Wolves get their wings Clippered GDT

[Crazysauce]

Just want to point out its been 24 games. I need to be talked off the ledge apparently. Give me something that has been improved on this team. Tell me what kat has improved at since his rookie season. If they wanted to be making strides you would see it. Where is this so called improvement?

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Wow, what a terrible victory if there is any such thing. The fact we had to play our starters that many minutes in a home game against a downward spiraling team just coming off a game yesterday.....oof.

- This is the first game, may be second, where I felt Butler really played like a top 10 NBA player. THIS is the guy we traded for.

- Did you guys see how twisted up KAT got defensively at times? I mean there was one time where I think he did a 360 in PnR coverage and literally had his back turned to the play for a while. Just bizarre.

- While the Wolves don't help themselves much defensively, I still think we get our unfair share of guys that just go off on us with practically a blindfold on. I mean nearly every 3 made against us was pretty well contested. Teams just looooove to shoot against us.

- It's hard to believe Teague had 10 assists. He must have more dribbles per assist than any other PG. It just feels he ends up so damn often in no man's land dribbling the ball away. It doesn't help that KAT sets awful picks on his guy....

- Tyus with some nice work off the bench.

- Wiggins with a forgettable game. That's too bad, as it he had strung two good games together in a row. He was terrible tonight.

- Shabazz appears to be out of the regular rotation for good.

I guess a win is a win, but it's hard to feel real confident in this team.

Good stuff Q

I thought Teague and the Wolves were pretty good in the first half. Guys were getting up and down the court and they were moving the ball in their way. Things bogged down at times in the 2nd even before Butler time. The good news? 7 TOS and like 3 of those were Towns offensive fouls. The Wolves tooks more FTs and 13 more shots. Again what drives me crazy is when someone sets a screen when a perimeter player has a big on them. Why?!? Can someone please explain this? I noticed that guys weren't getting. Up and down like they were at one point in the 4th. It worked out fine as they did a good job of letting Butler operate and he got to his spots and often the spacing was pretty good. A couple times they did well setting screens to get Jordon switched onto Butler. They did it a littler earlier innthe clock to give him more time. The execution was much better but I am sure it being against guys from the Clippers G-league squad helps.

I'll be interested to see where he ranks in RPM after this but Butler has moved up to like 27th in the league before this game. He is really finding his game and it's so wonderful. He still seems to have some questionable defensive possessions.

Butler plays in control with command for the game. It's poise. I have to say I notice it with Gibson and Teague too. They are decisive players who read the floor rather than just trying to make something happen with skill. We lose this game and others like it last year, which is why I'll never complain about a loss.

Mmmm, I would not call Teague decisive, at least not this version of him with the Wolves. Overall I think he offers more good than bad, but he ends up over-dribbling on a lot of possessions. I think part of that is on his team mates and coach though (bad screens, Thib's obsession with finding mis-matches versus running motion sets, etc.).

5th ranked offense with an indecisive pg... hmmmm. Head scratcher for me. That over dribbling seems to be working marvellously.

5th ranked offense large because they rebound a high percentage of their own misses. We are middle of the pack when it comes to actually making baskets efficiently.

Like I said, I think Teague does more good than harm, but it's very rare I find myself marveling at our offensive execution.

[Wolvesfan21]

If this team after another 20 games is still playing horrible defense I'm calling Thibs a moronic failure.

A win is a win but the Clippers are in a downward spiral. It's almost embarrassing to have to squeeze one out at Home against a bad team by playing your starters big minutes.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Just want to point out its been 24 games. I need to be talked off the ledge apparently. Give me something that has been improved on this team. Tell me what kat has improved at since his rookie season. If they wanted to be making strides you would see it. Where is this so called improvement?

Fair point....Very little improvement from KAT and Wiggins, while Dieng and especially Bazz have taken a step backwards. But I think Taj is a better starting PF than Dieng (something I wasn't so sure about until he started playing with us) and Butler is obviously a huge upgrade. So Thibs the GM gets some credit there.

I think both Tyus and Bjelly (before he got hurt) have shown improvement this year.

