Game 46: Atlanta at Minnesota (24-21)

[Klomp]

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[winforlose]

https://www.espn.com/nba/team/injuries/_/name/atl/atlanta-hawks

Jalen Johnson out as well, with a lot of other key names for the Hawks questionable.

The Wolves have a 5-6 game stretch that is much easier than what they have been dealing with. In my opinion they must win at least 5 of the next 6 to get to the 4 seed, and maybe even to be a top 6 seed.

[Klomp]

The Wolves have a 5-6 game stretch that is much easier than what they have been dealing with. In my opinion they must win at least 5 of the next 6 to get to the 4 seed, and maybe even to be a top 6 seed.

This is part of why I have remained relatively confident throughout. Teams really haven't separated from the pack, except for mainly Oklahoma City, Houston and Memphis. Even those three teams, we have been extremely competitive in each of the games, splitting with Houston and losing twice to Memphis by a combined 4 points. Sure it is frustrating at times, but it shows we are right there with the best in the West.

[winforlose]

The Wolves have a 5-6 game stretch that is much easier than what they have been dealing with. In my opinion they must win at least 5 of the next 6 to get to the 4 seed, and maybe even to be a top 6 seed.

This is part of why I have remained relatively confident throughout. Teams really haven't separated from the pack, except for mainly Oklahoma City, Houston and Memphis. Even those three teams, we have been extremely competitive in each of the games, splitting with Houston and losing twice to Memphis by a combined 4 points. Sure it is frustrating at times, but it shows we are right there with the best in the West.

We are and we are not. On the one hand we have a ton of talent and several players I hope to unlock in the playoffs. On the other hand, not playing to our standard against bad teams is a sign of cultural regression. Not utilizing our players well (Jaden not being inside more in the first 32 games,) is a sign of poor coaching. Not giving the young guys proper minutes is a sign of poor coaching (and yes teams are winning while also playing their young players.) I could go on. We have issues and opportunities. Seeing what happens in the next 6 games will help us understand if we are overcoming our issues or squandering our opportunities.

[TimberKat]

We been extremely lucky with opponent's key players out. We need to rack up a few more wins now before we hit 2/10 with a 6 games death march (OKC 3 times, CLE, MiL, and HOU). I still can't believe how well and lucky HOU is playing in beating Cavs in Cleveland.

[winforlose]

We been extremely lucky with opponent's key players out. We need to rack up a few more wins now before we hit 2/10 with a 6 games death march (OKC 3 times, CLE, MiL, and HOU). I still can't believe how well and lucky HOU is playing in beating Cavs in Cleveland.

Garland missing those free throws was awfully suspicious. If you told me he was paid to throw the game, I wouldn’t not believe you.

[Klomp]

The Wolves have a 5-6 game stretch that is much easier than what they have been dealing with. In my opinion they must win at least 5 of the next 6 to get to the 4 seed, and maybe even to be a top 6 seed.

This is part of why I have remained relatively confident throughout. Teams really haven't separated from the pack, except for mainly Oklahoma City, Houston and Memphis. Even those three teams, we have been extremely competitive in each of the games, splitting with Houston and losing twice to Memphis by a combined 4 points. Sure it is frustrating at times, but it shows we are right there with the best in the West.

We are and we are not. On the one hand we have a ton of talent and several players I hope to unlock in the playoffs. On the other hand, not playing to our standard against bad teams is a sign of cultural regression. Not utilizing our players well (Jaden not being inside more in the first 32 games,) is a sign of poor coaching. Not giving the young guys proper minutes is a sign of poor coaching (and yes teams are winning while also playing their young players.) I could go on. We have issues and opportunities. Seeing what happens in the next 6 games will help us understand if we are overcoming our issues or squandering our opportunities.

I guess I don't see this "cultural regression" you're trying to refer to. We've always "struggled" against "bad" teams. Yes, even last year. That's not regression. It's just not necessarily improvement.

And we saw firsthand that winning 58 games does not guarantee a trip to the Finals. So no, I don't really care if we only win 48 or50 games, because it has very little bearing on the playoffs. I don't break down seasons by saying "we would've won playoff game X if we played Josh 8 more minutes in a random Monday night game in January. That's just not how I look at things.

Of course there are things that could be done better. There are mistakes made, there are substitutions skipped, there are rotations missed. Last I checked, no team in NBA history has gone 82-0. It happens. But I don't think it places some ultimatum on the situation that trial and error means it will lead to playoff failure.

[winforlose]

This is part of why I have remained relatively confident throughout. Teams really haven't separated from the pack, except for mainly Oklahoma City, Houston and Memphis. Even those three teams, we have been extremely competitive in each of the games, splitting with Houston and losing twice to Memphis by a combined 4 points. Sure it is frustrating at times, but it shows we are right there with the best in the West.

