10/22 - POSTGAME | Minnesota Timberwolves (115) - (113) Oklahoma City Thunder

[ozwizard8]

Right now we are shooting 43% from the field, 32% from deep and 66% from the ft line. No reason for those numbers to keep that low. We may have not developed a good offensive system but we missed so many open shots since opening night.

Well we missed a lot of easy shots in Utah game. Especially at 1st quarter. That lead they build in first half make us impatient on D. And it helped a lot for Utah's offense.
Utah would have creativity issues with their offense but they bailed out with missed shots.

We werent good at D though. This game showed similar flaws too.
Our p&r D doesnt look good.
WB doesnt give much energy against guards and Robertson cant defend them at good level.
Opponent pg's just traveling around our court easily. Some pressure on their dribble is needed.

[Pillendreher]

I was excited when we got mellow, but I think most of us assumed that he was coming with the understanding that he would be a third option. His usage feels like it's a million percent at this point. somehow they've got to get through to him that he is allowed to pass the ball and actually move off the ball rather than just get in position to try and post guys up from 15 to 18 ft.

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Somebody said it on Discord last night: He's playing like Kanter right now. When he gets the ball, he's taking the shot. And he's taking them, for better or for worse. And that's one of the main problems with our offense right now. We have got to generate good shots, not take everything we can get.

[Osirus89]

I will say melo is putting in much more effort on the defensive end than I thought he would. He is better than I expected in regards to his activity and hands coming down the stretch of these games so far.

PG may be struggling with his shot, but his defense is just as good as advertised. He has come up with some nice steals over the course of the last few games which should bode well moving forward. Once his shot starts falling more, he is going to be a problem for teams.

An underrated thing that may be getting over looked is just how useless Abrines has been. He is playing a chunk of minutes but his shot has been trash. It's been like when morrow couldn't buy a 3 ptr. His defense is bad and he isn't spacing the floor so what's the point. I understand why Felton is playing so much alongside Russ if Abrines can't give anything. He needs to get out of this slump quick, but he isn't a good enough player to let him shoot his way out of it. Same dilemma the team had with A-Mo.

[Pillendreher]

I will say melo is putting in much more effort on the defensive end than I thought he would. He is better than I expected in regards to his activity and hands coming down the stretch of these games so far.

Gee man I don't know. Every time I see him in a defensive play, he's playing that Kanter defense. He's not even contesting shots, but just swiping at the ball.

PG may be struggling with his shot, but his defense is just as good as advertised. He has come up with some nice steals over the course of the last few games which should bode well moving forward. Once his shot starts falling more, he is going to be a problem for teams.

I think it's pretty clear he's the most versatile player on this team. Last night he had 8 assists. The last time a Thunder player not named Westbrook had 8 assists or more was Durant in April 2016.

Him making shots woould be good to see tho.

An underrated thing that may be getting over looked is just how useless Abrines has been. He is playing a chunk of minutes but his shot has been trash. It's been like when morrow couldn't buy a 3 ptr. His defense is bad and he isn't spacing the floor so what's the point. I understand why Felton is playing so much alongside Russ if Abrines can't give anything. He needs to get out of this slump quick, but he isn't a good enough player to let him shoot his way out of it. Same dilemma the team had with A-Mo.

I don't think it's really him tho. Yeah, he has gotten 3 3PA per game so far, but the offense we're running is rendering him obsolete imo. Felton doesn't get the ball enough with the bench and Melo is just isolating. And the starters are not attacking the rim either. We're not playing drive and kick and that's killing his offensive value.

[sleestak33]

That's a garbage way to lose a game like that, especially after that great comeback. Wiggins makes that shot maybe 1 out of 50 times. Couldn't be happier with Felton and OKC's best lineup might be with him playing PG and letting Russ play the 2...whatever gets Roberson off the court. Our 100 million dollar man Adams has been outscored the last 2 games 44 to 26 (he gave up 27 to Towns in this game) but of course nobody will recognize that because he's an "excellent" defender...lol. I like Adams and he's playing well overall but this notion that he's some great defender just has no basis whatsoever and as I said last year he gets dominated all the time it's just that for some reason he's exempt from criticism. I expect through the 1st 15-20 games the Thunder will continue to get better offensively and get more into a flow so I'm not worried about losses right now but that one definitely hurt because they should have won. It was good to see Carmelo hit what should have been a game winning 3 and for the team to mount that comeback.

[dakomish23]

About that...

What do you want to see done differently?

Will you stop torturing these guys?

Talking about what they different from their coach is torture? Then the whole Knicks board is getting waterboarded right now

[ThunderBolt]

What do you want to see done differently?

Will you stop torturing these guys?

