GAME 1 | MIN @ TOR

[TimberKat]

For now, I am going to chalk this one up as Finch willing to give up a game until they get the basic offense right. I think they need to move Towns closer in to run other offense sets.

Yes. Absolutely. I have to agree with this.

Maybe we shouldn't have Towns run the offense? Maybe the PG should.

Trying to develop Rudy's offensive game is a disaster. He can only catch the ball forehead or higher at the basket. Towns has at least 3 turn overs trying to get Rudy the ball. Let Rudy defend, rebound and rim protect and maybe get 4 shots a game. Dunks at the basket. That's it.

Towns has to attack the basket more off the dribble rather than pass to Rudy.

Ant is at fault too being a ball hog.

We still should have won that game EVEN with the poor shooting. We beat ourselves.

A couple repeat statements:
Did you see how Luka and Kyrie feed Lively last night? I can't imagine Gobert is any worse than Lively.

Towns hasn't been effected getting to the basket lately - it's an offensive foul or wild shot when the defender is close to the basket. I don't see him develop a mid range stop and pop jumper when run off the 3pt line. I think he can shoot a baby hook a little further away when defenders are waiting for him under the basket. Some of those Towns passed were just bad.

Ant only had one assist which was a lob to Gobert granted our spot up shooters were missing shots when they do get a pass.

[younggunsmn]

For those complaining about the horrendous shooting, did you look at the shots they were missing?
They weren't good shots. They were either closely defended or on the move, and very few were early in the shot clock.

Mid range floaters and 30 footers from KAT. Ant was 4/20 from 2 point range. FOUR of TWENTY.
Very very few of those were in the paint. That can't happen. 20 2 point attempts should not happen unless 3/4 of them are in the paint.

Why were they forced to take all of these bad shots?
Those are exactly the shots defenses will gameplan to force us to take.

A big part of it was that Gobert was camping and flashing in the paint for the ENTIRE GAME essentially closing the lane off to his teammates. We were bad from 3 point range outside of Ant, and that didn't help.
Sure Rudy got his and gave high effort. But he was not helping his teammates out AT ALL on the offensive end.
Whether that was by design (on the coach) or on his own, we don't know.
The Raptors game was a prime example of exactly the scenario I've been warning about.

When you are posting up and trying to seal in the paint you are closing off that space to your teammates.
It's why even elite post players like Embiid usually will work their way into a post up with other action like a pick and roll, and why they are judicious about clogging the paint, and how even the most elite post player in the entire game changes it up to stretch the defense at times.

If you are demanding the ball in the paint, unless you catch it and score, it is almost always a lost possession for your team. For those saying "Why are you passing to Rudy in the paint he has stone hands" (I am one of them), it's because you are pretty much forced to when a guy is taking up that much real estate, or you are going to get a bad shot.
If you are an elite post scorer you can move the defense by demanding a double team. No one is coming to double team Rudy and he is not skilled enough to make the right pass. Even KAT has a lot of trouble with that which is why Finch has gone away from KAT post ups as a staple in the offense.

You ask why is the big man dying, why is post play dying, this is why. because it kills the spacing that is the key to modern offense.

You're all going to complain that I'm hating on Rudy, but I'm just asking for him to change the way he plays on offense to help his teammates more. He should be going out and setting at least 3 or 4 screens every possession.
Even if his defender does not respect his ability to shoot, if his defender is not coming out on a screen he is not helping his teammate.
Ant can beat a big one on one to the basket. but not if Rudy is clogging the paint and making him beat 2 guys.

So Ant was 1/10 when guarded by OG Anunoby.
It's Gobert's duty as a teammate to help free him up, it should be his primary offensive focus to set great screens for Ant and KAT.
If he sets great screens and Finch has set up the proper spacing in his playset, Gobert's defender is going to be forced to come out to help or you are going to get one of two things:
1. An open 3 pointer on a flare screen.
2. Ant, KAT, or Naz one on one at the rim with Rudy's defender.
If Gobert's defender does come out to help, you've just opened up the entire painted area for a drive to the basket from the weak side.

