Game Report - Wolves v. Hornets

[Lipoli390]

Nice win again tonight. Target Center crowd wasn't as big as last night, but it was a decent size crowd and plenty loud. The Hornets aren't a top team and they weren't at full strength tonight with MKG and Batum out. But they're still a fairly talented team with Howard, Kemba and some really good shooters. They also have nice length with Howard, Zeller and Kaminsky. So the Wolves definitely deserve credit for a 20-point home win tonight.

As the first quarter progressed, it looked like the Wolves would have to slug it out down to the wire and hope to win another close one. But things got going in the 2nd quarter thanks to my player of the game, Jeff Teague. Again, he had terrific stats with 18 points, 12 assists and 5 boards. But he was better than the sum of his box score stats. He's the guy who ignited the team in the 2nd quarter with his big 3-pointers and his nifty no-look to Butler for another three during a big 12-2 run for the Wolves.

All the starters played well. Wiggins got us started with his scoring in the 1st and ended up with 20 points, shooting 66% from the field. KAT didn't have a great night, but he was very solid with 16 points, 9 boards and 2 blocks in 29 minutes. His two blocks were great as he both blocked and controlled the ball at the same time. He defended Howard pretty well, at one point drawing an offensive foul as he held his ground while Howard tried to bully his way to the bucket. Taj was his usual steady self with 8 points and 10 rebounds in 29 minutes. He got some really nice rebounds when we need them. He teamed with KAT and Gorgui to give us a huge rebounding edge tonight -- another key to our big win.

The bench was really good tonight. Bazz was the only Wolves player on the bench or otherwise who shot poorly, but he did grab 4 boards in only 9 minutes. He missed a couple wide open 3-point looks, including a corner three. I'd really like to see him get going. But he wasn't bad tonight.

The rest of the bench was terrific. Gorgui led the bench with 15 points and 11 boards in only 19 minutes. Gorgui is a guy you have to watch in person to fully appreciate. He's almost always in the right place at the right time, making smart decisions, grabbing loose balls and rebounds, drawing fouls and hitting his foul shots. Gorgui was back in form tonight, showcasing the things that led Thibs to give him the big contract at the beginning of last season and then refer to him as the Wolves most improved player at the end of the season. Belly didn't take any threes and only scored 5 points tonight, but he did a nice job moving the ball on the offensive end and he played well defensively. Crawford was Crawford, hitting improbable shots and helping with ball-handling duties and playmaking.

As good as all the aforementioned bench players were, my play of the night came from Tyus Jones, who didn't show up well in the box score. Late 3rd quarter as the Hornets were making a run, Tyus ran back and turned what would have been a 2-0 break into a 2 on 1 break. He sprinted down the court, planted himself in front of the ball handler and disrupted the play enough to force a miss. Overall, Tyus was terrific, defending well and running the offense jointly with Crawford. The box score didn't do Tyus justice tonight.

A few tidbits you probably didn't see on TV:

- As the team came off the court following a Gorgui pick-and-roll dunk with 9:48 left in the 4th quarter, Thibs greeted Gorgui and exchanged some worlds with him. Gorgui then patted Thibs on the back before taking his seat on the bench. I got a kick out of it, because usually you'll see the coach pat the player on the back after a good play with the team doing well. In this case, it was the other way around. Kind of amusing.

- Right after KAT returned to the court in the 4th quarter, he threw a wild pass intended for Butler in the paint. As the Wolves sprinted back on defense, Thibs muttered to himself "what the fuck was he thinking!" I didnt' hear it, but my wife and I both read his lips and it was obvious.

- As the bench players were starting to return to the court after a timeout, Butler went out beyond the sideline and started talking to each of them. It looked like a bit of a pep talk. Butler talks a lot and I like it.

- I've noticed tonight and all season so far, that Cole Aldrich and Butler are almost inseparable during the pre-game shoot-around. Cole seems to function as Butler's caddie during shoot-around, taking rebounds under the hoop and feeding Butler the ball. Then sometimes he seems to function as Butler's sparring partner as Butler tells Cole to guard him while he shoots. It's pretty funny. You can see the two get along well. But it's also clear that the entire team really likes Cole. And Butler talks to everyone.

Anyway, this was a nice win leading into our upcoming 3-game road trip. It's nice to be 7-3, but we could return from this road trip only barely above .500 at 7-6. So let's hope this team can keep it rolling and come away with 2 of the next 3.

[Shumway]

Even 1 win in the next three would seem to put us in a good position. Banking some of those close grinding wins could turn out so important by the end of the year. We need Tim to dust off the old Klum-O-Meter.

