CoolBreeze's 2 Things I Didn't Like Tonight Plus 1

[Coolbreeze44]

It's almost getting to the point where you just expect the Wolves to win on the road. They won a big game to start the weekend, and it doesn't feel strange. No Ricky and it really doesn't seem to matter. This is what makes sports great, you never know how things are going to develop. So here is the "crazy 8's" version of the 2 + 1:

1) Kevin Martin played 29 minutes tonight and KAT and Shabazz combined for 37. In what universe should that be the case?

2) Zero fast break points for the Timberwolves tonight. I'm not sure if it's personnel or coaching, but shouldn't we at least get some easy baskets during the course of a game? I know we were missing Ricky, but jeez the running game should be a bigger part of our arsenal.

Plus 1 - Several highlights:

- Zach played a real strong floor game and made some nice, clutch shots. If Sam's not careful he will actually turn into a PG.

- Really shaky first half for Andrew but he rebounded (pardon the pun) nicely in the 2nd half. He was also a true, lock down defender the entire night. I don't think Rudy Gay wants to see him anytime soon.

- Shabazz got his offense going and when he does that, our 2nd unit is much more effective.

- All three of the geriatric gang were good tonight. I'm starting to come around on Tay playing as many minutes as he does. He just makes smart basketball plays all over the court. Things just seem to work out when he's out there.

- Gorgui played solidly and gave justification to his minutes. Still kind of strange KAT didn't get more run in the 2nd half. Nice to have the depth though. Pek giving us 20 minutes would be even better.

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

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

8-8!

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

On your 2 points:

1) I'm coming over to your side on Martin, and agree he should not be playing that many minutes when he's shooting so poorly. I was really surprised when Sam subbed him in with six minutes left and the lead, especially because we already had Zach, Tay and Wig on the court. I think I would have gone with Payne to have a real PF on the court, or KG if he had anything left in the tank. Odd move, but again...I'm not going to question his moves too much when we win.

2) No fast break points is strange with all those athletes on the court. Here's my theory. The coaches didn't want to get into a track meet with the Kings, and asked them to slow the game down. It resulted in no fast breaks for us, but also resulted in the Kings' lowest point total of the year. I don't know...just a guess.

Yeah, Wig was terrific after a slow start offensively. Gay had 36 and 28 his two previous games, but Wig helped hold him to 2 points. But Wig doesn't get my game ball.

And I agree that Zach continues to grow on both ends of the court, and had a good game. But he was the second best Wolves' PG tonight, so my game ball goes to...

Old Man Miller! He had it going tonight with his YMCA-style game. With Ricky out, we needed Andre to step up against a team with 2 pretty good point guards. He made all 8 shots (2's, 3's and FTs) he took, and added 4 assists, a rebound and a steal. And NO turnovers. Have a day, old man, and go to bed!

[Lipoli390]

Miller was terrific. And so was Zach. Those were the best two Wolves on the court tonight. But Wiggins was also terrific, especially in the 4th quarter. Like you, Cool, I'm coming around on Prince. He really defends well and, as you said, he consistently makes smart plays on both ends.

My main beef remains with the minutes Martin keeps getting. I would have gone with Shabazz over Martin down the stretch tonight and I can't understand what Sam was thinking. It's not like Martin defends better than Baz. At the same time, Baz has been shooting a lot better than Martin and had a particularly hot hand tonight. Baz would have also given us some additional rebounding help down the stretch. I suspect that Sam is just trying to get Martin going and perhaps enhance his trade value. I don't like it, but if that's Sam's thinking, I get it.

But Martin's minutes, especially down the stretch, are my only beef with Sam tonight. Otherwise, I thought Sam did a good job. Most important of all, we won. Congrats to Sam and his players for their third straight win.

How I would love to see us pull out a win over the whiny Clippers in LA on Sunday!!

[60WinTim]

I don't think Bazz defends better than Kmart. And similar to Prince, I trust Kmart's decision making more than Bazz. Bazz may get there eventually, and I hope he does. But it's getting tougher and tougher to be critical of Sam and his staff.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

The odd thing about subbing Martin into the game for Rudez with 6 minutes left was that we already had Zach, Tay and Wig on the court...what we needed was a PF to help on the boards down the stretch. It would have been Belly if he were available, or KG might have been able to give Sam some 4th quarter minutes. The Martin substitution didn't hurt us, but it seemed odd at the time.

