Minnesota Sports Forum

http://www.whereoffensehappens.com/1/post/2014/02/you-do-not-get-to-win-we-get-to-win.html

I will just leave this here.

Tackle

Thanks for that interesting read, tackle. I am a huge fan of Kevin Love's grit and offensive abilities, but that video of him letting Gordon go in uncontested for the key go-ahead layup is flat out embarrassing. Love has the skills and drive to be a top 5 player in this league, but top 5 players don't let poor attitude lead to plays like that.

Embarrassing.

longstrangetrip wrote:Thanks for that interesting read, tackle. I am a huge fan of Kevin Love's grit and offensive abilities, but that video of him letting Gordon go in uncontested for the key go-ahead layup is flat out embarrassing. Love has the skills and drive to be a top 5 player in this league, but top 5 players don't let poor attitude lead to plays like that.

Embarrassing.

The author of the article either cherry-picked that play to make him look bad, or didn't watch the game. Love had been poked in the eye right before that and after Gordon scored he walked to the bench with his face in his hands. They had to call a timeout to deal with his injury. It wasn't that he was complaining and lazy, he was in pain and couldn't see clearly.

That said, he can be lazy on D. I'm just saying there was more to this than what they presented.

ace wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:Thanks for that interesting read, tackle. I am a huge fan of Kevin Love's grit and offensive abilities, but that video of him letting Gordon go in uncontested for the key go-ahead layup is flat out embarrassing. Love has the skills and drive to be a top 5 player in this league, but top 5 players don't let poor attitude lead to plays like that.

Embarrassing.

The author of the article either cherry-picked that play to make him look bad, or didn't watch the game. Love had been poked in the eye right before that and after Gordon scored he walked to the bench with his face in his hands. They had to call a timeout to deal with his injury. It wasn't that he was complaining and lazy, he was in pain and couldn't see clearly.

That said, he can be lazy on D. I'm just saying there was more to this than what they presented.

Thanks for that perspective, ace. I watched that game and vaguely remember the situation you describe. Still not Kevin's finest hour, but your background information makes me feel a little better about the video.

the Kevin Love play was hard to watch live even knowing he had just been manhandled at the other end with no call. It was more seeing the other less egregious defenses lapses that lead to baskets, like letting Evans go right so easily and the weak closeouts on the three point line.

The parts I found most interesting were about our offensive struggles down the stretch. Part is not having a facilitator on the floor for half the quarter. A reason I think we struggle down the stretch is our reliance on free throws for offensive production. the calls that we get in quarters 1-3 disappear during the final 4 minutes of the game, and it stymies us badly. I think the NO game was a good example of this, specifically the one preceding love's lack of contesting that drive.

Rubio should sit out the last two minutes of the 3rd quarter, and the first 3 minutes of the fourth. That's it. Barring foul trouble he should play 18-20 minutes of the 2nd half. Not sure what the hell Rick is thinking.

Go listen to the Funkadelic that aired on Thursday. The topic of how badly the Wolves are beaten to start the 4th quarter was brought up, and Flip commented on it. He basically said "we" need to re-evaluate our rotations coming out of the all-star break...

ace wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:Thanks for that interesting read, tackle. I am a huge fan of Kevin Love's grit and offensive abilities, but that video of him letting Gordon go in uncontested for the key go-ahead layup is flat out embarrassing. Love has the skills and drive to be a top 5 player in this league, but top 5 players don't let poor attitude lead to plays like that.

Embarrassing.

The author of the article either cherry-picked that play to make him look bad, or didn't watch the game. Love had been poked in the eye right before that and after Gordon scored he walked to the bench with his face in his hands. They had to call a timeout to deal with his injury. It wasn't that he was complaining and lazy, he was in pain and couldn't see clearly.

That said, he can be lazy on D. I'm just saying there was more to this than what they presented.

Ace is right about Love being poked in the eye.

But, who cares? It's about having a winning mentality and making things as hard as possible for the other team. He wasn't in foul trouble, he should have fouled Gordon there. Giving up the lead on that type of play in the 4th... not good.