Game thread: Wolves @ Jazz!!!!!!

[Winter Wonder]

I only got the chance to watch the last 8 minutes of the game so can't comment on much else. From what I did see though, I can understand people not being happy with the decision making by Jefferson down the stretch. I will chalk it up as a learning experience and can appreciate the notion of having someone WANT to take the shots down the stretch. I had intended on just ripping on his shot selection and defense, but read the great point on having someone trying to take the team on his shoulders down the stretch. It is a nice change..... but....

He did force down the stretch on double and triple teams when we had shooters floating outside the three point line ready. What bothered me worse though was his inability to close out on Okur ***newsflash, Okur can hit the three*** and not realizing who he was guarding and what his strength was. Maybe Love should have been on Okur not Milsaap, regardless, those open shots hurt us more than about anything done or not done on offense. Jefferson just has to work on decision making and shot selection on Offense and I like his odds on improving there with how young he is. Defensively, the team needs to talk and let him know where his man is if he isn't able to stay aware himself or has to help in the paint.

Disappointing since it was quite winnable.

[funkatron101]

I don't mind this loss, it was a tough game against a tough opponent. The Al hate is a little overboard here. With that said, if he is going to be the clutch guy, then he needs to get to the line more.

[kingly222]

Jefferson with 25 points on 25 shots? I f****** hate seeing that

Wow you brought something to my attention.
Look at Big Al's points and shots attempted in the last 5 games.
25 pts on 25 shots against Utah LOSS
20 pts on 21 shots against LAC WIN
22 pts on 21 shots against Phoenix WIN
9 pts on 14 shots against MIA LOSS
20 pts on 20 shots agaisnt Milwaukee WIN

He's been forcing up bad shots lately against double teams instead of dishing the ball out to the open man.

Just win baby. If that what it takes to have a 60% winning percentage the rest of the season, Im all with it. Al has alot of room for improvement, but is not quite as bad as some of you say.

One small suggestion is to get as many big guys on this team as possibly. Every night Al plays out of position and with 6'7 forwards guarding his back. Is there a successful team in the league that plays such a short lineup. Look at Utah last night, Okur gets a rap for being soft, but he is still 7ft tall and takes up alot of space.

Even down in Orlando, people say that they only start one big(Dwight) but in reality Hedo and Lewis are taller than everybody in the twolves starting lineup.

All Im saying is that the NBA is a big mans game, and from that perspective its more impressive to see Al do what he does on the court.

[C.lupus]

I've got no problem with Al taking 25 shots if he's making 50% of them. I've got no problem with Al wanting the ball at the end of the game either.

I do want Al to continue to improve. He's got the offensive low post moves down and he's got the rebounding down. Now he needs to work on drawing more fouls and finding open teammates. It will come.

[stiles21]

I can't believe how many people keep saying " I'm alright with this loss". Why? Is it that you would rather loss now to get a better draft pick? Over the years have you just gotten use to losing? More fans should be upset with what we saw. Big Al needs to work on his passing game if he ever wants to be a great player in the league. And look I understand what your saying about him trying to be a leader and put this team on his shoulders at the end of the game, but a good "leader" should be trying to make his wide open teammate better not just trying to do it all himself and take bad shots at a critical time over not 1, not even 2 but 3 defenders. I'm an Jefferson fan, this is just something he has to learn. Teams know hes not going to pass thats why they can throw extra bodies on him.

B.t.w My boy Telfair had a nice game. 17pts 9ast 3reb 1stl and only 1 turnover.

[funkatron101]

I can't believe how many people keep saying " I'm alright with this loss". Why? Is it that you would rather loss now to get a better draft pick? Over the years have you just gotten use to losing? More fans should be upset with what we saw. Big Al needs to work on his passing game if he ever wants to be a great player in the league. And look I understand what your saying about him trying to be a leader and put this team on his shoulders at the end of the game, but a good "leader" should be trying to make his wide open teammate better not just trying to do it all himself and take bad shots at a critical time over not 1, not even 2 but 3 defenders. I'm an Jefferson fan, this is just something he has to learn. Teams know hes not going to pass thats why they can throw extra bodies on him.

B.t.w My boy Telfair had a nice game. 17pts 9ast 3reb 1stl and only 1 turnover.

They should never have been in this game, really. They made it close a few times, but never took the lead.

The team is young and played well against a tough opponent. This was a "good" loss. Compare that to losing a 29 point lead to Dallas, I'll take this one any day.

[TMo519]

I'm never alright with losing, and watching the end of that game pissed me off. WAY too many blown opportunities. Yes, they fought to even get the opportunities and they were playing in Utah, but just in the moment of the end of that game, I was disappointed Al couldn't convert on a couple of those hooks that he typically makes (think they caught his arm on a couple of them personally, but I'm not gonna complain about that), Foye was clutch again though, so that's good. This woulda been such a nice win though, so disappointing.

BIG PICTURE lol: This is what I would call a "quality" loss, in that you played a team that rarely loses at home and played them tough and played okay. You didn't get run out of the gym, nor were you really outplayed much, they just made a couple more plays in the end with Okur. In the future, I would like to see games that are there for the taking like this won though. Missing on three straight chances to take the lead hurts a lot.

[theGreatRC]

I'm not fine with losing, but we played that game so badly and only lost by single digits in UTAH, think about it.

Also, the lady doing the NBA.com recaps is so horrible; she must give great head to get that job.

She called Ryan Gomes, Ryan Go-Mez...it wasn't a one time thing either, she pronounced it Go-Mez the entire time.

[4ho5ive]

I'm pretty sure she also said Gomez hit a 3 when it was Foye that actually made it.

[Basti]

I'm pretty sure she also said Gomez hit a 3 when it was Foye that actually made it.

yep it was Randy whom she called GoMez