Game Report - Wolves v. Nuggets

[Lipoli390]

A nice redemption win tonight against the Nuggets after the Wolves epic collapse on Monday night. There was a good size crowd in Target Center and a positive vibe throughout the game. I’ll admit I was concerned about a possible repeat of Monday night’s second half collapse, but I had a gut feeling it wouldn’t happen again. Thankfully, the Nuggets just weren’t shooting well tonight. The Wolves defense deserves a slot of credit for that, but I think the Nuggets were a bit off tonight as well.

As we’ve discussed, talent isn’t the problem with the Wolves. It’s whether we have the right mix of talent and it’s a lack of mental toughness. So I keep looking for players on this roster who show signed of mental toughness to get this team out of holes and stop the team from collapsing the way it did on Monday. The player I noticed having mental toughness tonight was Mike Conley. It was the way he played and his leadership early in the second half, in my view, that kept the Nuggets from gaining ground and momentum. He essentially put the team on his shoulders those first few minutes of the 3rd quarter and effectively told his teammates we are not going to give any ground here. Actually, I’m not surprised. Mike Conley is quiet, but he’s always struck me as mentally tough even though he’s physically small.

Tonight’s win isn’t definitive by any stretch. I still have doubts about this team’s mix of talent and mental toughness. The collapse and loss Monday night was indicative of last season when this team finished under .500 to lottery teams. I listened to KAT interviewed after the game. It was the most authentic and impressive KAT interview I’ve ever seen. When asked about consistency, KAT said: “If we want to be the team we think we are we have to be consistent.” And he pretty much characterized tonight’s win as doing what this team is supposed to do. So I’m encouraged by this win tonight, but I can’t overlook the fact that this team should be 4-0 with the talent it has. So we’ll see.

Speaking of KAT, his defense on Jokic in the first half was outstanding. KAT has been playing really well defensively throughout the preseason and these first 4 regular season games. The team as a whole has played really well defensively for 7 of the 8 halfs they’ve played. KAT still didn’t shoot well. He and Edwards have been missing shots they typically don’t miss although Edwards was better tonight. The good news is that KAT will start consistently hitting those bunnies and threes he’s been missing.

More good news was Jaden McDaniels pulling down 9 boards tonight to go with 2 blocks. That’s what we need to see from Jaden. His offense was a bit shaky, but not bad. And it’s important to keep in mind that he didn’t really have the ramp up through preseason his teammates had because of his calf injury. He’ll need time to get in a rhythm offensively. He needs to stop committing dumb fouls. His push in the back was really stupid and could have cost us the game if it had been close.

Shake Milton continues to underwhelm in my view. If it were up to me, I’d give JMac his minutes. But I see the point about giving Shake a chance to get it together. Ultimately, I think the Wolves staff made a mistake thinking Shake can log significant minutes as a PG. I don’t see it.

Rudy’s defense was superb tonight. Of course his hands and shooting were anything but superb. We have to take the bad with the good when it comes to Rudy. The good news is that the Wolves didn’t seem as focused on getting him the ball. I like that the offense was running more through KAT the way it did two years ago without Rudy constantly rolling and his teammates trying so hard, often awkwardly, to get him the ball. Rudy was 0-7 from the field but he was 3-3 from the line and more importantly he had 12 rebounds and 2 blocks. I’d like to see Rudy’s shot count at 5 or less. Let him set picks, rebound and protect the paint. Is what he brings worth his max salary or what we gave up to get him? Of course not. But that doesn’t matter right now. If he keeps playing the way he has so far this season, that can be good enough. It’s up to Finch to make sure Rudy’s presence doesn’t interfere with getting max offensive production from the team, especially KAT and Ant.

Speaking of Finch, I thought he did a nice job. Among other things I love that he put KAT rather than Rudy on Jokic in the first half. Statistically, KAT has defended Jokic better than Rudy has over their respective careers. KAT is slightly shorter than Jokic but KAT is strong and has pretty long arms. Guarding Jokic tonight, KAT did a really nice job of defending without fouling, something that KAT has been doing through all four games so far this season.

A nice win and a happy good night to you all.