But yeah, two of our supposed "big three" have not really taken the kind of step forward this year any of us hoped for.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

If this team after another 20 games is still playing horrible defense I'm calling Thibs a moronic failure.

A win is a win but the Clippers are in a downward spiral. It's almost embarrassing to have to squeeze one out at Home against a bad team by playing your starters big minutes.

It is embarrassing, no doubt and there was absolutely some poor execution on both ends. Still....I swear to God opposing teams make a higher percentage of contested shots against us than league average. I don't have a stat for it, but it's just ridiculous that Austin Rivers is knocking down 3's left and right with nearly every singe one with a hand in his face.

[TAFKASP]

Haven't seen 60WinTim in a while, is it a lack of opTIMisim?

[thedoper]

I love these embarrassing wins.

[Wolvesfan21]

If this team after another 20 games is still playing horrible defense I'm calling Thibs a moronic failure.

A win is a win but the Clippers are in a downward spiral. It's almost embarrassing to have to squeeze one out at Home against a bad team by playing your starters big minutes.

It is embarrassing, no doubt and there was absolutely some poor execution on both ends. Still....I swear to God opposing teams make a higher percentage of contested shots against us than league average. I don't have a stat for it, but it's just ridiculous that Austin Rivers is knocking down 3's left and right with nearly every singe one with a hand in his face.

I do remember seeing that during a broadcast also. Teams were like 3-4% higher then league avg on contested shots. Could be an error in who does the actual stat keeping at Home games if it's a set person? Or maybe they rematch the games, IDK.

You would think that would get closer to avg. or even have teams shoot terrible against the Wolves once in a while. Especially scrubs like Rivers who was 5/6 from 3 for a while.

[kekgeek]

Just want to point out its been 24 games. I need to be talked off the ledge apparently. Give me something that has been improved on this team. Tell me what kat has improved at since his rookie season. If they wanted to be making strides you would see it. Where is this so called improvement?

In the win total through 24 games:

16-17: 6-18
15-16: 9-15
14:15: 5-19
13-14: 12-12
12-13: 13-11
11-12: 12-12
10-11: 6-18
09-10: 3-21
08-09: 4-20
07-08: 3-21
06-07: 11-13
05-06: 13-11
04-05: 15-9
03-04: 15-9



So this is our 3rd best start in 14 years. and our best in the last 12 years. I understand that is is super frustrating brand of ball, and in my opinion we have let a couple of games through our hands (phx, wash, det). But we are on pace for 47, we are not a aesthetically pleasing team to watch but just say we win the next 3 games all against winnable opponents. A real good chance they could be 17-10. Im not taking anything for a given but even though we are not fun to watch they are winning at a better rate than any other wolves team in 14 years. They have to learn to win and create a culture of winning.

[Monster]

If this team after another 20 games is still playing horrible defense I'm calling Thibs a moronic failure.

A win is a win but the Clippers are in a downward spiral. It's almost embarrassing to have to squeeze one out at Home against a bad team by playing your starters big minutes.

It is embarrassing, no doubt and there was absolutely some poor execution on both ends. Still....I swear to God opposing teams make a higher percentage of contested shots against us than league average. I don't have a stat for it, but it's just ridiculous that Austin Rivers is knocking down 3's left and right with nearly every singe one with a hand in his face.

There were some absolutely embarrassing possessions but if you watch some of the top teams in the league they have some head scratching breakdowns from time to time. Obviously our defense if far from that but it's worth mentioning. I agree Q this was like watching a college basketball game were the lower seed in the tourney gets crazy hot from 3 and makes it interesting. Rivers is below average shooting from everywhere besides the 3 point line you wonder why they were going under screens on him. He was open on some of those shots but he was still pulling up quickly. He is a pretty good offensive player.

This is the NBA for one reason or another any team any given night has some sort of chance to win. Even though the Wolves have young players that don't seem to do well defensively think about playing guys like Wilson or thornwell who you have maybe never ever played against before you don't know their tendencies etc. Heck some of those inexperienced player probably don't even know what they are gonna do. Not an excuse but something interesting to consider that i thought about tonight espcially watching earlier in the game.