CoolBreeze's 2 Things I Didn't Like Tonight Plus 1

[AbeVigodaLive]

- As TheRealSP notes... that sequence (fire) from Wiggins was great. He forced the issue and didn't settle. It set the tone down the stretch that the Wolves were taking over. Great to see.

- On a night when Whiteside went apeshit... it was good to see the Wolves prized rookie have a "quiet" 14/14 game in only 26 minutes. For those of us stuck watching the likes of Felton Spencer, Luc Longley, Sean Rooks, et al have countless 7/6 games... it's beyond refreshing.

- I hate watching certain Wolves play basketball. For example, K. Martin is a "selfish" basketball player. So is S. Muhammad. But that guy can put the ball in the bucket. I can't imagine ever liking him in the starting lineup, but I'm a big advocate of instant offense off the bench. He has a knack for scoring.

- Keep LaVine on the court WITH Rubio. I don't like watching Z.LaVine (as a PG) when he's on the court with guys like Muhammad or Martin or Payne... he just can't create offense and it becomes an ugly, disjointed iso show far too often. But we've discussed this LaVine position thing enough. I think it's getting more clear what his best position is.

- Sloppy game. Poor shooting from MN. Awful unforced TOs and missed free throws from Miami. But who cares... a win is a win. Another road win for this young team is even better.

- I think most Wolves fans took extra pleasure that it was Whiteside bricking free throws during that critical stretch when the Wolves started to pull away.

[Monster]

- As TheRealSP notes... that sequence (fire) from Wiggins was great. He forced the issue and didn't settle. It set the tone down the stretch that the Wolves were taking over. Great to see.

- On a night when Whiteside went apeshit... it was good to see the Wolves prized rookie have a "quiet" 14/14 game in only 26 minutes. For those of us stuck watching the likes of Felton Spencer, Luc Longley, Sean Rooks, et al have countless 7/6 games... it's beyond refreshing.

- I hate watching certain Wolves play basketball. For example, K. Martin is a "selfish" basketball player. So is S. Muhammad. But that guy can put the ball in the bucket. I can't imagine ever liking him in the starting lineup, but I'm a big advocate of instant offense off the bench. He has a knack for scoring.

- Keep LaVine on the court WITH Rubio. I don't like watching Z.LaVine (as a PG) when he's on the court with guys like Muhammad or Martin or Payne... he just can't create offense and it becomes an ugly, disjointed iso show far too often. But we've discussed this LaVine position thing enough. I think it's getting more clear what his best position is.

- Sloppy game. Poor shooting from MN. Awful unforced TOs and missed free throws from Miami. But who cares... a win is a win. Another road win for this young team is even better.

- I think most Wolves fans took extra pleasure that it was Whiteside bricking free throws during that critical stretch when the Wolves started to pull away.

Abe I think you are giving some of those wolves centers too much credit 7/6 sounds almost too kind. The stats won't probably back that up but your point is a very good one. It's just another perspective of how Terrific Towns has been.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

- As TheRealSP notes... that sequence (fire) from Wiggins was great. He forced the issue and didn't settle. It set the tone down the stretch that the Wolves were taking over. Great to see.

- On a night when Whiteside went apeshit... it was good to see the Wolves prized rookie have a "quiet" 14/14 game in only 26 minutes. For those of us stuck watching the likes of Felton Spencer, Luc Longley, Sean Rooks, et al have countless 7/6 games... it's beyond refreshing.

- I hate watching certain Wolves play basketball. For example, K. Martin is a "selfish" basketball player. So is S. Muhammad. But that guy can put the ball in the bucket. I can't imagine ever liking him in the starting lineup, but I'm a big advocate of instant offense off the bench. He has a knack for scoring.

- Keep LaVine on the court WITH Rubio. I don't like watching Z.LaVine (as a PG) when he's on the court with guys like Muhammad or Martin or Payne... he just can't create offense and it becomes an ugly, disjointed iso show far too often. But we've discussed this LaVine position thing enough. I think it's getting more clear what his best position is.

