Minnesota Sports Forum

The shame is that we looked really good for a large portion of the game. But there is no question we were running on fumes at the end. I cringed a little last night watching Butler's heroics. It was remarkably impressive, but i knew that type of ball is not in the best interests of the team. It only took one night to find out why. You might be able to get away with that if you're MJ or Lebron from time to time, but even those guys knew how to involve their teammates. I'm not blaming Jimmy, but our true strength is in the number of weapons we have. It would be silly to think we can win consistently playing the way we did Wednesday night.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:The shame is that we looked really good for a large portion of the game. But there is no question we were running on fumes at the end. I cringed a little last night watching Butler's heroics. It was remarkably impressive, but i knew that type of ball is not in the best interests of the team. It only took one night to find out why. You might be able to get away with that if you're MJ or Lebron from time to time, but even those guys knew how to involve their teammates. I'm not blaming Jimmy, but our true strength is in the number of weapons we have. It would be silly to think we can win consistently playing the way we did Wednesday night.

Well said, Cool!

Yeah, the 4th q offense looked stale. It was mostly jimmy trying to carry with KAT being used strictly as a screener and wiggs as the floor spacer that has to just stand and watch.

Its like we play great in the 1H and then thibs tells them to play a different style in the 2H.

monsterpile wrote:Did anyone else wonder if Bledsoe fouled Wiggins on that one possession under the basket on purpose because Kidd told them to foul Wiggins whenever they could? Jim Peterson seemed confused. Kidd has been employing some interesting tactics which have been criticized by plenty of people that probably know more about the math of what he is trying to do than me.

I heard Kidd had his team miss a free throw UP 3 with 3.5 seconds left last week... WHAT?

Well, I expected a loss... but not THAT kind of loss. It's not the end of the world, but...

- Without Teague, the starters have to start trusting Tyus Jones. He was ignored on offense far too many times. And it's funny because his 1st + 2nd + 3rd option when getting it will be to move it to somebody else. He was literally unguarded multiple times and looked off in favor of tougher shots or dead-end passes to a guy guarded. I expect this to change with time... first game and all...

- Despite being tall and rangy and with Giannis... Milwaukee is ranked #23 defensively. Why? Because they play a very aggressive, very unique style with a lot of pressure that is often easily exploited. But it takes ball movement... the Wolves came out in the 3rd moving the ball. They stopped moving nearly as well in the 4th and it was obvious. That kind of basketball played right into Milwaukee's defensive style. Not having the starting PG... or even the 2nd string one for a stretch probably hurt here a bit. But they take the ball out of their hands anyway down the stretch. Disappointing.

- Bjelicia is very rusty. He's worthless right now. And it's a shame because he was playing so well early in the season. Hopefully, he's back near that level before too long.

- I like many of Milwaukee's pieces. Giannis. Middleton. Bledsoe. Brogdon. I think the problem is Jason Kidd... and I think we're going to keep hearing about it if they don't make a legit run at 50 wins.

- I saw some Middleton vs. Wiggins commentary earlier... just for funsies (pre-tonight's game):

Middleton: 20.7 ppg / 5.2 reb / 4.5 apg / 46.4% fg / 35.5% 3fg / 88.9% ft ($40M for the next 3 seasons)
Wiggins: 17.6 ppg / 4.0 reb / 1.7 apg / 43.0% fg / 31.8% 3fg / 62.3% ft ($146.5M for next 5 seasons)

It's time we realize that all things considered... such a comparison isn't as outlandish as we might have thought it was four years ago... or three... or two... or last season.

This one must have been a painful 4th quarter to watch...27-12, ouch! Pretty predictable though...these collapses have happened regularly over the past season and a half when Thibs plays his bench less than 60 minutes (a whopping 54 last night, on the back half of a BTB), and I'm going to continue to point it out. It's interesting to note that the only other team that didn't play its bench last night (Houston-63 minutes) also was the only other team to blow a 20 point lead. Coincidence? It's impossible to survive in today's fast-paced NBA when your starters are dragging, and Thibs and D'Antoni should have learned a painful lesson last night.

All that said, I agree that there is no shame in losing to a talented (but I would say also poorly coached...Kidd and Thibs are my two biggest outliers in the league in coaching style) Bucks team after we won a gritty overtime game the night before. The fact that we had a chance to win this one is a testament to how talented this team is. Again, I didn't see the game, but much of what I read in the GDT makes sense to me. We can't expect Butler and Crawford to pull games out for us every night like they have the past couple weeks, and this was just one of those nights.

We're still in 4th place at 22-14, so I'm going to focus on the positives. Butler is Butler, and just seems to get better. Wig has rediscovered his shot, and after shooting 44.4% (52% on threes) the past 5 games, he is very close to his career shooting averages...even if he frustrates many of us sometimes with his lethargy, Wig is a pure scorer, and his improved shooting is a key reason we have been so hot recently. Taj is a double double machine, and his slightly off game (for him) last night can probably be attributed to the fatigue of heavy BTB minites. And Towns is a unique talent who plays hard and is now shooting 40% on almost 4 3-point attempts per game. This is an immensely talented team, and even though I clearly don't think Taylor picked the best coach, we can still win 50 games.

