Game Report - Wolves v. Grizzlies

[Lipoli390]

Which team was tanking tonight? An absolutely pathetic effort from a Wolves team that in my view doesn't deserve to make the playoffs.

There's plenty of blame to go around, so I won't waste time singling out every single Wolves player. I'll focus on two: Crawford and Teague.

Crawford was dreadful, hitting only 3 of his 12 shots and playing horrific defense. Once again, Crawford was playing heroball. To say he overdribbled would be a gross understatement. No, Jamaal, you're not Michael Jordan. You're Jamaal Crawford and you're 37 years old. But that's what Jamaal does and Thibs puts him in there knowing that's what he does.

Yes, Teague scored a lot tonight as most of his floaters were falling. But I'll just repeat what a guy sitting next to me at the game said about Teague: "I've never seen a player's stat line so grossly overstate the quality of play." His defense was horrible and his inability to make his teammates better was on full display. One play was emblematic of the problem with Teague. He was dribbling the ball just inside the 3-point arc presumably waiting for a play to develop. Then Wiggins suddenly and brilliantly spun off his defender towards the basket for what should have been an easy pass from Teague and uncontested dunk by Andrew. But alas, Teague didn't see him and instead passed enemically to someone around the perimeter. That sort of thing happens a lot with Teague and it was on full display tonight.

Then there's the coaching. I can't for the life of me understand why our head coach had the Wolves playing a methodical, slow half-court game against the physical half-court Grizzlies. The Wolves were overmatched physically but could have used their speed and athleticism, especially Wiggins, to overwhelm the Grizzlies offensively. Instead, we had to watch Teague walk the ball up the court slowly over and over again as the Grizzlies comfortably took up their defensive positions and then physically dominated the Wolves. I couldn't believe my eyes. As for the Wolves defense. Well, what defense? I still can't understand why the Grizzlies were up into the body of every Wolves player on the defensive end while the Wolves repeatedly gave the Grizzlies players room to maneuver, penetrate and get their feet set comfortably for perimeter shots. But that's pretty much how the Wolves defend for much if not most of every game.

I do want to single out Wiggins for praise. Yes, I'd like our max player to step up with 28 points instead of 18. That's what I expect of him when our other young stud faces perhaps the best center in the game as he did tonight. But nevertheless, Wiggins was terrific defensively and on the boards all night. He played 48 minutes of high-level intense defense. But we can't get 0 points from Belly, zero rebounds in 14 minutes from our backup center (Dieng) and a 3-12 ball-hogging performance from our only wing off the bench. Oh, and it's ridiculous that Crawford is our only NBA-caliber wing off the bench with Butler out given that we've had an open roster spot all season.

I still think the Wolves will make the playoffs, but tonight's game makes an 8th seed the most likely outcome. As for me, I don't think this team deserves to make the playoffs. So I'll be cheering for Denver from this point on.

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

Must have been a tough game to watch.

Teague was attacking great tonight, but the only person he looked to get involved was taj. I thought the teague/kat pnr had turned the corner for the better, but it was brutal tonight.Those 2 would waste 20 seconds of the clock trying to figure out what to do then pass to wiggins with 1 or 2 secs left (happened a few times). Bjelly is not involved at all when teague is in his attack mode. I thought he got a couple of good looks, but they were mostly generated by wiggy drive and kicks (hes been passing well since jimmys injury). I also thought wiggs in the post was unguardable by most of the grizzlie wings, yet they only went to it once or twice.

And I agree wholeheartedly about jamal. He was allowing his man to blow by him defensively then would give the ball back on the other end by isoing. And thibs left him on the floor a lot to our detriment.

IMO Taj was the best player tonight, I dont know what more he could have done.

How did the players look on the bench. To me, it looked like they were completely gassed in the 4th.

[thedoper]

I just spent a grand to take my whole family to see the Wolves play the lakers in a few weeks. They better make the fucking playoffs. Tonight was unacceptable, no way around it.

