Kekgeek grades G23 vs warriors

[kekgeek]

Conley: B+
Ant: B-
Mcdaniels: B
Randle: F
Rudy: C-
Naw: A+
Naz: C
Donte: D+
Minott: B

[FNG]

I didn't see the game, but listened to the GS radio feed as I was driving back home from Tucson...so I'll have to accept your grades. To me the entire game shifted when we allowed GS to get all those fast break baskets to start the second half. The GS announcers were praising the Wolves smothering defense in the first half, and then said nothing about it in the second. It really sounded like the intensity we showed in the last 4 1/2 games disappeared. We're a talented team, but we can't afford to coast when we think we are better than the other team.

How did we let a short Warriors team outrebound us? And how does Rudy only get 3 shots?

I know Minott made his only shot, but the GS announcers made it sound like he was responsible for the two wild passes (one by Julius and I don't know the other) that happened late in his stint. Finchie must have agreed, because he yanked him right away and never put him back in.

Mirror image games for Ant and NAW, right? Ant was flawless in the first three quarters, but failed down the stretch. NAW was invisible the first three quarters, and then almost won the game for us.

We've been almost doubling turnovers with assists during our win streak...didn't like the 22/14 in this game (GS was 28/11 after a lot of TOs in the first quarter).

This is a game we should have won, but I'm not going to get too worked up about it. We're better than the Warriors when we bring the intensity, but I could tell even on the radio that one team wanted to win this game in the second half more than the other.

[kekgeek]

I didn't see the game, but listened to the GS radio feed as I was driving back home from Tucson...so I'll have to accept your grades. To me the entire game shifted when we allowed GS to get all those fast break baskets to start the second half. The GS announcers were praising the Wolves smothering defense in the first half, and then said nothing about it in the second. It really sounded like the intensity we showed in the last 4 1/2 games disappeared. We're a talented team, but we can't afford to coast when we think we are better than the other team.

How did we let a short Warriors team outrebound us? And how does Rudy only get 3 shots?

I know Minott made his only shot, but the GS announcers made it sound like he was responsible for the two wild passes (one by Julius and I don't know the other) that happened late in his stint. Finchie must have agreed, because he yanked him right away and never put him back in.

Mirror image games for Ant and NAW, right? Ant was flawless in the first three quarters, but failed down the stretch. NAW was invisible the first three quarters, and then almost won the game for us.

We've been almost doubling turnovers with assists during our win streak...didn't like the 22/14 in this game (GS was 28/11 after a lot of TOs in the first quarter).

This is a game we should have won, but I'm not going to get too worked up about it. We're better than the Warriors when we bring the intensity, but I could tell even on the radio that one team wanted to win this game in the second half more than the other.

A lot of laziness in the second half for the wolves. Like 3 possessions the warriors got a fast break layup after a make twice and after a wolves out of bounds turnover they got a layup because the wolves were sleeping. My biases might be coming through here but Randle was so lazy getting back in transition multiple times what drove me nuts. Now some other guys lost focused also so I can't just blame Randle but he drives me nuts when he goes into Lazy Piece of shit mode.

Rudy was not good in this game, it would be a great game to be able to play the Naz and Randle combo down the stretch but because of Randle laziness and Naz struggling to hit a 3 lately it was hard for Finch to take out Rudy. This is silly but they need to get Rudy the ball more early in the game, Rudy gets super engaged when he is involved in the offense early and this might be the most ridiculous thing I have ever typed but Rudy really struggles catching the ball when he has not had to catch the ball for a couple of quarters because they are not passing him the ball. So bad that I needed to even type that.

With the Minott thing, Randle legit just threw a behind the back pass out of bounds, with Naz, Naz drove the lane and threw a no look pass to the corner while Minott rotated up. It seemed from Naz reaction to Minott that should of been in the quarter but not knowing the offense of principles of the wolves I am not sure who's fault that was, could of easily been Minott.

