Game 8: Clippers at Timberwolves, 7 pm

[Calinks]

I still believe this is a .500 squad but good Lord, we have got to do something about this offense. Not in my wildest dreams did I imagine we could string performances together like this. The wolves always find a way to baffle. The coaching staff should be heavily scrutinized along with the players.

The rebounding and free throw problem is massive too, something has to be addressed there.

[TheProdigy]

This team misses Dlo’s ability to create, shoot, and just run offense.

0-3 since his injury

That's right. It's glaringly obvious. Maybe fans will realize that.

The ball didn't move and too many guys wanted to do it all themselves.

This is true. The ball just doesn’t move. And it feeds on itself. If you haven’t touched the ball in a few possessions, you’re more likely to jack up a shot or try and go one on one than if you’re getting shots and making passes in a flow.

Ant is probably the worst offender. He is a true ball stopper.

17 points on 22 shots. Ant talked alot of game after the 1st loss, but he hasn't really backed it up. Almost half of his shots are 3 pointers. Someone needs to remind him that he's not Steph Curry.

[shangrila]

And yet, for the last 4 games at least, Ant has consistently had a better +/- than Towns has. Sometimes significantly so.

[winforlose]

I was watching this on DVR, and when I am behind I don’t usually check the score until I am willing to be done with the game. I checked it at about 4:00 left in the 3rd and had to shut it off. The idea that we blew a 20 point lead is bad enough, but to lose by 20 is unreal.

1. The refs in this game need to be investigated for fixing. This was the absolute worst most one sided officiating I have ever seen. It has been bad before but nothing like this. Every Wolf starter has 3 fouls at the beginning of the 3rd yet they are all over towns, and setting illegal screen after illegal screen and nothing. This game was a joke and the refs made it that way.

2. For Ant to take 12 3s in a game is inexcusable. The guy is shooting around 25% the last 7 of 8. One good game does not justify this. I cannot fathom the sheer audacity of Ant to shoot that many being that bad. He owes his team an apology, the fans an apology, and his coaching staff an apology. What happened to 2/3 1/3 on jump shooting. Ant is simply playing losing basketball.

3. Karl needs to find ways to be more impactful. He is ultra efficient and they are being allowed to foul him literally before, during, and after the shot every time. That said, we need to find ways to get KAT more shots. The league is becoming a joke with the good team bad team officiating.

4. I said it before and will say it again, Bolmaro and Nowell should get the JMAC and Prince minutes.

[karch34]

Towns needs to shoot more and the team needs to stop jacking up 3s when they’re not falling. Get some size in front court to help.

[winforlose]

And yet, for the last 4 games at least, Ant has consistently had a better +/- than Towns has. Sometimes significantly so.

The easy way to examine that is to look at when KAT is off the floor and Ant is on. It usually happens at the end of the 1st or 3rd and beginning of the 2nd and 4th. What that tells you is that their starters like Jackson and PG13 are the ones doing the damage. It also tells you that our bench is outperforming our starters in some cases. Beasley hitting 3s with Ant instead of KAT for example. But when KAT shoots 11 and scores 20, and Ant shoots 22 and scores 17, that tells you a lot more about the individual performance.

[Merc_Porto]

I was expecting some reality check tbh, like "we are not that good" healthy, not healthy is not about the coach either, never was, but yet i come here and i have to see someone talking about the refs, other saying that fans need to realize that we need DLO.

Hahahahahahahahah!

I mean, come on.

[winforlose]

I was expecting some reality check tbh, like "we are not that good" healthy, not healthy is not about the coach either, never was, but yet i come here and i have to see someone talking about the refs, other saying that fans need to realize that we need DLO.

Hahahahahahahahah!

I mean, come on.

Did you watch the game? You honestly think the refs called it even? Put aside that the entire team was basically in foul trouble while only Paul George was for them. Put aside the 15 to 2 free throw attempts in the first half. Did you see what they were doing to KAT when he got the ball? Their entire strategy was to neutralize KAT and force Ant to either attack the big (something he won’t do consistently,) or ball hog and shoot 3s and long 2s. It worked. But don’t you dare tell me that was a clean game. if you really think so, you need to learn the rules of basketball.

Edit to add: according to the box they called 33 fouls on us and 16 on them. They also shot 32 free throws to our 7. Can you honestly tell me those numbers sit right with you? Are you trolling me or are you just not clear on the fact that your not allowed to maul people before they get the ball, when they catch the ball, and as they are shooting.

