*** Wolves @ Pacers - Wednesday Night - 6pm CT FSN ***

[Dewey]

Jokes on Indiana... they should known you cannot tank vs the Wolves.

We are heartless and just flat out soft ... we dont fight back with tenacity - we accept what we are.

Flinch has his hands full.

[winforlose]

Allowing the Pacers to score 140+ while 60% of their starters are out for the game.

I will never understand losses like this one.

Even worse, 80% of their starters if they were at full strength: Brogdon - LeVert - TJ Warren - Sabonis - Turner

Wow.

Two things. 1, because they were not available we didn’t come to play. That soft lazy attitude by a young team in a losing season is a real problem. 2, Their bench was shooting 3s at a much better efficiency then should have been possible even wide open. Imagine Jo, Culver, and Rubio lighting up another team from distance. These guys played above their season numbers, bad defense not withstanding.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Allowing the Pacers to score 140+ while 60% of their starters are out for the game.

I will never understand losses like this one.

Even worse, 80% of their starters if they were at full strength: Brogdon - LeVert - TJ Warren - Sabonis - Turner

Wow.

Two things. 1, because they were not available we didn’t come to play. That soft lazy attitude by a young team in a losing season is a real problem. 2, Their bench was shooting 3s at a much better efficiency then should have been possible even wide open. Imagine Jo, Culver, and Rubio lighting up another team from distance. These guys played above their season numbers, bad defense not withstanding.

But when it's team after team after team getting "lucky"... maybe it's time to look at other factors.

Wolves opponents are shooting 39% on three pointers this season, good for 28th best in the league. There are way too many wide open three pointers in Wolves games. Those overzealous fly-by "fake effort" close-outs aren't fooling anybody.



[Note: The Wolves shoot 34.7%... tied for 27th best!]

[Dual]

This team is ridiculously bad. Ant criticism about team effort on defense was crazy...look at yourself first young man.
A change of culture is needed badly.

[Foye]

Allowing the Pacers to score 140+ while 60% of their starters are out for the game.

I will never understand losses like this one.

Even worse, 80% of their starters if they were at full strength: Brogdon - LeVert - TJ Warren - Sabonis - Turner

Wow.

Two things. 1, because they were not available we didn’t come to play. That soft lazy attitude by a young team in a losing season is a real problem. 2, Their bench was shooting 3s at a much better efficiency then should have been possible even wide open. Imagine Jo, Culver, and Rubio lighting up another team from distance. These guys played above their season numbers, bad defense not withstanding.

When the opponent team defends like an amateur squad it is not uncommon to see guys hitting the majority of their shots at ridiculous percentages.

Even the end of bench players are all professionals. If you give them time and confidence they‘ll make you pay. Its not the first time the Wolves are lighted up by a mediocre opponent and likely wont be the last time until defense is finally considered a priority among the organization.

[ChiefKeith91]

Finch needs an entire off season to implement his defense strategy and bring in his own coaches (Sorry Vanterpool).

Also, I think Finch is playing Ant at PG, DLo at SG and KAT at PF to see if it’ll work and then make off season moves from there. Like drafting or trading for a PG or C to help out on perimeter and interior defense. We need someone like Bam or Myles Turner on the inside.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

[Jedzz]

TJ McConnell 19 pts 15 rebs. 9 of 12 from the field. I bet the guy doesn't even make 9 shots in practice. The Holiday boys were 9 of 12 from 3. Come on....

It's too bad we only played less than one half of basketball.

April 3rd, McConnel
9-14 for 64%. 18pts, 7 rebounds 8 assists

April 2nd
5-8 for 65%

March 19
8-9 for 89%

March 17
6-9 for 67%

March 03
8-8 for 100%, 4 rebounds, 13 assists, 10 steals, 16 pts TRIPLE DOUBLE

Feb 27
8-13 for 61% , 6 rebounds, 12 assists, 17 pts

Feb 15
8-9 for 89%, 19pts


Probably can't hit 9 shots in practice.

