Minnesota Sports Forum

Maybe I shouldn't be writing this while I'm still emotional from the loss. But I feel enough clarity to communicate my thoughts. I'll try not to be too knee jerk in this piece. Here is the 0-2 2+1:

1) Why are we allowing teams to steamroll us in the 3rd quarter? You just have to be mentally tougher than that. If it isn't already, the scouting report is going to call for getting physical with the Wolves and they will surely back off. I think the officials are letting too much contact go, but you just can't let yourself get pushed around like this. It's clear to me that we need a little more bulk. Our best players are all slight of build, we need some role players who can bang. If we can't stand up and fight, we will be in the lottery again.

2) Didn't see a slow start coming by KAT when I envisioned this road trip. But for all the accolades and hype he's gotten, where's the baby? No presence on the boards, shaky decision making, and only average defense so far. I'm sure he will be fine or maybe even great, but it's been a little bit of a disappointment through two games.

Plus 1 - Really nice offensive game from Andrew. He had some beautiful moments in this one. Wish the last shot would have fallen, but it shouldn't have come down to one last shot after blowing an 18 point lead. Averaging 27 points through two games it looks like he is ready to take the next step. Love that Thibs had the ball in his hands when Rubio went out. I think you might see a lot of that this year as there is no guarantee Ricky will be on the court at crunch time. With the way Dunn can defend, we really don't need Ricky in there. Better to have the ball in someone's hands who can make you pay. Wig's handle looks improved too.

And that's Cool's 2 things I didn't like +1

KAT needs to get out of this funk ASAP. Hopefully some home cooking helps.

I am loving the improved handle by Wigs as well. I remember many debates going back to the ESPN days about how handle can't be improved at this level.

Feels like 3.5 people have shown up this season (wigg, lavine, gourgi, and half to bazz). Kat has been fine but compared to expectations he has been subpar

Yeah, agree with the points you made.

Now I'll do my own summary: We're not comin'. We're not comin'. Not yet at least.

But there's 80 games left. I'm going to guess we play the next 10 to 15 without Rubio. Hopefully we can hold the fort. Agreed Dunn looks more than capable on the defensive end at least. That said, another season out of the playoff race by the all-star break would be seriously depressing. But I'm still optimistic, as we easily and probably should be 2-0 after two road games with our best player playing subpar.

The life of a Timberwolf fan: eternally hopeful, constantly frustrated. Keep calm and carry on.

Man, this has been a tough start to the year. Even when we had bad teams in the past, it felt like we would win a couple early on before realizing we were bad. Now that our team SHOULD be better, I hope we're just losing a couple before we realize that we are a better team than this. Losing these leads is just unacceptable. Missing FTs in crunch time is just killing us right now.

kekgeek1 wrote:Feels like 3.5 people have shown up this season (wigg, lavine, gourgi, and half to bazz). Kat has been fine but compared to expectations he has been subpar

I would add that even though they can't shoot, our PGs have shown up as well...Ricky has 13 assists and only 3 TOs and had 3 steals last night, and Dunn's on-ball defense last night had me smiling even in the midst of another collapse. There are so many individual things I have liked in the first 2 games...so much individual talent...but something else seems to be leading to the two epic collapses that have begun the season. I sense a new thread topic...

LST will be blaming thibs for every loss this year.

BizarroJerry wrote:LST will be blaming thibs for every loss this year.

Not necessarily...I'm still hopeful because of the regular season success Thibs had with the Bulls. But I think you'd have to have your head buried deep in the sand to not be skeptical about how Thibs fits with this team...their tentativeness seems to be a reaction to his extreme sideline disapproval. If you didn't like my comments above, Jerry, you're really going to hate my new thread!

You hit on something Cool that surprised me -- how well we played in crunch time minus Rubio. Yeah, we didn't win, but we were in position to win, which was a way better place than I thought we would be when Dunn replaced Rubio.

With a "Big Three" that can all create shots, maybe a PG like Rubio is not as critical to our future as I had thought...

60WinTim wrote:You hit on something Cool that surprised me -- how well we played in crunch time minus Rubio. Yeah, we didn't win, but we were in position to win, which was a way better place than I thought we would be when Dunn replaced Rubio.

With a "Big Three" that can all create shots, maybe a PG like Rubio is not as critical to our future as I had thought...

Great point guys...I had pretty much given up when Rubio went to the locker room, but they played better down the stretch. Dunn was brilliant on defense, and on offense gave the ball up to Wig almost immediately upon setting up...no turnovers with the game on the line was really impressive. There is a lot to be excited about with this kid. I don't know how bad a sprained elbow is (I guess they are going to reevaluate Ricky today) but it's reasonable to think Dunn will get a couple games starting at PG. Of course we'd much rather have Ricky, but I think all of us are curious to see what Kris can do with the starters.