Game 2: New Orleans at Minnesota (1-0), 7 pm, BSN

[wolves_89]

I'm not sure how the Wolves won. They had 19 turnovers, gave up 21 offensive rebounds (and were outrebounded by 14 overall), shot 31% on 3s, and only got 10 free throws.

[D1SGRUNTL3D]

Is BI usually in Kobe mode? He was hitting every mid range shot, a lot were contested too

[jpatrick]

I'm not sure how the Wolves won. They had 19 turnovers, gave up 21 offensive rebounds (and were outrebounded by 14 overall), shot 31% on 3s, and only got 10 free throws.

Because the Pels had like 30 turnovers. But yeah, we played poorly and won. I’ll take it.

[Muskies97]

Ugly wins > Moral victory Ls

[Neeva]

We played about as bad as possible and came out with a win.

This felt like a game against Memphis without that annoying Dillon Brooks going goat on the wolves.

[Calinks]

Ugly wins > Moral victory Ls

Yes. Have to be encouraged that normally this is a game we totally lose. This is still growth, got to keep moving upward. We punched them in the mouth they didn't go away and fought back. We took our blows but we still pulled it out. Normally we would fold and take an L.

[shangrila]

I'm not sure how the Wolves won. They had 19 turnovers, gave up 21 offensive rebounds (and were outrebounded by 14 overall), shot 31% on 3s, and only got 10 free throws.

Because the Pels had like 30 turnovers. But yeah, we played poorly and won. I’ll take it.

I'll take it too but it's fair to be concerned.

We won't win many games if we can't rebound. They need to be looking at moving Beasley for front court help.

[winforlose]

So the refs were a serious factor in this one. Only giving us 10 free throws the whole game is obscene. They got 23 and they were more physical then we were. Easy example Ant going for a dunk and getting fouled on the hand and arm with 0% ball and no call. A clean game probably puts the Wolves to the line another 10-15 times and that adds 8-12 points.

KAT needs to stop committing screening fouls. It is obvious, it is an easy call, and it sits him down when he need him out there. Half of his fouls were offensive tonight. When he sat in the 3rd things fell apart, when he sat in the fourth he almost cost us the game.

Dlo had the worst night in a wolves jersey that we have seen. Turnovers, sloppy passing, bad judgement, cold shooting, no defense, the list goes on. He has some nice clutch shots, but he was a big part of keeping the Pels alive.

Our shooting cannot keep getting this cold. Our second half 3 point shooting was abysmal. No one was consistent enough and we simply cannot keep letting this happen.

Our defense won this ugly game. Finch needs to break this down into teachable moments and once the guys learn from it they need to put it behind them. Take the W and on to the next one.

[Nick K]

Dlo heats up to score 8 pts on 3 of 4 from the field in the last 4.5 minutes to win it for us. He had a tough night but steps up when he had to.

AAARRROOOOOO!

Good teams find a way to win when they shouldn't.

[King Malta]

Not a great game, all things considered, but it is encouraging to see the team be so ferocious on defense. Beverley said it after the game (and I'm paraphrasing him here), but if you take care of your defensive game it'll take care of you when the shots don't fall.

We got beat up on the boards (which won't be uncommon and is something we need to address), and effectively played two men down for large stretches when DLo and Beas were giving us nothing, but we still got the W.

[wetabs]

Watch on YouTube

[karch34]

Nice to see us grind one out when we had a lot of issues.

[_AIJ_]

What an ugly win lol

[younggunsmn]

That first 3 quarters from DLO was some of the worst basketball I have ever witnessed.
He got lucky on that ugly banked 3 to seal the game.
Didn't think Finch would put him back in with the way JMac had reorganized the team after that awful 3rd quarter.

The offense looked really bad the last 3 quarters after the Pels shored up their interior D and we turned into a bunch of ISO hero ball.
Really disappointed in that. DLO completely afraid of attacking the defender in the lane led to a whole slew of awful turnovers.

ANT struggled too 8/23, did make some nice kickouts to open shooters that didnt result in points.
9 boards, 5 assists, and overall a pretty good floor game. A couple missed opportunities where he was trailer on the break and pass went to Naz or Beasley.

Valanciunas is a really underrated player, I've wanted him on the Wolves since before we drafted Derrick WIlliams over him
He put on a clinic in positioning on both ends of the court the last 3 quarters, saved his team at least 20 points walling off drives to the basket. I hope Finch sits KAT down and shows him the film.

