Game Report - Wolves v. Mavs
Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2013 1:58 pm
Sorry for the late report. But as SP wrote in another thread, age and all my writing mileage is catching up with me. My days as a starting blogger are almost over.
A lot of what I would have included in my report has already been posted in other threads, so I'll try to offer some live off-camera observations in addition to plowing some of the same ground others have plowed.
First of all, it was a disappointing crowed last night. There were too many empty seats for a Friday night game at a time when our team is playing well and has a winning record. But worse than the empty seats was the crowd's passivity. Last Friday's crowd had a lot more energy.
As for the game itself, it turned out to be an entertaining one and the crowd got into it. The Mavs are not very good, but they play really hard. Dirk is clearly on the downslope of his career and he's not surrounded by much talent. So losing to the Mavs at home last night would have been a terrible step back for the Wolves. But fortunately, we pulled it out.
I look at last night's game as a tale of two halves and a tale of two Kevins (plus 1 Corey).
TALE OF TWO HALVES
Other than Love's incredible performance in the 1st Quarter, the Wolves did not look like a Western Conference playoff team in the first half. They were sloppy, passive and gave a disappointing effort. Pekovic's play in particular was horrific. But Corey Brewer's dunk on a breakaway late in the second quarter, followed by Dante's tremendous offensive rebound/dunk at the close of the 1st half seemed to wake the Wolves out of their slumber for the second half. Starting with the opening possession in the 3rd Quarter, the Wolves looked like a playoff team again. They were more precise and far more aggressive on both ends. Their spacing and ball movement were better and everyone, not just Ricky, played defense. Even Pek showed signs of life in the 2nd half. And Barea finally hit some 3-pointers.
TALE OF TWO KEVINS (PLUS ONE COREY)
This is the real story from last night's game.
Kevin Love continued to play at a superstar level. You can see that just by looking as his tremendous stat line -- 32 points on 57% shooting including 3-6 from behind the arc and 5-5 from the line, 15 boards, 8 assists, 1 block and only 2 turnovers in 35 minutes. But behind the stats last night was a leader who is clearly connected to his teammates. Two years ago, Kevin put up great numbers, but he seemed distant from his teammates and it was clear then that Ricky was the leader on the floor and the bench. This season there is no doubt that Kevin is the center and leader of this team. He takes genuine pleasure in the success of his teammates and is consistently talking to them, making eye contact and patting them on the back. And of course, Kevin's stats don't entirely measure the value of his incredible outlet passes, some of which lead to points but not assists for Kevin. Is Kevin Love a superstar? Absolutely yes.
Then there is the other Kevin. I was happy we signed Martin back in July, but with some reservations. Although I still have concerns about his defense and durability, last night's game was yet another reminder of how valuable he is to this team. He is a scoring machine. Yes, his shooting efficiency, which is off the charts so far this season, will likely regress to the mean. But even the mean for Kevin Martin is a great place to be. In spite of Kevin Love's stellar performance last night, the Wolves would have lost that game if not for Kevin Martin. His 32 points on 52% shooting, including 3-5 from behind the arc and 9-10 from the stripe tell enough of the tale to know how critical he was to last night's victory. But note also that he had 5 boards and 2 steals. And beyond the stats, what you see in Kevin Martin when you're at the game is a steady veteran whose shooting prowess and confidence gives his teammates confidence. You can tell his teammates really like him and you can also see a special bond developing between the two Kevins in particular. The two talk a lot on the court and the bench. It's a fun dynamic to watch.
Then there's Corey Brewer. Although I never hated the Brewer acquisition, I'm on record in July wishing we had kept AK47 and signed DeMarre Carroll as our energy guy instead. But although it's early, I'm fully convinced that Flip made the right move -- at least for this season. Corey was tremendous last night. Yes, he missed some layups he should have made. But that's Corey. With Corey, you take the bad with the good. Fortunately this season, Corey has brought a lot more good than bad to the floor. His 17 points on 50% shooting was a key component to the Wolves win. But he also made some nice passes. And as always, he brought phenomenal energy to the team. As I mentioned earlier, his breakaway dunk later in the second quarter followed by Dante's put-back dunk seemed like a major catalyst for the Wolves second half turn-around last night. I love the way Corey celebrates after a big play like his second quarter dunk. His enthusiasm and intensity are infectious both with his teammates and the crowd. I've mentioned this before, but I'll mention it again. A few years ago, I was part of a small group of season ticketholders at a luncheon with Kevin McHale. When asked about Corey Brewer, he acknowledged Corey's limitations. But he said that Corey brings things to a team that you can't readily see in the stat line. He went on to say that every winning team needs a player like Corey Brewer. I now see what he meant.
