Minnesota Sports Forum

Tonight's crowd was probably the smallest of the season so far. But we generated more than our share of noise in the second half. Like the Houston game, it was a tale of two halfs with the Wolves coming out slow and sluggish only to turn things around by the second half with an extra surge in the 4th quarter. It was frustrating to watching for most of the first half, but lots of fun to watch in the second half.

And like the Houston game, this win was a total team effort. Everyone who played for the Wolves made an important positive contribution to the win.

I hope Flip was looking down on this game tonight because it reflected his vision with Towns and Wiggins playing like stars, leading the team in tandem on both ends of the court. We saw Towns end up with 35 efficient points, 12 rebounds, 6 blocks and 2 steals. And he was especially huge in the 4th quarter when he, yes, imposed his will on the opposing team. At the same time we saw Andrew Wiggins end up with 26 points on 58% shooting, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and a block while defending vigorously all over the court in the second half. I could also go on about RoCo and Saric who were both terrific again tonight. Rose had his shooting tough back and had some great buckets at critical times. Gorgui had 5 points and 5 boards in only 12 minutes. Teague remained frustrating at times and had only 3 points, but he had 18 assists and two great blocks. He worked his tail off defending Kemba.

Another nice win from a Wolves team that's become a lot of fun to watch. And again, you could see the great bond that's developed among all these guys.

A couple additional tidbits: First, KAT's mom was in the arena tonight. As you all know, KAT's dad sits near me. But his mom rarely comes to games. During one timeout during the t-shirt toss, a t-shirt was headed right towards KAT's mom when some guy reach out and snatched it away. KAT's mom and dad had a great sense of humor about it interacting with the rest of us sitting near them. Second, for LST's benefit, Okogie was very serious and attentive during every time out. Honestly, he stood around Thibs during every time out with a serious look on his face and appeared to be listening intently. He did mess around a bit during the pregame warmups as he was launching super high arching shots from beyond the arc. I'm not worried about him. He looks like a great kid who loves being on the team. I'm sure he's itching to play, but he strikes me as a really smart guy who knows his opportunity will come.

That's it for now. The Wolves will really be tested in the coming week as they face a tough west-coast road trip. Let's hope they can pull out a win in Portland or against Golden State.

Thanks for the post Lip. I Love getting insight from inside the stadium. Keep up the good work!!

lipoli390 wrote:Tonight's crowd was probably the smallest of the season so far. But we generated more than our share of noise in the second half. Like the Houston game, it was a tale of two halfs with the Wolves coming out slow and sluggish only to turn things around by the second half with an extra surge in the 4th quarter. It was frustrating to watching for most of the first half, but lots of fun to watch in the second half.

And like the Houston game, this win was a total team effort. Everyone who played for the Wolves made an important positive contribution to the win.

I hope Flip was looking down on this game tonight because it reflected his vision with Towns and Wiggins playing like stars, leading the team in tandem on both ends of the court. We saw Towns end up with 35 efficient points, 12 rebounds, 6 blocks and 2 steals. And he was especially huge in the 4th quarter when he, yes, imposed his will on the opposing team. At the same time we saw Andrew Wiggins end up with 26 points on 58% shooting, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and a block while defending vigorously all over the court in the second half. I could also go on about RoCo and Saric who were both terrific again tonight. Rose had his shooting tough back and had some great buckets at critical times. Gorgui had 5 points and 5 boards in only 12 minutes. Teague remained frustrating at times and had only 3 points, but he had 18 assists and two great blocks. He worked his tail off defending Kemba.

Another nice win from a Wolves team that's become a lot of fun to watch. And again, you could see the great bond that's developed among all these guys.

A couple additional tidbits: First, KAT's mom was in the arena tonight. As you all know, KAT's dad sits near me. But his mom rarely comes to games. During one timeout during the t-shirt toss, a t-shirt was headed right towards KAT's mom when some guy reach out and snatched it away. KAT's mom and dad had a great sense of humor about it interacting with the rest of us sitting near them. Second, for LST's benefit, Okogie was very serious and attentive during every time out. Honestly, he stood around Thibs during every time out with a serious look on his face and appeared to be listening intently. He did mess around a bit during the pregame warmups as he was launching super high arching shots from beyond the arc. I'm not worried about him. He looks like a great kid who loves being on the team. I'm sure he's itching to play, but he strikes me as a really smart guy who knows his opportunity will come.

That's it for now. The Wolves will really be tested in the coming week as they face a tough west-coast road trip. Let's hope they can pull out a win in Portland or against Golden State.

More proof that Josh is an avid reader of this board!
Great stuff as always, Lip. Last night looked a lot like the Houston game...came out flat and unfocused defensively, only to play extraordinary basketball in the second half to win going away. Really entertaining for the fans, but not a prescription we want to follow every night. I can only assume that our flat starts are due to the players being sad about the continuing Thibs boos during the introductions :).
As others have said, Wig is the key to this team being either a contender or just a team with the 8th spot as its ceiling. That's a lot of pressure to put on a guy who has been as inconsistent as he has been, but the last two games have been very promising. Hey, a guy can dream, can't he?

I disagree about the defense in the first half at least in the first quarter. The 2nd quarter was not so good. Earlier in the game the Hornets were hitting contested or unlikely shots. Zeller hit a 3 Lamb hit a couple shots on good D by Wiggins etc.

That put back dunk by Wiggins was notable because he actually flexed and celebrated which he didn't do most of the year. Teammates would be going bonkers and he would just walk. I said a couple days ago he is back. He has played most of this season with more energy on D and playing hard in general. His offense looks like it may have come around. He is attacking now and it's coming together. We need to see it for a large chunk of games to really by in but I'm feeling good right now about him.

It's almost as if there was a massive overreaction to Josh Okogie smiling and laughing.

Camden0916 wrote:It's almost as if there was a massive overreaction to Josh Okogie smiling and laughing.

An overreaction on the internet? Slow down there, bucko, science proves that people almost never overreact on the internet.