Minnesota Sports Forum

So did dieng and booker attemtped to see each other in the back? They were sprinting back to the locker room with security pulling their jerseys. Somehow, players always regain their cool once out of view.

Another monster game from KAT with 25 points, 18 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and a block. Since Butler's been gone, he's been incredible nearly every game except his match-up with Embiid. He dominates the overwhelming majority of teams that don't have elite bigs. Yet, he's also faired well this season against top bigs Anthony Davis and Jokic. He's improved enormously on the defensive end almost from day 1 this season. As the season has progressed, his passing and decision-making on the offensive end have improved, driving up his assist totals. He's among the League's leaders in blocked shots and has more recently been generating a lot of steals. He gets held, shoved and hit on nearly every offensive possession as he fights for low-post position yet doesn't get his fair share of calls much less the calls that other allstar caliber players get. A nice piece to build around over the next 4-5 years.

Nice to see Okogie's shot falling tonight as he ended up with a career best 21 points. And of course, he had his characteristic do-stuff stats with 5 rebounds and 2 steals in only 24 minutes.

Nice to see Wiggins get his shooting percentage up to 39% this game. That's real progress. Hopefully next game he can get his free-throw shooting over 50%. :) To be fair, it was great to see him pull down 9 rebounds. He was active and playing hard.

I really like Luol Deng. He still has a lot of game left. He's super smart and knows how to play. I also love his intensity. He'd be a nice vet to re-sign and keep on the roster the next few years.

An much-needed road win. It's a game the Wolves absolutely had to win to have any chance of making the playoffs. If only the Wolves had played this well back on Dec. 15 when they lost to the Suns by 8 points. Looking forward, it's critical that the Wolves get a win against the Lakers in LA on Thursday. I don't see us beating the Jazz in Utah on Friday. But after that game, the Wolves have a shot at putting together a nice, season-defining stretch over the next 9 games. That 9-game stretch begins with three consecutive home games against Utah, Memphis and Denver, followed by three road games against Memphis, Orlando and New Orleans. The next three games after that are home games against the Clippers and Rockets followed by a road game against the Knicks. I'm assuming he Wolves will be without Covington or Tyus during this. All 9 games are definitely winnable for the Wolves even without Covington and Tyus. The Wolves need to win at least 6 of those 9 in my view.

Good summary of the upcoming stretch, Lip. I agree that the Laker game is critical with a 2-gamer against a hot Utah team coming up. But then we do have a very winnable stretch. Memphis is always tough for us, but they are struggling...it would help though if they unloaded Gasol and/or Conley for cap space and picks before we play them.

Yeah, it looks like there is no timetable at all for Rob...hopefully he is back in time to get sharp before a tough last two months of the year. I haven't heard that Tyus' injury is serious though, so there's no reason to believe he won't be back soon. That will help. But it was nice to get some effective minutes from Bayless last night...good (very un-Thibs-like) job by Ryan last night limiting Rose to 23 minutes so he can be fresh for the Laker game.

KAT made it look easy last night. While it isn't saying much against Phoenix, it is nice to have CLEARLY the best player on the floor for a game. Defensively, he was pretty bad in the first quarter but then he seemed to pick up the intensity as the game wore on.

Watching Okogie shoot the ball makes me wonder why he's had such a struggle this year. His shot mechanics and arc look pretty damn good to me. It was good to see him hit multiple 3's in a game. If he can master that shot, we're going to have the SG version of RoCo on our hands. But how many times do we say (only if....) about our young guys over the years. The "if" never seems to happen.

Q12543 wrote:KAT made it look easy last night. While it isn't saying much against Phoenix, it is nice to have CLEARLY the best player on the floor for a game. Defensively, he was pretty bad in the first quarter but then he seemed to pick up the intensity as the game wore on.

Watching Okogie shoot the ball makes me wonder why he's had such a struggle this year. His shot mechanics and arc look pretty damn good to me. It was good to see him hit multiple 3's in a game. If he can master that shot, we're going to have the SG version of RoCo on our hands. But how many times do we say (only if....) about our young guys over the years. The "if" never seems to happen.

I thought the same thing about Josh's mechanics last night, and it gave me some hope. But he has shot so poorly this season, he has a long way to go before I'm a believer. If you take out his two recent hot games, his 3-point percentage is in the low 20s for the season.

