Game Report - Wolves v. Magic

[Lipoli390]

Nice crowd again last night. It's a lot more fun going to games this season with the arena relatively full and also loud enough to drown out Thibs' constant barking.

As for the team last night, it was a horrible win. The talent disparity was obvious and that's why we won. We are a much more talented team than the Magic and that talent disparity was too much for the Magic even though the Magic played much better than the Wolves as a team.

The Wolves 4th quarter collapse was embarrassing and all-too predictable. What happened in the 4th quarter last night? Well, the Wolves comparatively slow isolation style offense became even slower as the Magic defense become more intense. The Wolves had a brief stretch in the 3rd when the offense actually played with some pace and moved the ball a bit. The result was a 26-point lead. But otherwise, it was the same old, same old most of the game last night. Offensively, it was slow pace, overdribbling by Teague and to some extent by Butler, lack of ball-movement, passing up open threes for ill-advised passes or contested twos, and pulling up for contested mid-range shots rather than driving to the hole. These things are the rule, not the exception, for the Wolves this season. They become worse in the 4th quarter and they were readily apparent last night.

Teague wasn't nearly as good as his stats might suggest. He was his typical ball-stalling self. I lost count of the times he missed open players near the basket early in the shot clock as he dribbled away until we had to battle the shot clock as well as the Magic defense. I don't know whether if he just has poor court vision or he's simply taking his marching orders from Thibs to hold onto the ball. Once he fails to connect with open players early, the ball just stalls. In fairness to Teague, there is typically very little player movement around him and that was apparent in the 4th quarter last night.

Looking at the other starters, I loved the way Wiggins took over for a stretch in the 3rd -- on both ends of the court, including a blocked shot and bucket on the other end. I thought he had a nice game overall. KAT still struggles defensively, but he wasn't bad overall last night and it's clear watching him live that he's really working hard to improve his defense. He had 13 rebounds last night as he continued to scrap and claw for rebounds on both ends of the court. Jamaal hit some big shots as usual. Butler was obviously the star for the Wolves with his 26 points, including some huge threes. But my game ball goes to Taj Gibson. He does so many things well and brings a steadiness to this team. Last night he also gave us 22 points.

As for our bench, it sucked. In suggested in a prior post that some of our players, including Belly, might start regressing to their mean. Well, the last two games Belly has been in a free fall back to his mean. The bench just looked out of sync last night. They depend so much on Belly that they can't be effective unless Belly is playing well. Bazz was aggressive, but he's still unable to connect from long range, missing his one corner three attempt. Gorgui started out terrible last night, but got better the longer he was in. Again, he's have a hard time adapting to coming off the bench.

Overall, I left the game last night unable to enjoy the win because of the way we played and nearly gave it away in the 4th. Interestingly, I was hearing a lot of the same sentiments expressed by other fans as we all exited the arena. I dont have an explanation for the collapse other than my observations about our pace of play and lack of ball-movement, which got even worse in the 4th. If I were to pinpoint one thing on the offensive side of the ball, it would be the utter failure to involve KAT in the offense. He's our best scorer and can sore in so many different ways. Yet, he got no touches on a lot of 4th quarter possessions. That's a horrific waist of offensive talent.

There was a point late in the 4th when I almost hoped we'd lose. We really didn't deserve to win. But I'll take the win and continue to hope that this team improves. Because if we don't improve a lot, then we're nothing more than a 7th seed this season. So far we're fortunate to be healthy while many of our Western Conference competitors have lost key guys for extended periods - Leonard, Millsap, Gobert. Given those injuries and the Thunder's slow start, the Wolves have the talent to finish in the 3-6 range. But they'll have to improve substantially to get there.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Yes, Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Lip, I get the dissatisfaction with the win last night, but there are two sides to it I think. While it's unfortunate to sit through a game and not feel good about it afterwards because we finished so poorly, the bright side is that this roster has so much talent that we can still win even when we stink the joint up like last night. I think there is a lot of upside with this club, and see us 13-7 by the end of this home stand. That would be a 53-win pace.

I only watched the 4th quarter last night (lucky me) so I have no comment on the first three. I do see a huge disparity between the starters and the bench last night...man, the reserves were 3 for 20 in shooting while every starter except Wig shot over 50%, and only Crawford made a basket. Yes, the bench was horrible to begin the 4th, but the starters might have been even worse when Thibs panicked again and brought them back into the game completely worn out. The entire quarter was a disaster, as expected.

