Game Report - Wolves v. Magic

[Lipoli390]

This was a very disappointing loss. Losing tonight was another sign that this team has not yet turned the corner to the point where it is ready to seriously compete for a playoff birth. At home and rested against a mediocre Orlando team. This should have been a Wolves win. But our team came out embarrassingly flat and dug a hole too deep to climb out.

The crowd was the smallest of the season so far, but really got into it down the stretch. The crowds ar getting thinner as fans grow increasingly weary of spending money and time on games where the home team is expected to lose.

So what went wrong tonight? Pretty simple. The Wolves shot 37% from the field. Some of that was attributable to Orlando's tenacious defense that overwhelmed an offense that never seems very smart or adaptable. But a good part of it was just missing good, makeable shots. Want to assess blame? How about the following field goal stats: KAT 2-11 (2-4 from the line), Zach 3-11 (0-5 on 3-point attempts) Belly 1-5, KG 1-4 and Ricky 0-5. Almost all of their misses were decent looks.

I know players can have poor shooting nights, but I get concerned when I see so many players shooting poorly. I suppose teams can have collectively bad shooting nights, but I'm afraid I see something more systemic on this team. What I see is a team of players afraid to shoot. Even Zach, who seems unafraid of any shot, seemed uncharacteristically tentative tonight. I've noticed Wolves players repeatedly double-clutching and passing up open shots in rhythm as they put the ball on the floor to take two steps forward for a more contested shot out of rhythm. They routinely pass up uncontested threes for contested twos. It's so prevalent among all the Wolves players that it has to be something drilled into them in practice. The result is a double-whammy. First, players pass up more makeable shots for less makeable ones. Second, players lose confidence in their shooting and overthink. Confidence is critical to good shooting and overthinking is antithetical to the "in the zone" mindset shooters need to be effective. Actually, it's a triple whammy because players pass up makeable threes for less efficient twos.

The killer tonight was that 4th quarter possession shot-clock violation. We failed to get a shot off coming out of a time-out with the full 24 seconds to work with. Get a shot off and score on that possession and we likely win the game. That shot-clock violation was a direct result of the fear of shooting I discussed above. And the main culprit in this particular instance was KG. He passed up a great look late in the clock. As the veteran leader of this team, he should know better.

In spite of the Wolves terrible shooting tonight and the disappointing end result, there were some bright spots. Here's my list:

1. Wiggins was terrific. He showed once again his off-the-charts talent that could one day make him a star. He had some incredible points going to the hole along with some silky smooth jumpers. He also locked down defensively. The only blemishes on Wiggins tonight were his three missed free throws and his still baffling failure to react to and chase down loose balls. Ricky, Zach and Shabazz are really good at it, but so far Wiggins hasn't shown that instinct or effort. But I'm quibbling.

2. Dieng had another nice game. He's really improved his defense. He does a much better job of holding his ground in the paint and he hustles on every play on both ends. He's more impressive live than on tv because you can see his all-out hustle and effort. And I love his game face. He NEVER smiles. The anti-Wes Johnson! I eventually foresee Dieng and Towns playing together.

3. Belly's shooting was terrible, but his defense and rebounding were terrific. He's actually an excellent rebounder. One of the few on this team who actually boxes out consistently. I also loved his effort tonight.

4. Shabazz looked good, hitting some big shots and playing pretty good defense.

5. Martin finally woke up from his shooting slumber. We'll see if it lasts. He's incredibly streaky. And his Matador defense was on full display tonight, which is probably why Sam had LaVine rather than Martin in at SG in the 4th.

One thing I'm really getting sick of is watching Sam during timeouts standing by himself for almost the entire time-out, slowly drawing on his white board. It's remanecent of a certain former Wolves head coach who shall not be named. The jury's still out on Sam. But I just don't see him as a bona fide A level NBA head coach.

[kekgeek]

Lip question how is KAT looking on the bench, if I am not mistaken he has played a grand total of 2 minutes in the 4th quartet the last 4 games. Is he still energetic on the bench

[Lipoli390]

Lip question how is KAT looking on the bench, if I am not mistaken he has played a grand total of 2 minutes in the 4th quartet the last 4 games. Is he still energetic on the bench

Good question, Geek. He's still into the game on the bench. But he seemed to lack his characteristic energy on the bench tonight. I'm not sure what's going on between him and Sam.

