Indy at Wolves GDT

[kekgeek]

Never complain about winning 2-1

[FNG]

Never complain about winning 2-1

I agree. Not complaining, but I think it's okay to worry about Ant's hammy.

[Q-is-here]

Ant with a team-leading +8 in 3 minutes.

[Coolbreeze44]

It was a tough watch and sloppily played. Had to be an impossible game to officiate.

[Lipoli390]

I don’t think Naz has been that bad tonight.

Naz has a pretty good game tonight. So did Bones who was also very good defensively. Bones was relentless on defense, refusing to allow the shooter to get his feet set. Randle was fantastic. Donte was excellent. Conley had some nice plays down the stretch but he’s lost more than a step and has become a huge liability on defense.

We gave up too many offensive rebounds and committed too many turnovers. But I’ll take the win. A pretty gritty performance overall.

[Wolvesfan21]

Ant out with a hammy injury

I bet his back caused his hammy to tweak. No bueno.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Abe's 1st Traditional DVR Review Gimmick of the Season:

- Randle hot early. But we've seen that lead to his teams (NYK/MN) losing offensive rhythm.
- The ball movement is very awkward at times.
- up 42-37... missed rebound, off foul, and missed layup for Reid. Is Finch yelling at Reid or the official after the Pacers got a off rebound and bucket over Reid?
- Grady quote: "The Wolves will need extra effort to win this one."
- Conley wide open three... misses everything. VERY rare for a shooter as good as Conley.
- More awkward ball movement... Wolves overpassed to end the half on multiple possessions.
- Grady quote 2 minutes into the 3rd: "Not a lot of energy on the floor."
- Another Grady quote about a lack of energy.
- It's interesting as a guy who usually reads these things AFTER the games, I notice things like how people get stuck on one topic throughout the game. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's part of being a fan. Obviously, Grady strongly believes it's about a lack of energy.
- Speaking of Grady (and Jim Pete). Are they off their game, too? There have been two very long pauses, followed by awkward returns. One after a bad telestrator setup.
- Clark can be so patient on defense. Worked against Siakam a bit. But Siakam is so damn underrated. An all-time very good player. He keeps coming back at the Wolves. You can see why he was a big deal on two very different NBA Finals teams.
- Bones Hyland on a PnR with Gobert, nice play. BUT, another example of why the PG position is very unsettled. Bones took two dribbles and had Gobert diving... Bones took one more dribble before passing. Now granted, they still got a foul out of it, but Hyland reading it just slightly late was bad.
- Jim Peterson really hates Reid's defensive chops. Has anyone ever seen kegeek and Jim Pete at the same time?
- Conley to Gobert for a dunk... and a karate chop to the melon. Now, why does Gobert get a flagrant for an arm that slides up to a neck (we've seen it happen a lot)... but not a full chop to the head. Isn't that second one a lot more dangerous?
- Seems like fewer commercials on the FanDuel feed.
- No young guy is safe on this team. TJ Shannon joins Dillingham as the forgotten men tonight.
- Take any win... and hope Edwards is back soon.

[FNG]

Ant out with a hammy injury

I bet his back caused his hammy to tweak. No bueno.

We've seen Ant go to the locker room many times with an injury only to return minutes later looking fine. He's Superman...usually. So the fact that he came back to the bench in street clothes concerns me. Naz says that he will play tonight, but Vegas doesn't agree because they have Denver favored by 5 1/2. The Wolves have had some very good injury luck this season with James out, Indy missing almost everyone, and Luka likely out for our game with them Wednesday. But it won't mean much if Ant is out for awhile.

[Lipoli390]

Abe's 1st Traditional DVR Review Gimmick of the Season:

