Game Report - Wolves v. Rockets

[Lipoli390]

Nowhere near a capacity crowd, but decent turnout for a Monday night. What looked like it was going to be a miserable Monday blowout loss by the early 3rd quarter turned out to be one of the best Wolves wins I've ever seen. And the relatively small crowd became one of the loudest crowds I've ever been part of at Target Center.

This was a total team effort more than most. The entire team was responsible for the mediocre first quarter and the terrible second quarter/early 3rd quarter. Even Covington was bad defensively in the first half. But likewise, the entire team was responsible for the turnaround in the 3rd that took the Wolves from 19 down to a 12-point win. No one player stood out from the others. Every player made key plays on both ends of the court. Wiggins was tremendous defensively, flying all over the place challenging shots and blocking shots at the rim - 3 blocks to be exact. Of course, there was his big hale-Mary three at the end of the first half. Covington was grabbing the ball out of opposing players' hands, effectively telling the Rockets, "that's my ball!" Players were switching quickly and getting stops.

The officiating was horrible last night. The travel calls on the Wolves were mainly ridiculous given the failure to make the same calls against Houston. A lot of the fouls calls on the Wolves were inexcusably bad. And three technicals?!! Come on!! Rocket players were whining about every call against them with no technicals while Wolves players were T'd up for a momentary grimace. But the officiating may have turned out to be a good thing for the Wolves. In fact, I think that ridiculous technical on Teague may have been the turning point in the game. The lesson? Just like the Hulk, you don't want to make Teague mad. His fury after that technical turned him into a force to be reckoned with on the court, defending, attacking the basket, making quick decisions with the ball and actually taking open threes when presented.

Some key plays that stood out for me:

1. Andrew's three at the end of the 1st half
2. All of Andrew's three blocked shots
3. RoCo grabbing the ball out of Capela's hands in the 4th.
4. Tyus grabbing the loose ball and taking it the length of the court for two
5. KAT's step-back three in the 4th - cold-blooded.
6. KAT's pass out of a double-team under the bucket to Covington for a three in the 4th
7. Saric attacking the basket for an and-one layup in the 4th
8. Saric's corner three in the 4th

That's a small sample of terrific plays that collectively produced a great win against a good team.

Again, I was struck by the great chemistry on this team. The Wolves came out flat last night, but they never paniced and never down on one another. Instead, they showed a level of confidence and fortitude, fueled by their new-found chemistry to mount a tremendous comeback. Two moments stand out for me when it comes to team chemistry. One was watching Derrick Rose greet Wiggins with a series of frenetic high-fives and Andrew's 3-pointer at the end of the first half. The other was Towns walking up to RoCo at the end of the game and giving him a big hug. No frowns, no bickering no panic. Everyone cheering for one another on the court and the bench. This is what team chemistry is all about. It makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts. That's what we're beginning to see from the Wolves.

There's still a long way to go and the Wolves have yet to even show they are a playoff team in the West. But the change on this team since the Butler trade is really encouraging. The Wolves need to build on last night's win with a win against Charlotte on Wednesday night. Then the Wolves will really be tested on a long road trip. That road trip will tell us what this team is made of.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Thanks for the recap Lip. I'm glad you got to see a rousing comeback victory after the Boston loss at home.

Teague is like a less extreme version of Wiggins. His effort and intensity seems to wax and wane. When he's energized and decisive, he is a completely different player on both ends.

I like how the crowd was jeering Harden and the refs. He got some comeuppance in the second half where the refs chose to swallow their whistle or gave HIM the offensive foul. Love it!

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Lip, I don't think I have ever been to a game with a more bizarre turnaround...we honestly were ready to head for the exits after Coolio. Glad we stayed around for the second half!

Frankly, we gave so many open 3 looks to Houston in that first half, we could have easily been down 30 at the half and I would have been out of the building even before Coolio! Fortunately, Houston missed enough open threes to allow us to hang around to spank them in the second half.

RoCo went through a complete transformation at halftime. His uncharacterisitc lethargy in the first half got me thinking that he had finally been Thibodeaud, and was no longer going to be the energy guy we traded for. Frankly, his defense in the first half was substandard. But his second half was completely different. You talk about Covington grabbing the ball out of players' hands, and I'm still trying to figure out how he was only credited with 2 steals...seemed like so many more. All I know is that when Rob and Tyus are on the court together, the chances of a steal are as high as any pair in the NBA...they both have great lane-filling instincts combined with quick hands.

And Tyus made a three...praise God!

[AbeVigodaLive]

It's funny you mentioned Coolio. I normally skip through the entire halftime show on FS1. But I saw about 45 seconds of Lynch and Hanneman trying to shout over the background racket. I didn't know it was Coolio though.

It was pretty amusing.

[TAFKASP]

What's a Coolio?

[AbeVigodaLive]

What's a Coolio?

Troy Hudson >>> Coolio???

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Lip, one thing I noticed last night that was a little disturbing to me. I'm a big fan (as you are) of watching things that happen off the court...player interaction on the bench, habits during shootaround, etc. Last night I had the binoculars on Okogie a lot. I like guys who practice what they are going to use in a game rather than just clowning around. Some guys spend the entire time at the free throw line, KG used to practice over and over that baseline fadeaway that he made a career out of. Ricky Davis on the other hand used to practice shots from out of bounds over the backboard...fun, but not a practical move. At least last night, Okogie was closer to the Ricky Davis mode...he was taking lackadaisical 3-pointers from 10-feet beyond the arc, and half-hearted hook shots in the lane. Maybe he's frustrated because he knows he's not likely to get into the game, but I wondered if he might have lazy practice habits similar to what I watched last night, and if that might be a reason Thibs isn't playing him.

