Game Report - Wolves v. Mavs

[Lipoli390]

Sorry for the late report. But as SP wrote in another thread, age and all my writing mileage is catching up with me. My days as a starting blogger are almost over.

A lot of what I would have included in my report has already been posted in other threads, so I'll try to offer some live off-camera observations in addition to plowing some of the same ground others have plowed.

First of all, it was a disappointing crowed last night. There were too many empty seats for a Friday night game at a time when our team is playing well and has a winning record. But worse than the empty seats was the crowd's passivity. Last Friday's crowd had a lot more energy.

As for the game itself, it turned out to be an entertaining one and the crowd got into it. The Mavs are not very good, but they play really hard. Dirk is clearly on the downslope of his career and he's not surrounded by much talent. So losing to the Mavs at home last night would have been a terrible step back for the Wolves. But fortunately, we pulled it out.

I look at last night's game as a tale of two halves and a tale of two Kevins (plus 1 Corey).

TALE OF TWO HALVES

Other than Love's incredible performance in the 1st Quarter, the Wolves did not look like a Western Conference playoff team in the first half. They were sloppy, passive and gave a disappointing effort. Pekovic's play in particular was horrific. But Corey Brewer's dunk on a breakaway late in the second quarter, followed by Dante's tremendous offensive rebound/dunk at the close of the 1st half seemed to wake the Wolves out of their slumber for the second half. Starting with the opening possession in the 3rd Quarter, the Wolves looked like a playoff team again. They were more precise and far more aggressive on both ends. Their spacing and ball movement were better and everyone, not just Ricky, played defense. Even Pek showed signs of life in the 2nd half. And Barea finally hit some 3-pointers.

TALE OF TWO KEVINS (PLUS ONE COREY)

This is the real story from last night's game.

Kevin Love continued to play at a superstar level. You can see that just by looking as his tremendous stat line -- 32 points on 57% shooting including 3-6 from behind the arc and 5-5 from the line, 15 boards, 8 assists, 1 block and only 2 turnovers in 35 minutes. But behind the stats last night was a leader who is clearly connected to his teammates. Two years ago, Kevin put up great numbers, but he seemed distant from his teammates and it was clear then that Ricky was the leader on the floor and the bench. This season there is no doubt that Kevin is the center and leader of this team. He takes genuine pleasure in the success of his teammates and is consistently talking to them, making eye contact and patting them on the back. And of course, Kevin's stats don't entirely measure the value of his incredible outlet passes, some of which lead to points but not assists for Kevin. Is Kevin Love a superstar? Absolutely yes.

Then there is the other Kevin. I was happy we signed Martin back in July, but with some reservations. Although I still have concerns about his defense and durability, last night's game was yet another reminder of how valuable he is to this team. He is a scoring machine. Yes, his shooting efficiency, which is off the charts so far this season, will likely regress to the mean. But even the mean for Kevin Martin is a great place to be. In spite of Kevin Love's stellar performance last night, the Wolves would have lost that game if not for Kevin Martin. His 32 points on 52% shooting, including 3-5 from behind the arc and 9-10 from the stripe tell enough of the tale to know how critical he was to last night's victory. But note also that he had 5 boards and 2 steals. And beyond the stats, what you see in Kevin Martin when you're at the game is a steady veteran whose shooting prowess and confidence gives his teammates confidence. You can tell his teammates really like him and you can also see a special bond developing between the two Kevins in particular. The two talk a lot on the court and the bench. It's a fun dynamic to watch.

Then there's Corey Brewer. Although I never hated the Brewer acquisition, I'm on record in July wishing we had kept AK47 and signed DeMarre Carroll as our energy guy instead. But although it's early, I'm fully convinced that Flip made the right move -- at least for this season. Corey was tremendous last night. Yes, he missed some layups he should have made. But that's Corey. With Corey, you take the bad with the good. Fortunately this season, Corey has brought a lot more good than bad to the floor. His 17 points on 50% shooting was a key component to the Wolves win. But he also made some nice passes. And as always, he brought phenomenal energy to the team. As I mentioned earlier, his breakaway dunk later in the second quarter followed by Dante's put-back dunk seemed like a major catalyst for the Wolves second half turn-around last night. I love the way Corey celebrates after a big play like his second quarter dunk. His enthusiasm and intensity are infectious both with his teammates and the crowd. I've mentioned this before, but I'll mention it again. A few years ago, I was part of a small group of season ticketholders at a luncheon with Kevin McHale. When asked about Corey Brewer, he acknowledged Corey's limitations. But he said that Corey brings things to a team that you can't readily see in the stat line. He went on to say that every winning team needs a player like Corey Brewer. I now see what he meant.

