Observations from the Smoothie Center (Game Report)

[Bayou Wolf [enjin:6635650]]

That was not an easy game to watch. Hats off to the Pelicans who absolutely destroyed the Twolves. At one point, the Pelicans had shot 12-15 from 3 point land. It was a steamroller, and not much the wolves could do. There was a lot of ugly play, that I will try not to spend too much time on, and a few positives that are worth mentioning. Here goes:

Pek and Williams looked absolutely terrible. Williams is not looking to shoot, but isn't getting his teammates very involved either. Pek looked completely outmatched and outplayed. Don't even get me started on Martin, he was the worst player on the floor for either team, in the entire game. If we are getting the young guys minutes, lets bring martin off of the bench, he isn't helping us in the starting 5.

Brewer was a man on a mission, and played really hard, was disruptive getting some good steals, and was scoring.

Wiggins' game is really coming along, as is his confidence. It would be nice to see him slash and drive more than he does,but his jumper was falling and he had one monster dunk. He looks good out there, and is clearly getting better every game.

Zach is REALLY fast, and, once he learns how to do it, will create his shot and score a ton of points. I did not like him as our starting pointguard going the entire game without an assist. His shot looks good, and he is fearless driving to the hoop. Would be nice to see a better handle.

Muhammad looked very strong and had some solid play, he should keep getting minutes. I do not think he is a starting caliber player in the NBA, but he could be a solid contributor for the coming years.

DIeng, got seriously outplayed tonight,but so did the entire team. He never gives up, and doen by about 47 points with three minutes left, threw himself on the floor for a loose ball.

Bennett, some good play, and hustle. I really don't like how he plants himself at the top of the key, and defaults to the long two as his primary offense. He also isn't very fast. That said, he is very physical, and good around the basket, just needs to spend more time there.

Hummel was ok, Budinger still looks off, and he should have OWNED Fredette posting up, but he didn't. He also has the worst looking shot I have seen in a long time. It is a wonder that anything ever goes in.

Turiaf was outplayed and seemed to whine a lot. Nice to see GRIII get some extended play. He hustled, and looked a little lost, but he is pretty quick.

We missed Young, and we REALLY missed Rubio. We are simply a significantly better team with him playing. Flip looked patient, and took many opportunities to coach the young players.

It was just one of those games, where the tip-off started the avalanche and there wasn't much we could do about it (although playing some defense might help).

[Lipoli390]

Thanks for the report, Bayou! I didn't see the game. Needless to say, the final outcome was ugly. Seems like this would be pretty demoralizing for the players. Did you see any of our guy puts hanging their heads or mailing it in late in the game?

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

Simpy for the morale of these young guys it would be nice if they played a competitive game against Dallas. Sadly though, without Ricky and Thad it will most likely get ugly again.

Solid game by Wiggins though. If I'm Flip, before the Dallas game, I'm going to say to him "son, you're going to shoot the ball 25 times tonight." Why not, there is nothing to lose right now.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Sorry the Wolves gave you such a horrible effort, bayou, but thanks for the report...hopefully our second visit to NO will be more competitive. I'm also interested in Lip's question about body language of the players at game end. It was easy to see even on my TV screen that Kevin Martin wasn't interested in playing basketball last night. On the nights where he chooses to stand around on offense rather than moving and cutting around screens, he is completely worthless out there.

I know many don't agree here, but this game was over the moment Flip decided to pair Pek and Gorgui together. Gorgui has been so impressive at C this year, in contrast to how lost he looked at PF in Summer League. I'm not saying he will never have the ability to play PF because he has surprised me with his offensive versatility this year, but in SL and last night I have yet to see one moment where he looked comfortable playing the position. I know Flip had a challenge going up against Davis without his starting PF, but starting a guy not comfortable at PF was a bizarre option. It should have been Bennett, but I sense his knee is still bothering him (bayou mentioned that AB lacked footspeed last night, and if you look at film on him, he usually does not). Otherwise I would have given the start to Robbie. Yes, he would have struggled defensively against Davis, but who doesn't? And maybe Robbie's shooting range could have helped in pulling Davis away from the basket. Gorgui had a terrible game, and the only stats he put up were when Flip had him at center. Leave him in his natural position, and don't risk killing the kid's confidence!

I don't know where to begin with Pek. Here's how bad he is playing...I took a quick look at the game thread, and he even drew an angry comment from Tim! I'm beginning to think it was a bad idea for him to attend the Lou Amundson Big Man camp last summer, because I see a lot of Lou now in his offensive game. Some of Pek's horrid play is on the PG's, who continue to get him the ball outside of the 3-foot circle within which he has any chance of scoring. When Pek has to be creative or (shudder) put the ball on the floor, there is almost no chance of success. I don't know if Pek is injured again, but for some reason he hasn't been able to consistently establish position around the basket. And when he doesn't, the PG's cant pass the ball to him...80% of the time Pek will try to score, and he just doesn't have the skills to score from wher he is receiving the ball. To make the situation even worse, he continues to miss shots even when he is within his 3-foot Circle of Competence.

