Da Bigger One - Wolves at Lakers GDT

[AbeVigodaLive]

3 more offensive fouls for Towns.

It's more than a problem at this point... it's an albatross. It is directly impacting his performance on both ends of the court.

As for blown leads... we can blame Finch. Or Russell. Or Conley. Or Anderson. Or Towns. But you know who the one constant is in those games... the guy who had the ball the most during all those blown leads?

Anthony Edwards.

We all dig him for what he can do and who he is. But that doesn't mean we should gloss over what he can't do and who he isn't. He has a long way to go yet. And before we point to his age, there are/have been a lot of other 21 year olds in prominent positions in the league...

He has to get better.





[Note: Maybe everything caught up to him and he was gassed emotionally and physically. Maybe he was hurt. Maybe he just had a bad night. But it brought back memories of Harden in 2017 when many believed afterward that he must have been concussed by how poorly and passively he played.]

[Monster]

That was quite the game. It’s disappointing that we couldn’t finish it off.

Edwards just couldn’t get going for whatever reason. If he could have given them just about anything on offense they win the game.

This game encapsulated Towns. He was great for a chunk of the game then had some kinda stupid plays.

Nowell have them a little boast. He was a mixed bag but he at least got them some buckets and they needed them.

The good and bad Prince was out there too. It would have been fun if he hit that last 3 tho.

Conley what a game.

Meanwhile the Lakers barely beat a team missing 2 of their best players and Edwards barely did anything on offense. Somehow this doesn’t surprise me much.

That is what I posted yesterday. What happens to KAT over and over and over? He plays great on offense, commits too many fouls on both offense and defense getting into foul trouble. He takes himself off the floor and when he is on the floor in foul trouble he cannot defend without fouling out so he is a sieve at the rim.

For what KAT gives on offense he inevitably hurts the team by playing himself off the floor, fouls (turnovers and free throws) then poor defense after the fact. Then he's not a good rebounder either, we saw Davis dominant on KAT on the offensive boards.

This one game perfectly showed his career. Not even mentioning his mentality of crumbling under medium pressure games. 1st round of the playoffs and you blow up and foul out in 3 of them? You as the highest paid player need to be a reason we win, not the reason we lose.

Now this game wasn't exactly the reason we lost. Sure he played himself off the floor and couldn't score down the stretch or in OT, so he wasn't the reason why we could have won either.

This is a fine post but there is a reality that without Towns the Wolves simply aren’t even in a position to win this game.

I’ll add that I’ve watched a few other Lakers games lately. AD is basically going through anyone in his path. The guy is always an injury away from not being able to play but damn that guy is really good.

[Carlos Danger]

"Insert thumbs down". Next.

They've been doing this to us all year. I'm not surprised. We've got one more shot at avoiding a complete disaster season.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

3 more offensive fouls for Towns.

It's more than a problem at this point... it's an albatross. It is directly impacting his performance on both ends of the court.

As for blown leads... we can blame Finch. Or Russell. Or Conley. Or Anderson. Or Towns. But you know who the one constant is in those games... the guy who had the ball the most during all those blown leads?

Anthony Edwards.

We all dig him for what he can do and who he is. But that doesn't mean we should gloss over what he can't do and who he isn't. He has a long way to go yet. And before we point to his age, there are/have been a lot of other 21 year olds in prominent positions in the league...

He has to get better.





[Note: Maybe everything caught up to him and he was gassed emotionally and physically. Maybe he was hurt. Maybe he just had a bad night. But it brought back memories of Harden in 2017 when many believed afterward that he must have been concussed by how poorly and passively he played.]

Agreed. I do wonder how much that scary fall might have dazed him, given that he landed on his neck/head (I couldn't even watch, I had to have my kid describe it to me).

His motor does seem to run hot and cold, and his decision-making does too. He has plays, including last night, when he looks like he's turned the amp up to 11, and at his best, he'll stretch that out into the majority of a game. When he plays like that, he's helping us even if his shot isn't falling because he'll be disruptive defensively, pick up steals and blocks, draw fouls, and push the pace. But he also has plays or stretches in which he looks like he's not really engaged. His first season or so, that seemed to be the case often on the defensive end, though by the end of last year, you could see him more consistently playing high-level D. This year that was even better overall, though there are still a lot of times when, for example, an opponent will shoot and Ant will just turn and ballwatch instead of boxing out his guy and give up an offensive rebound. And as for decision-making, he's always been a guy who makes some questionable passes or drives into traffic that even he doesn't have a chance to navigate. You tolerate some of that because of his talent.

But what stuck out for me about his performance last night was how he didn't even really look to be that engaged offensively. He's always made bad passes that led to turnovers ,settled for one-on-one tough shots more than he should, including contested pull-ups, but last night he wasn't really running the floor, wasn't really cutting to get open, and just didn't really seem to want to drive the ball at the end of the game at a time when we really needed that. We need an "Ant-whisperer" or somebody who can get through to him.

