Minnesota Sports Forum

LST, since you watched the game. What was your thoughts of Jim Pete's on air analysis of playing Ricky on the ball? I'm curious of your thoughts?

What were your thoughts I should say.

monsterpile wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:Just finished the replay. Zach was magnificent throughout the game, but he also played off the ball most of the game and got a lot of help from Ricky.

So what happens when we make a stop with 45 seconds left and down 1? As Ricky brings the ball up the court with a chance to take the lead, Thibs wildly motions him to give the ball up to Zach and get in the corner where he belongs. Seriously???? And was anyone really surprised when Zach turned the ball over and torpedoed any chance of a win that we desperately needed? For the love of God, why change what's been working all game but putting Zach and Ricky in roles they aren't as comfortable? I just don't get it.

Will the Thibabobos out there please defend his coaching at that critical part of the game?

All I can tell you is that in the situation you are referring to, you are likely to end up with a Rubio 20 footer up against the shot clock. That's why Thibs gets the ball out of his hands in those possessions.

Let's see I am coaching a basketball game and it's near the end and I have a multidimensional player that has been magnificent most of the game putting the ball in the basket. Yeah I'll give him the ball and see what he can do. You could have CP3 on your team and a coach may have given the ball to Lavine late last night as the guy was rollin most of the game.

I'm pretty sure Duke would agree with you, monster :(, . As for me, I prefer to see if Zach can continue to excel within the flow of the offense like he has all game rather than putting Ricky in the corner and asking Zach to win the game with a hero move. Find me an example of where this strategy of Thibs with respect to Wig and Zach has been successful at the end of games, and I'll find you 10 where it has not been. It's just not working...let the PG successfully set up our scoring studs like he does all game.

And most of not all of Lavine's shots were heavily guarded. So it wasn't like Rubio was creating these great looks for him.

Duke13 wrote:LST, since you watched the game. What was your thoughts of Jim Pete's on air analysis of playing Ricky on the ball? I'm curious of your thoughts?

I had the sound off (gotta have the Christmas carols on today :) ) so I didn't catch his commentary, but I admit I usually agree with Peterson...he's pretty solid.

What I have seem the past five games though is a now-healthy PG averaging 9 assists a game and making scoring easy for our Big 3 in an offense that is clicking. And while we should be 5-0 in those games, we are 3-2 with Thibs putting Ricky in a time out in the corner in the 2 losses. It's a small sample size, but Thibs has to notice this if this season is going to be salvaged.

Zach had lots of ISO buckets early in the 4th and Ricky had just bricked a few jumpers later in the 4th previous to that possession. I don't dislike giving ISO to the hot hand. Zach just couldn't execute down the stretch, but neither could Ricky. He had chances when it mattered and couldn't deliver as per usual. I fail to understand why Thibs is to blame for avoiding giving Ricky an opportunity when he has never been a clutch performer.

Thibs has had us in every game except a few this year, the players have then failed to execute when it matters. This is what happens to teams with a lack of experienced winners. All are guilty of the losing culture. The hustle police seem a little too focused on one suspect as usual but it's been the corporate lack of intensity when it matters that kills this team. Chest pumping after dunks and layups still leads to lazy d o n the other side. There's been glimpses of improvement, last night was not one of them.

Duke13 wrote:And most of not all of Lavine's shots were heavily guarded. So it wasn't like Rubio was creating these great looks for him.

I don't disagree, Duke, that Zach was hot last night despite having a hand in his face on many of the shots...he's truly a special talent. But I still think he was generally scoring in the flow of the offense initiated by a PG, and not asked to be a hero until the final possession. Why change the strategy? I think one thing that this board agreed on during the Flip/Sam era is that Zach is much more effective when allowed to be strictly a SG than when he is asked to run the offense. Thibs needs to read the comments in this board from the past 2 years!

The last play you're referring to I think is when Zack attempted run PnR with Kat and turned it over trying to make a pass before making the defense commit. I don't see that as hero ball. He just didn't execute the play.

Duke13 wrote:The last play you're referring to I think is when Zack attempted run PnR with Kat and turned it over trying to make a pass before making the defense commit. I don't see that as hero ball. He just didn't execute the play.

That's the one. and I agree that he didn't execute. But he's not a PG and operates much more comfortably in the flow of the offense, so I'm not surprised it didn't work...again. PnR looks effortless when it works, but repetition is the key to its beauty, and non-PGs like Zach and Wig just aren't going to get sufficient reps to execute like a PG that works it all game. You analyzed it correctly, but I don't blame Zach for not reading the defense correctly...I blame Thibs for putting the kid in that position.

longstrangetrip wrote:

Duke13 wrote:The last play you're referring to I think is when Zack attempted run PnR with Kat and turned it over trying to make a pass before making the defense commit. I don't see that as hero ball. He just didn't execute the play.

That's the one. and I agree that he didn't execute. But he's not a PG and operates much more comfortably in the flow of the offense, so I'm not surprised it didn't work...again. PnR looks effortless when it works, but repetition is the key to its beauty, and non-PGs like Zach and Wig just aren't going to get sufficient reps to execute like a PG that works it all game. You analyzed it correctly, but I don't blame Zach for not reading the defense correctly...I blame Thibs for putting the kid in that position.

Good anyalsis of that play although from a different perspective I remember when I watched it thinking Towns didn't do a great job on that play as well. He often isn't great at doing things in the 2 man game after setting a screen. His strength is setting a screen to get a guy open but getting himself open? Mehta something he needs to improve on and I expect him to do so. Dieng and Lavine are so good together if Lavine and Towns can work like that someday they will be absolutely lethal.