Minnesota Sports Forum

Yeah, I'm a die-hard and watched the entire game which we all knew was a certain defeat. A few thoughts....

- Wiggins is regressing. How can a guy with his athleticism play 33 minutes and get only 1 rebound, 0 steals, 0 blocks, and 0 assists. I mean, that's worse than the old "Eddy Curry" line. His shot has been off for multiple games now, which means he has to find other ways to contribute. Very disappointing and a worrisome trend.

- On the other hand, LaVine seems to be progressing. He still made his fair share of dumb plays on both ends of the court, but you watch him and feel like at any moment he could make something positive happen. Encouraging.

- Shabazz keeps doing what he's been doing, which is good to see - crashing the glass, getting quick-hit plays off cuts, and just generally being a scoring machine. He's very efficient with his possessions too. He now has 2 turnovers in the past 8 games. That's the positive tradeoff of him not being able to do much off the dribble (which can often lead to charges and travels) or try to make tough passes.

- Thad Young had one rebound and is now averaging less than 5 rebounds per game. I love Thad, but he is clearly overmatched on most nights as a starting 4. The Western Conference is a different animal, isn't it Thad?

- I was a guy that pleaded for patience with Chase Budinger. I'm about done with him. You can only give him so many chances before you just have to throw up your hands and admit that he's too much of a liability to play anymore. GRIII deserves a chance at this point.

- What can you say about the Spurs. While the Wolves had their fair share of breakdowns defensively, the Spurs also made shot after shot that were defended reasonably well. They are just a freakin' machine.

All and all, the game ended as expected, but it was nice to see Bazz continue to play well and LaVine show some spark.

Bazz, Lavine, Bennet, and Dieng all continuing to show positive progression! I didn't get to see the game, but the stat line looks pretty nice for the four!!

Yeah, I watched it, too...

Wiggins and Brewer seem to be a bad pairing at the wing. Who can score consistently?!? I'm ready to see Bazz in the starting lineup. I would have Brewer come off the bench again.

Bennett continues to show some good stuff. I like his rebounding, and he can pass pretty well, too. I would like to see his minutes increase like they did tonight.

And I like how well LaVine has progressed, too! Most of us applauded Flip for starting LaVine when Rubio went down. And then we applauded Flip when he swapped Mo for LaVine in the starting lineup. It may be premature, but I'm ready to see LaVine continue starting, even when Mo comes back. His comfort level and decision making have come a long ways since those first few starts. I really like his stroke!

Bud. Oh, Bud. I swear he looks like a more in-experienced rookie than any of our rookies. What the hell happened?!?

Tim, I agree on Bud. He's making just boneheaded plays. It's one thing to lose your shooting stroke, but he should have at least maintained his b-ball IQ. He's just totally out of sorts.

I'm skeptical about starting Shabazz. Let's remember that he still only does one thing well, and that's score. Otherwise, he is still a very limited player. On the other hand, Brewer.....Oof. I really don't know at this point. Our vets are just as bad as our rookies at times.

When Bud got injured the 2nd time I knew he was finished. He came back and couldn't hit wide open shots. He's a sunken cost. It happens. Unfortunately it just always seems to happen to us.

Too bad we don't value 2nd rounders because this team could absolutely use outside shooting above anything else.

You guys did better than me. I watched the 1st quarter and part of the second. I'm starting to lose interest - especially games where we clearly have zero chance to win. This defense....it's unwatchable to me. Even with young guys/new system...I can't give a pass to playing this bad on defense. Yeah we are undersized....but we have athletes. It shouldn't be this bad. Fix it Flip!

Carlos Danger wrote:You guys did better than me. I watched the 1st quarter and part of the second. I'm starting to lose interest - especially games where we clearly have zero chance to win. This defense....it's unwatchable to me. Even with young guys/new system...I can't give a pass to playing this bad on defense. Yeah we are undersized....but we have athletes. It shouldn't be this bad. Fix it Flip!

They had a couple of nice defensive stops, but the Spurs run an incredibly efficient offense. It's truly how basketball was meant to be played, with guys constantly moving and making the extra pass. It's almost impossible to defend, especially if it's the second night of a back to back and your flight got in at 5:00AM!

The other thing that continues to amaze me is how they have so many damn guys that can shoot. Everyone that walks into that program ends up a better shooter than wherever they were before. Leonard was never a good shooter in college, yet he's hitting pull-up J's from all over the place last night!

Q12543 wrote:They had a couple of nice defensive stops, but the Spurs run an incredibly efficient offense. It's truly how basketball was meant to be played, with guys constantly moving and making the extra pass. It's almost impossible to defend, especially if it's the second night of a back to back and your flight got in at 5:00AM!

Let's be honest Q....they make almost every team look like an incredibly efficient offense :-). The only game I've watched where that wasn't the case was against Philly. But that was only because Philly couldn't hit their open shots. I'm not going to be a total fair weather fan. But it's tough to sit through a full game watching things as they are right now (at least for me).

LaVine just the fourth teenager in NBA history with a 20 points, 10 assists game.