Game Report: Wolves v Pelicans
Posted: Sun Oct 24, 2021 10:34 am
Let me start off by reporting that my wife was at the game with me last night. So the Wolves can win with and without her. The good news is that I won't have to tell her to stay home while go to the game with "friends." :) What was the word? Suspicious?
OK. Let's get serious. I'll start out with my overall assessment of the game from a team standpoint. Then I'll discuss some individual players and give out my game ball to the player who I think made the biggest or most important contribution to the Wolves win. I'll also give my turkey ball (sort of a turkey of the game award) to the guy whose overall play bothered me the most. Finally, I'll share some observations from the arena perspective.
TEAM ASSESSMENT
The good news is two-fold.
First, we won the game. Yes, the Pelicans are not a good team. Moreover, they were without one of their best players (Zion) and were on the tail end of a back-to-bad, but they're better than Houston and have several good players in Ingram, Graham and JV. Yes, it was an ugly win, but you need those over the course of a season to make the NBA playoffs, especially in the West.
Second, we won the game with our defense. How often have we been able to say that about the Wolves over the past 10+ years? We beat Houston with our defense and our offense in the opener. Last night's win resulted entirely from our defense. I'm trying to remember the last time we held a team to 89 point. It's still only two games in against two bottom dwellers, but this new defensive identity we saw in the preseason seems real to me. If DLO had a putrid game like this and KAT had fouled out with10 minutes left last season, the Zionless Pelicans would have won the game.
The bad news is also two-fold. First, our half-court offense continues to look problematic. It seems to lack flow and has two many stagnant periods. The ball stalls too often in DLO's or KAT's hands. Overall, it seems to depend too much on the individual play of KAT or Ant. But I'm still not too worried about the offense. The second bit of bad news is the one that really worries me. I'm talking about the Wolves really poor rebounding. The Pelicans out-rebounded the Wolves 61-47. It was really frustrating to watch. It's a combination of things, including repeated failures to box out, but it's mainly a lack of size. This team will continue to get killed on the boards without a roster move to add more size. The Wolves can get killed on the boards and still beat Houston and New Orleans, but they won't beat teams like the Nuggets or Bucks or even the mid-tier West teams like the Clippers and Warriors.
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES
Game Ball (Beverley and J-Mac): My game ball goes to two players: Patrick Beverley and J-Mac. If Beverley was still with the Clippers and J-Mac was somewhere else, I think the Wolves would have lost last night's game. Neither one necessarily shines in the box score, but their combined impact was huge and probably decisive last night. Beverley's defense and energy last night were everything we expected if not more when he came here. The box score shows he had only 1 steal, but he caused more turnovers than the one he was credited with. Overall, he was a disruptive force who at times almost single-handedly stopped New Orleans from getting into their offense. His energy and intensity carried over to the offensive side of the ball too as he sped up the pace of the Wolves offense. And of course, his energy ignited both his teammates and the crowd. His 3-point shooting wasn't there last night, but it was close. He was constantly hitting the front of the rim, but his shots were otherwise right on target. Those shots will start to fall. J-Mac saved the day in the 2nd half when he replaced a hapless D'Angelo Russell. It was refreshing to see a real PG running the offense - or at least someone with his head in the game instead of up his ass. The game looked like it was going to get away before J-Mac came in. He came in just as I was asking the guy behind me why we hadn't see J-Mac yet. He came in and righted the ship. He also showed last night that he's a good defender - something I've mentioned before. He's a pesky defender with a great nose for the ball. He has some JJ Barea in him in that regard. He's probably the best bargain on the roster and we should be thankful the Wolves were able to keep him.