KAT lost his mind again when played physical and started pushing and shoving. Refs probably could have called him for 12 fouls.
If you get to the point of pushing and shoving you've already lost. The rebounding game is won before the ball gets in the air by beating your guy to the spot and using your lower body. When the refs see you playing out of control, you aren't often going to get the benefit of the call. They missed an obvious foul on that dunk attempt by Ant, but they missed a few fouls by us too.
You wonder if KAT playing the PNR high instead of drop will affect his rebounding or if he can make the adjustment.

McDaniels did a good job on Ingram, who earned his points with some tough shots.
He looks like a young Covington out there with the combination of length, lateral agility, and high DBBIQ.
Looks like Beasley is going to be the victim of a minutes crunch with FInch going with a McD/Prince combo at the 3.
If Beasley is playing less than 20 minutes, that turns him into a bad contract.
Would love to turn Prince and a 2nd into Favors, we have plenty of options for depth at the 3.
Naz is out of his depth against a true center, we need a bigger option if KAT is going to be as foul prone as recent history suggests.

NAW and Graham 3/23 on 3-pointers, many wide open looks. That's not going to happen very often.
An average shooting night results in 15 more points for the Pels and a L for us.

[shrink]

That first 3 quarters from DLO was some of the worst basketball I have ever witnessed.
He got lucky on that ugly banked 3 to seal the game.
Didn't think Finch would put him back in with the way JMac had reorganized the team after that awful 3rd quarter.

The offense looked really bad the last 3 quarters after the Pels shored up their interior D and we turned into a bunch of ISO hero ball.
Really disappointed in that. DLO completely afraid of attacking the defender in the lane led to a whole slew of awful turnovers.

I completely agree. I don’t like hearing about how “clutch” DLo is, when he misses a shot so badly it banks in. That’s dumb luck. On the previous possession, he dribbled back to the half court line with six seconds, so we ended up with a rushed, missed shot, as the shot clock expired.

I think he avoids attacking defenders in the lane because he lacks the athleticism, and length, to get his shot up around the rim. That said, he has an excellent pull up game, which he seemed to forget about trying to make flashy passes underneath. As Klomp mentioned, he has a history of making clutch shots - and that banked in a ball will add to his totals.

Read on Twitter

[Klomp]

Not surprised to see so much negativity around here. People aren't used to winning with defense.

Obviously it's early and these numbers won't hold up, but we have a defensive rating of 93.1 through the first two games. That's bonkers! Only three players have a defensive rating worse than 101: Bolmaro, Layman and Wright.

[jscott]

Ugly win but I’ll take it.

Liked what I saw from JMac, Vando, Prince, Beverly getting into the passing lanes and generally just making things a lot tougher in opposing offenses.

If the defense keeps up this intensity I think we can end the season above .500 and maybe even avoid the play-in.

#82-0

[Battletrigger]

I don't care how we win while we win. And this was with Thibs, it's now and will be in the future, I am tired of watching funny loosing teams.

[Worm Guts]

Not surprised to see so much negativity around here. People aren't used to winning with defense.

Obviously it's early and these numbers won't hold up, but we have a defensive rating of 93.1 through the first two games. That's bonkers! Only three players have a defensive rating worse than 101: Bolmaro, Layman and Wright.

People aren’t used to winning, period. I think people have every right to be skeptical, beating the Pelicans doesn’t necessarily say anything about our long term prospects.

[Calinks]

Not surprised to see so much negativity around here. People aren't used to winning with defense.

Obviously it's early and these numbers won't hold up, but we have a defensive rating of 93.1 through the first two games. That's bonkers! Only three players have a defensive rating worse than 101: Bolmaro, Layman and Wright.

People aren’t used to winning, period. I think people have every right to be skeptical, beating the Pelicans doesn’t necessarily say anything about our long term prospects.

Skepticism is healthy and normal in this situation there were some huge holes. That said, wins are wins and if we do want to have a good team in the future it will be a process. As long as we are seeing progress and something tangible I'll be happy. We play now to be great in 2024 and beyond. These are the formative seasons where we should be taking leaps and establishing our identity.

We are essentially the Denver Nuggets of 2018, a team that has a plan trying to break into relevancy, it will be a bumpy ride but we are good as long as its mostly trending up.