Minnesota Sports Forum

Q12543 wrote:

worldK wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

worldK wrote:Cool, Im with you that towns will be the best player in the league in a few years. The kid has no weakness at all. Can do it all.

Wiggins was clutch. He and towns are a great pair. Their skills compliment each other and both are 2 way players.

Lavine helps a whole lot just by being out there with the starters. He didnt go off tonight but just being in the game makes things a whole lot easier for the other 4.

Rubio was fantastic tonight. If he can just knock down 3 ball like he did tonight consistently then we wont be discussing how much pork chop are we at.

Dieng solid all around game. Play and start these 5 the rest of the season and we will see real growth and improvement!

...but the fact is in these last three wins - which all came down to the last 5 minutes - Rubio has been in the game and we won whether he shot it well or not. Tonight he happened to shoot it well, but it was still all about Wiggins and KAT in the final minutes. And that's how it should be. It's amazing how the concerns about Rubio melt away when the two future stars of the team play like stars.

Q, dont tbe too defensive. Rubio has been in the last 5 mins of games we have lost as well all season aside from blowouts.

Fact is, rubio making shots make things easier for the rest of the team. I didnt mention it to slight rubio, I mentioned it because he made shots tonight and was fantastic.

Not being defensive. My point is whether his shot was going in or not didn't really impact any of these games in the final minutes since he's not really taking many shots during the last few minutes. Everything is designed around Wiggins, KAT, and LaVine - in that order. And when those guys are playing well, the "Rubio hurts us in close games" narrative sort of melts away.

But yeah, when his shot is going down, he's a top 5 PG. When it's not, which is most of the time, he's still a very solid starting PG that sets the table for everyone else.

Your being too defensive of rubio q. Come on now. Rubio being a threat makes things easier for wiggins, towns and lavine whether he take those shots or not. That is why basketball is a team game.

Im in no way saying rubio costs us games, your trying to spin it that way by being defensive about it.

Heck, you know how Im a big wiggins supporter here. And I have no problems saying how shock I am that wiggins come up with a rebound in games! Im not saying rubio making jumpers or wiggins grabbing 2 more rebounds per game is the difference in winning or losing games, but the reality is that all players on the team outside of towns has weakness that they really need to work on to get to at least an average level. We all have our favorites Q, but we can also admit they have things that if they work on it, could really help the team.

worldK wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

worldK wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

worldK wrote:Cool, Im with you that towns will be the best player in the league in a few years. The kid has no weakness at all. Can do it all.

Wiggins was clutch. He and towns are a great pair. Their skills compliment each other and both are 2 way players.

Lavine helps a whole lot just by being out there with the starters. He didnt go off tonight but just being in the game makes things a whole lot easier for the other 4.

Rubio was fantastic tonight. If he can just knock down 3 ball like he did tonight consistently then we wont be discussing how much pork chop are we at.

Dieng solid all around game. Play and start these 5 the rest of the season and we will see real growth and improvement!

...but the fact is in these last three wins - which all came down to the last 5 minutes - Rubio has been in the game and we won whether he shot it well or not. Tonight he happened to shoot it well, but it was still all about Wiggins and KAT in the final minutes. And that's how it should be. It's amazing how the concerns about Rubio melt away when the two future stars of the team play like stars.

Q, dont tbe too defensive. Rubio has been in the last 5 mins of games we have lost as well all season aside from blowouts.

Fact is, rubio making shots make things easier for the rest of the team. I didnt mention it to slight rubio, I mentioned it because he made shots tonight and was fantastic.

Not being defensive. My point is whether his shot was going in or not didn't really impact any of these games in the final minutes since he's not really taking many shots during the last few minutes. Everything is designed around Wiggins, KAT, and LaVine - in that order. And when those guys are playing well, the "Rubio hurts us in close games" narrative sort of melts away.

But yeah, when his shot is going down, he's a top 5 PG. When it's not, which is most of the time, he's still a very solid starting PG that sets the table for everyone else.