Turkey Ball (D'Angelo Russell): Of course the turkey ball has to go to DLO. Watching him last night for 3 quarter was a truly painful experience. Our entire section in the arena was moaning or in some cases yelling to get him off the court. Forget for a minute that he's a max-player salary who is expected to be one of our top three. It would have been disgusting to watch him regardless of his salary or what's expected of him., His stats tell the tale, i.e., 7 turnovers, 1 assist, 0 steals, no foul shots and 35.7% shooting from the field. But his play was worse that his stats because of the impact his putrid play had on the entire team offensively as the team's PG. His over-dribbling and ball-stopping tendencies were back with a vengeance last night, further contributing to the offensive woes of the entire team. It was a performance that had better not repeat itself. I did like DLO's response after the game about how he forgot to play basketball for 3 quarters and has no excuses. That's a stand-up reaction that I appreciate. A number of players would say something like, "I just had a bad game." So I like the way DLO took responsibility for his terrible game. I also like that he came through in the 4th quarter. He is truly fearless. After such a bad game for three quarters, he could have played scared and passively in the 4th quarter, which would have been really bad for the team. Ultimately, he had the stones to take that shot that sealed the deal. None of that excuses DLO's disgustingly poor play through the first 3 quarters, but he still deserves some positive recognition for what he did in the 4th. I'll also add that his defense was pretty good the entire game. Again, that's a positive sign especially given how poorly he played on the offensive end. Again, I like how DLO responded verbally after the game. Now I'm looking forward to seeing how he responds on the court. I'm looking for a big game from him on Monday.
Towns: Karl was again the Wolves best player on the floor last night. He had 25 points in 29 minutes on 50% shooting from the field and from behind the arc. What I liked most about his game last night was his defense. Yes, JV was able to overpower him at times, but KAT competed defensively and did a nice job protecting the rim with 3 blocks. What I didn't like about KAT was his regression back to the immature, whiny, foul-prone KAT we've seen way too often over the years. Yes, he still gets a raw deal from officials. He clearly does NOT get the respect or benefit of the doubt that stars typically get from officials. I don't think he even gets the respect of a typical rookie. Part of that results from his own immaturity as he constantly whines to officials in ways that tick them off. In any event, he has to get smarter and grow up. He also has to make quicker decisions. Once again he was over-dribbling last night, which allowed the defense to zero in on him and stopped any offensive flow. He, like DLO, also has to stop the cute behind-the-back crap.
Edwards: Last night was an interesting game for Edwards. I think he learned last night that he's not unstoppable in the NBA. He had a dunk opportunity but he did not go up with urgency and power and, as a result, his dunk attempt was thwarted. In fairness, the defender should have been called for a foul on that play, but Edwards was way overconfident in the way he approached that play. There were other examples where he missed bunnies that he's been making reliably since the last half of last season. I'll chalk last night up to a learning experience for Edwards. What also stood out about Edwards was how quiet he was - both literally and figuratively. He wasn't talking nearly as much as he was in the opener. And his play didn't speak as loudly either. On the other hand, he still had 19 points. More impressive were his 9 rebounds and 5 assists to go with a steal and a block. In other words, on a relatively quiet night offensively for him with "only" 19 point, he did other important things to help the team win. His 9 boards in particular were critical to getting a win on a night when KAT had only 4 boards and the team was out-rebounded 61-47. He defense was also good, albeit not quite as impressive as it was in the opener.
McDaniels: It's important to note the contribution of McDaniels. I know that Ingram had 30 points, but that was due mainly to Ingram being an exceptional offensive talent. I thought McDaniels played well defensively. He contributed an important 6 rebounds and 2 blocks to the Wolves effort. I love watching him play defense. He rarely bites on fakes and moves so well laterally. I still see him becoming a tremendous player once he puts it all together.
Okogie: I was surprised we didn't see him after the 1st quarter (maybe early 2nd). He had 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in 18 minutes. His defense looked really good as it typically does and his rebounding is a huge plus from the wing position.
Vando: He was a negative in the plus/minus category, but that just underscores how meaningless that stat typically is. His contributions defensively and on the boards were huge last night. His 8 rebounds were second only to Ant's 9. His usual energy and tenacity were there as he forced turnovers and disrupted the Pelicans' offense. He's valuable to this team. But we still need more size.