[shangrila]

And yet, for the last 4 games at least, Ant has consistently had a better +/- than Towns has. Sometimes significantly so.

The easy way to examine that is to look at when KAT is off the floor and Ant is on. It usually happens at the end of the 1st or 3rd and beginning of the 2nd and 4th. What that tells you is that their starters like Jackson and PG13 are the ones doing the damage. It also tells you that our bench is outperforming our starters in some cases. Beasley hitting 3s with Ant instead of KAT for example. But when KAT shoots 11 and scores 20, and Ant shoots 22 and scores 17, that tells you a lot more about the individual performance.

1 game would be an anomaly
2 games a coincidence
4 games in a row, though? (And that's all I could honestly be arsed looking up)

That's a pattern. Ant might be less efficient but after slogging it through the Kevin Love years, is it really that hard to imagine that maybe being more efficient doesn't automatically mean that someone is contributing to winning?

[winforlose]

And yet, for the last 4 games at least, Ant has consistently had a better +/- than Towns has. Sometimes significantly so.

The easy way to examine that is to look at when KAT is off the floor and Ant is on. It usually happens at the end of the 1st or 3rd and beginning of the 2nd and 4th. What that tells you is that their starters like Jackson and PG13 are the ones doing the damage. It also tells you that our bench is outperforming our starters in some cases. Beasley hitting 3s with Ant instead of KAT for example. But when KAT shoots 11 and scores 20, and Ant shoots 22 and scores 17, that tells you a lot more about the individual performance.

1 game would be an anomaly
2 games a coincidence
4 games in a row, though? (And that's all I could honestly be arsed looking up)

That's a pattern. Ant might be less efficient but after slogging it through the Kevin Love years, is it really that hard to imagine that maybe being more efficient doesn't automatically mean that someone is contributing to winning?

But we are not winning and Ant is the guy who deserves the most credit for each loss. The big 3 is a media concept but it is also a pecking order for the team. KAT is clearly the focus of the defense. No one, not Ant, not Beasley, no one is guarded with the physicality, intensity, numbers, no one. This by definition creates opportunities for other players. When Ant is on the floor with KAT he is always the number 2 shot priority and when doesn’t score that is a problem. When KAT is on the bench Ant has the #1 defensive priority. In this instance he should be creating more and shooting less. The idea being that they will put more focus on him and thus someone else is open.

Ant takes more shots than any other wolf per game. Ant does not often score the most points. Give Beasley 18 shots he gives you 18 points. Is Beasley as good as Ant? I don’t think so, but Ant took 22 shots to score 17 so tonight he was. Beyond the math is shot selection. Ant chucking 3s messes with pace as it allows the other team to bring the ball up quickly and with less energy expended. Ant chucking 3s cools our other shooters. Ant chucking 3s plays into our weakness with offensive rebounding. Ant chucking 3s is a win for the defense because he is not attacking the rim and getting to the line. I could go on. Ant is the #2 with Dlo out and KAT is doing everything humanly possible to win. You want me to believe Ant is important to winning, he needs to start getting us some wins.

[shangrila]

The easy way to examine that is to look at when KAT is off the floor and Ant is on. It usually happens at the end of the 1st or 3rd and beginning of the 2nd and 4th. What that tells you is that their starters like Jackson and PG13 are the ones doing the damage. It also tells you that our bench is outperforming our starters in some cases. Beasley hitting 3s with Ant instead of KAT for example. But when KAT shoots 11 and scores 20, and Ant shoots 22 and scores 17, that tells you a lot more about the individual performance.

1 game would be an anomaly
2 games a coincidence
4 games in a row, though? (And that's all I could honestly be arsed looking up)

That's a pattern. Ant might be less efficient but after slogging it through the Kevin Love years, is it really that hard to imagine that maybe being more efficient doesn't automatically mean that someone is contributing to winning?

But we are not winning and Ant is the guy who deserves the most credit for each loss. The big 3 is a media concept but it is also a pecking order for the team. KAT is clearly the focus of the defense. No one, not Ant, not Beasley, no one is guarded with the physicality, intensity, numbers, no one. This by definition creates opportunities for other players. When Ant is on the floor with KAT he is always the number 2 shot priority and when doesn’t score that is a problem. When KAT is on the bench Ant has the #1 defensive priority. In this instance he should be creating more and shooting less. The idea being that they will put more focus on him and thus someone else is open.

