Hornets at Wolves GDT

[KiwiMatt]

Pek and Dieng compliment each other well.

Dieng's mid range jumper has really come around of late.

[60WinTim]

Pek and Dieng compliment each other well.

Dieng's mid range jumper has really come around of late.

Yup! I imagine there might be matchups that don't work so well, but with the West so big in the frontcourt, we could see it frequently.

I almost had more rebounds than Thad tonight!

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Well, at least we somewhat competed in this one, although you never really got the feeling we could overtake them even though we kept it reasonably close.

I liked the Pek/Dieng combo and it's something I really wanted to see early in the year when everyone was healthy. I suspect we will see Flip do more of it going forward. Dieng isn't the perfect PF by any stretch, but he's comfortable passing the ball from up top and he's a decent mid-range shooter. And defensively, he and Pek are much more synergistic than any other combination we've got.

Tonight we were destroyed by Eric Gordon uncontested jumpers and Tyreke Evans dribble penetration. In the first case, Mo couldn't get around/through the picks fast enough so Gordon would just pull up and can the jumper. In the second case, Wiggins just flat-out struggled containing Evans, even when not being screened.

And once again AB and LaVine did very little to get me excited or even show any inkling of improvement. If Martin/Rubio get back, I suspect we won't see these guys play much anymore this season, as Hummel and Dieng will eat into AB's PF minutes and Mo will go back to being Rubio's backup.

[worldK]

Lets start dieng and pek in the frontcourt and move young to the bench or start him at sf. Dieng deserves to continue to start. You can't start pek over him with the way dieng has played so far. Pek, on the other hand is a starter level player in the league. Were not good enough where we have a starting caliber big play off the bench. They compliment each other quite well and gives us a rebounding edge.

Young on the other hand, can either start at sf or play the 6 man role that he might be better suited for.

Once we have a healthy lineup, I hope we see a starting 5 of young/dieng/pek/rubio/wiggins with a bench of bazz/ab/mo/martin. Hummel can fill some minutes as well.

I'l also consider starting shabazz at sf and move young to the bench.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Yeah, Young didn't record a rebound tonight, but he did play a good game regardless.

15 points on 7-15 shooting (couple of rushed attempts to beat the shot clock buzzer). That's useful.

4 assists, 1 TO.

Lack of rebounding was OK due to Dieng and Pekovic cleaning the glass. To me, I don't care who grabs the ball as long as the Wolves get possession. (Thad did have a couple rebounds knocked out of bounds by the Pelicans; also got blatantly pushed down by Pondexter on another)

Young was good against Davis tonight on defense too. Dieng did alright against him too in limited action. This effort contributed to a 9-23 shooting line from the All-Star big man. Made him work hard for his 21 points.

Overall, I thought we played pretty well. We've seen this story plenty of times this year. Play well and stay in the game for 3 1/2 quarters, but fall off late. We need Rubio back.

[Big round of applause for Budinger tonight. I thought it was his best game this year. Was OK on defense. 10 points (5-8 FG) and 4 ast off the bench. Most importantly, he looked confident in himself.]

[KiwiMatt]

Plus +1 on Q and World's comments.

I think Young would flourish being the first big off the bench. Coming in when the opposition bigs are gased and burning them with his quickness. He is just too small to be a starting PF in the NBA.

[worldK]

cam, young played well tonight. His rebounding has gone to a point where its a good night for him anytime he can grabbed 5 boards in a game.

I do think its time we go with a pek-dieng frontcourt. Young can start at sf or moved to a 6 man role off the bench. Its time we try to go big. Flip knows how to use a tall and big lineup, its time he started using it.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Let's be honest here. AD's struggles were because he couldn't hit a jump shot tonight. He was at one point perfect from inside the paint and 0fer when jump shooting. I wouldn't say anyone on our team was responsible for his off night. He just couldn't buy a shot.

[WildWolf2813]

If Dieng has to play the 4 primarily then Dieng didn't really serve the purpose he was supposed to serve.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Yeah, Young didn't record a rebound tonight, but he did play a good game regardless.

15 points on 7-15 shooting (couple of rushed attempts to beat the shot clock buzzer). That's useful.

4 assists, 1 TO.

Lack of rebounding was OK due to Dieng and Pekovic cleaning the glass. To me, I don't care who grabs the ball as long as the Wolves get possession. (Thad did have a couple rebounds knocked out of bounds by the Pelicans; also got blatantly pushed down by Pondexter on another)

Young was good against Davis tonight on defense too. Dieng did alright against him too in limited action. This effort contributed to a 9-23 shooting line from the All-Star big man. Made him work hard for his 21 points.

Overall, I thought we played pretty well. We've seen this story plenty of times this year. Play well and stay in the game for 3 1/2 quarters, but fall off late. We need Rubio back.

[Big round of applause for Budinger tonight. I thought it was his best game this year. Was OK on defense. 10 points (5-8 FG) and 4 ast off the bench. Most importantly, he looked confident in himself.]

Cam, this may sound like quibbling on my part, but I have to take issue with your comment that Young played a good game "regardless" of not grabbing one rebound. I agree that he did several things well last night, but if a PF can't get even one rebound in 31 minutes, I can't credit him with a good game. Rebounding is such an integral core competency of the typical NBA PF, that it's mindboggling that not even one of the 89 missed shots ended up in his hands! I would say that other than his inability to rebound the basketball, Thad played a good game. That said, I have seen the 76er version of Thad Young the past week, and I'm pleased to see his energy level back where it should be. He is playing the way I expect him to again, and that's good because I expect him to opt in for next season. Because of his rebounding shortcomings, though, I agree with others that his role needs to be as a scorer off the bench. Since AB hasn't shown he is in any way capable of starting at PF and Young can't rebound, Flip may have to try Gorgui there for awhile. Not a perfect solution by any means, but worth a try.