Your being too defensive of rubio q. Come on now. Rubio being a threat makes things easier for wiggins, towns and lavine whether he take those shots or not. That is why basketball is a team game.

Im in no way saying rubio costs us games, your trying to spin it that way by being defensive about it.

Heck, you know how Im a big wiggins supporter here. And I have no problems saying how shock I am that wiggins come up with a rebound in games! Im not saying rubio making jumpers or wiggins grabbing 2 more rebounds per game is the difference in winning or losing games, but the reality is that all players on the team outside of towns has weakness that they really need to work on to get to at least an average level. We all have our favorites Q, but we can also admit they have things that if they work on it, could really help the team.

Q isn't saying that Rubio doesn't have weaknesses or that him making shots doesn't make life easier for Towns, Wiggins and the others. You're not comprehending that. He's saying that down the stretch, it hasn't mattered because he isn't the guy(s) carrying the load. When we win games, it's because our star players (Towns and Wiggins, LaVine at times) have played like stars and made the big shots they're expected to make. Rubio's shot-making, or shot-missing, is minimized in importance when the scorers of the team play well down the stretch. I think it's the right assessment.

It's harder for anyone to perform to win when one player is not a threat to score on the court. It makes Towns, Wiggins and others shots that much more difficult down the stretch and ultimately reduces the quality of their looks. It does matter to the guys carrying the scoring load that the player dominating the ball isn't a threat to score when they need points most. Yes there have been times when Wiggins and Towns have overcome the defensive luxury that the other teams have, it is an extra load our scorers have to bear.

worldK wrote:

Q12543 wrote:I think J-Pete's observation that DeRozan and Wiggins are similar was a good observation. He said that Wiggins could be a better version of DeRozan some day. That makes sense to me.

That is a good comparison.

That's my comparison!

Camden wrote:

worldK wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

worldK wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

worldK wrote:Cool, Im with you that towns will be the best player in the league in a few years. The kid has no weakness at all. Can do it all.

Wiggins was clutch. He and towns are a great pair. Their skills compliment each other and both are 2 way players.

Lavine helps a whole lot just by being out there with the starters. He didnt go off tonight but just being in the game makes things a whole lot easier for the other 4.

Rubio was fantastic tonight. If he can just knock down 3 ball like he did tonight consistently then we wont be discussing how much pork chop are we at.

Dieng solid all around game. Play and start these 5 the rest of the season and we will see real growth and improvement!

...but the fact is in these last three wins - which all came down to the last 5 minutes - Rubio has been in the game and we won whether he shot it well or not. Tonight he happened to shoot it well, but it was still all about Wiggins and KAT in the final minutes. And that's how it should be. It's amazing how the concerns about Rubio melt away when the two future stars of the team play like stars.

Q, dont tbe too defensive. Rubio has been in the last 5 mins of games we have lost as well all season aside from blowouts.

Fact is, rubio making shots make things easier for the rest of the team. I didnt mention it to slight rubio, I mentioned it because he made shots tonight and was fantastic.

Not being defensive. My point is whether his shot was going in or not didn't really impact any of these games in the final minutes since he's not really taking many shots during the last few minutes. Everything is designed around Wiggins, KAT, and LaVine - in that order. And when those guys are playing well, the "Rubio hurts us in close games" narrative sort of melts away.

But yeah, when his shot is going down, he's a top 5 PG. When it's not, which is most of the time, he's still a very solid starting PG that sets the table for everyone else.

Your being too defensive of rubio q. Come on now. Rubio being a threat makes things easier for wiggins, towns and lavine whether he take those shots or not. That is why basketball is a team game.

Im in no way saying rubio costs us games, your trying to spin it that way by being defensive about it.

Heck, you know how Im a big wiggins supporter here. And I have no problems saying how shock I am that wiggins come up with a rebound in games! Im not saying rubio making jumpers or wiggins grabbing 2 more rebounds per game is the difference in winning or losing games, but the reality is that all players on the team outside of towns has weakness that they really need to work on to get to at least an average level. We all have our favorites Q, but we can also admit they have things that if they work on it, could really help the team.