Ant takes more shots than any other wolf per game. Ant does not often score the most points. Give Beasley 18 shots he gives you 18 points. Is Beasley as good as Ant? I don’t think so, but Ant took 22 shots to score 17 so tonight he was. Beyond the math is shot selection. Ant chucking 3s messes with pace as it allows the other team to bring the ball up quickly and with less energy expended. Ant chucking 3s cools our other shooters. Ant chucking 3s plays into our weakness with offensive rebounding. Ant chucking 3s is a win for the defense because he is not attacking the rim and getting to the line. I could go on. Ant is the #2 with Dlo out and KAT is doing everything humanly possible to win. You want me to believe Ant is important to winning, he needs to start getting us some wins.

...you missed the point entirely. I'm not even sure what you're going on about here.

+/- has to be the simplest stat in basketball. It's literally just how many points our team scores when a player is on the court vs how many the opposing team scores. It doesn't care about efficiency or advanced stats or lineups or anything like that, which is why from game to game it's largely just noise.

But a pattern is emerging where Ant's +/- is consistently better than KAT's. So, despite all your talk about efficiency, by sheer factual evidence the team is performing better when Ant is on the court vs when KAT is on the court. Maybe, just maybe, there's more to winning than efficiency? Maybe Ant is doing more of the things that contribute to winning than KAT? Maybe there's things that don't show on the boxscore, like hustle or defensive effort?

I'm not even trying to make a point here, really. I just thought it was an interesting fact when people are already prepping the bonfire for Ant and martyring KAT.

[winforlose]

1 game would be an anomaly
2 games a coincidence
4 games in a row, though? (And that's all I could honestly be arsed looking up)

That's a pattern. Ant might be less efficient but after slogging it through the Kevin Love years, is it really that hard to imagine that maybe being more efficient doesn't automatically mean that someone is contributing to winning?

But we are not winning and Ant is the guy who deserves the most credit for each loss. The big 3 is a media concept but it is also a pecking order for the team. KAT is clearly the focus of the defense. No one, not Ant, not Beasley, no one is guarded with the physicality, intensity, numbers, no one. This by definition creates opportunities for other players. When Ant is on the floor with KAT he is always the number 2 shot priority and when doesn’t score that is a problem. When KAT is on the bench Ant has the #1 defensive priority. In this instance he should be creating more and shooting less. The idea being that they will put more focus on him and thus someone else is open.

Ant takes more shots than any other wolf per game. Ant does not often score the most points. Give Beasley 18 shots he gives you 18 points. Is Beasley as good as Ant? I don’t think so, but Ant took 22 shots to score 17 so tonight he was. Beyond the math is shot selection. Ant chucking 3s messes with pace as it allows the other team to bring the ball up quickly and with less energy expended. Ant chucking 3s cools our other shooters. Ant chucking 3s plays into our weakness with offensive rebounding. Ant chucking 3s is a win for the defense because he is not attacking the rim and getting to the line. I could go on. Ant is the #2 with Dlo out and KAT is doing everything humanly possible to win. You want me to believe Ant is important to winning, he needs to start getting us some wins.

...you missed the point entirely. I'm not even sure what you're going on about here.

+/- has to be the simplest stat in basketball. It's literally just how many points our team scores when a player is on the court vs how many the opposing team scores. It doesn't care about efficiency or advanced stats or lineups or anything like that, which is why from game to game it's largely just noise.

But a pattern is emerging where Ant's +/- is consistently better than KAT's. So, despite all your talk about efficiency, by sheer factual evidence the team is performing better when Ant is on the court vs when KAT is on the court. Maybe, just maybe, there's more to winning than efficiency? Maybe Ant is doing more of the things that contribute to winning than KAT? Maybe there's things that don't show on the boxscore, like hustle or defensive effort?

I'm not even trying to make a point here, really. I just thought it was an interesting fact when people are already prepping the bonfire for Ant and martyring KAT.

Fair enough. Let’s move forward rather than backward. Two things you should look up if you want to understand the phenomenon.

1. How many minutes per game does Ant play without KAT.
2. During the KAT free minutes who else is on the floor for the Wolves?

You figure that out and I am pretty sure you will see the flaw in your reasoning.

P.S

If you want brownie points consider how many of those KAT free moments also lack the opposing teams best player.

