Game Report - Wolves v. Pelicans

[Lipoli390]

I think Q summed things up pretty well in his post game observations. You have to be happy with tonight's win. But the Pelicans' defense wasn't nearly as intense as the Mav's defense the other night. As a result, the Wolves were bound to have an easier time getting into an offensive groove. Nevertheless, I generally agree with Q and I'll offer the following additional observations:

1. The Wolves did a MUCH better job moving without the ball and cutting to the basket tonight than they did Monday against the Mavs. They need to do that every game, not just every second or third game.

2. Ricky was tremendous tonight with 8 boards, 9 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks to go with 14 points on 4-6 shooting from the field (1-1 behind the arc), hitting 5 of his 6 free throws. Beyond the numbers, watching him run the offense these last couple games has been a thing of beauty. It's also a pleasure watching him defend his man.

3. Classic Corey Brewer tonight. On his first touch (one of the Wolves first few possessions) Corey got the ball and promptly crumbled to the floor as he tripped over his own feet trying to drive baseline. There were a few other moments like that one with Corey tonight. But he again came up huge defensively with tremendous tenacity, intensity and effort -- producing 4 steals and generally disruptive play on the defensive end. He also hit his only three attempt and was 2-4 overall. You take the bad and the good with Corey. Again tonight, there was far more good than bad. I wish everyone on this team had his heart.

4. Our bench clearly performed much better tonight than they typically have so far this season. But you do have to consider who they were playing against tonight. Still, they came through tonight - at least three of them (JJ, Alexey and Dante). I do think that Love calling out the bench after the last game had an impact. I haven't seen JJ this seriously focused in a while. I forgot to mention in my last game report that JJ was clowning around with Price in shoot-around before the Dallas game and again during several timeouts. JJ is the last guy you'd expect to remind you of Wes Johnson, but that's what I saw from him Monday night. Tonight it was all business as JJ never even cracked a smile. That's the way he needs to be to be effective. Given his size and talent level, he needs to be more focused, more serious and more intense than anyone else on the court. Maybe Love's comment had an impact on Shved, but Shved had already shown signs of coming out of his coma in a couple of other recent games. I liked Shved's 10 points tonight, but I especially liked him getting to the line 4 times in 17 minutes and hitting all 4 foul shots. I also particularly liked his 3 boards, 1 steal and 1 block tonight. He was hustling and he seems to be getting some confidence. If he can start playing consistently the way he did tonight, it will be a HUGE lift for this team. And when Dante hits that perimeter shot of his, he becomes a major positive for the team as well. Tonight he hit 5 of 6 FG attempts.

5. Pek had a nice game with 22 points, including 8-11 at the foul line, and 7 boards. And I was really thrilled to see him hit two little jump shots from outer reaches of the paint. If he can hit that shot consistently, it will be a big positive for this team going forward. I'll note that I'm still troubled by Pek's poor hands. Even when he's making his bunnies and shooting a high percentage, he muffs a lot of passes that make his high efficiency shooting numbers somewhat deceiving. Nevertheless, Pek was a big factor in tonight's win and he's been playing pretty well lately.

6. Regarding Hummel, I'm with Q. I'm growing really tired of watching him miss wide open corner threes one after another. He's on the roster to hit those shots. If he can't he has absolutely no value and should not be on an NBA roster for any team with serious playoff aspirations in the West.

6. As for Luc, I agree that he played pretty well defensively, but he wasn't what I'd consider great on that end. And he is such a horrible butcher on the offensive end that I think we're in trouble if he remains a major part of our bench rotation going forward.

7. A word on Dieng and Shabazz. I would have liked to see both in earlier tonight. But in the short look we had tonight, you can see that Dieng is really, really raw and we can understand better why Adelman isn't giving him much PT. On the other hand. I still like his upside and think he can eventually contribute meaningfully this season. The one bucket Shabazz scored was a thing of beauty. He showcased what Flip emphasized about him after the draft -- namely that Shabazz has a knack for scoring. In this instance, he improvised beautifully -- evading defenders and putting up a nice quick jumper from the side. The little I saw of him tonight further confirms my view that Shabazz should be getting far more minutes than he's been getting and that he should be given the chance to showcase what he can do in actual games with an eye towards making him a regular part of the team's core rotation off the bench.

