Kekgeek grades G4 vs Cavs

[AussieWolf3]

We really lose the plot sometimes with Ant. He was the lone bright spot in the starting lineup and scored his 47 on 34 shots. Four assists isn't a great number but I wonder how many potential assists he ended up with cause it's not like he didn't try and make some plays and move the ball throughout the course of the game.

No doubt he got tunnel vision at times, I was most frustrated with during the middle of the game, and he absolutely should have passed out the double at the end of regulation. That said, we're really going galaxy brain if we're trying to attribute this lose to him at all when he was +11 in a game they lost by 2.

LaMelo was terrible and they just need him to be better especially on a back to back where he only played 16 minutes the previous game.

They need more from Jaden as well and Rudy's offense was horrendous.

[Wolvesfan21]

We really lose the plot sometimes with Ant. He was the lone bright spot in the starting lineup and scored his 47 on 34 shots. Four assists isn't a great number but I wonder how many potential assists he ended up with cause it's not like he didn't try and make some plays and move the ball throughout the course of the game.

No doubt he got tunnel vision at times, I was most frustrated with during the middle of the game, and he absolutely should have passed out the double at the end of regulation. That said, we're really going galaxy brain if we're trying to attribute this lose to him at all when he was +11 in a game they lost by 2.

LaMelo was terrible and they just need him to be better especially on a back to back where he only played 16 minutes the previous game.

They need more from Jaden as well and Rudy's offense was horrendous.

I wouldn't "blame" Ant for the loss, just that I think there is another level he can get to. A little bit better selection on shot versus pass and lean a bit more to pass where as he tends to lean to shoot.

[FNG]

We really lose the plot sometimes with Ant. He was the lone bright spot in the starting lineup and scored his 47 on 34 shots. Four assists isn't a great number but I wonder how many potential assists he ended up with cause it's not like he didn't try and make some plays and move the ball throughout the course of the game.

No doubt he got tunnel vision at times, I was most frustrated with during the middle of the game, and he absolutely should have passed out the double at the end of regulation. That said, we're really going galaxy brain if we're trying to attribute this lose to him at all when he was +11 in a game they lost by 2.

LaMelo was terrible and they just need him to be better especially on a back to back where he only played 16 minutes the previous game.

They need more from Jaden as well and Rudy's offense was horrendous.

I wouldn't "blame" Ant for the loss, just that I think there is another level he can get to. A little bit better selection on shot versus pass and lean a bit more to pass where as he tends to lean to shoot.

Yes, we want more from Ant, but I don't think anyone is blaming Ant for the loss. We lost because Melo had a rare very bad game, we couldn't make our free throws, and Rudy couldn't finish some pretty nice passes (although in all fairness, we may not be in the game without his 20 rebounds). The Cavs are good, and we weren't going to go 82-0 this season!

[rapsuperstar31]

I don't know, guys...I think this loss might convince me that this team is for real more than the three wins. Playing an OT game on the back end of a BTB on a very good Eastern team's court, and we could have (should have?) beaten them. And we did it on a night where LaMelo, as terrific as he has been the first 3 games, was really bad...I agree with Q that he deserved a D+.

I guess the reason I'm not feeling so bad after this loss is I'm seeing huge growth from Joan...he finally seems to be getting the art of blocking out, and his instincts on the offensive boards continue to be terrific. And while I agree with some of of you that we have to get Ant off the ball, I'm also seeing signs of maturing in him. Kek, I can sense your frustration with some things Ant did tonight, but I'm seeing a guy playing far better at both ends than he has in past years.

We're 3-1 against some good teams. LaMelo will bounce back after this poor game, and Rudy (let's not ignore the fact that he had TWENTY rebounds!) won't fumble the ball as much. Even after a loss, I'm thinking my wins prediction is too low. This is a really good team.

Joan is averaging 17.4 rebounds per 36!

[Q-is-here]

I don't know, guys...I think this loss might convince me that this team is for real more than the three wins. Playing an OT game on the back end of a BTB on a very good Eastern team's court, and we could have (should have?) beaten them. And we did it on a night where LaMelo, as terrific as he has been the first 3 games, was really bad...I agree with Q that he deserved a D+.

