Minnesota Sports Forum

Don't forget Denver's embarrassing home loss to Detroit less than a week ago. How do you guys think Denver fans felt about that? I mean, that's worse than losing to Charlotte on the road. The Nuggets only made 5 three-pointers in that game. Again.....shooting. We need to make more of our 3-point attempts, it's as simple as that.

Q-was-here wrote:Don't forget Denver's embarrassing home loss to Detroit less than a week ago. How do you guys think Denver fans felt about that? I mean, that's worse than losing to Charlotte on the road. The Nuggets only made 5 three-pointers in that game. Again.....shooting. We need to make more of our 3-point attempts, it's as simple as that.

All I did was look at the box score of the last game. The Wolves shot poorly against the Hornets including 1-11 from 3 for Towns. Sending the Hornets to the FT line and losing the rebounding battle were bad too but missing shots seems like a pretty big deal.

monsterpile wrote:

Q-was-here wrote:Don't forget Denver's embarrassing home loss to Detroit less than a week ago. How do you guys think Denver fans felt about that? I mean, that's worse than losing to Charlotte on the road. The Nuggets only made 5 three-pointers in that game. Again.....shooting. We need to make more of our 3-point attempts, it's as simple as that.

All I did was look at the box score of the last game. The Wolves shot poorly against the Hornets including 1-11 from 3 for Towns. Sending the Hornets to the FT line and losing the rebounding battle were bad too but missing shots seems like a pretty big deal.

It is THE story line of the year.

KAT - 33% after last night. The dude is a 40% career 3-pt shooter, probably the best shooting big ever.
DLO - 32%
Nowell - 26% (!)

You just can't win NBA games with volume shooters like this missing so many outside shots. It's like having a game manager NFL quarterback and expecting to win the Superbowl. You need a GOAT-like defense to make it work.

Minnesota's been rounding into form the last 10 games, and there's been some positive regression here in terms of three-point shooting, but it's catch-and-shoot efficiency that stands out to me. The Wolves have much better shooters than these numbers indicate -- some of the following numbers are boosted negatively by a few horrible performances. But the point remains. They just need to hit their shots moving forward like they've shown capable in past seasons.

Karl-Anthony Towns: 32.3% on 4.9 3PA
D'Angelo Russell: 28.6% on 3.3 3PA
Jaylen Nowell: 28.6% on 2.6 3PA
Naz Reid: 31.8% on 1.7 3PA
Jordan McLaughlin: 26.1% on 1.5 3PA
Bryn Forbes: 25.0% on 1.3 3PA
Austin Rivers: 16.7% on 0.7 3PA

And kudos to the Wolves who have done that to this point even if it's not on high volume...

Jaden McDaniels: 36.0% on 2.6 3PA
Anthony Edwards: 39.6% on 2.5 3PA
Taurean Prince: 44.2% on 2.4 3PA
Kyle Anderson: 41.7% on 0.9 3PA

Our shooting woes aside, if McDaniels can stay out of foul trouble we win last night. I'm not going to blame him entirely as he doesn't get much respect from the officials. But the difference between him being on the court vs off was a deciding factor in the game. Dribble penetration became routine when he was on the bench. He simply has to stay on the court. Ant and even DLO can occasionally buck up and have a good defensive possession, but they can't consistently defend the perimeter. Rivers is okay but not as good as he once was. We may have to look for a 2nd player who can help on the edge.

Q-was-here wrote:I'm with Kek on the Wolves slow start. It's all about shooting. They are ranked 27th in 3pt % as a team. Unless you absolutely dominate the possession battle (rebound differential and turnover differential), you simply can't make up for that kind of poor 3-point shooting in a league dominated by that shot. The fact we have a winning record with that kind of shooting speaks to the fact that we're a solid team otherwise.

Shooting has been a major factor, but it's not ALL about shooting, Q. You're talking about having to dominate the possession battle (rebounds & turnover). But the Wolves have been consistently losing the rebounding battle. A team that's going to be a true contender should beat good teams without their top players and bad teams even with that teams isn't shooting well. Energy and effort, combined with quickness and IQ produce rebounds and more possessions. But they also result in better shots and, for some reason, more accurate shooting. It was fun to visit relatives in Milwaukee and watch the Bucks effort and energy. After getting down by 16 because of poor shooting, the Bucks came back with dominant energy, effort and defense. What flowed from that was better shooting, including two threes by Giannis.

I look at the Wolves and see a team without heart. I know many will bristle at that, but that's what I see. So let's hope the Great Oz pays them a visit soon.

lipoli390 wrote:

Q-was-here wrote:I'm with Kek on the Wolves slow start. It's all about shooting. They are ranked 27th in 3pt % as a team. Unless you absolutely dominate the possession battle (rebound differential and turnover differential), you simply can't make up for that kind of poor 3-point shooting in a league dominated by that shot. The fact we have a winning record with that kind of shooting speaks to the fact that we're a solid team otherwise.

Shooting has been a major factor, but it's not ALL about shooting, Q. You're talking about having to dominate the possession battle (rebounds & turnover). But the Wolves have been consistently losing the rebounding battle. A team that's going to be a true contender should beat good teams without their top players and bad teams even with that teams isn't shooting well. Energy and effort, combined with quickness and IQ produce rebounds and more possessions. But they also result in better shots and, for some reason, more accurate shooting. It was fun to visit relatives in Milwaukee and watch the Bucks effort and energy. After getting down by 16 because of poor shooting, the Bucks came back with dominant energy, effort and defense. What flowed from that was better shooting, including two threes by Giannis.

