Kick them while they're down - Clippers at Wolves GDT

[FNG]

Once again, it was not a convincing win. Down pretty big in the 1st half. The Clippers had Bogdon back, who has not played since 11/20. He was a pretty big boost for them. Leonard hit a lot of shots in the 1st half, but wasn't much of a factor in the 2nd.

As you say, just find a way!

The last five games have been a mirror image of the dark days when we were blowing big leads on the Suns and Kings. We've come back from deficits in all 5 wins, and from double digit deficits in at least 3 of them. We're not always pretty, but we are resilient. And only a game and a half out of second place!

[Lipoli390]

It was on in the background at poker. Did we look ok

Mixed bag, Kek. Jaden was terrific as was Naz who hit the winning trey. Clark made things happen again. Conley provided stability during the third quarter comeback and clutch time and was a team best +14. Ju and Ant were 20 for 21 on free throws, but were unimpressive other than that...Ant had 2 more turnovers than made baskets. Rudy was badly outplayed by Zubac. But we won!

Jaden and Naz were fantastic and keys to our win. But I’d give Ju more credit. He had 24 points on 6-15 shooting and got to the line 12 times, missing only once. He also had 6 assists and only 2 turnovers (good number for him). He had one really stellar defensive possession against Kawhi as I recall. His play was definitely a cut or two above Ant’s. Ant, Donte and especially Rudy were terrible.

[FNG]

It was on in the background at poker. Did we look ok

Mixed bag, Kek. Jaden was terrific as was Naz who hit the winning trey. Clark made things happen again. Conley provided stability during the third quarter comeback and clutch time and was a team best +14. Ju and Ant were 20 for 21 on free throws, but were unimpressive other than that...Ant had 2 more turnovers than made baskets. Rudy was badly outplayed by Zubac. But we won!

Jaden and Naz were fantastic and keys to our win. But I’d give Ju more credit. He had 24 points on 6-15 shooting and got to the line 12 times, missing only once. He also had 6 assists and only 2 turnovers (good number for him). He had one really stellar defensive possession against Kawhi as I recall. His play was definitely a cut or two above Ant’s. Ant, Donte and especially Rudy were terrible.

Fair point about Ju, Lip...and I would say his defense was at least 3 cuts above Ant's . I don't know if you were at the game, but I loved how the crowd reacted to that one stellar defensive possession against Kawhi...it was Jaden-like! It seemed like there's some history between the two guys, and Ju really took his defensive role seriously. If only he could bring that intensity every night.

I will also double down on my praise of Mike despite his meager stats (5 points and no assists!). I'm much more relaxed when he's on the court, and the offense was much crisper. We were down 8 when he checked into the game in the 3rd quarter, and up 6 when Ant came in for him with 6 minutes left in the game. Ant immediately went into hero mode and missed 4 shots in the next few minutes, and the Clips tied the game with a minute left. Fortunately Finchy put Mike back in, and order was restored. Ant got the assist on Naz's winning shot, but Mike originated the play and the ball movement was the best of the game. It was no surprise to me when I looked at the box and saw Mike had a team-best +14, and Ant a team-worst -9 (tied with Rudy).

[AussieWolf3]

Another interesting game that reveals both the brilliance of this team and it's flaws.

Most notable to me was how many minutes the started and Naz played. It's just not sustainable for them to play this much especially against bad teams like the Pels and Clippers.

Watching Jaden take a star turn is awesome! Hope he keeps ascending cause very few people in the world have his physical tools.

Last two games from Ant are jarring after his decimation of New Orleans in the first game. Folks are shitting on him and rightly so, but I will say that I thought he played great on defense and was aggressive on the boards which is good to see. It's always nice to see that he's the type of player who will find other ways to contribute if his shot isn't falling. But this one was weird to watch on offense and honestly I think he just isn't sure how to fit into the offensive flow when he's not playing Iso. Well, at least sometimes he doesn't, cause he clearly does it very very well in other games. It's still pretty alarming for a 6 year vet to struggle so much to integrate himself into a the offense when it's flowing well through other players.

He needs to watch more Steph cause few superstars have been better in their careers at doing exactly that than him

[KiwiMatt]

Another interesting game that reveals both the brilliance of this team and it's flaws.

Most notable to me was how many minutes the started and Naz played. It's just not sustainable for them to play this much especially against bad teams like the Pels and Clippers.

Watching Jaden take a star turn is awesome! Hope he keeps ascending cause very few people in the world have his physical tools.

Last two games from Ant are jarring after his decimation of New Orleans in the first game. Folks are shitting on him and rightly so, but I will say that I thought he played great on defense and was aggressive on the boards which is good to see. It's always nice to see that he's the type of player who will find other ways to contribute if his shot isn't falling. But this one was weird to watch on offense and honestly I think he just isn't sure how to fit into the offensive flow when he's not playing Iso. Well, at least sometimes he doesn't, cause he clearly does it very very well in other games. It's still pretty alarming for a 6 year vet to struggle so much to integrate himself into a the offense when it's flowing well through other players.

He needs to watch more Steph cause few superstars have been better in their careers at doing exactly that than him

I think Ant struggles playing with another ball dominant player in Julius. Having two ball stoppers on the court just doesn't work. I think the best short term solution is to play Julius with the second unit more. Still starts but subs out half way through the 1st for Naz. Naz and Rudy have exceptional good stats playing together and Julius would give the second unit the scoring it desperately lacks.

[FNG]

Another interesting game that reveals both the brilliance of this team and it's flaws.

Most notable to me was how many minutes the started and Naz played. It's just not sustainable for them to play this much especially against bad teams like the Pels and Clippers.