[TimberKat]

For those complaining about the horrendous shooting, did you look at the shots they were missing?
They weren't good shots. They were either closely defended or on the move, and very few were early in the shot clock.

Mid range floaters and 30 footers from KAT. Ant was 4/20 from 2 point range. FOUR of TWENTY.
Very very few of those were in the paint. That can't happen. 20 2 point attempts should not happen unless 3/4 of them are in the paint.

Why were they forced to take all of these bad shots?
Those are exactly the shots defenses will gameplan to force us to take.

A big part of it was that Gobert was camping and flashing in the paint for the ENTIRE GAME essentially closing the lane off to his teammates. We were bad from 3 point range outside of Ant, and that didn't help.
Sure Rudy got his and gave high effort. But he was not helping his teammates out AT ALL on the offensive end.
Whether that was by design (on the coach) or on his own, we don't know.
The Raptors game was a prime example of exactly the scenario I've been warning about.

When you are posting up and trying to seal in the paint you are closing off that space to your teammates.
It's why even elite post players like Embiid usually will work their way into a post up with other action like a pick and roll, and why they are judicious about clogging the paint, and how even the most elite post player in the entire game changes it up to stretch the defense at times.

If you are demanding the ball in the paint, unless you catch it and score, it is almost always a lost possession for your team. For those saying "Why are you passing to Rudy in the paint he has stone hands" (I am one of them), it's because you are pretty much forced to when a guy is taking up that much real estate, or you are going to get a bad shot.
If you are an elite post scorer you can move the defense by demanding a double team. No one is coming to double team Rudy and he is not skilled enough to make the right pass. Even KAT has a lot of trouble with that which is why Finch has gone away from KAT post ups as a staple in the offense.

You ask why is the big man dying, why is post play dying, this is why. because it kills the spacing that is the key to modern offense.

You're all going to complain that I'm hating on Rudy, but I'm just asking for him to change the way he plays on offense to help his teammates more. He should be going out and setting at least 3 or 4 screens every possession.
Even if his defender does not respect his ability to shoot, if his defender is not coming out on a screen he is not helping his teammate.
Ant can beat a big one on one to the basket. but not if Rudy is clogging the paint and making him beat 2 guys.

So Ant was 1/10 when guarded by OG Anunoby.
It's Gobert's duty as a teammate to help free him up, it should be his primary offensive focus to set great screens for Ant and KAT.
If he sets great screens and Finch has set up the proper spacing in his playset, Gobert's defender is going to be forced to come out to help or you are going to get one of two things:
1. An open 3 pointer on a flare screen.
2. Ant, KAT, or Naz one on one with Rudy's defender.

Interesting perspective, did you check the team's shooting pct with and without Gobert? Towns scoring in the first half did come when Gobert was out. That was also when Towns play closer to the basket. Gobert is setting picks and running pick and roll to help his teammates. I am not ready to say having Gobert in the middle hurts space. They still can cut and do other stuff. Swing it to the weakside.

[younggunsmn]

The bigger issue is Towns checking out and not running back on defense for a huge spurt of plays. Whenever he does that, teams go on runs.

It’s just incredibly frustrating. Bad shooting happens, but the frustration turnovers and giving up defensively is terrible. I will never understand it, he is too talented to play like that.

You are harder on KAT than I am on Rudy. I thought his half court defense was pretty good outside of a couple of poor closeouts (rudy was guilty of this too. And he defended without fouling which was something we've all been asking him to do.

It was the turnovers from him that were awful, all on ill advised passes to Rudy.

He's been reduced to a perimeter player on offense, and that has to be hella frustrating for someone who has been an elite scorer in this league. The one good spurt he had in the 2nd quarter was when he was back at the 5.
I did not like some of the shots he forced either, but it was either take bad shots or only take 3 FGA like the Portland disaster at the end of last season.
Whatever playbook Finch ran for the last game, he needs to tear it up and start over.