Talking about what they different from their coach is torture? Then the whole Knicks board is getting waterboarded right now

In three years show that he has a clue about how to run an offensive system.

[RalphSampsonJr]

That's a garbage way to lose a game like that, especially after that great comeback. Wiggins makes that shot maybe 1 out of 50 times. Couldn't be happier with Felton and OKC's best lineup might be with him playing PG and letting Russ play the 2...whatever gets Roberson off the court. Our 100 million dollar man Adams has been outscored the last 2 games 44 to 26 (he gave up 27 to Towns in this game) but of course nobody will recognize that because he's an "excellent" defender...lol. I like Adams and he's playing well overall but this notion that he's some great defender just has no basis whatsoever and as I said last year he gets dominated all the time it's just that for some reason he's exempt from criticism. I expect through the 1st 15-20 games the Thunder will continue to get better offensively and get more into a flow so I'm not worried about losses right now but that one definitely hurt because they should have won. It was good to see Carmelo hit what should have been a game winning 3 and for the team to mount that comeback.

Every time you post you make it more and more obvious that you dont watch games but look at the boxscore and think you know what happened.
go watch the highlights of this game.. count how many times you see KAT actually score while Adams is guarding him. There was one play where Adams left his feet late in the game which was a bad move defensively against Towns. You could also say he didnt close out on KATs 3 pt attempts as quick as he should of (although KAT was 2-7 from deep). other than that KAT couldnt get anything going in the post 1 on 1 against Adams.

Adams also DOMINATED KAT on the boards. You know.. rebounding? that you love so much? the stat you love to use to defend Kanter? yea well Adams got 8 offensive ones. He also had a higher fg% than KAT... with less turnovers.

Adams also scored more points than PG and had more assists than Melo while leading both teams in blocked shots AND total rebounds.

But hey.. lets not concentrate on stats in this instance.. when it comes to Kanter sure, lets focus on them!.. but not with Adams.

[NetsWorld]

You cannot panic after three games. Teams take at least 10-15 games before establishing a good form of chemistry. When Westbrook is out on the floor, he needs to make sure he finds the right shot for the other four players. You have to incorporate everyone in the offense. The last play was beautifully designed by the Thunder; Wiggins shot will fall only 2/10 with a low quality desperation three. I loved Adams play, he has picked up his game tremendously due to the floor spacing and he can focus on his strength. PG13 will have to pick up the shooting but that will come when the team executes good offensive plays. BALL MOVEMENT is key. It's not which player you find in a case where there is a lot of talent, it's going to be finding the most efficient shot and executing defensively as a whole unit. I think the Thunder would have a field day if they ran the flex offense.

Remember what KG said back in 2007 after joining Boston; It's going to be about individual sacrifices for the betterment of the whole.

[Mick75]

Sleestak33 is an obvious troll. I tend to ignore him most of the time. I only read his "paragraphless" posts when I´m really bored or need a good laugh.

[sleestak33]

That's a garbage way to lose a game like that, especially after that great comeback. Wiggins makes that shot maybe 1 out of 50 times. Couldn't be happier with Felton and OKC's best lineup might be with him playing PG and letting Russ play the 2...whatever gets Roberson off the court. Our 100 million dollar man Adams has been outscored the last 2 games 44 to 26 (he gave up 27 to Towns in this game) but of course nobody will recognize that because he's an "excellent" defender...lol. I like Adams and he's playing well overall but this notion that he's some great defender just has no basis whatsoever and as I said last year he gets dominated all the time it's just that for some reason he's exempt from criticism. I expect through the 1st 15-20 games the Thunder will continue to get better offensively and get more into a flow so I'm not worried about losses right now but that one definitely hurt because they should have won. It was good to see Carmelo hit what should have been a game winning 3 and for the team to mount that comeback.

Every time you post you make it more and more obvious that you dont watch games but look at the boxscore and think you know what happened.
go watch the highlights of this game.. count how many times you see KAT actually score while Adams is guarding him. There was one play where Adams left his feet late in the game which was a bad move defensively against Towns. You could also say he didnt close out on KATs 3 pt attempts as quick as he should of (although KAT was 2-7 from deep). other than that KAT couldnt get anything going in the post 1 on 1 against Adams.

Adams also DOMINATED KAT on the boards. You know.. rebounding? that you love so much? the stat you love to use to defend Kanter? yea well Adams got 8 offensive ones. He also had a higher fg% than KAT... with less turnovers.

Adams also scored more points than PG and had more assists than Melo while leading both teams in blocked shots AND total rebounds.

But hey.. lets not concentrate on stats in this instance.. when it comes to Kanter sure, lets focus on them!.. but not with Adams.

