Minnesota Sports Forum

kekgeek1 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

crazy-canuck wrote:And nunnally hits 3 3pters and logs 25 minutes off the street while we're cant give him 25 minutes in half a season when we lack 3 of shooting.

Not surprised.

To be fair... Houston is running a gimmick system. Nunnally is there to stand and wait and wait and wait and wait until he shoots an open three pointer.

I have no problem with seeing Nunnally gone after I saw how easily gimpy, broken-down Gordon Hayward blew past him a couple weeks ago.

We give up the 3rd most left corner 3 attempts, and the 9th most right corner 3 attempts.



[Note: Houston took 70 three pointers yesterday. 70! James Harden has scored 115 points over the past two games... not one of those baskets was assisted. I don't find them enjoyable to watch.]

I just watched the last few minutes of this game. Nunnally hit a 3 late in overtime and the Tockets were up 7 points with 1:31 to go and lost. He passed up a Teague like open 3 to drive and got blocked in the paint by Jared Allen. He also got blown past by Dinwiddie for a key possession at the end of the game. Of course if Austin Rivers hits a wide open 3 at the end of the game off a pass by Harden Houston wins.

Yeah, I'm not saying Nunnely is a complete player by any means...there's a reason he has spent most of his time in Europe or the minors. And Abe is right that the Houston situation is ideal for him to do what he does best. I'm just frustrated that we can't develop a similar corner three offense, but instead continue to rely on one-on-one offense. Maybe Ryan can change this culture, we'll see.

Speaking of one-on-one offense... did you miss the part about Harden scoring 115 points without anybody passing him the ball over the past two games?

That entire offense is literally 1-on-5 right now.

Harden's usage rate vs. Memphis on Monday was a ridiculous 61%... so that team right now is literally the worst example you could use for a free-flowing offense.

Unbelievable. Yeah, Harden is unstoppable in terms of getting off a shot, and needs no help to do it. But he also had 6 assists last night, and 12 in successive games last week and I would argue that most of those assists were to a wide open guy in the corner. Harden is unique, so it's difficult to project his style of play to any other team. But still it seems to be that a lot of teams do the second part of what Harden does...find a way to get the ball the into the corner. But not us. Creating a corner three seems to be the key to many successful offenses these days, and whether you do it the Harden way or in a more traditional ball movement way, it's effective...and the Wolves just haven't caught up.

We are 13th in the NBA in left Corner 3s in the NBA and 17th in the League in right Corner 3s.

Are we the best team ever no, but we are not bad at getting those shots as you think.

Nunnley was trash. He has one skill and that is 3 pt shooting, and he hasn't even proved he can do that at the NBA level. He is in the perfect situation all he has to do is sit there watch Harden dribble and if he receives the pass he can shoot it. His below average skill set at every other skill in the NBA is why he can only succeed with the Rockets.

Good points, kek. I'll concede...yeah, no great loss with Nunnaly.

I like the favorable data on offensive open corner threes. Do you have similar data on how well we defend corner threes? That ultimately might be the real issue here.

3rd most left corner 3s, and 9th most right corner 3s. Teams shoot the 2 best FG% from the left corner and 8th best from the right corner.

So ya we are bad defending the best shot in basketball.

Interesting...so middle of the pack on offense but near the bottom on defense. Ryan is a big stat guy so he has to know this. Whether he can fix it or not is another story.

Harden is becoming basketball's version of the roided up Barry Bonds late in his career. I'm not saying he's got any artificial help, just that there is no defense for him. Problem is you can't give him an intentional walk.

I just read that Derozan is in a shooting slump. That should get fixed tomorrow night!

I'm a little surprised teams aren't throwing a double-team at Harden just to get the ball out of his hands, even if that means an open 3 for someone else. With the right timing and rotations, you might still get a good contest on the shooter, but damn, you gotta get the ball out of Harden's hands.

Harden is a better passer than anyone currrnrly on the Wolves...and there may not be many players to ever play on the Wolves that were better passers than Harden. I believe D'Antoni said Harden is one of the best passes of all time.

Like someone said scoring all those points unassisted...it's insane. The guy is literally playing with backups guys off the street and still putting up efficient numbers and the only guy you have to stop.

I agree with Cool's point I'm not sure how you defend him right now. The only reason he didn't win the game last night was he was clearly tired and Rivers missed the game winning shot and was wide open.

As for corner 3's...it also feels like at times we give up 3's to guys that you should give them up to and they make them. Jonah bolden came in the game shooting 4-25 from 3. He doubled his makes against the Wolves going 4-5. The Wolves have a problem guarding the 3 but sometimes it gets a little ridiculous in the way they go down.

sjm34 wrote:I just read that Derozan is in a shooting slump. That should get fixed tomorrow night!

Hahahaha, no doubt. It's funny, sad, and true all at the same time.

Laker kids beat OKC in overtime with Zubac putting up 26-12 on 12-14 shooting.

monsterpile wrote:Laker kids beat OKC in overtime with Zubac putting up 26-12 on 12-14 shooting.

A quick boxscore read shows that he (guarded by Nerlens Noel) was the difference.

With Stephen Adams in the game, OKC outscored LAL by +10... over 41+ minutes.
In only 12+ minutes of Noel in the game... OKC was -20.

Zubac was +35 for the game.

I have watched the Lakers a couple of times, including last night, and I'll tell you what, that Zubac is going to be a very good player eventually. He's still only 21, but has shown steady improvement. He's got really soft hands and great touch around the hoop.

Speaking of OKC, the huge load Westbrook has carried over the years as well as his balls out style of play might be finally taking a toll. His shot is really off this year and last night he missed a couple of layup attempts in crunch time that he would have easily converted in years' past. He still makes a lot of good things happen on the court, but work load and age might be starting to get to him a bit.