[KGdaBom]

Super disappointed about that loss but again it's not a surprise. Toronto bodies us at home. That team matches up really well with us and once again they exploited our weaknesses. I felt like we played horribly and it was still a close game. As long as we don't let this become a habit, we can bounce back. The team has to improve though, they can't fall into this pattern.

Typically we wont shoot this bad. Typically, teams wont be able to match up against us this well. We do need to worry about playing better in transition and we have to cut down the turnovers.

Things still looked very awkward for Towns, hopefully, he looks a lot more comfortable in the next couple of games.

Do you or anybody reading this know the last time we shot 34% or worse as a team. I think we have, but I honestly don't remember ever watching a game we shot this bad.

[TimberKat]

Super disappointed about that loss but again it's not a surprise. Toronto bodies us at home. That team matches up really well with us and once again they exploited our weaknesses. I felt like we played horribly and it was still a close game. As long as we don't let this become a habit, we can bounce back. The team has to improve though, they can't fall into this pattern.

Typically we wont shoot this bad. Typically, teams wont be able to match up against us this well. We do need to worry about playing better in transition and we have to cut down the turnovers.

Things still looked very awkward for Towns, hopefully, he looks a lot more comfortable in the next couple of games.

Do you or anybody reading this know the last time we shot 34% or worse as a team. I think we have, but I honestly don't remember ever watching a game we shot this bad.

I see your point but also agree with younggun that we have lots of bad shots, which bothers me more than the lose. It's encouraging our 1/2 court defense looked good. It would only take Wolves to make one or two more 3 pt (which we were 25.8%) or Raptors made one or two less 3s (40% is likely higher than their avg) for Wolves to win.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

The main mistake was the poor shoot taken. Lot of time KAt and Ant shoot when they was NAW or Mike totally free waiting the ball on 3 line. Tunnel vision hurt

The second mistake is that we try way too hard to involve Rudy in offense part. I don't mind if Rudy shoot 4 times a night as long as he rebound, defense and blocks which he did yesterday. Based on the poor skill of Rudy ball in hands, some pass to him were stupud last night.
For me the loss is also on coaching. You have to tell our guys to change strategy when it doesn't work,

[Note30]

The main mistake was the poor shoot taken. Lot of time KAt and Ant shoot when they was NAW or Mike totally free waiting the ball on 3 line. Tunnel vision hurt

The second mistake is that we try way too hard to involve Rudy in offense part. I don't mind if Rudy shoot 4 times a night as long as he rebound, defense and blocks which he did yesterday. Based on the poor skill of Rudy ball in hands, some pass to him were stupud last night.
For me the loss is also on coaching. You have to tell our guys to change strategy when it doesn't work,

Problem with your logic is the pass to them. Take a close look at the plays. Each of them the defenders have more than enough room to close out on NAW and Conley. And while Conley is a good catch and shoot player, he often wasn't on the strong side of court, so it was harder to get that pass to him. Meanwhile NAW doesn't have that quick of a release meaning it would be hard for him to get an uncontested shot on the strong side.

[Araxen]

Another thing that bothers me is that Rudy is great at setting screens, but we just don't utilize that trait at all. It's frankly unacceptable. You see all the screen's Dame got in the Bucks game tonight? That should be our team.

[minimus]

Another thing that bothers me is that Rudy is great at setting screens, but we just don't utilize that trait at all. It's frankly unacceptable. You see all the screen's Dame got in the Bucks game tonight? That should be our team.

Because we don't have a movement shooter who has ability to shooter off screens. As much as Towns is great shooter for big men standards, he is not a movement shooter, neither are Edwards nor McDaniels. Last season Conley was able to shoot pull up threes and he immediately showed great results.

[Note30]

Another thing that bothers me is that Rudy is great at setting screens, but we just don't utilize that trait at all. It's frankly unacceptable. You see all the screen's Dame got in the Bucks game tonight? That should be our team.

Because we don't have a movement shooter who has ability to shooter off screens. As much as Towns is great shooter for big men standards, he is not a movement shooter, neither are Edwards nor McDaniels. Last season Conley was able to shoot pull up threes and he immediately showed great results.

