Minnesota Sports Forum

FNG wrote: ↑Thu Nov 16, 2023 7:15 am My game review:

We're in Tucson, and at about 3pm my honey said "do you want to drive up to Phoenix for the Wolves game?" I said "Nah, I'm not driving 4 hours roundtrip to spend $400 to watch a scheduled loss".


https://i.pinimg.com/originals/45/9f/ac ... 88fec7.png

Carlos Danger wrote: ↑Thu Nov 16, 2023 7:27 am

FNG wrote: ↑Thu Nov 16, 2023 7:15 am My game review:

We're in Tucson, and at about 3pm my honey said "do you want to drive up to Phoenix for the Wolves game?" I said "Nah, I'm not driving 4 hours roundtrip to spend $400 to watch a scheduled loss".


https://i.pinimg.com/originals/45/9f/ac ... 88fec7.png

That was a good call LST. My take? I can live with losing 3 out of every 11 games.

At least Towns is starting to come around. We have plenty of talent. Didn't see the game, but looking at the box score...I see:
SlowMo had three assists. Troy Brown one. And the rest of the bench - goose egg. Maybe it was a game we could have used a little JMac? Let's see if Finchy can get them back into Win mode.

FNG wrote: ↑Thu Nov 16, 2023 8:04 am

Carlos Danger wrote: ↑Thu Nov 16, 2023 7:27 am

FNG wrote: ↑Thu Nov 16, 2023 7:15 am My game review:

We're in Tucson, and at about 3pm my honey said "do you want to drive up to Phoenix for the Wolves game?" I said "Nah, I'm not driving 4 hours roundtrip to spend $400 to watch a scheduled loss".


https://i.pinimg.com/originals/45/9f/ac ... 88fec7.png

That was a good call LST. My take? I can live with losing 3 out of every 11 games.

At least Towns is starting to come around. We have plenty of talent. Didn't see the game, but looking at the box score...I see:
SlowMo had three assists. Troy Brown one. And the rest of the bench - goose egg. Maybe it was a game we could have used a little JMac? Let's see if Finchy can get them back into Win mode.

Oh, I agree, Anthony...I'm a homer, but I didn't have this team 8-3 after 11 games. I looked at the box too, and I don't think JMac would have helped much. Normally we're going to win most games in which we only turn the ball over last night, but our #1 defense let a 3-6 team shoot 60%...JMac wasn't going to help there. You have to be focused to play great defense, and we were understandably lax after 2 great wins in the Bay Area. I'm optimistic about how we show up in the Big Easy.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Thu Nov 16, 2023 8:11 am

FNG wrote: ↑Thu Nov 16, 2023 8:04 am

Carlos Danger wrote: ↑Thu Nov 16, 2023 7:27 am

That was a good call LST. My take? I can live with losing 3 out of every 11 games.

At least Towns is starting to come around. We have plenty of talent. Didn't see the game, but looking at the box score...I see:
SlowMo had three assists. Troy Brown one. And the rest of the bench - goose egg. Maybe it was a game we could have used a little JMac? Let's see if Finchy can get them back into Win mode.

Oh, I agree, Anthony...I'm a homer, but I didn't have this team 8-3 after 11 games. I looked at the box too, and I don't think JMac would have helped much. Normally we're going to win most games in which we only turn the ball over last night, but our #1 defense let a 3-6 team shoot 60%...JMac wasn't going to help there. You have to be focused to play great defense, and we were understandably lax after 2 great wins in the Bay Area. I'm optimistic about how we show up in the Big Easy.

I don't know...I get the scheduled loss stuff, etc., etc....but it was a humbling experience because great offense can always beat a great defense in the NBA. And Durant and Booker are ridiculously tough covers. Now add Beal to the mix - yikes!

My takeaway is less about doing anything different defensively and more about adding firepower to our team at some point before the trade deadline. Not sure we have enough of it to keep up with a full strength Phoenix squad in a playoff series based on our roster today.

Carlos Danger wrote: ↑Thu Nov 16, 2023 8:49 am

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Thu Nov 16, 2023 8:11 am

FNG wrote: ↑Thu Nov 16, 2023 8:04 am

Oh, I agree, Anthony...I'm a homer, but I didn't have this team 8-3 after 11 games. I looked at the box too, and I don't think JMac would have helped much. Normally we're going to win most games in which we only turn the ball over last night, but our #1 defense let a 3-6 team shoot 60%...JMac wasn't going to help there. You have to be focused to play great defense, and we were understandably lax after 2 great wins in the Bay Area. I'm optimistic about how we show up in the Big Easy.

I don't know...I get the scheduled loss stuff, etc., etc....but it was a humbling experience because great offense can always beat a great defense in the NBA. And Durant and Booker are ridiculously tough covers. Now add Beal to the mix - yikes!

My takeaway is less about doing anything different defensively and more about adding firepower to our team at some point before the trade deadline. Not sure we have enough of it to keep up with a full strength Phoenix squad in a playoff series based on our roster today.

Good take and I agree. We could use another spark plug off the bench for sure. Naz is doing his part. SlowMo is solid/steady. But it would be nice if one of Shake/NAW/TBJ would show some scoring. It sounds like NAW is doing a lot of other good things, so I give him a pass. But yeah - for years we had a ton of one sided/offense only guys (Beasley, DLO etc.). I think we could use one like that off the bench and the rest of the two way guys could cover for him defensively - especially if paired with Rudy.

FNG wrote: ↑Thu Nov 16, 2023 10:36 am

Carlos Danger wrote: ↑Thu Nov 16, 2023 8:49 am

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Thu Nov 16, 2023 8:11 am

I don't know...I get the scheduled loss stuff, etc., etc....but it was a humbling experience because great offense can always beat a great defense in the NBA. And Durant and Booker are ridiculously tough covers. Now add Beal to the mix - yikes!

My takeaway is less about doing anything different defensively and more about adding firepower to our team at some point before the trade deadline. Not sure we have enough of it to keep up with a full strength Phoenix squad in a playoff series based on our roster today.

Good take and I agree. We could use another spark plug off the bench for sure. Naz is doing his part. SlowMo is solid/steady. But it would be nice if one of Shake/NAW/TBJ would show some scoring. It sounds like NAW is doing a lot of other good things, so I give him a pass. But yeah - for years we had a ton of one sided/offense only guys (Beasley, DLO etc.). I think we could use one like that off the bench and the rest of the two way guys could cover for him defensively - especially if paired with Rudy.

I suspect most teams would love to have more scoring from their bench, but I'm quite comfortable with ours. NAW is a problem, but I think SloMo, Naz and Milton are above average bench players. My biggest concern right now is Edwards, because he has been quite subpar the past four games...38% shooting and 27% on threes with way too much top of the key dribbling rather than moving the ball or attacking. I'm happy with the early season contributions from our other four starters and three of our bench players (and I was ecstatic about what Ant was doing in the first 7 games), but Ant's trajectory in the past 4 games is a problem. Silver lining? We won 3 of those games, which just goes to prove how good this roster is. But I want to see better play at both ends of the court from Ant.