But as bad as his offense is right now, his defense is even worse...he was terrible again last night. I gave him a pass against Howard, but last night he was lined up against Asik...not a good offensive player in anyone's book. Fortunately Flip didn't allow Pek 20 minutes last night. Otherwise who knows how many easy buckets he would have allowed off dribble drive bounce passes to Asik. It was embarrassing. I'm not saying that Flip needs to make Dieng his starting center yet, at least if Pek is healthy...he needs to give him time to maybe work things out. But he has had a series of bad games now, and something needs to change...either Pek's performance, or Flip's lineup. He's hurting us right now.

Yes, there were some positives...Corey's continuing spark and excellent play, Wiggins' emerging confidence. But in a 76er type loss, I'm not going to spend much time on positives.

We better get some positive news on Ricky soon.

[Bayou Wolf [enjin:6635650]]

I didn't see our young guys hanging their heads. It is clear that Ricky and Thad are the team's veteran leaders. Other than Brewer our vets played poorly and a disinterested game. It was embarrassing to watch. Dieng is not a power forward. But he most certainly is a center with a good future. Just too slow. I am nnow firmly off of any Mo Williams band wagon. Pek just got owned. Our ball movement and offensive execution broke down last night without a seasoned PG. What I didn't really talk about was how porous our defense was. Muhammad was pretty bad on D. A common statement is "flashes of potential/ability" with our young guys. I think lavine will be very good, and could be a elite defender someday. My final thought is that, even with the outcome last night, we have some young players we should all be very excited about. But this year is going to present some challenges.

[60WinTim]

Thanks, Bayou. And nice writeup, too, LST.

I agree with you guys on the Pek-Dieng combination - it was a failure. Flip had mentioned in the pre-season he wants to find out if Pek and Dieng can play together. Hopefully he has his answer and we don't see it again. Although Flip usually wants a sample size of more than one game to make a decision. I guess we'll see tonight. I don't think Dieng is a good matchup on Dirk, and with Pek playing SOOO bad I think you need every minute Dieng gives you at the C position!

We only had two vets in the lineup last night -- Pek and Martin -- and they were the worst players on the floor. Neither deserves to start tonight. We know the solution for Pek - start Dieng, which means starting either Bennett or Hummel at PF. And I guess I would start Brewer for Martin.

The one positive is that our young Wolves hadn't experienced a complete ass-whooping, so now we can check that off the list...

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Simpy for the morale of these young guys it would be nice if they played a competitive game against Dallas. Sadly though, without Ricky and Thad it will most likely get ugly again.

Solid game by Wiggins though. If I'm Flip, before the Dallas game, I'm going to say to him "son, you're going to shoot the ball 25 times tonight." Why not, there is nothing to lose right now.

I don't know. I think there is only so far you can push a 19-year old raw talent before either bad habits or confidence issues come into play. I like the way he's been handled so far, which is to focus on defending the opponents' best wing and be the 3rd or 4th option on offense.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Anyone still think we're going to win more than 30 games? I don't think we win that game with Rubio by the way. New Orleans has taken a big step. Davis is playing like a top 5 player, they have a legit defensive/rebounding Center in Asik, and they have one of the best sixth men in the game with Ryan Anderson. Their perimeter players ultimately will be their death knell in the playoffs, but they certainly outplayed our perimeter guys. And just think....there are probably at least four or five other Western Conference teams better than them.

This is the second game in a row where the 3-point differential was gaping. Flip was incredulous at how many they made after the game. Well, yeah, it's not like 20 years ago where only one or two guys on any given team took many 3-pointers. The good teams are loaded with multiple players that can knock down that shot!

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Thanks, Bayou. And nice writeup, too, LST.

I agree with you guys on the Pek-Dieng combination - it was a failure. Flip had mentioned in the pre-season he wants to find out if Pek and Dieng can play together. Hopefully he has his answer and we don't see it again. Although Flip usually wants a sample size of more than one game to make a decision. I guess we'll see tonight. I don't think Dieng is a good matchup on Dirk, and with Pek playing SOOO bad I think you need every minute Dieng gives you at the C position!

We only had two vets in the lineup last night -- Pek and Martin -- and they were the worst players on the floor. Neither deserves to start tonight. We know the solution for Pek - start Dieng, which means starting either Bennett or Hummel at PF. And I guess I would start Brewer for Martin.

The one positive is that our young Wolves hadn't experienced a complete ass-whooping, so now we can check that off the list...

Yup, the Pek-Dieng combo was disappointing.

And can someone take Dieng aside and make him do 500 pump fake/dribble drives in a row with a focus on not traveling! Jeebus, he gets called for that once or twice a game! He did make another one of those Duncan-esque mid-range bank shots. Those are not easy!

[KiwiMatt]

At this stage if I was Flip I would have Martin coming off the bench. Not permanently, but to make a statement - if you don't play hard and perform you don't start. As much as I prefer Brewer coming off the bench he has been our best player the last two games and deserves his to start next to Wiggins. I'd do the same with Pek, but unfortunately we don't have that luxury with Young away and Bennet coming back from injury.