The return of Hernangomez vs the Mavs

[Coolbreeze44]

All I want is hope. Maybe we're starting to see a little.

[AbeVigodaLive]

10 point game with 5:44 left to play. Unbelievable that this game is within reach. Can Minnesota steal one or will they fumble it away like they've done before?

At minimum another meaningless, insulting-to-the-fans moral victory here. It's embarrassing that he only reason Minnesota is hanging in there is because this is the NBA and teams can coast with a 20+ first quarter league vs. super craptastic teams like the Wolves.

Fixed your typo for you.

Abe, love your cynical outlook generally, but you're a little off key tonight.

Trying a new take. Unlike the Wolves.

The Wolves aren't giving us anything new. Giving up 40+ points in the 1st quarter is more embarrassing than anybody really acknowledged. Still talking about moral victories after these performances is beyond me.

Sorry.



[Note: We're all repetitive here. And I literally have nothing new or novel to add. This was another bad game by another bad team. Another loss that wasn't really all that close any way we want to slice it. Expect me to try a bunch of new gimmicks in another lost season. Some will hit. Some won't. Most will be mocking the Wolves, deservedly.]

I don't know.....Teams get hot. Porzingas was ridiculous in that first quarter and we're trying to play through a 19-year old rookie and undrafted 2nd year Center for the most part. They had the two most talented players on the floor. Hell, the Wolves hung 45 on the Mavs in the 4th. You think Carlisle is happy about that?

Yes, it's yet another loss and it's fair to criticize Rosas and Saunders for the roster and "the system". But I'm going to give the players big props when they withstand an onslaught like they did in the first quarter and keep giving 100% to get themselves back in the game.

You're a more patient man than I am.

I saw a ton of bad closeouts and open shoots given up vs. the league's worst three point shooting team. To be fair, I only watched the first 3 quarters. I saw mostly two teams sort of go through the motions for the middle two quarters. The type of effort you get when one team is outmanned and down 15 - 20.

Apparently, Beasley got on a hot streak to power wash the grimy deck furniture in the 4th.



[Note: Yes. I'm also going to create a gimmick where I mention deck furniture in different ways to keep myself entertained while we wait for Towns to return.]

[thedoper]

Is Ryan still coaching?

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Ryan Saunders: "That's winning basketball, those last three quarters... But we also understand a start like that is unacceptable."

Um, what? It took an otherworldly, superstar-like performance in the fourth quarter from Malik Beasley to turn that matchup from a blowout loss into a competitive game down the stretch... that the Wolves eventually lost. Saunders wouldn't know what winning basketball was if it crawled up his pant leg and bit him in the ass.

[kekgeek]

From Saunders. Dlo hurt his left leg. Different injury then he has been dealing with

[Wolvesfan21]

It's necessary to point out -- because nobody else will, it feels like -- but Beasley is once again having a piss-poor game on the road.

Edit: This will likely be Beasley's ninth game (out of 13) on the road shooting below 40-percent from the field.

Thumbs up!

[TheFuture]

Jaylen Nowell stock only goes up. To the moon!

I still cannot believe that guy called it and stuck with it 1.5 years ago.

[FNG]

My only connection to last night's game is the box score and the GDT, and there seems to be some incongruency between my two connection points. Help me out here:

I found 14 negative posts about Ricky Rubio (including ones that appear positive on the surface, but are actually veiled negatives) and 6 positive posts about Jaylen Nowell. But then I see that Ricky led the team with 7 assists and 4 steals with only 1 turnover in 34 minutes, and was an impressive +10 for the game (second only to a guy I've beaten up on as much as any, Josh Okogie, who had a ridiculously efficient 11 points on only 3 shots!). Conversely Jaylen Nowell scored very well (18 points on only 9 shots...love this kid's ability to score), but because of DLO's injury and J-Mac's absence, he was forced to play out of position at PG. I'm guessing his inability to involve his teammates on the offensive end as evidenced by his having only 1 assist in 24 minutes was a big contributing factor to the Wolves being outscored by 13 points while Nowell was on the court despite his impressive scoring.

Two takeaways:

1) Rubio has been awful most of this season...a mere shadow of what he what he was last season. Almost all of us have our favorite dead-horse-beating issues, but the constant Rubio criticism here seems to blind us when he actually puts up some impressive offensive and defensive numbers like he did last night, and is a positive influence on the court. We tend to focus on his 33% shooting last night, and ignore every other impressive stat he put up. This team needs a PG who can play good defense, protect the ball and get his teammates involved. That hasn't been Ricky this year, but it was him last night and every other year of his career. I guess I was kind of surprised after seeing the box score to read all the Rubio criticisms in the GDT.

2) I love what I've seen from Nowell this year...in fact, I even had him as my ideal starter at SG in yesterday's rotation thread. He's really the only 2-way wing we have on this roster right now. But Ryan/Rosas do him a disservice when they play a natural SG out of position at PG. We're not going to win many games (or any for that matter when KAT is out) if we only get 1 assist from a guy getting close to 20 minutes at PG. Not Nowell's fault...this one is on Rosas not having J-Mac signed and available to play minutes at PG.

I'm a ball movement, defense-loving guy at heart, and sometimes I wonder why I don't find another team to follow. But I love it the few times when I see this team actually move the ball and play good defense. It sounds like DLO has hurt his other leg now, so who knows what his availability is going to be the next few games. But I'm hoping Rosas brings up J-Mac today and that Ryan gives him 20 minutes at PG and Nowell 20 minutes at SG tomorrow night. Pair that with KAT potentially coming back tomorrow (no, I haven't heard anything) and we might have a fun team to watch this week.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

FNG, kindly, watch the games instead of relying on the box score to tell the story. It doesn't do the game justice at all. I also don't know how to get you to loosen up the stranglehold you have on plus-minus being the almighty superstat. I've run out of ideas.

[kekgeek]

FNG, kindly, watch the games instead of relying on the box score to tell the story. It doesn't do the game justice at all. I also don't know how to get you to loosen up the stranglehold you have on plus-minus being the almighty superstat. I've run out of ideas.

Ya. Rubio was better in the 4th but the only reason why he was a + for the game is because Beasley scored the 2nd most 4th Q pts in Wolves history.

Nowell was the only one playing well on the second unit for most of the game.