I look at the Wolves and see a team without heart. I know many will bristle at that, but that's what I see. So let's hope the Great Oz pays them a visit soon.

They have other areas to work out Lip, but if you don't think 3-point shooting accuracy isn't their #1 problem, I don't know what to tell you.

Q-was-here wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

Q-was-here wrote:I'm with Kek on the Wolves slow start. It's all about shooting. They are ranked 27th in 3pt % as a team. Unless you absolutely dominate the possession battle (rebound differential and turnover differential), you simply can't make up for that kind of poor 3-point shooting in a league dominated by that shot. The fact we have a winning record with that kind of shooting speaks to the fact that we're a solid team otherwise.

Shooting has been a major factor, but it's not ALL about shooting, Q. You're talking about having to dominate the possession battle (rebounds & turnover). But the Wolves have been consistently losing the rebounding battle. A team that's going to be a true contender should beat good teams without their top players and bad teams even with that teams isn't shooting well. Energy and effort, combined with quickness and IQ produce rebounds and more possessions. But they also result in better shots and, for some reason, more accurate shooting. It was fun to visit relatives in Milwaukee and watch the Bucks effort and energy. After getting down by 16 because of poor shooting, the Bucks came back with dominant energy, effort and defense. What flowed from that was better shooting, including two threes by Giannis.

I look at the Wolves and see a team without heart. I know many will bristle at that, but that's what I see. So let's hope the Great Oz pays them a visit soon.

They have other areas to work out Lip, but if you don't think 3-point shooting accuracy isn't their #1 problem, I don't know what to tell you.

It also contributes to the rebounding deficiency.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

Q-was-here wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

Q-was-here wrote:I'm with Kek on the Wolves slow start. It's all about shooting. They are ranked 27th in 3pt % as a team. Unless you absolutely dominate the possession battle (rebound differential and turnover differential), you simply can't make up for that kind of poor 3-point shooting in a league dominated by that shot. The fact we have a winning record with that kind of shooting speaks to the fact that we're a solid team otherwise.

Shooting has been a major factor, but it's not ALL about shooting, Q. You're talking about having to dominate the possession battle (rebounds & turnover). But the Wolves have been consistently losing the rebounding battle. A team that's going to be a true contender should beat good teams without their top players and bad teams even with that teams isn't shooting well. Energy and effort, combined with quickness and IQ produce rebounds and more possessions. But they also result in better shots and, for some reason, more accurate shooting. It was fun to visit relatives in Milwaukee and watch the Bucks effort and energy. After getting down by 16 because of poor shooting, the Bucks came back with dominant energy, effort and defense. What flowed from that was better shooting, including two threes by Giannis.

I look at the Wolves and see a team without heart. I know many will bristle at that, but that's what I see. So let's hope the Great Oz pays them a visit soon.

They have other areas to work out Lip, but if you don't think 3-point shooting accuracy isn't their #1 problem, I don't know what to tell you.

It also contributes to the rebounding deficiency.

Yes, but it cuts the other way too. Rebound well and you can get out quickly and get better looks. Moreover, as Finch has noted a number of times, a big part of the Wolves rebounding problem is the team's failure to get those 50-50 balls. That's about effort, intensity, and hustle with a sprinkle of basketball IQ. Rudy is snatching rebounds in the paint that KAT used to get plus extras in the paint that KAT didn't get. But that's about it. So we're once again a bad defensive rebounding teams like we were last season.

Q-was-here wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

Q-was-here wrote:I'm with Kek on the Wolves slow start. It's all about shooting. They are ranked 27th in 3pt % as a team. Unless you absolutely dominate the possession battle (rebound differential and turnover differential), you simply can't make up for that kind of poor 3-point shooting in a league dominated by that shot. The fact we have a winning record with that kind of shooting speaks to the fact that we're a solid team otherwise.

Shooting has been a major factor, but it's not ALL about shooting, Q. You're talking about having to dominate the possession battle (rebounds & turnover). But the Wolves have been consistently losing the rebounding battle. A team that's going to be a true contender should beat good teams without their top players and bad teams even with that teams isn't shooting well. Energy and effort, combined with quickness and IQ produce rebounds and more possessions. But they also result in better shots and, for some reason, more accurate shooting. It was fun to visit relatives in Milwaukee and watch the Bucks effort and energy. After getting down by 16 because of poor shooting, the Bucks came back with dominant energy, effort and defense. What flowed from that was better shooting, including two threes by Giannis.

I look at the Wolves and see a team without heart. I know many will bristle at that, but that's what I see. So let's hope the Great Oz pays them a visit soon.

They have other areas to work out Lip, but if you don't think 3-point shooting accuracy isn't their #1 problem, I don't know what to tell you.

Why is our three-point shooting so bad? I just think there's more to it than a bunch of shooters suddenly losing their shooting touch. There's something more fundamental missing from this team that, I believe underlies the team's shooting woes. Chemistry, intensity, competitive zeal, confidence -- call it what you will -- this team is missing a spark that shows up in a lot of this team's troubling stats, including three-point shooting.

Even if the three-point shooting gets back to last season's level, that's not going to make this team better than last season (or perhaps even as good) if we're still getting out-rebounded, getting in foul trouble and getting called out repeatedly by the head coach for a lack of effort or energy.