Following the Trend - Warriors at Wolves GDT

[Coolbreeze44]

No one on the team was a positive +/-. Jaden led at zero. Three players were in negative double figures - Rudy, Conley, and NAW.

[Phenom]

Ant disagreed with Finch. Apparently he thought his energy he brought tonight was fine. Not exactly what you want to hear after this performance

Jeepers. He did several inexcusable things in that game, including complaining while the play was going the other way. Missing a half dozen layups too.

This isn't exactly new. Ant disagrees with Finch often and, self admittedly, changes his mind when presented with evidence. I would expect similar outcomes here.

[Wolvesfan21]

Again this is true but I'm not talking about one game. The title of this thread is about trends. This shooting has been a problem for awhile now.

You win this game if the team rebounds well. Gave up 18 boards to them on offense.

Yes and the shooting is still a trend that is a problem.

I don't care about it because it's far less controllable. Rebounding is much more controllable, especially as the bigger team which is why we were embarrassed.

[Wolvesfan21]

No one on the team was a positive +/-. Jaden led at zero. Three players were in negative double figures - Rudy, Conley, and NAW.

Depending on how NAW plays next first half I might give his minutes to Clark in the second half. I still like NAWs defense. But we'll see, JC can be positive on that end also. You see Kerr playing 12 guys. I don't see why not give others a shot, just to see if he can spark up some turnovers and maybe a 3 or two.

[Phenom]

You win this game if the team rebounds well. Gave up 18 boards to them on offense.

Yes and the shooting is still a trend that is a problem.

I don't care about it because it's far less controllable. Rebounding is much more controllable, especially as the bigger team which is why we were embarrassed.

It is far less controllable but nonetheless should be concerning due to the amount of time it has occurred. Hopefully that just means an uptick is coming. The name of the game is still to make shots.

[Wolvesfan21]

Yes and the shooting is still a trend that is a problem.

I don't care about it because it's far less controllable. Rebounding is much more controllable, especially as the bigger team which is why we were embarrassed.

It is far less controllable but nonetheless should be concerning due to the amount of time it has occurred. Hopefully that just means an uptick is coming. The name of the game is still to make shots.

Agreed, make shots. What are you going to do to make shots? Get good to great looks and let it fly with confidence it's going in. That's it.

Bigger team, get outrebounded by 10. Embarrassing. 92 rebounds to be had and you let a small scrappy team PUNK you at home. You outrebound them by 5 or 10 and it's an easy win. That is my point.

[Phenom]

I don't care about it because it's far less controllable. Rebounding is much more controllable, especially as the bigger team which is why we were embarrassed.

It is far less controllable but nonetheless should be concerning due to the amount of time it has occurred. Hopefully that just means an uptick is coming. The name of the game is still to make shots.

Agreed, make shots. What are you going to do to make shots? Get good to great looks and let it fly with confidence it's going in. That's it.

Bigger team, get outrebounded by 10. Embarrassing. 92 rebounds to be had and you let a small scrappy team PUNK you at home. You outrebound them by 5 or 10 and it's an easy win. That is my point.

Yeah, as before nothing to disagree with. I hope the shots start falling.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Steve Kerr is a HOF coach. More proof:

That was an odd, disjointed game. And I think it's in part because the Warriors leaned way in to make it like that. I imagine it was one of the more anticipated games in Timberwolves history. Coming off 6 days of waiting since they dismissed the hated Lakers so easily. Favorites to make it back to the WCF against another hated team with two villains. The emotions were high... so what's the best way to get an arena (and team) deflated?

- The game started late because of the other TNT game.
- There were two extended delays within the first 136 seconds. It took about 10 minutes of real time to play those first 136 seconds. I think Kerr could feel it and decided to play into it.
- The Warriors played 9 guys in the 1st Q and 11 in the 1st half. That's crazy for a playoff game. But I think it shows their strategy, whether it was pre-planned or in the moment... Muck it up. Break up any flow for the favored, emotional team (and crowd). The Wolves were already struggling to get open looks. And I think the constant use of new players exacerbated that a bit as the Wolves took a beat to adjust to new players and new lineups every few minutes. Sometimes, that's all it takes. Heck, us armchair coaches always talk about using timeouts strategically... I think Kerr used his subs in a similar way in this game.
- Then, you have a team that came out and played incredibly well defensively.
- Then, you have a team that overachieved on the road against a favored team without its best player... using players like Gui Santos, Quentin Post and Pat Spencer. Heck, Spencer didn't even play in the 1st half... but shows up to play a meaningful 10+ minutes in the 2nd half.

I think we sometimes overlook coaching when a guy wins with great players. And I'm on record about "players >>>>> coaching." But coaching matters, too. And Steve Kerr continues to show he's one of the best to ever do it.

[FNG]

What a freakish shooting outcome last night. 3 Warriors with career 3-point averages below 35% (Green, Kuminga and PaytonII) go 7 for 14, while 3 Wolves with averages closer to 40% (Ant, Donte and Mike) only make 2 of their 14. Really? Does anyone think that is going to happen again? Curry is a brilliant 3-point shooter, but the Warriors are not a great shooting team with him out. Buddy Hield can get hot, but he is also going to attract a lot more attention in Steph's absence.

I will say I was quite impressed with the Warriors' defense last night, and it probably only gets better with Steph out. But their offense is just not going to be the same, and we are going to shoot more like we usually do. We need to come home Monday at least 2-2 in the series, and preferably 3-1. I'm not happy about last night, but I think the Wolves win this series...in fact I think they are still 2 to 1 favorites. Losing Curry trumps getting home court advantage.

[Q-is-here]

Steve Kerr is a HOF coach. More proof:

That was an odd, disjointed game. And I think it's in part because the Warriors leaned way in to make it like that. I imagine it was one of the more anticipated games in Timberwolves history. Coming off 6 days of waiting since they dismissed the hated Lakers so easily. Favorites to make it back to the WCF against another hated team with two villains. The emotions were high... so what's the best way to get an arena (and team) deflated?

- The game started late because of the other TNT game.
- There were two extended delays within the first 136 seconds. It took about 10 minutes of real time to play those first 136 seconds. I think Kerr could feel it and decided to play into it.
- The Warriors played 9 guys in the 1st Q and 11 in the 1st half. That's crazy for a playoff game. But I think it shows their strategy, whether it was pre-planned or in the moment... Muck it up. Break up any flow for the favored, emotional team (and crowd). The Wolves were already struggling to get open looks. And I think the constant use of new players exacerbated that a bit as the Wolves took a beat to adjust to new players and new lineups every few minutes. Sometimes, that's all it takes. Heck, us armchair coaches always talk about using timeouts strategically... I think Kerr used his subs in a similar way in this game.
- Then, you have a team that came out and played incredibly well defensively.
- Then, you have a team that overachieved on the road against a favored team without its best player... using players like Gui Santos, Quentin Post and Pat Spencer. Heck, Spencer didn't even play in the 1st half... but shows up to play a meaningful 10+ minutes in the 2nd half.

I think we sometimes overlook coaching when a guy wins with great players. And I'm on record about "players >>>>> coaching." But coaching matters, too. And Steve Kerr continues to show he's one of the best to ever do it.

He's hit all the right buttons so far, both in the Houston series and now to start the Wolves series. I think being a complimentary player on four title teams coached by Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich had to have helped him big-time and obviously he's seen it all as a coach himself at this point.

Kudos to him for adapting to a roster lacking in offensive virtuosity (outside of Steph) and turning it into the league's #1 defense using a bunch of different bodies that all buy in, similar to OKC.