papalrep wrote:Why the hell didn't Luc guard Batum instead of Corey? Too slow?
Batum has really been struggling offensively recently...only 15 points in his three games prior to last night...and so there was no need to use Luc on him instead of Corey. And as I pointed out earlier, Batum hardly touched the ball in the second half when guarded by Corey, and only had two points. He scored almost all his points in the first half when Corey was on the bench with two early fouls.
A better question is why didn't Rick substitute Luc, instead of Bud, for Corey when he had to sit Corey down.
I have to disagree with you about Corey's defense last night though. He got two quick fouls and was replaced 2 minutes into the game by Bud, who had no chance of staying with Batum. Batum had 11 points at halftime. But Corey completely took him out of the game in the second half, holding him to two points and not many shots. He frustrated Batum and made him completely irrelevant on offense. You're right that his lack of bulk sometimes causes him to get pushed around, but usually (like last night) he makes up for that with his quickness and hard work.
Batum took Corey out of the game right away and set him off on his night. In the second half they hardly went to Batum in their sets but he was doing the point forward role of getting the entry passes into their bigs. They really didn't have a need to run plays for Batum at that point until Ricky brought the Wolves back on a run. Batum had another easy drive against Corey in the 3rd. Then bench came in the 3rd and they went on a run (of course). When the starters came back Adelman was sitting Corey in favor of Bud. Corey at no point shut down Batum. When Corey came back late in the 4th Adelman switched him onto Lillard. Corey played some good man D when he was matched up with guards, but Batum was never denied anything. This was why I said that.
I guess that's what makes this an interesting board...different viewpoints. I'm fairly certain that Corey held Batum to just 2 free throws in the third quarter, and he was a major reason we held the highest scoring team in the NBA to just 22 points. I don't even think Batum took a shot in the third quarter. He did go off in the first quarter, but Corey was not on the court.
Oh well, we all see different things during the course of a game.
longstrangetrip wrote:I guess that's what makes this an interesting board...different viewpoints. I'm fairly certain that Corey held Batum to just 2 free throws in the third quarter, and he was a major reason we held the highest scoring team in the NBA to just 22 points. I don't even think Batum took a shot in the third quarter. He did go off in the first quarter, but Corey was not on the court.
Oh well, we all see different things during the course of a game.
longstrangetrip wrote:I guess that's what makes this an interesting board...different viewpoints. I'm fairly certain that Corey held Batum to just 2 free throws in the third quarter, and he was a major reason we held the highest scoring team in the NBA to just 22 points. I don't even think Batum took a shot in the third quarter. He did go off in the first quarter, but Corey was not on the court.
Oh well, we all see different things during the course of a game.
Can we agree that the second team was dogcrap? :)
You were right about his 2 pts coming from free throws. It was a layup that he took in the 3rd, but looking at the shot chart I guess he missed it. I remember turning to my dad at that point and saying how Batum has gotten to the hoop too easily all night. I guess that shot didn't go in. Portland as a team went cold in the 3rd because it became more random execution and trying to feed inside and Lillard missed a bunch of shots in the 3rd. Batum had one shot in the 3rd, and one in the 4th. I guess you could argue that Corey denied him the ball, if that is your point. I wasn't seeing that Corey was making him miss, to me Batum just wasn't the target of the offense as seen by him only taking 2 shots in the second half. It really didn't matter, everyone on Portland was able to score on us at some point last night. Robin Lopez's baby hook was making me disgusted.
longstrangetrip wrote:I guess that's what makes this an interesting board...different viewpoints. I'm fairly certain that Corey held Batum to just 2 free throws in the third quarter, and he was a major reason we held the highest scoring team in the NBA to just 22 points. I don't even think Batum took a shot in the third quarter. He did go off in the first quarter, but Corey was not on the court.
Oh well, we all see different things during the course of a game.
Can we agree that the second team was dogcrap? :)
You were right about his 2 pts coming from free throws. It was a layup that he took in the 3rd, but looking at the shot chart I guess he missed it. I remember turning to my dad at that point and saying how Batum has gotten to the hoop too easily all night. I guess that shot didn't go in. Portland as a team went cold in the 3rd because it became more random execution and trying to feed inside and Lillard missed a bunch of shots in the 3rd. Batum had one shot in the 3rd, and one in the 4th. I guess you could argue that Corey denied him the ball, if that is your point. I wasn't seeing that Corey was making him miss, to me Batum just wasn't the target of the offense as seen by him only taking 2 shots in the second half. It really didn't matter, everyone on Portland was able to score on us at some point last night. Robin Lopez's baby hook was making me disgusted.
A
I agree, doper...you shouldn't get beat by Robin Lopez. All in all, you saw a pretty entertaining game. Too bad we couldn't pull it out.
Camden wrote:Chicago's going down though. I respect their defense and love me some Thibs (boy we could use him), but don't be surprised if we blow them out.
Chicago is 13 - 5 over its past 18 games. That's a better stretch than anything the Wolves have shown this season. In fact, hasn't it been at least 9 years since the Wolves have had a stretch that good?
I don't see a blowout. I don't even know about a win. One thing I do want to see... Rubio step up. DJ Augustin is a flawed player playing well right now. It's fool's gold. It's the type of situation where Rubio should get the better of the matchup if he's a viable starting PG in this league. The team can win even if he doesn't... it's just something I'd like to see in his development.
Last 10: Wins over the Bucks, Bobcats, Magic, 76ers, Lakers, Cavs and Bobcats. Losses to the Wizards twice and Clippers. Two blowout losses against WAS and LAC. I'm not impressed to be honest. I'd be shocked if we lost and I could definitely see a blowout.
I think we'd all like to see Rubio keep this type of play up. It's looked like Adelman's letting him play more free and Ricky's been making things happen. Can anyone else back that up or correct me?
