when viewed in conjunction with the other games played so far this season. The Wolves' talent level is slightly below the 8th seed in the Western Conference. Therefore, they are no where close to being a legitimate contender and need to overachieve to make the playoffs. Overachieving means playing at least as hard for 48 minutes as the Nuggets played tonight. Now here are a few more specific observations and take-aways from tonight's game:

1. Kevin Love is a great rebounder, but he is not a great scorer and he's a poor defender. He's definitely a complementary player and not a go-to guy or leader. And I don't know that it's lack of effort. It's his skill set. He is completely dependent on others for his scoring except for tip-ins on offensive rebounds. He's not long for a PF while at the same time he's slow and pretty unathletic by NBA standards. He has a decent, but not great 3-point shooter -- nowhere near the level of a Klay Thompson or Curry. Love's career 3-point percentage is 35% and this season it's under 33%. He shot 33% from behind the arc tonight. Teams are really keying on him and closing out on him before he can get his shot off. As they do that, he's 3-point percentage will continue to suffer and his scoring average will continue to drop to a floor somewhere around 20. It was horrible in the 2nd half. Whenever Love would touch the ball he immediately looked to give the ball away. He made it clear to the Nuggets that he had no intention of shooting. Then his teammates got him some shots in the 4th, but he made more than he missed.

2. Hummel is a 12th man at best, not a rotation player. It was painful to watch him tonight against the athletic Nuggets.

3. I actually liked Shabazz in his brief 4 minutes on the court And with continue to like his demeanor on the bench. He's focused, active and looks like a good teammate who is really serious about the game. I hope we start to see him for longer than these short 4-minute stints.

4. Pekovic was key to keeping the Wolves from getting blown out tonight. But it's amazing how many bunnies he continues to miss. And it's also amazing how passes he fails to handle. If he hits those bunnies the Wolves might have won tonight. Defensively? Not good at all.

5. Three Wolves played with heart tonight -- Ricky, Corey and Kevin Martin. There was a moment after a timeout in the 2nd half that captured the essence of tonight's game. The horn blew as the teams started to return to the court. Ricky, Corey and Kevin Martin were walking out together onto the court while Pek and Love continued to hang back at the bench as if they were trying to hide. Yes, Ricky and Corey have their shooting woes. But I absolutely love the intensity, energy, leadership and sheer guts they show on the floor. And Martin continues to step up with big shots. And while Ricky remains a questionable shooter, he really stepped up and hit huge shots -- almost willing the ball into the basket. He's a gritty player as is Corey. Actually, in his 4 minutes, Shabazz played with a lot of heart and grit.

This team can make the playoffs in the West. But it's going to be a struggle with this current roster.

[thedoper]

Like what I hear about Bazz. I hope he gets more time. Why the hell not right now? Sorry you had to see the rest of it in person. Love really forces his shot too much. I am sure it is because he wants to win and be the man, but some of his shots are hard to watch. A step back 3 is one thing, but a step back three with someone right there is just annoying. Love is a great complimentary player though. I just don't see how we are see that on this team. If this slides much more the Love trade talks are going to be a daily event.

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

Rather harsh report here, but to go from 3-0 to 8-9 is very disappointing. Personally I don't think they're as good as they looked in the beginning, nor nearly as bad as they have looked as of late. Lately they have had two main problems: Love is in a shooting slump and is settling for too many long jumpers, and our bench is literitally non-existent.

Look at tonight: our bench gets outscored 41-10, but even more telling is the only two guys who really played at all were --18 and --15 in the +/-. All the starters except Rubio (-1) were positive. Yikes.

The good thing is Love is going to get it going again--meaning he will have an extended stretch of better shooting. I'm gonna predict he lights it up in Dallas. Also, lets get LRMAM, Bud, and Turiaf back into the mix and see what happens to the bench production.

Shabazz looked good? Really? Yes he hustles and plays hard, but honestly I haven't seen this guy make more than one or two solid basketball plays since, um, ever. Maybe down the road he turns into a player, but right now I just don't see it.

The guy I think we need to keep giving some burn is Dieng. He's raw but we desperately need a guy to protect the rim, especially when the starters are out and the best thing we can do is limit the opponent's scoring.

My final take is now is not the time to judge this team. We all got hyped up when they started great, and now everybody is PO'd because they are crapping the bed. Well, lets get these bench pieces back, maybe make another trade if possible, get through the tough part of the schedule, and then by around mid-season see where we are at. But yeah, lately this hasn't looked like a playoff team (in the West) at all.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Good detail on that report Lip. Weren't you saying a few weeks ago though that the Wolves had top level talent, when I was saying we should aim for more of an ensemble approach like Memphis because we just don't have top level talent? Maybe that was somebody else. Either way, losing definitely makes your talent look, well, less talented.

