Game 1: Timberwolves at Blazers (10/22, 9 pm)

[younggunsmn]

Jordan and Kobe both took the shot more often than not.

Whether it is hero ball or not I think depends on if the shot is a good/efficient one for the player or not.
Jordan/Kobe rarely took a shot at the end of the game they hadnt perfected and practiced like 1000 times.

The step back from the top of the arc is a good shot for Ant.
The pull up 2 that sealed the game wasnt a terrible shot.

Lets face it, he's not surrounded by elite offensive options.
We're going to see more and more of Ant one on one at the end of games its up to him to be better and continue growing.

[BlacJacMac]

IMO it would have been a much easier win. YMMV.

KG, I know you don't want to hear it but we would have lost last night if Dillingham had played.

As bad as Naz and Randle were defensively together, we didn't have the margin tonight to put Beringer in.
We were treading water and taking punches for most of the game trying to keep them from expanding their lead to 10 or more.
If they had gotten it to double digits I don't know if we would have been able to come back given how much the starters struggled on both ends.

I think you're wrong. You think you're right. We won, but did we win at a cost to our future. I think we win either way, just easier with Le Berricade and Dilly getting some minutes.

The smallest player Portland threw out there last night was Blake Wesley for 15 minutes.

He's 6'4, 190.

Dilly would've gotten killed.

[KGdaBom]

Most anecdotal BS ever. At the end of the day, MJ took the last few shots most of the time. That's true for every "best" player ever.

You're wrong about most things but trying to argue that MJ shared the ball significantly more than Kobe in the last few minutes is stupid.

I looked it up Kobe shared FG attempts in the last 5 minutes of the game 43% of the time.

Jordan? 38%

Like I said, anecdotal BS.

And if that's why you think the Bulls were more successful then Ant should take every shot.

Unless you're the 2013 Spurs, the best player takes the shot almost every time.

There are famous incidences or Jordan Passing to Gil Hodges or Steve Kerr IIRC for huge game winning shots. I can't think of a time KoMe ever passed up a game winning shot. KoMe was successful on the ESPN clutch shot definition 28% of the time IIRC. I could be a little off. LeBron for example was successful by the ESPN definition close to 50% of the time. Part of being a good player is recognizing your teammates are professionals too and sometimes they will have a better shot than you do.

You're familiar with "the exception that proves the rule"?

As far as I know there is no exception that proves the rule with KoMe.

[KGdaBom]

KG, I know you don't want to hear it but we would have lost last night if Dillingham had played.

As bad as Naz and Randle were defensively together, we didn't have the margin tonight to put Beringer in.
We were treading water and taking punches for most of the game trying to keep them from expanding their lead to 10 or more.
If they had gotten it to double digits I don't know if we would have been able to come back given how much the starters struggled on both ends.

I think you're wrong. You think you're right. We won, but did we win at a cost to our future. I think we win either way, just easier with Le Berricade and Dilly getting some minutes.

The smallest player Portland threw out there last night was Blake Wesley for 15 minutes.

He's 6'4, 190.

Dilly would've gotten killed.

My opinion is they wouldn't have been able to get their hands on him.

[KGdaBom]

Jordan and Kobe both took the shot more often than not.

Whether it is hero ball or not I think depends on if the shot is a good/efficient one for the player or not.
Jordan/Kobe rarely took a shot at the end of the game they hadnt perfected and practiced like 1000 times.

The step back from the top of the arc is a good shot for Ant.
The pull up 2 that sealed the game wasnt a terrible shot.

Lets face it, he's not surrounded by elite offensive options.
We're going to see more and more of Ant one on one at the end of games its up to him to be better and continue growing.

Game winning shots are typically more difficult/less efficient then other shots. When the opponent knows you won't pass the ball they can defend you 5 on 1 (exaggeration).

[BlacJacMac]

I think you're wrong. You think you're right. We won, but did we win at a cost to our future. I think we win either way, just easier with Le Berricade and Dilly getting some minutes.

The smallest player Portland threw out there last night was Blake Wesley for 15 minutes.

He's 6'4, 190.

Dilly would've gotten killed.

My opinion is they wouldn't have been able to get their hands on him.

He's not that fast with the ball. He has a very good handle and he's very shifty. But so far in his brief career, I've been quite surprised by how much difficulty he has getting by people. And its rarely with speed.

[younggunsmn]

IMO it would have been a much easier win. YMMV.

KG, I know you don't want to hear it but we would have lost last night if Dillingham had played.

As bad as Naz and Randle were defensively together, we didn't have the margin tonight to put Beringer in.
We were treading water and taking punches for most of the game trying to keep them from expanding their lead to 10 or more.
If they had gotten it to double digits I don't know if we would have been able to come back given how much the starters struggled on both ends.