LOL...exactly the response I expected. Just for fun I pulled the boxscores from last year's games with Minnesota and Anthony-Towns went for 33, 26, 29 and 26 all against Adams but yeah, points that an opposing player scores gives no indication whatsoever of the defense Adams is playing! LMAO. Look I'm not anti Adams by any means he's a good player and he's doing ok this year but this ridiculous mantra that has him being some sort of great defender is a complete joke. He gets lit up all the time and is an average defender at best.

[slick_watts]

[
LOL...exactly the response I expected. Just for fun I pulled the boxscores from last year's games with Minnesota and Anthony-Towns went for 33, 26, 29 and 26 all against Adams but yeah, points that an opposing player scores gives no indication whatsoever of the defense Adams is playing!

perfect example. although towns scored a lot of points in those games, the wolves were held to 104.8pp100 with adams and towns on the court together-- 6pp100 less than they average.

for all the grief you give people who are into stats, it seems evident to me that your sole basis for evaluating a player's individual defensive impact is to look at the number of points their counter part is scoring. you can't get more box score basic than that.

and once again, who are we crediting for the team defense against the wolves last year if you are not crediting adams? andre roberson? you refuse to credit him, as well. victor oladipo?

you're just a walking catch-22.

[RalphSampsonJr]

That's a garbage way to lose a game like that, especially after that great comeback. Wiggins makes that shot maybe 1 out of 50 times. Couldn't be happier with Felton and OKC's best lineup might be with him playing PG and letting Russ play the 2...whatever gets Roberson off the court. Our 100 million dollar man Adams has been outscored the last 2 games 44 to 26 (he gave up 27 to Towns in this game) but of course nobody will recognize that because he's an "excellent" defender...lol. I like Adams and he's playing well overall but this notion that he's some great defender just has no basis whatsoever and as I said last year he gets dominated all the time it's just that for some reason he's exempt from criticism. I expect through the 1st 15-20 games the Thunder will continue to get better offensively and get more into a flow so I'm not worried about losses right now but that one definitely hurt because they should have won. It was good to see Carmelo hit what should have been a game winning 3 and for the team to mount that comeback.

Every time you post you make it more and more obvious that you dont watch games but look at the boxscore and think you know what happened.
go watch the highlights of this game.. count how many times you see KAT actually score while Adams is guarding him. There was one play where Adams left his feet late in the game which was a bad move defensively against Towns. You could also say he didnt close out on KATs 3 pt attempts as quick as he should of (although KAT was 2-7 from deep). other than that KAT couldnt get anything going in the post 1 on 1 against Adams.

Adams also DOMINATED KAT on the boards. You know.. rebounding? that you love so much? the stat you love to use to defend Kanter? yea well Adams got 8 offensive ones. He also had a higher fg% than KAT... with less turnovers.

Adams also scored more points than PG and had more assists than Melo while leading both teams in blocked shots AND total rebounds.

But hey.. lets not concentrate on stats in this instance.. when it comes to Kanter sure, lets focus on them!.. but not with Adams.

LOL...exactly the response I expected. Just for fun I pulled the boxscores from last year's games with Minnesota and Anthony-Towns went for 33, 26, 29 and 26 all against Adams but yeah, points that an opposing player scores gives no indication whatsoever of the defense Adams is playing! LMAO. Look I'm not anti Adams by any means he's a good player and he's doing ok this year but this ridiculous mantra that has him being some sort of great defender is a complete joke. He gets lit up all the time and is an average defender at best.

So you just proved my point.. you check boxscores and assume things.

You think that everytime an apposing center scores it has to be in a 1 on 1 situation against Adams?! you continually embarrass yourself and show everyone that you know nothing of what you speak of.

I feel bad for you.. you are so passionate about something you dont understand. so you continually write frustrated posts as you struggle to comprehend what is happening

[bondom34]

If people don't pay attention to him he goes away.

I'm not sure hes trolling but theres a pretty clear lack of more than very surface level understanding he has now shown in multiple places, most of which he has been banned from. Not really worth the time to read.

[RalphSampsonJr]

If people don't pay attention to him he goes away.

I'm not sure hes trolling but theres a pretty clear lack of more than very surface level understanding he has now shown in multiple places, most of which he has been banned from. Not really worth the time to read.

Yea im sorry to be biting. I really am. I would like to think im above this type of carry on, but i just dont get it.

If its not trolling its a serious case of delusion. Im talking need to see a professional type stuff..

ill stop now

[bondom34]

If people don't pay attention to him he goes away.

I'm not sure hes trolling but theres a pretty clear lack of more than very surface level understanding he has now shown in multiple places, most of which he has been banned from. Not really worth the time to read.

Yea im sorry to be biting. I really am. I would like to think im above this type of carry on, but i just dont get it.

