Wolves invade Magic Kingdom (6 pm)

[RocketsHero]

Rubio was having problems bringing the ball up against Payton. At least that's my guess why Lavine bringing it up court.

Nope, the idea was Let Zach Attack his defender since he is perceived to be the better scorer than Rubio. Payton was fouling all night without being called. Getting his pocket picked once is not the same as having problems bringing the ball up against Payton.

[RocketsHero]

Don't get me wrong, Payton was very impressive last night and he did outperform Rubio in that game.

[steveshikadance]

Fun game last night between two young up and coming teams. So great to see yet another game where Minny's 2 young cornerstones step-up in the clutch to help the Wolves take the game to OT. Wiggins has really impressed since the early back problems to start the season, his willingness to drive and absorb contact is refreshing, one thing i hate though is seeing him take those long 2's why he doesnt take one step back on those jumpers for 3 is beyond me. KAT has been much better this early than I ever would have expected, his bball iq is off the charts for a rookie, great spacing and timing stuff that is hard to teach. Looking forward to see if this young duo can help carry the Wolves to playoff contention this year, should be fun.

[Worm Guts]

Rubio was having problems bringing the ball up against Payton. At least that's my guess why Lavine bringing it up court.

Nope, the idea was Let Zach Attack his defender since he is perceived to be the better scorer than Rubio. Payton was fouling all night without being called. Getting his pocket picked once is not the same as having problems bringing the ball up against Payton.

He was making Rubio work to bring the ball up, getting away with fouls would just exacerbate that.
That being said I didn't hear if Mitchell addressed it, letting Zach attack may have been his strategy.

[LesGrossman]

Rubio was having problems bringing the ball up against Payton. At least that's my guess why Lavine bringing it up court.

Nope, the idea was Let Zach Attack his defender since he is perceived to be the better scorer than Rubio. Payton was fouling all night without being called. Getting his pocket picked once is not the same as having problems bringing the ball up against Payton.

He was making Rubio work to bring the ball up, getting away with fouls would just exacerbate that.
That being said I didn't hear if Mitchell addressed it, letting Zach attack may have been his strategy.

Dunno why everyone tries to scapegoat Ricky now. It certainly wasnt his best game but by no means poor; he kept everyone in the game, dished out some really nice assists, played comparably good defense against a guy who had an exceptionally good game. Sure it would be nice if he hit some of those jumpers but then if Martin or Bjelica would it wouldnt even have been close. Every team seems to have their reliable long distance threat but us, very frustrating. I used to watch the grizzlies because i liked their defensive approach but their offense was also based on inside and not very pretty.

I wonder if "hack a Elfried" would have been a viable plan.

[Worm Guts]

I'm not trying to scapegoat Ricky, I'm just saying what happened. Lavine struggled against Payton too.

[Crazy-Canuck]

Nothing to do with ricky, i just think smitch sees lavine as the closer late in the game or with a short clock.

[Klomp]

If we're in the hunt by all-star break, it's definitely playoffs or bust because we'd be too high in the record books to try and get another top 3 talent (Unless we get extremely lucky)

So you'd consider the season a failure if we didn't make the playoffs and didn't end up with a Top 3 pick?

[theGreatRC]

If we're in the hunt by all-star break, it's definitely playoffs or bust because we'd be too high in the record books to try and get another top 3 talent (Unless we get extremely lucky)

So you'd consider the season a failure if we didn't make the playoffs and didn't end up with a Top 3 pick?

No. I'm saying if we're in the hunt for the playoffs, then the team needs to have a "Fight for a playoff seed" mentality and not one where games in April are meaningless stat stuffers. It will be good for the development of our two corner stones. I would be pleased if we had a Jazz-esque run after the all-star break from last year, even if we don't make the playoffs. I wouldn't want us to try to rest key players like Rubio to get a higher draft slot.

[LesGrossman]

I believe its a meaningful question. Last year they went into tank mode way too early and i am afraid smitch might take that same route again.