Game Report - Wolves v. Jazz

[Lipoli390]

Let's not sugar coat this. The Wolves are not a good team right now. They have a lot of talent. But collectively they're bad. They lost to a lottery team tonight by six points after barely beating a worse lottery team Wednesday night. And it was the same story in the last preseason game against the Nets.

Why did the Wolves lose tonight? Let's not overcomplicate this or look for villains among the Wolves players with minutes tonight. It comes down to two things, both of which were apparent in the OKC and Brooklyn games:

1. The Wolves defense was terrible as evidenced by the fact that they gave up 120 points in 4 quarters before losing in overtime. To defend in the NBA you have to effectively contain the other team's dribble penetration and three point shooting. The Wolves failed at both tonight.

2. The Wolves offense was terrible to the point of being unwatchable. The team certainly has talented scorers in Edwards, DLO and Towns. Yet, even though all three scored a lot of points, the team still lost AT HOME to a lottery team. I don't see the point in signaling out any of them or anyone else. The point is that this team played one of five basketball nearly every offensive possession when our starters were on the floor. In the 4th quarter and overtime, every possession was essentially a one on five fest. It wasn't just Edwards. It was Town and DLO. Edwards and Towns were more efficient than Towns, but all three of them put on a clinic in how not to play offense at the NBA level. It was thoroughly disgusting. The ball doesn't move and players don't move well without the ball. The end result is an unwatchable, stagnant offense that gets bailed out by individual talent, but not enough to be a team with championship aspirations and possibly not enough to keep them out of the lottery. Meanwhile, it was evident that it is really difficult to incorporate Gobert into the offense. If you don't through it high he probably won't catch it and even then the ball is pretty easily knocked out of his hands. His 4 of 10 from the filed and 1-3 from the line were unacceptable. KAT looks like he has no idea what his role in the offense is supposed to be. And in fact, KAT's dad made that comment to someone I know. Maybe the offensive will come together, but it has a long, long way to go.

Right now I don't like this team. I don't like them losing to an eventual lottery team after barely beating a bottom-feeder. But mainly I don't like the way they play. There is no offensive cohesion and a lack of intensity on defense. There's also a lack of overall speed and athleticism. There's definitely a lot of talent on this team. I'm just now sure the talent we have fits well together.

Another observation I'll offer is what I've seen on the bench the last couple of games. I see a number of players laughing and joking with one another throughout the game, including down the stretch in the 4th quarter and overtime tonight. It reminds me way too much of the Wes Johnson years when the VP of a business client I took to the game said to me, "wow, you care more about the team than the Wolves players do." She was referring to the demeanor on the bench. It's not that bad right now, but I've seen way too much of that sort of thing in this first two games.. And right now, my Wes Johnson I Don't Give A Shit Award goes to Nathan Knight. Watching him walking around joking with anyone who will listing, even at critical nail-biting moments in the game is more than I can stand. Watching KAT pout on the bench and argue with an official while the rest of the team was huddled with Finch on the bench during a break was asinine.

I see a cancer beginning to take root on this team. They aren't playing as a team. They lack cohesion, chemistry and intensity. This team can and should get much better. But based on what I've seen so far, I wouldn't bet on it.

[Lipoli390]

I should add that I loved the way Nowell played tonight. And I actually enjoyed watching the unit with Nowell and JMac on the floor together. Players moved without the ball and the ball moved around from player to player. Win or lose, at least it would be fun to watch that unit play. I also liked McDaniels because he showed intensity and effort throughout the game that I didn't see from others except for Nowell and JMac. I never saw him pout like KAT or laughing it up like Nathan Knight.

[thedoper]

I think it was logical to assume that Finch has his work cut out for him. I think there have been moments of nice basketball but Finch is going to have to get them to buy in to moving the ball. It was nice that they fought back but it never should have been close.

[Porckchop]

Towns continues to show his lack of offensive IQ. Gobert is going to show his frustration eventually.

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

I mean are we really THAT much better than Utah? Utah has some pretty good nba players. Just because they traded their two "best" players away, doesn't mean they'll necessarily be terrible. Definitely a lottery team, but obviously not as bad as people thought. I'm going to say this again... the wolves were not a 46 win team last year... probably closer to 40. Because they had 46 wins last year, and because they added a big name like Gobert, they've become overrated I think. I think expectations have become too high, because these guys just aren't that good right now. Kessler was a reason I didn't like that trade. I was looking forward to him being a wolf. I really like Nowell and Jaden, but beyond that I don't really care who's on this team. I didn't watch tonight's game as close as some games, but Kat needs to figure it out. I saw someone question whether Kat is really a 4... ding ding ding - he's not. It's a bad fit. This isn't just a bad start from a good team, this team is in legit trouble the way they've looked. At least we have our pick next year to keep building if we miss the playoffs in the stacked west, or we can always use it to help swing a deal if something good comes up.

[Jester1534]

Let's not sugar coat this. The Wolves are not a good team right now. They have a lot of talent. But collectively they're bad. They lost to a lottery team tonight by six points after barely beating a worse lottery team Wednesday night. And it was the same story in the last preseason game against the Nets.

Why did the Wolves lose tonight? Let's not overcomplicate this or look for villains among the Wolves players with minutes tonight. It comes down to two things, both of which were apparent in the OKC and Brooklyn games:

1. The Wolves defense was terrible as evidenced by the fact that they gave up 120 points in 4 quarters before losing in overtime. To defend in the NBA you have to effectively contain the other team's dribble penetration and three point shooting. The Wolves failed at both tonight.