We also don't have facilitators that can create for themselves at a high rate and shoot well. The best we have is Conley. Either Any steps up and really learns how to play point or we go fish.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

The main mistake was the poor shoot taken. Lot of time KAt and Ant shoot when they was NAW or Mike totally free waiting the ball on 3 line. Tunnel vision hurt

The second mistake is that we try way too hard to involve Rudy in offense part. I don't mind if Rudy shoot 4 times a night as long as he rebound, defense and blocks which he did yesterday. Based on the poor skill of Rudy ball in hands, some pass to him were stupud last night.
For me the loss is also on coaching. You have to tell our guys to change strategy when it doesn't work,

Problem with your logic is the pass to them. Take a close look at the plays. Each of them the defenders have more than enough room to close out on NAW and Conley. And while Conley is a good catch and shoot player, he often wasn't on the strong side of court, so it was harder to get that pass to him. Meanwhile NAW doesn't have that quick of a release meaning it would be hard for him to get an uncontested shot on the strong side.

I agree with you, it's not as easy as i speak. Making good pass is a second fraction before gap closed. i'm also a but concern after this games , ball beeing too much on KAT and Ant hands which cause TO. Mike and Slomo have to run the games, they are much betterfor that. Kat has to focus on scoring,rebounding, Ant scoring anf defense where he is just amazing.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

Another thing that bothers me is that Rudy is great at setting screens, but we just don't utilize that trait at all. It's frankly unacceptable. You see all the screen's Dame got in the Bucks game tonight? That should be our team.

Totally agree with that. One of Rudy strengh is to set up good screens. We still have some job to do to make them all work well together. It's improving already but still job to do.

[Dewey]

Page after page … desperation for excuses, scapegoats, and narratives.

0-1 record … 0-1 accountability. I can assume ownership (after rolling out another $136 million) has a short-list.

[minimus]

Another thing that bothers me is that Rudy is great at setting screens, but we just don't utilize that trait at all. It's frankly unacceptable. You see all the screen's Dame got in the Bucks game tonight? That should be our team.

Because we don't have a movement shooter who has ability to shooter off screens. As much as Towns is great shooter for big men standards, he is not a movement shooter, neither are Edwards nor McDaniels. Last season Conley was able to shoot pull up threes and he immediately showed great results.

We also don't have facilitators that can create for themselves at a high rate and shoot well. The best we have is Conley. Either Any steps up and really learns how to play point or we go fish.

Well, I think an elite facilitator costs much more than elite movement shooter. Like Haliburton contract (41 mil) мы Cam Johnson contract (24mil). And even a bad facilitator such as Westbrook can be dangerous when surrounded with multiple shooter.

[Note30]

Because we don't have a movement shooter who has ability to shooter off screens. As much as Towns is great shooter for big men standards, he is not a movement shooter, neither are Edwards nor McDaniels. Last season Conley was able to shoot pull up threes and he immediately showed great results.

We also don't have facilitators that can create for themselves at a high rate and shoot well. The best we have is Conley. Either Any steps up and really learns how to play point or we go fish.

Well, I think an elite facilitator costs much more than elite movement shooter. Like Haliburton contract (41 mil) мы Cam Johnson contract (24mil). And even a bad facilitator such as Westbrook can be dangerous when surrounded with multiple shooter.

Westbrook used to be pretty elite just because of his drive and kick.

[minimus]

We also don't have facilitators that can create for themselves at a high rate and shoot well. The best we have is Conley. Either Any steps up and really learns how to play point or we go fish.

Well, I think an elite facilitator costs much more than elite movement shooter. Like Haliburton contract (41 mil) мы Cam Johnson contract (24mil). And even a bad facilitator such as Westbrook can be dangerous when surrounded with multiple shooter.

Westbrook used to be pretty elite just because of his drive and kick.

Yeah, I mentioned Westbrook because I honestly believe that Edwards is already elite slasher. Providing him with all multiple shooters will unlock his drive and kick game. I also think that Gobert as screener, roll man or in dunker spot provides spacing as well. But when he is sealing his opponent for a few seconds and our offense fails to feed him - then things gets complicated. I just hope that McDaniels will learn how to involve Gobert. It always makes me wonder why Anderson despite being slow and unathletic, keeps making those smart entry passes to Gobert? Anderson really has "only" these awkward long floaters in his arsenal but these are meshing so well with passing to Gobert.