SOME OTHER OBSERVATIONS

1. Dante finally came to life in the second half last night with 6 points on 50% shooting, 7 boards, 1 steal and 1 block. Not a great stat line for 30 minutes, but solid. And solid is what we need from him and our entire bench.

2. Unfortunately, our bench overall failed again to give us the sort of solid play we need from them. Adelman is still trying to figure out how to mix in a starter or two with the second unit. I still think Flip needs to make some sort of deal to significantly upgrade the talent on our second unit. But that's easier said than done.

3. Pekovic looked a bit better in the second half, but he continued to miss point blank shots he has to make to come close to being the $12 million per year player Flip and our organization expects him to be. And not only did he continue to miss point blank shots last night, he continued to play with stone hands. He drops or muffs far too many passes. And 6 rebounds in 30 minutes last night isn't enough from our starting $12 million per year center. He has to improve substantially this season.

4. Ricky played his worst game of the season so far and one of his worst games since arriving her two years ago. However, he still played very well defensively and ran the offense well in his 35 minutes on the floor.

5. Derrick was in street cloths with back spasms and I didn't care.

6. Hummel looks like he knows what he's doing out there. More so than Williams, Dieng or Shabazz.

7. Speaking of Shabazz, I saw some disturbing behavior from him last night. First, just after half time, while all his teammates were participating in shoot-around, he was hanging out with one of the Mavs and chatting up a storm. Second, he was completely disconnected from the team while on the bench. Even worse, he spent most of his time on the bench talking a joking with Derrick Williams. It reminded me of the days when Derrick and Wes would joke around constantly on the bench. I can tell you than none of the other guys on our bench were talking and laughing with Derrick Williams.. Shved, Hummel, Dante, JJ -- when these guys are on the bench, they are generally serious and into the game.

My main take-aways from last night's game are (1) Love and Martin are critical to this team's ability to score enough points to win and playing without either one would be devastating; (2) Brewer was a great acquisition; (3) Pekovic and our bench need to improve substantially for this team to secure a playoff spot; and (4) this team is a work in progress. Overall, I like a lot of what I've seen and I can still see this team ultimately securing the 6th seed as I projected before the season started. But there need to be improvements.

That's all for now. Let's go beat the Lakers.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Excellent insights, as always, Lip. We lean on you a lot on this board because, although we have an unusually strong collection of basketball minds, you're the only guy who regularly attends games at TC. We just can't see what you see, and can only guess about some of the team chemistry items you cite. Most of what you reported about chemistry is positive, but I'm sorry to hear your Shabazz observations. Late in last night's game they flashed to Love on the bench. Shabazz was next to him, and seemed to me to be totally disengaged. I was hoping it was an isolated moment, but it jives with your report. If you see it, you know that RA sees it, and it probably has a lot to do with Muhammad's DNP-CD's. Rick is a throwback, and isn't likely to play a rookie with entitlement issues.

I'll take the next two game reports at Staples, assuming the ticket prices on the street are attractive...I haven't had a bad scalping experience yet. I'll be out of town for the Wolves next LA visit in December, so this is my last chance to see them live this year. Really looking forward to seeing Jack Nicholson depressed!

[bleedspeed]

Thank you for posting. It wake up post home games looking for this.

[worldK]

Good repoert as usual lip. Appreciate it.

1 little thing though, I think it was Dante that had that incredible offensive rebound-dunk in one motion while in mid air and not Corey. Core had a break away dunk at the end of the half though.