We are and we are not. On the one hand we have a ton of talent and several players I hope to unlock in the playoffs. On the other hand, not playing to our standard against bad teams is a sign of cultural regression. Not utilizing our players well (Jaden not being inside more in the first 32 games,) is a sign of poor coaching. Not giving the young guys proper minutes is a sign of poor coaching (and yes teams are winning while also playing their young players.) I could go on. We have issues and opportunities. Seeing what happens in the next 6 games will help us understand if we are overcoming our issues or squandering our opportunities.

I guess I don't see this "cultural regression" you're trying to refer to. We've always "struggled" against "bad" teams. Yes, even last year. That's not regression. It's just not necessarily improvement.

And we saw firsthand that winning 58 games does not guarantee a trip to the Finals. So no, I don't really care if we only win 48 or50 games, because it has very little bearing on the playoffs. I don't break down seasons by saying "we would've won playoff game X if we played Josh 8 more minutes in a random Monday night game in January. That's just not how I look at things.

Of course there are things that could be done better. There are mistakes made, there are substitutions skipped, there are rotations missed. Last I checked, no team in NBA history has gone 82-0. It happens. But I don't think it places some ultimatum on the situation that trial and error means it will lead to playoff failure.

Put it this way, if you told me every year you get at least a few colds that’s fine. Then if you told me after getting very few colds last year, you are chronically sick this year, I wouldn’t worry you were immunocompromised. Last year we lost a few easy ones, this year we lost… more than a few.

[Klomp]

I think the team has grown considerably since the first chunk of the season, when the team was still acclimating to each other. Is it perfect now? Of course not. But most of those "easy" ones were early in the season.

In our 8-10 start, we had losses to Toronto (13-32), Portland x2 (17-29) and San Antonio (20-23). In our 16-11 stretch since, our worst losses are to Golden State x3 (22-23), Atlanta (22-23) and Detroit (23-22).

I don't really consider a loss to a .500 team as a bad loss. Disappointing? Annoying? Frustrating? Of course.

[Klomp]

Not utilizing our players well (Jaden not being inside more in the first 32 games,) is a sign of poor coaching.

It's on the coaching staff, but also at some point it is on the player to perform. The coaches never told him "hey stand in the corner until we pass you the ball and then shoot it and we'll live with the results". That's not how it works, especially not in a flow offense. Players always have an option to shoot, dribble or pass out of it. Jaden is choosing to drive and cut more when the opportunity presents himself and is reaping the benefits of it now.

[winforlose]

Not utilizing our players well (Jaden not being inside more in the first 32 games,) is a sign of poor coaching.

It's on the coaching staff, but also at some point it is on the player to perform. The coaches never told him "hey stand in the corner until we pass you the ball and then shoot it and we'll live with the results". That's not how it works, especially not in a flow offense. Players always have an option to shoot, dribble or pass out of it. Jaden is choosing to drive and cut more when the opportunity presents himself and is reaping the benefits of it now.

Every year Finch promises to run action for Jaden, every year he doesn’t. Also I know what Finch says about Jaden, but I also know Finch is an analytics driven coach. Finch doesn’t want Jaden driving unless Jaden is shooting as poorly as he is. Finch also doesn’t push enough off ball movement into the offense.

But, for the sake of argument I am going to concede your premise. If Finch is hands off letting them play, and they are losing because they are doing the wrong things consistently, that is also bad coaching. A coaches job is to design an offense where people are in a position to succeed, and when they disobey or fail you make changes.

You can say players don’t listen to Finch (he has lost the locker room,) or that players do listen to Finch and it doesn’t work (flawed offense by the coach,) but you cannot say the coach is great the offense is just way below where it should be. We are too talented to be this inconsistent/bad. Finch is the problem because in all these years he hasn’t found and implemented the solution. Time for someone new.

[winforlose]

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[Klomp]

But, for the sake of argument I am going to concede your premise. If Finch is hands off letting them play, and they are losing because they are doing the wrong things consistently, that is also bad coaching. A coaches job is to design an offense where people are in a position to succeed, and when they disobey or fail you make changes.

You can say players don’t listen to Finch (he has lost the locker room,) or that players do listen to Finch and it doesn’t work (flawed offense by the coach,) but you cannot say the coach is great the offense is just way below where it should be. We are too talented to be this inconsistent/bad. Finch is the problem because in all these years he hasn’t found and implemented the solution. Time for someone new.

If someone is given the option to pass or shoot, if they take a shot and miss, that is not "doing the wrong thing" or "disobeying".

[Klomp]

We are in an eight-game stretch where we could make a nice little run.

vs. Atlanta
at Phoenix
at Utah
vs. Washington
vs. Sacramento
vs. Chicago
vs. Houston
vs. Portland

I feel like 5-3 would-be worst-case scenario and 6-2 or 7-1 are quite reasonable.