Watching Jaden take a star turn is awesome! Hope he keeps ascending cause very few people in the world have his physical tools.

Last two games from Ant are jarring after his decimation of New Orleans in the first game. Folks are shitting on him and rightly so, but I will say that I thought he played great on defense and was aggressive on the boards which is good to see. It's always nice to see that he's the type of player who will find other ways to contribute if his shot isn't falling. But this one was weird to watch on offense and honestly I think he just isn't sure how to fit into the offensive flow when he's not playing Iso. Well, at least sometimes he doesn't, cause he clearly does it very very well in other games. It's still pretty alarming for a 6 year vet to struggle so much to integrate himself into a the offense when it's flowing well through other players.

He needs to watch more Steph cause few superstars have been better in their careers at doing exactly that than him

I think Ant struggles playing with another ball dominant player in Julius. Having two ball stoppers on the court just doesn't work. I think the best short term solution is to play Julius with the second unit more. Still starts but subs out half way through the 1st for Naz. Naz and Rudy have exceptional good stats playing together and Julius would give the second unit the scoring it desperately lacks.

I think Ju needs to continue to play most with the first unit. All ball stoppers are not created equal...Ant is a ball stopper who mostly looks to score, while Ju is both looking for his shot and to create. That's why he leads the team in assists at nearly 6 per game, even though the ball is in Ant's hands much more often. I want our best assist guy out there as much as possible with our most prolific scorer. Ant just needs to play off ball more...use screens to get open, and Ju will find him for open looks.

[AussieWolf3]

Another interesting game that reveals both the brilliance of this team and it's flaws.

Most notable to me was how many minutes the started and Naz played. It's just not sustainable for them to play this much especially against bad teams like the Pels and Clippers.

Watching Jaden take a star turn is awesome! Hope he keeps ascending cause very few people in the world have his physical tools.

Last two games from Ant are jarring after his decimation of New Orleans in the first game. Folks are shitting on him and rightly so, but I will say that I thought he played great on defense and was aggressive on the boards which is good to see. It's always nice to see that he's the type of player who will find other ways to contribute if his shot isn't falling. But this one was weird to watch on offense and honestly I think he just isn't sure how to fit into the offensive flow when he's not playing Iso. Well, at least sometimes he doesn't, cause he clearly does it very very well in other games. It's still pretty alarming for a 6 year vet to struggle so much to integrate himself into a the offense when it's flowing well through other players.

He needs to watch more Steph cause few superstars have been better in their careers at doing exactly that than him

I think Ant struggles playing with another ball dominant player in Julius. Having two ball stoppers on the court just doesn't work. I think the best short term solution is to play Julius with the second unit more. Still starts but subs out half way through the 1st for Naz. Naz and Rudy have exceptional good stats playing together and Julius would give the second unit the scoring it desperately lacks.

I think Ju needs to continue to play most with the first unit. All ball stoppers are not created equal...Ant is a ball stopper who mostly looks to score, while Ju is both looking for his shot and to create. That's why he leads the team in assists at nearly 6 per game, even though the ball is in Ant's hands much more often. I want our best assist guy out there as much as possible with our most prolific scorer. Ant just needs to play off ball more...use screens to get open, and Ju will find him for open looks.

He really does!

Which is why I said, he really seems to struggling with know how to fit himself into the offense without being ball dominant.

I've seen him often this year calling for the ball without seeming to understand or notice that someone is in the passing lane and he won't move himself to a better position to make himself open for whoever is handling the ball.

This has been an inconsistent year for the kid. I was really excited but some of the stuff he was doing early in the season, but some of that has gone away. I think he's really unsure of how to pull all these different things together in his game around being a point guard. The pieces are there but they don't always fit.

Last night was the first time I can ever remember him looking like he lacked confidence but ... He kinda did late in the game to me

[Q-is-here]

On the whole "having two ball-stoppers doesn't work" thing, it actually DOES work. It may not be as pretty to watch as a motion offense, but it has proven to be effective for multiple championship teams over the years. The Celtics' Tatum-Brown era has basically been a your-turn-my-turn spread offense. The ball movement happens, but only after one of those two guys collapses the defense or draws a double. And that may require multiple seconds of iso-dribbling and sizing up!

And despite a largely impotent bench outside of Naz, we have the #7 offense in the NBA.

It's not pretty to watch and it can be maddening to see Ant or Julius dribble their way into a web of appendages that results in a sloppy turnover. But in the end, they are scoring enough points. Of course Ant especially could improve on the timing and accuracy of his passing - then it would be even better.

[FNG]

On the whole "having two ball-stoppers doesn't work" thing, it actually DOES work. It may not be as pretty to watch as a motion offense, but it has proven to be effective for multiple championship teams over the years. The Celtics' Tatum-Brown era has basically been a your-turn-my-turn spread offense. The ball movement happens, but only after one of those two guys collapses the defense or draws a double. And that may require multiple seconds of iso-dribbling and sizing up!

And despite a largely impotent bench outside of Naz, we have the #7 offense in the NBA.

It's not pretty to watch and it can be maddening to see Ant or Julius dribble their way into a web of appendages that results in a sloppy turnover. But in the end, they are scoring enough points. Of course Ant especially could improve on the timing and accuracy of his passing - then it would be even better.

Q, I also think Ju has been instrumental in the leap Jaden has made this season as a true 3rd option. I saw some chemistry developing between the 2 of them late last season. Ju looked for Jaden over and over again, but especially in the final game against OkC, he didn't hit the open shot. This year is different...Ju is looking for Jaden, and he's making the shot.