10/27 - POSTGAME | Oklahoma City Thunder (116) - (119) Minnesota Timberwolves

[slick_watts]

Tough loss. We're going to watch them play like an advanced rec league team all year aren't we?

i thought the offense didn't look bad at times but playing a lot of guys like abrines, ferguson, huestis, and grant is going to make us look bad from a set offense and defense perspective. they are not smart players.

i thought patterson had another decent game. he's coming along. i thought we ran some nice things involved robes early but he missed a layup so that means we can't do it anymore.

it just seems like a lot of what we do is just reactionary.

[jambalaya]

A bold move would be to play D Hamilton or Dozier... and maybe as a starter (easier to hide?). It probably doesn't work right away or at all but hey experiment.Or Felton. Taking Roberson and / or Melo out of starting lineup.

[Dadouv47]

Offense is improving a bit. We still need more drives & passes but they are trying to make less obvious passes and new plays. We can see they are slowly improving a bit on that end.

Still, watching Jimmy Butler playing well on offense tonight reminded me how well PG13 plays with the ball in his hands, but I can't blame Melo for this because it's all about Westbrook leading the team and they all have to adjust and fit into this new system.

[jambalaya]

Things fan change but #4 seed seems less likely than before season started.

[Dn4sty]

Not having a legit backup center is really messing with rotations.

Donovan is playing bigger wing lineups to attempt to compensate and as a result it’s killing minutes for Roberson and Abrines. I have no issue with Huestis playing, but when they are attempting to make up for Grants inability to play Center/rebound by having Huestis play over Roberson/Abrines they’ve got an issue.

I like Grant, but he shouldn’t be the backup 5, nor should he be getting minutes over Patterson, nor should he be causing weird rotations because of a lack of a true 2nd big.

If im OKC I would sign a veteran minimum center tomorrow or trade for one. Get Nogeuria, Allen,

And if you insist on playing small, you better find the best rebounding small ball 5 you can find (it’s not Grant)

[Old Man Game]

Tough loss. We're going to watch them play like an advanced rec league team all year aren't we?

i thought the offense didn't look bad at times but playing a lot of guys like abrines, ferguson, huestis, and grant is going to make us look bad from a set offense and defense perspective. they are not smart players.

i thought patterson had another decent game. he's coming along. i thought we ran some nice things involved robes early but he missed a layup so that means we can't do it anymore.

it just seems like a lot of what we do is just reactionary.

I'm wondering if Anthony and/or George have anything to do with how quickly Robertson is getting the hook. Just seems weird that the staff has suddenly lost faith in him after playing through stuff like this for years.

[jambalaya]

Another experiment: Melo as backup center. Didn't he do that some in Olympics?

[RalphSampsonJr]

Another experiment: Melo as backup center. Didn't he do that some in Olympics?

Melo can't rebound and it's becoming painfully obvious. Taj dominated him every chance he got.
As soon as Adams leaves the paint we are struggling to get a D board.
Grant got ruined by KAT under the rim too. We need another enforcer down there

[M2J]

Some promising things on offense the past few games. But defensively and on the boards, they've gotta work some things out. There were some poor key turnovers, but all in all they kept that down.

They have to figure somethings out and I thought it was interesting to see the lineups today. This is the time of the year, where you're going to see some experimentation, and I didn't think it was too stupid, but when something works you have to let it. I thought that the Felton option was an interesting one, but it has affect on the defense (at least on paper, and I could only imagine it doing so through most of the game). They're working Patterson in more, and in this game I assume they thought his and Grant's size would be beneficial...not sure that it was. But trying lineups with Grant/Patterson/Huestis makes sense to try at this point due to playing smaller, with hopes of it helping on the boards, not hurting the defense too much, but needing to respect their offensive abilities, which you just cannot with Roberson right now.

