This is a big one, boys- Pacers GDT

[Wolvesfan21]

I would have went all young earlier on, not just benching Jaden. Ant has a hand injury, he probably should have sat this one out. A combo of bad defense and just hot Obi and I'm sick of this dude.

[FNG]

Q, I share your disgust with last night's game. As I said in my opening post, the Wolves being favored was perhaps the worst Vegas line I have seen all year. The Pacers are quicker and better than us, and the only way we had a chance in this one was if we showed some pride and wanted to avenge last week's loss.

But that didn't happen. I give everyone failing grades except Rudy, Mike, Clark and Donte (despite his poor shooting). I though everyone else basically mailed this one in. Most notably:

Naz and Jaden getting only 4 rebounds...the same combined total as Mike Conley had.
Ant deciding to continue to throw up errant treys despite his thumb injury...1 for 11 and a -24 by the dumbest player in the NBA.
Julius reverting to "bad Julius" with only 2 assists.

But despite their horrible effort last night, I'll continue to watch them because they are still right there in the hunt for 6th place, and I want them to stay out of the play in. We're in the hunt not because we are playing as well as I think we can. We're there because our remaining schedule is relatively easy and our competition is incurring some key injuries that are leading to klunkers. Ant needs to heal up, and we need to beat a Suns team Friday that is suddenly playing good basketball again. If we don't beat the Suns twice in our last 9 games, we are destined to finish 7th or 8th.

[FNG]

I would have went all young earlier on, not just benching Jaden. Ant has a hand injury, he probably should have sat this one out. A combo of bad defense and just hot Obi and I'm sick of this dude.

I was feeling the same way, WF. I don't know that I would have benched Ant because his scoring is too vital to our chances of winning. Ant was getting to the basket and scoring fairly easily with his left hand. If I were finchie, I would have told Ant to either pass or drive to the basket on every possession and not settle for treys. And I would have benched him if he didn't comply.

[Q-is-here]

Q, I share your disgust with last night's game. As I said in my opening post, the Wolves being favored was perhaps the worst Vegas line I have seen all year. The Pacers are quicker and better than us, and the only way we had a chance in this one was if we showed some pride and wanted to avenge last week's loss.

But that didn't happen. I give everyone failing grades except Rudy, Mike, Clark and Donte (despite his poor shooting). I though everyone else basically mailed this one in. Most notably:

Naz and Jaden getting only 4 rebounds...the same combined total as Mike Conley had.
Ant deciding to continue to throw up errant treys despite his thumb injury...1 for 11 and a -24 by the dumbest player in the NBA.
Julius reverting to "bad Julius" with only 2 assists.

But despite their horrible effort last night, I'll continue to watch them because they are still right there in the hunt for 6th place, and I want them to stay out of the play in. We're in the hunt not because we are playing as well as I think we can. We're there because our remaining schedule is relatively easy and our competition is incurring some key injuries that are leading to klunkers. Ant needs to heal up, and we need to beat a Suns team Friday that is suddenly playing good basketball again. If we don't beat the Suns twice in our last 9 games, we are destined to finish 7th or 8th.

To clarify, my disgust started about a week ago with the home loss to a depleted Indiana team. That's the last game I watched as there is nothing they can do the rest of the regular season to allay my fear that they are a collection of individual talents that underachieves collectively. Plus I got my "young guys" fix when everyone was injured, so I feel like I kind of know what they can and can't do.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Divincenzo quoted after the game about the Wolves lack of effort... like they've already accomplished something.

Amazing how the league's worst franchise EVER (yes, still) has dealt with a similar issue for the past 20 years. Astounding actually.

[kekgeek]

I hate being simplistic on this take but the wolves go how Ant shoots the ball.

Since Feb 1 he is shooting 34% from 3

In losses he is shooting 6% worse from 3 this year and 7% from the floor worse.

Hate to be super simplistic but wolves go how Ant shoots the ball.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I hate being simplistic on this take but the wolves go how Ant shoots the ball.

Since Feb 1 he is shooting 34% from 3

In losses he is shooting 6% worse from 3 this year and 7% from the floor worse.