EDIT: Unfortunately, both LA teams look like they have similarly easy schedules.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

Go Wolves let's get this one.

[TimberKat]

I have a feeling the 2 terrible losses to GSW will come back to haunt us. Let's see if we could go 7-1 to make up for it.

[shrink]

We are and we are not. On the one hand we have a ton of talent and several players I hope to unlock in the playoffs. On the other hand, not playing to our standard against bad teams is a sign of cultural regression. Not utilizing our players well (Jaden not being inside more in the first 32 games,) is a sign of poor coaching. Not giving the young guys proper minutes is a sign of poor coaching (and yes teams are winning while also playing their young players.) I could go on.

To me, this sounds like you have chosen to make all the problems 100% about Finch.

Playing badly against bad teams - Ant has a wonderful ability to get up for big games. Unfortunately, he can’t maintain it for games against mediocre opponents, and we need Ant engaged to win. Also, Ant can be bad enough some nights to lose you games.

Not using our players well? Finch has overperformed Vegas predictions since he’s arrived. And it feels weird to criticize the coach now over Jaden, since he made a coaching change you liked. If it was working before, and he changed and it got worse, that would be more grounds for criticism, so it feels like he’s in a no-win situation.

Not giving young guys proper minutes? I disagree with this on the whole. His plan was to play Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr, then Conley traded for Randle and DiVincenzo. You’s like to develop the youth, I’d like to develop team chemistry between major players. Fan expectation is high, owner expectation after paying $100 mil in lux tax is probably high too. We aren’t a lottery team any more, and we don’t want to act like that with Ant.

Is there blame for Finch? Sure. But you should also be putting blame on individual players, and also blame the circumstances created by the major trade. Whether Terrence Shannon Jr gets developmental minutes in our stacked SG position cannot be a priority right now - we have bigger issues to work on.

[TimberKat]

That is a very very cold start for Wolves

[winforlose]

We are and we are not. On the one hand we have a ton of talent and several players I hope to unlock in the playoffs. On the other hand, not playing to our standard against bad teams is a sign of cultural regression. Not utilizing our players well (Jaden not being inside more in the first 32 games,) is a sign of poor coaching. Not giving the young guys proper minutes is a sign of poor coaching (and yes teams are winning while also playing their young players.) I could go on.

To me, this sounds like you have chosen to make all the problems 100% about Finch.

Playing badly against bad teams - Ant has a wonderful ability to get up for big games. Unfortunately, he can’t maintain it for games against mediocre opponents, and we need Ant engaged to win. Also, Ant can be bad enough some nights to lose you games.

Not using our players well? Finch has overperformed Vegas predictions since he’s arrived. And it feels weird to criticize the coach now over Jaden, since he made a coaching change you liked. If it was working before, and he changed and it got worse, that would be more grounds for criticism, so it feels like he’s in a no-win situation.

Not giving young guys proper minutes? I disagree with this on the whole. His plan was to play Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr, then Conley traded for Randle and DiVincenzo. You’s like to develop the youth, I’d like to develop team chemistry between major players. Fan expectation is high, owner expectation after paying $100 mil in lux tax is probably high too. We aren’t a lottery team any more, and we don’t want to act like that with Ant.

Is there blame for Finch? Sure. But you should also be putting blame on individual players, and also blame the circumstances created by the major trade. Whether Terrence Shannon Jr gets developmental minutes in our stacked SG position cannot be a priority right now - we have bigger issues to work on.

Gonna break this down a bit.

1. When the HC gets multiple years with mostly the same roster he should have ideas on how to fix recurring problems. One example is the Wolves high turnover rate. Another is rebounding issues, especially related to long rebounds and poor box outs. If these problems persist, then yes some of it is on the players, but a real share of blame belongs to the coach. The coaches primary function is to get the best performance out of the players.

2. In any sport if the team comes out flat and plays poorly you blame the coach. In football a lot of penalties or poor offense (a lot of 3 and outs,) will get fans saying the coach didn’t have the guys ready to play. When the Wolves have this many bad 1st or 3rd quarters that absolutely falls on the coach and the culture (coaches are supposed to build culture.)

3. Ant not being motivated against bad teams is both Ant and Finch’s problem. Finch could have made it clear to Ant that any game he takes off the first half he won’t play the 2nd. This is the kind of coaching Ant responds to if you believe the broadcasters. Instead another recurring issue goes unaddressed.

4. Jaden was playing poorly in an assigned role by Finch. Jaden changes his role and plays well. Credit to Jaden and Finch for making the adjustment. Huge amount of shade and shame on Finch for letting it take 32 games to make the adjustment. If you are not getting the best out of your players for a 1/3 plus of the season you have failed that player/s.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

ANT play terrible at start. Hope he warm up fast