Minnesota Sports Forum

We've got the Milwaukee Bucks tonight as the second game of a B2B. While our level of play usually dips a bit on games like this, keep in mind we're playing the Bucks. This is the same team with a record of 6-23. Even if we play down, we're still in commanding favor when it comes to talent.

The Bucks have length on the interior with Sanders and Henson (really like this kid). While that has shown to give Pek some problems in the past, they also don't come anywhere close to having the bodies to get good position/deny good position. While we'll see some blocked shots tonight, we should also see a ton of free throws from Pek and Love. I'd be willing to guarantee that Love has 10 or more FT attempts tonight with all the offensive boards plus pump fake move he does. Shotblockers go for pump fakes the hardest, and it's their downfall.

Rubio vs Knight should be fun. Hopefully Rubio backs up his good game from last night with one similar. All about shot selection and selected aggressiveness. He had a really nice combo of those two last night. Ricky also stuck his nose in the paint last night to get some deflected rebounds. Haven't seen that as much this year, but I hope it continues.

Martin vs Mayo. Battle of the two SGs Flip coveted. Many of us had Mayo as our guy that we wanted. I actually did have Mayo ahead of Martin on my wishlist, but was more than happy with Martin for cheaper per year. Let's hope Mayo isn't hot. When he starts feeling it, it's a game-breaker.

The biggest aspect to this game for me OTHER than getting the win: Continued confidence from Aexey Shved. He's been creeping back into relevancy the last couple of weeks and last night was the best game I've seen from him all year. 12 points and 5 assists with very good defense last night. We need him to grow and stay productive as it's crucial for our bench.

Barea was great last night. Tonight he should have success as well. I liked that Shved handled the ball more last night, but I liked that Barea was still able to penetrate when he had his chances. When those two play well, we're a completely different team for the better.

Let's go tap on Milwaukee's ass. Get this win streak off to a good start. Away game, second game of a B2B. Team needs to take care of business and put another notch in the win column.

barea has been a beast the last few weeks scoring with ease seems like getting in the lane anytime he wants. barea can be dangerous when both parts of his game is on. penetrating and making open threes. i think with shved he's still young and still learning he'll have his ups and downs. barea has been in the league longer so he should be the leader on that bench every-time he comes in.

quincy33 wrote:barea has been a beast the last few weeks scoring with ease seems like getting in the lane anytime he wants. barea can be dangerous when both parts of his game is on. penetrating and making open threes. i think with shved he's still young and still learning he'll have his ups and downs. barea has been in the league longer so he should be the leader on that bench every-time he comes in.

Welcome to the board, quincy!

Barea's been getting it going lately, and we absolutely need him to. We just can't afford for him to be as cold as he's shown he can be. When he's cold, he still stays over-aggressive and it hurts the team immensely. When he's on, it takes us from a good team to a potentially great team.

Agreed, Shved's still learning. Problem was, he wasn't getting consistent minutes to work himself out of the funk he got in since last year's second half. I don't even remember the circumstance lately how he started getting minutes again, but boy oh boy has he responded well. We're starting to see shades of Alexey from the first half of last year. We need that to continue.

As for Barea being the leader on that bench, I guess it depends on what you classify leading as. He's the most potent scorer and vocal guy off the bench, but I tend to like how Alexey can get others involved. I think a lot of us thought Shved could take over backup PG duties pre-season, but it hasn't worked out to this point. If Shved can sustain this kind of play, or even increase it, I'd think of him as the leader off the bench. Guys that make their teammates better always get a boost in leadership for me.

The key tonight: score more points than the Bucks.

Seriously, at the end of the season this game counts just as much as beating Miami in South Beach. Win by 20 or 2, it doesn't matter, just find a way to win. We laid an egg in both Boston and LA recently (the Laker game), yet still in the 4th quarter those games were there for the taking. I'd rather it wasn't close tonight, but if it is, they gotta start finding a way to win.

Really liked what we got out of RR, JJ and Shved last night. Hope that continues.

Henson isn't playing tonight. Even better.

Bucks on fire, they wont keep this up. They are penetrating at will though. Poor defense by the Wolves

I'm so glad Alexey's playing productive basketball. It makes me feel good lol.

Camden wrote:I'm so glad Alexey's playing productive basketball. It makes me feel good lol.

He's looking very good the last two games!

Well, we did have it to 14...

HOT HAND LUC!