Minnesota Sports Forum

Wolves suck down the stretch.

Dlo and Kat out tomorrow. Wolves season starting to get in worry mode

kekgeek1 wrote:Wolves suck down the stretch.

Dlo and Kat out tomorrow. Wolves season starting to get in worry mode

This virus really fucked us over. We got through December doing way better than I ever anticipated. But we need everyone back.

One of the worst games of Anthony Edwards young career. Patrick Beverley blowing the game late in more ways than one. The unnecessary foul on Russell Westbrook 30-feet away from the hoop while they were in the bonus. And then turning the ball over on the other end right after. Miserable finish to an otherwise scrappy game. This one was winnable. I'm tired of saying that.

Naz Reid and Jaylen Nowell were sensational, however.

It's really difficult to evaluate this team with so many injuries/illness in every game. The first 20 games or so we were so much healthier than our opponents, and we were able to hang around .500. Since the Covid bug hit us big time, we have had some gritty performances and some moral victories, but the season seems to be slipping away...currently on a pace to win 36 games.

What can we say about last night? Well, LeBron is terrific, the Lakers are old and slow and don't care about rebounding, and the Wolves played hard. We win the game if Anthony and Bradley don't hit those desperation threes in the closing minutes.

Yeah, another bummer of a game. I was honestly kind of impressed we were in it down the stretch, although the Lakers sure don't look very good right now, so that's not saying much.

One thing I noticed even more than usual last night was Ant's tendency to rely on that one-handed bounce pass in which he kind of lets the dribble come up a bit high and then with his hand at a right angle to the ball sort of shovels it down for the bounce pass. He can do it with both hands, which is great.

When it works, it's nice. I guess theoretically, the one-handed motion itself might also keep the defender guessing for an extra split second over whether he's passing or continuing to dribble it. I suspect, though, that it's his tendency to attack that means the pass comes a bit unexpectedly for the defense and buys him an extra split second to get the pass off.

But the accuracy on those passes is not always the best. I feel like he shouldn't let the ball bounce up that high before trying to pass it, and he might want to think about using two hands sometimes for more accuracy. The passing motion itself just looks a bit awkward at times, like he's trying to bounce a rugby ball or something.

Anybody else notice this somewhat unusual passing tendency from Ant?

There's something there to work with, and if he can really develop that he should be a lot more useful in the pick-and-roll game, but it just looks a bit funky to me right now.

SameOldNudityDrew wrote:Yeah, another bummer of a game. I was honestly kind of impressed we were in it down the stretch, although the Lakers sure don't look very good right now, so that's not saying much.

One thing I noticed even more than usual last night was Ant's tendency to rely on that one-handed bounce pass in which he kind of lets the dribble come up a bit high and then with his hand at a right angle to the ball sort of shovels it down for the bounce pass. He can do it with both hands, which is great.

When it works, it's nice. I guess theoretically, the one-handed motion itself might also keep the defender guessing for an extra split second over whether he's passing or continuing to dribble it. I suspect, though, that it's his tendency to attack that means the pass comes a bit unexpectedly for the defense and buys him an extra split second to get the pass off.

But the accuracy on those passes is not always the best. I feel like he shouldn't let the ball bounce up that high before trying to pass it, and he might want to think about using two hands sometimes for more accuracy. The passing motion itself just looks a bit awkward at times, like he's trying to bounce a rugby ball or something.

Anybody else notice this somewhat unusual passing tendency from Ant?

There's something there to work with, and if he can really develop that he should be a lot more useful in the pick-and-roll game, but it just looks a bit funky to me right now.

Besides his technical prowess that needs work, there is also a general awareness issue. There are times where a quick swing of the ball or kick out would lead to a wide open 3, yet he often misses these as he gets tunnel vision sizing up his man.

He did make a couple of early really nice passes to Naz on the pick and roll. I think passing is something that can develop.

I recently listened to a couple of guys discuss LaMelo Ball and Anthony Edwards. At first blush, I thought they grossly undersold just how good Edwards is as they gushed and gushed about Ball.

But there are multiple times EVERY game that Edwards just stops the Wolves in their tracks with his one-on-one mindset. He's missing a ton of wide open people. Even when he eventually makes the pass, it's comically several beats late and worthless.

It's part of the learning process... or so I think. But if I'm being honest, I'd like to see that learning process end up with more of those quick passes and less one-on-one play. After all, what good is learning if it doesn't change anything?

Camden wrote:Naz Reid and Jaylen Nowell were sensational, however.

They did some good stuff, but they were 1-8 from the 3. They could have been even MORE sensational.

Nowell feels this close to being a really good bench piece. But last night he had a couple of chances to create some separation with timely 3-point makes and 2 out of his 3 misses at critical junctures were absolute scud missiles that almost broke the backboard. What the hell is wrong with him!? He's so smooth at times, but then just misses so badly on what are not even heavily contested shots. We need him to be close to a 40% shooter from beyond the arc, like Beasley, to make up for his defensive deficiencies.