Christmas GDT Wolves at Mavs, Edwards lament

[BeenLurkin]

Btw, Minott needs more playing time. His defense is improving every game and he actually hustles and DOESN'T need the ball in his hands.

I posted this in the Shuffle it up feed, the lineup of Minott/Randle/Naw/Naz/DDV had only 26 min but there isn’t a higher Offensive rating lineup on the season….124. The eye test shows Minott working his ass off to be a positive impact guy who doesn’t need the ball and loves getting into the paint and grabbing a rebound

[WildWolf2813]

Btw, Minott needs more playing time. His defense is improving every game and he actually hustles and DOESN'T need the ball in his hands.

He's a boost of energy that if deployed correctly would do wonder when we're listless.

[Phenom]

How about that Anthony Edwards 3 ball off one foot in the 2nd quarter, by the way? Pulling a Luka in Luka's house.

[DNatagal]

Didn't Trae do that to the Wolves the other day?

[thedoper]

Btw, Minott needs more playing time. His defense is improving every game and he actually hustles and DOESN'T need the ball in his hands.

Yeah he was great in the first half. We need his energy out there more.

[Wolvesfan21]

A win is a win, but this is such a frustrating team. We go up 13 despite Luka scoring 14 in 16 minutes by doing everything well...moving and protecting the ball, making the right pass and open shots, and hustling on defense. And then we go up 28 with Luka out by doing the same things. And then D'Natagal ripped Ant for playing one on one (and I stupidly defended Ant ), and for the rest of the game we forget how to move the ball. Fortunately we continued to play solid defense and were able to hold them off despite Irving's brilliance and our stupid offense.

So what can Finchie do when he starts seeing the ball get sticky like that? Depending on where we are in the game, I think he needs to make an example of the culprits (obviously usually Ant and Ju) and yank them out of the game. It's a difficult thing to do, because we don't win the game without those two guys scoring our final 10 points, but it was Ant's refusal to pass that got us there in the first place. But here's what I would have done. We were still up 11 when Ant turned the ball over after refusing to pass. After Kyrie misses his shot, Finchie needs to call a timeout and put in Mike in for Ant to get some ball movement. And he needs to pull Ant aside and tell him he's putting him back in in 30 seconds, but he'll yank his ass out of there if he doesn't start moving the ball like he was when we built our big lead. Show him he's pissed off at him, even on national TV! Yes, Ant should have the maturity to see what's going wrong, but we all know he doesn't. So this is on Finchie. He needs to bench Ant and Ju when they get away from what's working. Maybe they will figure it out after getting pulled out a few times.

We deserve to feel good after beating a great team like the Mavs on their home court, but I don't. This is maddening.

Finch isn't Pop and even he couldn't handle Kawhi who is a pretty quiet type of dude (Kawhi had that injury thing, still does, but he for sure wanted out of there and got his way).

NBA players have more power then coaches. I think you can pull up film study and say we got a pass here and here. Hope they learn to make the right plays. You piss off your star players in the NBA and shits not good. It could work, he could also lose Ant if it goes the other way. Ant then either could want out or Finch out. Neither of those options are good.

I just wouldn't take the risk honestly. If Ant was in year one sure, year two maybe. Not now though. He's too established.

I get your sentiment though. In year one I didn't want Ant starting even and he didn't for a while. They made him earn his way. I think you just got to coach em and then trust them to make the right plays. Sometimes the right play is ISO blow by everyone and seal the game. I mean sometimes you just want your star player to do his thing and live or die with it.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Abe's Non-Holiday DVR Review:

- Whew. Well, they really just needed a win. And they got it.

- Minnesota assists by quarter:

1st -- 9 assists
2nd -- 7 assists
3rd -- 6 assists
4th -- 1 assist

Gee, I wonder where things went off the rails. That was ugly, and oh so predictable basketball in the 4th quarter.

- I see a lot of complaints about officiating in this thread. I didn't feel the bias as much as others here. But is it telling that Edwards took 24 shots... and 17 two pointers... but didn't get a single FTA?

Edwards is 12th in scoring. He's last among those 12 in FTA. He's averaging only 3.9... only Wembanyama is below 5.4 FTA. And it's getting worse...

Edwards has not shot more than 5 FTAs in a month (11 games). He's averaging 2.6 FTA during that span... and only 5 FTA in his past 4 games combined. Last year, he had 0 or 1 FTA only two times all season. He has 0 or 1 FTA in 3 of the past 4 games.

This can't all be blamed on officiating. I've said it for awhile now... Edwards' biggest leap as a player will come when he figures out how to draw foul calls. He has the talent, and the bluster, and the bulldog willingness to be a very good scorer. But imagine if he had the subtle hoops IQ to get to the line like ALL of the bigger stars do. I've also said every team should have a foul grifting coach. Nobody in the league would benefit from it more than Anthony Edwards.

[FNG]

Abe's Non-Holiday DVR Review:

- Whew. Well, they really just needed a win. And they got it.

