Q-is-here wrote: ↑Tue Dec 26, 2023 10:21 pm
Thunder look like the better team to me and they play more like one on offense. They have an elite iso player in SGA while still playing in a system with a ton of ball and player movement.
Q, I agree that the Thunder looked like the better team last night...that was a good old fashioned butt kicking. But while OkC is a fun team to watch, I think our size helps us beat them handily in a series. They can't rebound (we outrebounded them by 15 I think earlier in the season), and a front line with a 6-5" PF and 6-4" SF is not going to be able to handle us inside. KAT was obviously far from 100% last night, and I think he will dominate against such a small starting team.
That said, it was a disappointing night last night as our ball movement was deplorable. OkC and Minnesota have almost identical assists per game for the season, but last night we were out-assisted 35-22. I point the finger squarely at Ant. When he dominates the ball like he did last night, his individual stats are very good (25-7-6)...but our offense stinks. I wasn't surprised to see Ant with a team-worst -16 for the night, because we didn't look very good at either end of the court while he was out there. I blame Ant, and I blame Finchie. Anyone can see that our offense clicks when we put the ball in the hands of our primary ball handlers (Bite Bite and SloMo). When we don't, we still put up points because of the 1-on-1 brilliance of Ant and KAT. But it's not pretty like OkC was last night. I want to see the ball more in Conley's hands Thursday night. If he touches the ball more (and Ant less) we aren't going to have 21 TOs and only 22 assists.
I was going to watch the replay but checked the score first so I watched the "highlights". Holy shit that was some piss poor defense last night. Dudes were WFO. No wonder they got blown out.
Last night was clearly a let-down game for the Wolves. Those sorts of games happen, but they should be a rare occurrence if this team is, in fact, a championship caliber team. Last night was another illustration of the fact that this team’s offense isn’t where it needs to be for the team to contend for a championship. Meanwhile, the team continues to turn the ball over far too much. And we’re far enough into the season that there’s reason to doubt whether the Wolves offense will get significantly better without personnel changes.
I’ve praised OKC several times in posts this season. If I could swap the Wolves roster for OKC’s roster right now I’d do it. They are arguably a better team than the Wolves right now, and if not, they likely will be by the end of the season. And even if they’re not quite as good as the Wolves this season, their depth of young talent gives them an advantage over the Wolves in the years ahead. I love the way OKC is constructed. They also have all their draft picks and then some along with significant financial flexibility. Sam Presti is probably the League’s best President of Basketball Operations.
We will lose road games, on the bright side we still have the best road record in the NBA. We are way beyond where I anticipated at this stage in the season even with the early success. Weathering this road stretch is impressive.
The more I think about last night's loss, the less I'm worried about it. Chris Hine tweeted (X'ed?) that it wouldn't be surprising that the Wolves defense would be a little worn out after the brutal schedule they've had...both coasts and a home BTB in the post 10 days. Plus, while the Thunder players (and most of us) were relaxing with their families at home Christmas afternoon, the Wolves had to hop on a plane to travel to the arguably least desirable city in the Association. Sure OkC is good too, but I don't see them as being nearly as good as us. They've played a soft home-dominant schedule, but now they go on the road for 9 of their next 13 games, culminating with a game at Target Center on January 20. Meanwhile our schedule softens up considerably after January 10. We're currently only 2 1/2 games up on the Thunder, but I think we will be at least 5 up after beating them again at home on the 20th.
We'll be favored in the next two home games...need to win them both.