Beasley: His three-point shot isn't quite there, but I love the way he's running the court, handling the ball and finding open teammates. He clearly seems to have expanded his game. He's truly an elite athlete and you can see him using that athleticism and speed more this season.
FROM THE ARENA
The energy and chemistry on the bench looked great again last night.
Beverley talks more than any player I've ever seen in a Wolves uniform and that includes KG and Sam Cassell. Wow, he's constantly talking to anyone and everyone who will listen - teammates, opponents, coaches and especially the officials. My wife said, "he looks like another coach out there." He's constantly running up and down the sidelines, talking to officials, calling fouls and explaining to officials why they should or should not have called fouls. But he does it all with a sense of humor that actually seems to endear himself to the officials. You could see Beverley and the officials he's calling out smiling through those conversations. When he's not playing, he's the first guy off the bench to run out onto the court and great his teammates in a timeout. It's really fun to watch.
You can see certain players talking more with some teammates than others. Not surprisingly, DLO and Towns walk off together and talk one-on-one. I've noticed Ant and Beverley talking to each other quite a bit. That's a really good sign. McDaniels is pretty quite and somewhat solitary, but not standoffish.
Our two new owners were sitting court-side again across from the Wolves bench. You could see both of them really getting into the game. They are right on our line of sight.
The crowd was pretty decent, but surprisingly small for a Saturday night game at the beginning of a season that has some promise and and exciting player like Edwards. The overall crowd energy was disappointing, but still OK. I'll be at Monday night's game and it will probably be pretty empty and quiet.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Well, it's nice to be 2-0. But considering who we've played these first two game, anything less than that would have been really disappointing. Thus far, the Wolves have done what they had to do at home against two clearly inferior opponents. They need to finish the job against the Pelicans Monday night. That will give them a nice 3-0 start, which is exactly what we should expect if we're going to seriously consider the Wolves a potential playoff team. Then it gets tough after that as the Wolves head to Milwaukee and then come home for a game against the Nuggets next Saturday at Target Center.
We'll know a lot more about this team a week from now. What we know now from two games is that this team is better than it's been in recent years. They have more talent, more depth and a defensive intensity we haven't seen from this team for a long time. What we don't yet know is just how good they can be. But so far so good.
OK. Let's get serious. I'll start out with my overall assessment of the game from a team standpoint. Then I'll discuss some individual players and give out my game ball to the player who I think made the biggest or most important contribution to the Wolves win. I'll also give my turkey ball (sort of a turkey of the game award) to the guy whose overall play bothered me the most. Finally, I'll share some observations from the arena perspective.
TEAM ASSESSMENT
The good news is two-fold.
First, we won the game. Yes, the Pelicans are not a good team. Moreover, they were without one of their best players (Zion) and were on the tail end of a back-to-bad, but they're better than Houston and have several good players in Ingram, Graham and JV. Yes, it was an ugly win, but you need those over the course of a season to make the NBA playoffs, especially in the West.
Second, we won the game with our defense. How often have we been able to say that about the Wolves over the past 10+ years? We beat Houston with our defense and our offense in the opener. Last night's win resulted entirely from our defense. I'm trying to remember the last time we held a team to 89 point. It's still only two games in against two bottom dwellers, but this new defensive identity we saw in the preseason seems real to me. If DLO had a putrid game like this and KAT had fouled out with10 minutes left last season, the Zionless Pelicans would have won the game.
The bad news is also two-fold. First, our half-court offense continues to look problematic. It seems to lack flow and has two many stagnant periods. The ball stalls too often in DLO's or KAT's hands. Overall, it seems to depend too much on the individual play of KAT or Ant. But I'm still not too worried about the offense. The second bit of bad news is the one that really worries me. I'm talking about the Wolves really poor rebounding. The Pelicans out-rebounded the Wolves 61-47. It was really frustrating to watch. It's a combination of things, including repeated failures to box out, but it's mainly a lack of size. This team will continue to get killed on the boards without a roster move to add more size. The Wolves can get killed on the boards and still beat Houston and New Orleans, but they won't beat teams like the Nuggets or Bucks or even the mid-tier West teams like the Clippers and Warriors.