I guess the reason I'm not feeling so bad after this loss is I'm seeing huge growth from Joan...he finally seems to be getting the art of blocking out, and his instincts on the offensive boards continue to be terrific. And while I agree with some of of you that we have to get Ant off the ball, I'm also seeing signs of maturing in him. Kek, I can sense your frustration with some things Ant did tonight, but I'm seeing a guy playing far better at both ends than he has in past years.

We're 3-1 against some good teams. LaMelo will bounce back after this poor game, and Rudy (let's not ignore the fact that he had TWENTY rebounds!) won't fumble the ball as much. Even after a loss, I'm thinking my wins prediction is too low. This is a really good team.

Joan is averaging 17.4 rebounds per 36!

Yeah, Joan's development path is going exactly to plan so far. Got his feet wet last year, now in the regular rotation without too much expectation as Rudy's backup, and seemingly gets better and better as he gains experience.

[60WinTim]

Not that it matters, but ANT was fouled by Harden at the end of regulation and should have been at the FT line. And LaMelo should not have been called for a foul when he stole the ball from Mitchell at the end of OT. It didn't feel like the Wolves were getting equal treatment from the refs, and that's just a small sample size in the last 2 minute reports.

[Lipoli390]

We really lose the plot sometimes with Ant. He was the lone bright spot in the starting lineup and scored his 47 on 34 shots. Four assists isn't a great number but I wonder how many potential assists he ended up with cause it's not like he didn't try and make some plays and move the ball throughout the course of the game.

No doubt he got tunnel vision at times, I was most frustrated with during the middle of the game, and he absolutely should have passed out the double at the end of regulation. That said, we're really going galaxy brain if we're trying to attribute this lose to him at all when he was +11 in a game they lost by 2.

LaMelo was terrible and they just need him to be better especially on a back to back where he only played 16 minutes the previous game.

They need more from Jaden as well and Rudy's offense was horrendous.

I wouldn't "blame" Ant for the loss, just that I think there is another level he can get to. A little bit better selection on shot versus pass and lean a bit more to pass where as he tends to lean to shoot.

Yes, we want more from Ant, but I don't think anyone is blaming Ant for the loss. We lost because Melo had a rare very bad game, we couldn't make our free throws, and Rudy couldn't finish some pretty nice passes (although in all fairness, we may not be in the game without his 20 rebounds). The Cavs are good, and we weren't going to go 82-0 this season!

I agree on not blaming Ant for the loss. While we want more from him, it’s hard to expect more than he provided last night. We lost because of Melo’s terrible game and Rudy’s horrible hands. My one quibble is your characterization of Melo’s very bad game as “rare.” I honestly don’t know if what we saw last night was rare. Maybe it was and I sure hope so, but there’s a reason Charlotte traded him.

[Mnwild1128]

Reasons for loss:

Kumingas two missed free throws out of last 4 attempts

Missed foul calls. On Ant. On Kuminga. On Ayo.

Jaden foul out/tech

Gobert needing to just make 2 of 7 layups

Balls lame play as-if this was a playoff game and he could not do anything at all out there.

Finch shoulda played TSJ instead of Ayo during end game moments. He was actually hot.

[Crazysauce]

Also want to add the last 2 minute report claimed the no call on Ayo driving with Merrill moving into was apparently deemed correct and marginal contact. That game looked like the fix was in as the calls were very one sided.

[Coolbreeze44]

I watched a Spider last night have an Ant for dinner and he liked it.

Can someone tell me our record when Ant reverts to hero ball? Heck just tell me our record when he score 40+ compared to when he doesn't. I can't imagine it's much better and I kind of think it could be worse. You would think oh Ant scored 40, we had to win. He played a great game right? But I don't think those two stats are really linked.

Now does he revert to hero ball because others are struggling, or does he do it and cause others to somewhat struggle, not touching the ball, getting up any shots for a long time, playing out of offensive flow a lot, etc...

My feeling is that while I want Ant to score 40+ of course, he needs to do it more in flow of the game to make the team ultimately more effective and win. My pure guess is that we have a worse record when he scores 40+ then when he doesn't.

Exactly right. I wrote a post before the season that predicted this day was coming. He was going to tire of not having the ball in his hands and he was going to force it. The question I had after this happened is would the team stay that way or go back to the way they played the first 3 games. We won't know now because he is going to miss some time. Now is the time to get our fast paced, sharing the ball game ingrained in the team, so that when Ant comes back it's a lot harder to change to Ant hero ball.