Game 68: Magic (31-36) @ Wolves (38-29)

[winforlose]

Jaden and DDV only combined for 25 points. In my book we lose that game by double digits without them. You cannot say enough good things about them in the fourth.

[Dalvin]

Aaaaaarrrrrrrroooooooo!!!!! We're clicking at the right time! Popping of multiple win streaks! 7 game winning streak!

[Neeva]

That works, Ant celebrating after playing like **** before the game is over..

Im sorry, this guy needs pop or some other old school mentality.. Zero humility, finch has no authority. Embarrassing

lol.

Yeah, it's going to be funny when we can't get back to the WCF this year.

We can it will just be inspite of Finch’s coaching and because playoff Ant and playoff Jaden is real.

[guest81]

That works, Ant celebrating after playing like **** before the game is over..

Im sorry, this guy needs pop or some other old school mentality.. Zero humility, finch has no authority. Embarrassing

lol.

Yeah, it's going to be funny when we can't get back to the WCF this year.

Cheer up the Wolves won 7 straight. This is supposed to be fun

[FrenchMinnyFan]

Great win overall. Getting some up and down but we play well at clutch time. We are deep and can have 8-9 guys contributing. Good job. Go Wolves!

[shrink]

We just looked like a beautiful team tonight, turning it on and outclassing a lesser opponent in the fourth.

Watch on YouTube

[minimus]

IMO MIN could use a big wing who can defend guys like Banchero. At the moment MIN roster have better chances to beat teams with main scoring guard as star such as PHO or DEN with dominant big, than teams with high scoring big wing as star

[shrink]

IMO MIN could use a big wing who can defend guys like Banchero. At the moment MIN roster have better chances to beat teams with main scoring guard as star such as PHO or DEN with dominant big, than teams with high scoring big wing as star

I think there is some truth in this, without SloMo. However, I think Naz, and maybe Randle, can serve this role if Gobert is behind them. Maybe even Jaden, if the player isn’t heavy.

You’re right, nobody on the current team is going to stop a Banchero. But we can do enough as a team defense to minimize the damage his team can create, like we do with a much better player like Jokic. We make both work to get their points, and diminish their team options.

[TimberKat]

IMO MIN could use a big wing who can defend guys like Banchero. At the moment MIN roster have better chances to beat teams with main scoring guard as star such as PHO or DEN with dominant big, than teams with high scoring big wing as star

I think there is some truth in this, without SloMo. However, I think Naz, and maybe Randle, can serve this role if Gobert is behind them. Maybe even Jaden, if the player isn’t heavy.

You’re right, nobody on the current team is going to stop a Banchero. But we can do enough as a team defense to minimize the damage his team can create, like we do with a much better player like Jokic. We make both work to get their points, and diminish their team options.

Ideally, would be without Conley. Use Clark, NAW, DDV with JMcD and Gobert, so we could switch and double.

[life_saver]

Its not hard to understand why Wolves were so firm that Knicks have to include DDV in the KAT trade...its hard to find someone with his skillset + amazing contract value for 3 years

[younggunsmn]

We looked pretty bad defensively but a win is a win, Orlando played hard, even if they were playing Cory Joseph and Anthony Black, two terrible players, at PG.
Offense continues to trend upward, but it's an absolute shame Jaden only got 6 FGA in this one.
Our ceiling is so much higher when he gets involved and attacks the basket.

The interior defense was atrocious, and Caleb Houstan got a whole bunch of wide open transition threes.

They kept running a big/small pick and roll with Banchero as the ballhandler and for some headscratching reason we kept switching it and giving him layups instead of packing the paint and making him shoot jump shots, which is what teams should be doing to him.
Randle was terrible defensively. Just lost.

We gave up 8 points to banchero in the last 45 seconds of the game.

Lucky to not lose this one when we kept doing stupid things like taking shots in the first 8 seconds of the shot clock up 5+ points with less than a minute left (looking at you Ant), as we were able to trade baskets enough to tread water.
Last couple minutes looked like the NBA version of a terrible prevent defense where we were just determined to not give up a 3 or foul (which we also failed at).

But Ant has started dialing back the hero ball which is a good sign.
Decision making team wide looks a lot quicker on offense which the coaching staff deserves credit for making a point of emphasis.
The amount of time spent dribbling in particular has gone way down during this winning streak.

Dante and Jaden are carrying us right now defensively and with their energy.
They made Franz Wagner look really really bad which evened out getting wrecked by Banchero.

[shrink]

The Magic have been a distant 30th in 3p% at 30.9%. A shocking number, with an NBA average around 36%.

Somehow they shot 43% against us.

I know it’s a noisy stat, but Finch’s game plan to encourage them to shoot three’s was sound, and his adjustments (I think they were over 50% in the first half) were enough as well to get the second half to revert to the mean.

[younggunsmn]

The Magic have been a distant 30th in 3p% at 30.9%. A shocking number, with an NBA average around 36%.

Somehow they shot 43% against us.

I know it’s a noisy stat, but Finch’s game plan to encourage them to shoot three’s was sound, and his adjustments (I think they were over 50% in the first half) were enough as well to get the second half to revert to the mean.

All 3 pointers are not made equal. A highly contested 3 is a lower percentage shot than a wide open one.
If a team is shooting well over its average there's a pretty good chance your poor defense had something to do with it.

That crazy contest Jaden had on Banchero where he was up like 11 feet in the air should be put on a highlight reel.
Jaden IMHO has been our team MVP the last 2 months.
He's been a huge difference maker on defense since he has been taken off of full-time POA duties.