Minnesota Sports Forum

Towns hyping the crowds anti-ref chants was so cringe. Jaden was flying all over on d in the last few minutes, it looked like he was the only one that could get Paul to miss.

Ant looked pretty good on d and had a few nice dimes, but the turnovers and outside shot was killing us.

KiwiMatt wrote:Another sub .400 shooting game. This is the biggest concern, we can't hit shots.

From the be careful what we wish for pile...

Towns was 10 - 19 fg... and 5 - 9 3fg.
Russell, Edwards and Beasley combined to go 13 - 46... and 6 - 27 3fg.

For the season:

Towns - 49/46
Edwards - 42/33
Russell - 38/34
Beasley - 32/30

[Note: Towns takes the 3rd most shots from that group.]

Fun (typical) night for my mythical Jayden McDaniels Drinkathon game:
- 4 points
- 7 rebounds
- 5 fouls
- 0 everybody drinks for a free throw

---

Fun game. And we got to see a bit of everything in it.

- Towns hitting shots. Towns acting childish.
- Edwards showing elite athleticism. Edwards looking like a young 20 year old.
- Russell getting 20+ points. On a lot of shots.
- Chris Paul doing annoying Chris Paul things.
- Josh Okogie doing Josh Okogie things. (cringe)

---

Saw Taurean Prince in street clothes last night?

So I know Rubio sucked balls last season. And he's only shooting 38.5% with his new team. And that the Wolves have Beverley now. But I can't help but think that while it might have been good that the Wolves traded Rubio... they chose the wrong guy. Consider...

Ricky Rubio made as many baskets (9) and scored more points (28) in one game last night than T. Prince has made all season. Prince shooting 40% on threes in February will do nothing for the Wolves if they're already out of the play-in game race because of his no-show the first couple months of the season.

---

Wolves - 26th in FTA
Wolves opponents - 1st in FTA

I know part of this is because the Wolves take the most three pointers in the league. And part of this is because the Wolves do a lot of silly fouling. And part of this is... well... they're the Wolves. And this is the NBA. And well... it's what this league is. Woe.

I only saw the 4th quarter, but if the rest of the game was anything like the 4th, I missed a good one. The Suns are really good, but the Wolves were right with them in this one. Good to see.

I've been discouraged with the poor defense in the past few games, but we looked really good in the 4th tonight. Jaden and PatBev were terrific as usual, Ant was locked in on Booker (although he made shots anyways...he's too good), and KAT played the aggressive defense he showed in the first two games this season. And with Crowder on the floor, Finch wisely hid DLo on him.

Offensively was a different story, as except for Finch's brilliant out of bounds play leading to an easy layup for Russell, ball movement was nonexistent. Fortunately the Suns thought it was a good idea to leave KAT open at the top of the key. Spoiler alert...it wasn't. KAT was brilliant in the 4th quarter. But DLo was not and didn't show up when we needed him. I won't rip him for his missed three in the final seconds...it was the right shot and DLo just missed it. But his hero ball in the three minutes before that when KAT was on fire was difficult to watch. And I can't "unsee" the play where he was going in for what looked like an easy layup, but then bizarrely diverted into the corner for an ill-advised off-balance three...really?

Box score review. We're not going to win many games with KAT and Ant turning the ball over 13 times...13, ouch! Fortunately PatBev and DLo protected the ball very well with only one TO for Pat and none for DLo.

Really fun 4th quarter, although I need to see more ball movement in the next game...we can't rely on teams leaving KAT unguarded at the top of the key, because it's not going to happen often. We're now a very disappointing 4-9, but if we can win 2 of the next three (and I think we will) we'll leave town 5-11 with a winnable game in New Orleans. I think most of us feel a little better about this team after last night's game.

Give KAT the ball and it seems like he is playing one-on-one in the backyard...I mean holding the ball and faking for 15 seconds isn't offense.
How many hand grenades does KAT have to toss to PatBev before KAT, either learns a lesson or gets PatBev going Jimmy Butler the next practice?