8. I like that Adelman called a timeout early in the 1st quarter when the Pelicans seemed to be taking over the game -- something Adelman should have done in the first half of the Dallas game.

[thedoper]

I always loved the Shabazz pick, and believe that him and Ricky will bring some magic to this franchise in the future. I like that you are coming around. How has he not gotten ahead of Hummel is beyond me. Adelman just seems to want nothing to do with iso scorers.

[Crazysauce]

I still state that we should have kept Trey Burke. That was a mistake.

[kekgeek]

I agree with pretty much everything you said Lip, but I have two quick questions that only people who go to the games could answer. Does Shabazz looked engaged on the bench when he is not playing? Also does Luc interact with his teammates much? The reason I ask about Luc is because just watching tonight, it did not look like he was having fun, also not high fiving his teammates after a made shot or a person going to the line. I know he is the new player but does he interact or am I just over analyzing things.

[worldK]

Good report as usual lip. Glad to see you doing these reports more often again lately. Keep them coming.

[kekgeek]

I still state that we should have kept Trey Burke. That was a mistake.

You might be right that it is a mistake, but how Adelman plays rookies he would have played the AJ Price role this year. So we would not get to see what he can actually do like Shabazz

[Lipoli390]

Geek -- Shabazz looks engaged on the bench. He's not very vocal or animated on the bench, but he is serious and seems very focused on what's happening on the court. Luc doesn't interact much with teammates, but he looks serious and intense both on the bench and on the court.

In contrast to Shabazz and Luc, Price is very engaged with his teammates throughout every game. Unfortunately his interaction all too often appears centered on joking and clowning around. I much prefer the approach to the game apparent in the way Shabazz and Luc conduct themselves on the bench.

[Loose Goose [enjin:8265301]]

Shabazz doesn't play because he's a TO machine, and his defense is rank! If he got 20mins a night would he score? Yeah sure but his TO's and defense would hurt us more than the pts would help.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Shabazz doesn't play because he's a TO machine, and his defense is rank! If he got 20mins a night would he score? Yeah sure but his TO's and defense would hurt us more than the pts would help.

Maybe on some nights this would be true, but on nights where Barea and/or DC and/or Shved struggle to put the ball in the basket, Shabazz scoring ability would be huge. Also, and maybe this is just me, but defense is mainly about trying hard and getting minutes. Shabazz has shown to put forth the effort. I think he just needs game time to get better in that area. Will he ever be lockdown? I wouldn't say that, but I think he could eventually be a good defender in this league. His length and strength does have value on defense and as we've all heard/seen, he's a pretty good rebounder for a wing.

Not trying to continue to sound like a Shabazz homer, but what's the difference between a cold J.J. Barea bad shot or a Dante Cunningham mid-range shot when he's off as opposed to a Shabazz turnover or bad shot? You can argue that a TO leads to a fastbreak quicker than a missed shot or blah blah blah. Point being, Shabazz needs more minutes, especially when the second unit offense is stagnant.

[mjs34]

Lip, it is funny that you mention Pek's hands. I agree with you, although it seems most bigs have the same issue, but last night on the broadcast JimPete made a point to talk about Pek's "great hands".


Cam, I am in complete agreement on Shabazz. What could it possibly hurt when our bench continues to struggle like they have most nights. The answer can be found in a pre-game Adelman interview last night. Geller asked him what he thought about Tweets calling for more time for Shabazz and Adelman responded with something along the lines of "I'm not into knee jerk reactions. The bench just had a couple good games against Wash, and Mil."


First thought is that he was into "knee jerk reactions" when it came to a certain player with the initials DW. Second thought is to question the guys sanity. We have had one of the worst benches in the league for 30 games, and he thinks it would be knee jerk reaction to make some changes.


Did anyone else find it hilarious that Anthony Davis was upset with DC last night? AD was shoving Pek with both hands most of the night and even got a foul called on Pek at one point for it. Then when DC gets into him a little bit, he gets all bent out of shape about it. I couldn't stop laughing, and apparently either could DC. Dante is a very easy guy to like. I love listening to his comments they have on from time to time.