Minnesota Sports Forum

Another relatively small crowd and another night of Thibs constantly screaming. And of course, another gigantic 3rd quarter collapse. I heard Thibs' post-game comments. Apparently, according to Thibs, it was the players taking bad shots and making the same mistakes again. Interesting that they take bad shots and make those same mistakes predominantly in the 3rd quarter. Hmm.

I'll offer my observation on last night's 3rd quarter collapse. It looked to me like our guys came out flat and tentative. They seemed afraid to shoot and would pass up shots in favor of terrible ill-advised passes. He always preaches the "extra pass." I believe he has these guys thinking way to much and totally disconnected from their instincts. I think it shows itself mainly in the 3rd quarter after he gets on them at half time. He probably yells at them at half time about taking bad shots and not making the extra pass. So they come out in the 3rd and pass up shots that were working in the 1st half in favor of dumb passes.

Beyond what I see as Thibs' 3rd quarter effect, I'll offer a few other observations.

1. KAT has clearly regressed. There's definitely something wrong with his game. My guess is that he's affected more than some others by Thibs constant barking. KAT looks tight and totally out of touch with his instincts.

2. Wiggins was tremendous on the offensive end, but he didn't rebound or do much of anything else. Nevertheless, his offense was incredible and it was the reason we had a chance to win the game. He has definitely taking his offensive game to the next level and he does some things that very few players in the League can do. I love how he's improved his perimeter shot. Not only is it going in at a much higher percentage, but it looks much better. He showed consistently good balance and terrific form and follow-through on his shots, something we didn't always seem from his last season.

3. Zach shot well in the first half but went cold in the second. And he needs to attack the basket more instead of relying exclusively on jacking up threes. And he took too many off-balance threes last night. I suspect that Thibs' reference to bad shots had a lot to do with Zach last night.

4. Ricky played well last night with 8 boards and 8 assists along with hitting 2 of 3 three pointers. As always, he had a hard time keeping Walker in front of him. But he still defended him fairly well. Overall, I'm ok with his performance.

5. Dunn is a terrible offensive player right now.

6. Aldrich may have the slowest feet in the NBA. He's terrible.

That's all for now.

Thanks for the report Lip. I only watched a replay of the first half and then a portion of the third quarter debacle before shutting 'er down in disgust.

While Rubio's stat line was good, he really did have a crappy first quarter in my opinion. He was making careless passes and not fighting hard around screens, thus we ended up in a lot of switches where one of our bigs ended up on Walker.

Also, he deserves at least 1/5th of the blame for these 3rd quarter meltdowns, seeing as he's the guy quarterbacking the offense.

Plenty of blame to go around, but in my opinion it's the starting 5 and Thibs - those six individuas that need to figure this shit out.

So Thibs tells KAT to be aggressive and he interprets that as jack up six threes this half? KAT has looked pretty decisive in taking those shots. He doesn't seem to be second guessing that aspect of his game. I think KATs play is 100% on himself and the more likely scenario is that Thibs is trying to get him to play more to his natural strengths.

This team had a season of horrible habits, then couple that with a summer of hype. They expect the game to come to them with their natural flow, it won't. The fact there is a big lead is great. But teaching a team to stay aggressive when front running can only happen through repetition and discipline. I still believe we are going to be better off in the long run for this, I suspect everyone on this team needed a dose of reality (especially KAT) after all the hype.

I couldn't agree more with your observations, Lip...with the amendment about Ricky's game Q provided. I didn't think it was a very strong effort by Ricky.

Your first point is the one that is most troubling to me, and obviously involves the most conjecture on the part of us serious fans. We don't know for sure that what you (and others, including me) are surmising, but the evidence is certainly there. Thibs' sideline behavior borders on psychotic...constantly screaming and moving his right hand in a bizarre compulsive manner. There has to be a reason for the repeated 3rd quarter disasters, and I'm not buying Thibs' post-game comments that this is about the players not learning. The guys involved in this year's 3rd quarter debacles are almost exactly the same guys who played so well the last half of last year. Are we supposed to believe that they all simultaneously forgot how to play after halftime? Of course not...this is about coaching. Thibs needs to correct his style...and very soon.

Thanks for the Game Report Lip.

I'll be at the game on Thursday and will share some observations. I don't have good seats like Lip though.

I expected growing pains, but I also expected to see gradual improvement in the D. It seems like that is kind of stagnating at level 0. We know it is a priority for Thibs, and we know the young Wolves are aware of that. I dunno why, but I'd guess it is a combination of not having internalized Thibs system yet + not having the mental discipline to play good D for entire possessions and entire games. There was a super frustrating play late in the game where they played 23 seconds of great D but gave up a dunk in the 24th second.

Re: the third period -- I think teams probably underestimate the Wolves at the start of games. Veteran teams also relax a bit knowing it isn't winning time yet.

Then at half time the other team's coaches make some adjustments and do some yelling. The other team comes out more focused, plays better D, and moves the ball better.

The Wolves come out of half time a bit relaxed and satisfied, having a lead. They may also have trouble, due to their youth, of absorbing and executing the half-time adjustments Thibs tried to make. Then as the lead slips away a desperate attitude kicks in and they play out of character/poorly.

Wile E Coyote wrote:Re: the third period -- I think teams probably underestimate the Wolves at the start of games. Veteran teams also relax a bit knowing it isn't winning time yet.

Then at half time the other team's coaches make some adjustments and do some yelling. The other team comes out more focused, plays better D, and moves the ball better.

The Wolves come out of half time a bit relaxed and satisfied, having a lead. They may also have trouble, due to their youth, of absorbing and executing the half-time adjustments Thibs tried to make. Then as the lead slips away a desperate attitude kicks in and they play out of character/poorly.

I think this take is spot on. Thibs can't immediately change the experience of these kids. It's amazing how quickly we come out of the gun, maybe a bit too amazing for the personalities on this team. There just so unfamiliar with a lead they don't know how to play with one.

It's interesting. I strongly agree with a lot of this report and strongly disagree with some pieces.

1. Agree completely that KAT has gotten worse and I think it is in large part due to Thibs and our offensive system. KAT is getting so many, too many, touches at the top of the arc. He doesn't seem confident in taking shots with a defender closing in on him. instead he opts for the pump fake, drive, and then forcing a shot in the lane or a fade away. This hasn't been working. We need to get him back to the post. He needs to be more confident pulling the trigger when he's open for 3.

4. Did Ricky really play well? His defense seemed like an issue for me. He never can fight through a screen, oftentimes leading to a Big switching onto an opposing guard. That also means Ricky is caught defending a Big and multiple times he got taken advantage of in the post. I don't think his defense is all that good right now, and it may need a team adjustment.

5. I thought this was a better game for Dunn offensively. 3 assists, 1 TO. 2-3 FG. I thought he was aggressive enough but not careless and was creating holes in the opponent's defense.

I think might have been the quietest early season crowd in years.....hell you could even hear the Hornet's coach clear as day

flash seats can fuck right off

I watched the game on TV. I hate it when it is on Fox Sports North +.

I felt like Thibs played the starters 10 minute straight in the 3rd quarter. Using the Phil Jackson method of letting them figure it out/ or suffer their mistakes. I thought the starters looked gassed and that might have affected their 4th quarter performance. Let's hope that was only a one-time attempt at figuring out this 3rd quarter issue.
I would like to see him bench the starters in the 3rd quarter if they give up 8 or more unanswered points. Since we are losing the quarter anyhow let's see if the reserves can come in with energy and change the pace.

I also remember two possession where it was either Payne or Aldrich taking a shot with 14 seconds left on the clock. That makes no sense unless it is wide open dunk.