Game Report - Wolves v. Knicks
Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2016 12:14 am
A terrible waste of a big, younger crowd. The place was almost packed and was filled with energy at the outset. Target Center was poised to explode, but unfortunately the Wolves failed to ignite a single spark. There were a few individual moments from KAT, Wiggins, Bazz and Ricky. And there was the moment in the 2nd half when we closed to within 4. But that was it. From the time we fell behind 14-1 until the end, the Wolves were a miserable disappointment tonight -- even by traditional Wolves standards.
The Wolves players seemed flat tonight and weren't shooting well. You could see it in the pre-game shoot-around as the guys seemed lethargic and kept clanking their practice shots off the rim. I mentioned it to my friend at the time. What we saw in the pre-game clearly carried over into the game and the result was a loss to a bad team on our home court. Gorgui was particularly bad tonight on both ends. When he has an open mid-range shot, he has to take it!!!! It drives me nuts. He continues to pass up wide open shots well within his range and dribble into defenders for off-balance contested shots. I sit not far behind the Wolves bench and I never see Sam tell him to shoot or chew him out for not shooting.
The defense was bad again. The only guys who really gave a consistent effort defensively were Ricky, LaVine and Bazz. Unfortunately, Bazz's admirable effort wasn't rewarded with success. But having him guard Melo was one of the more ridiculous decisions in a long list of silly moves by Sam as our head coach this season.
I can't say that Sam's coaching cost us the game, although I could make that argument. But better coaching could have made this game more competitive. Here's a list of the obvious bone-headed moves by Sam tonight:
1. Starting Prince again and playing him 24 minutes. LaVine has been flourishing of late at SG along side Ricky. And the Wolves played well with Tyus as the backup PG last night against Memphis. What does Sam do? He puts LaVine back in his old role as backup PG. Stubborn Sam. I'm sure Sam was trying to match up better with the size of the Knicks. But the fact is, we couldn't match up size-wise with the Knicks. So there was no point in trying. The obvious strategy for the Wolves tonight was to lead with our speed, quickness and athleticism. Doing that meant starting LaVine at SG, especially considering how well he and the team have been playing with him in that role. Sam's starting lineup forced us into a half-court game, which is exactly what the Knicks wanted. And it also left us with poor shooters/scorers comprising 3/5 of our starting lineup (Prince, Ricky and Dieng the way he was playing tonight). If size was so important to Sam, he should have at least started Bazz over Prince to give us some scoring punch and put pressure on the Knicks' defense.
2. Putting Prince and then Bazz rather than Wiggins on Melo. Melo didn't score much in the 1st quarter, but that's because Lopez was having such great success. Prince put no pressure Melo, which allowed Melo to coast throughout the first quarter and save energy for later. But the 4th quarter was worse. Sam had Bazz guarding Melo and Bazz was getting smoked repeatedly. Sam finally put Wiggins on Melo and it was clear that Wiggins made things tougher for Melo.
3. Several times again tonight, Sam called timeouts when we were starting to get on a bit of a roll. And as usual, the result was bad for the Wolves. We lost our momentum. The opposing coaching staff had the chance to make adjustments. And we came out of those timeouts with no discernible play except Wiggins taking a contested mid-range jumper.
4. Once again, few decent ball-screens and poor spacing as the team retreated from last night's surprising and welcome use of the 3-point line.
The only solace I take in tonight's loss is the fact that it will help our lottery position this Spring. I sure hope it increases the odds that Sam's reign as the Wolves head coach ends for good when this season is over.
The Wolves players seemed flat tonight and weren't shooting well. You could see it in the pre-game shoot-around as the guys seemed lethargic and kept clanking their practice shots off the rim. I mentioned it to my friend at the time. What we saw in the pre-game clearly carried over into the game and the result was a loss to a bad team on our home court. Gorgui was particularly bad tonight on both ends. When he has an open mid-range shot, he has to take it!!!! It drives me nuts. He continues to pass up wide open shots well within his range and dribble into defenders for off-balance contested shots. I sit not far behind the Wolves bench and I never see Sam tell him to shoot or chew him out for not shooting.
The defense was bad again. The only guys who really gave a consistent effort defensively were Ricky, LaVine and Bazz. Unfortunately, Bazz's admirable effort wasn't rewarded with success. But having him guard Melo was one of the more ridiculous decisions in a long list of silly moves by Sam as our head coach this season.
I can't say that Sam's coaching cost us the game, although I could make that argument. But better coaching could have made this game more competitive. Here's a list of the obvious bone-headed moves by Sam tonight:
1. Starting Prince again and playing him 24 minutes. LaVine has been flourishing of late at SG along side Ricky. And the Wolves played well with Tyus as the backup PG last night against Memphis. What does Sam do? He puts LaVine back in his old role as backup PG. Stubborn Sam. I'm sure Sam was trying to match up better with the size of the Knicks. But the fact is, we couldn't match up size-wise with the Knicks. So there was no point in trying. The obvious strategy for the Wolves tonight was to lead with our speed, quickness and athleticism. Doing that meant starting LaVine at SG, especially considering how well he and the team have been playing with him in that role. Sam's starting lineup forced us into a half-court game, which is exactly what the Knicks wanted. And it also left us with poor shooters/scorers comprising 3/5 of our starting lineup (Prince, Ricky and Dieng the way he was playing tonight). If size was so important to Sam, he should have at least started Bazz over Prince to give us some scoring punch and put pressure on the Knicks' defense.
2. Putting Prince and then Bazz rather than Wiggins on Melo. Melo didn't score much in the 1st quarter, but that's because Lopez was having such great success. Prince put no pressure Melo, which allowed Melo to coast throughout the first quarter and save energy for later. But the 4th quarter was worse. Sam had Bazz guarding Melo and Bazz was getting smoked repeatedly. Sam finally put Wiggins on Melo and it was clear that Wiggins made things tougher for Melo.
3. Several times again tonight, Sam called timeouts when we were starting to get on a bit of a roll. And as usual, the result was bad for the Wolves. We lost our momentum. The opposing coaching staff had the chance to make adjustments. And we came out of those timeouts with no discernible play except Wiggins taking a contested mid-range jumper.
4. Once again, few decent ball-screens and poor spacing as the team retreated from last night's surprising and welcome use of the 3-point line.
The only solace I take in tonight's loss is the fact that it will help our lottery position this Spring. I sure hope it increases the odds that Sam's reign as the Wolves head coach ends for good when this season is over.