Minnesota Sports Forum

Patience my friends. I watched the game but was a little under the weather last night and fell asleep before I could report. Let me say that I was thoroughly impressed with the home team tonight and their play exceeded my expectations for the game. But as always there are things we can discuss, so with that being said here is tonights 2 + 1:

1) They put this game away too early. Love was playing like a man possessed during the 3rd quarter and I would have liked to have seen what kind of numbers he was going to put up had he played a full game. But it's all just as well. Some guys were able to play who aren't going to garner big minutes this season, and any wear and tear we can save on our big 3 will pay dividends later in the season. But man Love was ridiculous in the 3rd.

2) As some of you have pointed out in the phantom thread, it's hard to come up with much to complain about. So I'm going to just mention one little thing that I noticed at the end. I didn't like Shabazz's body language during is stint, and especially as he left the floor. I'm hoping that he's just ultra competitive and not happy with his role on the team. Or maybe he wasn't happy with the way he played. But it's way too early for him to be sulking if that's what he was doing. Again, I don't know for sure but I would have liked to have seen more enthusiasm for the first time he played on an NBA court and more joy in celebrating the big victory. I might be nitpicking, but I did notice this.

Plus 1 - So many positives that you could talk about. I already mentioned Love. Brewer and even DWill played good defense on Durant. And I agree with Q that Brewer is much better served on THIS team in a starting role. Pek and Shved looked better and more engage tonight,. But I think the one thing that stands out to me is how much in control of the game Ricky was. Of course he shot better, but his game overall was outstanding. He was in complete control of the game while he was on the floor. A true virtuoso performance. When he and Brewer get to harassing the opposition it is really fun to watch. Now it's time to see if this kind of start can travel to New York, and win in spite of the Knicks and their 6th man - the officials.

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

Thanks for providing the real "2 things", cool...it's a great feature of this board and I won't usurp again!

Your suggestion about Muhammad's body language is concerning to me, because I thought I detected the same...slumping shoulders and a lack of interaction with teammates. I know that I, and others, are hyper tuned in to Shabazz's behavior, and I wonder if I am just overreacting.

Lip, you have the advantage of seeing things most of us can't see on TV. Any observations about Muhammad last night, other than his obvious poor play on the court?

Yes LST, we don't want to start issuing suspensions :D

longstrangetrip wrote:Thanks for providing the real "2 things", cool...it's a great feature of this board and I won't usurp again!

Your suggestion about Muhammad's body language is concerning to me, because I thought I detected the same...slumping shoulders and a lack of interaction with teammates. I know that I, and others, are hyper tuned in to Shabazz's behavior, and I wonder if I am just overreacting.

Lip, you have the advantage of seeing things most of us can't see on TV. Any observations about Muhammad last night, other than his obvious poor play on the court?

Should it be any surprise that I think D-Will and Shabazz are closest with each other? I get that feeling a lot from watching pre-game stuff, pics on Instagram and even on the court last night. There was a pass that D-Will tried to sling in to a cutting Shabazz, but it was too hot and Shabazz couldn't grab it. They walked over to each other and started laughing and smiling. No big deal since we were up a ton plus they were trying to play good ball, but I think it shouldn't be a surprise that they get along well. Seems like they both love the NBA lifestyle.

If Shabazz is not close to playing this year then I wish we would have gone with
Giannis Antetokounmpo. I think he will be a Batum type player in 3 years or better.

bleedspeed177 wrote:If Shabazz is not close to playing this year then I wish we would have gone with
Giannis Antetokounmpo. I think he will be a Batum type player in 3 years or better.

I don't see the jumper from Giannis that Batum has. Not really that great of a comparison in my opinion. I wasn't sure on GA when he came out in all honesty. Looked like a major project to me.

Poor Shabazz. I thought he was running hard on the breaks and put himself in fairly good position in the offensive sets. Plus he was hustling for boards. Not his fault that he was out there with JJ and Shved as the PGs. He really didn't have a chance to show anything last night. Totally unfair judgement in my mind for 6 mins of PT. At the very least it is VERY far from a red flag.