Game Report - Wolves v. Cavs

[Lipoli390]

Obviously a great game tonight if you're a Wolves fan. Not so great if you root for the Cavs. :). Great playoff-type atmosphere in the arena tonight. This one had nearly all the ingredients that make for a great NBA show, matching our home Wolves with a capacity crowd against the best Eastern Conference team in recent years, led by the best basketball player on the planet the past 12 years along with a former Wolves player who Wolves fans love to hate as the guy who whined his way out of Minnesota. I didn't see an empty seat in the entire arena. The energy and noise in the arena matched the size of the crowd.

Beyond the great atmosphere in the arena, what I loved was how the Wolves made the most of the moment with a dominant performance over the Cavs. Admittedly, the Cavs played an usually bad game tonight. And the Cavs have been bad defensively all season. So this wasn't a game that puts the Wolves in the same category as the Warriors. But the Wolves did play extremely well against a very good team. Very impressive.

There were also a lot of great moments in this one. My favorite moment was the Tyus Jones dunk on LeBron. That kid is all heart. He had just had his shot blocked by LeBron after LeBron essentially sucked him into floating a layup rather than passing to Jimmy Butler on the break. But Tyus had too much pride to just sit with that, so he stole the ball on one end and then dunked on the other. The crowd erupted into perhaps the loudest ovation I've ever heard in that arena. The crowd reached a similar crescendo just after IT horse-collared Andrew Wiggins and then went wild again when the flagrant 2 was assessed. Another great moment was Jimmy's 3-pointer at the end of the first half. There was the slam by Wiggins as he came flying down the court. There was also the put-back slam by KAT on a miss by Wiggins. The list goes on.

That's two nice games in a row from Wiggins. He had 6 boards tonight and watching him closely tonight I thought he played really well defensively. KAT was absolutely stellar -- scoring, rebounding, passing and defending. He was the total package again tonight. What can you say about Jimmy. 21 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists and 3 steals in 27 minutes while essentially shutting down LeBron. Jimmy is so tough. LeBron likes to bully defenders, but from beginning tonight, Jimmy wouldn't back down. LeBron would get the ball just inside the paint and bang his shoulder into Butler. Most defenders eventually cave and end up giving up a dunk or layup. But not Jimmy. He didn't give LeBron an inch, yet avoided getting called for a foul.

My favorite player tonight was Tyus Jones -- and not just because of his monster dunk. He did such a terrific job of running the offense while also playing well on the defensive end. The box score grossly understates what Tyus contributed tonight. He had a ton of hockey assists in addition to the 8 assists listed in the box score. He made quick, pinpoint passes in the right place at the right time. He forced turnovers and kept the ball moving. He blends really well with our starters. I wouldn't say he's a better player than Teague, but I think he's a better fit as PG with KAT, Wiggins and Butler. And credit to Aaron Brooks. The guy plays his ass off on both ends.

There should be no doubt that the Wolves have the talent to be a top 3 or 4-seed in the West. It's whether this team can consistently and collectively get the most out of that talent. They did that tonight - for 3 quarters anyway. These next three home games are critical. We need to carry the energy and focus from tonight into the next three games, starting with a tough match-up Wednesday night against OKC. Win one and carry the momentum forward into the next two games against the Knicks and Blazers. The Wolves have a chance to get on a nice run here and build the team's record to 13 games above .500 by next Monday.

[Jester1534]

I think your mistaken Lip Tyler Jones got his shot blocked Tyus Jones was the one who dunked on LeBron. Great game tonight so much fun to be part of the atmosphere at the stadium tonight. One thing that Lip didn't mention is I thought Taj took our old boy Kevin Love to school tonight as well.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

1 reply to the game report of our best win in 12, 13 years? Really? Are you guys unhappy because this winning doesn't fit your narrative?

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Nice report Lip. Yeah, watching the game and hearing the crowd you could tell is was a wild atmosphere. That is just so awesome for this franchise and I'm glad you could be a part of it last night.

This team has impressed me lately. The biggest thing they are doing is the thing we said this offseason was their #1 priority: Defend better. Well, after a very poor start, they are finally clicking. Hats off to Thibs for finally getting this squad to do what it hasn't done for the past 3+ seasons.

They have now held their past six opponents to less than 100 points. That is an amazing run compared to what we are used to seeing.

[Coolbreeze44]

Thanks Lip, wish I could have been there with you. The Tyus dunk had to be a thrilling moment. The place seemed like it was off the hook. Tyus getting starters minutes now is really going to help us later in the year. Thibs is kind of being forced to develop that part of his bench. Trade deadline could be interesting for us in a good way for a change.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Thanks Lip, wish I could have been there with you. The Tyus dunk had to be a thrilling moment. The place seemed like it was off the hook. Tyus getting starters minutes now is really going to help us later in the year. Thibs is kind of being forced to develop that part of his bench. Trade deadline could be interesting for us in a good way for a change.

It'll be interesting to see if Thibs changes how he uses Teague and Jones.

I'd like to see Jones get more run with the starters and Teague more run carrying the second unit. But that would change up when he makes his PG substitutions.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Thanks Lip, wish I could have been there with you. The Tyus dunk had to be a thrilling moment. The place seemed like it was off the hook. Tyus getting starters minutes now is really going to help us later in the year. Thibs is kind of being forced to develop that part of his bench. Trade deadline could be interesting for us in a good way for a change.

It'll be interesting to see if Thibs changes how he uses Teague and Jones.

I'd like to see Jones get more run with the starters and Teague more run carrying the second unit. But that would change up when he makes his PG substitutions.

Agreed. That second unit could use someone to supplement Crawford in creating scoring chances and Teague is better suited to that then Jones.

[Monster]

Thanks Lip, wish I could have been there with you. The Tyus dunk had to be a thrilling moment. The place seemed like it was off the hook. Tyus getting starters minutes now is really going to help us later in the year. Thibs is kind of being forced to develop that part of his bench. Trade deadline could be interesting for us in a good way for a change.

It'll be interesting to see if Thibs changes how he uses Teague and Jones.

I'd like to see Jones get more run with the starters and Teague more run carrying the second unit. But that would change up when he makes his PG substitutions.

Agreed. That second unit could use someone to supplement Crawford in creating scoring chances and Teague is better suited to that then Jones.

Maybe even...some Teague AND Tyus together for a few minutes against small backcourts. Thibs has played Belly at SF so I guess you never know.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

1 reply to the game report of our best win in 12, 13 years? Really? Are you guys unhappy because this winning doesn't fit your narrative?

To be fair, last night was the national title game for college so I only caught a little bit of garbage time during halftime of the football game. And I'm guessing a few others missed the game as well.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Wow, great game.

Obviously, everything was breaking right for us all night. But what I loved was that after it started that way, the guys (Tyler, Gibson, Butler, and everybody really) all seemed to find another gear and play even harder like they wanted to put the game away early. It was like they were all energized by how well everything was going. One guy's hustle play seemed to inspire the next. And they were also unselfish offensively as a result as well. Just really great to see.

All of a sudden, everybody seemed to hustle like Taj Gibson, and tonight showed what we're capable of when everybody plays hard like that. It was especially good to see Wiggins hustle out there. He won't always score 20+ points, but that's ok if he's hustling defensively because we've got other scorers plus Gibson who is just super efficient.

We might now always hit shots like that as a team either, but defensively, that was a great performance. Really a lot of fun to watch when we're on fire like that, but it's the defensive intensity that we need. The next challenge is to see guys play that hard even when shots aren't falling.