[shangrila]

But we are not winning and Ant is the guy who deserves the most credit for each loss. The big 3 is a media concept but it is also a pecking order for the team. KAT is clearly the focus of the defense. No one, not Ant, not Beasley, no one is guarded with the physicality, intensity, numbers, no one. This by definition creates opportunities for other players. When Ant is on the floor with KAT he is always the number 2 shot priority and when doesn’t score that is a problem. When KAT is on the bench Ant has the #1 defensive priority. In this instance he should be creating more and shooting less. The idea being that they will put more focus on him and thus someone else is open.

Ant takes more shots than any other wolf per game. Ant does not often score the most points. Give Beasley 18 shots he gives you 18 points. Is Beasley as good as Ant? I don’t think so, but Ant took 22 shots to score 17 so tonight he was. Beyond the math is shot selection. Ant chucking 3s messes with pace as it allows the other team to bring the ball up quickly and with less energy expended. Ant chucking 3s cools our other shooters. Ant chucking 3s plays into our weakness with offensive rebounding. Ant chucking 3s is a win for the defense because he is not attacking the rim and getting to the line. I could go on. Ant is the #2 with Dlo out and KAT is doing everything humanly possible to win. You want me to believe Ant is important to winning, he needs to start getting us some wins.

...you missed the point entirely. I'm not even sure what you're going on about here.

+/- has to be the simplest stat in basketball. It's literally just how many points our team scores when a player is on the court vs how many the opposing team scores. It doesn't care about efficiency or advanced stats or lineups or anything like that, which is why from game to game it's largely just noise.

But a pattern is emerging where Ant's +/- is consistently better than KAT's. So, despite all your talk about efficiency, by sheer factual evidence the team is performing better when Ant is on the court vs when KAT is on the court. Maybe, just maybe, there's more to winning than efficiency? Maybe Ant is doing more of the things that contribute to winning than KAT? Maybe there's things that don't show on the boxscore, like hustle or defensive effort?

I'm not even trying to make a point here, really. I just thought it was an interesting fact when people are already prepping the bonfire for Ant and martyring KAT.

Fair enough. Let’s move forward rather than backward. Two things you should look up if you want to understand the phenomenon.

1. How many minutes per game does Ant play without KAT.
2. During the KAT free minutes who else is on the floor for the Wolves?

You figure that out and I am pretty sure you will see the flaw in your reasoning.

P.S

If you want brownie points consider how many of those KAT free moments also lack the opposing teams best player.

Right-o, I'm out.

[Foye]

This team is more clueless than a high school team.

No attacking the paint whatsoever. Just bombing and bombing away terrible 3 point attempts.

[life_saver]

there was hardly any off-ball movement on offense yesterday...players just standing at 3 point line without cutting in or moving off-ball..Wolves don't have good enough iso-scorers to afford such little off-ball movement.

[ChiefKeith91]

We need roster adjustments but it’ll be hard for Gupta because who wants any of the assets we have outside of FRP. I think our needs rank like this:

-Rebounding
-Interior Defense
-Slashing guard
-Playmaker

You could address multiple concerns in one player but that’ll cost us. First 20 games are a good indicator of how most seasons will go so our record at the end of the month will decide the direction FO moves forward.

Sidenote: JMac is so bad, only time he has looked good was playing alongside DLo smh


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[winforlose]

I want to throw this out there. How much of outside shooting was by design and how much was the foul trouble? Fighting for position in the post, fighting for rebounds, driving with risk of charging, ect… When your entire starting lineup is in foul trouble and their entire lineup is not it does have an effect. That said, our offense does lack ball handlers who can penetrate. This is why we need Nowell and Bolmaro in place of guys like Prince. While it’s true JMAC is a decent at getting past the first defender he doesn’t translate it into points.

[Biff Cooper]

Once the easy-to-get outside shots stopped falling, we showed zero ability to figure out how to attack the defense. We need the coaches to do some teaching and get everyone seeing the same things on the court.

[Slim Tubby]

The NBA needs to look very hard into last night’s Refs for possible gambling connections. It’s a ludicrous statement but I can’t come to any other conclusions considering that was the most biased officiating I’ve witnessed in any sport.

Normally I wait until the All Star break but it’s already time to start visiting Tankathon on a daily basis.


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[Nick K]

61 rebounds to 42 and 32 FTs to 7. Just wow.

When you shoot all those 3's and miss, then get back on defense, drops your odds of getting a rebound huge. No surprise the rebound #'s were that.