Minnesota Sports Forum

11-11. Come back better on Friday in Brooklyn.

Way to many dunks allowed. Sure wish our offense could do something like that!

D'Natagal wrote:Unfortunately we got bad DLO tonite. 1-12 from 3. OUCH.

He bailed us out the last couple games, but he basically single handedly lost this one with his poor shooting tonight. It's one thing to have an off night, it's a whole other to go 1 for effing 12, including some pretty clean looks.

That flu bug going around is really draining the guys. Vando looked like he was on 1 dose of speed, instead of all of them!

V8 was stuck in 3rd gear.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Montrezl Harrell has been a bit of a matchup nightmare vs. the Wolves in recent years:

Last 10 games:

27 pts - 11 - 12 fg (21 min)
25 pts - 11 - 16 fg (29 min)
17 pts - 5 - 7 fg (18 min)
12 pts - 6 - 10 fg (19 min)
11 pts - 5 - 6 fg (16 min)
16 pts - 8 - 13 fg (26 min)
18 pts - 7 - 13 fg (31 min)
18 pts - 9 - 11 (26 min)
18 pts - 7 - 10 fg (34 min)
13 pts - 6 - 7 fg (30 min)

17.5 ppg
71.4% fg
... in only 25 mpg


[Note: Is 50 dunks out of those 75 fgs a fair guess? Remember, he had 10 just last night.]

So, the Wolves were missing PatBev and Jaden, and two of our best energy guys were not 100%...and still we played a very good team close (until the very end) on their home court. This loss doesn't bother me at all. A few observations:

1) Anybody else listen to the Wiz feed? Christy Winters-Scott is not only smoking hot, but also a very good analyst. Could we trade Jake Layman for her?

2) I breathed a sigh of relief twice tonight with respect to KAT. First when what I feared might be a knee injury turned out to be just a kick in the nuts. And second when he said he felt better than he expected after his fall. I expect him to miss the Brooklyn game (which we were likely going to lose anyway) and then hopefully be back.

3) The aggressive defense up top combined with Washington's stellar inside passing led to a lot of easy dunks. I don't move away from the drop defense though...it's energized this resurgent defense. But maybe Finch could have gone to the drop in the 4th quarter.

4) Sure, DLo shot poorly tonight, but again I thought his defense was very good. Last season I used to tear my hair out as I counted his either lazy or stupid defensive plays. This year I find myself counting the number of times he makes plays with his help defense...four in the first quarter alone. The Beverley Effect, or did the light bulb just go on suddenly? Whatever it is, give me more. But make some shots!

5) Bradley Beal is a great basketball player...I don't know if I appreciated him enough before tonight. Unselfish, able to get to the rim with ease, and clearly an improved defender. He's a true all-star.

6) That said, he's a terrible 3-point shooter this season, as is the entire Wizard team. Any time anyone other than Bertans or KCP launched a three, it gave us a chance to steal a win.

7) Overall I really like this Wizard team though. Harrell always kills us and should be 6th man of the year again. And like Q, I had never heard of Gafford before...what a terrific 2nd round pick.

FNG wrote:

3) The aggressive defense up top combined with Washington's stellar inside passing led to a lot of easy dunks. I don't move away from the drop defense though...it's energized this resurgent defense. But maybe Finch could have gone to the drop in the 4th quarter.

All those dunks = a lot of assists. But still... I was surprised when I saw the boxscore.

Wizards = 34 assists for 45 buckets
Timberwolves = 15 assists for 37 buckets (only 2 players had more than 1 assist)



[Note: I fell in/out of sleep on my late night DVR viewing. Damn puppy is ruining my sleep schedule.]

The Wizards are not a good 3 point shooting team this year, why not try to switch defenses to change things up? Finch is a good coach, probably one of the best that the Wolves have ever had, but I think I would have tried a few minutes of drop coverage and coax them into 3s at some point.

D'Natagal wrote:The Wizards are not a good 3 point shooting team this year, why not try to switch defenses to change things up? Finch is a good coach, probably one of the best that the Wolves have ever had, but I think I would have tried a few minutes of drop coverage and coax them into 3s at some point.

I very seldom criticize Finch, D'N, but I agree with you. He should have made the adjustment in the second half.