me 31: Minnesota Timberwolves @ Boston Celtics

[FrenchMinnyFan]

I don't know why we double team Tatum so late. Although he did made some good passes when we do double team him. Gobert is completely useless but I am not sure taking him out late was a good move as we can't stop Celtics. It feels like we are making progress - getting better and playing more together but a play-in team right now.

Totally agree. The way we play make Rudy useless as his Mike. At that stage front office should think to trade them if we go with Randle-Ant pairs. Agree also on the fact that we should accept that we are a top 5-10 teams this year, not better than that.

[Guest84]

Ant is becoming a problem.

He has to be dealing with an injury or something. Just not himself.

His body language and effort aren’t there either not just his shot.

He doesn’t have that same “joy” for the game this year. Maybe the Karl move affected him more than first thought?? Unless his personal life is bleeding onto the court…

One things for sure, he doesn’t have the same trust in his teammates as last year. He’s also not improving IQ wise. Wolves coaches should be showing him the same defenses in practice every single time.

I saw a post on a video the other day that said the wolves are the only team that forces their star to fit in with the team while other teams build around their star. Thoughts??

[Klomp]

We have taken several steps back as a team this season, we will be battling for the play-in or maybe a 4-6 seed if we start to figure things out better. Top 3 seems wholly out of reach.

The No. 5 seed in the West made the Finals last year...

I get what you are saying. But still, I'm not sure any teams really scare me outside of Oklahoma City when it comes to a playoff series. We are not playing our best right now, but it is Jan. 2.

[Klomp]

I hate edwards already man. Stop shooting 3s because clearly thats not your forté. We all know that his 3 point shooting is a fluke. Attack the **** basket and stop complaining

Down 3 with 4 seconds left is not the appropriate time to attack the basket.

[Dalvin]

That was another winnable game at the end. I'd rather have this losses than blowout losses.

Ant really doesn't do overtime and bricks the three. Maybe they should have somebody else take the last shot.

[Klomp]

Ant really doesn't do overtime and bricks the three. Maybe they should have somebody else take the last shot.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

He has to be dealing with an injury or something. Just not himself.

His body language and effort aren’t there either not just his shot.

He doesn’t have that same “joy” for the game this year. Maybe the Karl move affected him more than first thought?? Unless his personal life is bleeding onto the court…

One things for sure, he doesn’t have the same trust in his teammates as last year. He’s also not improving IQ wise. Wolves coaches should be showing him the same defenses in practice every single time.

I saw a post on a video the other day that said the wolves are the only team that forces their star to fit in with the team while other teams build around their star. Thoughts??

That's good question. The lowest usage from Rudy and Mike seems to tell that the team is moving to fit more with ANT. Last year, our identity was a defensive one ( and f... good one) because KAT accept his role and go for it.
I remember before season start how ANT praise Stef Curry and saying he want to shoot a ton of 3...here we are. We lost our good defense at least partially but still not having the good offense to match the loss as ANT is far from being Curry...
Time will tell if this is the right direction or not. I believe it's not as long as you got Mike and Rudy on the team. Mike come for Grin and Grint Grizz school and Rudy is a beast in defense but not good in offense. Team is unbalanced right now.

[winforlose]

I am frustrated by some things tonight, but gotta ask. If I told you that Ant, Rudy, and Mike would all have really bad games by their standards, and it came down to a semi open buzzer beater, would you have believed me?

We had so many wasted possessions/sloppy turnovers, so many miscommunications on defense, so many forced and bad shots, and yet we hung in there. Take away that crazy bank 3 and we might even win in OT. There will be nights where Ant cannot bring it. There will be nights where Rudy is just awful. Tonight was one of those nights.

On a separate note, what can we do about Mike? He is just not able to contribute, and that kills us in a number of ways. He needs to get that wrist looked at and maybe sit to let it heal. 6 of his last 24 in the floater is *****d.

[Movics]

He has to be dealing with an injury or something. Just not himself.

His body language and effort aren’t there either not just his shot.

Which both could be injury related...

Could be, but he looks more checked out to me than injured. I hope you’re right and the Ant wants out rumors don’t start popping up.


Guest, you’re spot on

[winforlose]

His body language and effort aren’t there either not just his shot.

Which both could be injury related...

Could be, but he looks more checked out to me than injured. I hope you’re right and the Ant wants out rumors don’t start popping up.

There was a key rebound with under a minute to go and Ant could have had it, instead he just sort of walked to it and someone else took it from him. I wonder if the answer to Ant is that he played basketball in both summers plus two playoff runs (one a single series 5 games the other 20 games,) maybe Ant is just exhausted?

[TimberKat]

He has to be dealing with an injury or something. Just not himself.

His body language and effort aren’t there either not just his shot.

He doesn’t have that same “joy” for the game this year. Maybe the Karl move affected him more than first thought?? Unless his personal life is bleeding onto the court…

One things for sure, he doesn’t have the same trust in his teammates as last year. He’s also not improving IQ wise. Wolves coaches should be showing him the same defenses in practice every single time.

I saw a post on a video the other day that said the wolves are the only team that forces their star to fit in with the team while other teams build around their star. Thoughts??

