Rolling out the white carpet? - Knicks at Wolves GDT

[FNG]

We could have waited on Conley if we wanted. Nobody was going to pay him more. But either way, offering Tyus the starting gig probably would have gotten him here. I never wanted to let Tyus go. He was better than that trash DLO who we burned a nice lottery pick for.

not with his caphold (and considering they were gonna be over the 2nd apron regardless, moot point).

There was no long term scenario with Jones at all given the financial situation and once Jones couldn't be had at the deadline, it was a dream deferred. That's the reality of the situation.

Does KG realize how bad Tyus has been this year. Like he has been no better than Conley

Kek, while KG had an F performance tonight in the GDT (lighten up on the holiday sauce, dude) I disagree that Tyus has been bad this season. He's shooting a career-high 43% on career-high volume, and is averaging 7 assists against 1 TO...I'll take that from my PG any day!

[FNG]

And speaking of F performances, I had one last night also. Here are some takes I said pregame either on this thread or out loud:

- Josh Hart is the Knicks second best rebounder. The Wolves are going to own the boards with him out.
result: Knicks 57, Wolves 37

-Hart being out plays into the Wolves hand defensively...allows Rudy to lurk on Precious who won't make any threes. Rudy is going to feast in blocks.
result: zero blocks for Rudy to go along with his 3 points and 4 rebounds, and Precious makes his only 3.

-The Knicks are good, but they've played an easy schedule...Wolves win tonight.
result: um, you know

-McBride isn't very big, so we should see a breakout game from Rob.
result: is it even possible to put up a -12 in only 3 minutes?

-KAT is going to be too keyed up to play well. I'd like him to have a nice game, but his emotions are going to get the best of him.
result: nope

-Randle will also be fired up, and that will result in some inspired defense.
result: sometimes he wasn't on my TV screen while the Knicks were scoring

-The Wolves have had by far the best defense in the Association the past month. Tonight elite defense will beat elite offense.
result: LOL

If KG and the Wolves both had an F performance last night, I think I'll give myself an F-!

[kekgeek]

not with his caphold (and considering they were gonna be over the 2nd apron regardless, moot point).

There was no long term scenario with Jones at all given the financial situation and once Jones couldn't be had at the deadline, it was a dream deferred. That's the reality of the situation.

Does KG realize how bad Tyus has been this year. Like he has been no better than Conley

Kek, while KG had an F performance tonight in the GDT (lighten up on the holiday sauce, dude) I disagree that Tyus has been bad this season. He's shooting a career-high 43% on career-high volume, and is averaging 7 assists against 1 TO...I'll take that from my PG any day!

Omg. I was looking at his rookie season stats. I will suspend myself for 3 hours for that mistake. Hahaha

[FNG]

Does KG realize how bad Tyus has been this year. Like he has been no better than Conley

Kek, while KG had an F performance tonight in the GDT (lighten up on the holiday sauce, dude) I disagree that Tyus has been bad this season. He's shooting a career-high 43% on career-high volume, and is averaging 7 assists against 1 TO...I'll take that from my PG any day!

Omg. I was looking at his rookie season stats. I will suspend myself for 3 hours for that mistake. Hahaha

Understandable, kek...we're all a little shellshocked after last night. I need to suspend myself also after some terrible pre-game takes!

[AbeVigodaLive]

not with his caphold (and considering they were gonna be over the 2nd apron regardless, moot point).

There was no long term scenario with Jones at all given the financial situation and once Jones couldn't be had at the deadline, it was a dream deferred. That's the reality of the situation.

Does KG realize how bad Tyus has been this year. Like he has been no better than Conley

Kek, while KG had an F performance tonight in the GDT (lighten up on the holiday sauce, dude) I disagree that Tyus has been bad this season. He's shooting a career-high 43% on career-high volume, and is averaging 7 assists against 1 TO...I'll take that from my PG any day!

EDIT: Sorry Kegeek... I just saw your mea culpa. But just for fun, I've included their stats this season:

Tyus Jones
12.5 ppg
6.9 apg
1.1 TO
48.6% fg
43.0% 3fg
62.0% TS

Mike Conley
8.5 ppg
4.6 apg
1.4 TO
34.3% fg
36.5% 3fg
51.5% TS

[AbeVigodaLive]

Abe's Next Day "Wow that escalated quickly" DVR Review:

- Towns had a very nice run in Minnesota. But damn... if last night didn't shock me. The guy seemed like a good guy and was a very good player in MN. But his career was littered with bad games in big moments where he was out of control, too amped up. In other games, see the 62 points vs. Charlotte, his great stats didn't amount to wins. A lack of composure in big moments did not appear to be his strongest skill. Well...

