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11/28/2016 0 Comments Gameday Primer: Wolves - Knicks By: Dan Slaubaugh
Happy Wednesday, Wolves fans. Kristaps Porzingis and the 8-9 New York Knickerbockers visit Target Center tonight for a matchup against the massively disappointing Wolves. This will be the first matchup of a back-to-back against New York, as Minnesota visits Madison Square Garden on Friday. Russell Westbrook and the Thunder were too much for the Knicks on Monday, dealing a 112-103 defeat on the road at MSG. Thus far, the Knicks have been the team we'd thought they'd be, turning in some impressive wins and some demoralizing losses. Regarding Minnesota, they are also coming off of a 112-103 loss, but to the Utah Jazz. Their roster depth and second-half play remains a concern, although they are improving in the latter area. Karl-Anthony Towns is a bit emotionally fragile right now, and Tom Thibodeau's patience for Ricky Rubio and Kris Dunn seems to be running out. The Wolves look to take the first game (visit MSG on Fri.) of a back-to-back against New York tonight. What: Wolves - Knicks Where: Target Center - Minneapolis, Minnesota. When: 7:00pm CT Where to watch: Fox Sports North Where to listen: 830 WCCO What to watch for: KAT-Porzingis: This is always a fun matchup to keep an eye on. Towns is currently trying to find himself this season, underperforming expectations to this point. The young Wolf is averaging 21 points (48% FG) and 9.5 rebounds, but has came up short when Minnesota has most needed him. Porzingis, meanwhile, has taken a nice jump from his freshman year, averaging 20.9 points (49% FG) and 7.1 rebounds per game. This matchup should be a lot of fun. Rebounding: Through 17 games, the Knicks are one of the league's best rebounding teams totaling 45.2 rebounds per game (7th in NBA). The Wolves, on the other hand, are one of the NBA's worst rebounding teams averaging 41.9 rebounds per game (28th in NBA). Gorgui Dieng and Karl-Anthony Towns have been doing an okay job boxing out thus far, but will need to be much better. Cutting down on defensive lapses and always knowing where your man is will go a long way. Quick Notes Joakim Noah, who's making $17 million this season, has been a dud so far in New York, averaging 4 points and 8 rebounds per game. The Wolves surrendered 38 total fourth-quarter points in Monday night's loss to Utah. Ricky Rubio has been benched the entire fourth-quarter in Minnesota's past three games. Prediction This may be odd, but I'm predicting the Wolves will lose tonight at home and win Friday in New York. I think it'll take one more game for Minnesota to get their feet under themselves. Let's hope I'm wrong. Wolves lose 106-100. Wiggins finishes with 25 points and 6 rebounds. Bjelica pours in 10 off the bench. Thanks for reading. Enjoy the game. Go Wolves.