That is got to be totally false from someone who doesn't watch Wolves. Ant has been one dimensional since day one. He hasn't improved on passing to interior or cutters. He still doesn't have an effective mid-range game. Towns made a comment last year that implies he sacrifice his game for Ant, maybe that is really true. So if you think Towns is the star then they did force him to fit Ant.

Ant is frustrated from losing. Teams had figured him out and he is trying to pass the ball more and he is having a hard time adjusting.

[Araxen]

If we had a PG, we win that game. Dilly isn't the answer. He's too young.

[Klomp]

He doesn’t have that same “joy” for the game this year.

Read on Twitter

[winforlose]

His body language and effort aren’t there either not just his shot.

He doesn’t have that same “joy” for the game this year. Maybe the Karl move affected him more than first thought?? Unless his personal life is bleeding onto the court…

One things for sure, he doesn’t have the same trust in his teammates as last year. He’s also not improving IQ wise. Wolves coaches should be showing him the same defenses in practice every single time.

I saw a post on a video the other day that said the wolves are the only team that forces their star to fit in with the team while other teams build around their star. Thoughts??

That is got to be totally false from someone who doesn't watch Wolves. Ant has been one dimensional since day one. He hasn't improved on passing to interior or cutters. He still doesn't have an effective mid-range game. Towns made a comment last year that implies he sacrifice his game for Ant, maybe that is really true. So if you think Towns is the star then they did force him to fit Ant.

Ant is frustrated from losing. Teams had figured him out and he is trying to pass the ball more and he is having a hard time adjusting.

This is part of it. I think the other part is Ant loses sight of his role. Sometimes he goes hero mode and doesn’t pass enough. Sometimes he goes lazy mode and doesn’t want to do anything but pass and let someone else go win it. Sometimes Ant wants to run the point but then remembers he isn’t a PG after turning it over a bunch. Ant is best getting down hill, he isn’t able to because our guys stand around too much and allow other teams to build a wall and crowd the paint. But, Ant doesn’t help the solve the problem when he stands around, or when he dribbles the air out of it, or picks up his dribble and gets himself trapped. You are right that Ant needs to figure out how to deal with pressure better, but he also needs to learn how to make his teammates better.

[_AIJ_]

I hate edwards already man. Stop shooting 3s because clearly thats not your forté. We all know that his 3 point shooting is a fluke. Attack the **** basket and stop complaining

Down 3 with 4 seconds left is not the appropriate time to attack the basket.

Not talking about the last shot.

[winforlose]

He doesn’t have that same “joy” for the game this year.

Read on Twitter

Ant took 16 shot attempts, it is hard to say he isn’t getting the ball. But when only scores 15 on those 16 attempts, and misses a free throw, that is Ant having a bad night.

Good players face some double teams, great players face more double teams, elite players are usually double teamed. Ant wants to be an elite player who doesn’t face that kind of defensive scrutiny. That doesn’t exist in the modern NBA. If he wants to get better looks the answer is off ball screen and better offensive structure. Make it harder for teams to load up on him and easier to exploit it. We tried doubling up Tatum and they made us pay. We don’t make other teams pay enough, and that is scheme issue.

[Loaf_of_bread]

I posted a couple weeks ago in the Ant thread, and yeah, everyone takes me as a weirdo, but, dude needs to keep his mouth shut, play bb, and lead.

He isn't capable of this.

[Domejandro]

To be fair, this is what happens when you trade your second best player with the hope that your third less player improves and they don’t.

Big bummer, but Anthony Edwards sucks this year and has a **** attitude about the fact that opposing teams have figured him out. Doing some mind reading, I think that he fully buys into the belief that he needs more spacing to be successful, but the truth is that he needs to not be a one-dimensional ballhog.

Great players (generally) make their teammates better without becoming passive, and unfortunately Anthony Edwards sucks the life out of his teammates on the court. I’m honestly pretty disappointed, I was hoping he would develop into a team player.

[Movics]

I am frustrated by some things tonight, but gotta ask. If I told you that Ant, Rudy, and Mike would all have really bad games by their standards, and it came down to a semi open buzzer beater, would you have believed me?

Two of their best seven didn’t play while our team was at full strength on paper.

[winforlose]

To be fair, this is what happens when you trade your second best player with the hope that your third less player improves and they don’t.

Big bummer, but Anthony Edwards sucks this year and has a **** attitude about the fact that opposing teams have figured him out. Doing some mind reading, I think that he fully buys into the belief that he needs more spacing to be successful, but the truth is that he needs to not be a one-dimensional ballhog.

Great players (generally) make their teammates better without becoming passive, and unfortunately Anthony Edwards sucks the life out of his teammates on the court. I’m honestly pretty disappointed, I was hoping he would develop into a team player.

Jaden had a great game, Naz had a great game, Randle went off and made a lot of shots and played decent defense (good by his standards.) Rudy had a bad game, but that happens every so often. My point is Ant didn’t lack for help, he just missed a lot of open shots, and forced a lot of bad shots because he wanted to get his. Ant needs to take responsibility for his part in our struggles and make changes to his game, (especially off ball,) to be more impactful. It is sad to say, but if Ant stays down longer and the bench unit stays in longer we probably win this one.