Further, while he is an enthusiastic guy on the bench in cheering for his teammates, his behavior during timeouts was less than stellar. He spent most of the time laughing and whispering to Tyus while Thibs was talking to the team. Tyus didn't seem to know how to handle it...he obviously enjoys joking around with Josh, but he looked like a schoolkid who was worried about getting in trouble for talking.

Maybe my observations were one-time occurrences, and maybe they mean nothing. But since I'm not going to the game on Wednesday. please give us a report on Josh's practice habits and time out behavior...I saw a little more Wes Johnson than I wanted to see last night.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

What's a Coolio?

Troy Hudson >>> Coolio???

Ha, he just might be!

[Monster]

A couple thoughts here.

I was livid at the officiating for over half the game BUT I'll say this the Wolves int hat 2nd half we're playing aggressive D and were rewarded a number of times with no calls. The Rockets guys thought that T on Teague was ridiculous and there were a couple other fouls they thought were bad too. I thought they were homers on a couple other fouls but that's ok. Lol

As for Teague's energy he was better at the Derrick Rose thing tonight than Derrick Rose was. I do think Teague took it up a notch offensively after that T. On the other end he was up on CP3 the whole time playijg him well giving lots of effort. I don't think CP3 sees that type of defense a lot. Get Teague mad and maybe he will actually take open 3s!!!! Lol one he did pull down but it was Capela closing out on him so that made sense once I processed it more.

Meanwhile Rose as a defender helped enough to offset a meh offensive night. To his credit he didn't shoot the team out of the game. He missed Saric and Towns wide open from 3 a few times. It reminded me of poor Belly last year wide open. The difference between him and Saric is Saric tend to find something else to do. Belly often just stood there.

My favorite play of the night was Covington grabbing that Capela shot and then also winning the jump ball. Unbelievable.

Also I thought all things considered Towns exerted his will innthe post against the Rockets. He made it look easy a number a times against both Capela and Tucker. Yes Capela got some rim runs on him but a couple of those were not on Towns. He had attempted a shot at the rim someone else should have been there. Wiggins got back one time and broke it up. It was great to see. That one long lob Harden passed to him where he seemed to finish it while about to beyond the back board was a pretty good play by both guys not bad D by Dieng who once again had some solid minutes.

Great win. Yes the Rockets missed some open 3's but the Wolves got them out of their rhythm and the Rockets look like they have some problems. Yeah they will add some players and get better but if Inwas a fan I would be worried. They aren't the same team as last year. As the Dunc'd on guys mentioned about this game the Rockets 3 point shooting isn't what it was last year.

[AbeVigodaLive]

A couple thoughts here.

I was livid at the officiating for over half the game BUT I'll say this the Wolves int hat 2nd half we're playing aggressive D and were rewarded a number of times with no calls. The Rockets guys thought that T on Teague was ridiculous and there were a couple other fouls they thought were bad too. I thought they were homers on a couple other fouls but that's ok. Lol

As for Teague's energy he was better at the Derrick Rose thing tonight than Derrick Rose was. I do think Teague took it up a notch offensively after that T. On the other end he was up on CP3 the whole time playijg him well giving lots of effort. I don't think CP3 sees that type of defense a lot. Get Teague mad and maybe he will actually take open 3s!!!! Lol one he did pull down but it was Capela closing out on him so that made sense once I processed it more.

Meanwhile Rose as a defender helped enough to offset a meh offensive night. To his credit he didn't shoot the team out of the game. He missed Saric and Towns wide open from 3 a few times. It reminded me of poor Belly last year wide open. The difference between him and Saric is Saric tend to find something else to do. Belly often just stood there.

My favorite play of the night was Covington grabbing that Capela shot and then also winning the jump ball. Unbelievable.

Also I thought all things considered Towns exerted his will innthe post against the Rockets. He made it look easy a number a times against both Capela and Tucker. Yes Capela got some rim runs on him but a couple of those were not on Towns. He had attempted a shot at the rim someone else should have been there. Wiggins got back one time and broke it up. It was great to see. That one long lob Harden passed to him where he seemed to finish it while about to beyond the back board was a pretty good play by both guys not bad D by Dieng who once again had some solid minutes.

Great win. Yes the Rockets missed some open 3's but the Wolves got them out of their rhythm and the Rockets look like they have some problems. Yeah they will add some players and get better but if Inwas a fan I would be worried. They aren't the same team as last year. As the Dunc'd on guys mentioned about this game the Rockets 3 point shooting isn't what it was last year.

You could see the modern NBA in full effect... and why it's tough to build around a post player... last night.

There was a lot of pushing + shoving + elbowing between Towns and Tucker last night. A lot. Yet, just a few feet away, you can't place your hand on a guy's hip without an automatic foul call. I'm not saying that I want to go back to Anthony Mason as a PG era basketball... only that I'd like to see a slightly more level playing field.

The NBA seems to be actively removing post play from the game when they call the game like that. In addition... it was at least 3 (maybe 4?) offensive fouls on Towns last night. That's yet another detriment to having everything go through the post..