Game Report - Game 4

[Q-is-here]

Great to have the legendary Lip Game Report back, even if it's just a special edition and not a regular feature!

On Naz, what a head-scratcher of a player he is, as sometimes we just bleed points with him on the floor defensively (last night's 3rd quarter being an example!). But what a huge 4th quarter he had. My favorite play wasn't even one of his big buckets, but a pass he made to Jaden off of an Ant pass to him (credit to Ant for finding the right guy off the blitz). He threw a PERFECT little interior bounce pass that got to Jaden right before Reaves could recover to him and McDaniels ended up getting the and-one.

Ant, Naz, and Jaden are all playing at a higher level in the playoffs than they were in the regular season. It's that sort of thing that makes it hard to break them up!

[FNG]

Great to have the legendary Lip Game Report back, even if it's just a special edition and not a regular feature!

On Naz, what a head-scratcher of a player he is, as sometimes we just bleed points with him on the floor defensively (last night's 3rd quarter being an example!). But what a huge 4th quarter he had. My favorite play wasn't even one of his big buckets, but a pass he made to Jaden off of an Ant pass to him (credit to Ant for finding the right guy off the blitz). He threw a PERFECT little interior bounce pass that got to Jaden right before Reaves could recover to him and McDaniels ended up getting the and-one.

Ant, Naz, and Jaden are all playing at a higher level in the playoffs than they were in the regular season. It's that sort of thing that makes it hard to break them up!

My favorite play of the game too. Q. I'll point out another thing about Naz. Kek has wisely pointed out in the past how easy it was to score on us when Rudy went to the bench. I don't know if he has posted this even once this series. That's meaningful.

[Monster]

Great to have the legendary Lip Game Report back, even if it's just a special edition and not a regular feature!

On Naz, what a head-scratcher of a player he is, as sometimes we just bleed points with him on the floor defensively (last night's 3rd quarter being an example!). But what a huge 4th quarter he had. My favorite play wasn't even one of his big buckets, but a pass he made to Jaden off of an Ant pass to him (credit to Ant for finding the right guy off the blitz). He threw a PERFECT little interior bounce pass that got to Jaden right before Reaves could recover to him and McDaniels ended up getting the and-one.

Ant, Naz, and Jaden are all playing at a higher level in the playoffs than they were in the regular season. It's that sort of thing that makes it hard to break them up!

My favorite play of the game too. Q. I'll point out another thing about Naz. Kek has wisely pointed out in the past how easy it was to score on us when Rudy went to the bench. I don't know if he has posted this even once this series. That's meaningful.

That was an awesome pass and play. This is kinda a good series for Naz too. Who is attacking the rim? Lakers aren't really getting into the paint they are dancing around and firing passes out to shooters. Naz getting switched onto pereimer players trying to isolate and stuff. Fine I can live with Naz in those situations. I'm not saying Naz is gonna lock those guys up or anything but he is fine out there. Naz and Rudy are both unique players. I'm glad we have both of them on the roster. One of the biggest things that's offset Gobert's lack of effectiveness is Randle has been good on both ends.

[Lipoli390]

Great to have the legendary Lip Game Report back, even if it's just a special edition and not a regular feature!

On Naz, what a head-scratcher of a player he is, as sometimes we just bleed points with him on the floor defensively (last night's 3rd quarter being an example!). But what a huge 4th quarter he had. My favorite play wasn't even one of his big buckets, but a pass he made to Jaden off of an Ant pass to him (credit to Ant for finding the right guy off the blitz). He threw a PERFECT little interior bounce pass that got to Jaden right before Reaves could recover to him and McDaniels ended up getting the and-one.

Ant, Naz, and Jaden are all playing at a higher level in the playoffs than they were in the regular season. It's that sort of thing that makes it hard to break them up!

My favorite play of the game too. Q. I'll point out another thing about Naz. Kek has wisely pointed out in the past how easy it was to score on us when Rudy went to the bench. I don't know if he has posted this even once this series. That's meaningful.

That was an awesome pass and play. This is kinda a good series for Naz too. Who is attacking the rim? Lakers aren't really getting into the paint they are dancing around and firing passes out to shooters. Naz getting switched onto pereimer players trying to isolate and stuff. Fine I can live with Naz in those situations. I'm not saying Naz is gonna lock those guys up or anything but he is fine out there. Naz and Rudy are both unique players. I'm glad we have both of them on the roster. One of the biggest things that's offset Gobert's lack of effectiveness is Randle has been good on both ends.