I don't see a reason to panic right now, but they can figure out the defense and rebounding. But I think they need to continue to go with the style that they played defensively vs the Pacers. In that game, they switched a lot less and created less mismatches on the inside. I think people saw the benefit of seeing guys like Carmelo or Patterson or all of the bigs being capable of switching and making the opposing team's guards work. Overall, they've been able to do so when in isolation vs the smalls. A big issue has been when the switches happen the opposing team's bigs have been able to take advantage. It helped Taj and Kat be efficient in both games. Taking Melo/Adams or whomever out of the post on switches or guarding other perimeter players leading to offensive rebounds for the opposing teams and not to mention taking them out to stand at the perimeter could be hurting the Thunder's offensive rebounding. Defensively at least, vs the Pacers they did less of that and had a great rebounding game, which was greater prior to the end of the game. But yes, a better backup center situation would be helpful to this cause too

[getrichordie]

As one of the guys on the Down to Dunk podcast put it, right now, it would still be preseason in the NBA if not for the schedule changes.


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[bondom34]

Well that sucks, lucky everyone is OK.

[spearsy23]

That's not good with a back to back today

[bondom34]

They are dead last in DRB percentage. Were 3rd last year.

[Rotten Apple]

Melo takes 9 seconds to get from the defensive end to offensive half. If you don't believe me watch the possession he walked the ball up the court with no defensive pressure, it should've been an 8 second call.

Extremely random thing to highlight def a first for me. Also he got it over in time.

[Rotten Apple]

Game went to crap when Westbrook went rouge in the 2nd. You guys had a 10 point lead and Minny ended up tying the game at the half. If Russ controls himself a bit and you go into the locker room with a 4 possession lead you win this game. But hey can't win em all.

[spearsy23]

Melo takes 9 seconds to get from the defensive end to offensive half. If you don't believe me watch the possession he walked the ball up the court with no defensive pressure, it should've been an 8 second call.

Extremely random thing to highlight def a first for me. Also he got it over in time.

Really just a minor annoyance that has no bearing on the game, he's just always the last man back on offense. And the shot clock was to 15 before he got it over.

[spearsy23]

They are dead last in DRB percentage. Were 3rd last year.

Jerami Grant at center doesn't work, who could have predicted that?

[sleestak33]

Even though Adams is playing very well the matchup between him and Towns is killing OKC against Minnesota. Towns had 27 the 1st game and 33 in this one and for all the credit Adams gets for being some great defender he simply can't guard mobile bigs that can shoot and Towns has completely dominated him since coming into the NBA. Funny if that would have been Kanter he would have been crucified but Adams never gets any criticism whatsoever when he gets scorched. OKC's 4 wing players were a dumpster fire in this game as Grant, Roberson, Patterson and Huestis combined to go 6-21 shooting including 2-10 on 3s and that was the biggest difference in this game. Presti has some bizarre love for defensive one way players that can't shoot and score and that was on full display. Meanwhile Jeremy Lamb, the guy that Presti should have kept instead of the pathetic Roberson, is now starting for Charlotte and averaging 16.6 pts. 4.7 rbds 2.4 asts. How good would this team be with Lamb starting at the 2?! Unreal... But what the heck do I know because stats of course mean nothing.

[hardenASG13]

billy donovan says he had huestis over andre roberson in the game for more length.

you cannot make this up. this is probably one of the most incompetent statements i've ever heard from a coach before. it'd be like saying he put raymond felton in over russell westbrook because he wanted more weight.

Andre Roberson has a 7’0” wingspan. Josh Huestis has a 7’1”wingspan. What a moron.

So.....hes clearly lying here, to protect Roberson. What's he supposed to say, "Roberson hasn't been making a defensive impact either, so we decided to try a guy who is more closely an NBA caliber offensive player?" That said, they need another rotation wing, badly. Because the guys they are forced to try to replace him with aren't cutting it. Abrines has been a non factor, and hopefully this isn't the real patterson. Grant still has ups and downs. Huestis could stick. Can't believe patterson tool the late game 3!

[NetsWorld]

Did not watch the game because I have yet to find a reliable live stream. I used to use yoursportsinhd but his stream does not work and it was the best. I will say though that at 2-3, that is a RATIONAL start for a team still bonding and building chemistry. Just ask previous teams who had to gut their teams and sign stars through free agency or trades. It is not magic, it's called proper coaching and finding the right offensive schemes and defensive sets that will help this team execute late in games and overwhelm teams. Rough starts are not unusual. GO OKC!