Minnesota Sports Forum

I think they did try to go to kat in the 4th, but teague uses up like 15 seconds of the clock, then hands kat a grenade.

Then saunders just said screw and went point wiggs for the last 2 minutes.

I think everyone is to blame for kats lack of touches.

Saunders' inability to set something up.
Teagues inability to play with kat at all.
Kats inability to secure position earlier.
Theres probably a few others.

This game was also just another example of this team needing another legitimate shot creator. We needed buckets down the stretch and our best options were Andrew Wiggins in isolation, Robert Covington taking a contested three, and Karl-Anthony Towns wanting the basketball but being unable to get it where he was in an advantageous position.

Can you imagine how much more affective this team would be closing games if we had D'Angelo Russell playing P&R basketball with Towns? It's not that difficult to get good looks if you can play that style of basketball with players that are comfortable doing it. This isn't meant to be a knock on Wiggins -- he's shown an ability to get points in clutch moments before -- but he's not the ball-handler that you'd ideally like in those situations.

December 15th. Put it on the calendar.

Camden wrote:This game was also just another example of this team needing another legitimate shot creator. We needed buckets down the stretch and our best options were Andrew Wiggins in isolation, Robert Covington taking a contested three, and Karl-Anthony Towns wanting the basketball but being unable to get it where he was in an advantageous position.

Can you imagine how much more affective this team would be closing games if we had D'Angelo Russell playing P&R basketball with Towns? It's not that difficult to get good looks if you can play that style of basketball with players that are comfortable doing it. This isn't meant to be a knock on Wiggins -- he's shown an ability to get points in clutch moments before -- but he's not the ball-handler that you'd ideally like in those situations.

December 15th. Put it on the calendar.

Cam - You're absolutely right about what the Wolves are lacking. And you're also right that Wiggins isn't and can't be that guy even with his improved play this season. As you noted, he's not the ball-handler you need as an elite shot-creator to pair with KAT. Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, Trea Young, Luka Doncic and, yes, D'Angelo Russell are the types of players who fit that mold. I'd take Booker, Beal, Young or Doncic in a heartbeat over D. Russell, but Russell is still that type of player the Wolves need provided he plays at the allstar level he was at last season.

Just finished the this game. Towards the end of the game Luka just chucking Okogie back multiple times no call. Ridiculous

I've stood up for Teague since he came here but man I agree with the people that said he looks bad right now. Earlier in the season he was able to get to and finish his floater game and in the paint. That's not even happening now and all he can do is try and get to the line. It's pretty tough to win when you aren't playing a starting level PG. right now the closest thing to that is Culver.

Culver looked pretty good in this game. For a number of reasons it would be nice to keep this up. It would make the Wolves and Teague's stance easier to phase Teague out because a young player is stepping up and taking his place. It might be harder to justify Napier taking his minutes but...that could happen too. Back to Culver he keeps getting slowly better.

Wiggins didn't have a great overall game but he had 3 blocks twice absolutely housing Finney-Smith twice.

Okogie hit that 3 but before that I was yelling for him to be out of there.

Q said KBD was invisible other than making 3's. There were a few defensive possessions he was terrific when switched into a smaller player staying down moving his feet and forcing them to do something else. Cam is right he needs to play more. I would be interested in seeing him guard a guy like Luka with his length.

Graham played 12 productive minutes. I think that range of minutes would be fine for me most games.

Bell gave them a shot of energy is a short stint. This seemed like a game it might have been a good matchup for him to play more.

Wolves won the 3 point battle 17-38 to 11-37. It was 2 point shots that actually beat them.

monsterpile wrote:Just finished the this game. Towards the end of the game Luka just chucking Okogie back multiple times no call. Ridiculous

Get used to it.

He's the latest incarnation of the NBA's darling. I'm really impressed by his play.

But again... he's gonna be allowed to do what he wants while whining about not getting enough respect from officials the entire time. We'll hear about how "smart" he is instead of how whiny or entitled he is.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

monsterpile wrote:Just finished the this game. Towards the end of the game Luka just chucking Okogie back multiple times no call. Ridiculous

Get used to it.

He's the latest incarnation of the NBA's darling. I'm really impressed by his play.

But again... he's gonna be allowed to do what he wants while whining about not getting enough respect from officials the entire time. We'll hear about how "smart" he is instead of how whiny or entitled he is.

More outrageous is he was picked 3rd in that draft and traded by another team. Of course Bagley (was amusingly autocorrected to "bagels") and Ayton basically haven't played to defend themselves (maybe they would have taken a meaningful step too) but not being on the court so far this season is a problem in an of itself. Luka is good and he is smart and yes whiney. Harden is annoying but you simply can't get around him being a hell of a basketball player. Note that Graham was the guy that got an offensive foul call against Luka. It was sort of an easy call and even the Dallas broadcast said so live but still...

thedoper wrote:

Camden0916 wrote:The real problem tonight was defensive consistency throughout the whole team and the fact that Dieng, Teague, Graham, and Napier were all piss poor. They were completely outplayed by Dallas' bench and it was the difference.

I'll keep trying to hammer this home and hope someone on the coaching staff understands it, but Bates-Diop needs to be starting. He's one of the better role players we actually have and can provide some relief for Towns and Wiggins when they have to kick the ball out. Culver, Graham, Okogie, Teague, and Napier just aren't capable of making teams pay right now.

I like that idea. I dont think that Okogie has the goods to be a starter. Big energy off the bench but its hit or miss.

Yeah, this is 5 games in a row now where Bates-Diop has basically gone out and played solid, efficient basketball and stays in his lane of spacing the floor and making solid cuts. I thought he was mostly invisible last night, but that can be a good thing too if you aren't coughing up the ball or taking a bunch of bad shots!

It also makes us a lot longer along the front line. KAT, KBD, RoCo, Wiggins, and Culver isn't very bulky but has a lot of length defensively. Plus you now have four credible 3-point shooters on the floor, with Culver being the only one that isn't really a threat out there.

monsterpile wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

monsterpile wrote:Just finished the this game. Towards the end of the game Luka just chucking Okogie back multiple times no call. Ridiculous

Get used to it.

He's the latest incarnation of the NBA's darling. I'm really impressed by his play.

But again... he's gonna be allowed to do what he wants while whining about not getting enough respect from officials the entire time. We'll hear about how "smart" he is instead of how whiny or entitled he is.

More outrageous is he was picked 3rd in that draft and traded by another team. Of course Bagley (was amusingly autocorrected to "bagels") and Ayton basically haven't played to defend themselves (maybe they would have taken a meaningful step too) but not being on the court so far this season is a problem in an of itself. Luka is good and he is smart and yes whiney. Harden is annoying but you simply can't get around him being a hell of a basketball player. Note that Graham was the guy that got an offensive foul call against Luka. It was sort of an easy call and even the Dallas broadcast said so live but still...

We were told he was some sort of savant leading into that draft. Looks like it's coming true.

I don't think Young will ever be as good, but at least Atlanta fans have something to rally behind from that trade. (I think they used the extra pick on Cam Reddish... oof.)

Hard to believe Cam Reddish was drafted at #10 given his season at Duke. In 36 games he shot 35% and didn't do much else to distinguish himself. Isn't that better evidence of future results than whatever he may have done in some AAU tourney in 2017!? It's amazing in this day and age with all the advanced analytics that front office execs still get bamboozled like this.