McConnell is shooting .557% fg on the season.

And the point is? I can't tell. I don't put a lot into looking at career or season numbers of depth players and claiming that's who they are. There is just too much variance in the levels players reach when playing higher roles in the 30 minute range compared to low minute roles or inconsistent roles. Still, .557 fg is pretty good and even if McConnell doesn't get starts often or 35 minute games often, he still gets regular steady game action and isn't turned completely on or completely off like someone like Nowell here.

[Playmaker17]

Edwards is showing progress. I'm still not totally sold on him but I feel a lot better about him week by week. If he makes a leap next season, watch out, we will have a rookie D Mitchell/D Wade caliber player and that is lethal in the NBA.

What's really amazing is he's still just 19 years old playing with men. The best in the world and he doesn't back down to anyone. A year and a half ago he was in high school.

Look at the improvement since his first month. Since March 1st Ant is averaging 24 pts, 5 rebs and 3 asts. Shooting 43% from the field and 75% from the line. By any standards that is extraordinary.

He makes plenty of mistakes as all young guys do but I'm surprised more guys on the board here aren't getting behind him.

His defense is disgusting but he's still young & he has that dog in him on the offensive end that you see in a lot of stars in the league

Defense takes time to get up to par, especially if you enter the league as a teenager. Ant’s defensive struggles are no different than Lebron’s his first two years

[Jedzz]

Even worse, 80% of their starters if they were at full strength: Brogdon - LeVert - TJ Warren - Sabonis - Turner

Wow.

Two things. 1, because they were not available we didn’t come to play. That soft lazy attitude by a young team in a losing season is a real problem. 2, Their bench was shooting 3s at a much better efficiency then should have been possible even wide open. Imagine Jo, Culver, and Rubio lighting up another team from distance. These guys played above their season numbers, bad defense not withstanding.

But when it's team after team after team getting "lucky"... maybe it's time to look at other factors.

Wolves opponents are shooting 39% on three pointers this season, good for 28th best in the league. There are way too many wide open three pointers in Wolves games. Those overzealous fly-by "fake effort" close-outs aren't fooling anybody.



[Note: The Wolves shoot 34.7%... tied for 27th best!]

I think those flyby close outs are mostly due to them being out of position and that from all trying to help defend others or just a lack of discipline to maintain their position. Maybe stop the help defense, maintain their own responsibilities. That will at least have them in position defending 4 others and give them just as much chance at big bounce rebounds.

[Jedzz]

Allowing the Pacers to score 140+ while 60% of their starters are out for the game.

I will never understand losses like this one.

Even worse, 80% of their starters if they were at full strength: Brogdon - LeVert - TJ Warren - Sabonis - Turner

Wow.

Two things. 1, because they were not available we didn’t come to play. That soft lazy attitude by a young team in a losing season is a real problem. 2, Their bench was shooting 3s at a much better efficiency then should have been possible even wide open. Imagine Jo, Culver, and Rubio lighting up another team from distance. These guys played above their season numbers, bad defense not withstanding.

Imagine if they drafted and otherwise sought out players known to be able to shoot at desired levels at a minimum. Then use them correctly while developing. Such a difficult thing on this team for some reason.

[Dewey]

I thought our assistant defensive coach was supposed to fix some of these defensive issues… And people were upset that he didn’t get the head coach job.

It’s been said 100 times… This culture will not change until players are held accountable. You cannot keep giving players 30-35 minutes when they don’t place solid team defense. It’s kind of sad that the players themselves don’t take the initiative to begin with and say enough is enough.

[Jedzz]

Pacers just had to attack the rim and lay it up or dunk it for 3 quarters. 59.1 FG%. In case a defender miraculously helped, someone was side open from 3. When I mean wide open, I mean take a nap, wake up, and still take an uncontested 3. 50% from 3. So, we can't defend the rim or the 3. Great job.

