Minnesota Sports Forum

Finally a lopsided win, although not as lopsided as it should have been. Target Center was a fun place to be last night with a big enthusiastic crowd and a weak opponent culimating in a Wolves victory.

The Wolves did the things they'll have to win consistently this season -- they won the rebound battle and they scored more than 110 points. Although or defense looked pretty good last night, a better team (and most teams are better than Dallas) would have scored more than 99 points and the Wolves would have needed every one of those 112 points to win.

But I did like our defense last night. It was really the first time this season when everyone on the team (not just Jimmy Butler and Taj) got up in the body of the player they were defending. Collectively, this Wolves were doing what all the really good defensive teams in the NBA do -- making the opposing team uncomfortable and impeding their ability to get into offensive sets, find passing lanes or get their feet set before shooting. I can see the Wolves getting better at this as they season goes on.

Player of the game for the Wolves last night was KAT with 31 efficient points, 12 boards and 2 blocks. He's the one guy on this team who can dominate offensively an entire game and essentially impose his will. But what I liked most about KAT's game last night were his two interior assists to Taj. He made two terrific short passes to Taj for easy buckets. That's a good sign for KAT and the team.

Taj is my runner up to KAT for player of the game. I'm getting much more comfortable with his $14 million per year salary. He is such a steadying influence on the team. His 12 points, 10 points and 2 blocks tell part of the story, but his defense, hustle and all-around impact on the team go beyond the box score.

Butler continues to defer to his teammates when it comes to scoring. But he continues to impact the game as he did last night with 7 assists and 5 rebounds. At one point in the game my wife looked at the score board and noted with surprise that Butler only had 2 points. She said she though he had scored a lot more because he's such a visible and impactful force on the court. He's sort of the opposite of Wiggins in that sense. When Wiggins doesn't score, you generally don't notice him. That's not true of Butler. Although, I should note that Wiggins is starting to become more than just a scorer. His nonscoring stats weren't impressive last night with 2 assists and only 3 rebounds, but he was defending well, getting his hands on loose balls and making a difference outside the scoring column in ways that didn't show up in the box score. Jimmy seems to be rubbing off on him. By the way, Wiggins made a great bounce pass to Teague on dribble penetration. Another sign of improvement.

I liked Teague's play last night. 11 points, 10 assists and 3 steals. That's a pretty nice line for a PG. He doesn't get after it defensively the way Rubio did, but he has really quick hands and he does work on both ends. Unlike Ricky, he is a constant threat on the offensive end. Opposing teams have to pay constant attention to him and if they don't he'll burn them. You can see he and his new teammates are still adjusting to one another, but it's coming along.

I liked the bench play of Belly and Gorgui. Belly hit big shots and made a great pass. Gorgui is a lot like Taj in that he's smart, tough and tends to nearly always be in the right place at the right time. 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block in only 14 minutes is an excellent stat line.

Overall, a nice win. But tonight against Charlotte will be a lot tougher. Losing tonight at home would negate last night's win, so the Charlotte game tonight is what I'd call a "must win" for the Wolves.

Thanks LIP. After home games I don't go to the StarTribune, I come here for your game report.

Great report as always! I agree with Pap, why pay for the StarTrib when you can just read the game report!

After a ineffective game against New Orleans, I thought Wiggins had a really good game yesterday. He can score so effortlessly. He just needs to get rid of those turnaround long 2s, which I think he is making progress on. The one-handed floaters near the rim are becoming a staple for him, and have been very effective.

And don't scoff at 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block from Wiggins. That's a step up from prior years!!!

Thanks for the report Lip.

Yeah, Gibson has been playing well. He is easily at a career high in scoring efficiency (TS%) and I suspect a lot of that is because he's surrounded by four scorers that defenses have to really pay attention to. We'll see if he keeps it up. He seems to have great hands too.

Wiggins had a good game, but I still saw some of his patented weaknesses come out. There was one play where Teague iced an anticipated pick toward the middle and DSJ went baseline and easily got by Teague. Wiggins was the closest defender near the basket and just stood there and watched DSJ dunk when he could have made the effort to step in and take a charge or try to challenge the shot at the rim (last time I checked, Wiggins has about 6 inches on DSJ).

It's these types of plays where I think Wiggins does a quick mental calculation and if he feels like there isn't a better than 75% chance he can make a play, he just doesn't bother. It's why he's taken so few charges and gets so few blocks, despite his athleticism. I don't think that ever changes with him.