[Monster]

Which team was tanking tonight? An absolutely pathetic effort from a Wolves team that in my view doesn't deserve to make the playoffs.

There's plenty of blame to go around, so I won't waste time singling out every single Wolves player. I'll focus on two: Crawford and Teague.

Crawford was dreadful, hitting only 3 of his 12 shots and playing horrific defense. Once again, Crawford was playing heroball. To say he overdribbled would be a gross understatement. No, Jamaal, you're not Michael Jordan. You're Jamaal Crawford and you're 37 years old. But that's what Jamaal does and Thibs puts him in there knowing that's what he does.

Yes, Teague scored a lot tonight as most of his floaters were falling. But I'll just repeat what a guy sitting next to me at the game said about Teague: "I've never seen a player's stat line so grossly overstate the quality of play." His defense was horrible and his inability to make his teammates better was on full display. One play was emblematic of the problem with Teague. He was dribbling the ball just inside the 3-point arc presumably waiting for a play to develop. Then Wiggins suddenly and brilliantly spun off his defender towards the basket for what should have been an easy pass from Teague and uncontested dunk by Andrew. But alas, Teague didn't see him and instead passed enemically to someone around the perimeter. That sort of thing happens a lot with Teague and it was on full display tonight.

Then there's the coaching. I can't for the life of me understand why our head coach had the Wolves playing a methodical, slow half-court game against the physical half-court Grizzlies. The Wolves were overmatched physically but could have used their speed and athleticism, especially Wiggins, to overwhelm the Grizzlies offensively. Instead, we had to watch Teague walk the ball up the court slowly over and over again as the Grizzlies comfortably took up their defensive positions and then physically dominated the Wolves. I couldn't believe my eyes. As for the Wolves defense. Well, what defense? I still can't understand why the Grizzlies were up into the body of every Wolves player on the defensive end while the Wolves repeatedly gave the Grizzlies players room to maneuver, penetrate and get their feet set comfortably for perimeter shots. But that's pretty much how the Wolves defend for much if not most of every game.

I do want to single out Wiggins for praise. Yes, I'd like our max player to step up with 28 points instead of 18. That's what I expect of him when our other young stud faces perhaps the best center in the game as he did tonight. But nevertheless, Wiggins was terrific defensively and on the boards all night. He played 48 minutes of high-level intense defense. But we can't get 0 points from Belly, zero rebounds in 14 minutes from our backup center (Dieng) and a 3-12 ball-hogging performance from our only wing off the bench. Oh, and it's ridiculous that Crawford is our only NBA-caliber wing off the bench with Butler out given that we've had an open roster spot all season.

I still think the Wolves will make the playoffs, but tonight's game makes an 8th seed the most likely outcome. As for me, I don't think this team deserves to make the playoffs. So I'll be cheering for Denver from this point on.

Seriously what is your infatuation with the Nuggets?

[Coolbreeze44]

One of my favorite game reports Lip. I agree with most everything except the last two sentences.

[Lipoli390]

Which team was tanking tonight? An absolutely pathetic effort from a Wolves team that in my view doesn't deserve to make the playoffs.

There's plenty of blame to go around, so I won't waste time singling out every single Wolves player. I'll focus on two: Crawford and Teague.

Crawford was dreadful, hitting only 3 of his 12 shots and playing horrific defense. Once again, Crawford was playing heroball. To say he overdribbled would be a gross understatement. No, Jamaal, you're not Michael Jordan. You're Jamaal Crawford and you're 37 years old. But that's what Jamaal does and Thibs puts him in there knowing that's what he does.