SOME OTHER OBSERVATIONS
1. Dante finally came to life in the second half last night with 6 points on 50% shooting, 7 boards, 1 steal and 1 block. Not a great stat line for 30 minutes, but solid. And solid is what we need from him and our entire bench.
2. Unfortunately, our bench overall failed again to give us the sort of solid play we need from them. Adelman is still trying to figure out how to mix in a starter or two with the second unit. I still think Flip needs to make some sort of deal to significantly upgrade the talent on our second unit. But that's easier said than done.
3. Pekovic looked a bit better in the second half, but he continued to miss point blank shots he has to make to come close to being the $12 million per year player Flip and our organization expects him to be. And not only did he continue to miss point blank shots last night, he continued to play with stone hands. He drops or muffs far too many passes. And 6 rebounds in 30 minutes last night isn't enough from our starting $12 million per year center. He has to improve substantially this season.
4. Ricky played his worst game of the season so far and one of his worst games since arriving her two years ago. However, he still played very well defensively and ran the offense well in his 35 minutes on the floor.
5. Derrick was in street cloths with back spasms and I didn't care.
6. Hummel looks like he knows what he's doing out there. More so than Williams, Dieng or Shabazz.
7. Speaking of Shabazz, I saw some disturbing behavior from him last night. First, just after half time, while all his teammates were participating in shoot-around, he was hanging out with one of the Mavs and chatting up a storm. Second, he was completely disconnected from the team while on the bench. Even worse, he spent most of his time on the bench talking a joking with Derrick Williams. It reminded me of the days when Derrick and Wes would joke around constantly on the bench. I can tell you than none of the other guys on our bench were talking and laughing with Derrick Williams.. Shved, Hummel, Dante, JJ -- when these guys are on the bench, they are generally serious and into the game.
My main take-aways from last night's game are (1) Love and Martin are critical to this team's ability to score enough points to win and playing without either one would be devastating; (2) Brewer was a great acquisition; (3) Pekovic and our bench need to improve substantially for this team to secure a playoff spot; and (4) this team is a work in progress. Overall, I like a lot of what I've seen and I can still see this team ultimately securing the 6th seed as I projected before the season started. But there need to be improvements.
That's all for now. Let's go beat the Lakers.
A lot of what I would have included in my report has already been posted in other threads, so I'll try to offer some live off-camera observations in addition to plowing some of the same ground others have plowed.
First of all, it was a disappointing crowed last night. There were too many empty seats for a Friday night game at a time when our team is playing well and has a winning record. But worse than the empty seats was the crowd's passivity. Last Friday's crowd had a lot more energy.
As for the game itself, it turned out to be an entertaining one and the crowd got into it. The Mavs are not very good, but they play really hard. Dirk is clearly on the downslope of his career and he's not surrounded by much talent. So losing to the Mavs at home last night would have been a terrible step back for the Wolves. But fortunately, we pulled it out.
I look at last night's game as a tale of two halves and a tale of two Kevins (plus 1 Corey).
TALE OF TWO HALVES
Other than Love's incredible performance in the 1st Quarter, the Wolves did not look like a Western Conference playoff team in the first half. They were sloppy, passive and gave a disappointing effort. Pekovic's play in particular was horrific. But Corey Brewer's dunk on a breakaway late in the second quarter, followed by Dante's tremendous offensive rebound/dunk at the close of the 1st half seemed to wake the Wolves out of their slumber for the second half. Starting with the opening possession in the 3rd Quarter, the Wolves looked like a playoff team again. They were more precise and far more aggressive on both ends. Their spacing and ball movement were better and everyone, not just Ricky, played defense. Even Pek showed signs of life in the 2nd half. And Barea finally hit some 3-pointers.
TALE OF TWO KEVINS (PLUS ONE COREY)
This is the real story from last night's game.
Kevin Love continued to play at a superstar level. You can see that just by looking as his tremendous stat line -- 32 points on 57% shooting including 3-6 from behind the arc and 5-5 from the line, 15 boards, 8 assists, 1 block and only 2 turnovers in 35 minutes. But behind the stats last night was a leader who is clearly connected to his teammates. Two years ago, Kevin put up great numbers, but he seemed distant from his teammates and it was clear then that Ricky was the leader on the floor and the bench. This season there is no doubt that Kevin is the center and leader of this team. He takes genuine pleasure in the success of his teammates and is consistently talking to them, making eye contact and patting them on the back. And of course, Kevin's stats don't entirely measure the value of his incredible outlet passes, some of which lead to points but not assists for Kevin. Is Kevin Love a superstar? Absolutely yes.