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11/27/2016 0 Comments Gameday Primer: Wolves - Jazz By: Dan Slaubaugh
Happy Monday, Wolves fans. Tonight, the Utah Jazz (9-8) are in town for a Northwest division showdown. I'm personally a big fan of the Jazz, which is reason why I predicted them to finish 5th in the Western Conference this season. They have a terrific frontcourt with Derrick Favors, Rudy Gobert, and Gordon Hayward. There's a clear upgrade in terms of talent and depth with the additions of George Hill, Joe Johnson, and Boris Diaw. The key for them will be to stay healthy, which is something they've failed to do the past few years. Regarding Minnesota, they are returning home from a three-game roadtrip in which they went 1-2 (L vs. NOP, W vs. PHO, L vs. GSW). They finished the trip strong with a win in Phoenix and a strong performance in Golden State despite a loss, but they still haven't quite figured out the defensive end in their first season with head coach Tom Thibodeau. "The young talent is averaging 103.1 points and produes highlight moments offensively. But Thibodeau was brought aboard to develop the team's highly-touted core and get them to play soundly on the defensive end." - CBS Sports The Wolves are currently giving up 103.1 points per game, good for 15th in the league. Hence, things are improving. They'll try to continue that tonight against Utah. What: Wolves - Jazz Where: Target Center - Minneapolis, Minnesota. When: 7:00pm CT Where to watch: Fox Sports North Where to listen: 830 WCCO What to watch for: Jazz defense: Utah boasts the league's top defense, giving up just 92.9 points per game. Their opponents are shooting league-worst 42.3% from the field. They are coming off of their second straight win in which they held Atlanta (10-7) to 31.3% shooting. And finally, they have held eight opponents to fewer than 90 points this season. Minnesota will have to work extra hard for their buckets tonight. MIN point guard play: Ricky Rubio has been out of sorts since returning from injury (missed five games). Kris Dunn has been the backup, but hasn't provided anything on the offensive end. Tyus Jones, who's garnered the least amount of minutes of the three, has been the most consistent point guard on the roster. After leading the team to a fourth-quarter comeback win over Phoenix on Friday and playing the entire fourth-quarter against Golden State, look for Jones to get backup minutes behind Rubio tonight. It makes no sense for Thibodeau to play Dunn behind Rubio if he's going to opt with Tyus the entire fourth-quarter. Quick Notes The Wolves, 5-11, currently sit last in the Northwest division and 13th in the Western Conference. Utah, 9-8, currently sit 2nd in the Northwest division and 7th in the Western Conference. In Minnesota's five wins, Andrew Wiggins is averaging 30.6 points on 58 percent shooting, including 50 percent from three point range. In Minnesota's losses, Wiggins is averaging 20.3 points on 36.6 percent shooting. The Wolves went 1-3 against Utah last season. Prediction I had this weird feeling after breakfast this morning that the Wolves were going to pull off an upset tonight. I can't really decipher whether that weird feeling was pure optimism and belief that they'll actually win or if it was just because I ate too many Froot Loops. Nonetheless, I had the feeling, and I'm sticking with it. Wolves win 97-92. LaVine pours in 26 points. Bazz contributes with 10 points. Wiggins pulls off another filthy dunk. Thanks for reading. Enjoy the game. Go Wolves. 11/22/2016 0 Comments Diving into the Wolves rough start By: Dan Slaubaugh
We're 13 games into the season. The Wolves are 4-9. They've blown four 15+ point leads. They're fragile, and just can't seem to figure out how to play a full four quarters of basketball. There are many reasons that contribute to the consistent collapses. A few that come to mind immediately: The team tensing up any time they get stopped on 3-4 consecutive possessions, passing up open looks and ending up settling for forced contested shots late in the shot clock (wasn't the case Monday night, they got open looks but just couldn't hit them), and the bench being so unproductive that Thibodeau feels like he needs to ride his starters heavy. It all adds up. The next step is to address those issues. Point guard play The Wolves aren't getting nearly enough out of Kris Dunn, who appears overwhelmed far too often on the court. The rookie is currently averaging 3.7 points and 3.2 assists in 19 minutes of play while shooting 31% from the field and 27% from beyond the arc. He probably needs to see some time in the D-League, but I'm not entirely sure Tom Thibodeau trusts Tyus enough to maintain the backup point guard duties unless absolutely forced. If Thibodeau feels obligated to playing him, he should be out there with Wiggins or LaVine and letting those two facilitate the offense. That said, Tyus Jones deserves some playing time and I think we'll start seeing him soon. Sure, the long-term benefits are