ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Timberwolves 10/20/2021

Twolves played their best game ever.

 

When Jalen Green is handling the ball in the half-court he seems to always be working away from the basket. Even when he is outside the 3-pt line at the top of the key he will turn his back to the basket and sort of work towards the half-court line as he is trying to diagnose his options. He is hesitant to drive to the tin, so much so that he literally does the opposite. He has jitterbug/electric athleticism that is easy to see but at this moment in time (after game #1 of his NBA career) he knows very little about how to deploy his athleticism. Both Jalen Green and KPG take superfluously difficult perimeter shots and need to seriously develop their decision making and ball security this year. Conversely, last night Sengun looked like a mix between an athletic version of Nikolas Jokic and Andre Kirelenko in his prime.

It is WAY too early in these young guy's career to make any sort of genuine or shrewd evaluation on who they are/will become as an NBA player. I think we need to see them play in 45-50 games, and maybe even a full NBA season before passing serious judgment on them.

 

Coach didn't like running the pick and roll with Harden either. He instead wanted Harden off the ball to let John Wall do whatever he does lol. @D-rock

 

Alright. About to subject myself to the replay. Missed the game last night…

 

First note. In the pregame recorded interview with Silas he said “we’re going enjoy the process of getting better.”

CONFIRMED Ben Simmons trade is imminent. Trust the process.

 

I want to like Silas, I really do.

But he's proving himself exceedingly incompetent and ill prepared.

 

I don’t even know what he was doing with that piece of paper. John Lucas was doing more coaching than he was. He was walking up and down the sidelines coaching the guys while Silas just stood there. The only time I saw Silas talking was at halftime when he was begging the refs for more calls.

 

Ended up watching the entire game. I expect them to win a max of 25 games this year considering they have no set offense and lack defense/rebounding. Turnovers galore killed them as well as getting blocked at the the rim over 10 times. I expect failure but with the upcoming schedule its gonna be a tough viewing

 

25 games is optimistic.

Unless Silas changes rotation and or develops a better system.

 

I'm losing faith in this guy. His poor body language makes everything 10 times worse too.

 

Dude the Timberwolves have been at the bottom for years and took Russel, Ant, Towns, and a few veterans to beat us

It looked like greens first nba game and KPJs first time as the established starting point guard

Give it until the all star break

 

I watched 3/4 of the game and while we got pummeled, we really didn’t look THAT bad. Minny hit a lot of 3s. I think they had two explosive periods of multiple unanswered 3s. Other than that we played them fairly evenly. Good to see Towns starting to play more physical. He’s so so good offensively but just doesnt play big enough for his size.

I didn’t think Green played poorly. He had two drives that he looked really good but didn’t go up strong enough. Other than that I didn’t feel like he played poorly on offense or defense. In fact he had one defensive play in the post where he went straight up and avoided a foul — got pushed back a few feet but didn’t give up. That behind the back drive was pretty special.

Same for KPJ. Saw some good reads but he just looks like he hasn’t totally figured it out yet — how to be a point guard. Not concerned really.

Wood had the best stats but I didn’t really like what I saw. He should only dribble when he gets a board and immediately runs. He just not a quick dribbler. He also doesn’t seem to read the defense well. Couple of times he slipped the screen and had Ego or someone in the corner and instead of making that quick pass he tried to go up or take a dribble and go up in the middle against two defenders. Trust your teammates.

sengun. Love this guy. His footwork is something else for a 19 year old. His very first play (missed shot) he did like a weird reverse pivot that I dunno how it wasn’t a travel but it’s the kind of stuff Scola would do. Hakeem would too but then Hakeem would jump 8 feet in the air and dunk it with his toes.

Tate didn’t do anything. Muy disappointo.
Did Martin even play?
Ego didn’t play poorly but definitely didn’t notice him doing anything out there.

overall, after reading all the negativity here and then watching the game after (3/4ths), I wasn’t nearly as disappointed in what i saw.

ONCE AGAIN THOUGH, Rebounds. We have GOT to get better at rebounding. If we don’t have a big that can gobble them up then we need to team rebound and forget the break. That needs to be Silas’ main objective to start the season. If guys don’t put a body on someone immediately after a shot goes up, pull them.