Keeping Pace - Pacers at Wolves GDT

[Wolvesfan21]

Such a disappointing loss last night. I have been clinging to the belief that Ju was the secret sauce in not allowing this squad to lose to teams we should beat, but he was one of our worst players last night...17/6/4 with 4 TOs and a minus 7 was not what we needed from him, and there was no excuse for him missing the last shot in overtime that he makes 80% of the time.

Overall a horrible performance but our guys, but I need to shout out three players who actually showed up last night. Naz rediscovered his offense that has been missing, and despite erratic defense, scored enough to be a +5. And Jaylen Clark had 2 steals in only 9 minutes...he may be a riverboat gambler at times on defense, but on balance he is an incredibly disruptive defender. Finchie needs to play him more.

But other than Clark, the player we were most impressed with on defense as we watched the replay was Mike. A couple times as he was scrambling around on defense blocking passing lanes or not letting TJ get past him, I didn't feel like I was watching a 37 year old player. Ant and Ju have not been terrible ball stoppers recently, but they were last night...time after time Mike was open, and they didn't look for him. He is our most clutch 3-point shooter, and he needs to get more than 3 shots in 32 minutes. But despite the ball hogging from Ju and Ant, our offense looked much crisper when Mike was on the court. Case in point...the Wolves were a +24 in the 32 minutes he played, and a -26 in the 16 he didn't!

Now, we have to beat the Pelicans two straight...

With Clark I like the steals a lot. Think about it too analytically, even if you only get the steal 40% of the time on an attempt, it doesn't make the next shot automatic either on a failed steal attempt, so I love the odds. I think his steal to attempt ratio is extremely good also. Keep hunting for them, it also demoralizes the other team and sways energy when you keep stealing the ball.

[Coolbreeze44]

Two things really bother me about this one:

1) We do what we always do in crunch time. The ball stops moving, the shot clock gets wasted, and we end up settling for forced shots. This is counter to what we do for most of the game. And as good as he is, both Ant and the coach are culpable for these problems. I don't know if Mike is still capable, but we need a point guard who can get us into our set while Ant is off the ball. Facts are facts, Ant hasn't been the answer in these end of game situations. He isn't MJ, Kobe, Steph, or even Jimmy Butler. We all know what the definition of insanity is.

2) Why we sat on our challenge and didn't contest the pass by DDV that went off TJ's elbow is beyond me. I believe Kek said it wasn't obvious to him, but it sure was to me. The ball clearly hit TJ and Jim Pete noticed it live on air. We had nothing to lose and everything to gain by initiating the challenge. If we challenge that call, I believe we win the game.

In his postgame Finch said we lost the game in the first half. We played a bad half, but when you have the leads that Abe ran down in his post, you should win.

Man this sucks:

https://x.com/run_bull_/status/1902024183762059402

[Phenom]

Two things really bother me about this one:

1) We do what we always do in crunch time. The ball stops moving, the shot clock gets wasted, and we end up settling for forced shots. This is counter to what we do for most of the game. And as good as he is, both Ant and the coach are culpable for these problems. I don't know if Mike is still capable, but we need a point guard who can get us into our set while Ant is off the ball. Facts are facts, Ant hasn't been the answer in these end of game situations. He isn't MJ, Kobe, Steph, or even Jimmy Butler. We all know what the definition of insanity is.

2) Why we sat on our challenge and didn't contest the pass by DDV that went off TJ's elbow is beyond me. I believe Kek said it wasn't obvious to him, but it sure was to me. The ball clearly hit TJ and Jim Pete noticed it live on air. We had nothing to lose and everything to gain by initiating the challenge. If we challenge that call, I believe we win the game.

In his postgame Finch said we lost the game in the first half. We played a bad half, but when you have the leads that Abe ran down in his post, you should win.

Man this sucks:

https://x.com/run_bull_/status/1902024183762059402

I'm surprised they didn't challenge just because of the point in time.