The PG situation is a little cloudier. The Teague news was a big relief, and getting him back sooner than later will be helpful. But Tyus has shown he is a legitimate NBA PG, and we can be comfortable with him running the point in Teague's absence. He protects and moves the ball well, and has an uncanny ability to get steals when he is given minutes. With .472/.419/.833 shooting stats, I'd like to see him look for his shot more frequently. But I understand why he would prefer to be a facilitator when he's on the court with so many scorers. I'm not a big Aaron Brooks guy, but he is a legitimate scorer (37% career average on threes) and unfortunately needs to be on the court more while Teague is out. I don't know why our offense was so poor in the 4th quarter last night (12 points!), but I would submit a tired Tyus and Crawford was a strong contributing factor.

So mostly good news out there. Next we get a Pacers team that embarrassed us on our home floor last time in perhaps our worst game of the year. We have to have revenge on our minds, and maybe we can steal one on their court...they're not that good.

https://twitter.com/JerryZgoda/status/946552961085427712

A couple questions: I note Tyus' rather meagre assist stats last night. Was this offensive strategy a factor in his totals?

Do you guys think this is an appropriate strategy?

As for me, I would rather give Tyus a chance to play a true PG role. He is a terrific distributor and truly a pure PG...let him do what he does best!

AbeVigodaLive wrote:Well, I expected a loss... but not THAT kind of loss. It's not the end of the world, but...

- Without Teague, the starters have to start trusting Tyus Jones. He was ignored on offense far too many times. And it's funny because his 1st + 2nd + 3rd option when getting it will be to move it to somebody else. He was literally unguarded multiple times and looked off in favor of tougher shots or dead-end passes to a guy guarded. I expect this to change with time... first game and all...

- Despite being tall and rangy and with Giannis... Milwaukee is ranked #23 defensively. Why? Because they play a very aggressive, very unique style with a lot of pressure that is often easily exploited. But it takes ball movement... the Wolves came out in the 3rd moving the ball. They stopped moving nearly as well in the 4th and it was obvious. That kind of basketball played right into Milwaukee's defensive style. Not having the starting PG... or even the 2nd string one for a stretch probably hurt here a bit. But they take the ball out of their hands anyway down the stretch. Disappointing.

- Bjelicia is very rusty. He's worthless right now. And it's a shame because he was playing so well early in the season. Hopefully, he's back near that level before too long.

- I like many of Milwaukee's pieces. Giannis. Middleton. Bledsoe. Brogdon. I think the problem is Jason Kidd... and I think we're going to keep hearing about it if they don't make a legit run at 50 wins.

- I saw some Middleton vs. Wiggins commentary earlier... just for funsies (pre-tonight's game):

Middleton: 20.7 ppg / 5.2 reb / 4.5 apg / 46.4% fg / 35.5% 3fg / 88.9% ft ($40M for the next 3 seasons)
Wiggins: 17.6 ppg / 4.0 reb / 1.7 apg / 43.0% fg / 31.8% 3fg / 62.3% ft ($146.5M for next 5 seasons)

It's time we realize that all things considered... such a comparison isn't as outlandish as we might have thought it was four years ago... or three... or two... or last season.

Some very good observations. It will be interesting to see how Tyus' offensive game develops as he gets more minutes. He's a smart guy, and at Duke he preferred to be more of a facilitator with the scoring machine Okafor available...but when Okafor struggled in the championship game, Tyus became a scorer. He does what he needs to do usually. He's not necessarily needed as a scorer with 3-4 prolific scorers on the court with him, but he's also good enough to score when he is wide open. And his teammates need to find him, and he needs to take the shot without hesitation.

- I saw some Middleton vs. Wiggins commentary earlier... just for funsies (pre-tonight's game):

Middleton: 20.7 ppg / 5.2 reb / 4.5 apg / 46.4% fg / 35.5% 3fg / 88.9% ft ($40M for the next 3 seasons)
Wiggins: 17.6 ppg / 4.0 reb / 1.7 apg / 43.0% fg / 31.8% 3fg / 62.3% ft ($146.5M for next 5 seasons) $146.5M for next 5 seasons)


Abe

That post hurts more than the 4th quarter loss.

What about the obvious Giannis travel out on open floor when he scored driving to the basket in the last 2 minutes? Moved both feet before dribbling. They use to call that all the time. Especially on Bjelicia and G

Logo wrote:- I saw some Middleton vs. Wiggins commentary earlier... just for funsies (pre-tonight's game):

Middleton: 20.7 ppg / 5.2 reb / 4.5 apg / 46.4% fg / 35.5% 3fg / 88.9% ft ($40M for the next 3 seasons)
Wiggins: 17.6 ppg / 4.0 reb / 1.7 apg / 43.0% fg / 31.8% 3fg / 62.3% ft ($146.5M for next 5 seasons) $146.5M for next 5 seasons)


Abe

That post hurts more than the 4th quarter loss.

What about the obvious Giannis travel out on open floor when he scored driving to the basket in the last 2 minutes? Moved both feet before dribbling. They use to call that all the time. Especially on Bjelicia and G

That stuff has been going on for 30+ years. Giannis is a global superstar.

Bjelicia and Dieng are random "foreigners"... there is not a greater disparity in how the NBA game is officiated.



[Note: With apologies to Cole Aldrich and his rapidly disappearing white big stiff ilk.]