Game Report- Wolves at Knicks

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Yeah, I saw the end of Friday's game, and it wasn't pretty...our rookies were terrible. But I still was surprised that Adelman didn't use his bench more. I just finished watching the replay of the 4th quarter on League Pass, and it's clear to me that the Knicks almost won the game because Ricky, Pek and the Kevins were running on fumes. Better bench management by Adelman earlier in the game would have left us with fresher players down the stretch, and we could have avoided that 15-2 run. Shved actually played okay in his 5 minutes, and another 10 minutes from him would have left Ricky and Martin much fresher at crunch time. And I would have felt comfortable with 5-10 minutes from Hummel when the Knicks went small. I guess I have more confidence in our bench than you do, Lip, and would have liked to see them get a little more burn tonight. Plus, it's going to help in their development.

Dante's 0-4 didn't help us tonight. I commented on his shot selection on the game thread. Dante is money in the bank on that 12-foot mid-range jumper, and our guards know how to find him in his spot. But his range is incredibly limited, and if he sets up just a couple feet further from the basket, his shooting percentage plummets. That's what happened tonight. For some reason, Dante was receiving the ball a little further out, and I just knew he wasn't going to make the shot. I yelled "no" on three of his four shots tonight, but he must not have heard me! Hopefully the coaches talk to him about this. Corey and Pek also took a few shots tonight that even a casual fan knew had little chance of success. Corey, Dante and Pek all need to play within themselves, and only shoot from the relatively few places that they have demonstrated competence...Pek-anywhere within 5 feet, Corey-lay-ups and left corner threes, and Dante-put-backs and mid-range jumpers 12 feet and in.

[Eitan]

Great game report WildWolf, thank you.

Very good road win for us. Love is terrific!

Too many minutes for the starters, we can`t continue like that for long time.

Long and Wolf -- I disagree completely. Our bench is bad. Did you guys see Shabazz, Shved, Dieng etc the last 6 plus minutes of the Thunder game? They were embarrassingly bad. Williams got a lot of minutes that game and played well. But he was terrible in his limited minutes on the offensive end tonight. Shved has looked bad to terrible so far this season after looking terrible the last two-thirds of last season. He got a lot of minutes last season and bombed the last two thirds of the games he played.

Adelman was Smart enough not to rely much tonight on our highly unreliable bench. We really started to go south tonight when Love was out of the game in the second half. Even our best bench players, JJ and Dante, played poorly tonight. We saw the bad Barea tonight - suffering from LeBron delusions. For the second game in a row, Dante couldn't hit the broadside of a barn from 12 feet. We won tonight because of the extended minutes Adelman gave Love and Martin who then put up huge numbers and hit big shots in the 4th quarter in spite of what might have been tired legs. If Oladipo were here, he'd be getting solid minutes based on his play in games and practice. Putting Shved, Shabazz, or Hummel on the court tonight would have been the basketball equivalent of medical malpractice. Same thing if Adelman had played Dieng after watching how lost he looked in his 6 minutes against the Thunder. The problem isn't Adelman. The problem is Kahn's legacy of poor drafting and FA decisions that have left us thin after our top six. And Flip didn't help matters drafting Shabazz who looked terrible even against the low level competition he faced in Summer League and who looked slow and totally overmatched in his 6 minutes against the Thunder.

Sorry Lip, I disagree with you on that one.

In my opinion, we have very good and deep bench players (compare to other team). We shouldn`t judge them too soon or by few games.

Confidence is a big part (70%?) of being a good basketball player, which obviously our bench players doesn`t have yet.

RA must give our bench players the confidence they need by explaining them their exact role on the team and giving them some significant PT (the sooner the better) . Ofcourse he should use them in a smart way.

[bleedspeed]

I think we have to have one Kevin in the game at a time. He sat both together. I know it will limit the amount of time playing them together, but having at least Martin or Love in the game will make it easier with the reserves.

[60WinTim]

You guys keep lamenting over all our problems. I've got a 4th straight win to go watch! :)

[Bayou Wolf [enjin:6635650]]

Tim, We just need to remember what it is like to have a team capable of winning games. It's been a long time and we are used to analyzing what went wrong.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Not many teams are deep enough to enable their top two or three guys to get lots of rest. The guy I worry about most is Kevin Martin. He's the oldest and most fragile of our starting unit, plus it's the position we're thinnest at. We're witnessing what a huge difference he makes compared to playing Ridnour at the 2 (or Shved for that matter). I would love to see his minutes be closer to 29 or 30 per game. Budinger cannot get back soon enough.

[60WinTim]

Tim, We just need to remember what it is like to have a team capable of winning games. It's been a long time and we are used to analyzing what went wrong.

I know. Couldn't you see my tongue firmly planted in my cheek?!?

There are certainly things that need to get better, such as the bench and their usage. But we have a lot of new faces, and it takes time for a chemistry and roles to really become established. You hear all the time "reserve judgement until we've played 20 games". I'm not inclined to worry much about the little things right now until we get a lot more games under our belts, especially since we are winning!

Somebody said they won't be disappointed if we lose tonight. I disagree. I would have been satisfied coming home with a back-to-back road split. But now having won the tough game (at MSG), I want that sweep! And if we have the team I think we have, we should get that sweep. Good teams beat the inferior teams at home AND on the road.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

You guys keep lamenting over all our problems. I've got a 4th straight win to go watch! :)

Tim, Your optimism floweth ever so generously....I'll add to it with this comment: The Orlando win, in hindsight, continues to increase in stature. Since they lost to us in OT, they have reeled off two emphatic wins against New Orleans and Brooklyn.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

You guys keep lamenting over all our problems. I've got a 4th straight win to go watch! :)

Tim, Your optimism floweth ever so generously....I'll add to it with this comment: The Orlando win, in hindsight, continues to increase in stature. Since they lost to us in OT, they have reeled off two emphatic wins against New Orleans and Brooklyn.

Couldn't agree more, q. I missed the Orlando/Wolves game, but saw the Brooklyn game yesterday. Orlando ran them out of the gym. Very good looking young team. VO and Vukevic are both future all stars, and with Nicholson and Harkless, they have a marvelous young core...fun to watch. The Wolves are 3-0, and they haven't played a cupcake yet.

[TAFKASP]

The Wolves are 3-0, and they haven't played a cupcake yet.

This ^^^^ so much! There isn't a hallow victory in the bunch. Most of our complaints about not putting their foot down with a lead is pure BS, NBA teams makes runs, then go cold, the good ones find a way to finish and the Wolves are showing signs of being one of the good teams!