- Randle hot early. But we've seen that lead to his teams (NYK/MN) losing offensive rhythm.
- The ball movement is very awkward at times.
- up 42-37... missed rebound, off foul, and missed layup for Reid. Is Finch yelling at Reid or the official after the Pacers got a off rebound and bucket over Reid?
- Grady quote: "The Wolves will need extra effort to win this one."
- Conley wide open three... misses everything. VERY rare for a shooter as good as Conley.
- More awkward ball movement... Wolves overpassed to end the half on multiple possessions.
- Grady quote 2 minutes into the 3rd: "Not a lot of energy on the floor."
- Another Grady quote about a lack of energy.
- It's interesting as a guy who usually reads these things AFTER the games, I notice things like how people get stuck on one topic throughout the game. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's part of being a fan. Obviously, Grady strongly believes it's about a lack of energy.
- Speaking of Grady (and Jim Pete). Are they off their game, too? There have been two very long pauses, followed by awkward returns. One after a bad telestrator setup.
- Clark can be so patient on defense. Worked against Siakam a bit. But Siakam is so damn underrated. An all-time very good player. He keeps coming back at the Wolves. You can see why he was a big deal on two very different NBA Finals teams.
- Bones Hyland on a PnR with Gobert, nice play. BUT, another example of why the PG position is very unsettled. Bones took two dribbles and had Gobert diving... Bones took one more dribble before passing. Now granted, they still got a foul out of it, but Hyland reading it just slightly late was bad.
- Jim Peterson really hates Reid's defensive chops. Has anyone ever seen kegeek and Jim Pete at the same time?
- Conley to Gobert for a dunk... and a karate chop to the melon. Now, why does Gobert get a flagrant for an arm that slides up to a neck (we've seen it happen a lot)... but not a full chop to the head. Isn't that second one a lot more dangerous?
- Seems like fewer commercials on the FanDuel feed.
- No young guy is safe on this team. TJ Shannon joins Dillingham as the forgotten men tonight.
- Take any win... and hope Edwards is back soon.

Love your DVR reviews, Abe! They’re especially interesting to read after watching the game live. A few points in reaction to your post:

- Randle carried us to the win last night, but there’s no question his style of play stifles any good offensive flow. It was apparent last night and it gets even worse with Ant on the floor with him. That’s a long term problem and I don’t know what to do about it. Ant and Randle are clearly our two best players right now and Randle is the only guy other than Ant (and maybe Naz) we can count on to get us a bucket. Guys who really helped our offensive flow last night were Shannon, Bones, Naz, Rudy and Donte.

- That one Conley shot you mentioned was his worst but he had some other bad 3 pointers. You can tell he just doesn’t have the legs anymore. That’s why shooting efficiency tends to drop with age. Mike’s old legs were also apparent on the defense end. He just can’t stay with guys anymore. Bones was MUCH better than Mike defensively last night.

- You gave a good example of why Bones is not a pure PG. But I think there’s way too much concern about the PG position. A classic, true PG isn’t necessary in today’s NBA, especially for a team like ours with ball-dominant shot-creators like Ant and Randle. Overall, Bones did a nice job of bringing the ball up, getting us into our offensive and keeping the ball moving. We need players who can handle the ball to take ball pressure off Ant, break down the defense a bit on dribble penetration and hit open shots. Bones did that well last night although his shooting was a bit off; Conley did not, although he made a couple nice plays down the stretch. Shannon looks like he can do that for us. I think Dilly can also. And I’ll repeat what I’ve written before - Dilly is a gifted passer.

- Regarding Grady’s comments about lack of energy, I’d say it depends. The energy last night from the players was much better than the preseason game against Indiana. Last night, energy level was very specific to individual players. Bones, Randle, Shannon, Clark and Donte had excellent energy levels. Jaden’s energy was terrible. Naz Reid’s energy was bad initially but became good (not great) as the game wore on.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Abe's 1st Traditional DVR Review Gimmick of the Season:

- You gave a good example of why Bones is not a pure PG. But I think there’s way too much concern about the PG position. A classic, true PG isn’t necessary in today’s NBA, especially for a team like ours with ball-dominant shot-creators like Ant and Randle. Overall, Bones did a nice job of bringing the ball up, getting us into our offensive and keeping the ball moving. We need players who can handle the ball to take ball pressure off Ant, break down the defense a bit on dribble penetration and hit open shots. Bones did that well last night although his shooting was a bit off; Conley did not, although he made a couple nice plays down the stretch. Shannon looks like he can do that for us. I think Dilly can also. And I’ll repeat what I’ve written before - Dilly is a gifted passer.

Yeah. I agree that the league is changing with the PG position, so you don't need Chris Paul/Steve Nash timing out there... but, it's also one more reason why I'm puzzled by the Dillinham pick.