Towns didn't try to do too much. But he DESTROYED the Timberwolves. And more importantly, his team followed his lead and destroyed the Timberwolves. It was enough to fuel the "Wolves got fleeced" narrative even more. We'll find out in the end if that's really true, but narratives can change teams and the people in power.

Good for Towns to have his night. And good to see him sway so many people who have doubted him for years. Bad that the Wolves are getting clowned on/off the court as part of the justification.

- Edwards' comments after the game were telling. Spacing. It's a problem. Is that because of Gobert? Randle + Gobert? More importantly, what are the Wolves going to do about it?

- Has Gobert had a worse game in his entire career? Whether you look at the basic stats (1 point, 4 rebounds) or advanced stats (-37 in 22 minutes)... he was embarrassingly outplayed last night. That it came in a game vs. the center the Wolves dumped to keep him is part of the story.

- I truly believe I am one of the more pragmatic NBA devotees out there. I try not to make kneejerk reactionary statements, probably to a fault. But... I still believe strongly about two things:

1. I HATE watching Julius Randle play. I think I'm too old to get as emotionally invested as I was in my "I HATE watching Rashad McCants play" period of life, or even my "I hate watching Michael Beasley play basketball" period. But my gawd. There's nothing aesthetically pleasing about that man playing basketball. I think it's a selfish style (assists or not). And it's just not fun to watch. His defensive effort is amusing. I'll be happy when he's gone, regardless of what his stats end up being while here. I just don't enjoy the Julius Randle experience. At all.

2. Rob Dillingham makes mistakes as a PG... that no PG should make... at any level. His feel for the game is simply not at an NBA PG level.

Back to Tyus Jones for a moment. The guy is the polar opposite of Dillingham in many ways. He's limited in what he can become. But, I've NEVER seen a PG more composed than Tyus Jones was IN HIS 3RD GAME AT DUKE in a big game vs. MSU. Jones couldn't/can't do everything. He's limited. That's his vice. But... he knows exactly what he can do... and what teammates are doing. He has a plan. I don't know if Dillingham has any understanding of his limitations or his teammates' capabilities. I don't even know if he knows where they're going on the court and that's a killer if you're a PG.

It seems clear as day that he has no plan or clue what he's doing out there. That's alarming, because the more I watch basketball, play basketball and coach basketball, I've become more convinced that it's not necessarily something that can be taught.

(See Troy Hudson... an NBA "PG" who had no idea how to run a PnR.)

- Will we look at the 7-game stretch where the Wolves dominated defensively vs. favorable matchups as fool's gold when the season is done? Or was it just the perfect storm last night?

- Alarming trend? The Wolves know their offense is struggling. But having extra time to work on it doesn't seem to fix anything.

The Wolves had three days off before Toronto. They discussed tweaking the offense. The Wolves finished that game with more TOs (17) than assists (16). The Wolves had four days before playing the Lakers last week. They finished that game with a 49.7% TS and only 18 assists. The Wolves had 3 days off before last night. They shot 10 - 28 with 6 assists after the 1st quarter...

[Q-is-here]

Hat-tip to the Knicks front office for putting KAT in probably the ideal situation, as Center is his best offensive position. He isn't the greatest defensive Center, but he's improved the last couple of years as his body has filled out and now he has at least three guys surrounding him in Bridges, Anunoby, and Hart (when healthy) that can help defend the wings and are all very switchable. The result is that they are an average defense with an elite offense.

Let's remember though that for all the accolades and good vibes around the Knicks which started last year, unlike the Wolves, they got knocked out in the Eastern Conference semis. They are obviously better this year, but nothing really matters for KAT or the Knicks until the playoffs. How will they stack up against Cleveland or Boston?

[FNG]

Ant also said this last night postgame:

Anthony Edwards asked about fixing the offense: "They not going to like what I say, so I'm just going to keep it to myself"

What was it that he wanted to say, but didn't? I'm guessing he wanted to say Julius was taking too many shots, and they needed to give him more of Julius's shots. I don't necessarily disagree (and if Ant feels that way, there's clearly trouble in paradise...doesn't bode well for the rest of the season). But I would fix the offense differently, and I don't think Ant would agree.

-Mike needs to originate every possession to make sure it is designed correctly.