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

Just watched it, I'll add some observations.

--Gorgui was playing great tonight, no problem staying with him down the stretch. But I wish Mitchell would have came back with KAT instead of KG, who really hurt us in the last few minutes. Also, KAT was pulled right after he missed a couple close range shots in the 3rd and was really frustrated with himself. I don't like pulling a young guy right after he makes some bad plays and then never go back to him. Just doesn't send a good message.

--So finally K-Mart got his shot going but didn't see the court in the end? Not even in the last 3 seconds? Some of Mitchell's moves seem so counterintuitive. Like calling a timeout against the Clippers the other day when we had all the momentum. Not sure what he is thinking sometimes.

--KG not taking that jump shot with the clock running down was hands down the worst play of the game. I mean that was a good look even if it wasn't late in the clock, but to try and make another pass there was just crazy. We had several shots or non-shots in the last few minutes that could have won the game, and somehow managed to miss or not take any of them. (one other quick thought on KG: he is surely leading the league in yelling "all day!" lol)

--Wiggins is truly turning into a beast. When he gets it going he's unguardable. Just too bad he couldn't complete that and-1 or make both free throws, because he carried us on a night when the rest of the team built a brick house.

To sum up, 2-7 at home is hot garbage. They have to turn this ugliness against mediocre to bad teams at home around fast, because you know they are going to come back down to earth on the road. 8-10 is still a strong start overall, but wow have there been opportunities missed.

[Shumway]

Shumway's 2 Things I Did Like Tonight minus 1 (without having seen the game yet).

1) Lip's game report is back. Always a pleasure to read your reports and get your insight Lip. Not great to hear Sam standing with his clipboard - I remember many stories about a previous coach doing that from a time that I have put out of my mind.
2) We're on a the right path to being a contending team. Being young and not being perfect and not being there yet is not something to be concerned about. Feels like OKCs progression to me. And for all of the years of tanking for draft picks - this is probably the final one where another draft asset (either drafting a player or packaging and trading the pick) can help us build the invincible machine that I'm hoping we're becoming. This year is more about development than results. I think we're looking great.

Minus 1 - we didn't win a winnable game. Despite the comment above about development rather than results and about the draft asset - it always sucks to lose a game that we could and should win.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

If Dieng has turned the corner this year I think an easy fix to the hockey shift situation is to feature Towns more with the second unit. If Dieng is gonna start closing more games, I'd like to see Towns get more time next to Belly on the second unit and be a featured player on offense. Belly and Towns as the bigs might help the second unit facilitation problem and give a guy like Bazz more room to work with. The ideal lineup for me is Ricky/Lavine/Wiggins/NB/Towns which would be really easy to get minutes by pulling KG and Martin after 6-8 minutes in the first and the third, but Sam just doesn't want to do it for whatever reason. He tried Ricky/Lavine/Wiggins/Dieng/Towns tonight, but pulled Lavine for Martin before that lineup could really make their imprint on the game. Overall though I don't care how good Dieng plays, Towns needs to play 25 MPG's minimum. Take time away from KG or NB, but not Towns.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I was at the game last night and agree with almost everything in your report, Lip. Really sad to see the arena so empty and quiet (until the 4th quarter when the fans got into it), but not unexpected for a Tuesday night game against a team without any stars. Totally agree that this is the kind of game we need to win to establish ourselves as playoff contenders...I'm not jumping off the playoff bus as we're still tied for the 8th spot, but I did leave TC discouraged last night. And almost everyone there felt like we were going to win as we closed in the 4th quarter, even though we didn't deserve it...that's the way an NBA game generally flows, but the Wolves didn't follow the script last night. The KG late pass that led to a shot clock violation was a killer and not what we expect from a 20-year veteran...really disappointing.