Thought they played solid basketball, tip my cap to Curry he was fantastic. Ant killed the wolves in the last 5 minutes. unfortunate because he was on his way to an A grade until then.

[FNG]

Kek, my honey and I were listening to the game as we drove through the heartland, and the Warriors announcers were effusive about Rudy's defense in the first half. They echoed your take about how different the Warriors offense was when Rudy sat...attacked the basket much more. But they said nothing in the second half, so I assumed Rudy was one of many who coasted in the second half.

Yeah, I think the Naz turnover was due to a lack of familiarity between him and Josh...understandable, but it sounds like Finchie wasn't happy.

[Q-is-here]

I didn't see the game, but listened to the GS radio feed as I was driving back home from Tucson...so I'll have to accept your grades. To me the entire game shifted when we allowed GS to get all those fast break baskets to start the second half. The GS announcers were praising the Wolves smothering defense in the first half, and then said nothing about it in the second. It really sounded like the intensity we showed in the last 4 1/2 games disappeared. We're a talented team, but we can't afford to coast when we think we are better than the other team.

How did we let a short Warriors team outrebound us? And how does Rudy only get 3 shots?

I know Minott made his only shot, but the GS announcers made it sound like he was responsible for the two wild passes (one by Julius and I don't know the other) that happened late in his stint. Finchie must have agreed, because he yanked him right away and never put him back in.

Mirror image games for Ant and NAW, right? Ant was flawless in the first three quarters, but failed down the stretch. NAW was invisible the first three quarters, and then almost won the game for us.

We've been almost doubling turnovers with assists during our win streak...didn't like the 22/14 in this game (GS was 28/11 after a lot of TOs in the first quarter).

This is a game we should have won, but I'm not going to get too worked up about it. We're better than the Warriors when we bring the intensity, but I could tell even on the radio that one team wanted to win this game in the second half more than the other.

A lot of laziness in the second half for the wolves. Like 3 possessions the warriors got a fast break layup after a make twice and after a wolves out of bounds turnover they got a layup because the wolves were sleeping. My biases might be coming through here but Randle was so lazy getting back in transition multiple times what drove me nuts. Now some other guys lost focused also so I can't just blame Randle but he drives me nuts when he goes into Lazy Piece of shit mode.

Rudy was not good in this game, it would be a great game to be able to play the Naz and Randle combo down the stretch but because of Randle laziness and Naz struggling to hit a 3 lately it was hard for Finch to take out Rudy. This is silly but they need to get Rudy the ball more early in the game, Rudy gets super engaged when he is involved in the offense early and this might be the most ridiculous thing I have ever typed but Rudy really struggles catching the ball when he has not had to catch the ball for a couple of quarters because they are not passing him the ball. So bad that I needed to even type that.

With the Minott thing, Randle legit just threw a behind the back pass out of bounds, with Naz, Naz drove the lane and threw a no look pass to the corner while Minott rotated up. It seemed from Naz reaction to Minott that should of been in the quarter but not knowing the offense of principles of the wolves I am not sure who's fault that was, could of easily been Minott.

Thought they played solid basketball, tip my cap to Curry he was fantastic. Ant killed the wolves in the last 5 minutes. unfortunate because he was on his way to an A grade until then.

Kek, your point about getting Rudy the ball early is well stated. This has been a well-known fact with offensively limited big men since time began. Get them touches early in the game even if it's not your best offense. There is usually an ROI on those touches that go beyond whether the big scored or not on that particular possession.

I think one of the biggest challenges the front office and coaching staff (whether it's Connelly/Finch or someone else eventually) will face in the coming years is how to successfully transition away from our dependency on Mike Conley for offense and Rudy Gobert for defense.

Rudy may be around for a while longer, but his minutes and his effectiveness will gradually decline in the coming years, to the point where he should become more of an important role player rather than THE singular key to our entire defense. The Mike Conley transition is more urgent.