-If Finchie thinks either Ant or Julius is keeping the ball out of Mike's hands, he needs to pull either out of the game and explain what he wants.

-Ant and Julius need to move without the ball. Neither of them seems to understand there are some willing passers on the roster who will get them the ball if they get open. Both of them seem to want to get the ball after the defense has set themselves and try to beat their defender. There is a much easier way, as the Knicks demonstrated last night. Again, Finchie needs to make this happen. Bench any player who doesn't embrace a motion offense and moving without the ball.

Sorry Ant...giving you the ball at the top of the key so you can go one on one every possession is not the answer for this offense, even is it's all you and Julius know.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Ant also said this last night postgame:

Anthony Edwards asked about fixing the offense: "They not going to like what I say, so I'm just going to keep it to myself"

What was it that he wanted to say, but didn't? I'm guessing he wanted to say Julius was taking too many shots, and they needed to give him more of Julius's shots. I don't necessarily disagree (and if Ant feels that way, there's clearly trouble in paradise...doesn't bode well for the rest of the season). But I would fix the offense differently, and I don't think Ant would agree.

-Mike needs to originate every possession to make sure it is designed correctly.

-If Finchie thinks either Ant or Julius is keeping the ball out of Mike's hands, he needs to pull either out of the game and explain what he wants.

-Ant and Julius need to move without the ball. Neither of them seems to understand there are some willing passers on the roster who will get them the ball if they get open. Both of them seem to want to get the ball after the defense has set themselves and try to beat their defender. There is a much easier way, as the Knicks demonstrated last night. Again, Finchie needs to make this happen. Bench any player who doesn't embrace a motion offense and moving without the ball.

Sorry Ant...giving you the ball at the top of the key so you can go one on one every possession is not the answer for this offense, even is it's all you and Julius know.

I'm not so certain he was talking about Randle. Maybe. Maybe even probably. But there's also a stone-handed clumsy 7-footer who just finished a game where he was absolutely DESTROYED by another 7 footer and former teammate. The team chose one over the other... at least in perception to some. Again... 32/20/6 vs. 1/4/0 last night. Has another legit All-Star matchup been that one-sided this season? Last season? The past 5 seasons? I'm shocked that hasn't been the lead.

If Mike Conley is orchestrating every possession... the offense will end up last in the league. it's not a realistic option for an NBA team. Remember... the guy has no juice to get to the rim and he's shooting 34.3%. He's not only not the answer... he's a big part of the problem. (And I feel bad because I like him.)

I've said this many times previously (usually about Andrew Wiggins)... Edwards and Randle are paid very well for doing things their way. Asking two guys to do things they haven't done previously is fine, but it's unlikely one or either of them changes in any meaningful way. It's human nature. The one rub is if teams run away from Randle after this season. But that's very unlikely to happen as long as he keeps posting stats. This is the NBA.

Up until now, Edwards has championed Finch at every turn, blaming himself and the players. His quote above might be the first hint toward animosity toward Finch, more more likely, Connelly. Either way, once Edwards starts discussing coaching stuff... Finch should be worried.

[Wolvesfan21]

And speaking of F performances, I had one last night also. Here are some takes I said pregame either on this thread or out loud:

- Josh Hart is the Knicks second best rebounder. The Wolves are going to own the boards with him out.
result: Knicks 57, Wolves 37

-Hart being out plays into the Wolves hand defensively...allows Rudy to lurk on Precious who won't make any threes. Rudy is going to feast in blocks.
result: zero blocks for Rudy to go along with his 3 points and 4 rebounds, and Precious makes his only 3.

-The Knicks are good, but they've played an easy schedule...Wolves win tonight.
result: um, you know

-McBride isn't very big, so we should see a breakout game from Rob.
result: is it even possible to put up a -12 in only 3 minutes?

-KAT is going to be too keyed up to play well. I'd like him to have a nice game, but his emotions are going to get the best of him.
result: nope

-Randle will also be fired up, and that will result in some inspired defense.
result: sometimes he wasn't on my TV screen while the Knicks were scoring

-The Wolves have had by far the best defense in the Association the past month. Tonight elite defense will beat elite offense.
result: LOL

If KG and the Wolves both had an F performance last night, I think I'll give myself an F-!

I was completely off as well.

Ant, Rudy and company were more happy to see KAT win and have a good game then winning themselves. I had no idea how much they actually liked KAT, to the extent of half assing a game and embarrassing themselves!!!

I also get an F along with the Wolves team. No killer mentality. Super soft and fluffy Wolves.