Anybody else wondering why Finch has a reputation as an offensive coach? This team's offense consists of one dude dribbling precious seconds out of the clock while nobody else moves and the defense just gets set. Then that guy will either: A) drive a little bit and pass it to another guy outside the perimeter to do the same, B) drive a little bit then force up a reckless shot inside, C) hoist up a 3 off the dribble, or D) just pass it to another dude on the perimeter after dribbling in place for 4 seconds. As far as I can tell, that's our offensive playbook right now.

SameOldNudityDrew wrote:Anybody else wondering why Finch has a reputation as an offensive coach? This team's offense consists of one dude dribbling precious seconds out of the clock while nobody else moves and the defense just gets set. Then that guy will either: A) drive a little bit and pass it to another guy outside the perimeter to do the same, B) drive a little bit then force up a reckless shot inside, C) hoist up a 3 off the dribble, or D) just pass it to another dude on the perimeter after dribbling in place for 4 seconds. As far as I can tell, that's our offensive playbook right now.

Largely this same group was hitting on all cylinders on offense after Finch took over last year. It has been incredible to see how its regressed since then. Multiple guys underperforming and our "big three" showing very little synergy with each other. Just been an unexpected disaster offensively. Defense has been better.

Camden wrote:How does D-Lo not get a foul call there?

The NBA Officiating Last Two Minute report says Devin Booker fouled D'Angelo Russell on his shot attempt late in the fourth quarter. Russell had both feet behind the three-point line prior to the foul and should have been awarded three free throws. Additionally, Booker should have fouled out of the game as that would have been his sixth personal foul. Minnesota was down 95-94 with 24.2 left in the game and a chance to go ahead by two.

"Booker (PHX) is drawn into the air by Russell (MIN) and Booker delivers contact as Russell is starting his upward shooting motion."

Link: https://official.nba.com/l2m/L2MReport.html?gameId=0022100206

Camden wrote:

Camden wrote:How does D-Lo not get a foul call there?

The NBA Officiating Last Two Minute report says Devin Booker fouled D'Angelo Russell on his shot attempt late in the fourth quarter. Russell had both feet behind the three-point line prior to the foul and should have been awarded three free throws. Additionally, Booker should have fouled out of the game as that would have been his sixth personal foul. Minnesota was down 95-94 with 24.2 left in the game and a chance to go ahead by two.

"Booker (PHX) is drawn into the air by Russell (MIN) and Booker delivers contact as Russell is starting his upward shooting motion."

Link: https://official.nba.com/l2m/L2MReport.html?gameId=0022100206

Too bad Finch used his one challenge on what looked like an obvious charge by KAT. But Finch succumbed to KAT's whining and unwisely used his only challenge.

Q12543 wrote:

SameOldNudityDrew wrote:Anybody else wondering why Finch has a reputation as an offensive coach? This team's offense consists of one dude dribbling precious seconds out of the clock while nobody else moves and the defense just gets set. Then that guy will either: A) drive a little bit and pass it to another guy outside the perimeter to do the same, B) drive a little bit then force up a reckless shot inside, C) hoist up a 3 off the dribble, or D) just pass it to another dude on the perimeter after dribbling in place for 4 seconds. As far as I can tell, that's our offensive playbook right now.

Largely this same group was hitting on all cylinders on offense after Finch took over last year. It has been incredible to see how its regressed since then. Multiple guys underperforming and our "big three" showing very little synergy with each other. Just been an unexpected disaster offensively. Defense has been better.

That's true that KAT, Ant, and DLO are the core of the problem on offense. They just clearly don't trust each other or play off each other at all right now. It's almost entirely "your turn, my turn" offense, which is just not going to cut it, even with the offensive talent those three have as individuals. Finch needs to get them to rediscover what they had going last year offensively ASAP, and I think that really needs to start with drilling them to get them to run some basic plays together, and then as they build up more trust, letting them improvise more. But it seems like it's all improvisation right now and no cohesion at all. It's like an improv. jazz band that doesn't play off each other at all. Need to get back to basics first so they can develop the cohesion necessary to improvise effectively.