**** MN Timberwolves 10-31 @ 26-13 Phoenix Suns - 10:00pm FSN ****

[Calinks]

Wont be shocked if Culver is traded for a second-round pick at this point.

[wolves_89]

This game felt a lot like the Lakers game. The team hung around for 3 quarters and then got buried by a star level guy playing well coupled with the opponent's hot 3 point shooting.

[winforlose]

Imagine if Nowell was an actual offensive priority instead of an afterthought. God damn, I really like Finch but I just don’t get it.

All about the contracts. He will never get that here unless injuries. Culver had to get minutes today. Josh Okogie has to start a game? I don't see him being a consistent positive off lower bench minutes.

Culver took Vando minutes, it had nothing to do with Nowell. The issue with Nowell is they won’t run the offense to get him open. He would be lethal in PNP action with Naz or KAT in front. If they play up on it the big releases for an easy Nowell dime. If they go under now you either get a mismatch on the big or an open Nowell 3. What does it say when his bad games are 2-5 from 3 and 6-9 from the floor.

[Worm Guts]

I dont understand why Wolves went from what worked well, to "Ant does everything and eveyrone else gets to watch" mode. Gotta say, poor coaching in this one. It was easily winnable.

Ant did everything yesterday and they won. He didn’t today and they lost. Of course Phoenix made a point today to take Ant away.

[K4P]

Culver looking like a Wes Johnson level bust

[winforlose]

I dont understand why Wolves went from what worked well, to "Ant does everything and eveyrone else gets to watch" mode. Gotta say, poor coaching in this one. It was easily winnable.

Ant did everything yesterday and they won. He didn’t today and they lost. Of course Phoenix made a point today to take Ant away.

The uncalled fouls not withstanding, Ant was just missing from point blank. Maybe it was the back 2 back, but Ant was the one who took Ant away, not the Suns.

[wolves_89]

Okogie should have increased his trade value for any team that might face the Suns in the playoffs. Josh's defense against Booker over the last 2 games was very impressive.

[Jedzz]

Imagine if Nowell was an actual offensive priority instead of an afterthought. God damn, I really like Finch but I just don’t get it.

All about the contracts. He will never get that here unless injuries. Culver had to get minutes today. Josh Okogie has to start a game? I don't see him being a consistent positive off lower bench minutes.

Culver took Vando minutes, it had nothing to do with Nowell. The issue with Nowell is they won’t run the offense to get him open. He would be lethal in PNP action with Naz or KAT in front. If they play up on it the big releases for an easy Nowell dime. If they go under now you either get a mismatch on the big or an open Nowell 3. What does it say when his bad games are 2-5 from 3 and 6-9 from the floor.

You going to ignore the Okogie start? Team had been better since they stopped that. Nowell was also getting more early minutes before.

He got a three and couple others in complete garbage time there. Nowell was playing rough on low minutes early on. Dribbling way too much and missing open shots. Refs went after him for fouls. He did pick it up and finish some nice 2s around the rim when the team was struggling. That was nice late third or whenever that was. Seemed to be waking up finally.

Nowell is a shooting guard. When Finch was asked about how Nowell could be used as a Point Guard with others out, he let it slip that Nowell was concerned that the team was going to ask him to play point. But Finch told him not to worry because this team "doesn't need natural point guards" and went on to describe just what we've seen from this team's point guards...walk it up and hand it off. But Nowell on his couple walk ups was getting pressured early by Suns defenders and so then Nowell starts dribbling a lot. He's ok at it if it's just for him and him getting 2s. But getting others involved if he walks into a double team, not so much.

[winforlose]

All about the contracts. He will never get that here unless injuries. Culver had to get minutes today. Josh Okogie has to start a game? I don't see him being a consistent positive off lower bench minutes.

Culver took Vando minutes, it had nothing to do with Nowell. The issue with Nowell is they won’t run the offense to get him open. He would be lethal in PNP action with Naz or KAT in front. If they play up on it the big releases for an easy Nowell dime. If they go under now you either get a mismatch on the big or an open Nowell 3. What does it say when his bad games are 2-5 from 3 and 6-9 from the floor.

He got a three and couple others in complete garbage time there. Nowell was playing rough on low minutes early on. Dribbling way too much and missing open shots. Refs went after him for fouls. He did pick it up and finish some nice 2s around the rim when the team was struggling. That was nice late third or whenever that was. Seemed to be waking up finally.

