The Gauntlet: The Train - Wolves at Rockets GDT

[Q-is-here]

Here is a review of Wolves offensive possessions from the 5:29 mark to 29 seconds. In that 5-minute time span, the Wolves made one basket. Houston only scored 6 points in this span, so defensively we were pretty OK during this stretch so I won't go into their possessions here.

Next to each offensive possession I will give an assessment of what happened.

5:29 Mark - Wolves down 111-108

4:46 - Ant gets ball at top of 3-point arc, dribbles his way through three defenders as he makes his way into the paint, puts on a wicked spin move and.....air balls a 2-point floater. Poor Decision and Poor Execution by Ant

3:57 - Ant gets ball at the top of the 3-point arc, dribbles his way into the paint and kicks it out to a wide open Jaden McDaniels for a corner 3. Jaden misses. Good Decision by Ant. Poor Execution by Jaden.

3:14 - Ant gets ball at the top of the 3-point arc, dribbles his way into the paint, goes up for a shot at the rim and throws an errant pass to Conley in the corner. Turnover. (the call was challenged and Ant did experience some questionable contact). Good Decision by Ant. Poor Execution by Ant

2:52 - Ant brings ball up after Rockets score, Jaden sets screen for him above the 3-point arc, Ant gets blitzed and he immediately gets the ball to a slipping McDaniels who then slithers his way in for an easy finish. Good Decision by Ant. Good Execution by Ant and Jaden.

2:09 - Ant gets ball on the left wing, dribbles into the 2-point area and takes a tough step back jumper. Missed. Meh Decision by Ant. Poor Execution by Ant.

1:35 - Ant brings the ball up. Has ball on right wing above 3-point arc. Sengun was on Jaden and dropped into the paint way off him. Ant makes the simple pass to Jaden at the top of the 3-point arc for a wide open 3. Jaden misses. Good Decision by Ant. Poor Execution by Jaden.

1:00 - Ant brings ball up off a Rockets made basket. Brings it to the right wing where Conley sets a screen and Ant gets Jalen Green switched onto him. He crosses over Jalen and gets a pretty clean 3 off. Misses it. Meh decision by Ant. Poor Execution by Ant.

:34.1 - Conley brings the ball up with Ant spacing out to the right wing. Conley gets into the paint and finds Naz on the left wing. Naz puts the ball on the floor and misses a 5-footer over Sengun. Good decision by Mike and Naz. Poor execution by Naz.

By this point, the Wolves were down 117-110 and without a Naz bucket there, the game was out of hand so there is no use going into what went "right" with any ensuing Wolves points that led to the final 115 points that were tallied.

[kekgeek]

Per Kfan this morning some of the reason Dilly was bench yesterday was he was talking back to Finch on the way to the bench

[FNG]

Excellent analysis, Q...certainly a frustrating finish.

I don't want to get too down about this loss though (even with 2 games coming up with OkC). While the Rockets were missing Van Vleet, we were missing 3 key rotation players. And while Conley played, he clearly was not comfortable shooting the basketball with his injured hand. Playing a very good West team on their court missing so many key players could have turned into a blowout. But I was pleased with how well our defense played despite having no interior presence. Our perimeter defense was excellent, pressuring them into 20 turnovers. A loss is a loss, but I take some solace in keeping this one close.

[Coolbreeze44]

https://x.com/TheDailyWolves/status/1893175283697516759


Jaden's missed open 3's and Ant was Ant down the stretch.

[Q-is-here]

Excellent analysis, Q...certainly a frustrating finish.

I don't want to get too down about this loss though (even with 2 games coming up with OkC). While the Rockets were missing Van Vleet, we were missing 3 key rotation players. And while Conley played, he clearly was not comfortable shooting the basketball with his injured hand. Playing a very good West team on their court missing so many key players could have turned into a blowout. But I was pleased with how well our defense played despite having no interior presence. Our perimeter defense was excellent, pressuring them into 20 turnovers. A loss is a loss, but I take some solace in keeping this one close.

I think one of my takeaways is that the decision making wasn't that bad. There was only one truly poor decision in my opinion of the nine possessions with a couple mediocre ones thrown in. This was more a case of poor execution, mostly by Ant and Jaden.

This goes back to an analysis Finch and his staff did a couple months ago where they looked at all of Ant's crunch time decisions and concluded that he made the right play 80% of the time.

