Minnesota Sports Forum

Sloppy game overall. Nobody outside of Gobert I would consider good tonight.

On to the next one

Really bad defense in OT, especially stopping perimeter penetration. Forced Gobert out of position multiple times. Ant guilty of trying to do to much and DLO missing shots you'd hope he'd make. Gotta learn to win these ones.

Missed opportunity. Everything they were doing well went out the window when it mattered. Ant played dumb in crunch time. Too bad.

Finch very unhappy with the team in crunchtime. Talked about having the wrong lineup out there. I'll have to rewatch his presser and rewatch crunchtime to put two and two together...

60WinTim wrote:Finch very unhappy with the team in crunchtime. Talked about having the wrong lineup out there. I'll have to rewatch his presser and rewatch crunchtime to put two and two together...

Depends on which crunch time we're talking about. I thought he got a little cute with his lineups late in the fourth quarter in regards to D-Lo, Nowell, and Rivers.

In retrospect, Finch probably wishes he would have went small in overtime with Kyle Anderson at the five. Tough decision to make in the moment so I don't blame him there. The players sold this game all-around late.

I think we are really missing Jordan McLaughlin. Not because McLaughlin is an elite PG or anything. But the fact that we've been play for so long without a genuine backup PG and ball handler.

Edwards is taking on to much and DLO really is better playing off the ball most the time. Turnovers are killing us and our passing is sloppy. Slo Mo has been a good stop gap measure but we desperately need McLaughlin back or to make a move for another back up PG.

Late Night DVR Review:

- What a listless performance at the start. I guess you could claim it was tentative, sort of like the early rounds of a big boxing match? I just saw a more aggressive Kings defense and a less than energetic or smart start for the Timberwolves.

- We're starting to see the Gobert effect more and more. He's deterring/scaring people who enter the lane more and more.

- Just a game of unforced errors for MN. 13 - 25 on free throws... and so many of the TOs were just careless and completely unnecessary. Edwards was especially guilty. But there were also three possessions where the Wolves stole it... then gave it right back to the Kings within 3 seconds to negate any advantage.

- We're all watching Edwards grow... and that's going to be tough at times. The TO in OT of this one had three guys chasing Edwards around the perimeter. The play was to kick it to Rivers who would have made the extra pass to the corner. Instead Edwards tried to skip a step and get it to the wing/corner himself. Nope.

- Not an excruciating loss. I thought the Kings played with purpose and intensity and D. Fox is legit. But the Wolves are running out of home games, so every one is important when they're so close to missing the playoffs entirely.

And just like that we are back to 9th seed.

Kind of a cold, tired crowd at Target Center last night, but they came alive when Jaden hit the big three to send it to OT. With Sabonis out, I assumed we would win in overtime...nope. The defense which was so good all game (third straight game where I'm going to praise former villains DLO and Nowell for closing out on the perimeter...it's like they suddenly realized there's a defensive monster behind them guarding the rim, and they don't have to cheat so much in the paint. Great to see!) disappeared in OT. Two absurdly open corner threes and an unguarded dunk plus Ant's carelessness (after another "sky's the limit" offensive game) and it was lights out.

I'm not going to mourn this loss or question KAT's absence (whoops, I guess I just did), because this team is really starting to show me something. If KAT returns within a reasonable time period (I know...big if), this is a top 4 team just learning how to play at both ends with Rudy. They are getting better.

Put another way. If Ant and DLo go 2 for 7 on free throws instead of a completely uncharacteristic 1 for 7, we win in regulation by 1 and sweep the Kings.

KiwiMatt wrote:I think we are really missing Jordan McLaughlin. Not because McLaughlin is an elite PG or anything. But the fact that we've been play for so long without a genuine backup PG and ball handler.

Edwards is taking on to much and DLO really is better playing off the ball most the time. Turnovers are killing us and our passing is sloppy. Slo Mo has been a good stop gap measure but we desperately need McLaughlin back or to make a move for another back up PG.

Great point Kiwi. One of McLaughlin's great strengths is something he doesn't do, which is turn the ball over. He's also one of these guys that wins a lot of 50/50 balls in scramble situations. He isn't going to shoot you back into a game, but he does a bunch of little stuff that helps the team not beat itself.