If its not trolling its a serious case of delusion. Im talking need to see a professional type stuff..

ill stop now

Oh feel free to keep going I just thought people were frustrated lol. I get a laugh from it.

[RalphSampsonJr]

That's a garbage way to lose a game like that, especially after that great comeback. Wiggins makes that shot maybe 1 out of 50 times. Couldn't be happier with Felton and OKC's best lineup might be with him playing PG and letting Russ play the 2...whatever gets Roberson off the court. Our 100 million dollar man Adams has been outscored the last 2 games 44 to 26 (he gave up 27 to Towns in this game) but of course nobody will recognize that because he's an "excellent" defender...lol. I like Adams and he's playing well overall but this notion that he's some great defender just has no basis whatsoever and as I said last year he gets dominated all the time it's just that for some reason he's exempt from criticism. I expect through the 1st 15-20 games the Thunder will continue to get better offensively and get more into a flow so I'm not worried about losses right now but that one definitely hurt because they should have won. It was good to see Carmelo hit what should have been a game winning 3 and for the team to mount that comeback.

Every time you post you make it more and more obvious that you dont watch games but look at the boxscore and think you know what happened.
go watch the highlights of this game.. count how many times you see KAT actually score while Adams is guarding him. There was one play where Adams left his feet late in the game which was a bad move defensively against Towns. You could also say he didnt close out on KATs 3 pt attempts as quick as he should of (although KAT was 2-7 from deep). other than that KAT couldnt get anything going in the post 1 on 1 against Adams.

Adams also DOMINATED KAT on the boards. You know.. rebounding? that you love so much? the stat you love to use to defend Kanter? yea well Adams got 8 offensive ones. He also had a higher fg% than KAT... with less turnovers.

Adams also scored more points than PG and had more assists than Melo while leading both teams in blocked shots AND total rebounds.

But hey.. lets not concentrate on stats in this instance.. when it comes to Kanter sure, lets focus on them!.. but not with Adams.

LOL...exactly the response I expected. Just for fun I pulled the boxscores from last year's games with Minnesota and Anthony-Towns went for 33, 26, 29 and 26 all against Adams but yeah, points that an opposing player scores gives no indication whatsoever of the defense Adams is playing! LMAO. Look I'm not anti Adams by any means he's a good player and he's doing ok this year but this ridiculous mantra that has him being some sort of great defender is a complete joke. He gets lit up all the time and is an average defender at best.

I will just leave this here.. you probably dont understand it though...

Read on Twitter

/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fbleacherreport.com%2Foklahoma-city-thunder

[ozwizard8]

Every time you post you make it more and more obvious that you dont watch games but look at the boxscore and think you know what happened.
go watch the highlights of this game.. count how many times you see KAT actually score while Adams is guarding him. There was one play where Adams left his feet late in the game which was a bad move defensively against Towns. You could also say he didnt close out on KATs 3 pt attempts as quick as he should of (although KAT was 2-7 from deep). other than that KAT couldnt get anything going in the post 1 on 1 against Adams.

Adams also DOMINATED KAT on the boards. You know.. rebounding? that you love so much? the stat you love to use to defend Kanter? yea well Adams got 8 offensive ones. He also had a higher fg% than KAT... with less turnovers.

Adams also scored more points than PG and had more assists than Melo while leading both teams in blocked shots AND total rebounds.

But hey.. lets not concentrate on stats in this instance.. when it comes to Kanter sure, lets focus on them!.. but not with Adams.

LOL...exactly the response I expected. Just for fun I pulled the boxscores from last year's games with Minnesota and Anthony-Towns went for 33, 26, 29 and 26 all against Adams but yeah, points that an opposing player scores gives no indication whatsoever of the defense Adams is playing! LMAO. Look I'm not anti Adams by any means he's a good player and he's doing ok this year but this ridiculous mantra that has him being some sort of great defender is a complete joke. He gets lit up all the time and is an average defender at best.

I will just leave this here.. you probably dont understand it though...

Read on Twitter

/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fbleacherreport.com%2Foklahoma-city-thunder

It also shows Andre Robertson's defensive performance.
According to graph Abrines is better than Robertson.

Offensive-Defensive rating shouldnt be only thing to consider individual performance but it kinda confirms what i see in first 3 games in this season.
Robertson didnt look like a plus defender. Mediocre defense, abysmal offense.

[HarthorneWingo]

It took Miami a while to get Lebron, Wade and Bosh playing together. It's only 2 games into the season. It'll take about 1/3 of the season to get comfortable with each other. Same kind of impatience exists on the Knicks board and probably every other board. It's a long season.

[Pillendreher]

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Too bad.