After 17 games, the Wolves have climbed out of the cellar in opponent's adjusted field goal percentage...but just by a nose. They are still giving up 54.4%, but Cleveland and Sacramento are slightly worse at 54.5 and 54.7 %. We still have a long way to go on defense.
One interesting statistic might also be a source of optimism. The Wolves' schedule has been brutal in the early season...not only have they played 10 of 17 on the road, but they have also been on a plane the day before 16 out of 17 of their games. They just played the first of 4 consecutive home games, so they will be able to get some practice time in and stay away from airplanes. They will be favored in each of the next three games, so they need to be 13-7 at the end of this road trip.
Kent Youngblood writes today about the Wolves' 4th quarter woes, and the numbers are even worse than I would have thought. Here are the ratings for the Wolves in the first 3 quarters compared to their ratings in the 4th:
Quarters 1-3: Offense 109.8 (4th in the league), Defense 104.8 (15th), Overall Plus 5.0 (5th)
These numbers are astonishing, and need to be understood to really predict where this team is going this year...and what has to change. Last year, many here gave Thibs a pass and blamed the 4th quarter collapses on our youth or Rubio's poor shooting hurting our offense at the end of games...I scoffed at this idea. Now we have added 3 veterans to our starting lineup (and the lineup that Thibs almost always closes games with) and replaced Ricky with a better shooter and, if anything, our 4th quarter performance has gotten even worse. So, what's really going on here?
In the article, Thibs talks about ball movement as the culprit, but what is he doing about it? I obviously think the issue is his ridiculously out-of-step rotations which leave our stars hopelessly overmatched at the end of games...on offense and defense. Is Thibs capable of coaching us out of this bizarre occurrence? Does anyone here have another believable reason for our being one of the best teams in the league in quarters 1-3, and the absolute worst in the 4th?
The numbers don't lie. Talent prevails early in games, and coaching prevails at crunch time. When will Glen begin to understand this and do something about it?
