Game 4: Wolves vs Dallas.

[winforlose]

Conley and DDV missing open 3s is killing us.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

Mike is not good for the moment even he was slightly better in second half. This could become an issue if it lasted. He did not close the game which is also an issue. He is the only player able to not TO the ball too much. ANT and NAZ just kill the momentum with 2 costly TO. At that point i would try RD in the B2B game at least against SA.

[younggunsmn]

1. I'm about ready to bench Naz Reid and give his minutes to Luka Garza.
His defense and rebounding could not possibly be any worse. Big huge freaking gaping hole at backup center.

2. After his hot first quarter, Ant was a dumpster fire on both ends of the floor.
Missing FT's, overdribbling, making awful sloppy turnovers.
He absolutely killed us in the 3rd quarter when Dallas went on the 31-10 run with his overdribbling, chucking, and awful defensive awareness. Discouraged by his start to the year, he learned nothing from the playoff run last year or the olympics.

3. The offense looks so much better when we are running it through Julius Randle. Shaq had a great point at halftime about how good Julius is when he plays under control and is patient. This is the thing that separates true superstars like Luka and Kyrie from Ant.
Ant is so explosive, it's hard for him to slow down and read the play. Doncic and Irving are cool as cucumbers and know how to get to their spots. They have countermoves and countercountermoves and countercountercountermoves.
Ant is chuck, drive, or skip pass.

4. Finch put out a prettymuch switch everything defensive scheme tonight, which was how we ended up with Randle on Luka and Kyrie so much. And Randle did pretty well considering. He stayed in front of them better than most of our supposed wing defenders.

Our defense needs to really pick things up, it looks like middle of the pack at best. Getting cooked in the paint.
Perimeter guys giving up way too much space. No ball pressure. Our defense is crap and it has very little to do with swapping Randle for KAT and a lot to do with guys we brought back from last year not living up to their potential.

5. Closing the game without Mike or Dante on the floor with Ant as de-facto PG was a big mistake. You can't have the other team entirely loading up on one player and not have a 2nd ballhandler out there to help (and no NAW absolutely does not count).
It's a recipe for disaster.

[Guest84]

How many times have we won playing on TNT over the past few years? Almost always feels like a loss

[FrenchMinnyFan]

1. I'm about ready to bench Naz Reid and give his minutes to Luka Garza.
His defense and rebounding could not possibly be any worse. Big huge freaking gaping hole at backup center.

2. After his hot first quarter, Ant was a dumpster fire on both ends of the floor.
Missing FT's, overdribbling, making awful sloppy turnovers.
He absolutely killed us in the 3rd quarter when Dallas went on the 31-10 run with his overdribbling, chucking, and awful defensive awareness. Discouraged by his start to the year, he learned nothing from the playoff run last year or the olympics.

3. The offense looks so much better when we are running it through Julius Randle. Shaq had a great point at halftime about how good Julius is when he plays under control and is patient. This is the thing that separates true superstars like Luka and Kyrie from Ant.
Ant is so explosive, it's hard for him to slow down and read the play. Doncic and Irving are cool as cucumbers and know how to get to their spots. They have countermoves and countercountermoves and countercountercountermoves.
Ant is chuck, drive, or skip pass.

4. Finch put out a prettymuch switch everything defensive scheme tonight, which was how we ended up with Randle on Luka and Kyrie so much. And Randle did pretty well considering. He stayed in front of them better than most of our supposed wing defenders.

Great resume, totally agreed. I would add that Rudy trouble against Dallas have to be fixed. Play Luka instead of NAZ? i love NAZ but if you take out the shooting, he is G League level in defense and reading the game.

Our defense needs to really pick things up, it looks like middle of the pack at best. Getting cooked in the paint.
Perimeter guys giving up way too much space. No ball pressure. Our defense is crap and it has very little to do with swapping Randle for KAT and a lot to do with guys we brought back from last year not living up to their potential.

5. Closing the game without Mike or Dante on the floor with Ant as de-facto PG was a big mistake. You can't have the other team entirely loading up on one player and not have a 2nd ballhandler out there to help (and no NAW absolutely does not count).
It's a recipe for disaster.

[younggunsmn]

Oh, and Klay Thompson is cooked.
He moves almost as bad as Joe Ingles.

[Loaf_of_bread]

1. I'm about ready to bench Naz Reid and give his minutes to Luka Garza.
His defense and rebounding could not possibly be any worse. Big huge freaking gaping hole at backup center.

2. After his hot first quarter, Ant was a dumpster fire on both ends of the floor.
Missing FT's, overdribbling, making awful sloppy turnovers.
He absolutely killed us in the 3rd quarter when Dallas went on the 31-10 run with his overdribbling, chucking, and awful defensive awareness. Discouraged by his start to the year, he learned nothing from the playoff run last year or the olympics.

3. The offense looks so much better when we are running it through Julius Randle. Shaq had a great point at halftime about how good Julius is when he plays under control and is patient. This is the thing that separates true superstars like Luka and Kyrie from Ant.
Ant is so explosive, it's hard for him to slow down and read the play. Doncic and Irving are cool as cucumbers and know how to get to their spots. They have countermoves and countercountermoves and countercountercountermoves.
Ant is chuck, drive, or skip pass.