[Coolbreeze44]

Lip, really appreciate the time you take to make these reports. You make a lot of good comments and observations here. I'm not a big fan of taking things out of context, but bear with me on this one. I don't see the good defense you speak of in regard to KAT. I don't think he's been awful, but I can't agree that he's been good on D over 4 games. His rotations are like the earth going around the sun. He offers help defense with the frequency of solar eclipses. And strong? KAT isn't strong. His base is incredibly weak. On his drives he can't overpower the weakest of defenders, usually ending up flailing his arms in a futile attempt to get a call he doesn't deserve. I just hope he gets on a shooting tear and picks up his assists. That's the best way for him to contribute.

Anyway, pardon me for the rant. I'm just happy we played a complete game and got the win. It's all I care about at this point. At one point, Slomo said something to the effect of "Let's win the damn game!" while setting up on defense. I agree Kyle, let's keep winning like the talent on this team suggests we should.

[kekgeek]

Lip, really appreciate the time you take to make these reports. You make a lot of good comments and observations here. I'm not a big fan of taking things out of context, but bear with me on this one. I don't see the good defense you speak of in regard to KAT. I don't think he's been awful, but I can't agree that he's been good on D over 4 games. His rotations are like the earth going around the sun. He offers help defense with the frequency of solar eclipses. And strong? KAT isn't strong. His base is incredibly weak. On his drives he can't overpower the weakest of defenders, usually ending up flailing his arms in a futile attempt to get a call he doesn't deserve. I just hope he gets on a shooting tear and picks up his assists. That's the best way for him to contribute.

Anyway, pardon me for the rant. I'm just happy we played a complete game and got the win. It's all I care about at this point. At one point, Slomo said something to the effect of "Let's win the damn game!" while setting up on defense. I agree Kyle, let's keep winning like the talent on this team suggests we should.

Jokic shot 5/14 when his primary defender was Kat. I think that is pretty darn good

[Coolbreeze44]

Lip, really appreciate the time you take to make these reports. You make a lot of good comments and observations here. I'm not a big fan of taking things out of context, but bear with me on this one. I don't see the good defense you speak of in regard to KAT. I don't think he's been awful, but I can't agree that he's been good on D over 4 games. His rotations are like the earth going around the sun. He offers help defense with the frequency of solar eclipses. And strong? KAT isn't strong. His base is incredibly weak. On his drives he can't overpower the weakest of defenders, usually ending up flailing his arms in a futile attempt to get a call he doesn't deserve. I just hope he gets on a shooting tear and picks up his assists. That's the best way for him to contribute.

Anyway, pardon me for the rant. I'm just happy we played a complete game and got the win. It's all I care about at this point. At one point, Slomo said something to the effect of "Let's win the damn game!" while setting up on defense. I agree Kyle, let's keep winning like the talent on this team suggests we should.

Jokic shot 5/14 when his primary defender was Kat. I think that is pretty darn good

I would ask you to take your eye off the ball when watching defense, and pay attention to how the full unit functions. Breakdowns occur just as often off the ball as they do on it.

[KG4Ever]

<<Ultimately, I think the Wolves staff made a mistake thinking Shake can log significant minutes as a PG. I don’t see it.>>

Well, Shake had great success last year when he started or got big minutes and when he started, he was the primary ballhandler next to D'Anthony Melton in 9 of his starts and was the primarily ballhander next to Springer in the other two where they replaced Harden and Maxey. Here was his stats in 11 starts: 20.3 points, shooting 51.8 FG%, 41.3% from 3pt, 97.0 FT%, 4.8 Reb, 7.2 assists. In 19 games where Milton got 28 minutes or more, the Sixers were 15-4 and during those 19 games, he averaged 5.94 assists.

Interestingly in the second to last game of the year, Shake Milton started when all of Philly's starters rested and led the team with 16 assists and 15 points to the victory over Atlanta who played their starters (Trae Young, DeJounte Murray, Clint Capela, John Collins and DeAndre Hunter) big minutes (Young and Murray played over 40 minutes).

While Shake is a combo guard, I think he can play the point, especially alongside Ant or Kyle. I don't know if you think the sample size is large enough but it sure is promising that he performed so well when he started or got big minutes.