But I loved Sam's move to put Prince in the game late in the 3rd quarter. Belinelli and Casspi were killing us from the outside all quarter, but after Tay came in, the Kings' wings didn't hit another outside shot the rest of the game. Plus he made 3 big shots in the 4th. Wig and Zach were very good on defense too, but everything got better when Tay came in. I still don't like Martin in the starting lineup, but I was completely wrong when I suggested Tay wouldn't be as effective coming off the bench...he's been brilliant the past 3 games. Best 5.63 PER player in the league!

[Lipoli390]

I don't think Bazz defends better than Kmart. And similar to Prince, I trust Kmart's decision making more than Bazz. Bazz may get there eventually, and I hope he does. But it's getting tougher and tougher to be critical of Sam and his staff.

I didn't say Baz defends better than Martin. I said he's no worse defensively. But Baz definitely rebounds better and last night Baz was MUCH better than Martin offensively. Martin was 1-6 form the field and 1-4 from behind the arc last night with no free throw attempts. He had only 2 rebounds, 0 assists and 0 steals in 29 minutes. Baz had 15 points in only 16 minutes, hitting 5 of 8 field goal attempts, 3-5 from behind the arc. He was +10 while Martin was +1.

Martin a better decision-maker?? Martin's decision-making consists of deciding to take shots, usually long twos, often off-balance and typically seeking to draw a foul. Defenders are on to him and aren't fouling. Meanwhile, he's missing most of his shots.

There isn't any justification for having Martin on the floor last night over Baz. If not Baz, then I'm with LST in thinking we should have had another big on the court -- Payne or Towns.

[mjs34]

The odd thing about subbing Martin into the game for Rudez with 6 minutes left was that we already had Zach, Tay and Wig on the court...what we needed was a PF to help on the boards down the stretch. It would have been Belly if he were available, or KG might have been able to give Sam some 4th quarter minutes. The Martin substitution didn't hurt us, but it seemed odd at the time.

But I loved Sam's move to put Prince in the game late in the 3rd quarter. Belinelli and Casspi were killing us from the outside all quarter, but after Tay came in, the Kings' wings didn't hit another outside shot the rest of the game. Plus he made 3 big shots in the 4th. Wig and Zach were very good on defense too, but everything got better when Tay came in. I still don't like Martin in the starting lineup, but I was completely wrong when I suggested Tay wouldn't be as effective coming off the bench...he's been brilliant the past 3 games. Best 5.63 PER player in the league!

The substitution of martin allowed the wolves more flexibility to switch on the PnR's. Rudez had gotten caught on the PG a couple of times with poor results.

Something that really puzzles me with Bazz is how little offense we run through him. When he is on the floor with Dieng, Tay, and Miller, we have continually played Bazz on the weak side where he seldom even gets a touch. Why would you not use his strength in that lineup?

[TAFKASP]

Something that really puzzles me with Bazz is how little offense we run through him. When he is on the floor with Dieng, Tay, and Miller, we have continually played Bazz on the weak side where he seldom even gets a touch. Why would you not use his strength in that lineup?

One thought is he has proven to be the best outside shooter among that bunch thus far this season. But I do agree, it seems odd not to force big Bazz down the opponents throats until they adjust which would open things up for the other players.

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

I don't think Bazz defends better than Kmart. And similar to Prince, I trust Kmart's decision making more than Bazz. Bazz may get there eventually, and I hope he does. But it's getting tougher and tougher to be critical of Sam and his staff.

I didn't say Baz defends better than Martin. I said he's no worse defensively. But Baz definitely rebounds better and last night Baz was MUCH better than Martin offensively. Martin was 1-6 form the field and 1-4 from behind the arc last night with no free throw attempts. He had only 2 rebounds, 0 assists and 0 steals in 29 minutes. Baz had 15 points in only 16 minutes, hitting 5 of 8 field goal attempts, 3-5 from behind the arc. He was +10 while Martin was +1.

Martin a better decision-maker?? Martin's decision-making consists of deciding to take shots, usually long twos, often off-balance and typically seeking to draw a foul. Defenders are on to him and aren't fouling. Meanwhile, he's missing most of his shots.

There isn't any justification for having Martin on the floor last night over Baz. If not Baz, then I'm with LST in thinking we should have had another big on the court -- Payne or Towns.

I think Bazz is a worse defender than Kmart. KMart seems to be more aware and disciplined defender, has more steals and more defensive rebounds. Bazz has the worst plus/minus stats on the team now and KMart is actually positive.

Bazz had a good night as a scorer. My main beef with Bazz is that he doesn't do much other than scoring and perhaps offensive rebounding and if he's cold, he's worthless.