kekgeek1 wrote:I watched the last 7 minutes and only take away is zion is so fucking special
Yes, Zion is special. But his team was 7 games under .500 coming into tonight's game and the Wolves had a 10-point lead with 4 minutes to go in the game. The Wolves gave this game away with terrible offensive execution down the stretch, especially by the team's max-contract PG. I never expected the Wolves to win the rest of their games this season, but this was a game they absolutely should have won. If nothing else, this game should remind our front office and coaching staff that DLO has a max salary, but isn't a max player, and that it's a mistake to have DLO run the offense in crunch time.
Just finished the replay. Fun game that we should have won. I put this loss on Finch and Dlo. Finch, because when you'e nursing a 10 point lead in the final minutes, you need at least 2 of our best three defenders (JO, Jaden and Vando) on the court. Come on Chris...there's no need for defensively challenged offensive players when you're up 10. I get that Jaden fouled out, but then you need JO and Vando on the court with Rubio, KAT and Ant. And Dlo deserves the most blame from a player's standpoint. The Wolves were up 10 when Finch subbed him in with just over 4 minutes left. In those final minutes he missed 4 or 5 shots (and made none) and had at least one TO (the silly travel under the basket), while contributing nothing but his best matador moves on D. Shame on Finch for playing his those last 4 minutes.
On the positive side, how about Jaden's D on Ingram? Ingram is a 48% shooter, and Jaden harassed him into 4 for 17 shooting and 4 TOs. He was a deservedly team-best +10 despite not doing much on offense merely because he bottled up the Pels second best scorer. His combination of length, instincts and footwork are make him an incredible defensive player, and he's only going to get better. We win this game easily if he doesn't foul out (or if Finch makes the right move and subs in Vando for him).
Ant had a terrific offensive game...man it's fun to see him attack the basket...but his carelessness with the ball (6 TOs) led to a disappointing -8. So much talent...his D and ball protection will get better I'm sure.
FNG wrote:Just finished the replay. Fun game that we should have won. I put this loss on Finch and Dlo. Finch, because when you'e nursing a 10 point lead in the final minutes, you need at least 2 of our best three defenders (JO, Jaden and Vando) on the court. Come on Chris...there's no need for defensively challenged offensive players when you're up 10. I get that Jaden fouled out, but then you need JO and Vando on the court with Rubio, KAT and Ant. And Dlo deserves the most blame from a player's standpoint. The Wolves were up 10 when Finch subbed him in with just over 4 minutes left. In those final minutes he missed 4 or 5 shots (and made none) and had at least one TO (the silly travel under the basket), while contributing nothing but his best matador moves on D. Shame on Finch for playing his those last 4 minutes.
On the positive side, how about Jaden's D on Ingram? Ingram is a 48% shooter, and Jaden harassed him into 4 for 17 shooting and 4 TOs. He was a deservedly team-best +10 despite not doing much on offense merely because he bottled up the Pels second best scorer. His combination of length, instincts and footwork are make him an incredible defensive player, and he's only going to get better. We win this game easily if he doesn't foul out (or if Finch makes the right move and subs in Vando for him).
Ant had a terrific offensive game...man it's fun to see him attack the basket...but his carelessness with the ball (6 TOs) led to a disappointing -8. So much talent...his D and ball protection will get better I'm sure.
I agree with your takes, FNG. This the first game since Finch arrived where I was disappointed in his coaching.
But Finch has mentioned several times that he's focused on using the rest of this season to evaluate and plan for next season. So perhaps he used those last 4 minutes to evaluate DLO as a closer. It makes sense to put DLO to the text in that role given that he has a max contract and is purportedly our "other star" next to KAT. What Finch saw from DLO last night is what we've all seen multiple times. Relying on DLO in crunch time stifles ball movement and hurts our defense. It also results in a lot of ill-advised shots and turnovers. With DLO, those shots go in when he's hot, but miss when he's not. There's no in-between with him. He was actually responsible for 2 turnovers in that time frame. One of his turnovers was the travel call you mentioned while the other was him just failing to catch a pass, allowing the ball to sail out of bounds.
