3 Games Left In The Wilderness - Kings at Wolves GDT

[AbeVigodaLive]

Abe's "The Wolves are Gonna Win a Close Home Game Eventually" DVR Review:

- The similarities with the 2014 team continue... that was the 40 - 42 team that should have won about 50 games by nearly every statistical measure. Only they sucked in close games in the clutch, especially PGs Rubio and Barea.

Tonight, Mike Conley scored his first buckets OF THE SEASON in the clutch. He's essentially Kevin Ollie out there right now. Even with numbers on his side, he's zero threat to attack, score, or do much of anything. It's sad. But true.

- Sabonis had a very poor game. Gobert had a great game. You don't want to lose those types of games. It's rare to see Sabonis struggle that much.

- Luka Garza will score 173 points in a high-level men's league game when he's 60. He's just a scorer.

Unfortunately, he's shooting 1 - 11 fg over the last two close home losses.

- Wolves have dropped 4 games by 1 or 2 points at home in less than a month. They have not won any close games at home in that time.

- Anthony Edwards had a tough one. Good job getting off the ball early, but that faded. He dribbled too much, complained a lot and took a couple of bad threes. He worked hard on defense though, just had tough covers.

- Have to dig the new Jaden McDaniels.

- Reid was great. Clark competes hard on defense. Dillingham brings energy.

- On/off numbers be damned. Demar Derozan is a unique and special NBA player. 33/5/7 and 0 TOs tonight.

- The list of regrettable losses grows.

Abe, what's really ironic is that Sacramento was headed down that same path earlier in the season whereby their "expected" win total was way higher than their actual wins because they kept losing close games under Mike Brown. They have since turned that around under Christie and tonight proved it against us.

Now I don't know if it's Christie's in-game tactics or just better shot making variance that has led to their more recent success. Either way, something's gotta give with the Wolves. Can't keep losing close game after close game.

(and even that Wolves team from 2014 did start winning close games....but they had dug too deep of a hole by that point for it to save their season).

10 of our our 23 losses have been by 5 points or less. 9 of our 27 wins have been by 5 or fewer points. So yes, we need to win more close games. But a number of our close losses shouldn’t have been close in the first place. Bottom line is that the Wolves essentially a .500 team this season. We’re not as good defensively as we were last season and in the bottom half of the league offensively. We need to score more points to win more game. I don’t care whether the points come in “clutch” moments of the 4th quarter or the early part of the 1st quarter and I don’t care whether we win by a lot or a little.

I’ll add that the Wolves deserve no slack based on recent injuries. The Thunder are 39-9 so far this season. That’s the best record in the NBA. Yet, OKC’s starting center, who is also one of their top three players, has played in only 10 of OKC’s 48 games. Jaylin Williams has played in only 20, Caruso in only 28, Hartenstein in only 27, Jalen Williams in 45 and SGA in 46. Meanwhile, Randle has played in 48 of the Wolves 50 games. Gobert has played in 49, Edwards in 48, Jaden in 49, Conley in 44, Naz in 48, NAW in 49, and even DDV in 40. The Wolves are 27-23.

The point I’m obviously driving is that the Wolves aren’t a very good team - period, exclamation mark. I’d reach the same conclusion regardless of whether we were to lose all our remaining games by 2 points or 10 points. If we take a step back and take a truly honest look at this current version of the Wolves, I think we have to admit we’re not close to being a good team. The question to ask is how we can become a good team next season and even better in the seasons that follow.

I know Abe was just pointing out how we’ve been losing a lot of close games recently and wasn’t suggesting that we’re close to being a good team. It just got me thinking more about this team overall and how the roster has to change if we’re going to become a good team again.

Just for "fun" ... I dug into the closest wins a bit more...

- 115 - 114 vs. undermanned Dallas. (Something something Prosper started for them) Wolves up 9 with 2:28 left before nearly imploding.
- 108 - 106 vs. the Clippers. (legit)
- 112 - 110 vs. Spurs. Up 5 with 110 seconds left. Wolves go 0 - 3 fg and 2 - 4 FT down the stretch to hold on.
- 113 - 112 vs. Rockets. Great comeback win, down 16 in the 4th... ran them down at the end.
- 93 - 92 vs. Clippers. The Wolves score ONE point in the final 2:24. Fortunately, the undermanned Clippers scored only 2 points in the final 4:17.
- 120 - 117 vs. Durant- and Beal-less Suns as Randle hits a three at the buzzer. Wolves came back in this one.
- 130 - 126 vs. Kings (OT) - Wolves were up 16 entering the 4th.
- 119 - 116 vs. Denver - Wolves up 9 in the 4th... down 10... came back to win. Legit.
- 112 - 110 vs. Kings. Legit