I think you're wrong. You think you're right. We won, but did we win at a cost to our future. I think we win either way, just easier with Le Berricade and Dilly getting some minutes.

Look I love young players/recent draft picks as much as anybody (hence the username).
I respectfully disagree that Dillingham is a part of the future. Finch seems to agree.
Dillingham should be playing every single night for Iowa this season.
Not doing that last year was a mistake.

I love Beringer's potential but he's still very young and a ways away from being able to bang down low with guys as big as Donovan Clingan.

[KGdaBom]

KG, I know you don't want to hear it but we would have lost last night if Dillingham had played.

As bad as Naz and Randle were defensively together, we didn't have the margin tonight to put Beringer in.
We were treading water and taking punches for most of the game trying to keep them from expanding their lead to 10 or more.
If they had gotten it to double digits I don't know if we would have been able to come back given how much the starters struggled on both ends.

I think you're wrong. You think you're right. We won, but did we win at a cost to our future. I think we win either way, just easier with Le Berricade and Dilly getting some minutes.

Look I love young players/recent draft picks as much as anybody (hence the username).
I respectfully disagree that Dillingham is a part of the future. Finch seems to agree.
Dillingham should be playing every single night for Iowa this season.
Not doing that last year was a mistake.

I love Beringer's potential but he's still very young and a ways away from being able to bang down low with guys as big as Donovan Clingan.

Clingan is pretty good. I would have loved to see that matchup. Le Berricade definitely would have stopped him from burning us from 3.

[winforlose]

Yes every game is different, but when a player whose inclination is to not pass the ball late game and try to win it by himself (regardless of shot quality, team morale, ect…) gets a ton of positive feedback when it works, then he is less inclined to fix the behavior when it doesn’t. Can you honestly tell me that if Ant held the ball for 20 seconds, took 2 or 3 late game shots and missed, you would be fine with it? You would be fine losing to Portland because Ant would rather take a heavily contested step back 15-25 footer, then move the ball and find either an open corner 3 or an open layup? The issue is praising the result. Ant needs to do things the right way habitually if he is ever going to stop doing things the wrong way.

And if moving the ball led to a turnover or missed shot and we lost? You'd praise the process in spite of the results? I have my doubts.

When bad process has cost us as many games and playoff series and is the defining flaw in the Ant era and Finch era, you really should go back and read and what I have been writing for 4 years.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

Finch did great job last night. Maybe circumstances force him to do so, but overall, letting TSJ, Clark and giving minutes to Hyland was the good option. Defense win us the game last night in the 4th and those guys were good.
For me the main difference with last year is that roster is more deep + Finch probably accept to go for 10-11 man rotation. Will help the team getting better.

[frankenwolf]

I would like to suggest that we don't need a PG as much as we need to learn how to break a press. No matter how good a PG you have, you have people like McDaniels, Toumani, Jrue, that will give that person bringing up the ball all they can handle and more. As a coach I can tell you, passing the ball will get the defense set back on their heels more than one person beating another. I didn't watch the entire game, but the Wolves would vacate after throwing the ball in and you just can't do that with full court pressure. You are daring the other team to take the ball away from you and make easy baskets. Break the press, get easy baskets and other teams will stop pressing you.

Every player you bring up to help get the ball up the court brings another defender with him to trap the ballhandler.
Say you bring Jaden up to help and Dante passes to Jaden. Now they trap Jaden, a non-primary ballhandler, at halfcourt.

There's a reason they do things the way they do.
These are the best most skilled players in the world.
If you can't consistently get the ball up the court one on one without turning it over you don't deserve to play guard in the NBA.
That's the truth.

See that is why you practice on how to break a press. If I know I'm passing to a poor ball handler, that player should not be at a place to get trapped. It's just an extension of spacing on offense. I know I haven't played the pros or even coached them, but I tell you that beating a press consistently does not require me wearing out my best ball handler, which is what happens when you try to take them one on one (and a half, because you know they are going to try to trap him on occasion). Should my best guard be able to beat the press? Usually yes, but there's no need to wear him down, which will lead to mistakes later when he is tired.

[Biff Cooper]

Kind of amazing that we shot 48.8%/50%/79.2% to their 40.0%/31.0%/82.9% and only won by 4. 35 FTA to 24 FTA made the game close.

[KGdaBom]

Kind of amazing that we shot 48.8%/50%/79.2% to their 40.0%/31.0%/82.9% and only won by 4. 35 FTA to 24 FTA made the game close.

Good stats.

[KGdaBom]

Speaking of stats that helped us win Shaedon Sharpe shooting 5-20 didn't hurt.