I know I'm piling on Dlo today after his role in last night's collapse (and by the way, Dlo has become one of my favorite players personally after watching him in person this month...I'm 3-0! He seems like a terrific teammate and I appreciate the way he has embraced his 6th man role), but I'll leave this absurdly small sample size stat here: the Wolves are 2-0 against the Pels this year with Dlo out, and 0-1 with him playing.
What are we don't here guys. Since Dlo has been back he is 23rd in the NBA in clutch scoring (best on the wolves) on 50/36/100 splits and that is including Dlo terrible game last night. Kat has also been fantastic in the clutch since Dlo has been back. Ant not so much shooting 25% from the floor in clutch situations.
We lost last night because Dlo and Kat went 1-7 in the last 5 minutes, including 2 turnovers. Then the Pelicans scored in 9 of their last 10 possessions including every possession that has a shot attempt.
Let's not overreact to 1 game where the Wolves choked and forget the success the Wolves have had in the clutch this last month when Kat/Dlo and Ant have played together
Kek, I hear what you're saying, and I admit some of my favorite games have been the games that Dlo has won for us in the 4th quarter with his scoring. Or when he got so hot in the 2nd quarter against Utah last week. He's a really fun player to watch when he is on. But the problem is what he gives up on the other end. What good is being the 23rd best clutch scorer if you give up more points on the other side than you score? It's great for personal glory, but not great for winning. And to have $30 million of our cap tied up in a guy who won't play defense (and I think it's a "won't" rather than a "can't", because we have all noticed moments of adequacy from Dlo on defense) and can be remarkably inconsistent on offense, is a sure way to ensure you are never going to be much better than a play-in team.
As I said in another thread, I really want this guy to be successful as a player because I respect him as a teammate. But I think Finch has discovered the best way to utilize him...as firepower off the bench as a 6th man, but similar to what Kenny Atkinson did in NJ, a guy who can't always be on the court in the 4th quarter if you want to protect a lead. Twice since Dlo has returned Finch has successfully gone with defenders in the 4th quarter instead of Dlo, and he was doing it again last night until Jaden fouled out and Finch (unwisely in my opinion) inserted him back into the game. I agree with Lip in the game thread saying Finch might have been experimenting to see if Dlo was the right guy in that situation rather than going with a more logical substitution of Vando or JO when Jaden fouled out. I woke my gal up yelling "No!" when I saw Finch putting Dlo back in the game, and I had to suffer through both her scowl and our collapse!
I get your support for Dlo, Kek, and he sure is fun to watch when he is scoring. And I cheer for him to be successful perhaps more than any other current T-Wolf. But I think there will be many more games like last night if we aren't able to move him. I hope I am wrong, or that Rosas is able to move him.
While I think it's possible the DLO-Ant-KAT trio could grow together and may be even make the playoffs at some point, it's just really hard to see these guys ever be good enough defensively. You can't have just two guys on the floor that are willing/able to play defense among your closing five guys.
Having said that, I don't see Rosas realistically moving any of these three this offseason. It would totally be admitting that he was completely wrong in how he constructed the team. I think he can probably rationalize rolling with this core group heading into next season.
I do think Beasley and Rubio are two trade chips that Rosas may use this offseason.
Q12543 wrote:While I think it's possible the DLO-Ant-KAT trio could grow together and may be even make the playoffs at some point, it's just really hard to see these guys ever be good enough defensively. You can't have just two guys on the floor that are willing/able to play defense among your closing five guys.
Having said that, I don't see Rosas realistically moving any of these three this offseason. It would totally be admitting that he was completely wrong in how he constructed the team. I think he can probably rationalize rolling with this core group heading into next season.
I do think Beasley and Rubio are two trade chips that Rosas may use this offseason.
I agree, Q, that the DLO/Ant/KAT trio isn't good enough to eventually form the core of a contender, even though it MIGHT be good enough to get this team into the playoffs with a 7th or 8th seed. I also agree that it's unlikely Rosas is open to moving DLO. But while unlikely, I still think it's possible that Rosas comes around on the advisability of moving DLO, especially if Finch urges him in that direction.
