MIN at HOU Gm 2: How does the team respond?

[gold0259]

Why in the heck did THibs not play the starters more minutes? It's like he gave the game away. James Harden shot horrible and the wolves laY An egg! The wolves are making Capella look like Olajuwon

[Calinks]

Why in the heck did THibs not play the starters more minutes? It's like he gave the game away. James Harden shot horrible and the wolves laY An egg! The wolves are making Capella look like Olajuwon

It seems like now he is playing his bench in the plaoyoffs when he didn't want to play them all season while most teams shorten the bench in the playoffs after playing them all season.

[Magoose]

I could be wrong but I think a lot of the frustration over last nights game is due to how well they played in game 1, with a good chance to win, to looking like they did last night

I think that most posters here are frustrated because Houston did not play well and the Wolves squandered their chance. They easily could've been up by 10 or 15 mid/end 1st quarter. But they weren't. And when Houston started to heat up they were just like "oh we're losing. Told you so we don't have a chance".

I think another part of the frustrations is that the weaknesses many thought this team had before the season started was on full display last night.

You mean our lack of bbiq? Or the poor defense? Horrible rotations? Ahm yes. It's a long list.

Thibs lack of adjustments and stubbornness is probably why so many are frustrated too.

That's spot on. No change of rotations, no adjustments, no gameplan on offense.
Quin Snyder looks like a mastermind and genius compared to Thibs.

To me one of the most disappointing things was the lack of overall effort and believe. Towns shying away from physical play and physical players is so obvious and painful to watch at the same time that I am starting to wonder if Wiggins is our main problem here.

[Crazy-Canuck]

You are watching Jamal, KAT etc.. in this series and youve come to the conclusion that Wiggs is our biggest problem?

[FinnTheHuman]

You are watching Jamal, KAT etc.. in this series and youve come to the conclusion that Wiggs is our biggest problem?

I think he's saying the exact opposite.

[Killboard]

I would like to see lowlights of KAT posessions last night. Seemed like the rockets were sitting an extra defender in the paint against any post play we made and looked like nobody was open or we couldn get any adventages of that. And given we P&R was never a strong of ours the offense just went really cold.

If somebody has a video would be really cool.

[RazorC]

I would like to see lowlights of KAT posessions last night. Seemed like the rockets were sitting an extra defender in the paint against any post play we made and looked like nobody was open or we couldn get any adventages of that. And given we P&R was never a strong of ours the offense just went really cold.

If somebody has a video would be really cool.

That’s where coaching comes in IMO. There’s not a lot of movement without the ball with the Wolves offense. Makes it more difficult than deal with the double.

[KingSM_25]

I would like to see lowlights of KAT posessions last night. Seemed like the rockets were sitting an extra defender in the paint against any post play we made and looked like nobody was open or we couldn get any adventages of that. And given we P&R was never a strong of ours the offense just went really cold.

If somebody has a video would be really cool.

That’s where coaching comes in IMO. There’s not a lot of movement without the ball with the Wolves offense. Makes it more difficult than deal with the double.

Players can still make cuts at anytime. Usually when the other team brings the double, the wolves try to float to an open spot on the three point line and expect the cross court pass. I've only seen a couple times where a player will actually make a cut, and one of them was Rose and the other was Wiggs I believe.

[southern wolf]

Why in the heck did THibs not play the starters more minutes?

Never thought I'd read that.

[Killboard]

I would like to see lowlights of KAT posessions last night. Seemed like the rockets were sitting an extra defender in the paint against any post play we made and looked like nobody was open or we couldn get any adventages of that. And given we P&R was never a strong of ours the offense just went really cold.

If somebody has a video would be really cool.

That’s where coaching comes in IMO. There’s not a lot of movement without the ball with the Wolves offense. Makes it more difficult than deal with the double.

Players can still make cuts at anytime. Usually when the other team brings the double, the wolves try to float to an open spot on the three point line and expect the cross court pass. I've only seen a couple times where a player will actually make a cut, and one of them was Rose and the other was Wiggs I believe.

Even knowing how good Taj has been for us I would like to see Bjelly more time out there in this series. With his 3pt attempt ratio, height and passing skills he is one of the players that helps our spacing most, good entry passes and ball movement out of kicks outs.

He played 3 minutes last game in the whole first half at the end of the first quarter, but Towns was in the bench.

[vagelis]

Why in the heck did THibs not play the starters more minutes?

Never thought I'd read that.

I agree with that. We are in playoffs, the best players have to play as many minutes as they afford.
And if a lineup goes well you have to keep it in the court and change some players when they are tired but not alltogether. There is no need to rotate and change the whole lineup and put all the subs together.
That happens in every game in the last 4-5 minutes of first and 3d quarter the whole bench gets in(only Wiggins stays).
At least 2 cornerstones of the team need to be in the court for every minute of the game.

Wiggins, Butler, Towns should play 35-40 minutes every game in playoffs in my opinion.
We have not the bench to replace them.
Tyus Jones scored 2 point in 35 minutes(2 games) of playing time. Why does he get playing time? He needs to work and come better next season but now every posession matters.
There is also no reason to have Butler and Wiggins out and play Crawford as small forward.
One of Wiggins or Butler has to be in lineup for every second of the game

[vagelis]

My opinion is that Thibs maybe should try a smallball lineup with our best players
Rose, Teague, Wiggins, Butler, Towns

That was before game 2 and we finally saw it in almost the whole last quarter of game 3

[Klomp]

My opinion is that Thibs maybe should try a smallball lineup with our best players
Rose, Teague, Wiggins, Butler, Towns

That was before game 2 and we finally saw it in almost the whole last quarter of game 3

"Finally" implies we haven't seen it before. We for sure saw it for about 10 minutes in Game 1, as I told you after you made the original post, and likely in Game 2 as well.

[vagelis]

My opinion is that Thibs maybe should try a smallball lineup with our best players
Rose, Teague, Wiggins, Butler, Towns

That was before game 2 and we finally saw it in almost the whole last quarter of game 3

"Finally" implies we haven't seen it before. We for sure saw it for about 10 minutes in Game 1, as I told you after you made the original post, and likely in Game 2 as well.

I think we went smallball in game one but not with this lineup, but I cannot be sure about this.
Anyway, my point is that this lineup could be used for extended minutes in my opinion, because they are the best players of the team