[thinktank]

Well, I think an elite facilitator costs much more than elite movement shooter. Like Haliburton contract (41 mil) мы Cam Johnson contract (24mil). And even a bad facilitator such as Westbrook can be dangerous when surrounded with multiple shooter.

Westbrook used to be pretty elite just because of his drive and kick.

Yeah, I mentioned Westbrook because I honestly believe that Edwards is already elite slasher. Providing him with all multiple shooters will unlock his drive and kick game. I also think that Gobert as screener, roll man or in dunker spot provides spacing as well. But when he is sealing his opponent for a few seconds and our offense fails to feed him - then things gets complicated. I just hope that McDaniels will learn how to involve Gobert. It always makes me wonder why Anderson despite being slow and unathletic, keeps making those smart entry passes to Gobert? Anderson really has "only" these awkward long floaters in his arsenal but these are meshing so well with passing to Gobert.

This is why I believe Brown Jr will be in the rotation very soon. He’s like Beasley. Quick release and accurate off catch and shoot. We’re already probably the best defensive team in the league. Need more shooting still, however. Brown is a very good passer too.

Ant
Brown Jr
McDaniels
Anderson
KAT

I’d really like to see that lineup.

[Folklore]

I never said we had bad shot selection. If we did it would have simply been a part of our bad shooting. Bad shooting is the one and only reason we lost.

So then you think we had good shot selection?

Did I say that. I made no commentary whatsoever about our shot selection. And I've found a new classification for our shooting. It wasn't bad. It was horrendous beyond all comprehension shooting.

I never thought that I'd see this foolishness outside of gender studies..
Are you serious with that? Did you just lol did you just reject the facts so much that you had to come up with a new term to make your reality more comfortable? They took bad shots buddy, they weren't all wide open shots that didn't go in. Any real coach would have talk to them and said something like "WTF was that shot? what are we doing out there? if you aren't open move that ball or take it to the rim and force them to foul you..be smarter out there". But you know what? we didn't have turnovers either, it was the defense preventing us from completing our plays. lets call that impeding the play from now on.

[TimberKat]

Well, I think an elite facilitator costs much more than elite movement shooter. Like Haliburton contract (41 mil) мы Cam Johnson contract (24mil). And even a bad facilitator such as Westbrook can be dangerous when surrounded with multiple shooter.

Westbrook used to be pretty elite just because of his drive and kick.

Yeah, I mentioned Westbrook because I honestly believe that Edwards is already elite slasher. Providing him with all multiple shooters will unlock his drive and kick game. I also think that Gobert as screener, roll man or in dunker spot provides spacing as well. But when he is sealing his opponent for a few seconds and our offense fails to feed him - then things gets complicated. I just hope that McDaniels will learn how to involve Gobert. It always makes me wonder why Anderson despite being slow and unathletic, keeps making those smart entry passes to Gobert? Anderson really has "only" these awkward long floaters in his arsenal but these are meshing so well with passing to Gobert.

The only thing Ant kicks maybe are the nuts of the defender. He sometimes goes too fast at the basket to even have the kick option. How Luka leverage Lively in a dynamic way is our blueprint going forward.

We use Gobert as a screener all the time last year. I would think in general - 1/3 the time Gobert is a screener, 1/3 Gobert post up/seal, 1/3 Gobert at dunk spot with Towns around the block. It's not one or nothing and depends on matchups. Part of the reason I like to see Towns use the mid-range baby hook more is so he slows down a little on the drive and opens up more passing opportunities. Effectively play a little more like KA instead of a bull in a china shop with his drives.

Also, want to remind everyone that Towns had bad passes to other people too. Some of the force feed to Gobert was when Towns/Ant weren't shooting well and we had some relatively success in the game with it.

Maybe it's time to give John Wall a call. He still can drive.