Game 32 Timberwolves @ Knicks 1-1-24 record 24-7

[Muskies97]

I think both Ant and KAT would look MUCH more dominant offensively if they had better spacing around them. Anderson-Gobert combo is basketball terrorism.

it's kind of strange that KAT in his career has never played (consistent minutes) with a "big" that the other team would leave the paint to guard

I think if his career happened 10 times, this would be the one career, or the one organization at least, that wouldn't at least experiment with that

The best offensive stretch KAT ever had was the 5 out offense with Ryan Saunders where his lumbering drives weren't as guardable and he was really letting it fly from three off of slow closeouts from 5s. And this was done in spite of the weak individual offensive talent around him (Teague/Wiggins/Cov/Okogie). Towns' game desperately needs space to operate for him to be at his best so it does suck how thats been hampered so much.

Spoiler:

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=NBA

[MN7725]

I think both Ant and KAT would look MUCH more dominant offensively if they had better spacing around them. Anderson-Gobert combo is basketball terrorism.

it's kind of strange that KAT in his career has never played (consistent minutes) with a "big" that the other team would leave the paint to guard

I think if his career happened 10 times, this would be the one career, or the one organization at least, that wouldn't at least experiment with that

The best offensive stretch KAT ever had was the 5 out offense with Ryan Saunders where his lumbering drives weren't as guardable and he was really letting it fly from three off of slow closeouts from 5s. And this was done in spite of the weak individual offensive talent around him (Teague/Wiggins/Cov/Okogie). Towns' game desperately needs space to operate for him to be at his best so it does suck how thats been hampered so much.

Spoiler:

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=NBA

I was actually going to put the post-Butler team as a brief example, with RCOV
but that was so short before injuries, and that team had glaring other weaknesses anyway

to me the biggest What If for KAT is if Mike D'Antoni had been hired instead of Thibs

[FrenchMinnyFan]

To little to few to late. Mike was terrible and did not see much the ball. THe game remain me a lot of
Jazz game where Don was playing the hero ball and came out of gas at crutch time. This is what happen to Ant. KAT was good. I did not like Rudy game today, he was totally dominated at offensive board and totally out of sync on offense. Bad night happen , it's a good lesson and show that we still have many area to improve.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

Surprised Mike take only 1 3. Our best 3 points shooter in pct taking only one tell much how bad we move the ball tonight. Good surprised,with JMcL. Maybe he is the option for back up PG. Need confirmation of course.

[thinktank]

Don’t say “bad play”!



Bad play. Edwards and KAT need to figure it out on O. Our D was putrid until JMac came in.

[TimberKat]

Still on vacation and couldn't watch the game. Feels to me, we are still dealing with Ant's "My Time" mentality. You can't give the ball to Ant in the last 5 mins of a game unless you want him to shoot. That ball is not coming out even he gets triple teamed ( except for the one time to Conley for a corner 3). He needs to trust the ball rotation and it may flow back to him. Same complaints since draft day and still hasn't learned. He needs to play the last 5 min like his first 5 min. I think most of us are happy with what the Wolves had done this year but still see areas of improvements.

On the tough 16 schedule, we are 7-4 so far. The last two (b2b at ORL and BOS ) are likely losses. So, we better win the next 3 to go 10 -6. Not bad as I will be happy with 9-7.

[moretins]

We didn't defend until the last quarter, and just when we were improving, the shots didn't go in yesterday. Credit also has to be given to the Knicks, especially to Randle, who was sublime in the end.

[shrink]

Until this game, MIN was the best team in the clutch, and had the most comebacks in the fourth quarter.

Yesterday, when we failed, it made me wonder - is this how other teams feel? Sure, we weren’t ahead, but it felt like another come-from-behind win was going to happen again.

[AbeVigodaLive]

We came close to making an incredible comeback. We lost a game. It's going to happen. It bothers me how unhappy the fans of the Wolves are now. At first we were loving life. Now the last 10 games all I see is misery from the majority of the posters here.

