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Re: Wolves at Rockets GDT
Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2024 8:57 pm
by kekgeek
I’ve been playing bags tonight so games been on in the background. But just a dominating performance. Guys just don’t freak out to losses. We are good. Looking to go to 8-5 in the hardest part of the schedule
Re: Wolves at Rockets GDT
Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2024 9:08 pm
by BloopOracle
Wow we absolutely blasted them in the 4th
Re: Wolves at Rockets GDT
Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2024 11:26 pm
by Leado01
Good to see smiles on the court...we absolutely should have won this game...glad we won it convincingly.
Re: Wolves at Rockets GDT
Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2024 12:38 am
by davemang
Nice to play against a team that plays slow for a change - really works in our favor. Jaden and towns with a bounceback, good to see. Even got a poster dunk from Anderson! Not much to complain about, feels like everyone played pretty smart and consistent for once since even in recent wins, we haven't been making the best decisions (especially on offense).
Re: Wolves at Rockets GDT
Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2024 1:21 am
by Lipoli390
Double digit scoring from six Wolves players tonight. That’s what we need from this team.
Re: Wolves at Rockets GDT
Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2024 6:37 pm
by Monster
Biggest take away from this game is McLaughlin is bringing a little bit of small guard juice on both ends. He looks completely healthy and when he is healthy he brings quickness and athleticism that’s easy to forget about because he plays a pretty controlled game offensively. He is racking up steals and assists right now and doing good things out there. He isn’t anywhere near the most important player on the roster but I really hope he can stay healthy because I think he can help this team.
Re: Wolves at Rockets GDT
Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2024 8:44 pm
by Q-is-here
Monster wrote: ↑Sat Jan 06, 2024 6:37 pm
Biggest take away from this game is McLaughlin is bringing a little bit of small guard juice on both ends. He looks completely healthy and when he is healthy he brings quickness and athleticism that’s easy to forget about because he plays a pretty controlled game offensively. He is racking up steals and assists right now and doing good things out there. He isn’t anywhere near the most important player on the roster but I really hope he can stay healthy because I think he can help this team.
It's not surprising the impact a pass-first PG with good ball security can have in the right role. Ask him to start games and create shots and he would be way in over his head. But off the bench paired up with other good players and his brand of basketball adds a ton of value. Here is how he has done since being inserted into the rotation three games ago:
@NYK: +13 in 11 minutes in a 6 point loss
NOP: +5 in 17 minutes in an 11 point loss
@HOU: +19 in 13 minutes in a 27 point win
He shot terribly in the Pelicans game, but still won his minutes on the floor.
I have a feeling he's in the rotation for good. We'll see what happens with his role come playoff time (assuming we haven't traded for a more potent backup PG), but it was nice to see Conley only have to log 25 minutes last night.
Re: Wolves at Rockets GDT
Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2024 9:35 am
by Lipoli390
Q-is-here wrote: ↑Sat Jan 06, 2024 8:44 pm
Monster wrote: ↑Sat Jan 06, 2024 6:37 pm
Biggest take away from this game is McLaughlin is bringing a little bit of small guard juice on both ends. He looks completely healthy and when he is healthy he brings quickness and athleticism that’s easy to forget about because he plays a pretty controlled game offensively. He is racking up steals and assists right now and doing good things out there. He isn’t anywhere near the most important player on the roster but I really hope he can stay healthy because I think he can help this team.
It's not surprising the impact a pass-first PG with good ball security can have in the right role. Ask him to start games and create shots and he would be way in over his head. But off the bench paired up with other good players and his brand of basketball adds a ton of value. Here is how he has done since being inserted into the rotation three games ago:
@NYK: +13 in 11 minutes in a 6 point loss
NOP: +5 in 17 minutes in an 11 point loss
@HOU: +19 in 13 minutes in a 27 point win
He shot terribly in the Pelicans game, but still won his minutes on the floor.
I have a feeling he's in the rotation for good. We'll see what happens with his role come playoff time (assuming we haven't traded for a more potent backup PG), but it was nice to see Conley only have to log 25 minutes last night.
Q and Monster - Excellent takes on JMac!
I won’t try to calibrate his importance relative to other players on the team. Interestingly, we can lose Rudy, KAT or Naz for a stretch of games and still be OK because we’ll still have the other two bigs plus Luka as well as other players with size to fill in. We lost Edwards for a short stretch but KAT stepped up with more scoring to help fill the gap. We have no one off the bench who can give us anything close to what Conley gives us. Suffice it to say, we will win games we wouldn’t otherwise win with JMac rather than Shake as our primary backup PG. In that sense, his presence as our main backup PG could easily be worth several spots in the standings.
In my view, a healthy JMac finally included in the rotation means we don’t need to trade for backup PG. JMac can give us 20 quality minutes per game backing up Conley off the bench. If Conley were to miss a few games with a minor injury or illness, I’m comfortable with JMac filling in for that stretch. I think we’d have to seriously consider trading for a PG if Conley were suddenly lost for the rest of the season. Unfortunately, I don’t think we have the assets to or financial flexibility to get the starting PG we’d need without losing too much in the process. As much as we’ve all complained about Slo Mo’s poor shooting, the Houston game underscored his substantial value to the team via his defense and savvy.