Nowell is a shooting guard. When Finch was asked about how Nowell could be used as a Point Guard with others out, he let it slip that Nowell was concerned that the team was going to ask him to play point. But Finch told him not to worry because this team "doesn't need natural point guards" and went on to describe just what we've seen from this team's point guards...walk it up and hand it off. But Nowell on his couple walk ups was getting pressured early by Suns defenders and so then Nowell starts dribbling a lot. He's ok at it if it's just for him and him getting 2s. But getting others involved if he walks into a double team, not so much.

We agree he is a SG not a PG. He is a good passer but doesn’t have the PG handle. In fact his handle is a serious problem for him overall. That said, he hit and missed a 3 in trash time. Take them both away and he is still 1-3 from 3 and 5-7 for the game with 11 points. The issue is he wasn’t getting support, he had to create his own shot each time. My point is that if you make Nowell a priority and run things to create shots for him he will give you more each night. He’s like Beasley, he can shoot of the dribble, but he is better in catch and shoot.

[theGreatRC]

Usually with these mini series, teams make adjustments that killed them the night before.

With the Blazers b2b, Portland started doubling KAT right off the bat.

PHX is probably going to look for ways to stop Ant drives and getting the ball out of KAT's hands

Or maybe they just go "Hey, there's no way in hell they both get 40 again" and play the same way.

PHX def took away the Ant drives..also, the reffing was different today than yesterday..Ant was getting hacked and getting 0 calls

[winforlose]

Usually with these mini series, teams make adjustments that killed them the night before.

With the Blazers b2b, Portland started doubling KAT right off the bat.

PHX is probably going to look for ways to stop Ant drives and getting the ball out of KAT's hands

Or maybe they just go "Hey, there's no way in hell they both get 40 again" and play the same way.

PHX def took away the Ant drives..also, the reffing was different today than yesterday..Ant was getting hacked and getting 0 calls

It’s true he was hacked a lot in the first half (and more commonly fouled with the body,) but in the second half Ant was hesitating, forcing jumpers, and not finishing when he got to the rim. Some credit to Phoenix, but most of it is on Ant.

Edit to include: Finch just said he didn’t see much difference in the Suns defense against Ant. He said maybe they helped more from the perimeter, but there wasn’t much different.

[Jedzz]

Culver took Vando minutes, it had nothing to do with Nowell. The issue with Nowell is they won’t run the offense to get him open. He would be lethal in PNP action with Naz or KAT in front. If they play up on it the big releases for an easy Nowell dime. If they go under now you either get a mismatch on the big or an open Nowell 3. What does it say when his bad games are 2-5 from 3 and 6-9 from the floor.

He got a three and couple others in complete garbage time there. Nowell was playing rough on low minutes early on. Dribbling way too much and missing open shots. Refs went after him for fouls. He did pick it up and finish some nice 2s around the rim when the team was struggling. That was nice late third or whenever that was. Seemed to be waking up finally.

Nowell is a shooting guard. When Finch was asked about how Nowell could be used as a Point Guard with others out, he let it slip that Nowell was concerned that the team was going to ask him to play point. But Finch told him not to worry because this team "doesn't need natural point guards" and went on to describe just what we've seen from this team's point guards...walk it up and hand it off. But Nowell on his couple walk ups was getting pressured early by Suns defenders and so then Nowell starts dribbling a lot. He's ok at it if it's just for him and him getting 2s. But getting others involved if he walks into a double team, not so much.

We agree he is a SG not a PG. He is a good passer but doesn’t have the PG handle. In fact his handle is a serious problem for him overall. That said, he hit and missed a 3 in trash time. Take them both away and he is still 1-3 from 3 and 5-7 for the game with 11 points. The issue is he wasn’t getting support, he had to create his own shot each time. My point is that if you make Nowell a priority and run things to create shots for him he will give you more each night. He’s like Beasley, he can shoot of the dribble, but he is better in catch and shoot.

Oh no doubt. But they aren't giving him that action. This is the Edwards show after all. Rubio wasn't playing with him much was he? He has to hit his open threes that others create in this offense and when they needed it he missed it. He makes them more when he's more in the game, warmed up. I think that history keeps showing.

I think Okogie starting is a mistake that changes a number of things for rotations. They are giving him minutes to earn trade value I suppose. 5 pts starting. Did he get any assists? Total nonfactor on offense like most outside the ballhandlers right now. But if he doesn't have a great shot how is he not a negative on offense? His defense...right? But how did they win yesterday with Okogie at 22 minutes off bench? Team didn't really care about winning this one.