- Minnesota assists by quarter:

1st -- 9 assists
2nd -- 7 assists
3rd -- 6 assists
4th -- 1 assist

Gee, I wonder where things went off the rails. That was ugly, and oh so predictable basketball in the 4th quarter.

- I see a lot of complaints about officiating in this thread. I didn't feel the bias as much as others here. But is it telling that Edwards took 24 shots... and 17 two pointers... but didn't get a single FTA?

Edwards is 12th in scoring. He's last among those 12 in FTA. He's averaging only 3.9... only Wembanyama is below 5.4 FTA. And it's getting worse...

Edwards has not shot more than 5 FTAs in a month (11 games). He's averaging 2.6 FTA during that span... and only 5 FTA in his past 4 games combined. Last year, he had 0 or 1 FTA only two times all season. He has 0 or 1 FTA in 3 of the past 4 games.

This can't all be blamed on officiating. I've said it for awhile now... Edwards' biggest leap as a player will come when he figures out how to draw foul calls. He has the talent, and the bluster, and the bulldog willingness to be a very good scorer. But imagine if he had the subtle hoops IQ to get to the line like ALL of the bigger stars do. I've also said every team should have a foul grifting coach. Nobody in the league would benefit from it more than Anthony Edwards.

Your 10000th post is a good one, Abe. It's so frustrating that a team can move the ball and play so well. and then completely crap the bed at the end of the game. I'm sympathetic to WF's post above where he is is wary of Finchie getting tough with Ant's ball stopping which almost single-handedly resulted in us dropping from 9 assists in a quarter to 1. I agree there's a chance that yanking Ant out of the game for a minute while publicly getting in his face about not passing could blow up, but I still think it has to be done. One of the reasons I was so high on Ant in the draft was a 45 minute video I shared of him watching some game action he was in at Georgia with an analyst and agreeing with the analyst about things he could have done better. He wasn't defensive at all, and even pointed out passes he could have made in a situation before the analyst did. I want Finch to do the same thing: sit down with Ant and review video of the 1st and 4th quarters, and ask Ant what is different. And then tell Ant he is going to pull him out of a game if he repeats the behavior he showed in the 4th quarter. I have a problem with some aspects of Ant's character, but defensiveness if not one of them...I think he would respond favorably to Finchie treating him like this. Ant should be able to figure things out on his own, but I think we know he can't. So Finchie needs to get tough and hold him accountable. Otherwise we will be stuck watching (or choosing not to watch) several more 1-assist quarters.

[Q-is-here]

Abe's Non-Holiday DVR Review:

- Whew. Well, they really just needed a win. And they got it.

- Minnesota assists by quarter:

1st -- 9 assists
2nd -- 7 assists
3rd -- 6 assists
4th -- 1 assist

Gee, I wonder where things went off the rails. That was ugly, and oh so predictable basketball in the 4th quarter.

- I see a lot of complaints about officiating in this thread. I didn't feel the bias as much as others here. But is it telling that Edwards took 24 shots... and 17 two pointers... but didn't get a single FTA?

Edwards is 12th in scoring. He's last among those 12 in FTA. He's averaging only 3.9... only Wembanyama is below 5.4 FTA. And it's getting worse...

Edwards has not shot more than 5 FTAs in a month (11 games). He's averaging 2.6 FTA during that span... and only 5 FTA in his past 4 games combined. Last year, he had 0 or 1 FTA only two times all season. He has 0 or 1 FTA in 3 of the past 4 games.

This can't all be blamed on officiating. I've said it for awhile now... Edwards' biggest leap as a player will come when he figures out how to draw foul calls. He has the talent, and the bluster, and the bulldog willingness to be a very good scorer. But imagine if he had the subtle hoops IQ to get to the line like ALL of the bigger stars do. I've also said every team should have a foul grifting coach. Nobody in the league would benefit from it more than Anthony Edwards.

Your 10000th post is a good one, Abe. It's so frustrating that a team can move the ball and play so well. and then completely crap the bed at the end of the game. I'm sympathetic to WF's post above where he is is wary of Finchie getting tough with Ant's ball stopping which almost single-handedly resulted in us dropping from 9 assists in a quarter to 1. I agree there's a chance that yanking Ant out of the game for a minute while publicly getting in his face about not passing could blow up, but I still think it has to be done. One of the reasons I was so high on Ant in the draft was a 45 minute video I shared of him watching some game action he was in at Georgia with an analyst and agreeing with the analyst about things he could have done better. He wasn't defensive at all, and even pointed out passes he could have made in a situation before the analyst did. I want Finch to do the same thing: sit down with Ant and review video of the 1st and 4th quarters, and ask Ant what is different. And then tell Ant he is going to pull him out of a game if he repeats the behavior he showed in the 4th quarter. I have a problem with some aspects of Ant's character, but defensiveness if not one of them...I think he would respond favorably to Finchie treating him like this. Ant should be able to figure things out on his own, but I think we know he can't. So Finchie needs to get tough and hold him accountable. Otherwise we will be stuck watching (or choosing not to watch) several more 1-assist quarters.

