Utah @ Minnesota

[Howler21]

I really want to like McCants, I really want him to string together some good games...but man, he's in a ridiculous slump

I wonder how much of it can be chalked up to his erratic playing time. I hope he can break out of it and cut the hurried shots and ridiculous turnovers.

[shrink]

Kevin Love had nine rebounds .. seven on the offensive glass.

Here's the box score:

http://www.nba.com/games/20081209/UTAMIN/boxscore.html

[Calinks]

Kevin Love had nine rebounds .. seven on the offensive glass.

Here's the box score:

http://www.nba.com/games/20081209/UTAMIN/boxscore.html

What? He had 15.

[4ho5ive]

All in all a very good game and im glad to see our guys play with so much energy. Great game. Couple points:

-I didnt like the fact that we turned to Ollie not once but twice when we needed a bucket down the stretch, he didnt convert on either try IIRC. Though he did get a couple key turnovers in our favor. I like him on the court, just not taking the big shots.

-Foye is growing before our eyes. He knew they were in the penalty late in the game, and he attacked the basket, and knocked down free throw after free throw. Even when his shot wasnt falling he didnt stop being aggressive, which is not something i can say about him under Witt.

-Glad to see Carney get so much burn. It seems like all our players want him to succeed. When he knocked down his two 3's it seemed like all our guys were dapping him.

-McHale is really not a terrible coach. He had some nice rotations, didnt pull guys after mistakes and was encouraging all the kids to get out there and play. Lets see how encouraging he is after dropping a couple W's in a row.

-Love is a Manimal. I know he can hit those FT's, McHale knows he can hit those FT's, he knows he can hit those FT's. I think he let the 2nd set of bricks be affected by the 1st set of bricks. Thats rookie stuff, hopefully he doesnt let it get him down. Dude shoulda had another Double-Dub

I love to see our guys run a little bit and I was so glad to see we actually we're running a bit in this one. Good stuff. Lets not let this loss affect us longterm.

[4ho5ive]

Kevin Love had nine rebounds .. seven on the offensive glass.

Here's the box score:

http://www.nba.com/games/20081209/UTAMIN/boxscore.html

What? He had 15.

Also Randy Foye didnt have 5 points

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore;_y ... 2008120916

Real box score.

[Woo311]

:wink:

I really want to like McCants, I really want him to string together some good games...but man, he's in a ridiculous slump

I wonder how much of it can be chalked up to his erratic playing time. I hope he can break out of it and cut the hurried shots and ridiculous turnovers.

I am going to 90% of it. As soon as he did anything bad under Wittman he was yanked. He played in fear and that wouldn't let him get in a rhythm. I think we will see a whole new McCants in a week or two. He won't play in fear and he will feel comfortable.

PS I really want to see more Carney, especially now that Brewer is done for the season. His lateral speed is ridiculous and is able to stay in front of almost anyone..... and no more Ollie.

[theGreatRC]

Kevin Love had nine rebounds .. seven on the offensive glass.

Here's the box score:

http://www.nba.com/games/20081209/UTAMIN/boxscore.html

What? He had 15.

Also Randy Foye didnt have 5 points

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore;_y ... 2008120916

Real box score.

Yeah, NBA has been weird through ought the whole season. I go with Yahoo now

[carrottop12]

That is a really tough game to lose. McHale looks like a far better coach then a GM which is a good sign for you. Your team certainly seemed to be having fun which is important and McHale looked excited. Good luck!

[Devilzsidewalk]

Good game by the boys tonight not fussed that we didnt win although it woulda been nice it was just nice to see an effort

yes, I approve too of the effort given.

At this point, competing with a good team is a moral victory. I think if we give honest effort and energy, we'll at least be in these games down the stretch.

Next step is finding some daggers in the last 5 minutes of the game because right now the team gets shook when they have a lead in the last few minutes of the game and the offense totally shuts down.

[shrink]

Yeah, NBA has been weird through ought the whole season. I go with Yahoo now

Thanks guys. I noticed nba.com was bad in the pre-season, but I just assumed that was because it was pre-season. Weird. I would have expected better out of the NBA's own site.

[TMo519]

Wasn't home to see this game, so that stunk. But sounds like positive things for the most part. Sucks to blow another 4th quarter lead, but beats losing by 20.

Likes seeing Carney get burn, as well as McCants in the starting lineup in place of Miller, makes sense to replace a scorer and shooter with another scorer, even though he struggled with his shot. As long as he isn't on a short leash, he should start getting better I think. Interesting putting Smith in there though.

[Vega06]

Al's rebounds under 10 a game after last night. Will this be permanent with Love rebounding the way he has?

[shrink]

I only saw the last ten minutes of the game, but its one that sticks with me, so a couple more questions:

1. McCants had to toss that last pass in because we were out of time-outs. I understand this just happens in some games, particularly with younger players adjusting to a new coach. I'm curious though -- Did McHale use time-outs OK during the game?

2. I wonder what's going through Kevin Love's head now. The announcers mentioned he was an 82% free throw shooter (at least, before last night's game), and I think its clear if he just made most of his free throws, that game would have been a win. He was phenomenal on the offensive glass. I'm no rebounding guru, but it looks to me like he's really good at snaking his body around people trying to box him out, then he's going up, hard for balls that others are trying to clap. He seems to have extremely quick hands. Anyway, I think the guys can be proud of the way they played, but still, getting a win in the first game under McHale would have helped reinforce that new tone. I'll be interested to see how Kevin Love plays tonight, whether the rookie is tight or down on himself.

3. I wouldn't worry about Al not getting to ten boards. Announcers also mentioned that Love is going to decrease Al's numbers. No problem -- Al can save his energy on the offensive side, and up his defense blocking out.

4. On the other side, even if it was early, I liked seeing Randy Foye drive the lane with seven seconds and our team down by one. He then calmly made both free throws. He frustrates me sometimes, because I think his upside is so great .. maybe even Wade-like .. but he's never going to get there because this type of play just doesn't seem to fit with his mindset. Maybe under McHale he'll feel looser, and able to play dominantly without worrying about mistakes.

5. Sad to see Al get burned so badly on defense, with the Okur shot.

6. And what's up with 27 minutes for Ollie? He looked good in the fourth, but I was really surprised. And zero minutes for Jason Collins?

7. Anyone know when Miller will return?

[TMo519]

You would think Love is stealing rebounds from a lot of guys right now lol

[Basti]

I have no problems with Al getting less than 10 boards as long as Love or somebody else is making up for it. I don't care about individual stats, I just want to see our team being the better rebounding team

[yojimbo]

I watched the whole game on Tivo, and reversed most of Love's rebounds to see how he got to them. Several times he was almost off-screen when the shot was about to go up - not many guys literally crash the boards like that, and he makes really good reads on them too - I think it's one of those things that most guys never learn, and he's been doing that since the start of the season. I wonder if the insane (and productive) effort on the boards wears him out a bit, because he seemed to short-arm some of his shots. My hope is he will adapt to this and build more endurance through the season.

The whole team attacked the basket better, which was fantastic to see. I agree that Foye seemed very strategic about it - Al, Cookie and McCants tend to do it anyway, which is why I figure McHale likes them so much, but it seemed even more contagious last night with Love going to the hole, Gomes posting up, etc instead of settling for so many jumpers.

[Vindicater]

It was a preety good first game, too bad we have some tough games coming up, It could make some of the kids lose heart wit the new coach if we get some first up loss's early