Our bench got destroyed by their bench. JMac looks confused, but I guess when your teammates are Juancho and Culver anyone would look confused.

Edwards is looking better on offense. Less flash, more substance. This should be easier to keep up. Learn the substance first, add the flash later when you're in full control.

I agree with most of that. But how about Rubio?

[Calinks]

I see that Rubio is more polarizing than ever.

Once the Golden Boy who could do no wrong... now he's "trash" and directly responsible for a Wolves team falling down by 20+ points to a mediocre team without 4 of its top 5 players.

Truth is... Rubio isn't as bad as some people here are claiming. For example... the TO stuff. He wasn't THE reason the Wolves lost. But his weaknesses are pretty obvious, and his ceiling is pretty limited, and it's frustrating not knowing exactly why the Wolves are SOOO BAD every year.

And the truth is... Rubio just isn't good enough. He's not trash, but he isn't playing well either. And he was never as good as many of his biggest fans would have had us believe.

I get why the online community needs a whipping boy in times like these. But the truth is somewhere in the middle when it comes to Ricky Rubio.

I agree. I do think he is a solid player but needs a PG system and he needs a team optimal to his skills. Like every NBA player, they all need a good team to really shine, Rubio isn't a star, he can't elevate a really bad team but he can elevate a good team. Too many times people want to give a star all the credit or blame, they deserve a big chunk but they need teammates to do their job too. This team is really bad, part of that is talent, part of that is youth, part of that is injuries. There are myriad factors for why we are bad and just blaming Rubio or any one player isn't the answer.

[Jedzz]

Was he blamed for this loss? Gotta be kidding me: 17 points, 7 assists, 3 steals, 0 turnovers. One of the few who at least tried to play some defense.

This zero turnover thing. Fire the record keeper. He got his pocket picked. He also took too long to get his three off and the timer said...no! Result, turnover. Whether these are called turnovers on him in the books I care not.

The special moment was the failed layup and then missing his own putback. Also a short jumper that started out as a hesitation on a 3, instead walked it in closer for a short two and clanked. It was a second quarter to forget. He has his butterfly moments this game and it just happened to snowball the deficit to 21 points. I also would love to see where his defense was stopping much of anyone. Maybe I missed it? He is not to be let off the hook if casting blame on others. Vets don't miss such shots so regularly, they are supposed to be calming in rough patches for the team. Just didn't get that.

Culver got a lot of run this game. He's not making the most of his chances still. I don't think it is helping the points out that have to deal with it.

[Heimdal]

Was he blamed for this loss? Gotta be kidding me: 17 points, 7 assists, 3 steals, 0 turnovers. One of the few who at least tried to play some defense.

This zero turnover thing. Fire the record keeper. He got his pocket picked. He also took too long to get his three off and the timer said...no! Result, turnover. Whether these are called turnovers on him in the books I care not.

The special moment was the failed layup and then missing his own putback. Also a short jumper that started out as a hesitation on a 3, instead walked it in closer for a short two and clanked. It was a second quarter to forget. He has his butterfly moments this game and it just happened to snowball the deficit to 21 points. I also would love to see where his defense was stopping much of anyone. Maybe I missed it? He is not to be let off the hook if casting blame on others. Vets don't miss such shots so regularly, they are supposed to be calming in rough patches for the team. Just didn't get that.

Culver got a lot of run this game. He's not making the most of his chances still. I don't think it is helping the points out that have to deal with it.

I never said he had a great game. I wrote that because I read that Rubio was blamed for the loss, which is ridiculous. You know no Wolf (minus KAT) would survive that kind of play-by-play analysis, right? Russell included.

[Jedzz]

I see that Rubio is more polarizing than ever.

Once the Golden Boy who could do no wrong... now he's "trash" and directly responsible for a Wolves team falling down by 20+ points to a mediocre team without 4 of its top 5 players.