Anyway, agree with what you said. Keep your home reports coming lip.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

As always, great insight from someone at the game. Can't wait for LST's! Lol

[KiwiMatt]

Good repoert as usual lip. Appreciate it.

1 little thing though, I think it was Dante that had that incredible offensive rebound-dunk in one motion while in mid air and not Corey. Core had a break away dunk at the end of the half though.

Anyway, agree with what you said. Keep your home reports coming lip.

Yes that was Dante with the put back dunk. That was pretty sick!

[Lipoli390]

Good repoert as usual lip. Appreciate it.

1 little thing though, I think it was Dante that had that incredible offensive rebound-dunk in one motion while in mid air and not Corey. Core had a break away dunk at the end of the half though.

Anyway, agree with what you said. Keep your home reports coming lip.

You're right, World. I got the two confused. Brewer had a really nice break-away dunk near the end of the 1st half, but Dante had that great put-back dunk with seconds left on the clock. I now remember thinking at that time that Dante had suddenly woken up. He appeared to just be going through the motions up until that time last night and in the last several games. Hopefully, we'll see the old hustle and consistently good mid-range shooting from Dante from this point forward. That would be a nice boost for this team.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

As always, great insight from someone at the game. Can't wait for LST's! Lol

I'll try to focus my report on the game, and not on the Laker Girls!

[Lipoli390]

Long --

I'm looking forward to your reports from LA the next couple days. That's another nice thing about the group on this board. We have knowledgeable Wolves fans all over the country who can give us a broader perspective and actually give us reports based on live attendance at some road games.

We are long overdue for a win over the Lakers. That's a critical game. The Lakers play really hard and have played better so far than anyone thought they would. However, I think they've been playing over their heads and the Wolves are definitely the more talented team -- at least among the starting five. But the Wolves will have to match the Lakers intensity and effort to win.

The Clipper game will be a tough one for us. They are clearly more talented than the Wolves, but they haven't gelled yet under Rivers. This is the time to strike and garner a road win against them. I see the Clippers ending up the best team in the West by the second half of the season. But one interesting insight from Kenny Smith bodes well for the Wolves. He said the Clippers lack quickness and athleticism at the wing positions -- referring to Dudley and Redick in particular. In my view, that makes them a better matchup for the Wolves. So maybe we can steal two on the road in LA. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

[WildWolf2813]

As far as the crowd goes, they won't be back in full force until this team is serious about the playoffs, and by that I mean either really close or already clinched. Look at the Pacers. Eastern Conference Finals team and they had trouble filling the place. Wolves fans are too jaded with the team and casuals won't waste their time til they're a playoff team. Simple as that.

As for Shabazz, I'm gonna keep harping on this til I'm blue in the face, but I honestly feel bad for him. I may decide to start a running list of rookies that get to see the court, good or bad teams, yet Shabazz Muhammad is pinned to the bench on a team whose coach doesn't really like him and a GM that apologized for selecting him. I don't know about you Lip, but I'd be disenchanted too if I had all these circumstances working against me. That's not to say I think Shabazz is lazy or he's given up, but in 6 games I've seen Steven Adams, Tim Hardaway Jr., Anthony Bennett (wow is he bad), Gal Mekel, and Victor Oladipo get PT, significant PT at that. Meanwhile, our guys collect dust like we're above using the only currency we have. In the long run this will kill our team.

We can't afford to continue to piss away the one currency we have, which is the draft. How will this team ever expect to sustain any kind of success by not using the players we're supposed to develop? It would be one thing if they were failing out there, but we're not giving these guys a chance to learn and fail and try to get better. If OKC can develop, Golden State, San Antonio, Houston, WHY IN THE WORLD DOES THIS TEAM THINK THEY'RE TOO GOOD TO DEVELOP GUYS? It's beyond Kahn, beyond McHale. This is a structural failure on the part of this team. It's by far the most frustrating aspect with the team, even more than missing out on the Curry's the Paul George's, the Faried's, the Kanter, the you name its. Why? Because we could have drafted every correct player possible, and I wonder whether we'd piss them away like we're doing now with two guys in Muhammad and Dieng that couldn't possibly do any worse than the crap we're subjected to seeing from this bench night in and night out.