probably more significant giving Kris Dunn the backup minutes. But the eye-test and numbers suggest he needs a stint in the D-League. If Thibodeau isn't in favor of sending Dunn to the D-League, then try to sprinkle him in when he can. He simply has to offer something on offense and right now it's not much, which is reason why the offense becomes stagnant with him on the floor. Bjelica at the backup 3, not Shabazz I'd like to see Nemanja Bjelica get some run as the backup 3 and greatly reduce Shabazz Muhammad's minutes, who has been out of control to much for anyone's liking this season. Muhammad's defense hasn't been bad, but he struggles to find an even balance between playing hard and playing smart. Regarding Bjelica, he's been much more productive at the 3 this year as he's often overmatched at the 4. Thibs has gushed about the length of Wiggins at the 2 and Bjelica at the 3. If the opposing team matches them up with quicker, smaller guards, then that might not be the best use of them. If I were Tom Thibodeau (and there's a reason I'm not), I would suggest a rotation such as this. Starters: Rubio/LaVine/Wiggins/Dieng/KAT 2nd-Unit: Jones/Wiggins/Bjelica/KAT/Aldrich 3rd-Unit: Ricky/LaVine, Muhammad-Rush/Bjelica/Aldrich Tensed up The Wolves are young, growing, and trying to learn how to win on the fly. Now, I am aware that the "young" excuse is getting old, and for good reason. However, you can't ignore it entirely. Should it be used as an excuse that it's alright to give up 19-0 runs? Absolutely not. But you can obviously see the fragile-ness, immaturity, and nervousness in their youth during opposing teams' lopsided runs. In conclusion Tweaking the bench a little -- such as what I proposed -- will help shorten the load the starters are currently carrying by allowing Thibodeau to utilize his bench for at a larger rate. Thibodeau probably shouldn't play his starters more than 38+ minutes per night such, but sometimes (such as Monday vs. BOS) he really doesn't have a choice but to play his starters big minutes if they want a chance at a victory. Tweaking the bench should only help this problem. Things will get better. Things will work themselves out. Thibodeau will work relentlessly to make sure this stops happening. But man, I'd really appreciate if that happened rather quickly so we can watch meaningful basketball (thinking playoffs) for a little while. 11/18/2016 0 Comments Embrace the Process. The Best Do. By: Tim Parochka
We remember Michael Jordan's final shot with the Chicago Bulls. We watched LeBron James and the Cavaliers overcome a 3-1 deficit to win the NBA Championship and defeat the greatest regular-season team ever. However, what isn't as obvious is the hours on hours of work behind the cameras Michael Jordan and LeBron James had to endure to accomplish what they did. Hundreds of hours needed to be dedicated toward weight-lifting, shooting, ball-handling, post-play in order for Jordan to get past his rival, the bad boys' Detroit Pistons, and LeBron James to finally win an NBA championship. The work isn't easy. It absolutely sucks. Hours of shooting in an empty gym and working like hell to become a better basketball player is extremely challenging and that's why players with tremendous talent fail to live up to their All-Star or Superstar potential. Talented individuals who fail do not embrace the process of working to become a winner. But in order to win, you must love the hard-working process of becoming a winner. The Minnesota Timberwolves' are either very fortunate or studied immensely because Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Zach LaVine enjoy the process of becoming a winner. NBA players have a choice in the off-season. They can rest, work on their overall games enough to be a little bit better, and enter the new season or, they can take a few weeks off, work tirelessly getting countless repetitions in at the gym and come into training camp much improved. Last season, if I asked you the question: "Who would you pick to start an NBA franchise, Andrew Wiggins or Karl-Anthony Towns" you would have chosen without a moments hesitation, Karl-Anthony Towns. However, one year later and it's an honest debate. Most people may still take Karl-Anthony Towns but it's something you need to think about. It's not that Karl-Anthony Towns has leveled out. Towns is much improved, but Wiggins is drastically better than he was in his previous two seasons. Wiggins foot-work, balance on his jump-shot, ball-handling and overall awareness of when to shoot, where the double-team is coming from and whom to pass it to when the double-team arrives is completely enhanced. We all begged Andrew Wiggins to perform every game like he was facing the Cleveland Cavaliers and this season, Wiggins is answering the call. Wiggins, Towns and LaVine have visions of themselves dominating the game and it's those visions that get them through the difficult and rugged days. Hopefully, they all envision themselves together playing meaningful games in May and June. |