[kekgeek]

Anthony Edwards in big moments

Sec Tournament: 2-13
4th Q of the playoffs last year: 28%
20 games this year of down 3 or less last 2 min: 30%
Last year 13 games down 3 or less last 2 min: 16.7%
Play in game yesterday: 3-17

He’s only 21 but Ant has came up really small in the biggest moments throughout his career. It’s hard to win games when the guy who takes the most shots has really struggled in those moments. Comparing that to Kat, Kat shot 50% this year in the last 2 minutes trailing by 3 or less in the 4th, 71% last year and shot 48.8% in the 4th Q in the playoffs last year.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Anthony Edwards in big moments

Sec Tournament: 2-13
4th Q of the playoffs last year: 28%
20 games this year of down 3 or less last 2 min: 30%
Last year 13 games down 3 or less last 2 min: 16.7%
Play in game yesterday: 3-17

He’s only 21 but Ant has came up really small in the biggest moments throughout his career. It’s hard to win games when the guy who takes the most shots has really struggled in those moments. Comparing that to Kat, Kat shot 50% this year in the last 2 minutes trailing by 3 or less in the 4th, 71% last year and shot 48.8% in the 4th Q in the playoffs last year.

Woof. Those are some tough stats. But he is young. And while concerning, that's not a HUGE sample size. I don't think he destined to suck in crunch time.

KAT's almost always the more efficient offensive option than Ant, that's for sure, though I don't think he can self-create as well as Ant can. And as we all know, he's so often put himself into foul trouble in those moments when we really need him. I think we are generally better off when 1) we try to get Ant going in the fast break, then 2) in the half court we try to run the offense to get KAT a shot, and 3) Ant at the secondary option (unless he's already hot).

What's bigger than the crunch-time issue for Ant, in my opinion, is the inconsistency. He's like, half playoff Michael Jordan and half boneheaded J.R. Smith. It's just nuts the highs and lows he can swing through from play to play, quarter to quarter. I'd gladly take a somewhat lower ceiling for him if we could just get that consistency.

[Lipoli390]

My final take on last night’s game and some of the fan reaction on this board:

1. You can always find fault in the play of any player and each player’s faults tend to show up time and again. KAT is no exception. And admittedly, it can be really frustrating to watch him pick up the same dumb fouls game after game. But KAT was a +18 last night. He was actually the only Wolves player in the plus column last night. That’s incredible. As Monster pointed out, without KAT, the Wolves would not have even been in a position to win the game in overtime. I would add that without KAT the Wolves would have likely lost at least one of the previous two games and finished 9th instead of 8th. Pointing to KAT as a reason for last night’s loss is plain silly.

2. Edward’s terrible performance was the reason for last night’s loss. But we have to remember he’s only 21 years old and he’s typically come up big in big games. If he’s still making the same dumb mistakes or having games like last night’s two years from now, then we should be worried. Right now, we should point the finger at a front office that thought it was time to empty to coffers to acquire a 30-year old center in a win-now move when in truth we weren’t ready to win now because Edwards isn’t ready to win now - which isn’t surprising given his age.

[Lipoli390]

Anthony Edwards in big moments

Sec Tournament: 2-13
4th Q of the playoffs last year: 28%
20 games this year of down 3 or less last 2 min: 30%
Last year 13 games down 3 or less last 2 min: 16.7%
Play in game yesterday: 3-17

He’s only 21 but Ant has came up really small in the biggest moments throughout his career. It’s hard to win games when the guy who takes the most shots has really struggled in those moments. Comparing that to Kat, Kat shot 50% this year in the last 2 minutes trailing by 3 or less in the 4th, 71% last year and shot 48.8% in the 4th Q in the playoffs last year.

Interesting stats, Kek. My perception of Ant is that he has come up big in big moments of big games. In fact, I’m sure he has. But the stats you posted provide an important reality check on my perception and some particular performances that formed my perception of Ant. Those stats also contradict a general perception that KAT doesn’t perform will in big moments. I always appreciate you posts, which often provide some important stats that cut through our own flawed perceptions and biases.

[Coolbreeze44]

DLO, Vando, and Beasley combined for 7 points last night. How did we manage to move forward without these guys?

[Lipoli390]

DLO, Vando, and Beasley combined for 7 points last night. How did we manage to move forward without these guys?

Lol. Not a great night for those guys. But how many points did Rudy have last night?

Vando actually had a pretty good season overall and fit well here last season. I’d love to have Vando and Beasley back if it also meant getting Kessler and our four future 1st-round picks back as well as eliminating a super-max contract that gives us way less than super-max production and gets himself suspended by punching a teammate for saying mean things to him.

Conley looks like a nice step up from DLO. And we can see moments of possibility with NAW. Add the two future 2nd-round picks and it’s hard not to be really happy with that deal.