Minnesota Sports Forum

thedoper wrote:Boy Rubio really fucked us over in crunch time. All those nice passes went to waste.

It was a team effort, a trademark of most of our meltdowns. Last 5 minutes:

Rubio, 1-2, 2 points, 1 steal, 1 turnover
Wiggins, 1-5, 2 points
KAT, 0-1, 1 turnover
Rush, 0-1

We got a few key stops in there (the Dieng charge drawn, a couple of Irving misses), but couldn't convert on the other end.

The real problem was our first half defense. You just can't get yourself in a situation where you are having to catch up and then play crunch time ball against LeBron.

kekgeek1 wrote:

WildWolf2813 wrote:In the pregame, Greg Anthony said something very important: you can't play defense for 48 minutes in today's NBA. You have to break it down into moments, 3 minutes here, 4 minutes there and gain separation. I just don't think Thibs as a coach can function that way. I don't think he'd be willing to.

For as much offense as we dished out, Wolves gave up 116 points. If they have to score 120 points just to get by really good teams in the NBA, Thibs is ill-equipped to head coach in the NBA, never mind this team.

Don't get your point wolves can't stop anyone at any point of the game. So we should go get an offensive coach? We had one in Aldeman.

My takeaway is that it's difficult for your starters to play defense that intensely every single minute, unless it's their only job (like Andre Roberson). It's why LST laments about the minutes. I can see why KAT and Wig take a playoff here and there when having to play so many minutes and also having to score so much. It's a big load to carry.

Q12543 wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

WildWolf2813 wrote:In the pregame, Greg Anthony said something very important: you can't play defense for 48 minutes in today's NBA. You have to break it down into moments, 3 minutes here, 4 minutes there and gain separation. I just don't think Thibs as a coach can function that way. I don't think he'd be willing to.

For as much offense as we dished out, Wolves gave up 116 points. If they have to score 120 points just to get by really good teams in the NBA, Thibs is ill-equipped to head coach in the NBA, never mind this team.

Don't get your point wolves can't stop anyone at any point of the game. So we should go get an offensive coach? We had one in Aldeman.

My takeaway is that it's difficult for your starters to play defense that intensely every single minute, unless it's their only job (like Andre Roberson). It's why LST laments about the minutes. I can see why KAT and Wig take a playoff here and there when having to play so many minutes and also having to score so much. It's a big load to carry.

I 100% agree they need to take plays off but towns rarely makes any plays on defense. Our bench is garbage what does not help at all (part of Thibs fault)

kekgeek1 wrote:

WildWolf2813 wrote:In the pregame, Greg Anthony said something very important: you can't play defense for 48 minutes in today's NBA. You have to break it down into moments, 3 minutes here, 4 minutes there and gain separation. I just don't think Thibs as a coach can function that way. I don't think he'd be willing to.

For as much offense as we dished out, Wolves gave up 116 points. If they have to score 120 points just to get by really good teams in the NBA, Thibs is ill-equipped to head coach in the NBA, never mind this team.

Don't get your point wolves can't stop anyone at any point of the game. So we should go get an offensive coach? We had one in Aldeman.

The point is, Thibs stresses 48 minutes, 48 minutes, when in reality, looking at the NBA, it's not really feasible to play defense the way Thibs (and all of us) would hope. Most of these games are going to be really high scoring affairs. The team kinda has to acknowledge that points will be given up and lots of them, but there are certain points in games where you cannot afford to give up a bucket. I don't think Thibs can convey the message of trying to lock down an opponent when besides maybe the Spurs and Warriors (no surprise they have the 2 best defensive players in the sport) teams will get theirs more than they have in recent memory. I'm not saying Thibs' message is wrong, but I don't think it's gonna get through to these guys.

side note: I'm throwing in the towel on Dunn. We'd be so much better if he contributed anything other than hopelessness.

I don't think this team can move forward with making any long term decisions with him in mind. I can't remember a more disappointing rookie in recent memory. We've seen worse rookies no doubt, but Dunn has managed to prove most people wrong because so many people thought he couldn't fail and he's doing so miserably.

Missed this one, might have to watch the replay. Looks like we gave them a good run. Starters should be good and gassed for the nail in the playoff coffin game tomorrow. This season has been all shoulda, coulda, but didn't. Oh well...life of a T-Wolves fan.

thedoper wrote:Boy Rubio really fucked us over in crunch time. All those nice passes went to waste.

Really? that's all you have to say about the game? Pour yourself a cup of haterade. What's your favorite flavor?

Brooklyn_Wolves wrote:

thedoper wrote:Boy Rubio really fucked us over in crunch time. All those nice passes went to waste.

Really? that's all you have to say about the game? Pour yourself a cup of haterade. What's your favorite flavor?

Yawn. You don't need to take it personally man. You like what he did tonight great. Go Wolves!

Funny but I think I would have more faith in our chances end of game with Jones over Rubio and Dunn. The rest on the game Rubio is far and away the better player but in crunch time I want someone with confidence and that is not Rubio

Wiggins defense is improving. It's easy to lump him in with the rest and say he sucks at defense. But his game is improving on that end and mostly because of increased effort. Towns? He just doesn't try on defense, and really doesn't seem to care. Big difference between those two right now.