kekgeek1 wrote:13 of the Wolves 14 games in Dec against current playoff teams with the 1 team not in the playoffs the Celtics. Going to be a fun challenging month
Yeah, that's what I mean. Things don't get any easier. The wins against Miami and Philly will hopefully be confidence boosters. May be we'll get lucky and some of these teams will get hit with injuries/illness.
Bottom line is don't be surprised if we come out the other side of December a few games below .500. Hopefully we can make up for it as the schedule balances out again.
lipoli390 wrote: Both Beasley and Prince are shooting well below their career averages from the field and from behind the arc. At some point they'll start shooting above their career averages as they progress to their respective averages.
You have more faith than I do. I think they'll shoot decently by the end of the season. However, the Minnesota performance hit is one of the most powerful curses in sports. We've been exorcizing demons this season, but this is bigger than just the Timberwolves.
Yes, the "Wolves Performance Discount" is alive and well and may indeed transcend sports! Does anyone really believe that Taurean Prince would be shooting this poorly (25% - by far a career worst) on any other team? OK, may be Detroit...
And as Leo launched one of his first wide open 3s as an NBA player, did anyone think it would actually go in? I sure as hell didn't. He may go down as another great energy/effort guy that simply can't make shots while wearing a Wolves uniform.
This would indeed be one of the final curses hanging over this franchise, but it may be the toughest one yet to break!
Towns returned to the game with the Wolves up 7 with 5:03 left.
YIKES.
Two sloppy TOs... and an odd charging call (3rd TO) later and we have a ball game. It was the worst stretch of basketball I've seen this season from him or the Wolves. Everything simply stopped. And then they rushed a shot to beat the clock. Over and over again. And then he fouled out with 1:13 left. Towns might be the most easily rattled very good player in the league.
It's a testament to the stronger will of this Wolves team that they hung in and pulled it out. Again.
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Towns and fouling. It's a problem. We all know it's a problem with Towns. But it's getting worse. And worse. And worse. He had three more offensive fouls last night. And then more silly unnecessary fouls... and then when you add in a bad call here and there... and he's fouled out. Again. I'm unable to find a stat for it... but I am 100% certain he leads the league in offensive fouls. And I'm 95% certain he's done so for the past 3 or more years.
What's the answer?
Lock him in a room where he can only watch video of his wild arm swings and silly holding fouls when he gets rattled? Tough love? Going absolutely bonkers on the sidelines (multiple technicals) when a bad call goes against him?
We all know he doesn't seem to get the same whistle as others. But maybe those guys aren't flailing as much? Maybe those guys are just smarter? Whatever it is... I'd say his silly unnecessary fouls are the biggest vice to his game right now.
It's holding him back. He's in year 7. He should be figuring this stuff out by now.
[Note: You simply can't build a great team when you're basically walking on eggshells game after game hoping that your best player doesn't pick up yet another foul for many minutes at a time or even most of a half.]
Abe, the good news is we've managed to win the last two squeakers with Towns on the bench. We need to realize that KAT is never going to be whatever the idealized version we thought he could be given his prodigious talent. It's unfortunate, but we've seen for 7 years now that we either have a hard time getting him the ball in great spots during crunch time or he shoots himself in the foot.
By the way, on one of those plays where KAT turned it over, I put 95% of the blame on Edwards. He was dithering on the perimeter trying to set up his guy to no effect and then passed the ball to KAT like a hot potato as the shot clock was running down. KAT tried to force the issue and ended up with a turnover, but he was put in a shitty position by Ant.
DLO - for all his flaws - has been the "it" factor in these last two close wins. Whether its making big shots, making the right pass, or hitting free throws to ice the game, he's been our most effective closer of late.
Q12543 wrote:Abe, the good news is we've managed to win the last two squeakers with Towns on the bench. We need to realize that KAT is never going to be whatever the idealized version we thought he could be given his prodigious talent. It's unfortunate, but we've seen for 7 years now that we either have a hard time getting him the ball in great spots during crunch time or he shoots himself in the foot.
By the way, on one of those plays where KAT turned it over, I put 95% of the blame on Edwards. He was dithering on the perimeter trying to set up his guy to no effect and then passed the ball to KAT like a hot potato as the shot clock was running down. KAT tried to force the issue and ended up with a turnover, but he was put in a shitty position by Ant.
DLO - for all his flaws - has been the "it" factor in these last two close wins. Whether its making big shots, making the right pass, or hitting free throws to ice the game, he's been our most effective closer of late.
They showed a stat last night with points during "crunch time" or something.
Russell had nearly 40.
Edwards around 20.
And Towns had 8.
Some of that is from it being more difficult to get a big quality touches late (as we've discussed often)... and some of it is because Towns is missing so many big moments in foul trouble.
Terrific win against a team I'm confident will be a playoff team once their tough schedule eases up. They were missing Turner, but we were missing three very good defenders. Fortunately, JO and Ant picked us up defensively (with huge help from a very active PatBev, who seemed to be wearing a green and white checkered tablecloth on the sidelines).
But the game ball for me clearly goes to DLo, who I thought played almost a perfect game. Close to a triple double and controlled the flow of the game very well...loved the 11 assists and only 1 TO.