I thought he did a good job guarding Harrison Barnes, even though Barnes made some really tough shots against Wiggins. So his one-on-one defense was very solid. It's the off-the-ball/hustle/weakside stuff that he just doesn't give the extra effort on.

While I'm at it, I will also say that Butler got beat on baseline backdoor cuts twice in this game. So may be some of Wiggins is rubbing off on Butler!

Their defense is still a big time work in progress......

Q12543 wrote:Thanks for the report Lip.
Wiggins had a good game, but I still saw some of his patented weaknesses come out. There was one play where Teague iced an anticipated pick toward the middle and DSJ went baseline and easily got by Teague. Wiggins was the closest defender near the basket and just stood there and watched DSJ dunk when he could have made the effort to step in and take a charge or try to challenge the shot at the rim (last time I checked, Wiggins has about 6 inches on DSJ).

It's these types of plays where I think Wiggins does a quick mental calculation and if he feels like there isn't a better than 75% chance he can make a play, he just doesn't bother. It's why he's taken so few charges and gets so few blocks, despite his athleticism. I don't think that ever changes with him.

I remember that play, and a couple other transition plays where a little more effort could have made a difference. While annoying, I guess I am starting to get desensitized by it, and was happy with his production/effort in other areas...

60WinTim wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Thanks for the report Lip.
Wiggins had a good game, but I still saw some of his patented weaknesses come out. There was one play where Teague iced an anticipated pick toward the middle and DSJ went baseline and easily got by Teague. Wiggins was the closest defender near the basket and just stood there and watched DSJ dunk when he could have made the effort to step in and take a charge or try to challenge the shot at the rim (last time I checked, Wiggins has about 6 inches on DSJ).

It's these types of plays where I think Wiggins does a quick mental calculation and if he feels like there isn't a better than 75% chance he can make a play, he just doesn't bother. It's why he's taken so few charges and gets so few blocks, despite his athleticism. I don't think that ever changes with him.

I remember that play, and a couple other transition plays where a little more effort could have made a difference. While annoying, I guess I am starting to get desensitized by it, and was happy with his production/effort in other areas...

Yup, it is what it is. He's never going to be the Pippen/Marion type defensive player that gets in passing lanes, blocks shots, and wreaks havoc, despite his physical gifts. That's why Butler is so critical. He can guard guys one-on-one AND make great effort plays when off the ball. He really helps fill that gap. Now we just need his outside shot to come around!

Thanks for the report as usual.

The last couple games Dieng looks like a different player. Tonight he was espcially spry looking defensively. When Dieng Taj and Bjelly are all effective combine that with Towns and it's a pretty good collection of bigs with some varied skills. Bjelly has never looked better shooting the ball from 3. He looks like a shooting guard out there.

I continue to be encouraged about Tyus's D. There were possessions where he stayed in front of DSJ. JJ scores on him a few times but JJ does his thing. Tyus taking and making some 3's was a welcome sight. More please.

Wiggins D on Barnes looked very good. One time Barnes made the shot and Wiggins got his hand on the ball and knocked it loose a bit and Barnes was able to still score.

Bazz with an assist. He also had a quick outlet pass on a rebound that you don't usually see from him.

Crawford had some poor plays late but he was playing well and making some plays before that.

I wish this would have been more of a blowout so we could have seen more of MGH.

Wiggins took a charge last night.




J/K

monsterpile wrote:Thanks for the report as usual.

The last couple games Dieng looks like a different player. Tonight he was espcially spry looking defensively. When Dieng Taj and Bjelly are all effective combine that with Towns and it's a pretty good collection of bigs with some varied skills. Bjelly has never looked better shooting the ball from 3. He looks like a shooting guard out there.

I continue to be encouraged about Tyus's D. There were possessions where he stayed in front of DSJ. JJ scores on him a few times but JJ does his thing. Tyus taking and making some 3's was a welcome sight. More please.

Wiggins D on Barnes looked very good. One time Barnes made the shot and Wiggins got his hand on the ball and knocked it loose a bit and Barnes was able to still score.

Bazz with an assist. He also had a quick outlet pass on a rebound that you don't usually see from him.

Crawford had some poor plays late but he was playing well and making some plays before that.

I wish this would have been more of a blowout so we could have seen more of MGH.

Good point on Tyus Monster. I think he has a bit more athleticism than we give him credit for.