Truth is... Rubio isn't as bad as some people here are claiming. For example... the TO stuff. He wasn't THE reason the Wolves lost. But his weaknesses are pretty obvious, and his ceiling is pretty limited, and it's frustrating not knowing exactly why the Wolves are SOOO BAD every year.

And the truth is... Rubio just isn't good enough. He's not trash, but he isn't playing well either. And he was never as good as many of his biggest fans would have had us believe.

I get why the online community needs a whipping boy in times like these. But the truth is somewhere in the middle when it comes to Ricky Rubio.

I agree. I do think he is a solid player but needs a PG system and he needs a team optimal to his skills. Like every NBA player, they all need a good team to really shine, Rubio isn't a star, he can't elevate a really bad team but he can elevate a good team. Too many times people want to give a star all the credit or blame, they deserve a big chunk but they need teammates to do their job too. This team is really bad, part of that is talent, part of that is youth, part of that is injuries. There are myriad factors for why we are bad and just blaming Rubio or any one player isn't the answer.

I really have yet to read a post that says Rubio or any one player caused the loss. We just apparently are not allowed to be critics of his game at all. If you bring up his antics/issues in this game his defense comes in claiming "...he's not the only reason they lost!" Of course not. But he wasn't a stabilizing vet out there by any stretch from what I saw. The other opponents constantly have nobodies showing less butterflies then him and most the Wolves team. Why that is would be anyone's guess.

[Heimdal]

I really have yet to read a post that says Rubio or any one player caused the loss. We just apparently are not allowed to be critics of his game at all. If you bring up his antics/issues in this game his defense comes in claiming "...he's not the only reason they lost!" Of course not. But he wasn't a stabilizing vet out there by any stretch from what I saw. The other opponents constantly have nobodies showing less butterflies then him and most the Wolves team. Why that is would be anyone's guess.

It's funny because every time a poster criticizes Russell you come running to defend the player. Double standards?

At least Rubio will be gone this summer.

[Calinks]

As for defense, it is a team issue, I hope Finch makes it a priority this off-season. 1-2 guys messing up the scheme can ruin it all and we don't have the inside defenders to clean up all of those mistakes. Any has no idea what he is doing beyond stealing some passes, we all know Russell and Beasleys issues but this goes beyond them, they have been out for the majority of the last 20 games and we were still terrible. It's a team problem.

I also fully believe Russell and Beasley can be better defenders, they may never be good individual defenders but they can play within a scheme and contribute positively there, just about anybody can if they have a good system and they buy-in. Look at Julius Randle and the Knicks, he as a player and they as a team have been notorious for bad defense, this season they look really good. Why? They are buying into a good scheme.

[Jedzz]

Rubio getting owned by ti mcconnel. Lmao

Undrafted. Of course.

[Jedzz]

I really have yet to read a post that says Rubio or any one player caused the loss. We just apparently are not allowed to be critics of his game at all. If you bring up his antics/issues in this game his defense comes in claiming "...he's not the only reason they lost!" Of course not. But he wasn't a stabilizing vet out there by any stretch from what I saw. The other opponents constantly have nobodies showing less butterflies then him and most the Wolves team. Why that is would be anyone's guess.

It's funny because every time a poster criticizes Russell you come running to defend the player. Double standards?

At least Rubio will be gone this summer.

Not at all, because I'm critical of Russell as well. I point out where he screws the pooch, don't hide from it.

Where as a Rubiobo just can't allow it. When you see me defending Dlo it's when 5 or 6 people spend two days posting nothing but Dlo hate and claims that his removal will fix all, and allow players like Rubio to be better, and and and...infinity. Or like when they continue on 15-20 games after he's been out, still claiming all the losing will end when we just find his replacement, ignoring all the losses still occuring without him. Or when they post pure bs that's not even real about him. It's unreasonable posting. I don't post like that about Rubio. He is just who he is.