2. The Wolves offense was terrible to the point of being unwatchable. The team certainly has talented scorers in Edwards, DLO and Towns. Yet, even though all three scored a lot of points, the team still lost AT HOME to a lottery team. I don't see the point in signaling out any of them or anyone else. The point is that this team played one of five basketball nearly every offensive possession when our starters were on the floor. In the 4th quarter and overtime, every possession was essentially a one on five fest. It wasn't just Edwards. It was Town and DLO. Edwards and Towns were more efficient than Towns, but all three of them put on a clinic in how not to play offense at the NBA level. It was thoroughly disgusting. The ball doesn't move and players don't move well without the ball. The end result is an unwatchable, stagnant offense that gets bailed out by individual talent, but not enough to be a team with championship aspirations and possibly not enough to keep them out of the lottery. Meanwhile, it was evident that it is really difficult to incorporate Gobert into the offense. If you don't through it high he probably won't catch it and even then the ball is pretty easily knocked out of his hands. His 4 of 10 from the filed and 1-3 from the line were unacceptable. KAT looks like he has no idea what his role in the offense is supposed to be. And in fact, KAT's dad made that comment to someone I know. Maybe the offensive will come together, but it has a long, long way to go.

Right now I don't like this team. I don't like them losing to an eventual lottery team after barely beating a bottom-feeder. But mainly I don't like the way they play. There is no offensive cohesion and a lack of intensity on defense. There's also a lack of overall speed and athleticism. There's definitely a lot of talent on this team. I'm just now sure the talent we have fits well together.

Another observation I'll offer is what I've seen on the bench the last couple of games. I see a number of players laughing and joking with one another throughout the game, including down the stretch in the 4th quarter and overtime tonight. It reminds me way too much of the Wes Johnson years when the VP of a business client I took to the game said to me, "wow, you care more about the team than the Wolves players do." She was referring to the demeanor on the bench. It's not that bad right now, but I've seen way too much of that sort of thing in this first two games.. And right now, my Wes Johnson I Don't Give A Shit Award goes to Nathan Knight. Watching him walking around joking with anyone who will listing, even at critical nail-biting moments in the game is more than I can stand. Watching KAT pout on the bench and argue with an official while the rest of the team was huddled with Finch on the bench during a break was asinine.

I see a cancer beginning to take root on this team. They aren't playing as a team. They lack cohesion, chemistry and intensity. This team can and should get much better. But based on what I've seen so far, I wouldn't bet on it.

The Jazz beat the nuggets who beat the defending champs tonight. I think this slight over reaction. It's going to take time for these guys to gel. Maybe give it 20 games before we say this team doesn't give a shit because they're joking on the bench.

At the end of the day this team is good as Kat plays and he's played like dog shit the last two game. He got outplayed by Kelly freakin Olnyx tonight that's just unacceptable.

[Porckchop]

There's no reason to expect this team to be firing on all cylinders right out the gate. It's reasonable to expect some growing pains when adding new pieces to the puzzle. We have a bit to much hubris as a fan base thats followed a fledgling organization for 30 years. Let's give it 20 games . We have the same record as GS! And the Sixers are 0-2. And Portland beat the Suns.

[FNG]

A good writeup, Lip, and a very disappointing finish. I'm not down on this team, but I agree with a lot of your takes.

Kekgeek nailed the biggest problem with this team in the GDT- perimeter defense. There was a graphic on the screen tonight that we gave up 47 uncontested shots against OkC...47! Fortunately the Thunder can't shoot. But we seemed to give up as many last night, and unfortunately Utah can shoot. The culprits are many: Ant, DLo, Nowell and KAT all contributed to wide open threes all night. If this continues, I'm guessing Finchie is going to have to turn to Rivers at times to shore up our perimeter defense.

I will say that despite his poor defense, I thought DLo was brilliant on offense tonight. He protected the ball better, got Ant and KAT involved, and made his open shots. He is still a huge liability on defense, but he was exactly what we need on the offensive end tonight.

But while DLo protected the ball well, Ant, KAT and Rudy were not...14 TOs between the 3 of them is unacceptable. And Rudy was unimpressive...and that's an odd thing to say when a guy gets 23 rebounds. But we need more from him on the offensive end.

Your observation about Knight is what I've been talking about for a year...the guy is a clown and bugs the crap out of me whenever I go to a game. Watch his pre-game and halftime preparation sometime...he's perfected the all-important shot over the basket from out-of-bounds. Really? And the clowning around on the bench is a nightly occurrence. When we as fans care about the outcome of a game more than a player on the roster, that tells me everything I need to know about that player. Cut him...right now.

I would have had Utah 0-2 at this point of the season, but they're 2-0...go figure. We needed to win this game, but fortunately the schedule remains easy for a couple weeks as we learn to put these new pieces together. Facing a team next that can't make a 3 like OkC is exactly what we need right now.

[Porckchop]

What makes these games must wins ?

[Q-is-here]

Lip pays good money to attend most home games in person, so his experience is much more visceral than those of us sitting at home watching on a screen. I like his game reports in that they mix in his observations and insights from the game with real emotion of a true fan having just watched the game. He's not here to be an AP reporter!

I thought Finch made a real tactical error when he inserted Forbes into the game in the 4th. We were up by a point and not really having any problems getting buckets. What we were having problems with was getting stops. It didn't make any sense to me at the time. I know he only played 3 minutes, but he did nothing productive in those three minutes and got abused on defense (BTW, I like Forbes overall as a bench player, just not in that situation).

As for KAT, he might be one of the most consistently good offensive players in the NBA. His shooting/scoring efficiency will come around, there is no question about that. What probably will never change is his immaturity and petulance. :-(