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES
Game Ball (Beverley and J-Mac): My game ball goes to two players: Patrick Beverley and J-Mac. If Beverley was still with the Clippers and J-Mac was somewhere else, I think the Wolves would have lost last night's game. Neither one necessarily shines in the box score, but their combined impact was huge and probably decisive last night. Beverley's defense and energy last night were everything we expected if not more when he came here. The box score shows he had only 1 steal, but he caused more turnovers than the one he was credited with. Overall, he was a disruptive force who at times almost single-handedly stopped New Orleans from getting into their offense. His energy and intensity carried over to the offensive side of the ball too as he sped up the pace of the Wolves offense. And of course, his energy ignited both his teammates and the crowd. His 3-point shooting wasn't there last night, but it was close. He was constantly hitting the front of the rim, but his shots were otherwise right on target. Those shots will start to fall. J-Mac saved the day in the 2nd half when he replaced a hapless D'Angelo Russell. It was refreshing to see a real PG running the offense - or at least someone with his head in the game instead of up his ass. The game looked like it was going to get away before J-Mac came in. He came in just as I was asking the guy behind me why we hadn't see J-Mac yet. He came in and righted the ship. He also showed last night that he's a good defender - something I've mentioned before. He's a pesky defender with a great nose for the ball. He has some JJ Barea in him in that regard. He's probably the best bargain on the roster and we should be thankful the Wolves were able to keep him.
Turkey Ball (D'Angelo Russell): Of course the turkey ball has to go to DLO. Watching him last night for 3 quarter was a truly painful experience. Our entire section in the arena was moaning or in some cases yelling to get him off the court. Forget for a minute that he's a max-player salary who is expected to be one of our top three. It would have been disgusting to watch him regardless of his salary or what's expected of him., His stats tell the tale, i.e., 7 turnovers, 1 assist, 0 steals, no foul shots and 35.7% shooting from the field. But his play was worse that his stats because of the impact his putrid play had on the entire team offensively as the team's PG. His over-dribbling and ball-stopping tendencies were back with a vengeance last night, further contributing to the offensive woes of the entire team. It was a performance that had better not repeat itself. I did like DLO's response after the game about how he forgot to play basketball for 3 quarters and has no excuses. That's a stand-up reaction that I appreciate. A number of players would say something like, "I just had a bad game." So I like the way DLO took responsibility for his terrible game. I also like that he came through in the 4th quarter. He is truly fearless. After such a bad game for three quarters, he could have played scared and passively in the 4th quarter, which would have been really bad for the team. Ultimately, he had the stones to take that shot that sealed the deal. None of that excuses DLO's disgustingly poor play through the first 3 quarters, but he still deserves some positive recognition for what he did in the 4th. I'll also add that his defense was pretty good the entire game. Again, that's a positive sign especially given how poorly he played on the offensive end. Again, I like how DLO responded verbally after the game. Now I'm looking forward to seeing how he responds on the court. I'm looking for a big game from him on Monday.
Towns: Karl was again the Wolves best player on the floor last night. He had 25 points in 29 minutes on 50% shooting from the field and from behind the arc. What I liked most about his game last night was his defense. Yes, JV was able to overpower him at times, but KAT competed defensively and did a nice job protecting the rim with 3 blocks. What I didn't like about KAT was his regression back to the immature, whiny, foul-prone KAT we've seen way too often over the years. Yes, he still gets a raw deal from officials. He clearly does NOT get the respect or benefit of the doubt that stars typically get from officials. I don't think he even gets the respect of a typical rookie. Part of that results from his own immaturity as he constantly whines to officials in ways that tick them off. In any event, he has to get smarter and grow up. He also has to make quicker decisions. Once again he was over-dribbling last night, which allowed the defense to zero in on him and stopped any offensive flow. He, like DLO, also has to stop the cute behind-the-back crap.