Then there is the other Kevin. I was happy we signed Martin back in July, but with some reservations. Although I still have concerns about his defense and durability, last night's game was yet another reminder of how valuable he is to this team. He is a scoring machine. Yes, his shooting efficiency, which is off the charts so far this season, will likely regress to the mean. But even the mean for Kevin Martin is a great place to be. In spite of Kevin Love's stellar performance last night, the Wolves would have lost that game if not for Kevin Martin. His 32 points on 52% shooting, including 3-5 from behind the arc and 9-10 from the stripe tell enough of the tale to know how critical he was to last night's victory. But note also that he had 5 boards and 2 steals. And beyond the stats, what you see in Kevin Martin when you're at the game is a steady veteran whose shooting prowess and confidence gives his teammates confidence. You can tell his teammates really like him and you can also see a special bond developing between the two Kevins in particular. The two talk a lot on the court and the bench. It's a fun dynamic to watch.
Then there's Corey Brewer. Although I never hated the Brewer acquisition, I'm on record in July wishing we had kept AK47 and signed DeMarre Carroll as our energy guy instead. But although it's early, I'm fully convinced that Flip made the right move -- at least for this season. Corey was tremendous last night. Yes, he missed some layups he should have made. But that's Corey. With Corey, you take the bad with the good. Fortunately this season, Corey has brought a lot more good than bad to the floor. His 17 points on 50% shooting was a key component to the Wolves win. But he also made some nice passes. And as always, he brought phenomenal energy to the team. As I mentioned earlier, his breakaway dunk later in the second quarter followed by Dante's put-back dunk seemed like a major catalyst for the Wolves second half turn-around last night. I love the way Corey celebrates after a big play like his second quarter dunk. His enthusiasm and intensity are infectious both with his teammates and the crowd. I've mentioned this before, but I'll mention it again. A few years ago, I was part of a small group of season ticketholders at a luncheon with Kevin McHale. When asked about Corey Brewer, he acknowledged Corey's limitations. But he said that Corey brings things to a team that you can't readily see in the stat line. He went on to say that every winning team needs a player like Corey Brewer. I now see what he meant.
SOME OTHER OBSERVATIONS
1. Dante finally came to life in the second half last night with 6 points on 50% shooting, 7 boards, 1 steal and 1 block. Not a great stat line for 30 minutes, but solid. And solid is what we need from him and our entire bench.
2. Unfortunately, our bench overall failed again to give us the sort of solid play we need from them. Adelman is still trying to figure out how to mix in a starter or two with the second unit. I still think Flip needs to make some sort of deal to significantly upgrade the talent on our second unit. But that's easier said than done.
3. Pekovic looked a bit better in the second half, but he continued to miss point blank shots he has to make to come close to being the $12 million per year player Flip and our organization expects him to be. And not only did he continue to miss point blank shots last night, he continued to play with stone hands. He drops or muffs far too many passes. And 6 rebounds in 30 minutes last night isn't enough from our starting $12 million per year center. He has to improve substantially this season.
4. Ricky played his worst game of the season so far and one of his worst games since arriving her two years ago. However, he still played very well defensively and ran the offense well in his 35 minutes on the floor.
5. Derrick was in street cloths with back spasms and I didn't care.
6. Hummel looks like he knows what he's doing out there. More so than Williams, Dieng or Shabazz.
7. Speaking of Shabazz, I saw some disturbing behavior from him last night. First, just after half time, while all his teammates were participating in shoot-around, he was hanging out with one of the Mavs and chatting up a storm. Second, he was completely disconnected from the team while on the bench. Even worse, he spent most of his time on the bench talking a joking with Derrick Williams. It reminded me of the days when Derrick and Wes would joke around constantly on the bench. I can tell you than none of the other guys on our bench were talking and laughing with Derrick Williams.. Shved, Hummel, Dante, JJ -- when these guys are on the bench, they are generally serious and into the game.
My main take-aways from last night's game are (1) Love and Martin are critical to this team's ability to score enough points to win and playing without either one would be devastating; (2) Brewer was a great acquisition; (3) Pekovic and our bench need to improve substantially for this team to secure a playoff spot; and (4) this team is a work in progress. Overall, I like a lot of what I've seen and I can still see this team ultimately securing the 6th seed as I projected before the season started. But there need to be improvements.
That's all for now. Let's go beat the Lakers.