[kekgeek]

Lip, really appreciate the time you take to make these reports. You make a lot of good comments and observations here. I'm not a big fan of taking things out of context, but bear with me on this one. I don't see the good defense you speak of in regard to KAT. I don't think he's been awful, but I can't agree that he's been good on D over 4 games. His rotations are like the earth going around the sun. He offers help defense with the frequency of solar eclipses. And strong? KAT isn't strong. His base is incredibly weak. On his drives he can't overpower the weakest of defenders, usually ending up flailing his arms in a futile attempt to get a call he doesn't deserve. I just hope he gets on a shooting tear and picks up his assists. That's the best way for him to contribute.

Anyway, pardon me for the rant. I'm just happy we played a complete game and got the win. It's all I care about at this point. At one point, Slomo said something to the effect of "Let's win the damn game!" while setting up on defense. I agree Kyle, let's keep winning like the talent on this team suggests we should.

Jokic shot 5/14 when his primary defender was Kat. I think that is pretty darn good

I would ask you to take your eye off the ball when watching defense, and pay attention to how the full unit functions. Breakdowns occur just as often off the ball as they do on it.

Sure a breakdown here and there happens but the wolves are in the 75th percentile so far with Kat on the floor defensively and in the 100th percentile defensively when he is playing center (Rudy off the floor). So maybe you are see things I’m not seeing but in the small sample size of 4 games these breakdowns are not leading to opponents scoring when Kat is on the floor. Once again super small sample size

[Q-is-here]

Good stuff Lip. This was hopefully a big boost to their confidence. Not just getting the win, but basically maintaining control of the game the entire 2nd half and snuffing out Denver's runs.

It's hard not to call the Atlanta loss a collapse, but god damn, DeJounte Murray put on a ridiculous display of shot making in the second half that was literally unstoppable. And he's just not a guy where you put two guys on him to get the ball out of his hands and that risks getting Trae Young off.

[60WinTim]

Good stuff Lip. This was hopefully a big boost to their confidence. Not just getting the win, but basically maintaining control of the game the entire 2nd half and snuffing out Denver's runs.

It's hard not to call the Atlanta loss a collapse, but god damn, DeJounte Murray put on a ridiculous display of shot making in the second half that was literally unstoppable. And he's just not a guy where you put two guys on him to get the ball out of his hands and that risks getting Trae Young off.

But that's where Finch deserves some blame - how long can you let Murray single handedly destroy you without taking some sort of action, even if it means risking Young going off?

It didn't help that Jaden, who was phenomenal against Murray last night, was on a minutes restriction. That and Conley being off with food poisoning.

[Q-is-here]

Good stuff Lip. This was hopefully a big boost to their confidence. Not just getting the win, but basically maintaining control of the game the entire 2nd half and snuffing out Denver's runs.

It's hard not to call the Atlanta loss a collapse, but god damn, DeJounte Murray put on a ridiculous display of shot making in the second half that was literally unstoppable. And he's just not a guy where you put two guys on him to get the ball out of his hands and that risks getting Trae Young off.

But that's where Finch deserves some blame - how long can you let Murray single handedly destroy you without taking some sort of action, even if it means risking Young going off?

It didn't help that Jaden, who was phenomenal against Murray last night, was on a minutes restriction. That and Conley being off with food poisoning.

If I'm Finch, I think this team is a top 5 defense. Top 5 defenses don't need to double an above average scoring guard. So you just take your lumps and tip your cap - it was game 3 of a super long season.

Last night we never doubled Jokic and it worked.

I think the frustration in Atlanta has to also go back to offensive execution and how this team will go through these spells of unforced errors and bad shots. Ant is part of that problem by the way....

[AbeVigodaLive]

Jokic shot 5/14 when his primary defender was Kat. I think that is pretty darn good

I would ask you to take your eye off the ball when watching defense, and pay attention to how the full unit functions. Breakdowns occur just as often off the ball as they do on it.

Sure a breakdown here and there happens but the wolves are in the 75th percentile so far with Kat on the floor defensively and in the 100th percentile defensively when he is playing center (Rudy off the floor). So maybe you are see things I’m not seeing but in the small sample size of 4 games these breakdowns are not leading to opponents scoring when Kat is on the floor. Once again super small sample size

Small sample size, for sure.

So maybe Towns deserves some credit through four games, even from those who don't like him. Don't worry Cool, you'll shirley have plenty of chances to rip Towns' defense when it's actually warranted a lot more moving forward.