Minnesota Sports Forum

kekgeek wrote: ↑Wed Nov 15, 2023 9:22 am

Wolvesfan21 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 15, 2023 8:54 am

DNatagal wrote: ↑Wed Nov 15, 2023 8:37 am There is a narrative that Ant "didn't have it going" that is less than the truth. The Warriors were sending 2 or more players at him the entire game. Kerr wasn't going to allow Ant to take over the game. I think Ant had a good game and played within himself for the most part. He made a few "youth inspired" pass attempts that lead to 5 turnovers, but he was 7-16 from the field, 3-6 from deep, had 4 reb, 4 assists, and 3 steals. He did fall asleep on a couple backdoor cuts, but that is something the Warriors do to everyone. Kat went 12-26 for the game. Very inefficient but he made the plays that were needed.

I think Ant was pretty solid also. He wasn't up to his standard for sure. BTW 7/16 is 43.75%. Kat was better 12/26 at 46.15% (not what I would say very inefficient). I think we expect more from Ant and less from Karl at this point and could be slightly skewed in the grades.

This is where Ant gets punished a little bit because he is our star. I expect our star when the team is playing poorly unexpired basketball to pull the team out of the rut. He failed to do that last night. Kat carried. Ant was not great off ball Defending last night either. Now he is a star for a reason and helped close the game. I want to say I don’t think C grades are bad grades, he just could have been a lot better last night. Also you know Ant is a star when he puts up those numbers and I don’t think he played great

I’ll give my grades after watching the replay later today.

I think it’s fair to hold Ant to a slightly higher standard in a game like last night’s. But I’ll note that even the all-time greats like MJ, Kobe and Dwayne Wade had games like the one Ant had last night. That’s why you need at least one other elite offensive player on your team if you want to be a contender. MJ had Pippen. Kobe had Shaq. Wade also had Shaq and later he had LeBron. Jokic has Murray. Tatum has Brown and Portzingis. This Wolves team would be in trouble if Ant didn’t have KAT. The importance of the second elite scorer isn’t limited to days when the top guy’s scoring is off; it also includes the many games when you need elite scoring from both as happened in the game on Sunday when we needed both Ant and KAT to put up big offensive numbers.

Keep in mind that the Warriors are tailor made for KAT. If we could play the Dubs every night, KAT would be the league MVP. He did exactly what he should do against GSW, and was our best player over the two games.

Watching in real time without checking the box score I thought Ant was terrible. It felt like he was involved in almost every bad play that happened while he was on the floor for a long stretch there, either getting beat on defense or making a poor decision on offense. I don't mind one or even two of these things happening, but all three happened in one game: Mediocre shooting, bad turnovers, and (mostly) bad defense. He deserves a D since the standard is so high for him.

(great win though!)

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Wed Nov 15, 2023 3:00 pm Watching in real time without checking the box score I thought Ant was terrible. It felt like he was involved in almost every bad play that happened while he was on the floor for a long stretch there, either getting beat on defense or making a poor decision on offense. I don't mind one or even two of these things happening, but all three happened in one game: Mediocre shooting, bad turnovers, and (mostly) bad defense. He deserves a D since the standard is so high for him.

(great win though!)

I’m sure I’ll see what you saw in Ant’s play when I watch the recording. It might be a good thing in that it could motivate Ant to come back strong against the Suns tonight.

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 15, 2023 3:03 pm

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Wed Nov 15, 2023 3:00 pm Watching in real time without checking the box score I thought Ant was terrible. It felt like he was involved in almost every bad play that happened while he was on the floor for a long stretch there, either getting beat on defense or making a poor decision on offense. I don't mind one or even two of these things happening, but all three happened in one game: Mediocre shooting, bad turnovers, and (mostly) bad defense. He deserves a D since the standard is so high for him.

(great win though!)

I’m sure I’ll see what you saw in Ant’s play when I watch the recording. It might be a good thing in that it could motivate Ant to come back strong against the Suns tonight.

He always seems to redeem himself somewhat in the end though, and last night he did with that final flurry into the lane and kickout to Conley. That was the right play and it was the dagger.

I think the thing that gets me most are the turnovers. A lot of them are sloppy plays on his part versus some amazing defensive play. He's gotta clean up his game a bit in this area.

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 15, 2023 10:32 am Keep in mind that the Warriors are tailor made for KAT. If we could play the Dubs every night, KAT would be the league MVP. He did exactly what he should do against GSW, and was our best player over the two games.

I agree that GSW is a good match-up for KAT. And as you said, he’s met the moment these last two games against them by playing at an MVP level. I have confidence KAT can continue to play that way offensively going forward based on what he’s done on the offensive end consistently throughout his multi-year career. He’s averaged 23 points, 11 rebounds and 3.2 assists over his career, including an average of 24.6 points, 9.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists two years ago when he was by far the best player (and only all-star level player) on a Wolves team that won 46 games. His challenge, similar to Ant’s, is adapting his offensive game to Rudy’s presence on the court. We can see things coming together, but it’s not where it needs to be yet. The good news is that all our guys, including KAT, Rudy and Ant, are obviously putting forth the effort and sacrifice to make it work offensively.

KAT had already improved significantly on the defensive end two seasons ago, but he’s taken his defense to a much higher level so far this season. The good news on this front is that he’s been very good defensively in all of the Wolves 10 games to date, not just against the Warriors. That bodes well for KAT and the Wolves going forward.

Best news of all regarding KAT is that he’s shown maturity and composure the past few games after some prior games when he was starting to act out in his more familiar immature ways. This remains the key to KAT in my mind. I like that TC has been outspoken in his demand for maturity on this team. Maturity and composure, along with competitiveness, appear to be a key cornerstones of team culture the organization expects from the players. This expectation starts at the top.

I have no doubt that Finch and perhaps others in the front office have been very clear with KAT behind he scenes that he has to grow out of his “stray-voltage” antics on the court. I suspect Kyle Anderson and perhaps others have reinforced that message. I don’t think this organization has ever had a culture of accountability, especially when it comes to KAT. It looks like that has changed and I’m starting to believe KAT is finally internalizing that message and modifying his behavior. If so, this team (assuming it remains healthy) will likely continue its current success going forward.