Wolves at SacTown...GDT

[worldK]

Great closing game for Ant. We needed that.

[Q-is-here]

Very good sign to win on the road, much like we did consistently last year. That's what contenders do.

And Sacramento is not an easy out in their home opener.

[worldK]

With Ant and Randle, the dribble drive offense is going to be our offense. Divo and Jaden needs to make those open 3’s.

Great game and great road win!

[kekgeek]

Very good sign to win on the road, much like we did consistently last year. That's what contenders do.

And Sacramento is not an easy out in their home opener.

They could end as the best offense in the league

[KiwiMatt]

What a win. Against adversity. Love it.

[FNG]

What a fun game! But then again, it seems like every game against the Kings is a barnburner. Coming back home 0-2 would not have felt good, even against two West teams on their home courts. A few thoughts:

1) I'm not sure if Finchie had to remind Randle that he could have a big night with DeRozen and Murray starting at forward, but you could see his big eyes as soon as he saw the matchup. Neither one is big enough to stop him. He's not always going to hit 3's like this, but man is he effective when he does.

2) On the other hand, I'm not sure why Ant kept launching threes against a team with no interior defense. But I'm not going to criticize him too much, because he figured it out late in the game...including on his winning drive.

3) I've probably been as hard on Naz as anyone here...I've haven't been too concerned about his looming contract, because I've seldom though of him as a winning player. Love the guy, and recognize his offensive brilliance, but it's difficult to ignore how easy it has been to score on us whenever he came in for Rudy. But I've seen some signs that he might be figuring out something on defense. Sure, he can do some really dumb things and occasionally get totally lost out there. But I never question his effort, and I've also noticed some improved footwork on defense this year. And tonight he had a very good 2-way game...not surprisingly a guy who usually gets outscored every time he is on the court was a team-leading +14. Keep it up, Naz!

4) Imagine how hellish it would be to have NAW guarding you. He never takes a play off, slips through screens better than almost anyone, and generally makes things miserable for his man. And like DiVo, he constantly relocates on offense to make himself available for a pass. If he is hitting his 3's like he has in his first 2 games, he is a very valuable player for us.

5) Loved hearing the mutual admiration from Randle and Ant post-game. Chemistry might be an overrated element of success, but is was still good to hear their comments.

6) Two games in, and we still have gotten little from Mike and Jaden on the offensive end. I'm not too concerned. Jaden needs to be smarter in fouling, but he still looks very good on D. And I don't believe that Mike forgot how to shoot in 3 months, and he still has looked "not old" to me on the defensive side of the ball.

Very good win.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Abe's 1st Late Night DVR Review after Watching the Vikings Game on DVR 1st...

- Sleep was good.

- Oops. I forgot I opted out of Bally's/FanDuel during the Twins season, so I don't have it now. I needed to get better pricing anyway... so I'll be hitting the Xfinity store today.




[Note: Yes. I still have cable. Did I just expose myself for being sorta old?]

[FNG]

Abe's 1st Late Night DVR Review after Watching the Vikings Game on DVR 1st...

- Sleephttps://fishkernba.com/category/minnesota-timberwolves/ was good.

- Oops. I forgot I opted out of Bally's/FanDuel during the Twins season, so I don't have it now. I needed to get better pricing anyway... so I'll be hitting the Xfinity store today.




[Note: Yes. I still have cable. Did I just expose myself for being sorta old?]

Um, maybe a little...but who am I to judge.

Anyway, this was a fun game. You can watch the replay here:

https://fishkernba.com/category/minnesota-timberwolves/

[Q-is-here]

What a fun game! But then again, it seems like every game against the Kings is a barnburner. Coming back home 0-2 would not have felt good, even against two West teams on their home courts. A few thoughts:

1) I'm not sure if Finchie had to remind Randle that he could have a big night with DeRozen and Murray starting at forward, but you could see his big eyes as soon as he saw the matchup. Neither one is big enough to stop him. He's not always going to hit 3's like this, but man is he effective when he does.

2) On the other hand, I'm not sure why Ant kept launching threes against a team with no interior defense. But I'm not going to criticize him too much, because he figured it out late in the game...including on his winning drive.

3) I've probably been as hard on Naz as anyone here...I've haven't been too concerned about his looming contract, because I've seldom though of him as a winning player. Love the guy, and recognize his offensive brilliance, but it's difficult to ignore how easy it has been to score on us whenever he came in for Rudy. But I've seen some signs that he might be figuring out something on defense. Sure, he can do some really dumb things and occasionally get totally lost out there. But I never question his effort, and I've also noticed some improved footwork on defense this year. And tonight he had a very good 2-way game...not surprisingly a guy who usually gets outscored every time he is on the court was a team-leading +14. Keep it up, Naz!

4) Imagine how hellish it would be to have NAW guarding you. He never takes a play off, slips through screens better than almost anyone, and generally makes things miserable for his man. And like DiVo, he constantly relocates on offense to make himself available for a pass. If he is hitting his 3's like he has in his first 2 games, he is a very valuable player for us.

5) Loved hearing the mutual admiration from Randle and Ant post-game. Chemistry might be an overrated element of success, but is was still good to hear their comments.

6) Two games in, and we still have gotten little from Mike and Jaden on the offensive end. I'm not too concerned. Jaden needs to be smarter in fouling, but he still looks very good on D. And I don't believe that Mike forgot how to shoot in 3 months, and he still has looked "not old" to me on the defensive side of the ball.

Very good win.

On #2, I will agree that Ant has been a bit of a chucker these first two games, but in his defense Finch as explicitly asked for more 3s and there is almost zero room to drive the basketball with Rudy and Randle in there at the same time. Note how Rudy was on the bench on that last offensive possession that Ant got fouled on. They went to a spread offense so that Ant had room to drive.

On #3, Naz definitely looked way more engaged defensively than game #1. He also seems more comfortable guarding perimeter-oriented bigs than true bigs.

On #5, that's nice, but I still don't see any on court synergy. Like the KAT/Ant duo, there is not much of a two-man game that Ant has with anyone, Rudy and Randle included. He's a drive and kick player/isolation jump shooter. That's not a bad thing if you do it as well as Ant does, but there is very little "beautiful basketball" with cutting, passing, lobs, pocket passes, etc.

[KiwiMatt]

A real benefit of acquiring Julius Randle as evident last night is opposition teams can no longer put an undersized player on our second big like they could with KAT last season. Randle is too good of a scorer in the low post. He made Murray and DeRozan pay last night every possession they were on him.

KAT didn’t have the mix of power and finesse that Randle does, hence why the PJ Tuckers of this world could often shut him down. With Randle that becomes a great strength for us when oppositions teams play smaller lineups.

Spacing is the glaring issue. If Randle can hit 3’s as decent percentage then this team offensively will be scary good.