Edwards: Last night was an interesting game for Edwards. I think he learned last night that he's not unstoppable in the NBA. He had a dunk opportunity but he did not go up with urgency and power and, as a result, his dunk attempt was thwarted. In fairness, the defender should have been called for a foul on that play, but Edwards was way overconfident in the way he approached that play. There were other examples where he missed bunnies that he's been making reliably since the last half of last season. I'll chalk last night up to a learning experience for Edwards. What also stood out about Edwards was how quiet he was - both literally and figuratively. He wasn't talking nearly as much as he was in the opener. And his play didn't speak as loudly either. On the other hand, he still had 19 points. More impressive were his 9 rebounds and 5 assists to go with a steal and a block. In other words, on a relatively quiet night offensively for him with "only" 19 point, he did other important things to help the team win. His 9 boards in particular were critical to getting a win on a night when KAT had only 4 boards and the team was out-rebounded 61-47. He defense was also good, albeit not quite as impressive as it was in the opener.
McDaniels: It's important to note the contribution of McDaniels. I know that Ingram had 30 points, but that was due mainly to Ingram being an exceptional offensive talent. I thought McDaniels played well defensively. He contributed an important 6 rebounds and 2 blocks to the Wolves effort. I love watching him play defense. He rarely bites on fakes and moves so well laterally. I still see him becoming a tremendous player once he puts it all together.
Okogie: I was surprised we didn't see him after the 1st quarter (maybe early 2nd). He had 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in 18 minutes. His defense looked really good as it typically does and his rebounding is a huge plus from the wing position.
Vando: He was a negative in the plus/minus category, but that just underscores how meaningless that stat typically is. His contributions defensively and on the boards were huge last night. His 8 rebounds were second only to Ant's 9. His usual energy and tenacity were there as he forced turnovers and disrupted the Pelicans' offense. He's valuable to this team. But we still need more size.
Beasley: His three-point shot isn't quite there, but I love the way he's running the court, handling the ball and finding open teammates. He clearly seems to have expanded his game. He's truly an elite athlete and you can see him using that athleticism and speed more this season.
FROM THE ARENA
The energy and chemistry on the bench looked great again last night.
Beverley talks more than any player I've ever seen in a Wolves uniform and that includes KG and Sam Cassell. Wow, he's constantly talking to anyone and everyone who will listen - teammates, opponents, coaches and especially the officials. My wife said, "he looks like another coach out there." He's constantly running up and down the sidelines, talking to officials, calling fouls and explaining to officials why they should or should not have called fouls. But he does it all with a sense of humor that actually seems to endear himself to the officials. You could see Beverley and the officials he's calling out smiling through those conversations. When he's not playing, he's the first guy off the bench to run out onto the court and great his teammates in a timeout. It's really fun to watch.
You can see certain players talking more with some teammates than others. Not surprisingly, DLO and Towns walk off together and talk one-on-one. I've noticed Ant and Beverley talking to each other quite a bit. That's a really good sign. McDaniels is pretty quite and somewhat solitary, but not standoffish.
Our two new owners were sitting court-side again across from the Wolves bench. You could see both of them really getting into the game. They are right on our line of sight.
The crowd was pretty decent, but surprisingly small for a Saturday night game at the beginning of a season that has some promise and and exciting player like Edwards. The overall crowd energy was disappointing, but still OK. I'll be at Monday night's game and it will probably be pretty empty and quiet.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Well, it's nice to be 2-0. But considering who we've played these first two game, anything less than that would have been really disappointing. Thus far, the Wolves have done what they had to do at home against two clearly inferior opponents. They need to finish the job against the Pelicans Monday night. That will give them a nice 3-0 start, which is exactly what we should expect if we're going to seriously consider the Wolves a potential playoff team. Then it gets tough after that as the Wolves head to Milwaukee and then come home for a game against the Nuggets next Saturday at Target Center.
We'll know a lot more about this team a week from now. What we know now from two games is that this team is better than it's been in recent years. They have more talent, more depth and a defensive intensity we haven't seen from this team for a long time. What we don't yet know is just how good they can be. But so far so good.