What I can't explain is why Ant (and others) choke so much in execution, whether it be turnovers off of well-intended passes or missed shots. Not sure how that gets rectified other than just crossing our fingers and hoping it gets better over time.

[Coolbreeze44]

I saw too many instances of Ant attacking a double team instead of moving the ball. In fact we see that consistently in crunch time.

[Yosimar]

Just finished watching the game on DVR. Someone explain to me how the fuck Conley’s walking corpse got 24 minutes of playing time in this game?. Because Finch didn’t like an ill advised 3 Dillingham took?. What an idiot man. I get it most coaches will give vets a longer leash but that shit was horrific. Especially when having the other option on the floor is basically like having 4 players out there.

Ant going cold (he’s gotta do a better job of recognizing the blitz and either get to the rack before the 2nd guy shows up or pass it), Jaden not making wide open 3’s and Naz getting in foul trouble didn’t help and so a winnable game ends up in an L.

[Phenom]

Just finished watching the game on DVR. Someone explain to me how the fuck Conley’s walking corpse got 24 minutes of playing time in this game?. Because Finch didn’t like an ill advised 3 Dillingham took?. What an idiot man. I get it most coaches will give vets a longer leash but that shit was horrific. Especially when having the other option on the floor is basically like having 4 players out there.

Ant going cold (he’s gotta do a better job of recognizing the blitz and either get to the rack before the 2nd guy shows up or pass it), Jaden not making wide open 3’s and Naz getting in foul trouble didn’t help and so a winnable game ends up in an L.

The biggest alarm on this team for me is Conley not making an (on court) impact that is positive. The positive instances are too few and far between now. He can't hit shots, the eye test sees more fouling and more bad passes. I'm curious what direction he moves after the season.

[Wolvesfan21]

Just finished watching the game on DVR. Someone explain to me how the fuck Conley’s walking corpse got 24 minutes of playing time in this game?. Because Finch didn’t like an ill advised 3 Dillingham took?. What an idiot man. I get it most coaches will give vets a longer leash but that shit was horrific. Especially when having the other option on the floor is basically like having 4 players out there.

Ant going cold (he’s gotta do a better job of recognizing the blitz and either get to the rack before the 2nd guy shows up or pass it), Jaden not making wide open 3’s and Naz getting in foul trouble didn’t help and so a winnable game ends up in an L.

The biggest alarm on this team for me is Conley not making an (on court) impact that is positive. The positive instances are too few and far between now. He can't hit shots, the eye test sees more fouling and more bad passes. I'm curious what direction he moves after the season.

Thats my fear with the possibility of trading for Durant. It's risky trading for a old player who could fall off physically. It's a big time gamble so I would be not be willing to give up much.

The other concern is does he still have the drive to still be a top player and do whatever it takes to win a championship.

[FNG]

Just finished watching the game on DVR. Someone explain to me how the fuck Conley’s walking corpse got 24 minutes of playing time in this game?. Because Finch didn’t like an ill advised 3 Dillingham took?. What an idiot man. I get it most coaches will give vets a longer leash but that shit was horrific. Especially when having the other option on the floor is basically like having 4 players out there.

Ant going cold (he’s gotta do a better job of recognizing the blitz and either get to the rack before the 2nd guy shows up or pass it), Jaden not making wide open 3’s and Naz getting in foul trouble didn’t help and so a winnable game ends up in an L.

The biggest alarm on this team for me is Conley not making an (on court) impact that is positive. The positive instances are too few and far between now. He can't hit shots, the eye test sees more fouling and more bad passes. I'm curious what direction he moves after the season.

I think we have to cut Mike a little slack. Some of the Wolves podcasters were surprised he even played Friday with his bad hand, and it was clear he wasn't comfortable with his shot. But still, he ran the offense well while he was out there, and finished with 5 assists and only 1 turnover. There is a narrative I hear a lot that Mike is having a terrible season, but the stats don't support it. He has the third best net rating on the team (behind Naz and NAW) and after a slow start to the season with his shooting, is back to his career average of 39% on 3's...44% on corner threes. And while he was overmatched Friday on defense against the much bigger Amen Thompson, his defense has been solid all season...opponents average 3.1 fewer points per 100 possessions when he is on the court. You only have to look at our poor record in the games Mike has missed to recognize his value to this team.

All that said, I would rest him tonight against an OkC team hell bent on revenge. Rudy and Ju are out, but there are reports they both might return for the rematch Monday night. Let's rest everyone tonight and let the kids play, and try to steal one tomorrow night.