Hate to be super simplistic but wolves go how Ant shoots the ball.

Over that stretch of 34% shooting... Edwards is averaging 10.8 threes per game.

Over the first four months, he shot 42.3% on 9.8 attempts per game.

Is he trying to force a few more to get hot again? Something else?

[FNG]

I hate being simplistic on this take but the wolves go how Ant shoots the ball.

Since Feb 1 he is shooting 34% from 3

In losses he is shooting 6% worse from 3 this year and 7% from the floor worse.

Hate to be super simplistic but wolves go how Ant shoots the ball.

I think that's true, Kek. Ant is absolutely critical to our success, but he needs to play much smarter. Last night despite the shot-blocking presence of Myles Turner, Ant was having little problem getting to his basket...and since he prefers going to his left, his right thumb laceration didn't impact his shooting at the rim... he was a very efficient 6 for 8 inside the arc. But despite his efficiency inside and his lack thereof outside, he continued to jack up ill-advised treys. Most of us here have played some hoops at some level. And even though nobody here has anywhere near the skill level Ant has, I would guess that almost all of us have had days (or nights) where we knew our shot was off and we had to put the gun back in the holster. Ant doesn't seem to understand this, and that is holding him (and the team) back.

But while I agree that Ant is the key to how we are playing, I think that Jaden is a strong barometer also. I don't have any data on this, but I suspect there is a pretty strong correlation to his shot attempts/rebounds and our chances of winning. And last night his numbers in both were too low. Combine that with what I thought was horribly ineffective defense on Halliburton, and Jaden's game was almost as bad as Ant's. I'm a huge fan of Jaden, but we need more effort from him than he showed last night.

[FNG]

I hate being simplistic on this take but the wolves go how Ant shoots the ball.

Since Feb 1 he is shooting 34% from 3

In losses he is shooting 6% worse from 3 this year and 7% from the floor worse.

Hate to be super simplistic but wolves go how Ant shoots the ball.

Over that stretch of 34% shooting... Edwards is averaging 10.8 threes per game.

Over the first four months, he shot 42.3% on 9.8 attempts per game.

Is he trying to force a few more to get hot again? Something else?

And some might point to his poor shooting percentage around the rim as an excuse for jacking up threes, but that ignores the amount of free throws he is getting. Some here claim that Ant gets a bad whistle, but he is averaging more than 8 free throw attempts per game since the All-star break...that's up there with noted grifters Harden, SGA, Giannis and Young. He is being rewarded by the refs for his drives to the basket, and he needs to take advantage of it. Taking 11 treys on a night where your shot just isn't falling is both lazy and stupid.

[Coolbreeze44]

I hate being simplistic on this take but the wolves go how Ant shoots the ball.

Since Feb 1 he is shooting 34% from 3

In losses he is shooting 6% worse from 3 this year and 7% from the floor worse.

Hate to be super simplistic but wolves go how Ant shoots the ball.

I think that's true, Kek. Ant is absolutely critical to our success, but he needs to play much smarter. Last night despite the shot-blocking presence of Myles Turner, Ant was having little problem getting to his basket...and since he prefers going to his left, his right thumb laceration didn't impact his shooting at the rim... he was a very efficient 6 for 8 inside the arc. But despite his efficiency inside and his lack thereof outside, he continued to jack up ill-advised treys. Most of us here have played some hoops at some level. And even though nobody here has anywhere near the skill level Ant has, I would guess that almost all of us have had days (or nights) where we knew our shot was off and we had to put the gun back in the holster. Ant doesn't seem to understand this, and that is holding him (and the team) back.

But while I agree that Ant is the key to how we are playing, I think that Jaden is a strong barometer also. I don't have any data on this, but I suspect there is a pretty strong correlation to his shot attempts/rebounds and our chances of winning. And last night his numbers in both were too low. Combine that with what I thought was horribly ineffective defense on Halliburton, and Jaden's game was almost as bad as Ant's. I'm a huge fan of Jaden, but we need more effort from him than he showed last night.

I'd like to know what our record is when Jaden's usage rate is above his average vs below.