Yes, Randle has really stepped up defensively in this series. Naz was terrific defensively in the 4th last night. That pass was terrific, but so was his defense and clutch scoring.

[Q-is-here]

Great to have the legendary Lip Game Report back, even if it's just a special edition and not a regular feature!

On Naz, what a head-scratcher of a player he is, as sometimes we just bleed points with him on the floor defensively (last night's 3rd quarter being an example!). But what a huge 4th quarter he had. My favorite play wasn't even one of his big buckets, but a pass he made to Jaden off of an Ant pass to him (credit to Ant for finding the right guy off the blitz). He threw a PERFECT little interior bounce pass that got to Jaden right before Reaves could recover to him and McDaniels ended up getting the and-one.

Ant, Naz, and Jaden are all playing at a higher level in the playoffs than they were in the regular season. It's that sort of thing that makes it hard to break them up!

My favorite play of the game too. Q. I'll point out another thing about Naz. Kek has wisely pointed out in the past how easy it was to score on us when Rudy went to the bench. I don't know if he has posted this even once this series. That's meaningful.

Wellllll......there's that 3rd quarter we need to talk about.

I don't know if this was instructions from Finch or if Naz was freewheelin' it, but the Lakers were clearly trying to get Doncic matched up on Reid. So Naz's guy would set a screen for Doncic and Naz would immediately switch AND Jaden would stick with Doncic too, essentially employing a blitzing defense. It was the first time I saw the Wolves double Doncic early in the shot clock in this series. The result? He made the right pass every single time and then the guy he passed to made the next right pass and it was one wide open 3-point shot after another.

Now why on earth would Finch suddenly employ that strategy when the one they had been using had been working throughout the series!?! Or did the players (i.e. Naz) mess up the coverage?

Either way, I thought Naz should have showed on those screens and then recovered back to his man. In the 4th, they just switched everything and Naz actually got a stop or two on Luka. But we need to stick to the "make Jokic (now Doncic) a scorer" strategy!

[Lipoli390]

Great to have the legendary Lip Game Report back, even if it's just a special edition and not a regular feature!

On Naz, what a head-scratcher of a player he is, as sometimes we just bleed points with him on the floor defensively (last night's 3rd quarter being an example!). But what a huge 4th quarter he had. My favorite play wasn't even one of his big buckets, but a pass he made to Jaden off of an Ant pass to him (credit to Ant for finding the right guy off the blitz). He threw a PERFECT little interior bounce pass that got to Jaden right before Reaves could recover to him and McDaniels ended up getting the and-one.

Ant, Naz, and Jaden are all playing at a higher level in the playoffs than they were in the regular season. It's that sort of thing that makes it hard to break them up!

Yes, it makes it hard to break them up. But I’ve always thought it would be foolish to break them up. It’s important to keep in mind that that all three haven’t peaked yet as players. They’re all going to get better over the next couple years. So the playoffs haven changed my view about keeping those three together. But Randle’s performance in this series is making it difficult for me to stick to my view that we shouldn’t bring him back. Who we bring back next season is a question for another day in another thread. For now, we’re all focused on the playoffs and in this series I’d like to see more Naz and less Rudy. Having Naz on the court with Randle, Ant and Jaden makes us really, really hard to defend. One thing that makes Naz fit so well with the other offensive-minded players I mentioned is that he doesn’t hold the ball long. He makes quick decisions and that’s important when you have guys like Ant and Randle with sticky fingers.

[Lipoli390]

For all Finch’s faults his challenge won the game. Always a mixed bag with him. I would say Julius and DDV adapting to this team quickly has been a positive Finch point.

Good points, Doper. Always great to get a more complete perspective.

[Lipoli390]

What a great game you were able to see, Lip! Sorry about the back though, and sorry your wife was yelling at you during the game...did you deserve it ?

Very good report. I couldn't agree more about how much better the Lakers' offense looked than ours with all the ball movement and players moving without the ball. Such a contrast to our style of 4 guys standing around. But fortunately we had our two high scorers having great games, and a far superior defense...and that was enough to beat a team gasping for air in the 4th.