So good to see KAT stay aggressive without fouling...ZERO fouls last night. Maybe the coaches are getting through to him.

longstrangetrip wrote:

Q12543 wrote:KAT made it look easy last night. While it isn't saying much against Phoenix, it is nice to have CLEARLY the best player on the floor for a game. Defensively, he was pretty bad in the first quarter but then he seemed to pick up the intensity as the game wore on.

Watching Okogie shoot the ball makes me wonder why he's had such a struggle this year. His shot mechanics and arc look pretty damn good to me. It was good to see him hit multiple 3's in a game. If he can master that shot, we're going to have the SG version of RoCo on our hands. But how many times do we say (only if....) about our young guys over the years. The "if" never seems to happen.

I thought the same thing about Josh's mechanics last night, and it gave me some hope. But he has shot so poorly this season, he has a long way to go before I'm a believer. If you take out his two recent hot games, his 3-point percentage is in the low 20s for the season.

So good to see KAT stay aggressive without fouling...ZERO fouls last night. Maybe the coaches are getting through to him.

I agree, but that does come at the cost of defense early in games. You could see he was clearly holding back.

Herein lies one of the problems with building your offense around a Center. It's why it is so important we surround KAT with plus defenders, including a more rugged, defensive-oriented backup Center to eventually replace Dieng.

Q12543 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:

Q12543 wrote:KAT made it look easy last night. While it isn't saying much against Phoenix, it is nice to have CLEARLY the best player on the floor for a game. Defensively, he was pretty bad in the first quarter but then he seemed to pick up the intensity as the game wore on.

Watching Okogie shoot the ball makes me wonder why he's had such a struggle this year. His shot mechanics and arc look pretty damn good to me. It was good to see him hit multiple 3's in a game. If he can master that shot, we're going to have the SG version of RoCo on our hands. But how many times do we say (only if....) about our young guys over the years. The "if" never seems to happen.

I thought the same thing about Josh's mechanics last night, and it gave me some hope. But he has shot so poorly this season, he has a long way to go before I'm a believer. If you take out his two recent hot games, his 3-point percentage is in the low 20s for the season.

So good to see KAT stay aggressive without fouling...ZERO fouls last night. Maybe the coaches are getting through to him.

I agree, but that does come at the cost of defense early in games. You could see he was clearly holding back.

Herein lies one of the problems with building your offense around a Center. It's why it is so important we surround KAT with plus defenders, including a more rugged, defensive-oriented backup Center to eventually replace Dieng.

Maybe...I agree KAT was a little passive on defense early in the game. But I don't think he has to be. I think the key for him staying in games is 1) staying vertical on defense and not swatting at the ball and 2) being careful on offense not to hook or push off with his left arm. He did both of these successfully last night, and needs to continue to work on this.

To be fair... KAT was matched up vs. Dragan Bender. And then Something-Something Acy.

Nobody really stops those guys. You only hope to contain them.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:To be fair... KAT was matched up vs. Dragan Bender. And then Something-Something Acy.

Nobody really stops those guys. You only hope to contain them.

True, and he faced the same guys on Sunday when he only had two fouls...so way too early to celebrate. But regardless of the competition, the combination of 2 successful non-fouliing games plus a head coach saying this is something they are really focusing on with KAT at least provides the faintest glimmer of hope. KAT needs to stay aggressive on the court for 35 MPG for this team to be successful. Let's see how he does Thursday against Chandler, McGee and Zubac (who scored 29 points between them Monday).

longstrangetrip wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:To be fair... KAT was matched up vs. Dragan Bender. And then Something-Something Acy.

Nobody really stops those guys. You only hope to contain them.

True, and he faced the same guys on Sunday when he only had two fouls...so way too early to celebrate. But regardless of the competition, the combination of 2 successful non-fouliing games plus a head coach saying this is something they are really focusing on with KAT at least provides the faintest glimmer of hope. KAT needs to stay aggressive on the court for 35 MPG for this team to be successful. Let's see how he does Thursday against Chandler, McGee and Zubac (who scored 29 points between them Monday).

A LOT of the time... it's the silly offensive fouls that get KAT in trouble. Some are legit fouls.

Others... I can see the frustration when there is all that pushing, shoving, clawing, et al from undersized defensive players... and then a comparatively ticky tack foul on KAT fighting for position.

I know I've hit this topic hard recently... but there's a legit league-wide trend here that's troubling.