Playoffs or Play-in? Wolves at Suns GDT

[FNG]

We were up 8 with 52 seconds to go. That could be the worst choke I have witnessed by this team ever.

As I’ve said before TC has filled this roster with higher character guys. But unfortunately not high IQ guys.

It was a terrible choke indeed. But it happens to good teams sometimes. OkC was up 19 on us with a little more than 6 minutes to go last February, and still up 12 with a little more than 2 minutes to go. And we came back to beat them. I wouldn't say that OkC doesn't have high IQ guys. And I actually think most of the Wolves with the exception of maybe Ant have pretty high basketball IQs (and Ant is so talented, he overcomes it mostly). I had a sick feeling in my stomach after the loss last night, and I'm sure Thunder fans had the same sick feeling after their epic collapse. But the true test is how a team responds to a collapse. OkC won their next game by 23, and went on to win 18 of their next 19 games. Let's see if the Wolves can bounce back from this bad loss.

[Wolvesfan21]

We were up 8 with 52 seconds to go. That could be the worst choke I have witnessed by this team ever.

As I’ve said before TC has filled this roster with higher character guys. But unfortunately not high IQ guys.

It was a terrible choke indeed. But it happens to good teams sometimes. OkC was up 19 on us with a little more than 6 minutes to go last February, and still up 12 with a little more than 2 minutes to go. And we came back to beat them. I wouldn't say that OkC doesn't have high IQ guys. And I actually think most of the Wolves with the exception of maybe Ant have pretty high basketball IQs (and Ant is so talented, he overcomes it mostly). I had a sick feeling in my stomach after the loss last night, and I'm sure Thunder fans had the same sick feeling after their epic collapse. But the true test is how a team responds to a collapse. OkC won their next game by 23, and went on to win 18 of their next 19 games. Let's see if the Wolves can bounce back from this bad loss.

Like our game, OKC thought the game was over. So did we, we're up 8, they get a fairly easy bucket, we don't call a TO to reset, calm down and ice the game, we turn it over and they dagger 3P us and all of a sudden they have a chance.

[FNG]

We were up 8 with 52 seconds to go. That could be the worst choke I have witnessed by this team ever.

As I’ve said before TC has filled this roster with higher character guys. But unfortunately not high IQ guys.

It was a terrible choke indeed. But it happens to good teams sometimes. OkC was up 19 on us with a little more than 6 minutes to go last February, and still up 12 with a little more than 2 minutes to go. And we came back to beat them. I wouldn't say that OkC doesn't have high IQ guys. And I actually think most of the Wolves with the exception of maybe Ant have pretty high basketball IQs (and Ant is so talented, he overcomes it mostly). I had a sick feeling in my stomach after the loss last night, and I'm sure Thunder fans had the same sick feeling after their epic collapse. But the true test is how a team responds to a collapse. OkC won their next game by 23, and went on to win 18 of their next 19 games. Let's see if the Wolves can bounce back from this bad loss.

Like our game, OKC thought the game was over. So did we, we're up 8, they get a fairly easy bucket, we don't call a TO to reset, calm down and ice the game, we turn it over and they dagger 3P us and all of a sudden they have a chance.

Yeah, that's my point...it can even happen to the best team in the Association. This one really hurt, but I think our guys will respond well. I want to see us destroy Sac-Town on Monday and carry that momentum to OkC Wednesday.

[rapsuperstar31]

The choke itself is annoying and as much as it stings us, I'm sure the players in the locker room feel awful about the results and it will be a long plane ride to Sacramento. Ant hit his three big free throws with about two minutes to go, which was clutch but misses the two biggest free throws that could have at least sent it to overtime. Finch doesn't put in Clark who I think gets the stop on that last play. Finch doesn't sub in Mike to bring the ball up the court against full court pressure. Ant should never be passing the ball into full court pressure, and Donte shouldn't be the one trying to get open for the inbounds against full court pressure. If Mike isn't out there, either Jaden or Julius need to be throwing it in or at least helping. Finch needs to call timeout if he doesn't like the look, because I could see from a mile away I didn't like the look there. Brooks definitely got away with a lot down the stretch holding players while trying to inbound it.

[rapsuperstar31]

Also 5 rebounds in 34 minutes by Julius, and 2 rebounds in 27 minutes by Naz when we're bleeding points on offensive rebounds is atrocious.

[FNG]

The choke itself is annoying and as much as it stings us, I'm sure the players in the locker room feel awful about the results and it will be a long plane ride to Sacramento. Ant hit his three big free throws with about two minutes to go, which was clutch but misses the two biggest free throws that could have at least sent it to overtime. Finch doesn't put in Clark who I think gets the stop on that last play. Finch doesn't sub in Mike to bring the ball up the court against full court pressure. Ant should never be passing the ball into full court pressure, and Donte shouldn't be the one trying to get open for the inbounds against full court pressure. If Mike isn't out there, either Jaden or Julius need to be throwing it in or at least helping. Finch needs to call timeout if he doesn't like the look, because I could see from a mile away I didn't like the look there. Brooks definitely got away with a lot down the stretch holding players while trying to inbound it.

Lots of good points, Rap (although I suspect they flew back to Minneapolis last night rather than Sacramento ). I also wanted to have Clark on Gillespie on that last possession. We haven't talked about it here, but I thought both Jaden and Donte did a poor job defending him. If I had to support Finchy's decision, I wonder if he was concerned about Clark fouling if he put him in there. He has by far the highest foul rate of our rotation guys.