Re: Wolves at Rockets GDT
Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2024 10:09 am
by FNG
I've been on the road the past couple days so didn't watch this one, but I was really pleased when I looked at the box score. I suspected that Finchie has been as displeased with our play the previous five games as I have been, and that he probably gave the guys a tongue lashing after a dreadful performance against the Pelicans. If he ripped the team about their poor rebounding, it certainly must have gotten through to them, because they responded with a 52-38 butt-kicking against a pretty good rebounding Houston team...love it! This is a good rebounding team even without much of a contribution from Jaden, and there was no excuse for the Pelicans debacle.
I also have been lamenting the poor ball movement and horrendous assist to turnover ratio the past two weeks, so I was delighted to see 31 assists and only 14 turnovers. As I pointed out in Cool's thread, we are now 15-0 when we have more than 27 assists. Ant and KAT are still a problem (9 turnovers in this game) but I like seeing no turnovers with our two true PGs.
Obviously I'm a big JMac fan (as are Robson, Jon K, Jim Pete, and several on this board), so I was unhappy to see only 13 minutes for him in this game...especially when I note that many of them were during garbage time. I don't understand why Finchie doesn't trust him enough to give him 15-20 every night. He is productive when he is out there, and we all know we need to rest Bite Bite more. And look at what JMac did in his 13 minutes...3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, making his only three pointer, and an amazing +17! I think we underestimate what he brings on defense with his quickness and smarts. Robson tweeted how effective he is in defensive transitions by deeking into passing lanes without losing his position to blos up a fast break. We're undersized when he and Bite Bite are out there together, but it's fun to watch them on defense...it's a defensive clinic. Finchie simply needs to wake up and play JMac more.
SloMo has frustrated me this season with his poor shooting and forced passes to Rudy, but I agree with many who rave about his excellent on-ball defending. And it was nice to see his line in this game other that shooting...7 boards, 5 assists and 3 steals is excellent in only 18 minutes. That's the SloMo we need, along with better shooting.
This was a great bounce back win after 5 poor games. Yes, Dillon Brooks was out, but this is still a good Rockets team, and we thrashed them on their court. Let's hope we are out of our little funk. We're surprisingly favored in Dallas tonight, and I wonder if that is because of Luka's bad ankle. This will be a tough game if he plays.
Re: Wolves at Rockets GDT
Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2024 1:11 pm
by Monster
FNG wrote: ↑Sun Jan 07, 2024 10:09 am
I've been on the road the past couple days so didn't watch this one, but I was really pleased when I looked at the box score. I suspected that Finchie has been as displeased with our play the previous five games as I have been, and that he probably gave the guys a tongue lashing after a dreadful performance against the Pelicans. If he ripped the team about their poor rebounding, it certainly must have gotten through to them, because they responded with a 52-38 butt-kicking against a pretty good rebounding Houston team...love it! This is a good rebounding team even without much of a contribution from Jaden, and there was no excuse for the Pelicans debacle.
I also have been lamenting the poor ball movement and horrendous assist to turnover ratio the past two weeks, so I was delighted to see 31 assists and only 14 turnovers. As I pointed out in Cool's thread, we are now 15-0 when we have more than 27 assists. Ant and KAT are still a problem (9 turnovers in this game) but I like seeing no turnovers with our two true PGs.
Obviously I'm a big JMac fan (as are Robson, Jon K, Jim Pete, and several on this board), so I was unhappy to see only 13 minutes for him in this game...especially when I note that many of them were during garbage time. I don't understand why Finchie doesn't trust him enough to give him 15-20 every night. He is productive when he is out there, and we all know we need to rest Bite Bite more. And look at what JMac did in his 13 minutes...3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, making his only three pointer, and an amazing +17! I think we underestimate what he brings on defense with his quickness and smarts. Robson tweeted how effective he is in defensive transitions by deeking into passing lanes without losing his position to blos up a fast break. We're undersized when he and Bite Bite are out there together, but it's fun to watch them on defense...it's a defensive clinic. Finchie simply needs to wake up and play JMac more.
SloMo has frustrated me this season with his poor shooting and forced passes to Rudy, but I agree with many who rave about his excellent on-ball defending. And it was nice to see his line in this game other that shooting...7 boards, 5 assists and 3 steals is excellent in only 18 minutes. That's the SloMo we need, along with better shooting.
This was a great bounce back win after 5 poor games. Yes, Dillon Brooks was out, but this is still a good Rockets team, and we thrashed them on their court. Let's hope we are out of our little funk. We're surprisingly favored in Dallas tonight, and I wonder if that is because of Luka's bad ankle. This will be a tough game if he plays.
Personally when watching the game I didn’t think to myself wow McLaughlin should have played more. McLaughlin was in the rotation, made his impact and it’s also worth mentioning NAW was excellent in this game.