Yes, Teague scored a lot tonight as most of his floaters were falling. But I'll just repeat what a guy sitting next to me at the game said about Teague: "I've never seen a player's stat line so grossly overstate the quality of play." His defense was horrible and his inability to make his teammates better was on full display. One play was emblematic of the problem with Teague. He was dribbling the ball just inside the 3-point arc presumably waiting for a play to develop. Then Wiggins suddenly and brilliantly spun off his defender towards the basket for what should have been an easy pass from Teague and uncontested dunk by Andrew. But alas, Teague didn't see him and instead passed enemically to someone around the perimeter. That sort of thing happens a lot with Teague and it was on full display tonight.

Then there's the coaching. I can't for the life of me understand why our head coach had the Wolves playing a methodical, slow half-court game against the physical half-court Grizzlies. The Wolves were overmatched physically but could have used their speed and athleticism, especially Wiggins, to overwhelm the Grizzlies offensively. Instead, we had to watch Teague walk the ball up the court slowly over and over again as the Grizzlies comfortably took up their defensive positions and then physically dominated the Wolves. I couldn't believe my eyes. As for the Wolves defense. Well, what defense? I still can't understand why the Grizzlies were up into the body of every Wolves player on the defensive end while the Wolves repeatedly gave the Grizzlies players room to maneuver, penetrate and get their feet set comfortably for perimeter shots. But that's pretty much how the Wolves defend for much if not most of every game.

I do want to single out Wiggins for praise. Yes, I'd like our max player to step up with 28 points instead of 18. That's what I expect of him when our other young stud faces perhaps the best center in the game as he did tonight. But nevertheless, Wiggins was terrific defensively and on the boards all night. He played 48 minutes of high-level intense defense. But we can't get 0 points from Belly, zero rebounds in 14 minutes from our backup center (Dieng) and a 3-12 ball-hogging performance from our only wing off the bench. Oh, and it's ridiculous that Crawford is our only NBA-caliber wing off the bench with Butler out given that we've had an open roster spot all season.

I still think the Wolves will make the playoffs, but tonight's game makes an 8th seed the most likely outcome. As for me, I don't think this team deserves to make the playoffs. So I'll be cheering for Denver from this point on.

Seriously what is your infatuation with the Nuggets?

Lol. Infatuation with the Nuggets? I hate the Nuggets and I can't stand Jokic. They just happen to be in 9th place, which means they're in the best position to knock the Wolves out of the playoffs and achieve my goal of getting a lottery pick and pressuring Taylor to fire Thibs.

[mjs34]

I think Taylor may fire him if for no other reason than the constant yelling. Talk about ruining a game atmosphere.

[Big O [enjin:13874644]]

I think Taylor may fire him if for no other reason than the constant yelling. Talk about ruining a game atmosphere.

I do wonder how Glen and Becky put up with it. The constant yelling and complaining to the refs is like "crying wolf" and has to contribute to some of the no-calls we see.

[kekgeek]

I think thibs is slowly losing the locker room. Last month Taj complained about to many minutes. Teague yesterday complained about to many minutes. Yesterday thibs played Wiggins/ Teague/Taj all 43+ minutes. Taj got upset with thibs after the game saying they were not tough.

Maybe it's me making something out of nothing but the vets are starting to speak out against how thibs is doing things

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Thanks as usual for the game report, Lip.

To me, everybody deserves blame after that horror show. Taj fought the hardest, but he flubbed those two FTs down the stretch. Wiggins was ok, but I wouldn't praise him for that performance. Towns definitely deserves a good deal of blame. The list goes on.

The problem was clear right away in the first quarter. We were playing lackadaisical right from the start, like we were expecting them to hand us the win. Then when Memphis got up a few points and we couldn't close the gap right away, it was like a switch got flipped for those Memphis players. All of a sudden, a bunch of fringe NBA players who have spent all season losing realized that they could actually win . . . against a probable (possible?) playoff team . . . in front of their home fans. At that point, you could tell they just started playing twice as hard as us.

By the time we tried to match their intensity, it was leading to careless mistakes and that just amplified the frustration and mistakes on our part.

I have to hope this game was an anomaly. We clearly took this game for granted. We can't do that anymore.