Great to be back in the arena! Game report

[FNG]

Being back at Target Center is better than nothing, but awfully strange being there with just 3000 fans. Most of the food and booze stands are closed...you have to put your order in from your seat on the Timberwolves app, and they text you when it's time to pick it up. But...back to the game.

Actually, I lied...here's a positive thing about being at a game with only 3000 fans. You can hear almost everything the coaches and players are saying. Really fun to hear the interaction on the court and from the bench. Thank God it wasn't a Knicks game though.

I feel bad for Beasley out for the season, but it's likely going to force Finch to play my dream lineup the rest of the season...Kat/Jaden/Ant/DLO/Ricky. We'll never know if Finch would have played DLO at PG if Beasley and/or Nowell were available, but I was happy to see him at his correct position. And it worked beautifully. After a couple rusty turnovers, DLO played marvelously off the ball...nice basket cuts we didn't see early in the season, and finding ways to get open for threes. KAT, Ricky and Ant are all willing passers, so DLO will get a lot of opportunity to shoot and score if he's on the court with them. Let's hope he takes advantage of the opportunities like he did in the 4th quarter. 27% shooting isn't good, but we expected some rust after a long layoff, and it was still an efficient night because he got to the line.

Fox is fun to watch. He feasted when our PGs tried to defend him...neither Ricky nor J-Mac had any success. But offensively challenged JO showed why he has Finch's confidence as he was he only guy who could come close to stopping Fox all night. Culver is a disaster, but Finch has managed to carve out a role for JO. I thought his -16 was not a fair representation of his value last night...he was a pleasure to watch. And Josh, thank you for limiting your offense to basket cuts and put backs.

Juancho's +17 tonight was well-earned. He's so ineffective on defense and unorthodox on offense, he's not pretty to watch. But he is consistently tough and effective on the boards and a threat to hit the three. Finch obviously likes him. Gutsy FNG take...by the end of the season, we won't be ripping Rosas for paying Juancho $7 million per year.

Ricky had one of his most unimpressive stat lines of the year with a whopping 5 points and 4 assists. But you really have to be there live to see his value and why Finch loves him...he's truly another coach on the court. You can't see it on TV, but during opposing free throws, Ricky is always coaching and drawing up the next offensive play. 3 or 4 times he huddled with DLO and directed him what to do on the next possession, with DLO nodding enthusiastically. One time Ricky was actually pointing as he demonstrated the next play to Russell during a free throw, and I told my gal "My God, he's telling the other team what they're going to do!". And DLO did just what Ricky drew up...starting in the left corner, and then using a double screen by KAT and Ant to get a wide open three in the upper right of the arc. Really fun to watch it unfold and to realize the Kings could do nothing to stop it!

Speaking of coaching, it's also fun to watch Finch during free throws or other breaks in the action. He never misses an opportunity to coach, and Ant is usually the guy he pulls over to talk with. Ant appears to be a sponge when it comes to Finch's instruction, and that can only make him better. By the way, he almost never pulls Jaden over to talk to...his basketball instincts are so good, Finch doesn't view him as as much of a project as he does Ant. I'm a big fan of Finch.

With all the positives with a double digit win and the successful return of DLO, we have to address one glaring deficiency that simply has to be fixed for this team to be competitive...defending the three. When Ant and DLO are on the court (and Beas when he was healthy), I would argue that we give up more unguarded threes than any team in the league. Ricky, JO and Jaden (and surprisingly J-Mac) help a lot in this area, but effective 3-point defense requires precision rotation, awareness and effort, and DLO and Ant hurt us in this area. We lose the game last night if the Kings go 13-36 on threes rather than 9-36. and they easily should have with all the open looks they had. So as enthusiastic as I felt driving home last night, visions of open three-point looks dampen my enthusiasm. Much to the disdain of several here, I think we'll see a lot more Josh if our 3-point defense doesn't improve.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I thought D'Angelo Russell was more than okay defensively last night.

*ducks*

He moved his feet well and had active hands on ball-handlers as well as in the passing lanes. Kings players shot 1-6 from the floor and 0-3 from three against him last night. I don't think we'll ever see the guy named to an All-Defensive team, but solid or okay is attainable and that's what he was from my view.

[DNatagal]

Did anyone notice DLO moving quicker...and better laterally than before he went out? He was actually able to get in front of drives to the basket a couple times in one game. Not saying he is going to be All-NBA defense, just saying he won't be the worst out there.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Did anyone notice DLO moving quicker...and better laterally than before he went out? He was actually able to get in front of drives to the basket a couple times in one game. Not saying he is going to be All-NBA defense, just saying he won't be the worst out there.

[FNG]

I thought D'Angelo Russell was more than okay defensively last night.

*ducks*

He moved his feet well and had active hands on ball-handlers as well as in the passing lanes. Kings players shot 1-6 from the floor and 0-3 from three against him last night. I don't think we'll ever see the guy named to an All-Defensive team, but solid or okay is attainable and that's what he was from my view.

Ha, no need to duck...I actually saw a lot of hustle out of DLO, and I agree with the general opinion here that his knee looked fine. Still a problem with rotations, but much more effort than we have seen over his career. He's clearly happy to be back, and showed it last night.

[Lipoli390]

FNG - Thanks for the game report. My take always via the TV are close your from inside the arena. However, I'm pretty sure I'll still be ripping Rosas for giving Juancho that $7M per year deal. :) And I say that even though I agree he had a pretty good game against the Kings the other night. I'll just also note that Bobby Portis had 13 points , 13 rebounds and a steal tonight, hitting 5 of his 10 FG attempts and 2 or his 3 three-point attempts. He's been an efficient scorer and excellent rebounder all season for the Bucks. And he cost a lot less than Juancho. For me, it's not just Juancho's play relative to his contract; it's also his play and contract relative to the other options. Having said that, I think we'll continue to see an improving Juancho the rest of this season.