At the start of game the Wolves starters has played 150 more minutes than the next highest team...150 minutes! And last night only increased that lead. Thibs continues to be an outlier, and to an even greater extent than last year...and that is holding this team back. Fortunately we are talented enough to win despite his ill-advised rotations. Barring injuries, I now see this team winning 50+ games. But we could be so much more if we had a coach that was in step with the rest of the NBA and could get more out of this extraordinary roster.

[Monster]

I saw this game differently from Lip.

The 4th started with some struggled from the bench but also they missed some shots and the Magic started hitting theirs. Once Thibs wine back to the starters the defense from the Wolves was good most possessions but the magic really were getting shots. The Wolves got several good lols often multiple looks and couldn't hit them. A lot of the credit for this game being close was the Magic making some plays espcially a few possessions where Payton made some plays defensively.

IMO because as Wolves fans we have seen so much bad basketball on so many nights we forget that good teams go through bad stretches during games. We forget those runs we as a bad team would go on to give us false hope against good teams. Sometimes nothing goes right and you have to overcome that. The Wolves has built up a good lead doings all the right things and having some things go their way.

Also I thought this was actually a good game for Bazz and it has nothing to do with whatever points he scored. He made some good passes and had some good defensive possessions. My one beef was on one defensive possession he didn't box anyone out and the Magic got an offen I've rebound. If he keeps doing some of these things he can be more of a team player and that will help everyone.

[thedoper]

It's a tough league with a lot of talent. I'm never unhappy after a win. Particularly with our history of losing after blowing big leads. The difference this year is that despite the bumps, we have the veteran presence to right the ship, calm the nerves and stay on top. Go wolves.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

It's a tough league with a lot of talent. I'm never unhappy after a win. Particularly with our history of losing after blowing big leads. The difference this year is that despite the bumps, we have the veteran presence to right the ship, calm the nerves and stay on top. Go wolves.

Yeah, can't lose sight of the fact that they held on to win despite a horrible 4th quarter...would have felt much worse if they had lost. 10-7 with three winnable home games on the horizon.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I'm thankful we have a winning team, which is no doubt because of our veterans we brought in. But because we're all critical thinkers, we look for ways to improve, not because we're dissatisfied with our record.

We have to give our bench more time even when they're playing bad. This is gonna come back to haunt us, but I guess thibs has a built in excuse already if we lose a starter, "it's tough not having Butler/towns/Wiggins out there but we'll keep fighting"

I think if we continue to perform at a 7, 8 seed, we should make a trade for a better bench wing.

[Lipoli390]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I'm thankful we have a winning team, which is no doubt because of our veterans we brought in. But because we're all critical thinkers, we look for ways to improve, not because we're dissatisfied with our record.

We have to give our bench more time even when they're playing bad. This is gonna come back to haunt us, but I guess thibs has a built in excuse already if we lose a starter, "it's tough not having Butler/towns/Wiggins out there but we'll keep fighting"

I think if we continue to perform at a 7, 8 seed, we should make a trade for a better bench wing.

Jerry -- I think you pretty much summed up my thinking. But I'd be reluctant to trade for another wing. We don't have assets to spare that could bring us a better wing than Bazz. I think there is near consensus on this Board that we're very talented and probably have the talent of a 3-6 seed. I'm please we're 11-7. When was the last time we were 11-7 to start the season? But as you said, we're all critical thinkers who have concerns. So let's see where the talent takes us as the season progresses. If we end up in the 7th or 8th spot, then next summer we'll have the MLE to use on a better FA wing. I won't beat the dead Thibs horse again, so I'll stop there. :)

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I'm thankful we have a winning team, which is no doubt because of our veterans we brought in. But because we're all critical thinkers, we look for ways to improve, not because we're dissatisfied with our record.

We have to give our bench more time even when they're playing bad. This is gonna come back to haunt us, but I guess thibs has a built in excuse already if we lose a starter, "it's tough not having Butler/towns/Wiggins out there but we'll keep fighting"

I think if we continue to perform at a 7, 8 seed, we should make a trade for a better bench wing.

Jerry -- I think you pretty much summed up my thinking. But I'd be reluctant to trade for another wing. We don't we have assets to spare that could bring us a better wing than Bazz. I think there is near consensus on this Board that we're very talented and probably have the talent of a 3-6 seed. I'm please we're 11-7. When was the last time we were 11-7 to start the season. But as you said, we're all critical thinkers who have concerns. So let's see where the talent takes us as the season progresses. If we end up in the 7th or 8th spot, then next summer we'll have the MLE to use on a better FA wing. I won't be the Thibs dead horse again, so I'll stop there. :)

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Yeah I guess I could be content without a trade this year, we're not beating any top teams in the playoffs if we get there.