Game Report - Wolves v. Suns
Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 1:32 am
It should go without saying that this was a horrible loss. Losing at home to one of the worst teams in the League that also happened to be playing without its best player is completely inexcusable.
Looking at individual players, KAT, Teague and Gibson were the only Wolves players who played well. Butler played his heart out, but he was really hampered by a bad back most of the second half.
I thought the officiating was decidedly biased against the Wolves. But Teague should have known better than to put himself in a position to get called for two 3-point fouls. Odds are at least one of those threes would have been missed if Teague hadn't committed those two fouls. So those mistakes cost us the game. But you still can't blame Teague for the loss. He played hard, scored 17 points on 57% shooting and came through with some nice defensive plays, including 3 blocks. He showed great competitiveness tonight.
KAT was, once again, our best three-point shooter tonight. He did all he could, scoring 28 points and grabbing 11 rebounds while also getting 4 assists, 2 steals and a block. He got to the line 12 times and hit 83% of them while also hitting 57% of his 7 three-point attempts. He played hard. Taj had his typically solid game with 18 points and 10 boards.
Unfortunately, what KAT, Taj and Teague gave the Wolves tonight obviously wasn't enough. So what went wrong? It boils down essentially to two things in my view: Thibs and Wiggins.
Regarding Thibs, it was a familiar tale tonight from a coaching standpoint. It was the typical motionless isolation offense that typically ends up in contested midrange jumpers. Wiggins was horrible, yet Bazz continued to remain planted on the bench. Butler could barley walk in the 4th quarter, but Thibs stubbornly kept running plays for Butler down the stretch instead o the team's best scorer, Towns.
Regarding Wiggins I hardly know where to begin. His shooting slump returned after a one-game hietus as he went 5-16 from the field, 1-6 from behind the arc and 2-4 from the line. As if that wasn't bad enough, he was his familiar ball-watching self tonight. He had 1 rebound and 1 assist. Yes, 1 rebound and 1 assist. That's inexcusable. The Wolves were grossly outrebounded tonight. They needed more than 1 rebound from their 6-8 SF with long arms and a 43" vertical. The worst moment of the night was when Wiggins took the ball down the stretch in the 4th quarter into the fringe of the paint one-on-three and missed a highly contested jumper. What was especially horrible about it was the fact that Towns was right behind him just behind the 3-point line in his favorite spot totally unguarded and calling for the ball. Wiggins had to see and hear him, but chose to take a contested one-on-three two-point shot after some of his familiar sloppy dribbling. The way KAT was hitting threes, the odds are he would have hit that shot and the Wolves would have won.
This is a poorly coached team with a soon-to-be grossly overpriced SF. I'd also say we have a grossly overpaid PG at $19 million per year for three years. We're at the salary cap and could even hit the luxury tax threshold next season. We're 4 games over .500, but headed down the road to a much tougher part of our schedule. Things are not looking good.
Looking at individual players, KAT, Teague and Gibson were the only Wolves players who played well. Butler played his heart out, but he was really hampered by a bad back most of the second half.
I thought the officiating was decidedly biased against the Wolves. But Teague should have known better than to put himself in a position to get called for two 3-point fouls. Odds are at least one of those threes would have been missed if Teague hadn't committed those two fouls. So those mistakes cost us the game. But you still can't blame Teague for the loss. He played hard, scored 17 points on 57% shooting and came through with some nice defensive plays, including 3 blocks. He showed great competitiveness tonight.
KAT was, once again, our best three-point shooter tonight. He did all he could, scoring 28 points and grabbing 11 rebounds while also getting 4 assists, 2 steals and a block. He got to the line 12 times and hit 83% of them while also hitting 57% of his 7 three-point attempts. He played hard. Taj had his typically solid game with 18 points and 10 boards.
Unfortunately, what KAT, Taj and Teague gave the Wolves tonight obviously wasn't enough. So what went wrong? It boils down essentially to two things in my view: Thibs and Wiggins.
Regarding Thibs, it was a familiar tale tonight from a coaching standpoint. It was the typical motionless isolation offense that typically ends up in contested midrange jumpers. Wiggins was horrible, yet Bazz continued to remain planted on the bench. Butler could barley walk in the 4th quarter, but Thibs stubbornly kept running plays for Butler down the stretch instead o the team's best scorer, Towns.
Regarding Wiggins I hardly know where to begin. His shooting slump returned after a one-game hietus as he went 5-16 from the field, 1-6 from behind the arc and 2-4 from the line. As if that wasn't bad enough, he was his familiar ball-watching self tonight. He had 1 rebound and 1 assist. Yes, 1 rebound and 1 assist. That's inexcusable. The Wolves were grossly outrebounded tonight. They needed more than 1 rebound from their 6-8 SF with long arms and a 43" vertical. The worst moment of the night was when Wiggins took the ball down the stretch in the 4th quarter into the fringe of the paint one-on-three and missed a highly contested jumper. What was especially horrible about it was the fact that Towns was right behind him just behind the 3-point line in his favorite spot totally unguarded and calling for the ball. Wiggins had to see and hear him, but chose to take a contested one-on-three two-point shot after some of his familiar sloppy dribbling. The way KAT was hitting threes, the odds are he would have hit that shot and the Wolves would have won.
This is a poorly coached team with a soon-to-be grossly overpriced SF. I'd also say we have a grossly overpaid PG at $19 million per year for three years. We're at the salary cap and could even hit the luxury tax threshold next season. We're 4 games over .500, but headed down the road to a much tougher part of our schedule. Things are not looking good.