Whoa, check out the Blazers! I just noticed what they've been doing. Holy Cow!

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Yes, we as a team didn't play good tonight. Think you're being way too hard on them for the season outlook and your thoughts on Love. Great scorers get to the line. He does that. His rebounding ability and putback buckets are extremely undervalued even with the amount of hype it gets. His shot hasn't been falling as of this last week, but I don't expect him to keep the shooting woes going on for a lot longer. Not a leader or go-to guy? Think you're wrong. Up until tonight you and everyone else has been praising him for his leadership this season. One game doesn't change that. Also not fair to compare his 3-pt shooting to two of the absolute best sharp-shooters in the game.

Hummel isn't supposed to be in the rotation, but due to Bud being out and D-Will not taking the role, Hummel's been used. I commend the effort and play he's had to this point (some good, some bad). He's still a rookie even if we forget that.

I only wonder what Pek could average if he didn't fumble so many loose balls and miss easy layups. To his credit, though, he always has really good numbers. Take the good and the bad with every player.

[m4gor [enjin:6667447]]

lipp-- 4. Pekovic was key to keeping the Wolves from getting blown out tonight. But it's amazing how many bunnies he continues to miss. And it's also amazing how passes he fails to handle. If he hits those bunnies the Wolves might have won tonight. Defensively? Not good at all.

i dont know what you guys expect from him offensively. He is currently at .520 despite horrible few games he started the season with. There is so much bashing on PEK and he is at 15-9 per game shooting .520 and the team is not utilizing him well on top of that. Are you jealous about his contract or what is going on?

Yesterday we went 5-20 from 3pt range, Love with 9 attempts and Martin 0-5, that is what cost us the most on offense, but offense was not problem

the problem was that Denver went 10 deep yesterday (10 guys with 20+ minutes) and scored 117 points (again), that is also answer to that lack of energy our guys brought to the game, when you know that you are going to play 20 minutes you play on much higher energy level, you can run faster jump higher etc., if you know you are going to play 40+ minutes you just have to save some energy for later, even the simple fact that you cannot foul as there is no reserve for you is big esp. in paint where it is crowded and you fight 260lbs guys for position

we need MaM to play asap to spread minutes to more people and improve defense, and it is not enough anyway we just have to play 9-10 deep in regular season otherwise we kill our starters by half of season

[markkbu [enjin:6588958]]

Great report Lip. Many thanks as always.

To this point, we have been a pretty good home team. Losing to Denver at home is a kick in the pants.

With regards to Love and leadership; Among my friends with significant leadership training or experience (ie, Army Officers, a couple CEOs, people above mid-level management), we all agree that Love is a mediocre leader, at best, and needs a bit of maturing before he can take the next step.

That is not a huge problem, as the Wolves are trying to begin to build a winning culture as we speak. The Wolves (pretty obviously) are not ready to go past the first round of the playoff. Right now the Wolves just don't have the on floor leadership (as well as other things). Rubio looks to have the most leadership potential for a successful team, but he will have to work on some of the glaring holes in his game.

Love not being a good leader is something that we don't harp on much, just because it is so obvious.

It is nice that Shabazz is getting some burn. 2 boards in 4 minutes is pretty good.

I also agree with Mstermisty, I'd love to see Dieng get some more PT. He'll be Flips first obvious draft success of his new tenure, IMHO.

[lostwolf95 [enjin:7720180]]

I have to agree with MsterMisty. When the season started the wolves were placed in the top 2/3 for a week, now they dont belong in the playoffs. I continue to believe that this team just plays to much to the level of the opponents. When they manage to get "up" for a game, they have crushed teams (this hasnt happened in a long time in Minnesota), but unfortunately, they are not always "up" for every team.

I'm not sure what Adelmann has to do to get them focused on each and every game, but so far it hasnt been working. Have opposing teams found out our achilles heel?

[bleedspeed]

On Thanksgiving day I am thank for Lipoli's game report. Love them.

I think we missed out not drafting the Greek Freak. I wonder how hard Flip tried to trade out of the Shabazz pick. I am hoping he becomes a tough solid starter at SF in time, but he doesn't solve the problem of this team being athletic. The freak would have given us a little of that and someone to develop.

M4Gor is right. Depth is an issue with us. If we are going to run like we have we need more guys that can contribute. Hopefully that will come.

[KiwiMatt]

Thanks for the game report Lip.

I am currently in Australia soaking up some sun, so am unable to watch games for the next week.

Happy thanks giving everyone as well!