- Sloppy game. Poor shooting from MN. Awful unforced TOs and missed free throws from Miami. But who cares... a win is a win. Another road win for this young team is even better.

- I think most Wolves fans took extra pleasure that it was Whiteside bricking free throws during that critical stretch when the Wolves started to pull away.

For the record, Zach was +18 playing PG with those reserves you listed, and +5 playing next to Rubio, so I agree with you that it is getting more clear what his best position is...but I think you and Sam might still differ as to what is becoming clear! And actually, Sam was smart enough to put Zach on Dragic, and Ricky on Wade about half the time they were out there together, so it looked more to me like we had 2 PGs out there a la Phoenix, Portland and Indiana. I liked Zach's +5 tonight with Ricky (especially since half of it was at crunch time) and I think there will be instances where it can be very effective. But I liked his +18 playing without Ricky even more.

Let's see how Sam does his rotation tomorrow. My guess is he won't want to see Zach matched up with either Oladipo or Hezonja.

[AbeVigodaLive]

monster... you knew I had to look it up...

Felton's 3 seasons:
- 7/8
- 7/7
- 4/5

Luc's 3 seasons:
- 4/4
- 6/4
- 7/6

Rooks' 2 seasons:
- 11/6
- 7/4

[Monster]

monster... you knew I had to look it up...

Felton's 3 seasons:
- 7/8
- 7/7
- 4/5

Luc's 3 seasons:
- 4/4
- 6/4
- 7/6

Rooks' 2 seasons:
- 11/6
- 7/4

Well that was something huh? I had looked at Felton's numbers and then stopped.

[Monster]

Abe I will say this from the perspective that I have tried to keep an open mind on Zach as a PG but he hasn't looked good there as a PG but tonight I though he looked the part actually of a smart or at least low turnover scoring PG sort of a Jarrett Jack or even a Brandon Jennings type guy. I dislike Jennings a lot but if Zach could play the PG position as well as Jennings while actually you know like make shots and attack the rim (2 things Jennings is allergic to) he would be a heck of a player. It was one game but it was nice to see. I thought he had a calming effect out there at times. Weird right? Yeah.

[Lipoli390]

monster... you knew I had to look it up...

Felton's 3 seasons:
- 7/8
- 7/7
- 4/5

Luc's 3 seasons:
- 4/4
- 6/4
- 7/6

Rooks' 2 seasons:
- 11/6
- 7/4

Many years ago a friend of mine coined a stat or unit of measure called a "Felton". It's 0 points and 6 fouls.

[Lipoli390]

Fun game to watch and a great win. I still see Zach primarily as a SG. But I have to admit he did a really nice job at the point tonight. He's an immensely talented player. The key is to get him on the court and turn him loose to score. Tonight's game was a glimpse of what I see as our eventual core 5: Ricky, Zach, Wiggins, KAT, and Shabazz. I see Shabazz in the proverbial 6th man role on this team, with the other 4 starting. Love the way Bazz played tonight. He kept us in the game when others were struggling. Note that he's working really hard on both ends and is holding his own defensively.

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

Missed the game but just watched the replay, helluva win. I think Jim Pet summed it up perfectly when he said "these young dudes are comin'."

A few random observations:

--Bazz was huge tonight, making a big shots right when we needed them to keep us close until the other young studs could take over.

--Definitely the best game by Payne I have seen. Loved the trash talking.

--Wiggins is starting to look like the closer that this franchise has never had. That last drive to the hoop after he had just drove in and got fouled but no call gave me goosebumps. The bottom line is he is so uber-athletic he can basically get a pretty good shot anytime he wants. Lavine also can get a shot when he wants. Having two guys like this to go to at the end of the game is huge.

This was a great win, but now you have to go out and beat Orlando, then come home strong.

[Carlos Danger]

Great game. I loved the aggressiveness by team and specific players. Towns brings some attitude. Rubio is certainly has some fire. And we know about KG. But last night we saw what Wiggins looks like with a bee in his bonnet. And loved the attitude of Payne going Gary Trent out there. LaVine certainly showed some swagger too. This team has a different feel than last year's up to this point. I hope they can continue to build on that. Fun to watch!