What was on display last night was our terrible offense. I don't know who to pin it on, but without Wiggins and a couple threes from KMart, our offense was anemic. Maybe the blame goes to Mitchell who has done great things with the defense but isn't known as an offensive coach. Maybe the blame belongs to our players who were statues on offense, absolutely refusing to move without the ball or move the ball quickly when they have it. But I think the blame last night lies more with our PGs...they were both not very good last night, but especially Rubio. He played great defense again last night and I even accept his poor shooting (although I don't like it), but we are not going to win many games when he only has three assists in 27 minutes. He flat out didn't run the offense well last night, and that cost us the game. Zach shot poorly and also didn't get the offense running smoothly, but at least he had 5 assists against only 2 TOs. He wasn't very good, but at least for one night he was our best PG on the court.

I hope the "why isn't Sam playing KAT more" gang sees what is going on. KAT is a big man who plays hard, but he only played 20 MPG last season and we had to expect he would struggle with endurance in his first NBA season. You can see when he gets gassed out there, and as he loses his legs he loses his shot...that's how you go 2-11, even though most of his shots were wide-open jumpers or shots within 3 feet. Thankfully, Sam sees this, and gets Karl out of the game when he sees the legs tiring (despite the head-shaking of the KAT-loving fans in the crowd). KAT is going to be a great player in the NBA, but Sam knows he isn't at all ready for the rigors of big minutes over 82 games, and he's giving him a better chance of being good by limiting his minutes. Soon we are going to have 3 good options at center, so I actually expect KAT's minutes to go down further after Pek returns...he's likely to be closer to the 20 MPG he played at Kentucky. That's all right. He is going to be a 35 MPG all-star player in this league, but he's not close to being physically ready for those minutes. Meanwhile, it's a luxury to have good options at center.

Lip, my one area of disagreement with your report is about Sam's actions during timeouts. Your seats are behind the Wolves' bench, but mine are closer to the visiting team bench, so I watch the opposition more during timeouts. I think all coaches do what Sam does...huddle with their assistant coaches for 3/4 of the timeout, then drawing up one play and showing it to the team. The only time I see the coaches actively involved with the team during timeouts is on TV during playoff games when the coaches are miked up...and that's mostly for show.

[bleedspeed]

Lip tell us what you really think about Sam. I would be curious to see who you think is A level and how many of them are true options here.

[Monster]

Thanks for the in person observations.

I am not at the game but what I see watching on TV doesn't jive with the comp to Rambis. Sam can't be going lone wolf during time outs because he is a moron or something. Other coaches have to be saying something that he wants to stay out of or some other thing. During the game what I see watching on league pass Sam seems to be extremely active and any break in the action he seems to be talking to his players. This isn't Rambis who rarely even got amped up on a bad foul call or whatever. Rambis teams couldn't play together on the floor on either end. I am not suggesting Sam is a top level coach but he isn't Rambis.

Lip Founier had 12 points and sat at times down the stretch and they had VO in there which was probably one reason they had Zach in there over Martin but probably mostly because Zach has been doing well overall lately and usually has stepped up late in game of late.

[Lipoli390]

Thanks for the in person observations.

I am not at the game but what I see watching on TV doesn't jive with the comp to Rambis. Sam can't be going lone wolf during time outs because he is a moron or something. Other coaches have to be saying something that he wants to stay out of or some other thing. During the game what I see watching on league pass Sam seems to be extremely active and any break in the action he seems to be talking to his players. This isn't Rambis who rarely even got amped up on a bad foul call or whatever. Rambis teams couldn't play together on the floor on either end. I am not suggesting Sam is a top level coach but he isn't Rambis.

Lip Founier had 12 points and sat at times down the stretch and they had VO in there which was probably one reason they had Zach in there over Martin but probably mostly because Zach has been doing well overall lately and usually has stepped up late in game of late.

Monster -- Agree that Sam isn't Rambis. Sam is definitely more active and animated than Rambis was on the bench. I was just passing along one similarity I noticed.

LST - I know all head coaches follow pretty much the same pattern. It goes like this: Gather with assistants at top of the key. Then remain there alone for a bit. Then return to the bench and instruct/talk to the players. I've been watching Wolves coaches from my spot since Dwayne Casey through McHale, Rambis and Flip. And I look over at opposing head coaches during time outs as well. What I've seen is that Mitchell spends far more time standing by himself during timeouts than the vast majority of head coaches. In that sense he's Rambis like. My more subjective observation is that Sam looks unsure of himself as he draws on his white board, erases and draws again. Flip was very, very different.