Minnesota Sports Forum

A rare Wolves game on TV here in NZ.

KAT just seems to play too out of control. Needs to slow down and let the game come to him. He was great in the low post offensively today which was nice to see, but was a matador on defense. Not down playing his performance tonight, but would like to see him focus more on defense especially on the defensive glass. Love his KG like passion and first step quickness though. The TNT crew had huge praise for his potential.

On that note I believe rebounding is a glaring weakness on this team. Sure we've been spoilt in the past with the likes of KG, Love and a prime Big Al, and Embiid was a beast on the O Glass tonight, but KAT and Dieng struggle to box out and communicate with each other on that end of the floor.

Wiggins has taken a massive step forward offensively this year and who ever thought he'd make such strides in his 3pt shot! He's unguardable at times. He was also great defensively tonight, although Henderson and Covington are hardly world beaters. He deserves a to play in the All Star game this year.

Loving Bjelica playing SF. Thibs has him playing the Mirotic role and to great effect. His shot was off tonight, but that wont happen often.

I've always been a Rubio supporter, but man his shooting form is showing no signs of improvement. There's just no height in his shot, it's as flat as a pancake. You'd think after all these years someone would have at least helped his shooting mechanics. Habits die hard I guess. I'm not expecting him to become a lights out shooter, but if he could just find a couple of sweet spots it would really benefit this team.

Also think Payne deserve praise for the way he's been playing the last few games. Yes he still plays like a headless chicken but has taken his opportunities and surprisingly earning minutes ahead of Jordan Hill.

The third quarter woes weren't quite as bad tonight, but its clear to see they are trying to hard which is causing the whole team to play out of control. Careless turnovers and poor rotations on defense.

Thibs barks like a neanderthal. You could hear it loud and clear (well not really clear lol) on the broadcast tonight.

If Embiid can stay healthy he's going to be a freak. I didn't realise he was 7' 2" until the announcers mentioned it tonight. 76er have a bright future, but seriously need to make some moves to alleviate their crowded front court (when healthy) and get some decent guards.

Hard not to expect a win against the woeful 76ers, but a wins a win and i think this team is improving.

KiwiMatt wrote:
On that note I believe rebounding is a glaring weakness on this team. Sure we've been spoilt in the past with the likes of KG, Love and a prime Big Al, and Embiid was a beast on the O Glass tonight, but KAT and Dieng struggle to box out and communicate with each other on that end of the floor.

It might be still weakness but based on already played games, it doesn't certainly look so. Wolves currently has 2nd highest offensive rebounding rate in whole league with 29.4%. It is only behind Chicago. Their defensive rebounding rate is 77.7%, which doesn't rank as high but is still good enough to be ranked just in top10. Their overall rebounding rate (average of offensive and defensive rebounding rate) is behind only Denver and Chicago. More importantly Wolves have so far outrebounded their opponent in every game based on rebounding percentage except Sacramento game and even that was pretty close (26% ORB% vs 27.5%) . That includes Denver that is currently the best rebounding team and Oklahoma that was the best rebounding team last year. I think that Thibs has had already effect for team rebounding since our team was pretty bad in that even in 2nd half of last season.

Mstermisty wrote:Enjoyable but anticlimactic game tonight. Even the cherry berry was decided quickly. Wiggins dominated and Kat found his lane tonight--finally he got back to posting up.

It was a small crowd that never got very into the game, but never needed to because it was over quick. The Sixers really suck.

The new scoreboard is pretty awesome. Thibs yelled plenty but I think the blowout even took a little energy out of him.

So a good win, but now the question is will it carry over to Memphis? Might not matter, the Grizz are playing well.

A couple thoughts on your post, misty.

-does anyone else think Embiid might have tanked on those free throws just to play to the crowd? After all, they were down 20, he's a good free thrower for a big man, and it looked like he might have had a little smile on his face. Plus he seems like a fun, good guy. I think he gave the crowd a free cherry berry on purpose!

-don't be too hard on the crowd, misty...it's pretty hard for 12,000 people to be heard over Thibs ;-)

-I love the new scoreboard. And as an old 60's hippie, I love its egalitarian nature...the only people in the arena who can't enjoy it are the ones paying $300+ in the front rows!

longstrangetrip wrote:

Mstermisty wrote:Enjoyable but anticlimactic game tonight. Even the cherry berry was decided quickly. Wiggins dominated and Kat found his lane tonight--finally he got back to posting up.

It was a small crowd that never got very into the game, but never needed to because it was over quick. The Sixers really suck.

The new scoreboard is pretty awesome. Thibs yelled plenty but I think the blowout even took a little energy out of him.