4. Finch put out a prettymuch switch everything defensive scheme tonight, which was how we ended up with Randle on Luka and Kyrie so much. And Randle did pretty well considering. He stayed in front of them better than most of our supposed wing defenders.

Our defense needs to really pick things up, it looks like middle of the pack at best. Getting cooked in the paint.
Perimeter guys giving up way too much space. No ball pressure. Our defense is crap and it has very little to do with swapping Randle for KAT and a lot to do with guys we brought back from last year not living up to their potential.

5. Closing the game without Mike or Dante on the floor with Ant as de-facto PG was a big mistake. You can't have the other team entirely loading up on one player and not have a 2nd ballhandler out there to help (and no NAW absolutely does not count).
It's a recipe for disaster.

Randle just doesn't bang. Almost premadonna type.. not interested in getting his hands dirty. Agree, Naz has been worse than bad. We need defensive c, but then where do the minutes go??

[Calinks]

Seems like a running theme where we have a game with a star who goes off for a while and then we wind up losing.

Defense has to be better. We didn't get enough stops and the rebounding also was not good enough, Dallas' bigs dominated the game again just not as clearly as they did in the series. They controlled the glass and played defense well. Luka and Kyrie's big time shot making kept them in the game and ahead.

Our turnovers absolutely wrecked us too.

Got to clean up the sloppiness, need to find a better defensive identity.

For now Dallas owns us and has our number.

[DaGawd]

i miss julius randle, give him back

[Calinks]

Im lost as to Randle on kyrie. Randle is not a banger on defense. This is not a championship team. Dude just gets his. Going to have to be next year after randle is gone.

Dallas has been masterful at getting switches they want everytime they play us. They got that Luka on Gobert switch in the playoffs, they got Kyrie on Randle like 4 times out 7 down the stretch in this game tonight. They just get a matchup they like and then roast us.

[Loaf_of_bread]

Im lost as to Randle on kyrie. Randle is not a banger on defense. This is not a championship team. Dude just gets his. Going to have to be next year after randle is gone.

Dallas has been masterful at getting switches they want everytime they play us. They got that Luka on Gobert switch in the playoffs, they got Kyrie on Randle like 4 times out 7 down the stretch in this game tonight. They just get a matchup they like and then roast us.

I was complaining about this an earlier game this year... I think Julius likes avoiding playing near the basket on defense, and will take the switch instead of the fight. Nothing to do with masterfulness of Dallas.

Dude thinks he's a wing..

[cmoss84]

20 TO and 9 missed FT...a lot from Ant. Yet we were in the game until the end. I'm not panicking yet.

[Klomp]

Im lost as to Randle on kyrie. Randle is not a banger on defense. This is not a championship team. Dude just gets his. Going to have to be next year after randle is gone.

Dallas has been masterful at getting switches they want everytime they play us. They got that Luka on Gobert switch in the playoffs, they got Kyrie on Randle like 4 times out 7 down the stretch in this game tonight. They just get a matchup they like and then roast us.

I was complaining about this an earlier game this year... I think Julius likes avoiding playing near the basket on defense, and will take the switch instead of the fight. Nothing to do with masterfulness of Dallas.

Dude thinks he's a wing..

It's literally a switch-everything defense. Nothing to do with guys scared of playing inside either.

[m2002brian]

16 extra shots for Dallas and we missed 9 free throws (free points)
Clean it up and we win.

[Calinks]

Nobody should be panicking, hell almost no team in the NBA should be panicking or feeling too great, these early season games don't mean a lot when it comes to how the team will look in about 40 days. You still don't want to lose but I am not super worried about the squad as of yet.

[shrink]

Oh, and Klay Thompson is cooked.
He moves almost as bad as Joe Ingles.

Watching that possession where Klay guarded Ingles as he brought the ball up the court is not what the NBA is for.

[shrink]

Time to make NAW the #1 option.

[minimus]

20 TO and 9 missed FT...a lot from Ant. Yet we were in the game until the end. I'm not panicking yet.

Yeah, if game 4 of regular season is decided in clutch after long three point shot over someone I'm not panicking

[BlacJacMac]

1. I'm about ready to bench Naz Reid and give his minutes to Luka Garza.
His defense and rebounding could not possibly be any worse. Big huge freaking gaping hole at backup center.

His defense has not been good, but he's taken a huge step in rebounding (if it holds).

11 REB/36 and has a DEF REB% of 30.4. Both career highs by a mile.

[TimberKat]

Im lost as to Randle on kyrie. Randle is not a banger on defense. This is not a championship team. Dude just gets his. Going to have to be next year after randle is gone.

Dallas has been masterful at getting switches they want everytime they play us. They got that Luka on Gobert switch in the playoffs, they got Kyrie on Randle like 4 times out 7 down the stretch in this game tonight. They just get a matchup they like and then roast us.

On top of that, when they do miss the shot, we weren't boxing out for rebounds (or just not in position). From the eye test, seems like Randle on Luka actually works reasonably well.