Win, lose, or draw, I was gonna be pissed today based on the 2nd and 3rd quarter. Big comebacks are great, but not getting down by 21 is better. Jaden and Mike no showed. KAT started very hot and disappeared. Kyle and Rudy did the normal Kyle and Rudy things on offense killing the spacing and standing around too much. TBJ earned every bit of his -15. Good teams need to play good basketball, and we are slumping hard. Hopefully we snap out of this soon.

yeah we are slumping hard. Only 7-4 during our toughest 16 game stretch of the season so far. Winning isn't good enough we have to play perfect in every minute fragment of every game.

In all honesty... this.

It's a long season. And people were looking at this 16-game stretch as a very difficult one where the team would probably take some lumps. Even with the alarming "meh" play over the past few games, I think most people would take the 7 - 4 record.

Granted, the team will need to improve, or 7 - 4 could turn into 8 - 8 pretty quickly... but so far, good enough.

At the end of the season, the only thing that matters is the team record/playoff seeding (and health).

[shangrila]

Win, lose, or draw, I was gonna be pissed today based on the 2nd and 3rd quarter. Big comebacks are great, but not getting down by 21 is better. Jaden and Mike no showed. KAT started very hot and disappeared. Kyle and Rudy did the normal Kyle and Rudy things on offense killing the spacing and standing around too much. TBJ earned every bit of his -15. Good teams need to play good basketball, and we are slumping hard. Hopefully we snap out of this soon.

yeah we are slumping hard. Only 7-4 during our toughest 16 game stretch of the season so far. Winning isn't good enough we have to play perfect in every minute fragment of every game.

In all honesty... this.

It's a long season. And people were looking at this 16-game stretch as a very difficult one where the team would probably take some lumps. Even with the alarming "meh" play over the past few games, I think most people would take the 7 - 4 record.

Granted, the team will need to improve, or 7 - 4 could turn into 8 - 8 pretty quickly... but so far, good enough.

At the end of the season, the only thing that matters is the team record/playoff seeding (and health).

It is a fair observation.

On the flip side I understand the frustration as well since our issues seem so easily fixable

[winforlose]

I keep coming back to a simple truth. Fans like watching good basketball. Winning ugly is better than losing ugly. But the uglier we play and the longer it goes on, the more doubt creeps in that this team can go anywhere or do anything. Worse, looking bad against good teams in a tough stretch, and looking bad in the same areas, (turnovers, stagnant offenses based on bad spacing, lack of defensive rebounding, ect…,) further elevates the ugly to the very dangerous level of being exposed for our weaknesses. You can expect us to be invested based on a good record, but that also comes investment in this team playing well consistently and the off night being the exception, not the rule.

[KGdaBom]

I keep coming back to a simple truth. Fans like watching good basketball. Winning ugly is better than losing ugly. But the uglier we play and the longer it goes on, the more doubt creeps in that this team can go anywhere or do anything. Worse, looking bad against good teams in a tough stretch, and looking bad in the same areas, (turnovers, stagnant offenses based on bad spacing, lack of defensive rebounding, ect…,) further elevates the ugly to the very dangerous level of being exposed for our weaknesses. You can expect us to be invested based on a good record, but that also comes investment in this team playing well consistently and the off night being the exception, not the rule.

We're 24-8. The off night is the exception. No ifs, ands or buts.
If you want to think doom and gloom and be unhappy that is your prerogative.

[MN7725]

I keep coming back to a simple truth. Fans like watching good basketball. Winning ugly is better than losing ugly. But the uglier we play and the longer it goes on, the more doubt creeps in that this team can go anywhere or do anything. Worse, looking bad against good teams in a tough stretch, and looking bad in the same areas, (turnovers, stagnant offenses based on bad spacing, lack of defensive rebounding, ect…,) further elevates the ugly to the very dangerous level of being exposed for our weaknesses. You can expect us to be invested based on a good record, but that also comes investment in this team playing well consistently and the off night being the exception, not the rule.

That was the case during the Butler year too, team won 47 games after long period of ineptitude, but wasn't very "good basketball"
a lot of complaining

whereas during the 46 win team in 2021-22 was a pretty enjoyable team, good pace, lot of hustle
the amount of complaining wasn't anywhere near even though the teams had comparable records