So a good win, but now the question is will it carry over to Memphis? Might not matter, the Grizz are playing well.

A couple thoughts on your post, misty.

-does anyone else think Embiid might have tanked on those free throws just to play to the crowd? After all, they were down 20, he's a good free thrower for a big man, and it looked like he might have had a little smile on his face. Plus he seems like a fun, good guy. I think he gave the crowd a free cherry berry on purpose!

-don't be too hard on the crowd, misty...it's pretty hard for 12,000 people to be heard over Thibs ;-)

-I love the new scoreboard. And as an old 60's hippie, I love its egalitarian nature...the only people in the arena who can't enjoy it are the ones paying $300+ in the front rows!

I hinted at wondering if Embiid missed on purpose. I definitely wonder if he missed the 2nd one on purpose.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:Wiggins. Wow.
Towns over Embiid.
Give the kids a few minutes off, Thibs. 38 is way too much in THAT game.
Rubio didn't play well. Dunn played... like usual. But with Wiggins rolling... it's kind of refreshing that the team still excels offensively.
PHILADELPHIA IS TERRIBLE. AGAIN. WOW.

The PG matchup in this game was...um. So Rubio and Sergio played themselves about even and then it was Dunn and McConnell. McConnell was the best PG tonight for either team espcially looking at the stats. Meanwhile Tyus comes in and does his thing in a few minutes. Dunn at least had a couple moments where he made some plays with that crossover. He also lost the handle and the ball went out of bounds just over mid court.

Also I had to chuckle a bit when they were talking about Rubio and Sergio being from Spain and saying when Rubio was a teenager he was probably watching Sergio's games. Rubio started playing pro ball at 14 and Sergio is only 4 years older...so yeah he was probably closer to being an equal than some star struck kid sitting in front of the TV watching him.

Mikkeman wrote:

KiwiMatt wrote:
On that note I believe rebounding is a glaring weakness on this team. Sure we've been spoilt in the past with the likes of KG, Love and a prime Big Al, and Embiid was a beast on the O Glass tonight, but KAT and Dieng struggle to box out and communicate with each other on that end of the floor.

It might be still weakness but based on already played games, it doesn't certainly look so. Wolves currently has 2nd highest offensive rebounding rate in whole league with 29.4%. It is only behind Chicago. Their defensive rebounding rate is 77.7%, which doesn't rank as high but is still good enough to be ranked just in top10. Their overall rebounding rate (average of offensive and defensive rebounding rate) is behind only Denver and Chicago. More importantly Wolves have so far outrebounded their opponent in every game based on rebounding percentage except Sacramento game and even that was pretty close (26% ORB% vs 27.5%) . That includes Denver that is currently the best rebounding team and Oklahoma that was the best rebounding team last year. I think that Thibs has had already effect for team rebounding since our team was pretty bad in that even in 2nd half of last season.

Thanks for those numbers. It's weird though when you watch the game it FEELS like a weakness sometimes. Teams get to balls and get extra possessions sometimes when it feels like the Wolves should have gotten the. All and ended the possession. It feels like sometimes they get housed on the boards by bigger players. I'm probably just expecting the worst but I do think they need to be more disciplined in how they box out. That's kind of a pet peeve of mine in general though when it comes to the game.

monsterpile wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:Wiggins. Wow.
Towns over Embiid.
Give the kids a few minutes off, Thibs. 38 is way too much in THAT game.
Rubio didn't play well. Dunn played... like usual. But with Wiggins rolling... it's kind of refreshing that the team still excels offensively.
PHILADELPHIA IS TERRIBLE. AGAIN. WOW.

The PG matchup in this game was...um. So Rubio and Sergio played themselves about even and then it was Dunn and McConnell. McConnell was the best PG tonight for either team espcially looking at the stats. Meanwhile Tyus comes in and does his thing in a few minutes. Dunn at least had a couple moments where he made some plays with that crossover. He also lost the handle and the ball went out of bounds just over mid court.

Also I had to chuckle a bit when they were talking about Rubio and Sergio being from Spain and saying when Rubio was a teenager he was probably watching Sergio's games. Rubio started playing pro ball at 14 and Sergio is only 4 years older...so yeah he was probably closer to being an equal than some star struck kid sitting in front of the TV watching him.

Yeah, I forgot to single out Rodriguez for his putrid play. It's not just that he didn't do much... he was extremely bad in this one. Some of his mistakes were beyond lazy/foolish.

Rare occasion for me to watch an entire game too and I echo kiwis thoughts. Thibs is a lunatic, but I like the passion. Philly was missing everything. But if wiggy can keep up his 3 pt accuracy, he'll be unstoppable