Minnesota Sports Forum

We were hot to start the season. Love and martin were shooting very well. Brewer was leaking out on the break a lot.

Since then, teams has adjusted to us. They are defending love at the 3 and not letting him get clean looks. They know love wont blow them by if they deny him the 3 ball.

martin has cool down with his shooting, thats expected though.

They are also defending the brewer leak out on the break. We still gets nothing form the bench.

Pek has started to play better as well as rubio but teams have adjusted to us.

love needs to get down low and forget about the 3 ball for a few games, if its there, take it but dont actively look for it like he has been the last few games. It has resulted in bad/forced 3pts attempts for him. Go down and do damage there with pek, draw fouls and eat the offensive boards.

The bench needs to step up big time. Thats been said a lot this season but realistically, cant realy see anyone breaking out on the bench though.

thedoper wrote:This team can't win a close game. Starters too tired at the end. Something has got to get shaken up.

Hopefully Mbah a Moute will be able to provide good minutes. Will give Martin and Love more breathers. Bud's supposed to come back around Xmas time. Turiaf said to come back before Bud. We'll be fine, but right now our bench is killing us.

3-0 to 8-9 with 4 brutal games coming up. Our bench is killing us. Love helped us get back in it but then took a very stupid, un-necessary 3-point shot down 3. Could have used LRMAM tonight. Ricky's jump shot showed some life tonight at least.

Ugh. This was a "must win" game - which it really wasn't, but it just kind of felt like it; no game is a must win this early in the season - and there was almost never a doubt throughout the game that Denver was the better team.

My shoulders are starting to slump as I look at the West. Part of me is incredulous at how the squad we have assembled today has a worse win-loss percentage than the squad we had two years ago right before Ricky went down (our starters were Ricky, Love, Pek, Ridnour, and Wes Johnson!).

Yes, we're better than that squad. But damn, the West is a powerhouse conference. There is really only two poor squads in the West - Utah and Sacramento. You better have your game face on for everyone else. Denver is legit.

Mstermisty wrote:3-0 to 8-9 with 4 brutal games coming up. Our bench is killing us. Love helped us get back in it but then took a very stupid, un-necessary 3-point shot down 3. Could have used LRMAM tonight. Ricky's jump shot showed some life tonight at least.

When was the last time Love had a dominating performance? He's obviously still our best player, but he has definitely gone from looking like a Top 5 NBA player to "just" an all-star. And while Rubio's offense was encouraging tonight, his 7 turnovers were absolute killers. One of the key ways our squad wins is through a positive turnover differential. We simply can't afford to throw the ball away, especially against Denver, as they convert TOs into 2-points faster than anyone....even without Brewer.

Play Shabazz. There's nothing left to lose anymore.

By the time this stretch ends, I have a feeling we'll be going back to looking at possible lottery picks, because where's the spark going to come from that Rick will willingly use? It won't be Mbah a Moute.

Q12543 wrote:Ugh. This was a "must win" game - which it really wasn't, but it just kind of felt like it; no game is a must win this early in the season - and there was almost never a doubt throughout the game that Denver was the better team.

My shoulders are starting to slump as I look at the West. Part of me is incredulous at how the squad we have assembled today has a worse win-loss percentage than the squad we had two years ago right before Ricky went down (our starters were Ricky, Love, Pek, Ridnour, and Wes Johnson!).

Yes, we're better than that squad. But damn, the West is a powerhouse conference. There is really only two poor squads in the West - Utah and Sacramento. You better have your game face on for everyone else. Denver is legit.

Agree, denver is legit. Just too deep and athletic. Lawson is a top level pg in this league. They have shooters, slashers, athletes and a closer in andre miller.

We have to step it up

Camden wrote:

thedoper wrote:This team can't win a close game. Starters too tired at the end. Something has got to get shaken up.

Hopefully Mbah a Moute will be able to provide good minutes. Will give Martin and Love more breathers. Bud's supposed to come back around Xmas time. Turiaf said to come back before Bud. We'll be fine, but right now our bench is killing us.

Those guys are all going to really help, but I still worry about our shooting. We really need to hope Bud gets dialed in quickly.

What a dime. http://twitpic.com/dmu04g

would love to get Nate Robinson from Denver! Trade Shved and Barea for a chance.