I'm absolutely positive that Finch and his staff have reviewed 4th quarter meltdowns with Ant along with the rest of the team. In fact, a few games ago, Finch mentioned that they went back and looked at every Ant crunch-time possession and calculated that he made the right play (in their eyes) 80% of the time versus 50% of the time last year. Sometimes that right play is a pass that Rudy fumbles or the corner 3 that Jaden misses.

Personally, I think a max player like Ant "co-owns" the game plan and execution along with the head coach of an NBA team. I can understand why Finch doesn't sit Ant when he takes a couple of bad shots and the ball gets sticky. Basically the punishment, if you will, is that Ant's team loses and it's largely on him.

[FNG]

Abe's Non-Holiday DVR Review:

- Whew. Well, they really just needed a win. And they got it.

- Minnesota assists by quarter:

1st -- 9 assists
2nd -- 7 assists
3rd -- 6 assists
4th -- 1 assist

Gee, I wonder where things went off the rails. That was ugly, and oh so predictable basketball in the 4th quarter.

- I see a lot of complaints about officiating in this thread. I didn't feel the bias as much as others here. But is it telling that Edwards took 24 shots... and 17 two pointers... but didn't get a single FTA?

Edwards is 12th in scoring. He's last among those 12 in FTA. He's averaging only 3.9... only Wembanyama is below 5.4 FTA. And it's getting worse...

Edwards has not shot more than 5 FTAs in a month (11 games). He's averaging 2.6 FTA during that span... and only 5 FTA in his past 4 games combined. Last year, he had 0 or 1 FTA only two times all season. He has 0 or 1 FTA in 3 of the past 4 games.

This can't all be blamed on officiating. I've said it for awhile now... Edwards' biggest leap as a player will come when he figures out how to draw foul calls. He has the talent, and the bluster, and the bulldog willingness to be a very good scorer. But imagine if he had the subtle hoops IQ to get to the line like ALL of the bigger stars do. I've also said every team should have a foul grifting coach. Nobody in the league would benefit from it more than Anthony Edwards.

Your 10000th post is a good one, Abe. It's so frustrating that a team can move the ball and play so well. and then completely crap the bed at the end of the game. I'm sympathetic to WF's post above where he is is wary of Finchie getting tough with Ant's ball stopping which almost single-handedly resulted in us dropping from 9 assists in a quarter to 1. I agree there's a chance that yanking Ant out of the game for a minute while publicly getting in his face about not passing could blow up, but I still think it has to be done. One of the reasons I was so high on Ant in the draft was a 45 minute video I shared of him watching some game action he was in at Georgia with an analyst and agreeing with the analyst about things he could have done better. He wasn't defensive at all, and even pointed out passes he could have made in a situation before the analyst did. I want Finch to do the same thing: sit down with Ant and review video of the 1st and 4th quarters, and ask Ant what is different. And then tell Ant he is going to pull him out of a game if he repeats the behavior he showed in the 4th quarter. I have a problem with some aspects of Ant's character, but defensiveness if not one of them...I think he would respond favorably to Finchie treating him like this. Ant should be able to figure things out on his own, but I think we know he can't. So Finchie needs to get tough and hold him accountable. Otherwise we will be stuck watching (or choosing not to watch) several more 1-assist quarters.

I'm absolutely positive that Finch and his staff have reviewed 4th quarter meltdowns with Ant along with the rest of the team. In fact, a few games ago, Finch mentioned that they went back and looked at every Ant crunch-time possession and calculated that he made the right play (in their eyes) 80% of the time versus 50% of the time last year. Sometimes that right play is a pass that Rudy fumbles or the corner 3 that Jaden misses.

Personally, I think a max player like Ant "co-owns" the game plan and execution along with the head coach of an NBA team. I can understand why Finch doesn't sit Ant when he takes a couple of bad shots and the ball gets sticky. Basically the punishment, if you will, is that Ant's team loses and it's largely on him.

Q, I agree that the coaching staff must be sitting down with Ant (and others) reviewing what went wrong, and right. What's missing though in my opinion is the accountability. Ant showed us in the Dallas game (and in many others...the 12/8 Warriors loss, for example) that he just doesn't understand how a 4th quarter offense is supposed to work. That's how we end up with only 1 assist in the 4th quarter, after enjoying some beautiful ball movement earlier! Q, you say that a loss is enough punishment for Ant, but I disagree...he doesn't seem too unhappy when I see him gleefully hugging Draymond Green after a loss. Ant doesn't get it, and will continue to repeat his 4th quarter hero ball behaviors if Finchie doesn't hold him accountable. And I get that Ant eventually won the Dallas game by beating his man and scoring in the last minute...he can do that. But when he tries to do it EVERY TIME in the 4th quarter, we're going to continue to blow big leads. I'd like to blame Ant for this, but he is who he is. This in on Finchie. If he can't channel Pop and make Ant move the ball late in the game, we are destined as Wolves fans to continue to have to watch 4th quarter collapses like we just saw.