[Jedzz]

Usually with these mini series, teams make adjustments that killed them the night before.

With the Blazers b2b, Portland started doubling KAT right off the bat.

PHX is probably going to look for ways to stop Ant drives and getting the ball out of KAT's hands

Or maybe they just go "Hey, there's no way in hell they both get 40 again" and play the same way.

PHX def took away the Ant drives..also, the reffing was different today than yesterday..Ant was getting hacked and getting 0 calls

Jordan wouldn't be proud.

[winforlose]

He got a three and couple others in complete garbage time there. Nowell was playing rough on low minutes early on. Dribbling way too much and missing open shots. Refs went after him for fouls. He did pick it up and finish some nice 2s around the rim when the team was struggling. That was nice late third or whenever that was. Seemed to be waking up finally.

Nowell is a shooting guard. When Finch was asked about how Nowell could be used as a Point Guard with others out, he let it slip that Nowell was concerned that the team was going to ask him to play point. But Finch told him not to worry because this team "doesn't need natural point guards" and went on to describe just what we've seen from this team's point guards...walk it up and hand it off. But Nowell on his couple walk ups was getting pressured early by Suns defenders and so then Nowell starts dribbling a lot. He's ok at it if it's just for him and him getting 2s. But getting others involved if he walks into a double team, not so much.

We agree he is a SG not a PG. He is a good passer but doesn’t have the PG handle. In fact his handle is a serious problem for him overall. That said, he hit and missed a 3 in trash time. Take them both away and he is still 1-3 from 3 and 5-7 for the game with 11 points. The issue is he wasn’t getting support, he had to create his own shot each time. My point is that if you make Nowell a priority and run things to create shots for him he will give you more each night. He’s like Beasley, he can shoot of the dribble, but he is better in catch and shoot.

Oh no doubt. But they aren't giving him that action. This is the Edwards show after all. Rubio wasn't playing with him much was he? He has to hit his open threes that others create in this offense and when they needed it he missed it. He makes them more when he's more in the game, warmed up. I think that history keeps showing.

I think Okogie starting is a mistake that changes a number of things for rotations. They are giving him minutes to earn trade value I suppose. 5 pts starting. Did he get any assists? Total nonfactor on offense like most outside the ballhandlers right now. But if he doesn't have a great shot how is he not a negative on offense? His defense...right? But how did they win yesterday with Okogie at 22 minutes off bench? Team didn't really care about winning this one.

We agree about Nowell being better in rhythm. I think the bigger issue is that he is an afterthought rather than a priority. When Ant is struggling Finch need to lean on Nowell and didn’t. Even when Beasley, and Dlo are back Nowell needs to become the focus of the second unit. That said, Reid is also important to that unit, but getting Nowell going will also create opportunities for Naz (see my PNP post earlier in the thread.)

I couldn’t disagree more about Okogie. Vando has been awful recently. He is so bad you cannot even pass him the ball without turning it over, and you cannot count on him for more than 2-4 points a game if your lucky type of awful. With that in mind and realizing that Layman has gone back into beginning of the season mode, Finch had nothing to lose by starting JO and MCD. JO is IMO the only reason we didn’t lose by 40. He kept Booker kinda quiet in the first half and totally silent in the second half. The issue was no one guarding CP3 and the Suns overloading our zone to get open corner 3s. JO kept it close and was worth a lot more points than what another player might have scored in his place. The bigger issue was Ant not hitting at the rim, KAT melting down both emotionally and offensively in the 3rd quarter and never recovering. JO might have only scored 5, but he limited Booker to 16 (some of that scored when JO was switched off or sitting down,) when Booker scored 34 last night and is averaging 25.4 on the season.

[_AIJ_]

Usually with these mini series, teams make adjustments that killed them the night before.

With the Blazers b2b, Portland started doubling KAT right off the bat.

PHX is probably going to look for ways to stop Ant drives and getting the ball out of KAT's hands

Or maybe they just go "Hey, there's no way in hell they both get 40 again" and play the same way.

PHX def took away the Ant drives..also, the reffing was different today than yesterday..Ant was getting hacked and getting 0 calls

It’s true he was hacked a lot in the first half (and more commonly fouled with the body,) but in the second half Ant was hesitating, forcing jumpers, and not finishing when he got to the rim. Some credit to Phoenix, but most of it is on Ant.

Edit to include: Finch just said he didn’t see much difference in the Suns defense against Ant. He said maybe they helped more from the perimeter, but there wasn’t much different.