[Monster]

Thanks for the report and that's interesting about Butler and Aldrich. In garbage time the last couple of games Aldrich's ability to set picks has been on full display. He absolutely plastered some guy last night he might still be trying to get around Aldrich. If Towns ever learns to set legit screens like that look out.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Yeah, this weekend's wins were really big, because if we view ourselves as a playoff team, these are games we are supposed to win. It's good to get off to a nice start like this because now we actually have room for some slippage.When you start the season off on the wrong foot, there just isn't any room for error in the Western Conference.

Wednesday will be a great test. In my opinion, Golden State should win quite easily as our reliance on 2-pointers and free throws simply isn't enough against a team that can shoot you out of the gym in a matter of minutes. These guys are going to want to make sure us upstarts are put in our proper place.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I've been on the road for a couple weeks (don't use my season tix until the Spurs game), so I really appreciate the game reports. I love Teague's box score and seeing that he completely dominated Walker, and also love the contributions of Taj and Gorgui. Cute story about Gorgui...he's one of my favorite players, and I'm glad he's settling into his backup center role and getting effective regular minutes.

Cole is not needed in the rotation right now, but I'm afraid he will be in a couple years...when it comes time to pay our Big 3 plus Teague, there simply won't be room for Gorgui's contract, even though it looks attractive right now. Cole will still be young enough to replace G in the backup center role at an affordable price, so it's nice to hear he has such a good rapport with his teammates. Not to say that it won't be a big drop off from G to him, but I'm afraid it will be a necessity to stay out of the lux tax.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I've been on the road for a couple weeks (don't use my season tix until the Spurs game), so I really appreciate the game reports. I love Teague's box score and seeing that he completely dominated Walker, and also love the contributions of Taj and Gorgui. Cute story about Gorgui...he's one of my favorite players, and I'm glad he's settling into his backup center role and getting effective regular minutes.

Cole is not needed in the rotation right now, but I'm afraid he will be in a couple years...when it comes time to pay our Big 3 plus Teague, there simply won't be room for Gorgui's contract, even though it looks attractive right now. Cole will still be young enough to replace G in the backup center role at an affordable price, so it's nice to hear he has such a good rapport with his teammates. Not to say that it won't be a big drop off from G to him, but I'm afraid it will be a necessity to stay out of the lux tax.

I don't know if Cole Aldrich is still in the NBA after this contract.

There's less and less of a role for him each passing day as the game keeps changing and evolving.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Wiggy was sharp but not sure why he loves that high post long 2 turn around jumper so much.

Kemba was really playing bad d on Teague. I think he had open looks all game, but Thibs played these guys way too long again. We had a 20 point lead with 5 minutes left and the bench was holding. No reason to bring in Kat and co.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Wiggy was sharp but not sure why he loves that high post long 2 turn around jumper so much.

Kemba was really playing bad d on Teague. I think he had open looks all game, but Thibs played these guys way too long again. We had a 20 point lead with 5 minutes left and the bench was holding. No reason to bring in Kat and co.

UGH.

Even when he makes it... no. No. NO!!!

I don't know why they seem to be encouraging that instead of taking it out of his repertoire completely.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I've been on the road for a couple weeks (don't use my season tix until the Spurs game), so I really appreciate the game reports. I love Teague's box score and seeing that he completely dominated Walker, and also love the contributions of Taj and Gorgui. Cute story about Gorgui...he's one of my favorite players, and I'm glad he's settling into his backup center role and getting effective regular minutes.

Cole is not needed in the rotation right now, but I'm afraid he will be in a couple years...when it comes time to pay our Big 3 plus Teague, there simply won't be room for Gorgui's contract, even though it looks attractive right now. Cole will still be young enough to replace G in the backup center role at an affordable price, so it's nice to hear he has such a good rapport with his teammates. Not to say that it won't be a big drop off from G to him, but I'm afraid it will be a necessity to stay out of the lux tax.

I don't know if Cole Aldrich is still in the NBA after this contract.

There's less and less of a role for him each passing day as the game keeps changing and evolving.

I don't necessarily disagree about Cole, Abe, but my point was more that we will not be able to afford a $15 million back up center once we have to pay our 4 $20-30 million guys, so we will need to find a cheaper alternative to back up KAT. In an ideal world, Patton will develop and fill that role on a cheap rookie contract. But regardless, we don't have the luxury of getting too attached to Gorgui.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Wiggy was sharp but not sure why he loves that high post long 2 turn around jumper so much.

Kemba was really playing bad d on Teague. I think he had open looks all game, but Thibs played these guys way too long again. We had a 20 point lead with 5 minutes left and the bench was holding. No reason to bring in Kat and co.

UGH.

Even when he makes it... no. No. NO!!!

I don't know why they seem to be encouraging that instead of taking it out of his repertoire completely.

He's part of the generation the grew up watching Kobe. It's gonna be really hard to remove it from the arsenal because for a long time that was the gold standard. He also doesn't have the handle to just get to the rim at will like a Harden so he's gonna get stopped and shoot that shot on occasion. We really just need to take away the early shot clock attempts from that range and that will help.