[Wolvesfan21]

The choke itself is annoying and as much as it stings us, I'm sure the players in the locker room feel awful about the results and it will be a long plane ride to Sacramento. Ant hit his three big free throws with about two minutes to go, which was clutch but misses the two biggest free throws that could have at least sent it to overtime. Finch doesn't put in Clark who I think gets the stop on that last play. Finch doesn't sub in Mike to bring the ball up the court against full court pressure. Ant should never be passing the ball into full court pressure, and Donte shouldn't be the one trying to get open for the inbounds against full court pressure. If Mike isn't out there, either Jaden or Julius need to be throwing it in or at least helping. Finch needs to call timeout if he doesn't like the look, because I could see from a mile away I didn't like the look there. Brooks definitely got away with a lot down the stretch holding players while trying to inbound it.

I agree with all of it, what do you do to ice games? Been watching BB for eternity, you go to your vet PG who shoots FT's well and handles the ball pressure well. DDV is not a PG and Ants not a true PG yet either. The lineup is fine against normal defense, but full court pressure no.

I can't believe everyone is not calling Finch a clown for that end of game action. I saw Ant passing the ball in to DDV with guys surrounding him and was like this looks bad call a fucking timeout!

That lineup is concerning if we're going to stick with them in close games. I would be closing mostly with Conley and Clark (offense defense depending also).

[FNG]

A couple more things after reflecting on the game and listening to a couple pods:

1) One team was going to feel really bad at the end of this game. We feel deflated because we couldn't protect an 8-point lead in the last minute, but the Suns would have been deflated if they had blown an 18-point lead at home.

2) I thought Jaden was our best player in this game. Kyle Theige pointed out on Dane's pod that he was playing in a lot of pain...couldn't use his left hand much, and was wincing a lot. I hadn't noticed that, but good on Jaden for toughing it out and almost delivering a win.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Wolvesfan and Finch. A perfect match. LOL.

I think he and I need to sit down so I can regale him with Kurt Rambis, Sidney Lowe, Randy Wittman, Ryan Saunders, Jimmy Rodgers and Bill Blair stories.

As for the TO... Coaching criticism is all about hindsight. In this case, The Wolves didn't call their last TO with 45 seconds on the clock and up 6. And I think there are 29 other coaches who also wouldn't have called their last TO in that situation. Why? Because in the NBA, there's a chance there will still be another 3 or 4 (or more) possessions to inbound the ball.

The execution was poor on the inbounds play. If Finch wanted Edwards to be the inbounds guy and DDV to be the guy receiving the ball... and someone disagrees... fine. Rip him for that. Or rip him for not having Clark out there on D or Conley on offense. I think those coaching decisions have more merit.

But I have no problem with Finch not calling TO and assuming pro players can inbound the basketball up 6 with 45 seconds left.



[Note: If we're being honest WolvesFan... would you honestly be quiet if Finch used the team's last TO with 45 seconds left (when we didn't have the knowledge of impending doom and it looked mostly like a random inbounds play)... but then didn't have one later in the game? Imagine if the game tightened anyway, and the Wolves took a 5-second call or something with 6 seconds left because they were out of TOs? I have a sneaky suspicion you'd be all over Finch for that one, too. Again, it's all about hindsight.]

[Wolvesfan21]

Wolvesfan and Finch. A perfect match. LOL.

I think he and I need to sit down so I can regale him with Kurt Rambis, Sidney Lowe, Randy Wittman, Ryan Saunders, Jimmy Rodgers and Bill Blair stories.

As for the TO... Coaching criticism is all about hindsight. In this case, The Wolves didn't call their last TO with 45 seconds on the clock and up 6. And I think there are 29 other coaches who also wouldn't have called their last TO in that situation. Why? Because in the NBA, there's a chance there will still be another 3 or 4 (or more) possessions to inbound the ball.

The execution was poor on the inbounds play. If Finch wanted Edwards to be the inbounds guy and DDV to be the guy receiving the ball... and someone disagrees... fine. Rip him for that. Or rip him for not having Clark out there on D or Conley on offense. I think those coaching decisions have more merit.

But I have no problem with Finch not calling TO and assuming pro players can inbound the basketball up 6 with 45 seconds left.



[Note: If we're being honest WolvesFan... would you honestly be quiet if Finch used the team's last TO with 45 seconds left (when we didn't have the knowledge of impending doom and it looked mostly like a random inbounds play)... but then didn't have one later in the game? Imagine if the game tightened anyway, and the Wolves took a 5-second call or something with 6 seconds left because they were out of TOs? I have a sneaky suspicion you'd be all over Finch for that one, too. Again, it's all about hindsight.]

I 100% disagree, I thought TO after they cut it to 6!!! The ONLY real chance you have to lose that game is turn it over quick dagger 3P there. You go back up 7 or 8 and the game is over, they have to score now 3 or 4 times in 40ish maybe less seconds without YOU scoring at all, just not happening 99.999% of the time and they don't have Reggie Miller.

They stole the ball and stole all the momentum in the process causing our guys to fold. Don't give them any hope and just ice it then and there. When you got your foot on a teams throat don't let off it, Keep it there till you win.

Thats not even mentioning how Conley wasn't in the game either. That's the tried and true tested method in the history of basketball. Go to you best FT shooting/handling vet PG to ice it. It's not even a question of doing it or not. You just do it, everyone does it. If they double him, fine then go somewhere else, but then you got guys wide open. Also wasn't Rudy in the game? His one downfall is his FT shooting so he shouldn't be in there either. That is one situation he has to be off the floor.

The entire lineup was bad for that situation, the non TO was an absolute boneheaded mistake.