Let's go win the next one in LA...you'll get a chance to see another home game in the next series!

My back’s a bit sore after last night’s game. Too much standing and fist pumping. . I’ll be icing it all week so I’m ready for game six - although I hope we finish this series in five.

I’ve always liked Finch and defended him earlier in the season against some critiques. I still like Finch and believe he’s developed a great rapport with his players. But as a Bulls fan growing up I also loved Doug Collins. I’m thinking that Finch might be our Doug Collins and that it might be time to move on from him and find our version of Phil Jackson. I’m not advocating for the triangle. . But as great as Ant is, we have to get the ball and players moving offensively. It was Phil Jackson who unlocked the full offensive potential of Scottie Pippen by implementing an offense that took the ball out of Michael Jordan’s hands and got the ball moving. I have a sense that right head coach with a more movement-oriented offense could similarly unlock Jaden’s full offensive potential. But that’s a topic for later discussion. In the meantime, let’s hope that Ant and Randle continue to perform the way they’ve been performing so far in the series.

[Monster]

For all Finch’s faults his challenge won the game. Always a mixed bag with him. I would say Julius and DDV adapting to this team quickly has been a positive Finch point.

Good points, Doper. Always great to get a more complete perspective.

Very few NBA teams do this every game but under Finch the Wolves generally play hard and play defense and most games play like they are the aggressors in one way shape or form. Obviously it helps the Wolves actually have talent but I'll take what Finch is doing over what they have had from other coaches. Look around at some of the other teams that thought they would upgrade. Some have worked out and others have not.

Finch is not a perfect coach but he has gotten some good things out of players and allowed sole unique guys to utilize their talents. Not everyone has done well under him but there aren't a lot of guys that have gone on to having some sort of amazing success after leaving him. NAW's progression has been pretty impressive. I think Finch should get some credit for his growth.

[kekgeek]

Great to have the legendary Lip Game Report back, even if it's just a special edition and not a regular feature!

On Naz, what a head-scratcher of a player he is, as sometimes we just bleed points with him on the floor defensively (last night's 3rd quarter being an example!). But what a huge 4th quarter he had. My favorite play wasn't even one of his big buckets, but a pass he made to Jaden off of an Ant pass to him (credit to Ant for finding the right guy off the blitz). He threw a PERFECT little interior bounce pass that got to Jaden right before Reaves could recover to him and McDaniels ended up getting the and-one.

Ant, Naz, and Jaden are all playing at a higher level in the playoffs than they were in the regular season. It's that sort of thing that makes it hard to break them up!

My favorite play of the game too. Q. I'll point out another thing about Naz. Kek has wisely pointed out in the past how easy it was to score on us when Rudy went to the bench. I don't know if he has posted this even once this series. That's meaningful.

Wellllll......there's that 3rd quarter we need to talk about.

I don't know if this was instructions from Finch or if Naz was freewheelin' it, but the Lakers were clearly trying to get Doncic matched up on Reid. So Naz's guy would set a screen for Doncic and Naz would immediately switch AND Jaden would stick with Doncic too, essentially employing a blitzing defense. It was the first time I saw the Wolves double Doncic early in the shot clock in this series. The result? He made the right pass every single time and then the guy he passed to made the next right pass and it was one wide open 3-point shot after another.

Now why on earth would Finch suddenly employ that strategy when the one they had been using had been working throughout the series!?! Or did the players (i.e. Naz) mess up the coverage?

Either way, I thought Naz should have showed on those screens and then recovered back to his man. In the 4th, they just switched everything and Naz actually got a stop or two on Luka. But we need to stick to the "make Jokic (now Doncic) a scorer" strategy!

Wolves have been good defensively in the Naz/Randle pairing these 4 games what is huge (slightly above average compared to the rest of the nba playoff lineup) and the offense has hummed.

I know like it might seem not true but I do not hate Naz. Haha. I am probably too hard on him I just see him through the prism of a potentially a 30 million dollar player and that scares the shit it out of me. I think he struggles on the defensive glass, fouls on so many drives, not a great passer and goes super streaky on offense.

With all that said he can get buckets and has been so huge in 4th Q this playoffs so far. I admit my biases probably come through when talking about Naz. I’m just terrified of that next contract.

But hope he keeps it up because he is a huge X factor for this team.