Of course youd blame Ant. When was the last time you havent blamed him?

[winforlose]

PHX def took away the Ant drives..also, the reffing was different today than yesterday..Ant was getting hacked and getting 0 calls

It’s true he was hacked a lot in the first half (and more commonly fouled with the body,) but in the second half Ant was hesitating, forcing jumpers, and not finishing when he got to the rim. Some credit to Phoenix, but most of it is on Ant.

Edit to include: Finch just said he didn’t see much difference in the Suns defense against Ant. He said maybe they helped more from the perimeter, but there wasn’t much different.

Of course youd blame Ant. When was the last time you havent blamed him?

Did you even watch the game or read the thread. I was very complimentary of Ant early on. I was proud of him for attacking instead of settling for bad jumpers. I very much blame the refs for his early struggles. I was of course dismayed when he started jacking 3s without passing later in the 2nd quarter, but have no problem with the open catch and shoot ones he was taking. My problem with him is not his shooting 3s, it’s the volume and the ones that come early in the shot clock without attempting to run an offense. That said, the second half was just different. He wasn’t fouled as much, he was just missing shots. The coach even said he was settling for bad shots and wasn’t making the good ones. Anyone can have a bad half or bad night, tonight it was Ant. Go back and rewatch the second half and then tell me I am wrong.

As for the defense, Finch saw what I saw. They were stacking the lane in both games, the difference was Ant was hitting them on Thursday and missing them on Friday. With the exception of the whistles which again he was not getting in the first half.

[PharmD]

PHX def took away the Ant drives..also, the reffing was different today than yesterday..Ant was getting hacked and getting 0 calls

It’s true he was hacked a lot in the first half (and more commonly fouled with the body,) but in the second half Ant was hesitating, forcing jumpers, and not finishing when he got to the rim. Some credit to Phoenix, but most of it is on Ant.

Edit to include: Finch just said he didn’t see much difference in the Suns defense against Ant. He said maybe they helped more from the perimeter, but there wasn’t much different.

Of course youd blame Ant. When was the last time you havent blamed him?

I mean, he was 4/18 with 7 turnovers...

[Heimdal]

*Start of the second half, we go on a 15-0 run and for some reason Towns decides to have a meltdown. Come on, it's the opposing team the one that should be frustrated, not you. He plays with a negative edge all the time. 49-32 for the Suns from that point on.

*Rubio finished the game with 21 points in 10 shots, 10 assists and 0 turnovers. Wonder why he wasn't used much more, only to try to replicate last night's Towns-Edwards plays when Edwards was obviously having a nightmarish game. Both combined to turn the ball over 12! times. Rubio and Towns combined to shoot 16/22 so that was the 2-men game to exploit tonight.

*Our role players were really bad. Meanwhile, Bridges-Crowder-Galloway went 10/14 from 3. Check mate.

[Dewey]

*Start of the second half, we go on a 15-0 run and for some reason Towns decides to have a meltdown. Come on, it's the opposing team the one that should be frustrated, not you. He plays with a negative edge all the time. 49-32 for the Suns from that point on.

*Rubio finished the game with 21 points in 10 shots, 10 assists and 0 turnovers. Wonder why he wasn't used much more, only to try to replicate last night's Towns-Edwards plays when Edwards was obviously having a nightmarish game. Both combined to turn the ball over 12! times. Rubio and Towns combined to shoot 16/22 so that was the 2-men game to exploit tonight.

*Our role players were really bad. Meanwhile, Bridges-Crowder-Galloway went 10/14 from 3. Check mate.

Yes ...

[Dual]

*Start of the second half, we go on a 15-0 run and for some reason Towns decides to have a meltdown. Come on, it's the opposing team the one that should be frustrated, not you. He plays with a negative edge all the time. 49-32 for the Suns from that point on.

*Rubio finished the game with 21 points in 10 shots, 10 assists and 0 turnovers. Wonder why he wasn't used much more, only to try to replicate last night's Towns-Edwards plays when Edwards was obviously having a nightmarish game. Both combined to turn the ball over 12! times. Rubio and Towns combined to shoot 16/22 so that was the 2-men game to exploit tonight.

[b]*Our role players were really bad.Meanwhile, Bridges-Crowder-Galloway went 10/14 from 3. Check mate.

That's one of the main issues with this team, in both games role players have been awfull on 3 point shooting. You can't have in today's NBA role players that can't connect a corner 3 alone consistently tbh.