Minnesota Sports Forum

Let me preface this by saying it's been a long time since I've been this angry about a basketball game. I'm going to try to keep the expletives to a minimum, but no promises. I was out for the game, so I haven't read anything on the board, this is purely my thoughts. Here's tonight's 2 + 1:

1) I'm going to crush Sam tonight. If I was the GM I would have a hard time not lighting him up after this game. As I said last time, he's trying to play too many guys too many minutes. This platoon style of coaching has got to stop. And then he had Ricky, Wigs, and Towns on the bench wayyyyy to long in the 2nd half. The 2nd group got the game tied up around the 9 minute mark of the 4th quarter and it would have been a perfect time to come back with our best players at the timeout. I was shocked he didn't sub out at that TO. Instead the entire second group came back on and we fell right back behind. Of course then he quickly got the starters back in. Way to late. And then, how in the fuck do you design another last play shot attempt for Kevin Fricking Martin? I almost fell off my barstool. Just a terrible job by Mitchell on Flips special night. That was embarrassing.

2) Because there were so many other things to be pissed about, the 2nd point will be in bullet form:

- KG killed us tonight. Airballs one shot from the baseline, misses crucial free throws, and couldn't rebound.

- KG wasn't the only one who couldn't rebound though. Just a terrible job of rebounding by the whole team.

- I spent the whole night either cursing or praising Martin. He would do one good thing, and then follow it up with the type of play that aggravates me. How does this guy miss those free throws?

- How do you get fucked by the officials on the night of Flip's tribute? That foul on Towns at the jump was ridiculous. If anything it should have been a double foul or no call. If we were ever going to get treated fairly you think it would be tonight.

- Wiggins needs to start making some jump shots. His misses from the outside hurt really bad tonight.

- Bjelica is playing too many minutes. If you have to go small once in a while so be it. I like Nemanja, but he is best used in less time.

- The one team I truly hate beats us on Flips night. This is really painful. I'm kind of in shock.

- I hate Lillard because he is such a crybaby punk, but he was easily the best player on the floor tonight. We didn't do a bad job of stopping his penetration with help defense, but then our rotations were way too slow and it resulted in easy baskets. There were times when I didn't think we were ever going to get a stop.

Plus 1 - Even though Lillard got over on him, I though Ricky was pretty damn good again. His steal and reverse layup late in the game had me feeling we were going to win. He didn't shoot well, but he did everything else you could ask. Other than that I can't find much to be too happy about tonight.

And that's Cools 2 things I didn't like tonight plus 1.

Am I the only one who puts very little stock in what happened tonight?

The Flip tribute made a mess of players' emotions. Missed FTs, screwed by officiating in crunchtime. There was a lot of good stuff and a lot of bad stuff. It's all part of the process of getting better. It was an entertaining game, but you win some and you lose some. All I ask for is that we play hard and continue to improve.

Up next, Miami.

Good summary, frustrating loss to say the least. I think Towns definitely fouled Plumlee on the jump ball worse than he was fouled, but they were both doing something illegal so it should have been a re-jump.

The Wiggins tip-in should have been reversed. The ball was out of the cylinder and not touching the rim (it was very close but that's why we have technology--you could see it had bounced off). Unfortunately the refs called it no good on the court because if they had called it good it would not have been reversed. Wolves got screwed on that one.

Wiggins needs to see his jumper go in. You can tell he's pressing out there and frustrated. He'll get it going soon enough. But if we're going to continue to start both KG and Prince, Wiggins needs to get some offense going fast.

You can tell KG wants to make his body do more, but he just doesn't have much left in the tank. Offensively he's a non-factor. Rubio spoon fed him the ball right at the cup and not only did he not finish there but he bricked two free throws. I love KG, but he's been in the league since 'Nam and father time wins every battle in the end.

Up 17 to a bad team at home, these are the games we can't afford to lose. Nice to see the team battle back when they were down 10 though, Towns especially showed a lot of heart.

I was pretty happy with Ricky's shooting except for the 3's. He seems to revert back to his old set shot releasing the ball in front of his face on a line drive trajectory. Also thought he got really tentative to drive late in the game and just sat out at the arc.

Why is Wiggins sitting at the 3pt line when he has five inches on his defender? I would tell him not to shoot jumpshots anymore. We have to force Zach and him to post or drive more.

Cool, Sam didn't design that play to Kevin. That's the same play Flip used ten times last season.

I think it is the only play we have for that situation!

I am gonna defend Wiggins to a certain extent. He was very active tonight with 6 rebounds. If that tip counts it's a huge play that might have changed the outcome of the game. He is struggling in the post both making moves at times and hitting those jumpers. He really hurt us there but he wasn't fading into nothing tonight.

Mstermisty wrote:Good summary, frustrating loss to say the least. I think Towns definitely fouled Plumlee on the jump ball worse than he was fouled, but they were both doing something illegal so it should have been a re-jump.

The Wiggins tip-in should have been reversed. The ball was out of the cylinder and not touching the rim (it was very close but that's why we have technology--you could see it had bounced off). Unfortunately the refs called it no good on the court because if they had called it good it would not have been reversed. Wolves got screwed on that one.

Wiggins needs to see his jumper go in. You can tell he's pressing out there and frustrated. He'll get it going soon enough. But if we're going to continue to start both KG and Prince, Wiggins needs to get some offense going fast.

You can tell KG wants to make his body do more, but he just doesn't have much left in the tank. Offensively he's a non-factor. Rubio spoon fed him the ball right at the cup and not only did he not finish there but he bricked two free throws. I love KG, but he's been in the league since 'Nam and father time wins every battle in the end.

Up 17 to a bad team at home, these are the games we can't afford to lose. Nice to see the team battle back when they were down 10 though, Towns especially showed a lot of heart.

KG is a major factor on defense though. I don't like those long 2's he takes and the missed FTs were more than likely a fluke. Offensively he won't give you much in the way of scoring and I wish he would look for his shot even less but maybe tonight he was hoping to do a little more because of the night idk.

monsterpile wrote:I am gonna defend Wiggins to a certain extent. He was very active tonight with 6 rebounds. If that tip counts it's a huge play that might have changed the outcome of the game. He is struggling in the post both making moves at times and hitting those jumpers. He really hurt us there but he wasn't fading into nothing tonight.

Defend his 5-17 from the field with C.J. McCollum and Allen Crabbe guarding him the entire night. He should have owned this game.

Is it just me, or does Belly seem like a whipping boy for the officials?

sjm34 wrote:Cool, Sam didn't design that play to Kevin. That's the same play Flip used ten times last season.

I think it is the only play we have for that situation!

SJ, it wasn't the play I had the problem with. It was the gutless jellyfish he ran it for.