Q isn't saying that Rubio doesn't have weaknesses or that him making shots doesn't make life easier for Towns, Wiggins and the others. You're not comprehending that. He's saying that down the stretch, it hasn't mattered because he isn't the guy(s) carrying the load. When we win games, it's because our star players (Towns and Wiggins, LaVine at times) have played like stars and made the big shots they're expected to make. Rubio's shot-making, or shot-missing, is minimized in importance when the scorers of the team play well down the stretch. I think it's the right assessment.

Isn't that being defensive cam and q?

For the record, I have never said rubio missing shots cost us games. I merely said 2 things. 1. Rrubio making shots make his game tonight 'Fantastic' and hope that he will be able to do that consistently. 2. There will be a lot less discussion about pork chops on these board if he was doing it consistently. I never said I was full pork chop or thjat rubio cost us games!

All of a sudden, Q went to defensive mode and began his defense that wig and towns get the touches and generally win us games if they play well and rubio rarely takes part in shooting. Isn't that being too defensive cam and Q?? We all agree that rubio making shots will make this team much better. So why is q coming at me for saying it? I didn't blame him for the losses or was I implying that! a mere mention of rubio shooting well tonight got q to go on rubio's defense that he is not expected to make the shots in the last 5mins of games. Sheesh.

Thoughts:

- I like Towns. A lot. He makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
- What the hell happened to Kyle Lowry? He's been one of the better players in the entire league this season. And he threw up 3 straight airballs? Or was it 4? All in the second half... plus he's an 86% shooter who missed 3 free throws. Terrible game.
- Wiggins was the closer. Again. He has warts, but he's closed several games this season. I dug how he took an elbow from DeRozan and went right back at him on the other end.
- Too many foul calls. Slowed down what could have been an even better game to watch.
- Rubio outplayed him. Good game. It's amazing how fluid a team can be when everybody on the court can shoot/score.
- The Dieng/Towns thing is working. Sorta goofy, but I like it.
- Shorter rotations would lead to more wins, but it's not sustainable in today's NBA. It just shows how thin the Wolves really are compared to most teams.
- Still bad defense overall.
- Yet another team with 10+ three pointers. But the free throws offset it tonight.

Couple things. Great win tonight. The shorter rotation was usable tonight because we have the break, but we can't play all five starters 35+ MPG's for the rest of the year. That will just run them into the ground in a non-playoff year. Ricky scoring tonight is what this team can look like with a viable scoring threat at the PG position. This game was only winnable because Ricky finally hit shots. If he has a traditional Ricky shooting night we lose this game so yes it is important that he makes shots throughout the game. He doesn't need to score 19 a night, but even 15 a night would go miles for helping this team win games because Wiggins and Towns just need help anywhere they can get it to carry the scoring load. Notice how much better the team plays when he drops a 19/8/8 line instead of a 10/15/2 line like he had against the Lakers a few games ago. He scored 14 efficiently in the Chicago win as well so that's 2/3 of our recent wins where he scored 14+ points efficiently (went 6/6 from the line in both games as well). Finally, it's nice to see Wiggins at the top of the +/- at +15. It's about time he's finally rewarded with such a big + game as it always seems like no matter how good or bad he plays he's always some level of minus on the box score.

We won this game at the free throw line. We scored 19 more free throw points than Toronto. We have an amazingly good free throw shooting team and that bodes well for the future if we keep this group together. If Wiggins improves to be an 80% plus free throw shooter, we will win a lot of games in the future at the free throw line.

Great win. Toronto wasn't quite themselves, especially in the second half, but a win is a win, and against a hot playoff team, it's even better.

Two of our biggest problems continued last night though--defense and ball-movement. Along with 3 point shooting, those are definitely the areas we need to get better in if we want to stop this sinking ship and become a feared opponent down the stretch and going into next year.

Very fun game to watch and even a "bad game" from LaVine yielded 13pts on 13 shots and he helped put them in foul trouble. Took Sam long enough to give these players more minutes but at least he may be making some progress with this young team.