KAT is such an enigma. On the positive side, I don't know that he has ever been so dominant as he was last night with his inside game...his footwork and inside shot making were flawless. Other teams have been successful guarding him with smaller players (Brogdon...really?), but last night he was not going to be stopped inside. But then there is the incessant whining, stupid fouling, and 9 careless turnovers. It's difficult to conclude that a guy scoring 32 points on 22 shots and nearly unstoppable inside had a bad game, but KAT nearly cost us a win with his sloppy play. We need him to be much better.
So a huge win with 3 guys who are sometimes starters on the bench. The schedule gets much tougher now, but there's no denying how well we are playing right now.
NBA.com defines "the clutch" as the last five minutes of a game in which the point differential is five or less. I'd argue that those aren't the best parameters, but it's what is currently in place.
D'Angelo Russell has scored 43 points (in just 42 minutes) in the clutch, https://go.nba.com/c9x4which leads the NBA at this time. He's 13-27 (5-12 3P, 12-14 FT) from the field when it matters most. ICE.
Anthony Edwards has scored 16, which is tied for 44th, and Karl-Anthony Towns has only scored 10, which is tied for 81st. Obviously, you'd probably like some more balance there for Minnesota, but D-Lo's definitely "the guy" late in games for good reason.
Camden wrote:NBA.com defines "the clutch" as the last five minutes of a game in which the point differential is five or less. I'd argue that those aren't the best parameters, but it's what is currently in place.
D'Angelo Russell has scored 43 points (in just 42 minutes) in the clutch, https://go.nba.com/c9x4which leads the NBA at this time. He's 13-27 (5-12 3P, 12-14 FT) from the field when it matters most. ICE.
Anthony Edwards has scored 16, which is tied for 44th, and Karl-Anthony Towns has only scored 10, which is tied for 81st. Obviously, you'd probably like some more balance there for Minnesota, but D-Lo's definitely "the guy" late in games for good reason.
He's certainly been clutch. Now I'd like to see him make shots at those percentages in the regular course of action! While he has been great in the clutch, he can't be completely let off the hook for our mediocre offense which puts us in this position to begin with!
Camden wrote:NBA.com defines "the clutch" as the last five minutes of a game in which the point differential is five or less. I'd argue that those aren't the best parameters, but it's what is currently in place.
D'Angelo Russell has scored 43 points (in just 42 minutes) in the clutch, https://go.nba.com/c9x4which leads the NBA at this time. He's 13-27 (5-12 3P, 12-14 FT) from the field when it matters most. ICE.
Anthony Edwards has scored 16, which is tied for 44th, and Karl-Anthony Towns has only scored 10, which is tied for 81st. Obviously, you'd probably like some more balance there for Minnesota, but D-Lo's definitely "the guy" late in games for good reason.
He's certainly been clutch. Now I'd like to see him make shots at those percentages in the regular course of action! While he has been great in the clutch, he can't be completely let off the hook for our mediocre offense which puts us in this position to begin with!
One could argue that D'Angelo Russell is a key reason why the offense can even be considered "mediocre" to this point instead of downright bad, and that's with his poor shooting during the first six games. His passing/shot creation still doesn't get enough credit amongst NBA fans.
Like I've said since the beginning of the season, guys have to hit shots, especially the role players who spot up. That's Patrick Beverley, Malik Beasley, Taurean Prince, Jaden McDaniels, etc. Those are the guys that can make teams pay for double-teaming and rotating late. I think the Wolves little-big three have done their jobs for the most part. They've had inconsistent help around them, though, which means they have to take on even more responsibility. Luckily, Minnesota has a guy that can put the team on his back late in games!
Camden wrote:NBA.com defines "the clutch" as the last five minutes of a game in which the point differential is five or less. I'd argue that those aren't the best parameters, but it's what is currently in place.
D'Angelo Russell has scored 43 points (in just 42 minutes) in the clutch, https://go.nba.com/c9x4which leads the NBA at this time. He's 13-27 (5-12 3P, 12-14 FT) from the field when it matters most. ICE.
Anthony Edwards has scored 16, which is tied for 44th, and Karl-Anthony Towns has only scored 10, which is tied for 81st. Obviously, you'd probably like some more balance there for Minnesota, but D-Lo's definitely "the guy" late in games for good reason.
He's certainly been clutch. Now I'd like to see him make shots at those percentages in the regular course of action! While he has been great in the clutch, he can't be completely let off the hook for our mediocre offense which puts us in this position to begin with!
Agree on both points...DLo has been very good late in games, and he needs to shoot better the entire game. You could argue that if Beasley and DLo (supposedly 2 of our best shooters) were making shots at even the league average, we wouldn't have needed so much "crunch time" during this relatively easy 21-game stretch against beaten up or bottom feeding teams.
But I will argue DLo's defensive turnaround (it's amazing to me how often he has been in the right place to disrupt passing lanes this season after 6 seasons of defensive futility...quite Rubioesque) has been a big part of our improvement to date this season. Again last night DLo had a nice +/- night (second only to Naz), and he leads the team with an extraordinary 19 fewer points given up per 100 possessions when he is on the court...only JO is anywhere near him in this stat! I know some here scoff at on/off numbers, but his excellent results this season seem just as real to me as his poor results his first 6 seasons. He's making a huge contribution despite shooting poorly.
